Author: condor

Do Go Read All Of This — From Peterr, Over At EW. He’s Got The 2009 Nostradamus Edition, Up!

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Some things remain true for ages — but become amplified over decades, as we fail to learn the lessons, of those decades.

Today is a time like that. In abundance. Do go read this — all of it:

…Idiot America is not the place where people say silly things. It is not the place where people believe silly things. It is not the place where people go to profit from the fact that people believe in silly things. That America has been with us always — the America of the medicine wagon and the tent revival, the America of the juke joint and the gambling den, the America of lunatic possibility that in its own mad way kept the original revolutionary spirit alive while an establishment began to calcify atop the place. Idiot America isn’t even those people who believe that Adam sat down one day and named all the dinosaurs….

The rise of Idiot America, though, is essentially a war on expertise…. The rise of Idiot America today reflects — for profit, mainly, but also, and more cynically, for political advantage and in the pursuit of power — the breakdown of the consensus that the pursuit of knowledge is a good. It also represents the ascendancy of the notion that the people we should trust the least are the people who know best what they’re talking about….

Idiot America is a collaborative effort, the result of millions of decisions made and not made. It’s the development of a collective Gut at the expense of a collective mind. It’s what results when politicians make ridiculous statements and not merely do we abandon the right to punish them for it at the polls, but we also become too timid to punish them with ridicule on a daily basis, because the polls say they’re popular anyway. It’s what results when leaders are not held to account for mistakes that end up killing people….

[His] Three Great Premises:

1. Any theory is valid if it sells books, soaks up ratings, or otherwise moves units.
2. Anything can be true is someone says it loudly enough.
3. Fact is that which enough people believe. Truth is measured by how fervently they believe it….

Yikes. That is the time of Trump, to a tee. As I say, do go read it all — it is spot-on, from top to tail — here over 16 years later. Onward.

नमस्ते

The Scourge Of Lassa Continues Apace, In Nigeria — Exceeding The Rates Of Infection, And Deaths — Seen Last Year…

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This is… unfortunate. And largely avoidable.

But here we are — with the outbreak still eclipsing last year’s run rates — on deaths and afflictions. So goes it, when the US’s moral public health for the world torch is… snuffed. Here’s the latest:

…Nigeria’s Lassa fever outbreak has claimed 252 lives so far this year, with confirmed cases reaching 1,035, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC).

The agency reported 14 new confirmed cases during epidemiological week 33, covering Aug. 10-16, bringing the cumulative number of confirmed infections in 2026 to 1,035, Anadolu agency reported….

The 252 deaths represent a case-fatality rate of 24.4%, up from 18.6% during the same period last year, when 159 deaths were recorded from 854 confirmed cases.

The NCDC said Lassa fever has been confirmed in 23 states and 117 local government areas across the country this year.

Five states — Ondo, Bauchi, Taraba, Edo and Benue — account for 87% of all confirmed cases, while the remaining 13% were reported across 18 other states….

Now you know… many a great moment coming with Fall, into Winter 2026, just the same. Smile….

नमस्ते

The Long-Planned Separation Has Begun, At Mercury: ESA/JAXA BepiColombo Mission Entering Residential “Mercurial” Science Phase…

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It has taken eight years of gravity assisted, but decreasingly-eliptical fly-bys… to trim the craft’s speed and trajectory — so that it might enter Mercury orbit with a minimum of extra / expended fuel burns.

But we are now at that moment — and the stacked craft is about to separate — to begin the transition into a multi-craft observatory — preparing for “Mercurial” science in Spring 2027. Here’s all that, from ESA:

…After eight years, the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo mission is about to enter its Mercury Arrival Phase. On 3 September 2026, ESA’s Mercury Transfer Module (MTM) will separate from BepiColombo’s two science orbiters – the first major step in one of the most operationally challenging planetary arrival sequences ever attempted by ESA.

The European Space Agency (ESA) will livestream the critical milestone from 13:45 CEST. Tune in and witness the first step of one of the most complex phases of the mission, live from ESA mission control….

BepiColombo’s arrival is one of the most demanding operational sequences ever carried out by ESA. MTM’s separation on 3 September is just the first step. After MTM has separated, in November ESA’s Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) and JAXA’s Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter (Mio) will enter orbit around Mercury together, before separating from each other in December 2026. Science operations will begin in April 2027….

Starting this weekend, blogging / updates will be scarce for a month. You will need to wear your bear ballet shoes… solo. Smile.

नमस्ते

Actually John — You And Trump Have Gutted Mental Heath Care/Coverage. These Deaths Are On… YOU GUYS.

~ condor ~ 1 Comment

So — (according to John, tonight) we are to believe that changing mental illness definitions in the Physicians’ Desk Reference, in the 1960s… are responsible for random stabbings (by Ms. Cisneros — who was not yet born)… some 65 years later?!

Give me a break — you idiotic liar.

John concludes — unctuously — thus:

…There are vastly too many mentally ill people loose on our streets, most often being preyed on by others but sometimes, like Pamela Cisneros, harming or murdering innocent people. This is largely the result of emptying the mental hospitals, one of the most misguided fruits of 1960s liberalism. My organization is now working on a project to revitalize involuntary commitment of certain categories of the mentally ill. It should be unveiled soon.

Meanwhile, the untreated psychotics on our streets will claim many more victims….

Actually, John — most of the mentally-challenged people released from what were then called “insane asylums” during/in the early 1960s… are now dead. And they weren’t insane at all — they were just… awkward.

The majority of the people he is complaining about tonight (people exhibiting violent tendencies) WERE receiving mental health services and meds, when Obamacare was fully-funded (2011 to 2018).

Then Tangerine 1.0 cut it all away. No more med coverage — no more check-ins with trained physiological workers and counselors.

Now, in Tangerine 2.0, the government seems to want to criminalize the status of being unhoused (which is a Venn Diagram that resembles a pure circle with mental illness).

Which is where many of those Trump kicked out of Obamacare ended up: unhoused; and on the street.

Own your own truly proximate cause — you loser.

Damn. And your “project” will mostly resemble the Salem witch trials of three and a half centuries ago. Damnation, on thee.

Out.

Note That Hinderaker Doesn’t Even Hint That He Might Ask Trump To Do… Anything, Re Putin. He’s Aware… That’s Futile.

~ condor ~ 2 Comments

John Hinderaker has finally mentioned that Russia has been attacking… Germany. And that Germany says it is not at peace with Putin. But it is not at war, either.

Welp. Here’s the lunacy — by conspicuous silence.

Were this the Reagan or Bush years, Hinderaker would shout for — and get at least blistering bully-pulpit speeches out of 1600 Penn, against the evil aggressors from Moscow.

Here, he doesn’t even peep about it — he knows Tangerine 2.0 is a dead letter, as to standing up to the Russian aggression.

So he just… clutches his pearls, and speaks ever so softly, through his clenched teeth.

Damnation — what a putz.

Nancy Grace Roman Continues To Hit All Her Benchmarks, As She Sails Off, Into The Inky Black Of Deeper Space…

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The main course correcting / fine-tuning burns are complete. Roman is on her way to L2 — just over a million miles out, into the blackness.

Yesterday, the team was able to switch on the very high tech, next-gen coronagraph — a software and deformable mirror system far more advanced than a simple hood over the scope (though it features one of those as well). This is a high tech starlight shield of sorts — to block out excess stray starlight, when gazing at a particlar exo-planetary (or even dark energy) target.

Do watch the NASA explainer video at bottom. And, it is a near certainty now that Roman will achieve most of her interstellar space / science missions. Here’s the latest — with one more optional (if needed) very short course correcting burn next week:

…NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope team has successfully activated the mission’s Coronagraph Instrument, which will block starlight to view planets and dusty disks around nearby stars. Now the instrument will undergo a monthslong series of calibrations and tests prior to beginning full science operations.

The coronagraph power-on began at 7:27 a.m. EDT and completed at 8:22 a.m. on Sept. 1.

The Roman Coronagraph is a system of optics, masks, self-flexing mirrors, and sensors designed to demonstrate the most advanced technologies ever flown in space for directly imaging planets around other stars. It will block the glare from stars and make it possible for scientists to see the faint reflected light from planets in orbit around them….

Getting very excited now — to see all my kiddos — and extended family, gathered on the Côte-d’Or in a few days… for a month — then on, to Florence, Italy… smile.

नमस्ते

A Global Initiative [To Replace US Government’s Abandonment] — To Improve Mpox Vaccine Access — Now In High Gear: WHO.

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As we have previously documented, right here (see that link), it seems that — moreso than in some other recent viral outbreaks, inside Africa — Mpox Clade 1b had exhibited a propensity to affect young adults via sexual contact early on in an outbreak, and then, over time (as the viral loads mature, evolve and spread out), they “migrate” to primarily affect younger children — in simple household contact scenarios. This is why we should be especially concerned.

Here’s all the latest from the WHO public health offices, on the ground, and in country — but many of these partners ahve been kicking in since 2017, or earlier — as my legacy graphic depicts:

…A global initiative to establish a stockpile of mpox vaccines was launched on 27 August, creating a long-term mechanism to ensure countries have access to vaccines when responding to mpox outbreaks.

Set to begin operations later this month, this new global mpox vaccine stockpile that all countries can access is a resource that was approved by the Board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) in 2025, and is funded by Gavi and coordinated by the International Coordinating Group (ICG) on Vaccine Provision. The ICG partners are the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The initiative builds on the Access and Allocation Mechanism established in 2024 during the last mpox Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), and will ensure that countries have timely and equitable access to vaccines for outbreak response.

Mpox continues to cause outbreaks globally, with two-thirds of reported cases occurring in the African Region. From 1 January 2022 to 31 July 2026, 145 countries and territories reported 190 683 confirmed cases and 529 deaths. Mpox is a viral disease that spreads primarily through close physical contact between people, while animal-to-human transmission continues to occur in parts of Africa, contributing to the ongoing risk of new outbreaks….

Now you know. Last cold water / open water swim now logged. Smile — onward; across the pond — in mere hours.

नमस्ते

Counting Sanctioned (Dark) Tankers Leaving The Straight… Helps Only China And Russia And North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, John (You Idiot).

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Tonight, Hinderaker would tell us that we should add back in… tankers that have been on the sanctions lists across the globe, in Trump’s “triumphant totals“, coming out of the Straight.

But those dark tankers are delivering to North Korea or China or Russia — in violation of international law. Laws that we in the US put in place to discourage genocide. John tells us we should be happy that Trump is helping ship oil to banned nations — and getting other banned nations… paid, for it all. Geez.

John makes the preposterous assertion that all of that dark tanker oil is reaching the US, and the western world — to our benefit. It is absolutely not. It amounts to about 7% of the world’s supply — but this thwarts our foreign policy goals, as it makes our economic sanctions less burdensome — for/to totalitarian dictators like Putin and Kim Jong Un. John cheers these a-holes, tonight. Damn.

What a malignant liar Hinderaker is… here, trying to cover up for Trump’s lies of last week. It should clearly be beneath his dignity, but… it is not. Whatever, dude. Cool story.

Out.

Two More Spacecraft Burn Up Before Reaching The Ocean: ESA Edition, Overnight.

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The scientists at ESA flew “chase aircraft” over the South Pacific, overnight, to watch these two smallish disk orbiters burn up — nothing was expected to reach the ocean — just entirely vaporize… on the way down.

And that is precisely what happened. Well done! Here’s all that:

…The final two of ESA’s pioneering Cluster spacecraft, Samba and Tango, will end their journeys as they burn up in our atmosphere on 31 August and 1 September respectively. Their targeted reentries mark the end of a mission that has transformed our understanding of Earth’s magnetic environment. The final moments also offer a rare scientific opportunity for reentry observations from a plane. . . .

“When a spacecraft reenters the atmosphere, it experiences extreme forces. Temperatures soar, materials melt and vaporise, and the spacecraft gradually breaks apart. But how exactly?” says Stijn Lemmens, senior space debris mitigation analyst at ESA.

“We need to understand better how they disintegrate to inform the design of spacecraft that can burn up completely, reducing the risk on the ground, while we also aim to prevent pollution of the atmosphere….”

As we wait until we can share the first image from Samba’s demise today, the final reentry time prediction was confirmed for Tango.

Later today, Tango will reenter the atmosphere at 21:30:31 UTC / 23:30:31 CEST, with an uncertainty remaining of +/- 10 seconds either way….

That is obviously an artist’s impression, above. Onward — just the same… and, just for grins, I may drop in on the tourism-friendly ESA facility in Paris, on my last day in September (09.30.2026). Smile… we shall see.

नमस्ते

Thanks To Anon., We Have Learned That A Large Part Of Legacy S-P Kenilworth Is Becoming An Ai Data / Compute Center Owned By CoreWeave…

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I do think getting a local taxes-paying, at least marginally-job-creating tenant/owner into the behemoth space is a good thing.

But it is clear that there may be vast environmental and social/life costs associated with mega-compute centers. These are not “clean pharma” jobs. And the locals are right to be concerned.

We have long covered Fred Hassan’s legacy white elephant called Kenilworth (and the Merck Whitehouse Station version, too). It was opulent and wildly over-built, from the go. Just like Fast Fred. It sat nearly idle for a decade after the S/P to Merck yard sale, and Google looked at it, but ultimately passed on it.

Now it has new life, with a crypto-cum-AI compute company… struggling itself to retool into a consistently profitable model. Here’s the latest — again thanks to our eagle-eyed commenters:

…A $1.8 billion artificial intelligence data center under construction in Kenilworth is facing pushback from residents.

The project is located at the Northeast Science and Technology Center (NEST) campus. The old Merck & Co. building will house the data center.

CoreWeave, a company that specializes in AI infrastructure, purchased a large portion of property on the campus in 2025 to build the center.

Despite the Kenilworth Borough Council’s approval of the project, it has largely flown under the radar until recently.

“Social media, that’s the only way you’ll hear about it here even though we’re only 200 yards from the location,” said Union County resident Brent Krueger….

That hapless forever money losing company, Riot Platforms (in West Texas) is attempting much the same, as we mentioned yesterday. Wild. Onward, smiling.

नमस्ते