Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 7/28

[SVPete]

Blowing the Whistle on the Blindingly Obvious

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/07/blowing-the-whistle-on-the-blindingly-obvious.php

The London Times reports that “green” energy threatens Britain’s ability to keep the lights on:

Britain’s race to net zero will leave the country at greater risk of blackouts and higher electricity bills, a confidential report commissioned by the national grid system has warned.

The report, disclosed to The Times by a whistleblower, revealed the National Energy System Operator (Neso) cannot accurately model the modern power system as the government pursues a drive towards renewable energy sources.

Of course it can’t accurately model the power system! Wind and solar are intermittent, weather-dependent electricity sources. There is no way to predict, or to control, when they will produce electricity and when they will not. This has been obvious to everyone for a long time, but apparently it took a “confidential report” and a “whistleblower” to bring the facts to the attention of the British public.

This blindingly predictable issue is becoming a problem in some US regions, with California being a moronic pioneer. US states and the Feds need to stop mandating utility purchases and subsidies of these boondoggles. They have been subsidized and have been failing since the Carter MalAdministration!

[SVPete]

Marines Just Added AI That Turns M240 Machine Guns Into Drone Killers

https://www.military.com/marines-just-added-ai-that-that-turns-m240-machine-guns-into-drone-killers

The Marine Corps has selected Allen Control Systems’ Bullfrog autonomous weapon station for integration into its Light Marine Air Defense Integrated System (L-MADIS) under the Ground-Based Air Defense (GBAD) program, according to a company announcement this week.

The move pairs the AI-powered robotic mount with the M240 machine gun already familiar to Marines, giving the service’s most expeditionary counter-drone platform a kinetic option that can detect, track and engage Group 1 through Group 3 unmanned aircraft systems at a fraction of the cost of missile interceptors.

The article does not give a deployment schedule, but some time in 2027 looks possible. This also looks to be one layer of several in an anti-drone system that uses lower-cost munitions to take out low-cost drones.

[RonE]

No matter one's politics, you can't find a single person who won't agree that there have been zillions of terrible decisions made by governments at every level. But, there's this group of pin cushioned, pink haired idiots who believe the government should push out the energy providers (who actually understand how these things work) and install government "public servants" (who can't master jumper cables)  take the whole thing over. Damn, these people are criminally stupid.
And the UK is leading the way to the cliff.