As mesmerizing as it is disturbing 😳

Welp, DARPA just flew a Blackhawk helicopter with no pilot

WELP, DARPA JUST FLEW A BLACK HAWK HELICOPTER WITH NO PILOT
https://futurism.com/the-byte/black-hawk-helicopter-no-pilot

The eerie aircraft is equipped with a new AI from Lockheed Martin dubbed the “Aircrew Labor In-Cockpit Automation System,” according to a DARPA press release. It allowed the chopper to fly itself for 30 minutes during a test flight on February 5.

Intriguingly, the system is designed to be easily fitted into “existing manned aircraft.” Plug and play — except it’s a killer robot potentially armed with deadly weapons.

The new flying killbot was ostensibly created to give the Army “operational flexibility,” Stuart Young, program manager at DARPA, said in the release. This means pilots can focus on other priorities during missions rather than flying a whole helicopter.

Hold it - Melania Trump bought her own hat for $170,000?

I saw this mentioned scrolling through Twitter this morning and had to look it up.
Excellent reporting by Vice as usual.

Analyzing the Very Bizarre Sale of Melania Trump’s $170,000 NFT

The crypto used to purchase the former first lady’s NFT came from the NFT creator themselves, blockchain records reveal. But why?

https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7vpx8/analyzing-the-very-bizarre-sale-of-melania-trumps-dollar170000-nft

After the auction's conclusion, the New York Times ran a piece describing the sale as attracting a few bids all around 1,800 SOL, ultimately ending with somebody purchasing the NFT for 1,800 SOL worth $170,000 at the time (now $200,000), a price far below the figure touted by the auction's press release and which the paper described as "deflated results" due to a wider crash in the price of cryptocurrencies.

Now, according to Solana blockchain records reviewed by Motherboard and shared with an independent researcher, we know who bought the NFT collection: Melania Trump herself, or at least, whoever set up the auction for her. In a statement to Motherboard from "the Office of Melania Trump," Trump said "the nature of Blockchain protocol is entirely transparent. Accordingly, the public can view each transaction on the blockchain. The transaction was facilitated on behalf of a third-party buyer."

Despite the transparent nature of the blockchain, however, Trump's office would not elaborate on who actually bought the NFT or the details around why the transaction was set up so that the creator of the NFT provided the crypto to the auction winner, and seemingly got the funds back.

One of the few plausible scenarios, if what Trump's camp is saying is true, is that the NFT project went through the trouble of facilitating a buyer not using crypto—instead of anyone bidding SOL through the auction website—because crypto was crashing and the bids, all around 1,800 SOL, no longer came close to the stated minimum of $250,000 USD. Perhaps the buyer was willing to pay $250,000 in dollars (or more), and Trump's NFT project effectively made them the winner, converting a portion of it into SOL to win the auction. It's worth noting that the "3CTu" address holds over $400,000 worth of USDC tokens, which it converted a portion of into SOL to use in the auction, and back into USDC. However, even in this scenario it's not clear why this middle wallet was needed, versus the NFT creator address sending the funds straight to the winner and back again.

Peanut Butter and Mayonnaise 😳

Who wants a giggle to start the day? 😁

Construction Workers Installing the Antenna on the Top of the World Trade Center, 1979

Trump pic with "assistant". Twitter dissects the details.

"Inventing Anna" on Netflix. First episode is pretty good.

Starring Julia Garner - “RUTH” from Ozark. Man is she on a roll.

First of a 9 part miniseries based on a con artist (maybe) in Manhattan Anna Sorokin or Delvy. It’s as mulch about the reporter as it is Anna. Very good so far.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8740976/fullcredits

I don’t know the full story and I’m trying to just watch it as it unfolds.

My wife and I started watching it on her lunch break here at home. I’ve got a few days before I have to go back to work following my surgery.

Well Kentucky you sure can pick em - Thomas Massie (R-KY 4th) is a moron

Super Bowl halftime 1989 - Elvis Presto 😳😆