I was wondering about all of the original Russian Oligarchs who got fantastically wealthy in the “free market reforms” after the fall of the Soviet Union.

I suppose if you have money, you want power.  And if you have power, you want money.  So conflict was inevitable between the Oligarchs and their rulers.

The Mafia-style economy and government of Russia led to Mafia-style conflicts and, ahem, resolutions.  It seems none of the original Oligarchs are left.  All died in mysterious circumstances.  Some good folks did the work for me and put together a list.  I wonder if Elon Musk and his ilk are fans of history.  I suspect not.

There’s illegal gambling going on online?  I’m shocked!  (Apologies to Casablanca).  From the Albuquerque Journal.

New Mexico tribes sue Kalshi, alleging illegal sports betting on tribal lands

Probably more of a local story from KTSM.  The last line sort of cracked me up.

The Diocese says this property is part of a holy site. Atop the mountain sits a 29-foot-tall limestone statue of Jesus Christ “that serves as a shrine to thousands of faithful in the El Paso and Southern New Mexico area.”

…

KTSM has reached out to the Department of Justice for comment and about the government’s plans for the statue of Jesus Christ that sits atop of the mountain.

Federal government seeks to condemn Mount Cristo Rey for border security

We are planning a trip to Portugal later in the year.  I was googling around and found out there was a famous Portuguese explorer responsible for much of that country’s success in that era named Afonso de Albuquerque.  I’ve heard of Henry the Navigator, Vasco de Gama and maybe some other Portuguese explorers, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of this Albuquerque fellow.  He seems to be quite important to the Portuguese success during those times.

I also learned there are two different Dukes, one in Spain and one in Portugal that spell the name differently:  Duke of Alburquerque (Spanish, with an “r”) and Duke of Albuquerque (Portuguese, without the “r”)

These days I live just outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico and it definitely has a Spanish history, but the name of the city follows the Portuguese spelling.  It also seems the city changed its spelling at some point.  Around 1858 a French priest began to use the Portuguese spelling and somehow, inexplicably, it stuck.

I admit I still probably would have trouble spelling either version, since I mostly rely on auto-complete for this one.  BTW, spell check flags the “r” spelling as incorrect.  I suppose that is mostly right.

More AI data center madness.

AI data center project secretly sucked 29 million gallons of water over 15 months before detected by residents complaining about low water pressure — officials refuse to fine builders of massive 6.2 million-square-foot facility over unauthorized water use

From Taste.

I Want to Live Like Costco People

A trip to Taos from the London Review of Books blog.

In Taos

In Korea, unions are getting a share of the profits for employees.

AI boom drives SK Hynix to pay $477,000 bonus per employee

From Wired.

This Summer, the American Water Crisis Becomes Real

The real reason solar and wind power keeps getting deployed is that it is cheap.  Very cheap.  So places that use lots of solar and wind should be seeing cheaper electricity.   In Spain it’s happening that way.  Oh, and they have cut their dependence on imported fossil fuels by over 50%.

Renewables growth cut Spain’s electricity bills by 24.2% over the past two years