Meme Scholar with Madness (PhD)

[EndtheMadnessNow]

January 30, 1945: the German ship Wilhelm Gustloff, which was loaded with German military personnel and refugees from East Prussia, was hit on her port side by three torpedoes from Soviet submarine S-13 in the Baltic Sea: an estimated 9,343 died, making it one of the worst maritime disasters in history.

The Gustloff, designed to carry a maximum of 1,865 people total, was transporting 10,582 refugees, soldiers, sailors, and crew – including scores of sick and injured, as well as women, children, and the elderly. All were fleeing from the terrible fate that awaited most of those left in the wake of the Soviet advance, including Germans and non-Germans alike.


The MV Wilhelm Gustloff, named after the leader of the Swiss National Socialist Party, was launched in 1937. A touristic cruiser for German workers and officials, it was turned into a hospital and later on accommodation and logistics ship during the World War II.

Originally constructed as a cruise ship for the Nazi Strength Through Joy (Kraft durch Freude) organization in 1937. Wilhelm Gustloff had been requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine (German navy) in 1939. Kraft durch Freude was a German NSDAP-operated leisure organization in Nazi Germany. It was part of the German Labour Front, the national labour organization at that time.

On 10 February 1945, S-13 sank another German military transport ship General von Steuben. 3,300 civilians and military personnel from the ship died, and 300 survived. This sub has 6 confirmed victories (5 vessels sunk, 1 damaged) and may hold the world record for the highest number of deaths by a single submarine.

A Memorial To The Wilhelm Gustloff

The last person to die "on" that ship is believed to have been in 2012.

Baltic body mystery: Is corpse found on WWII ship wreck Poznań diver who disappeared 7 years ago?



January 30, 1980: “Welcome, at last, to Newsnight.” 45 years to the day since Newsnight was first broadcast on BBC Two.

Clip of the first episode at @BBCNewsnight

The debut episode of the news and current affairs programme that promised in-depth coverage of the stories behind the headlines. The 1st presenter of the show was, Peter Snow, the father of historian Dan Snow.

The show was supposed to first air on Sept 24, 1979. However, due to a union dispute it was delayed. Newsnight was eventually billed in the Radio Times from Jan 28, 1980. An agreement was finally reached on Jan 30, 1980. Here about it here straight from the horses mouth.


Jan 30, 1982: Richard Skrenta a 15-year-old high school student at Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania, originally writes the first computer virus that went widespread, 400 lines of code, harmless prank boot sector virus infecting floppy disks for Apple DOS 3.3 called "Elk Cloner".


Prank starts 25 years of computer security woes


Jan 30, 2001: HAL 9000 received a top secret directive to be kept secret from even the crew of Discover One. The directive informed the AI computer that the actual mission was to investigate a monolith.




Happy birthday to Vasili Alexandrovich Arkhipov (1926-1998), the man who saved the world during the Cuban Missile Crisis.


Vasili Arkhipov – Soviet Hero that Prevented WW 3


"Shoot, a fella could have a pretty good weekend in Dallas [Vegas] with all that stuff." According to a 1970 interview with Slim Pickens, he improvised that great line and Kubrick said "leave it in."






"Joint Executive Evacuation Plan" (JEEP) from circa 1961. Found in the vast Internet Archive. FEMA SF (Special Facility) = Mount Weather, located near Frogtown, Clarke County, Virginia.

Keep in mind that this information, while inspired by actual government plans and programs of the 1960s to 1980s, has changes and assumptions for use in our role-playing game.

The Joint Emergency Evacuation Plan was a U.S. Department of Defense proposal from 1961. The plan initially was for emergency transport of "certain personnel necessary to maintain strategic direction and control of United States Armed Forces and resources during a national emergency" (for example, if the armed forces went to CONUS DEFCON 1). By the late 1970s, the program included various priority levels for transportation.

    "Other emergency assignees ... not earmarked for helicopter relocation, will proceed as soon as possible to their respective sites. Means of transportation will be an individual responsibility."  For most cabinet officials and members of Congress, they were to report to the nearest FBI field office for directions to their evacuation point; within the National Capitol Region they could expect to be picked up by official vehicles. This provision resulted in a large number of persons -- legislators, non-military government officials, current and retired FBI and Secret Service agents, etc. -- with detailed knowledge of supposedly-secret shelter locations, especially the Alternate Military Command Center (Raven Rock) and "High Point Special Facility" (the Mount Weather complex in Virginia). The printed "instruction cards" were especially a security issue.

  Continuity of government plans called for hundreds, or even a few thousand, sites that could be used by "presidential successor support teams"; most of these sites were resort hotels and other remote, rural, self-sufficient facilities. These were not bunkers, but had emergency generators, food supplies, radios, and other items.

  The lack of security about shelter locations led the government to construct ten small bunkers in the early 1980s, as part of the JEEP system itself. Another eight existing bunkers were given JEEP functions as the program expanded. Keep in mind that all of this is part of a larger web of related government programs. The majority of the ten new bunkers were within two hours drive of Washington, D.C.

The JEEP system had three levels of evacuees:

CRYSTAL-1: critical national leaders, usually around 40 or 50 persons. These would be evacuated by helicopters and the Secret Service, to Mount Weather or to the Greenbrier bunker, various airborne command centers, or other major survival shelters.

CRYSTAL-2: a few hundred less important officials would be contacted with directions to a bunker or an FBI field office. In the Washington DC area there was some effort to convoy (e.g, rideshare) these persons.

TREETOP: former officials, corporate leaders and other persons considered "capable of exercising national government after a nuclear war." These, too, would have to transport themselves, or catch a ride with a convoy.

  All persons to be transported by the JEEP program were issued Federal Emergency Identification Cards. These had the FEMA logo and Latin motto, the holder's name, photograph, blood type, thumb print, and text on the back requiring, "... all authorities shall provide full assistance and unrestricted movement" to the holder. In theory, they allowed access to most military posts, etc. -- in practice, few security guards even knew these cards existed. Also, duplicating  the card was against the law (per Title 18, US Code Part I, Chapter 33, Section 701).

Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North was an important part of the White House planning staff for continuity of government issues, from 1981 until he was dismissed from the National Security Council in 1986. The JEEP plan would bring people to the following locations:

[23 locations]

Designated Survivor Program

Since 1980, the concept of a "designated survivor" led to programs to protect at least one senior administration official at all times.

The Survivor would have a card (the "Sealed Authenticator System" or SAS) with identification code words, sealed in an envelope. Communication systems would be made available to the Survivor in some circumstances, including a simple videoconferencing network.

  While not a first choice, placing a Survivor in a JEEP bunker was an option during a sudden attack.

CHIPP Vaults

In the early 1980s, when there was a renewed interest in continuity of government, bunkers-for-the-brass, and preparing for nuclear war, the General Services Administration sent out a circular memorandum to all the Cabinet-level departments of the Federal government, asking them for a list of culturally or historically important items that should be preserved in case of nuclear war.

Some of the JEEP bunkers, along with other government sites not listed, were part of the Cultural Heritage Imperative Preservation Program. They will have a room labelled:

GSA CHIPP Vault
No Survival Supplies Within
Authorized Access Only

Cryogenic Sleep Berths

In the summer of 1989 the American government gained access to 150 cryogenic sleep berths; twenty of these were assigned to continuity of government functions. Each bunker with one or more cryogenic sleep berths also has a radio-isotopic thermo-electric generator -- a small nuclear power plant. These were placed in the compartment which had contained the well-pump.

JEEP Sites

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth provided an update on last night's mid-air collision:


"It was an annual proficiency training flight ... It was a fairly experienced crew ... they were using night vision goggles."
https://x.com/BNODesk/status/1884972410866168143

Weird having a Secretary of Defense that talks directly to the people from his desk.




Sign of the times, WaPo edition: Tragic plane crash at DCA below the fold story in the print paper.



"They were on a routine annual retraining night flights on a standard corridor for a Continuity of Government mission. The military does dangerous things, it does routine things, on the regular basis. Tragically, last night a mistake was made."
- SecDef Pete Hegseth
7 News Boston


Hegseth said the three crew members were from the Bravo Company 12th Aviation Battalion at Fort Belvoir, an army base in Virginia that's about 14 miles away from the airport.


A reporter asks Trump about the COG training mission the Black Hawk helicopter was involved in and Trump says "I don't know what that refers to."

I suppose at the time it's possible he didn't know. Doubtful, but I'm sure he knows now in which we may never know since such missions, though may be routine are often classified & stamped under National Security. No comment at Trump presser from heads of FAA, NTSB or any expert aviation agency. DOT and DoD secretaries (Duffy, Hegseth) did comment, both praising Trump.

Continuity of Government is the way senior officials plan to save themselves while you die. REX-84 the continuity of government program designed by Dick Cheney and Oliver North that would suspend the constitution and keep the government alive and in high style at a fabulous resort / bunker in Appalachia.

Sometimes years later an astute FOIA researcher cracks the secrecy after the event has been long forgotten. Well, this tragic story took some of the attention away from the Senate confirmation hearings.

The above quotes are in this Trump press conf:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iH3u0W_C_Q


Whatever the outcome of the investigation into the midair collision over Washington, the press will soon become aware (you'd think) of the mass density and complexity of airspace over the capital. I mean aside from commercial air, the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard, about every agency under Homeland Security, from nuke sniffers to media choppers fly around that area every day. One or more of the techno billionaires will offer up a solution...AI for the "new Golden Age".

If America achieves a new Golden Age it will largely be due to the most base of motives, from people who act because they want to make money from robotics, medicine, surveillance and things yet undreamed of. The 20th century powers still building traditional empires will be left in the dust.

Idaho National Guard Deploys Helicopter Company To DC Area

The Idaho National Guard deployed 10 UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters and more than 80 Soldiers to Fort Belvoir, Virginia, Jan. 10-11 on a year-long mission to support the Joint Emergency Evacuation Plan (JEEP) in the National Capital Region.

The JEEP is a recurring mission shared by National Guard and active-duty units from across the nation. Company Bravo, 1-183rd AHB will provide airlift capabilities to official personnel in the National Capital Region.

Well, between Elon's "X" platform and Foxnews now inside the White House along with the White House @RapidResponse47 and the White House "NewMedia" Press room will now include podcasters, social media influencers, and independent journalists, many are drifting away from msm and old left-right media sites.

[EndtheMadnessNow]

Jan 30, 1862: the ironclad USS Monitor was launched. She was commissioned a month later and almost immediately took part in the Battle of Hampton Roads in March 1862 under the command of LT John Worden. Worden (March 12, 1818 – October 19, 1897) later in 1873 would become the first president of the U.S. Naval Institute. Back in those days I guess some got promoted very, very quickly. Lt to 2-star Admiral in only 10 years.


I heard a replica of USS Monitor will be on display at Navy's 250th birthday celebration in Philadelphia this October.


Happy 95th Birthday to Gene Hackman! Hackman served with the Marines in Tsingtao in 1948 to protect U.S. interests from communist forces. Decades later, fellow leathernecks could get his attention by mentioning Ping Kong Tung Lee's, a favorite bar of Marines on liberty.


Hackman: I run into some of them once in a while. Somebody occasionally will come up behind me and say, "Semper Fi!" A couple of years ago, I was walking down the street in New York, and I heard a voice behind me. He said, "Have you been to Ping Kong Tung Lee's lately?" This got my attention; that was a whorehouse in Tsingtao, China.

An interview with Gene Hackman and Daniel Lenihan

Actor Gene Hackman Served in the Marine Corps in China


FBI informant Ronald Reagan testifies against fellow actors before House Un-American Activities Committee in 1947.




Air traffic control radar consoles in the Combat Information Center (CIC) aboard the aircraft carrier USS Constellation, 1988. Very similar to the station I maintained, except on a Destroyer.




There she is!




Asked if China's DeepSeek stole American IP, AI & Crypto Czar David Sacks says it looks like a technique called distillation was used where a student model can "suck the knowledge" out of the parent model and there is evidence that DeepSeek distilled knowledge from OpenAI's models, which is leading to efforts to develop techniques to prevent future copycats.

Yea, now the media is blowing up on that "new" buzz term, "distillation". LOL.

When I went to Google to search for a video on Sacks explaining this, the first 50 vids (yes 50) all pointed to Instagram. LOL, what a joke. Amazingly, the first vid that popped up when searching directly on Youtube site was exactly what I was looking for:



Basically saying they couldn’t copy their own model to make it better and are upset that someone else (China) did. Sounds like a case of IP copyright infringement of OpenAI, which of course the CCP could careless.


And just like that, DeepSeek R1 is an available model choice on Microsoft Azure platform because it is open source.

DeepSeek R1 is now available on Azure AI Foundry and GitHub

Now, the AI hypocrisy from both sides will be revealed.

And of course Microsoft has a deep OpenAI relationship too.

Confluence of technologies plus proprietary data equals opportunity.

It is probable that at least some people in the administration are viewing the USA through an Elon-like lens. What are America's pain points? What are its binding constraints? They are unblocking the drains so the innovation network can flow. Now there's a big gap between "visioning" and actually making it happen. Between talking the talk and walking the walk. Every one has a vision, but what will happen is yet to be seen.



I propose the congressional dress code is changed again so that all House and Senate members are required to wear a onesie covered in the logos of their corporate handlers. Call it casual Friday attire.


The confirmation hearings is more like when a gang of old bullies corners you in the hall and tries to make you eat a bug for their amusement. Despite all the attention on the air tradegy collision, it did invoke the Snowman to respond...







You don't see this happen to a US senator very often...

A judge sentenced disgraced former Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., to 11 years in prison on Wednesday, concluding his trial for a "long-running bribery and foreign influence scheme of rare gravity."

The sentence is the harshest ever handed down to a U.S. senator. Breaking down in tears, Menendez pleaded with U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein for mercy in a New York City courtroom.

"I have lost everything," he said. "Other than family, I have lost everything I care about. Every day I am awake is punishment. I am far from a perfect man… in half-century of public service, I have done far more good than bad."

Before handing down his punishment, Stein said: "I take no pleasure in this sentence."

"You are quite right about your work. You worked your way up to a senator, to the chair of foreign relations committee," Stein told Menendez. "You were successful, powerful, stood at the apex of our political system. All letters are proof. Somewhere along the way, you lost your way."

Defense attorney Adam Fee told Stein to give Menendez credit for his lifetime of public service, asking for a sentence of no more than eight years.

"Despite his decades of service, he is now known more widely as ‘Gold Bar Bob,’" Fee said.

Prosecutors had requested a 15-year sentence for Menendez, 71, after he was convicted in July 2024 on 16 counts of bribery, extortion, conspiracy and obstruction of justice. He is the first U.S. senator in American history to be convicted of working as a foreign agent. His co-defendants, Wael Hana and Fred Daibes, were also sentenced to eight years and seven years, respectively.

"As proven at trial, the defendants engaged, for years, in a corruption and foreign influence scheme of stunning brazenness, breadth, and duration, resulting in exceptionally grave abuses of power at the highest levels of the Legislative Branch of the United States Government," prosecutors wrote.

Prior to the announcement of his sentence, Daibes, 67, tearfully told Stein the jury verdict had left him "borderline suicidal," and requested leniency so that he could care for his 30-year-old autistic son.

Hana told the judge, "I am an innocent man."

"I never bribed Senator Menendez or asked his office for influence," he said.

The judge, though, said the jury's verdict was "very, very substantial."

A third businessman pleaded guilty and testified against Menendez at a trial last year.

Outside the courthouse, Menendez proclaimed his innocence, calling his prosecution a "witch hunt" by the Justice Department.

"President Trump is right. This process is political and it's corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores integrity to the system," he said.

Menendez's conviction came after a nine-week-long trial. The former Democratic lawmaker was accused of accepting gifts totaling more than $100,000 in gold bars as well as cash.

The disgraced Democrat was accused and convicted of participating in a years long bribery scheme involving the governments of Egypt and Qatar. Menendez’s wife, Nadine, who is set to go on trial on March 18, also allegedly participated in the scheme. She is accused of receiving paychecks for a job that did not exist.

The indictment against Menendez came after co-defendant Jose Uribe — who allegedly gifted Nadine a Mercedes convertible — accepted a plea deal and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

"Menendez, who swore an oath to represent the United States and the state of New Jersey, instead put his high office up for sale in exchange for this hoard of bribes," prosecutors wrote ahead of the sentencing.

Fox News |  Wiki


XB-1 Baby Boom Goes Supersonic


The test flight was livestreamed using broadband internet beamed to Earth from SpaceX's Starlink satellite constellation. A Starlink Mini unit was installed in the T-38 chase plane.