The first Jack O'Lanterns were carved from Turnips (or arguably rutabagas)

According to legend, Jack was a wicked man, who managed to cheat the devil himself, and as a result, Satan agreed that he would never take Jack's soul to hell.

However, being such a wicked man, when he died, Jack found himself unable to gain entry to heaven. He pleaded with the devil to take him, but he reminded Jack that per their agreement, he could not take him to hell, and so with nowhere else to go, Jack would be doomed to wander the earth for all eternity.

Jack asked the devil to at least give him a lantern to light his way, and the devil tossed Jack a burning coal, which jack stuck inside of the turnip he had been eating when he died to use as a makeshift lantern.

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When my wife and I first moved in together, we had a small apartment without much room on our patio for Jack O'Lanterns. Undeterred, I went back to the original concept and started carving turnips, which fit much better on the outside of our windowsill.

To hollow them out I use a forstner bit that's a little bigger than the LED tea lights I stick in them.

I think they have a lot more character and are a lot creepier than pumpkins.

Ad stolen from !vintageads@sh.itjust.works

Post with original ad https://sh.itjust.works/post/69023099

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/12142933

In an interview with Russia’s state news agency TASS on Tuesday, Oct. 27 the commander of Moscow’s Akhmat special forces unit, Lt. Gen. Apti Alaudinov complained that NATO nations were using the war in Ukraine to test drone technology in combat against Russia.

He commented that large numbers of Western manufactured unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) were being encountered: “We see that drones manufactured in all these countries, which are members of the NATO alliance, are being tested against us on the line of engagement.”

Alaudinov claimed that these included drones of every type, capability and operational ranges. According to him, this not only included first-person view (FPV) drones used to attack Russian forces and equipment on the front line but also included long-range UAVs that were being used to carry out deep strikes against towns, cities and infrastructure inside Russia.

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Archived

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/12143041

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/12143036

• EU-Australia FTA will remove 5.5% critical minerals tariff
• Agreement expected to be signed early next year
• Australia, EIB 'very close' to MOU for funding arm
• Looking initially at rare earths, gallium, antimony

...

The European ​Union expects a wave of investment into the Australian critical minerals sector as it ‌pushes to diversify its supply chain away from China, the bloc's ambassador to Australia Lawrence Meredith said on Tuesday.

Australia and the European Union struck a free trade agreement in March after eight years of negotiations, removing tariffs on almost all goods ​and easing EU access to Australian critical minerals.

...

"It is going to be a game changer," Meredith said.

In parallel, talks are "very close" for Australia to ​sign a memorandum of understanding with the European Investment Bank, which would act as the bloc's funding ​vehicle, Meredith added.

"The European Union will be massively investing in critical minerals. Since we wish to diversify away from China, then one of the most likely partners has to be Australia," he said.

EU policy proposals have laid out as much ​as €10 billion ($11.2 billion) for critical raw materials within the larger €409 billion competitiveness fund, as the EU debates its ​budget from 2028 to 2034. Australia is one of several critical minerals "superpowers" in which the EU is looking to invest, ‌including Brazil, ⁠South Africa and Canada. The EU also expects to invest along the supply chain, including in processing, Meredith said.

...

It's ok if you don't, but if you do, try peaches too!

Do we really want that smarmy insufferable no talent shrew to be press secretary insider for 3.7 hours before being fired by a tangerine incel and his crooked brain V Chip?

After supersquirrel's post about the threats posed by bottom trawlers on undersea mountains, here's one showing how important they can be for oceanic eel love-ins. Eels are amazing!

Ocean surveys have revealed that about 2.8 million eels gather for months at an underwater mountain off Tasmania.

The annual aggregation is the only known spawning site globally for purely oceanic eels.

Further studies may determine where the eels come from and where their offspring go after spawning.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/12142796

Helsing, a German military AI company, unveiled its Contra AI-controlled autonomous air defense system via a video posted on X on Monday. Helsing described it as a cost-effective system optimized to tackle jet-powered drone and missile attacks.

Helsing’s Contra system is intended to solve the existing air defense conundrum where the only current way of effectively intercepting jet-powered drones such as Russia’s Geran 4s and 5s is the use of multimillion-dollar interceptors

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While still at the developmental stage, Helsing bills Contra, based on its well-proven Altra C2 platform, as an autonomous AI-based operation that will allow the real-time detection and engagement of hundreds or more drone and missile threats into a single air defense picture.

It is anticipated to be “field-ready” by late 2027, with Helsing saying its seekers rely on European supply chains and is free from Chinese components.

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Archived

Finding good Discord servers relevant to your interests can be tough unless you sift through Discord's own database or get an invite to one.

The popular messaging and chat service is looking to solve that problem with an obvious yet big change to the platform. Discord will now make public servers discoverable through Google Search.

On Tuesday, Discord announced that starting Nov. 16, 2026, all Discoverable Servers will receive a Server Web Page. These public Server Web Pages will include summaries of discussions happening in that public server. In addition, starting in mid-December, some messages within these servers will be made publicly accessible on the Server Web Page. There will be no need for visitors to join the server or even have a Discord account in order to see these messages.

cross-posted from: https://retrofed.com/c/casualconversation@piefed.social/p/2355887/i-m-planning-to-make-a-game-to-celebrate-the-50th-anniversary-of-the-voyager-missions-wh

I never finish projects, so I'd like to set a hard deadline, in this case 2027-08-20 (Voyager 2 launch)

I'm thinking that it could be a (local splitscreen? Or maybe like one of those hand-off/relay style story games where you pass the controller when it's your turn) co-op game where one player acts as Voyager 1 and the other as Voyager 2. It has to be a co-op game, we need more of those I think, and I would love to learn how to make one of those. Maybe you could solve puzzles or unlock secrets by working together, I dunno. The story will be a mix of real life events (emergencies / crisises that occurred during the mission, real images and recordings, etc.) and fictional bits too (nothing too outlandish though, probably not aliens I think?)

Both Voyager 1 and 2 explored Jupiter and Saturn, and while 2 went out to Uranus and Neptune, 1 did a flyby of Titan (the largest moon of Saturn). I'd like to include those five as "worlds" that each player has to explore. Voyager 1 has also passed the heliopause, and in a few weeks will have reached one light day from Earth, so I'd like to include that too. Perhaps there could be interesting things that happen as the Voyager probes travel the cosmos?

What are your thoughts? Are there any noteworthy events or challenges that the Voyager missions went through that I should include in the game?

The project is still in very early planning stages, but I think it's a really cool way to celebrate the Voyager missions!

Anyone else having this issue? Doesn't matter if I use the power button or select "Sleep" from the menu, my Deck wakes right back up within 10 seconds.

cross-posted from: https://scribe.disroot.org/post/12143036

• EU-Australia FTA will remove 5.5% critical minerals tariff
• Agreement expected to be signed early next year
• Australia, EIB 'very close' to MOU for funding arm
• Looking initially at rare earths, gallium, antimony

...

The European ​Union expects a wave of investment into the Australian critical minerals sector as it ‌pushes to diversify its supply chain away from China, the bloc's ambassador to Australia Lawrence Meredith said on Tuesday.

Australia and the European Union struck a free trade agreement in March after eight years of negotiations, removing tariffs on almost all goods ​and easing EU access to Australian critical minerals.

...

"It is going to be a game changer," Meredith said.

In parallel, talks are "very close" for Australia to ​sign a memorandum of understanding with the European Investment Bank, which would act as the bloc's funding ​vehicle, Meredith added.

"The European Union will be massively investing in critical minerals. Since we wish to diversify away from China, then one of the most likely partners has to be Australia," he said.

EU policy proposals have laid out as much ​as €10 billion ($11.2 billion) for critical raw materials within the larger €409 billion competitiveness fund, as the EU debates its ​budget from 2028 to 2034. Australia is one of several critical minerals "superpowers" in which the EU is looking to invest, ‌including Brazil, ⁠South Africa and Canada. The EU also expects to invest along the supply chain, including in processing, Meredith said.

...

Huge clouds of methane have been detected by satellite over Chevron's Gorgon LNG project in northern WA, prompting a warning from the United Nations.

Methane is thought to be responsible for about 25 per cent of global warming.

The WA government is investigating the reports "to understand what compliance or regulatory measures may be required".

This keeps happening over and over again and we still don't tax these fossil fuel exploiters how they should be! Grrrr...

Owners of AI-run firms would evade liability for "reckless" AI, US Rep. Comer says.