If Hudson Maxim Invented Smokeless Gunpowder, Why does Teddy Roosevelt Write of the Spanish (but not his army) Having Smokeless G During the Spanish American War?

The Background

Hudson Maxim was one of the key figures in developing smokeless gunpowder in the United States, but he wasn’t the sole inventor. The real breakthroughs happened earlier in Europe.

• 1884: Paul Vieille invents Poudre B in France.
• 1887: Alfred Nobel develops Ballistite.
• 1890s: Hudson Maxim works on U.S. smokeless powder, but the military is slow to adopt.

Roosevelt’s Observation

Theodore Roosevelt, in his writings about the Spanish-American War (1898), noted:

“The Spaniards used smokeless powder; our black powder betrayed our positions.”

He wasn’t exaggerating. U.S. volunteer forces like the Rough Riders were still issued black powder cartridges, particularly for .45-70 Springfield rifles and Colt revolvers. The Spanish, on the other hand, used Mauser 1893 rifles with 7mm smokeless cartridges.

Why the U.S. Lagged

1. Bureaucratic inertia: The U.S. Ordnance Department was slow to modernize.
2. Logistics: Old stockpiles and outdated supply chains still fed black powder.
3. Domestic production: U.S. smokeless powder capacity was still developing, despite Hudson Maxim’s work.

In Summary

• Hudson Maxim advanced smokeless powder in the U.S., but Europe led the way.
• Spain equipped its troops with modern rifles and smokeless cartridges.
• U.S. troops, particularly volunteers, were still using outdated black powder weapons.
• Roosevelt’s complaint reflected a real tactical disadvantage.

Can You Connect Pokemon, El Salvador, Snoop Dog and Human-Trafficking? (Hint: Crypto)

Faux follows the trail to a luxury resort in the Bahamas, where SBF boldly declares that he will use his crypto fortune to save the world. Faux talks his way onto the yacht of a former child actor turned crypto impresario and gains access to “ApeFest,” an elite party headlined by Snoop Dogg, by purchasing a $20,000 image of a cartoon monkey. In El Salvador, Faux learns what happens when a country wagers its treasury on Bitcoin, and in the Philippines, he stumbles upon a Pokémon knockoff mobile game touted by boosters as a cure for poverty. And in an astonishing development, a spam text leads Faux to Cambodia, where he uncovers a crypto-powered human-trafficking ring.

Jason Wadrop : Make $300 a Day Using AI by Being a Small Biz Middleman

Get an account at gohighlevel.com and use it to build platforms that get small business owners like hairstylists and electricians more business.

Sure, once everyone catches on, you've exhausted the entire potential of this idea in two days.. But, give the guy a chance. At least he's making money off YT ads..

Once you've got an account for the SBO, connect all of their social media accounts.

Use AI to do all of the content creation and posting.

You charge them about $200-300 a month. And, get about 30 of these clients. You do the math.

A Celebrity Who Teaches You How Shoplifting Is Done Right

In the corner of our kitchen stood a tall ramshackle monument of supermarket carry-baskets. Anthony and I had perfected a two-man method of shoplifting. One of us would walk through a market and fill up a carry-basket with expensive food, then walk purposefully through the store with it. When approaching the cash-registers and the entrance turnstile, the second guy would walk equally as purposefully in the opposite direction towards the exit but on the other side of the turnstile. Then a swift and flawless handoff of the basket of goods over the turnstile, the second guy exiting the store with the gourmet grub. With smooth efficiency, we perfected our timing like an Olympic event. 

Field Manual

Claude Code in 14 Days

From novice to skilled user — one focused session a day.

14 DAYS2 HRS / DAY28 HOURS TOTALDRILLS + TEACH-BACK

Each day has three parts: Learn the concept hands-on, run the Drill to build the habit, then answer the Teach-back question out loud as if explaining it to a beginner. The spots where you go vague are exactly the gaps to revisit before moving on.

Before Day 1: clone a small throwaway repo (or git init a junk project) as your sandbox, and keep everything in Git so every mistake is one git reset away. Exact slash commands and key bindings shift between versions — run /help inside Claude Code or check the official docs when something looks different.

0 / 14 days complete — check a day off as you finish it

Week 1 · Foundations

The mental model, the plan-first habit, and a complete feature loop.

01DAY

Setup & the agentic loop

Done

Get installed and form the right mental model before anything else.

Learn

Install via the native installer (or Homebrew / WinGet), then cd your-project && claude and log in. The core loop: you describe what you want → Claude reads files, edits them, and runs commands → you review and iterate. It's an agent, not autocomplete. Watch the permission prompts and actually read what it proposes before approving — that's your safety rail.

Drill

In your sandbox: ask "What does this project do? Summarize the structure." Then have it read one file and explain it step by step. Then ask for one trivial change (a comment or log line), approve it, and undo with git reset.

Teach-back

"What kind of tool is Claude Code, what actually happens in one turn when I send a message, and why does it ask permission before doing things?"

Resources · Quickstart · Overview

02DAY

Prompting & the explore→act→verify rhythm

Done

Output quality is mostly context and specificity, not magic words.

Learn

Specific beats vague: name the goal, the files, and the constraints. Give Claude a reference — pasting an example of good existing code noticeably improves output. Adopt the rhythm: explore (have it read and explain before changing anything) → act → verify (run the tests).

Drill

Write the same task two ways — once vaguely, once with explicit files, constraints, and a reference snippet — in two fresh sessions. Compare results and note exactly what made the better one better.

Teach-back

"A friend says Claude Code 'gives bad answers.' What three things do I tell them to put in a prompt to fix that, and why does an example file help so much?"

Resources · Best practices · Common workflows

03DAY

Plan Mode

Done

The single highest-leverage habit: make Claude think before it writes.

Learn

Press Shift+Tab to cycle into Plan Mode, where Claude reads and proposes an approach without editing. Why it matters: a feature has many decisions; if each is 80% right, all-correct odds are tiny — planning collapses them into one reviewed spec. Edit the plan before approving, and use the guard phrase "don't implement yet." Skip planning for a typo, a rename, or a one-liner.

Drill

Pick a task touching 2–3 files. Enter Plan Mode, ask for a detailed plan, deliberately tweak one step before approving, then let it implement and verify against the plan.

Teach-back

"What is Plan Mode, why does planning dramatically raise the odds of a good result on a big task, and how do I decide when a task is too small to bother?"

Resources · Best practices (planning)

04DAY

Context management + CLAUDE.md & memory

Done

Controlling what Claude knows — both the transient and the persistent.

Learn

Every turn re-sends the whole conversation: that bundle is the context window, and as it fills, Claude forgets early constraints and makes detail mistakes. Use /clear to reset and /compact to summarize; before clearing, write progress to a file (document-and-clear). For persistence, CLAUDE.md in your project root is read at the start of every session — generate a starter with /init, add commands, conventions, and checklists, keep it lean, and treat it as a living doc: every time Claude repeats a mistake, add a line. Commit it to Git.

Drill

Clutter a session, then have Claude write progress to notes.md and /clear. Next, run /init and hand-edit CLAUDE.md with your test command, one convention, and one "always X / never Y" rule. Start a fresh session and confirm it follows the rule unprompted.

Teach-back

"Why does a long session start making more mistakes, what's my routine for resetting without losing my place, and what belongs in CLAUDE.md (and what doesn't)?"

Resources · Memory & CLAUDE.md

05DAY

Slash commands + the full Git feature loop

Done

Run a complete feature end to end, streamlined with commands.

Learn

/help lists built-in commands (/clear, /compact, /init, /model, /mcp); custom slash commands save a reusable prompt so you stop re-typing scaffolding. Claude works directly with Git — staging, commit messages, branches, PRs. Chain it all: Plan Mode → implement → run tests and fix failures → review the diff yourself → commit. You are the reviewer; Claude is the author.

Drill

Implement one small real feature start to finish on a branch — plan, build, test, review the diff, commit (optionally open a PR). Then turn one prompt you typed more than once into a custom command.

Teach-back

"Walk me through shipping a feature from a fresh branch to a committed change — and where in that loop am I, the human, irreplaceable?"

Resources · CLI reference · Common workflows

06DAY

Debugging & test-driven workflows

Done

Make Claude prove its work runs — don't trust the explanation.

Learn

Paste an error message or describe the symptom; Claude traces it to a root cause and fixes it. For new behavior, work test-first: ask for a failing test, then implement until it passes, and have Claude run the suite and fix failures itself. The discipline: never accept "it should work" — make it actually run.

Drill

Introduce a bug in your sandbox and give Claude only the error message — let it find and fix it. Then ask it to write a failing test for a new behavior and make it pass.

Teach-back

"How do I debug with Claude from just an error message, and why do I make it run the tests instead of trusting its explanation?"

Resources · Common workflows (debug & test)

07DAY

Consolidation mini-project

Done

No new concept — chain every fundamental into real reps.

Learn

Today is practice, not theory. The goal is to run the whole fundamentals stack without prompting yourself: CLAUDE.md in place, Plan Mode, context discipline, the Git loop, and debugging — all in one continuous piece of work.

Drill

Pick a real (small) feature or refactor and take it end to end: branch → plan → implement → test/fix → review diff → commit/PR. Keep a running tasks/todo.md and update it as you go.

Teach-back

"Walk through my complete fundamentals workflow in order, and explain why each habit is there."

Resources · Best practices

Week 2 · Power User

One capability per day — automation, extensibility, and scale.

08DAY

Skills

Done

Package a repeatable workflow once; invoke it forever.

Learn

A Skill packages a repeatable workflow — often with attached scripts — that Claude can invoke (think /review-pr or /deploy-staging). The pattern: attach a script instead of documenting a long procedure in prose, and share it with your team so the recipe travels.

Drill

Take one multi-step routine you ran this week, build it into a Skill, invoke it, and confirm it behaves the same as your manual prompt.

Teach-back

"What's the difference between typing a long prompt and creating a Skill, and what kind of task is worth packaging up?"

Resources · Skills

09DAY

Hooks

Done

Mechanical quality gates that don't depend on Claude remembering.

Learn

Hooks run shell commands before or after Claude's actions (PreToolUse, PostToolUse) — e.g. auto-format after every edit, or run lint before a commit. They catch errors mechanically instead of relying on Claude to remember. A useful instinct: prefer checking the final result over blocking mid-plan.

Drill

Add a PostToolUse hook that auto-formats or lints after file edits. Make an edit and watch it fire.

Teach-back

"What are hooks for, how are they different from just asking Claude to 'remember to lint,' and when would I use one?"

Resources · Hooks

10DAY

Settings & permissions

Done

Tune how much Claude can do without asking — carefully.

Learn

settings.json is shared and committed; settings.local.json is gitignored, so you tune your machine without affecting teammates. Pre-approve safe, repetitive commands to cut prompt fatigue. The safety reality: Claude has real filesystem access, and auto-approving destructive commands is how people lose work — widen permissions deliberately, never lazily.

Drill

Open your settings, pre-approve one safe repetitive command you keep approving by hand, and guard a dangerous category. Verify the prompt behavior changes.

Teach-back

"What's the difference between settings.json and settings.local.json, and what's the danger of being too generous with auto-approved permissions?"

Resources · Settings

11DAY

MCP — connecting external tools

Done

Let Claude reach beyond the codebase into the tools your work lives in.

Learn

The Model Context Protocol connects Claude Code to external data and tools — design docs in Google Drive, tickets in Jira, messages in Slack, or your own custom tooling. Manage servers with /mcp and follow the MCP quickstart to connect one end to end. Keep the set minimal and purposeful — each server adds capability but also context cost and surface area.

Drill

Connect one safe, read-mostly MCP server (a docs or browser tool is ideal). Have Claude pull information from it and use that in a task inside your repo.

Teach-back

"What problem does MCP solve that CLAUDE.md and Skills don't, and give an example of a task that only becomes possible once a server is connected."

Resources · MCP overview · MCP quickstart

12DAY

Subagents & agent teams

Done

Split a big task across coordinated agents.

Learn

You can spawn multiple agents that work on different parts of a task simultaneously, with a lead agent assigning subtasks and merging results. It shines on large, parallelizable work — but keep each agent's context small and focused, and don't reach for it when a single session would do.

Drill

Take a task with genuinely independent parts (e.g. tests for two unrelated modules). Have a lead delegate to subagents, then review the merged result.

Teach-back

"When do subagents beat a single session, and what's the risk if I overuse them?"

Resources · Subagents

13DAY

Parallel sessions + headless CLI

Done

Run several streams at once, and script Claude from your shell.

Learn

Run multiple sessions in parallel, each in its own Git worktree so changes don't collide. For automation, claude -p "..." runs non-interactively so you can pipe and script: tail -200 app.log | claude -p "flag anomalies" or git diff main --name-only | claude -p "review these for security issues". This is also how Claude plugs into CI like GitHub Actions.

Drill

Create a Git worktree and run two sessions on different branches at once. Then write one useful claude -p one-liner you'd actually run from your shell.

Teach-back

"Why use worktrees for parallel work, and what's one real task I'd automate with claude -p?"

Resources · CLI reference

14DAY

Capstone

Done

Ship something real using the entire toolkit.

Learn

No new concept — assemble everything. A non-trivial feature, shipped with the full discipline: CLAUDE.md, Plan Mode, context management, a hook enforcing format/lint, optionally a Skill or an MCP server, your own diff review, and a clean commit + PR.

Drill

Take a real multi-step feature or refactor end to end with quality gates in place. Afterward, reflect: which habits saved you the most time?

Teach-back

"Teach my complete workflow for a non-trivial feature — every habit, in order, with reasons — then explain when I'd reach for subagents or parallel worktrees instead of one session."

Resources · Best practices · Anthropic engineering guide

Bookmark these

• Claude Code Docs — Overviewcode.claude.com/docs · the canonical source, updated frequently
• Quickstartyour first real task, start to finish
• Best practices (docs)planning, context, the four-phase workflow
• Anthropic Engineering — Best practices for agentic codinganthropic.com · the original patterns from the team
• Common workflowsrecipes for debugging, testing, and PRs
• CLI referenceevery command and flag, including -p headless mode
• Troubleshootingfor when something behaves differently than this guide

You've reached "skilled" when…

• You plan before you build on anything non-trivial — and skip planning on trivial fixes without thinking about it.
• You manage context deliberately: clearing, compacting, and dumping progress to files instead of letting sessions rot.
• Your CLAUDE.md is a living document that gains a line every time Claude repeats a mistake.
• You always review the diff and never blind-approve destructive commands.
• You reach for Skills, hooks, MCP, and headless mode when they fit, instead of re-typing the same scaffolding.

If you can answer all fourteen teach-back questions cleanly to an imaginary beginner, you've genuinely internalized it.

Pakistan Strikes Apple Factory in India

No, because that might cause Mr. Trump to take notice. But, would anyone be surprised if they did?

If You Want to Feel Pity for the Tinder Swindler

Well done Ahmad Mahmood (YouTube)

Yes, I have bad experience in fights. My teeth are not mine. I have implants. They broke my teeth In prison you need this survival. That was in Finland, Thailand, or Israel. In Finland and in Israel both of them my bottom row did broke; in Finland my upper teeth was broken.

To make my story short, um, I was growing up to very Ultra Orthodox (Moroccan Jewish) family, okay, um, which I learn only Bible, yes, only Bible. I only boy school, I didn't learn anything. In the age of 12, I decided these things is not for me and I want to go to the world. They find for me an institution, kind of a juvenile prison — it's not really —  do it for kids who living the Orthodox life and it's kind of the last resort. So it was like a place in America, in Brooklyn, New York, which accepting this problematic kids.

Opening up a bit about my past yes I did I did some ICE scam Banks. I did. I'm saying it here and so what I did they did to everyone with the everything with loans and interest so they doing it everybody in the company. Donald Trump did it six times he borrowed and he pay a cent for a dollar which he borrowed and he's fine and everything it's okay.

Just through cameo appearances, he's able to rake in about $2m a year. 

But then why are you working with them [Netflix] now to make a new season?

First of all, it's financial. They're paying a lot. It's money. I mean, I'm honest with you — I wrote my book. We're going to launch it together with it. One day I decided to write a book, and I said, "Okay, I will try." No one ever told me; I wrote it myself — no ghostwriters, no nothing. I just designed the cover, and I put a cover on the back of another book. I announced on my Instagram that I want to sell, and I did pre-orders. I opened up a website on Shopify and everything — did it like that in less than 24 hours.

I just want to show you the amount. This is why I do the collaboration. This is just part of the amount. This is what I sold — like, within less than — can I read it out again? $13.79 million. Yeah, I'm looking at it — a Shopify million. This is on a book which didn’t even exist then, just pre-orders which I got.

So I said, "Okay, if it's that big, I better collaborate." It's Netflix. Of course, they're not going to present me as the holy person — and it's okay. I'm fine with it.

Such honesty: It's hard to find a book on Amazon that's rated less than 4.xx stars. Luckily, this one only gets 2.xx

Your Ocean's Eleven - PPE and Lifestyle

Your team

• Dr. Eva Feldman
• Dr. Elizabeth Bevins
• Dr. Shlee Song
• Dr. Cyrus Raji
• Dr. Kevin Bickart
• Dr. Fernando Testai
• Dr. Jessica Choi
• Deborah Cory-Slechta

Tips to Protect Brain Health

Click on any cell to reveal the doctor who suggested the tip. PPE stands for Personal Protective Equipment.

Tip	Domain	How it helps
Wear a Helmet Dr. Eva Feldman	PPE Dr. Eva Feldman	Head injuries from trauma can cause long-term cognitive issues and even dementia. Wearing a helmet during activities like biking or skiing greatly reduces this risk. Helmets are critical even when not required by law. Dr. Eva Feldman
Put in earplugs when you’re mowing the lawn Dr. Elizabeth Bevins, Dr. Shlee Song	PPE Dr. Elizabeth Bevins	Hearing loss has been strongly associated with cognitive decline and dementia. Using earplugs or earmuffs around loud noises helps preserve hearing and protects the brain's auditory processing areas. Regular hearing checks and using hearing aids consistently can further support brain health. Dr. Elizabeth Bevins
Get your eyes checked Dr. Shlee Song	Lifestyle Dr. Shlee Song	Vision impairment has been linked to increased risk of dementia. Eye exams and corrective measures like glasses or surgery help keep visual input active and engaging. The brain performs better when all sensory systems remain in use. Dr. Shlee Song
Take a walk, and swap your chair for a stool Dr. Cyrus Raji, Dr. Kevin Bickart	Lifestyle Dr. Kevin Bickart	Physical activity improves blood flow and oxygen delivery to the brain. Even brief exercise like walking half a mile daily offers protective effects. Minimizing sedentary behavior and using core-engaging seating supports brain function further. Dr. Cyrus Raji, Dr. Kevin Bickart
Manage your cholesterol Dr. Fernando Testai	Lifestyle Dr. Fernando Testai	High LDL cholesterol can harden arteries and limit blood supply to the brain, increasing stroke and dementia risk. A diet rich in legumes, fruits, and vegetables helps maintain healthy levels. Exercise, weight control, and medications like statins are also beneficial. Dr. Fernando Testai
Floss every day Dr. Shlee Song	Lifestyle Dr. Shlee Song	Oral infections can lead to sinus issues and even brain-related complications. Gum disease is also associated with higher dementia risk. Daily flossing, brushing, and dental checkups help prevent such issues. Dr. Shlee Song
Join a book club Dr. Jessica Choi	Lifestyle Dr. Jessica Choi	Social isolation can lead to depression and faster cognitive decline. Joining clubs or even monthly dinners keeps social circuits active. A strong support system is linked to better health outcomes. Dr. Jessica Choi
Wear a mask on smoggy or smoky days Deborah Cory-Slechta	PPE Deborah Cory-Slechta	Airborne pollutants can reach the brain and cause chemical changes that affect cognition. Wearing N95 or surgical masks and using indoor air filters reduces exposure. This is especially important on days with poor air quality or wildfire smoke. Deborah Cory-Slechta
Watch your neck Dr. Shlee Song	PPE Dr. Shlee Song	The neck supplies essential blood flow to the brain, and injuries can cause clots or oxygen deprivation. Avoid aggressive massage techniques or sudden neck movements. Always wear a seatbelt and see a doctor if injury is suspected. Dr. Shlee Song
Sleep well Dr. Eva Feldman	Lifestyle Dr. Eva Feldman	Sleep consolidates memories and clears toxins from the brain. Poor sleep is linked to cognitive decline. Addressing sleep disorders or disturbances can yield major brain benefits. Dr. Eva Feldman
Be Food Smart	Lifestyle	Inflammatory foods may negatively affect brain health over time. Getting tested for allergies and reducing sugar can be helpful. Understanding your caffeine tolerance also supports restful sleep and cognitive clarity.