Attention to the Unseen

Houthis’ lightning advance means a third of the world’s oil shipments is now under threat

From elsewhere — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 01:00:16 +0000

Robert F Worth writes: As recently as last week, the Iran war appeared to be turning slightly in America’s favor. The Houthis—the Yemen-based militia that is Iran’s most formidable remaining ally in the Middle East—were under pressure from their local rivals, and the Saudi air force was pounding them with air strikes. The president of Yemen’s internationally recognized government issued a triumphant statement declaring that the Houthis’ miscalculations “will open the door to their complete collapse.” With their Houthi partners...

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U.S. diesel price tops $6 per gallon, a record high as Ukraine and Iran wars ripple through economy

From elsewhere — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 01:00:03 +0000

CNBC reports: U.S. diesel prices hit $6 per gallon on Friday for the first time ever, as fuel supply disruptions triggered by the Ukraine and Iran wars raises transportation costs across the entire economy. Truckers and farmers are paying about 63% more to fill up their semis and tractors than they did at this time last year, according to data from AAA. The average price nationwide is now about $6.06 per gallon. Prices are even higher in California, the biggest...

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Trump has no concerns over AI’s existential risks and Congress is sleepwalking into a crisis

From elsewhere — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:59:42 +0000

Politico reports: President Donald Trump downplayed concerns about the catastrophic risks of artificial intelligence raised this week by some AI researchers, saying late Thursday he was focused instead on the U.S. losing its edge in the tech arms race. Asked whether he has concerns about existential risks posed by AI, the president said, “No, I don’t have any. “I have concerns that if we don’t win AI, we’re going to be put in a very bad position,” Trump told reporters...

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Sam Altman’s protection racket: Sell AI to utility companies to guard against the threat from AI

From elsewhere — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:59:27 +0000

Politico reports: OpenAI has met with representatives of multiple top power companies to discuss methods of securing the electrical grid, the artificial intelligence firm told POLITICO — conversations that occurred amid a continuing series of revelations about its own products’ role in a sprawling cyberattack. CEO Sam Altman has also offered one possible solution to the cybersecurity risks: OpenAI’s own cyber services. The energy security discussions, two of which were not previously reported, started July 20. Altman most recently met...

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How Israeli defense firms are powering European security

From elsewhere — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:59:14 +0000

Politico reports: On the last day of August, a group of Greek military officials arrived in Tel Aviv, led by Major General Ioannis Bouras, to sign what would become one of the largest defense export deals in both countries’ histories. The €3 billion agreement — called Achilles Shield — will provide a suite of Israeli tech to protect Greece against a wide range of threats, including missiles, aircraft and drones. The deal is the latest installment in a growing relationship...

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9/11 triggered a ‘war on terror’ that was never winnable

From elsewhere — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:59:00 +0000

Robin Wright writes: Twenty-five years ago, President George W. Bush made a sweeping pledge shortly after Al Qaeda’s airborne hijackers slaughtered almost three thousand people, from more than a hundred countries, at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and in Pennsylvania, on September 11, 2001. “Our war on terror begins with Al Qaeda, but it does not end there,” he told a joint session of Congress, about the deadliest terrorist attack in history. “It will not end until every terrorist...

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Rope, twine and thread: Invisible technologies of the Stone Age

From elsewhere — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:58:42 +0000

Benjamin Taub writes: When an abstract-looking ivory artifact emerged from the Hohle Fels cave in southern Germany in 2015, archaeologists didn’t know quite what to make of it. Previously, this same cave had yielded what may be the world’s oldest musical flutes, as well as one of humanity’s earliest pieces of figurative art, the iconic Venus of Hohle Fels. At first glance, this strange new discovery — a 20-centimeter rod perforated with four small holes — seemed comparatively unspectacular. But...

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Music: Bill Evans — ‘Alone Together’

From elsewhere — Sat, 12 Sep 2026 00:58:25 +0000

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Anthropic says it blocked possible efforts to build biological weapons

From elsewhere — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 01:42:30 +0000

The New York Times reports: Anthropic said it had disrupted several potential plots this year by scientists who used its leading artificial intelligence models to conduct research that could have helped develop biological weapons. In a report describing misuses of its A.I. models, Anthropic said it could not determine whether the research served a legitimate or nefarious purpose because valid biological inquiry — the kind that can lead to breakthroughs like vaccines — can also help engineer dangerous pathogens. In...

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More Anthropic researchers warn of AI’s perils as Musk terms fears a ‘psyop’

From elsewhere — Fri, 11 Sep 2026 01:42:14 +0000

The Guardian reports: A day after a former researcher at Anthropic made an apocalyptic declaration about artificial intelligence, more researchers and staff members at the AI startup publicly agreed with him and posted their own dire warnings. In response, Elon Musk and other conservative figures on X, formerly Twitter, called the chorus of concerns a “setup” and a “psyop”. The Anthropic insiders fear the technology they are building could become so advanced and dangerous as to cause human extinction within...

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