Satire:
KGB Report is published Monday through Thursday, is assembled by an aging human, and contains no intentional A.I. generated material. Have a great weekend!
August 26 is the 239th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 126 days remain until the end of the year. As of this writing, 876 days remain in Trump’s final term of office.
Knee-deep in the hoopla:
Deadly Nepal flood may have been caused by ice snapping off glacier, scientists say. An initial assessment of satellite imagery suggests an “ice avalanche” from a high-altitude glacier sent a giant cascade into the valley below. (New York Times gift article.) The videos are horrific- worse than any disaster movie. (Video)
The events in Nepal on Wednesday, which have left at least 95 people dead and hundreds missing, provided a grim warning of the potential destruction which experts fear could take place in the Pacific Northwest at any time. (Daily Mail)
Mathematician predicted doomsday will arrive in three months - and he’s already been correct about AI. In 1960, the prestigious academic publication Science featured research from three distinguished scholars at the University of Illinois. Their work cautioned that a potential apocalyptic scenario could unfold on Friday, November 13, 2026. (The Mirror US)
Tim Curry, iconic character actor and ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ star, dies at 80. Curry, who suffered a stroke in 2012 that put him in a wheelchair, died Tuesday night at his home in Los Angeles, according to his longtime manager and friend Marcia Hurwitz. No cause was disclosed. (AP)
Jaye P. Morgan, a jack-of-all-trades entertainer who was a pop and TV star, dies at 94. One of the top female recording artists of the 1950s with five hits in 1955 alone, she later became a frequent talk show guest and game show panelist, infamously taking off her shirt on “The Gong Show.” Morgan died Monday of natural causes in Longview, Washington.
CIA Chief’s surprise Moscow trip was to warn Russia not to attack NATO. The trip was spy-agency chief John Ratcliffe’s first publicly known visit to the Russian capital. It followed new U.S. intelligence assessments, reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, that Russian President Vladimir Putin could try to test the resolve of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization with a limited assault on an allied country in the next few years. (Wall Street Journal gift article)
Trump apparently found a two-hour break in his presidential schedule Wednesday to fire off 46 posts in rapid succession on Truth Social. They covered a range of topics, none of which having anything to do with national issues. Thank God. (The Daily Beast)
Trump is ‘dissociating’ as his ‘downfall’ nears: Nobel economist. As it becomes increasingly evident that his “downfall” is imminent, he is going to lash out and cause as much damage to the country as he can before “losing all of his power.” This is according to Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, who warned on Wednesday that Trump’s collapse has similarities to that of one of history’s greatest tyrants. (Alternet)
Designer creates world’s most hideous Hawaiian shirt to hide from AI surveillance cameras. “To a human it reads as an almost hypnotic textile; to the AI model it reads as nothing at all.” (Futurism)
Man stole £50,000 from vulnerable dad and spent it on sausage rolls and OnlyFans. “At least you didn’t waste it.” (Metro UK)
Keep scrolling… lots of interesting stuff in Quote of the Day, Holidays, On This Day, Birthdays, and Deaths. I can pretty much guarantee you’ll learn something new.
History highlight:
1883 – Eruption of Krakatoa: Four enormous explosions almost completely destroyed the island of Krakatoa and caused years of climate change.
Quote of the day:
What experience and history teach is this- that nations and governments have never learned anything from history, or acted upon any lessons they might have drawn from it.
--Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (Wikipedia link)
(One of 52,783 quotations from the searchable KGB Quotations Database.)
Click here for more Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel quotes.
Today’s holidays:
“The Duchess” Who Wasn’t Day, International Lottery Day, Just Because Day, Kiss Me Day, National Banana Lovers Day, National Burger Day (UK), National Petroleum Day, National Pots de Crème Day, Tarzan Day, Thoughtful Thursday, World Lake Day, and World Rock Paper Scissors Day.
Subscriptions are free. There are no paywalls hiding stuff and links to paywalled sources are provided via gift articles (just close the popups asking for emails or subscriptions). That said, a paid subscription will help keep the lights on and, more importantly, keep the puppies and kitties in kibble and litter. If you don’t want to go the paid subscription route, please consider donating a buck or two.
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—Kevin G. Barkes (KGB)
On This Day:
2011 – Hurricane Irene struck the United States east coast, killing 47 and causing an estimated $15.6 billion in damage.
2007 – NFL star Michael Vick pled guilty in dogfighting case.
2003 – Mars made its closest approach to Earth in nearly 60,000 years, passing 34,646,418 miles (55,758,005 km) distant.
1991 – The European Community recognized the independence of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
1979 – The Troubles: Eighteen British soldiers were killed at the Warrenpoint ambush by the Provisional Irish Republican Army near Warrenpoint, Northern Ireland, in the deadliest attack on British forces during Operation Banner. An IRA bomb also killed British royal family member Lord Mountbatten and three others on his boat at Mullaghmore, Republic of Ireland.
1976 – Transgender athlete Renée Richards barred from U.S. Open.
1967 – Beatles manager Brian Epstein died.
1964 – The musical “Mary Poppins” premieres in Los Angeles. (Video)
1963 – An explosion at the Cane Creek potash mine near Moab, Utah killed 18 miners.
1956 – The nuclear power station at Calder Hall in the United Kingdom was connected to the national power grid becoming the world’s first commercial nuclear power station to generate electricity on an industrial scale.
1955 – The first edition of the Guinness Book of Records was published in Great Britain.
1939 – First flight of the turbojet-powered Heinkel He 178, the world’s first jet aircraft.
1928 – The Kellogg–Briand Pact outlawing war was signed by fifteen nations. Ultimately sixty-one nations will sign it.
1916 – World War I: The Kingdom of Romania declared war on Austria-Hungary, entering the war as one of the Allied nations.
1908 – The Qing dynasty promulgated the Qinding Xianfa Dagang, the first constitutional document in the history of China, transforming the Qing empire into a constitutional monarchy.
1896 – Anglo-Zanzibar War: The shortest war in world history (09:02 to 09:40), between the United Kingdom and Zanzibar.
1893 – The Sea Islands hurricane struck the United States near Savannah, Georgia, killing between 1,000 and 2,000 people.
1883 – Eruption of Krakatoa: Four enormous explosions almost completely destroyed the island of Krakatoa and caused years of climate change.
1881 – The Georgia hurricane made landfall near Savannah, Georgia, resulting in an estimated 700 deaths.
1859 – Petroleum was discovered in Titusville, Pennsylvania, leading to the world’s first commercially successful oil well.
1776 – American Revolutionary War: British forces under General William Howe flank and defeat the Continental Army under General George Washington during the Battle of Long Island, with the 1st Maryland Regiment sustaining heavy casualties to cover retreating American troops.
410 – The sacking of Rome by the Visigoths ends after three days.
(For more comprehensive lists of the day’s historical events, check here, here, and here.)
Some Birthdays:
2007 – Ariana Greenblatt, American actress
1995 – Jessie Mei Li, English actress
1992 – Kim Petras, German singer-songwriter
1992 – Blake Jenner, American actor and singer
1988 – Alexa PenaVega, American actress and singer
1986 – Mario, American singer and actor
1985 – Kayla Ewell, American actress
1984 – Amanda Fuller, American actress
1981 – Karla Mosley, American actress
1981 – Patrick J. Adams, Canadian actor
1979 – Aaron Paul, American actor and producer
1978 – Demetria McKinney, American actress and singer
1976 – Sarah Chalke, Canadian actress (Video)
1969 – Chandra Wilson, American actress and director
1969 – Cesar Millan, Mexican-American dog trainer, television personality, and author
1961 – Tom Ford, American fashion designer and film director
1961 – Yolanda Adams, American singer, producer, and actress
1955 – Diana Scarwid, American actress
1952 – Paul Reubens, American actor and comedian (died 2023)
1950 – Charles Fleischer, American comedian and actor
1949 – Jeff Cook, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2022)
1947 – Barbara Bach, American actress and model
1944 – G. W. Bailey, American actor
1943 – Tuesday Weld, American model and actress
1942 – Daryl Dragon, American keyboard player and songwriter (died 2019)
1937 – Tommy Sands, American pop singer and actor
1929 – Ira Levin, American novelist, playwright, and songwriter (died 2007)
1928 – Joan Kroc, American philanthropist (died 2003)
1921 – Leo Penn, American actor, director, and screenwriter (died 1998)
1916 – Martha Raye, American actress and comedian (died 1994)
1916 – Gordon Bashford, English engineer, co-designed the Range Rover (died 1991)
1908 – Lyndon B. Johnson, American commander and politician, 36th President of the United States (died 1973)
1906 – Ed Gein, American murderer and body snatcher, The Butcher of Plainfield (died 1982)
1899 – C. S. Forester, English novelist (died 1966)
1890 – Man Ray, American-French photographer and painter (died 1976)
1871 – Theodore Dreiser, American novelist and journalist (died 1945)
1770 – Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, German philosopher and academic (died 1831)
(A more complete list of today’s birthdays.)
Some Deaths:
2016 – Cookie, Australian Major Mitchell’s cockatoo, oldest recorded parrot (born 1933)
1996 – Greg Morris, American actor (born 1933)
1990 – Stevie Ray Vaughan, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer (born 1954)
1980 – Douglas Kenney, American actor, producer, and screenwriter (born 1947)
1975 – Haile Selassie, Ethiopian emperor (born 1892)
1971 – Bennett Cerf, American publisher, co-founded Random House (born 1898)
1967 – Brian Epstein, English businessman and manager of The Beatles (born 1934)
1964 – Gracie Allen, American actress and comedian (born 1895)
1963 – W. E. B. Du Bois, American sociologist, historian, and activist (born 1868)
1948 – Charles Evans Hughes, American lawyer and politician, 11th Chief Justice of the United States (born 1862)
(A more complete list of today’s deaths.)
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