0xbitcoiner

> **Big Blue’s latest mega-buy hands it a real-time data-streaming powerhouse built on Kafka**
>
> IBM has cracked open its wallet again, agreeing to shell out $11 billion for Confluent in a bid to glue together the data sprawl underpinning the next wave of enterprise AI. 
>
> The deal, announced Monday and just weeks after IBM laid off thousands, hands IBM a heavyweight in real-time data streaming as Big Blue bets that future generative and agentic AI systems will live or die on how well they can move and govern data across clouds, data centers, and legacy estates.
>
> IBM will pay $31 a share in cash for Confluent, whose Kafka-based platform has become a staple for organizations trying to pipe clean, consistent, and reusable data into applications and analytics engines. 
>
> **[...read more at theregister.com](https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/08/ibm_drops_11b_on_confluent/)**

~Stacker_Stocks

IBM drops $11B on Confluent to feed next-gen AI ambitions

econ

The Christmas Tree Tax

> We went Christmas tree shopping with the kids last weekend. Every year, the ritual reminds me of some of the strangest federal taxes on the books and one of the clearest examples of government-sponsored industry collusion.
>
> Most people have never heard of this small 15-cent tax that is part of the Christmas tree check-off program or the almost two dozen other similar programs through which the government levies a billion-dollar tax on private industry to fund compelled speech and industry-directed research.
>
> **[...read more at cato.org](https://www.cato.org/blog/christmas-tree-tax)**

~Politics_And_Law

lightning

Standing offer: I will buy CCs for sats

SimpleStacker

That's just how the free market hits. My ceiling's 10k CCs.

I'm scooping up every CC for 0.6 sats! Ahahah

Cowboy credits for sats?

thebullishbitcoiner

Music

Why “Octavarium” Is Mike Portnoy’s Most Impossible Drum Performance | Drumeo

That doesn't even sound like a question a guitarist would ask! Ahaha

done!

![](https://m.stacker.news/121173)

An electronic drum kit is wicked. You can jam with headphones on and not bug anyone.

I'm copping CCs for sats. It's 0.6 sats per 1 CC. The only way is to zap one of my comments or posts. Thirty percent is going to the SN fee.

bitcoin

You are not true Bitcoiners

aiiixiii

I knew I wasn't a maxist full Bitcoiner. Guess I gotta change my nym! 🤠

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrIMs0xGT1w

Stacker Saloon

saloon

science

In a major new report, scientists build rationale for sending astronauts to Mars

> **“Everyone is inspired by this because it’s becoming real.”**
>
> Sending astronauts to the red planet will be a decades-long activity and cost many billions of dollars. So why should NASA undertake such a bold mission?
>
> [A new report published Tuesday](https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/28594), titled “A Science Strategy for the Human Exploration of Mars,” represents the answer from leading scientists and engineers in the United States: finding whether life exists, or once did, beyond Earth.
>
> “We’re searching for life on Mars,” said Dava Newman, a professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and co-chair of the committee that wrote the report, in an interview with Ars. “The answer to the question ‘are we alone‘ is always going to be ‘maybe,’ unless it becomes yes.”
>
> The report, two years in the making and encompassing more than 200 pages, was published by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Essentially, the committee co-chaired by Newman and Linda T. Elkins-Tanton, director of the University of California, Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory, was asked to identify the highest-priority science objectives for the first human missions to Mars.
>
> **[...read more at arstechnica.com](https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/in-a-major-new-report-scientists-build-rationale-for-sending-astronauts-to-mars/)**