My Ukrainian ENGin buddy told me about an interesting Ukrainian ritual for the celebration of the Epiphany. In Ukraine, the celebration of Epiphany, or “Yordan” (also known as “Vodokhreshche”), takes place on January 19th. It’s a major religious holiday in the Orthodox Christian tradition, marking the baptism of Jesus in the Jordan River. A key […]
Category: Europe
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Two pioneers of artificial intelligence — John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton — won the Nobel Prize in physics Tuesday for helping create the building blocks of machine learning that is revolutionizing the way we work and live but also creates new threats for humanity. Hinton, who is known as the godfather of […]
Good morning, WLBOTT World! The word for today is transformation—a fitting theme for personal growth, just like our WLBOTT blog. – Elder G Yesterday’s BLOTT featured the small, self-contained 1MW personal fusion generator (P-FuG). But how do we get from our current state of engineering to the P-FuG? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermediate_value_theorem In a nutshell, the Intermediate Value […]
Kaos is a new 8-episode series on Netflix. WLBOTT Ministry of Virtue and ViceNot for the children. Maybe not for some adults. There is violence. There is gender-bending. There is satire of organized religion. Although not graphically explicit, there are scenes that imply animal cruelty. Kaos is an unusually creative and though-provoking fantasy. Set in […]
WLBOTT’s most eligible (and only) bachelor, UC#2, will be heading to Düsseldorf this week as part of his summer scholarship. Semi-Sequitur: Please try this Say this three times, and your mood will improve 27%: Düssel Düssel Dorf Dorf DorfDüssel Düssel Dorf Dorf DorfDüssel Düssel Dorf Dorf Dorf Anyhow, UC#2 will be in close proximity to […]
This may seem obscure, but it makes me nervous. There are some very serious people worrying about this. Russia, with their insatiable greed and lust for power, has their eye on the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia). Many fear that Russia’s original plan was to use Ukraine (their 3-day special military operation) as a […]
On August 6th, 2024, Ukraine made a well-planned incursion into Kursk. The Kursk Oblast (or state) is an 11,582 sq. mile area that borders eastern Ukraine. It has a population of just over a million, and has been populated since the last ice age. Eduard Mykhailovych Moskaliov (Ukrainian: Едуард Михайлович Москальов; born 22 December 1973) […]
I recently began reading the excellent book The Heat Will Kill You First, by Jeff Goodell. Executive summary: We’re doomed. Goodell dedicates some of the book to discussing air conditioning and how this technology has allowed people to live in hotter climates but also has become a major contributor to global warming. Goodell explains how […]
Our initial intent was to describe, in great detail, the 105 Lighthouses of Iceland. But our attention was soon redirected when we learned of Þrídrangaviti. Without a doubt, Þrídrangaviti is one of the most dramatic, unique and visually stunning lighthouses in Icelandic territory. The lighthouse is built atop an enormous, 120-foot basalt stack in the […]
WLBOTT is excited about our first official diplomatic visit to Iceland! Passports First order of business: getting passports for our ambassador UC#1 and his wife, UC#1SU. Elder G has agreed to be our Chief of Protocol for our embassy in Iceland. He, too, requires a passport. I’d be honored to serve as the “Chief of […]