Factual Dispatch

In case you missed it, Sudan had a revolution this week. Omar al-Bashir (who came to power in a coup in 1989) the embattled leader of Sudan, stepped down after months of protest, capped off by hundreds of thousands surrounding the Sudanese Army HQ for days. Alaa Salah has become the face of the rebellion as the face of the stunning image that heads up this week's newsletter. The white dress (called a thoub), gold earrings, and stark pose have earned her the name of Kandaka, connecting her struggle to the fight of many nubian queens before her, sharing the plight with others around the world. After a state of emergency was declared two months ago, brutal anti-demonstration actions taken by the police, a populace exhausted by civil war, a decade of American sanctions, and corruption so thick you could use it to grease a truck's axle, change may be coming to Khartoum.

Something as simple as the cost of bread tripling allowed massive anti-government protests to mushroom, echoing and reinvigorating a movement that was thought to be stamped out back in 2013. While the nation is no stranger to revolution, overthrowing military rule both in 1964 and 1985, manyc did not believe al-Bashir would be removed from power. With internet blackouts and widespread repression, the odds for the mostly women-led protests looked bleak even a week ago. But memes like Tasgut Bas in clothes & at protests around the world, or the #WeAreAllDarfur tag and other civil actions have been in the works for months, if not years. Even with al-Bashir gone, the Sudanese continue to grapple with how civic Islam, federalism, and democracy can help the fledgling nation heal its self-inflicted wounds and forge a new path along with Morocco, Tunisia and other developing North African nations trying to stand up on their own feet in the face of Islamic terrorism, turbulent economic waters, and occasional occidental assholery. 

The defense internet world throbbed with fear boners about the debut of China's first laser, or as they're referred to in the industry, directed energy weapons. While America is already working on adding lasers to Stryker tanks, get used to seeing major budget requests for laser funding. The smart money says we're 3-5 years away from being able to use directed energy weapons to burn drones out of the sky and remove cruise missiles from a ship's common attack vectors minutes before a fuel-using intercept could be launched. In more dystopian news, policy hawks are already assessing how to amend legal language preventing the use of incendiary devices against humans. Seriously, to quote: 

Instant incineration does not cause unncessary suffering, that is true I suppose. And it isn't just the Air Force, there are (Booz Allen Hamilton written) recommendations for how best to deploy directed energy weapons for all branches of the military. Here's a good read on some of the most common maritime laser systems, but make no mistake about it, the Era of Pew Fucking Pew is upon us.

If you don't care about Marvel or the Avengers, you might've missed this disturbingly penetrative story over the last week or two. A bunch of people spent a bunch time arguing on the internet about whether Ant-Man (Power: Expanding/Contracting in size) could go up the butt of Thanos (bad guy from Infinity War) and expand to defeat him, even with his relative omniscience and ultimate power. The bunch got so big that Paul Rudd was confronted with it, Josh Brolin posted on IG from the can, and physicists spent hours arguing about the rectal tolerance of the one who wields all of the Infinity Stones. And since rectal tolerance is a term I was forced to learn, so I had to share it with you. This is proof that if a meme gets big enough (like, M87 size), it eventually swallows everything in its path, and we're all forced to deal with it for a moment. Even Thanos of Titan. 

Eye-Watering Data Visualization of the Week: Here's a quick map of where humans aren't, in the USA

Conversely, the Northeast Megatropolis has more than 52 million people, enveloping almost 20% of the US population:

Vaguely Dystopian News of the Week: There are Chinese troops rumored to be on the ground in Venezuela right now, which significantly alters the calculus for Mustache Bolton & the Neo-Fascists who have been waiting to free the shit out of Venezuela and its energy reserves. Also, NATO StratCom put its face into social media manipulation and found out quite a bit. "Huh, Interesting" Reads of the Week: Your internal mental reward system can affect your mind's spatial & topological awareness, as any Krispy Kreme fan or Comic Con vendor floor acolyte could tell you. Also, humans are starting to develop weird new abilities in parallel to health tech providing them with biofeedback.  Annoying-But-Correct Takes of the Week: I can't stand Assange for a plurality of reasons, including the credible allegations of sexual assault against him. But supporting the idea that publishers we don't like should be arrested for sharing material we don't want to be shared is a really bad step in an even worse direction. Somewhat more depressingly, there is no durable way to retain wealth over the very long term, even for kings. Dunk of the Week: Rep. Mike Doyle rocks Rep. Greg Walden's world while the House debates a new Net Neutrality bill.

The Sun is returning, make sure to walk in the light when you can,T