A Gentsix

Not a Borogove, mind! Rather, a galumphing frabjous bird in a perpetual passion! Jub-Jub!

[Jake @0xjakke]

McLaren was failing in the early 80s when a former mechanic borrowed £1.5 million for one day and bought it.

He owned the whole company for about 24 hours, then sold most of it back to pay for it.

35 years later he had to negotiate a price to leave his own company.

His name is Ron Dennis. He started as a Formula One mechanic at 18 and never gave his companies names, only numbers, so the sponsors got the credit. Then McLaren came up for sale and he did not have the money.

He went to his bank and asked to borrow the purchase price for 24 hours, guaranteed back the next day.

The bank said yes.

The Academy of Achievement sat him down for an hour and fifty minutes in 2017, one camera on him and nobody else in the frame. The 29 minute film attached to this post is that sitting. Partway through the deal he stops and says it is the first time he has talked about how he paid for it.

Watch what the seller does at the table.

The signing was held in Portugal for tax reasons. He says all he could see in Teddy Mayer's face was that Mayer wanted to know whose name was on the cheque. Dennis handed over a cashier's cheque and watched the disappointment arrive.

He bought a company he could not afford with money he never had.

He owned 100 percent of McLaren for roughly a day, then sold enough of it to clear the loan.

The part almost nobody understood was the debt. He kept the cash somewhere else and left the racing team carrying just enough of it to look barely profitable. Sponsors read published accounts. So does everyone you bid against.

You do it backwards. You want the numbers to look strong, so you show your best year to the people across the table.

He held the whole thing outright for one day in his life, and spent the next 35 years as a minority in it.

[Department of National Defense - Philippines @dndphl]

MAHIYA NAMAN KAYO | Secretary of National Defense Gilberto C. Teodoro, Jr. responded to a note from the Chinese side during the Seoul Defense Dialogue (SDD) 2026 in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

#DNDPHL #DiKaPasisiil #SDD2026

[Elnathan John @elnathan_john]

I have watched this video three times and my jaw is still on the floor.

[James Shepard @jumpjim]

The first new BA 787-10 IGW (Increased gross weight) aircraft sporting GE Aerospace GEnx-1B engines, being flight tested at Charleston. An approx. 6T increase in max takeoff weight gives 6 tonnes more cargo or about 400Nms more range. The RAT is deployed.

📽️airplaneplanetusa on IG

#avgeek #avgeeks #aviation

[UAVoyager🇺🇦 @CrimeanVoyager]

One of the most iconic photos of this war.

Maybe you don’t know him. Not a public figure. Not a social media star. Just a Warrior. And a Hero.

“Borets,” carrying three RPG-7s on a bicycle, riding into Irpin toward russian armored columns in the first days of the full-scale invasion.

Tanks, aircraft, missiles — against a bicycle, three RPGs, and the will to stand and fight.

Men like him helped stop russia’s advance on Kyiv. Men like him are why Ukraine still exists and fights today.

“Borets” was killed in action days ago. A Marine commander. One of the finest combat leaders of this war.

Rest in honor, Warrior.

[World Bollard Association™ @WorldBollard]

Always best to drive AROUND the bollard.
#WorldBollardAssociation
📽️@jenny_nass26

[Andrew McCarthy @AJamesMcCarthy]

BOOM!

I happened to be shooting this galaxy when a star decided to explode. Pretty lucky!

You can see it appear close to the galactic core. I’ll be shooting it every night for a while to watch it change brightness!

This is comparing photos captured 10 days ago vs 5 min ago.

[James Talarico @jamestalarico]

I wish our government would go after pedophiles like they go after brown men headed to work at 7 am.

I wish they would close billionaire tax loopholes like they close our public schools.

I wish they would fund healthcare like they fund forever wars in the Middle East.

[Larry the Cat @Number10cat]

Private Isabella Gonzales
First Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan
Captain Cody A. Khork
Sergeant 1st Class Noah L. Tietjens
Sergeant 1st Class Nicole M. Amor
Major Jeffrey O'Brien
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan
Maj. John 'Alex' Klinner
Captain Ariana Savino
Technical Sergeant Ashley Pruitt
Captain Seth Koval
Captain Curtis Angst
Master Sergeant Tyler Simmons
Commander Gabriel Edwards
Sergeant Angel S. Rampersad
Sergeant Michael Emmanuel Swinton
Sergeant Benjamin N. Pennington
Sergeant Declan J. Coady

They, their loved ones and the country they served deserve much better from their Commander-in-chief.

[Susie Dent @susie_dent]

Word of the Day is a reminder of ‘tsundoku’: the pile of unread books you can’t help but add to at every opportunity.

[NEXTA @nexta_tv]

70,000 pints of Guinness stolen in the UK

Thieves stole two trailers loaded with beer. The crime took place in an industrial area of Runcorn, near Liverpool.

According to police, the thieves arrived at a warehouse at night in two trucks, broke the locks and stole 800 kegs of the drink.

The stolen beer is estimated to be worth around £200,000

[Michael Weiss @michaeldweiss]

Pin this on the GRU, and Ireland will be in NATO by nightfall.

[Governor Tim Walz @GovTimWalz]

Good news: he lost.

[NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day @apod]

Pretend you have never heard of a solar eclipse. The Sun’s behavior has been predictable your whole life. One day, you witness the sky transform as it does in today’s spliced image spanning two hours of the August 12, 2026 solar eclipse. The Sun disappears, leaving behind a bright, empty ring. What would you think had happened? Humans have interpreted eclipses in countless ways throughout history, embedding beliefs about connection, rebirth, or danger into culture. “Eclipse” comes from the Greek word “ékleipsis” meaning “abandonment”. In ancient Greece, the solar eclipse marked the anger of the gods and the Sun abandoning humanity. To the Diné people, this celestial alignment is a time of renewal. Out of respect and to avoid the danger of sunlight, the Diné stay inside until the Sun and Moon separate. The Batammariba people of Benin and Togo believe that the Sun and Moon fight during an eclipse, so the community encourages peace among themselves. Eclipses are an example of the longstanding connection between astronomy and society.

Image Credit & Copyright: Javier Castro
Text: Keighley Rockcliffe (NASA GSFC, UMBC CSST, CRESST II)

[Maggie Haberman @maggieNYT]

NEW https://t.co/bCUTJU1IDN

[Andrew McCarthy @AJamesMcCarthy]

Just added a wallpaper bundle to my shop if you want to trick out your devices with Falcon Heavy and Nancy Grace Roman photos. (check the link in my bio)

If you're on my email list or subscribe to me here, you get a smaller one for free! Check your inbox

[Jessica Berlin @berlin_bridge]

Simple policy:
As long as there is Russian terror in Europe, we should allow zero Russian tourists in Europe.

[Kate from Kharkiv @BohuslavskaKate]

KALLAS: We need to restrict visas for Russians. It is not okay that Russia is bombing Ukraine, killing civilians while Russians are entering EU, and enjoying our hospitality. These tourist visas are also a tool used for acts of sabotage. This is a matter of our security as well.

[Andrew McCarthy @AJamesMcCarthy]

The GoPros I placed near the pad delivered some awesome footage of the Falcon Heavy lifting off.

This is one of them I recovered, shot at 120 fps played back at 30fps (1/4 speed).