Odds and Ends — 5 March 2026

about 4 hours ago

Cryptocurrency, Investing, Money, Economy, Business, AI, and Debt:

Bitcoin is now a main player in the global energy war

Faced with rising electricity prices, Americans are stealthily adding DIY solar systems. And they aren’t telling utilities

Core Scientific Secures Up to $1 Billion From Morgan Stanley for Pivot From Bitcoin Mining to AI

Flash Fiction:

”Well, we wouldn’t want to hurt your feelings but Mr. Bishop has a need for that cabin. You’ve got a chip on your shoulder but he really doesn’t care to tolerate your domination of a very tiny world. This region has been under your family’s control for three generations and that cabin and the land that it’s on is the linchpin. Sign it over to Mr. Bishop or your grandson will have a tragic accident.”

“What are you talking about? I don’t have a grandson.”

”Your daughter hasn’t told you she’s pregnant? How unfortunate.”

Written for this prompt.

Coronavirus and Public Health:

COVID’s origins: what we do and don’t know

Iran:

https://twitter.com/GeoffRBennett/status/2029280946525225076
https://twitter.com/leylahamed/status/2029295119208194364

U.S. Attacked Iran Because Trump ‘Had a Good Feeling’

https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/2029369292282638782

China, Japan, and South Korea just lost their main source of natural gas:

https://twitter.com/qatarenergy/status/2029171082444312660
https://twitter.com/Polymarket/status/2029248304559579638
https://twitter.com/typesfast/status/2029212957134197122
https://twitter.com/FT/status/2029212367377101174

Senate Backs Trump’s War with Iran

‘The AK-47 of the skies’: How Iran’s cheap drones are reshaping this war

Cheap, mass-produced and deadly: Drone swarms stretch air defences, widen battlefield

https://twitter.com/covie_93/status/2029234691409080607

https://twitter.com/MattKibbe/status/2029253763798589801

https://twitter.com/NewYorker/status/2029285993812251024

https://twitter.com/Mylovanov/status/2029301428997550264

Oh, sure, Trump’s mercurial enough that he might just want to declare victory. But as James Mattis has said, “the enemy gets a vote.” Iran might well be in no mood to play along. After all, they don’t need a “win” in any traditional sense. They just need to not lose.

https://twitter.com/WeTheBrandon/status/2029319973034656220

https://twitter.com/EmeraldRobinson/status/2029243140327034964

https://twitter.com/NiallStanage/status/2029308202731344060
https://twitter.com/anniekarni/status/2029313754618278325

Politics:

https://twitter.com/Acyn/status/2029224565168324732

How a major DOE report hides the whole truth on climate change

The Trump administration recruited five marginalized researchers to challenge the international consensus on global warming. Here’s how it went wrong.

https://twitter.com/fawfulfan/status/2029157638609506600

———— The Epstein Coverup ————

House committee subpoenas Pam Bondi to testify on her handling of the Epstein case

———— Autocracy R Us ————

Trump’s Autopen Case Against Biden Falls Apart

The Justice Department, in the wake of calls by President Trump to criminally investigate former President Joseph R. Biden Jr., scrutinized whether Mr. Biden and his aides broke the law in using the autopen to sign presidential documents, but was ultimately unable to move forward with making a case.
The department’s failure to build a criminal case against Mr. Biden and his aides is the latest example of its increasing inability to follow through on Mr. Trump’s demands and bring indictments against those he wants to be criminally targeted. Some of those cases were rejected by grand juries, some were rejected by judges and some, like the autopen case, were abandoned by prosecutors.