WELL, GOOD:

Say, how’s that Brussels-friendly European alternative to X coming along?

Here’s what Grok had to say: “At beta launch they talked ~55,000 users and a year-end target of 100,000, a million in 2027. An August interview still cited a 120,000 waitlist. A mid-September German write-up of the project noted a blogger’s claim that 90%+ of accounts were idle and that interaction numbers looked cooked. Treat user counts as marketing until someone independent audits them.”

Treat that as yet another reminder that extorting from American innovators is what Europe does now instead of innovating.

FROM HOLLY CHISM:  A Sunny Day on Ganymede.

Imagine growing up in a colony. No, not one on Earth–one in space. On one of Jupiter’s moons, or maybe on a station…or an asteroid! What would it be like to be a kid in a research station on Io, or Ganymede? What would it be like to grow up inside tunnels dug into an asteroid? Or on a station floating in fixed orbit somewhere? Join Jack, Sean, Raffie, Jake, and Chris in this collection of stories…where one of the biggest differences a kid can make is by asking the right questions.

 

 

EXCEPT GOVERNMENT, WHERE THE INTELLIGENCE IS OFTEN LACKING:  Intelligence of All Sorts.

So, one form of intelligence is knowing what’s going on elsewhere, before expressing your ignorance. For example, my cousin was talking about how her house, having multiplied many times in value, is taxed based on that value as if she had sold it that year… instead of based on how much she paid for it, and was basically railing about property taxes in general.

This earned her the typical “Concerned, uninformed neophyte: Troll” (CunT) wanting to know how she proposes to fund things like roads and schools.

 

SO MUCH ECO FREAKING, SO LITTLE MIND:   EU Ship Recycling Fight Escalates Over Indian Beaching Yards.

A fight over whether Indian shipbreaking yards using the controversial beaching method should qualify under European environmental rules is widening, with steelmakers, recyclers, trade unions and environmental groups now urging the European Commission to withdraw its proposal.

OPEN THREAD: It’s all you.

WHAT A MESS:

THIS HAS A LOT OF PEOPLE RETHINKING A FEW THINGS, OR AT LEAST SHOULD: