tobychev @tobychev@qoto.org

Another deep dive into Putin’s private life with Alina Kabaeva from The Dossier Center. The main takeaway is that Putin leverages his inner circle's wealth to provide a princely life for his two young sons. dossier.center/succession-en/

Some other takeaways: they hire private tutors through publicly placed ads. Foreign national tutors (South Africans preferred) get healthcare at the same elite clinic that treats elites' prostitutes. Despite heavy isolation, there are strange loopholes in the family's security (unless Putin is visiting).

Their eldest son apparently loves Disney heroes despite Putin’s hatred of Hollywood decadence. Kabaeva and Putin are grooming the boys for major sports exploits, but it's unclear if they've got mom's talents. A planned stint at the Sirius Lyceum in Sochi fell through due to security concerns.

Kabaeva has a whole coterie of Putin’s rich friends and their wives. She's also apparently recruited her own family, especially two cousins, to basically raise the kids for her.

The family has whole fleets of yachts and planes, all owned and made available by Putin’s inner circle through a network of companies and shareholdings that made my eyes go crossed.

All in all, maybe a bit tabloidy of an investigation, but Putin’s royal secrecy makes it all public interest in the end, I'd argue, given that this whole lavish lifestyle is ruling class politics in the end. Thank goodness for one thing: it doesn't seem that Putin is grooming his boys for politics, though sometimes politics finds such people...

Sweden’s foreign minister announces shock departure from politics
https://apnews.com/article/sweden-tobias-billstrom-foreign-ministry-quits-politics-bf0d386980ec945f589040ac48a07231

Important news from BepiColombo, ESA’s Mercury mission, due to below par performance of its key ion thrusters:

1. This week’s 4th Mercury flyby (23:48CEST on 4 Sep) has been deliberately altered to be 35km lower than originally planned, just 165km above the surface.

2. This is the first part of a new lower-power cruise trajectory that will see Bepi now enter Mercury orbit in Nov 2026, 11 months later than originally scheduled.

More below 👇

https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/BepiColombo/Fourth_Mercury_flyby_begins_BepiColombo_s_new_trajectory

#SpaceScience

On the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, explore two #RStats packages that provide crucial data on Latin American disappearances.

Digital tools can be important for understanding, documenting, and advocating for the victims and their families.

🇨🇱 pinochet: Data About the Victims of the Pinochet Regime, 1973-1990: https://danilofreire.r-universe.dev/pinochet

🇦🇷 presentes: Registry of Victims of State Terrorism in Argentina https://diegokoz.r-universe.dev/presentes

I’m happy to announce that our paper “Scenarios of future annual carbon footprints of astronomical research infrastructures” was published today by @NatureAstronomy.

In the paper we modelled the future evolution of the annual greenhouse gas emissions of astronomical facilities based on past trends for different scenarios. We demonstrated that without a #degrowth in the number of facilities astronomical research will not reach sustainability.

🧵 1/4

https://rdcu.be/dR0r8

Elon Musk said Tesla would open its Supercharger network, then nearly every automaker announced their vehicles would adopt Tesla’s charging standard.

Now, a year later, Tesla has fired the Supercharger team, the network still isn’t open, and charging adapters are nowhere to be found.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/business/energy-environment/tesla-electric-vehicle-charging.html

#tech #tesla #elonmusk #evs

The word "coach" originates from the Hungarian word "kocsi," which means "carriage of Kocs," named after a village in Hungary where these carriages were first made in the 15th century.

The term spread across Europe, becoming "kutsche" in German and "coche" in French.

By the 1830s, "coach" was used in English slang at Oxford University to describe a tutor who "carried" a student through exams.

The term was later applied to sports trainers in the 1860s.

#coach #coaching #language #etymology

Today (August 29) is the International Day against #NuclearTests. I spent over half my career so far advancing methods for the detection, location, and discrimination of nuclear explosions. It is a cause I am still passionately dedicated to and I still follow very closely research, technological, and political developments related to non-proliferation and test-ban verification. I will still contribute in any way within my capacity and expertise towards this aim.

https://www.un.org/en/observances/end-nuclear-tests-day

When Climate Change Funds Pay for Highway Expansion.

Several US states are tapping a federal carbon reduction program to fund highway projects, arguing that adding vehicle lanes can bring emissions down. #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis #GlobalWarming

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-08-07/can-adding-highway-lanes-bring-transportation-emissions-down

Visst kan man tycka att Lund är Sveriges bästa stad, men urvalskriterierna var rätt märkliga. Att det finns många krogar med uteservering är tydligen mycket viktigt, men hur bra skolan är spelar ingen som helst roll. Hur enkelt det är att få bygglov (en process som majoriteten av invånarna i en stad aldrig någonsin befattar sig med) har tydligen också betydelse, men inte hur trygga invånarna känner sig. #lund https://www.sydsvenskan.se/2024-08-29/lund-vinner-timbros-stadsindex/

"Handlingar, inte bara ord". Så heter den antirasistiska kampanj som Finlands regering lanserar nu.

Bakgrunden till kampanjen var rasismskandalerna kring regeringspartiet Sannfinländarna förra året som höll på att knäcka regeringen men desarmerades av ett löfte om en antirasistisk kampanj.

Nu ska Sannfinländarna inte medverka i kampanjen. De menar att förra årets skandal bara var en konspiration mot partiet.

Ser skakigt ut för regeringen.

https://svenska.yle.fi/a/7-10062793

#finland #sannfinländare

Massive Water Production from Lunar Ilmenite through Reaction with Endogenous Hydrogen: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666675824001280 -> Chang’e-5 samples inspire in situ water production on the #Moon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDNyMiC_MxY

I always have lunch alone in my car, not because I hate my workmates. It's because I don't want them to find out that I like to eat my pot noodle dry straight from the pot. I'd be mortified if they found out, they might think I'm weird.

There you go. Two and a half minutes of JWST time. Thanks to ESA for making it look very good. https://esawebb.org/images/potm2408b/

Fascinating nugget. I wasn't even aware that 🇯🇵 schools have their own songs 🎶
http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15399629

Africa asked for more say in global health decisions after Covid. It now has that. The mpox declaration is a test of this new power. African leaders now have to own the solutions to African problems – but that comes with a risk of friction with global health players. https://open.substack.com/pub/continent/p/mpox-declaration-marks-a-key-shift

New symbiosis just dropped! Sundews (Drosera) are a carnivorous plant genus found worldwide. I keep three species myself! They trap small prey with sticky secretions on tentacles. A new study finds that a particular fungus within the secretions does most of the grunt work of digesting the prey, sharing nutrients with the plant!

https://www.newswise.com/articles/new-discovery-fundamentally-changes-the-way-we-understand-charles-darwin-s-most-beloved-plant-the-sundew

Me: Trying to explain to people that #Minnesota has a lot of skilled chefs making good foods from many culinary traditions.

The Minnesota state fair: We have Lakota food, Hmong food, Somali food, and Dutch fried cakes made to be gluten-free.

Me: See what I mean?

The Minnesota state fair: We also have deep-fried ranch dressing on a stick.

Me: What.

Russian schools are introducing an extracurricular program in “family studies” that encourages “pro-family values such as marriage, large families, and chastity” in an effort to address the country’s “demographic issues.” Good luck, 5th–9th graders. https://verstka.media/semyevedenie-vvedut-v-programmu-s-novogo-uchebnogo-goda-news