Cees van Slooten

Life is like Oobleck

[Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський @ZelenskyyUa]

Open Letter
To the President of the Russian Federation
From the President of Ukraine

When you came to power in Russia more than 26 years ago, many people in Ukraine viewed you positively. That is how it was. But that is now in the past.
Now, the overwhelming majority of Ukrainians view it positively that our long-range drones paid a visit to the opening of your forum in St. Petersburg, covering a distance of more than 1,000 kilometers. As you know very well, that distance is not the limit of our capabilities.

[Peter Steinberger 🦞 @steipete]

I'm joining @OpenAI to bring agents to everyone. @OpenClaw is becoming a foundation: open, independent, and just getting started.🦞
https://t.co/XOc7X4jOxq

[Alexander Klöpping @AlexanderNL]

https://t.co/BVuJwpAahY

[Gandalv @Microinteracti1]

The Nordic countries—none of them major military powers individually—have built something that rivals the air power of nations with five times their population and ten times their defence budgets.

[𝔗𝔯𝔲𝔱𝔥 𝔐𝔞𝔱𝔱𝔢𝔯𝔰 @politicsusa46]

For anyone who would like to hear Mark Carney’s outstanding Davos speech in full here it is. This is what true global leadership looks like.

Canada should be immensely proud today, because they are leading the fight back when others dare not.

🎥 TikTok - https://t.co/BExGV2YIDq

[Peter McCormack 🏴‍☠️🇬🇧🇮🇪 @PeterMcCormack]

This is mental.

[Ryan Williams @koreanscot]

MAKE HIM FAMOUS! Erfan Soltani is scheduled to be executed by the Islamic Regime in Iran tomorrow (14th of January). We know Iran collapses under international pressure. Let's scream this out loud so Trump hears this. He will send help. Please share Erfan Soltani videos and news!

[Elica Le Bon الیکا‌ ل بن @elicalebon]

Urgent: how to help save a young protester’s life.

I cannot believe how many years we’ve had to recycle this dystopian practice. God, when will it end? #ErfanSoltani

[Rasmus Jarlov @RasmusJarlov]

If you're wondering why Greenland belongs to Denmark or what its exact current status is in relation to Denmark, it's all explained in this video.

We all need to be experts on Greenland now, so here’s your chance.

[Tomas Pueyo @tomaspueyo]

Why is Venezuela poor despite having the biggest oil reserves in the world?
Why no other industry?
Why is it authoritarian?
What's the role of US sanctions?
https://t.co/cQ114m2ysw

[Lale Gül @lale_gul89]

Ik heb met stijgende verbazing de reacties gelezen en geluisterd op de politieke moord op Charlie Kirk. Mensen die het openlijk goedkeuren, mensen die zeggen dat ze het toch al een lul vonden, mensen die zeggen dat het z'n eigen schuld is, of oorverdovend stil zijn, terwijl ze normaal zo uitgesproken zijn. "Ja maar hij had geen medelijden met de Palestijen", "ja maar hij was voor de legalisering van wapens", ik heb het allemaal voorbij zien komen. Ik ben er echt zo verbaasd over, dit is in feite een sharia-mindset: ook in Iran en Afghanisten word je vermoord als je de verkeerde mening hebt. In een democratie niet, dan verschil je van mening en hoeft er niemand dood. Zijn bloed is nog niet opgedroogd, en het gaat schaamteloos over hoe "correct" zijn ideeën waren. Ik ben er stil van. En neem nou de Speld, die suggereert dat het aan legalisering van wapens ligt. Een wapen kan geen moord plegen, een mens wél. Illegaal kun je ook makkelijk aan een wapen komen. Het hoort te gaan over de dader, over dat dit een politieke moord is, NIET over de wapenwet of over de inhoud van zijn ideeën. Geen greintje medemenselijkheid heb je als je dit daar de goede timing voor vindt! Geen "ja, maar", gewoon zeggen dat dit gestoord is!

[Marc Wurfbain 🦀 @WurfTwain]

Zo ziet een mui er dus uit. Precies waar de drenkeling nog net op tijd werd gered en gereanimeerd zie je het diepere gedeelte waar hij in de problemen kwam nadat om 17.02 uur de eb begon. Verraderlijk als de pest als je dit niet weet. (Beeld: Regio15) #scheveningen #mui #knrm

[Tim Urban @waitbutwhy]

Seems like a good time for an update on a graph from my 2015 post on AI.

[ian bremmer @ianbremmer]

singapore pm with some of the most sensible analysis responding to us tariffs i’ve seen from a global leader.

[Rasmus Jarlov @RasmusJarlov]

If you change your mind and now want to have a larger military presence in Greenland, then you are - as you know - welcome. As long as you leave the imperialistic rhetoric about annexing it at home.

Greenland is not under threat. Neither China nor Russia has any presence. They do not own anything in Greenland. They do not have a consulate. No mining. Nothing. Denmark has kept them out. And if we can continue to count on the USA, we will continue to do so. We are fully capable of it.

Greenland is however, a great place for the USA to have a lookout post where you can spot threats against the USA. That is why you have a space base where you can detect missiles from Russia flying over the North Pole towards the USA.

If you want more of that, you are more than welcome to man up. That is for your protection. Not ours. It does not protect Greenland and it does not protect Denmark. It protects the USA. We allow you to do it because we are allies, but you have to do it yourselves. We do not expects thanks or a suit. All we are asking is that you respect that you are in a foreign country and do not think that you have a right to threaten it.

This relationship has worked well since the 1950's and we want it to continue.

[liminal @Liminal1988]

You are the magic.

[James Hopf @HopfJames]

Westinghouse is considering construction of a factory, at a former steel production site in Aliquippa, PA, that would mass produce its 5 MW eVinci micro-reactor. Article link in reply.

Despite my relatively low level of trust in Westinghouse (after Vogtle, etc..), I'm finding it hard to resist getting excited about this.

They plan to fabricate over 10 micro-reactors per year, and they're saying that the demand (order book?) is there. At an NRC meeting they said:

"Yes, it's not going to be single digits. We might start with one or two, but our clients have indicated that there will be double-digit numbers."

The entire reactor is "entirely factory built" and will be shipped to the user on a truck. After running for eight years, w/o refueling, Westinghouse will take the reactor (which containes the spent fuel material) back from the customer!

The reactor is also inherently safe, with no need for water or outside power (it does not require active cooling). Also, it's inventory of radioactive material is tiny.

They hope to have the first micro-reactor in operation by ~2030.

After the huge cost overruns that occured for many large reactor construction projects, some believe that a new (mass production) approach is needed. Large-scale central factory production of entire reactor systems, with little if any construction activity at the plant (user) site. (Particularly, on-site construction/fabrication activities that are held to "nuclear-grade" QA standards.)

Unfortunately, it appears that most SMR designs will still require significant on-site, "civil works", much of it being nuclear-grade. Thus, we may have to go smaller, to micro-reactors, in order to use the fundamentally different, mass production approach.

Thus, the benefits of the "new approach" will have a larger amount of dis-economy-of-scale to overcome. For that reason, many believe that micro-reactors will never be cost-competitive with large (GW-scale) reactors. That micro-reactors' role will be limited to powering remote areas. They may be right, but I believe that there is a chance that they will be surprised.

As DoE Secretay Wright said recently, costs of mass-produced products have always come way down, with volume, while the cost of large-scale, on-site infrastructure projects has been increasing, and often spirals out of control, (over the last several decades, at least).

I'm heartened by the news that there are buyers for micro-reactors. That means that a supply chain will be developed, and they will be built on some scale. After that happens, we will have a good idea of how much they cost. The new approach will be tried, at least. I also hope that we will build several more AP1000 reactors in the US, in the coming years. If that happens, we will also have a good idea of what they cost.

[Tymofiy Mylovanov @Mylovanov]

In Ukraine, I see that Trump’s withdrawal of support hasn’t rattled Zelensky or undermined resolve of Ukrainians

Bloomberg concurs: despite the shockwaves, Kyiv adapts and fights on. These are details of what people focus on

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[Kosher @koshercockney]

Goosebumps.

Gal Gadot just made one of the most perfect speeches I’ve heard in a long time. Give yourself 10 mins to watch.

“𝙊𝙪𝙧 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 is stronger than 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙞𝙧 𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚.

What happens to Jews 𝙖𝙣𝙮𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚, affects Jews 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙬𝙝𝙚𝙧𝙚”

This woman. Thank you

H/t @HenMazzig
@ADL

[Roman Sheremeta 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @rshereme]

If the U.S. Withdraws Completely, What Will Ukraine Do? 🧵

We will still fight. And more people will die—that is the only thing Trump will achieve. Just like we fought when the war started.

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