NASA’s Next-Gen Space Scope Captures The “Bottleneck” — Of A Forming Protostar, At Only 100,000 Years Of Age…

November 16, 2022November 16, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

It is a wonder, to be sure.

And perhaps — just perhaps — some several billion years hence, inside that central proto planetary disk (only a few pixels across in this image at the “neck”)… somewhere… DNA may also evolve. And with it, what we consider to be… life.

It has likely already occurred millions of times before, elsewhere — in addition to here, in the warmth of our own modest Sol. But we cannot be certain of that — even if the math strongly suggests it to be so. Here’s the latest, in any event:

…NASA’s [newest] Space Telescope has revealed the once-hidden features of the protostar within the dark cloud L1527, providing insight into the beginnings of a new star. These blazing clouds within the Taurus star-forming region are only visible in infrared light, making it an ideal target for the Near-Infrared Camera….

The protostar itself is hidden from view within the “neck” of this hourglass shape…. The region’s most prevalent features, the clouds colored blue and orange in this representative-color infrared image, outline cavities created as material shoots away from the protostar and collides with surrounding matter. The colors themselves are due to layers of dust between [the ‘scope] and the clouds.

The blue areas are where the dust is thinnest. The thicker the layer of dust, the less blue light is able to escape, creating pockets of orange….

Now you know, with several inches of snow due here in the next five to seven days — for Thanksgiving. Grinning ear to ear, since everyone will be home — just… outstanding. Smile.

नमस्ते

The Eleventh Circuit Mar-A-Lago-Stolen-Top-Secret-Documents Appeal Will Be Argued… Next Tuesday: Expedited.

November 16, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

We shall see, but I would expect Team Tangerine to lose, and lose “bigly“, here. [My last substantive backgrounder on it all is here.]

This is an appeal of the denial of any stay, against the government’s investigation of stolen top secret documents found at Mar-a-Lago. His time avoiding indictment is drawing to a close.

Here’s the order (and if I’m not busy on Tuesday, I’ll listen in; in any event there will be a live link to the audio stream here — by Tuesday morning):

…ORDER: Counsel for each party is DIRECTED to appear on Tuesday, November 22, 2022, at 2:00 p.m., in Atlanta, Georgia, for the oral argument of this appeal….

Sweet… onward, grinning.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker (Preposterously!) Lauds Texas Gov. Abbott — To Avoid Talking About Trump’s 2024 FEC Filing…

November 15, 2022November 16, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Tonight, John informs us that the malevolent cabal of morons running Texas under the GOP’s aegis… have decided to raise an army — and take on repelling what they call an “invasion”.

No matter that most of these “invaders” are… being paid to mow Abbott’s donors’ lawns, run their manufacturing plants, and oil rigs… and handle restaurant operations — for the wealthiest one per cent of Texas (mostly GOP-ers)….

But in Hinderaker’s hateful telling, this is the Alamo all over again. [And it is likely to end just the way the Alamo did.]

Hinderaker blithely ignores that immigration and border security are exclusively seeded to the federal Executive branch (in our founding documents), not to the various states. This is so — not least of which — to avoid a series of unending chaotic / conflicting local vigilante actions.

Like this one. Abbott will be enjoined by the federal courts.

And all of this tempest in a Texas teapot… allows the Powerline boys to turn the page — and ignore Tangerine’s filing for 2024.

They are desperate — after the drubbings in the midterms — to push Trump down the memory hole.

And the Cumquat Pol-pot is NOT going to oblige.

I love it. Let him stay in — even past the GOP’s convention, and nomination of some other name… and form his own third party.

That is what I hope for (almost) most fervently.

Of course, this is the series of unfortunate events… John most fears. He well-knows if they don’t stop Trump now… no matter who the Democrats or Republicans nominate (assuming that’s not Trump)… the GOP candidate will lose. The Democratic Party candidate will coast to victory, no matter who it is — after Trump siphons off about a third of all otherwise GOP voters.

This is Ross Perot 2004, but in reverse.

I just hope Trump doesn’t fold too early.

And now, maybe… just maybe, I’d like to see an indictment held until about November 21, 2024 — if he ends up a third party candidate for 1600 Penn. as I surmise….

DELICIOUS.

[U: Safe In Orbit!] So — At 10:15 EST, The Artemis Hydrogen Fueling Operation Has Been Halted — Due To More Leaks.

November 15, 2022November 16, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Serves me right! Here at 2:30 AM EST, the Orion lunar spacecraft is stable in orbit — and will depart for the moon within the hour. Excellent! End, update.

I’ll not stay up, as the launch window is so tight, at about three hours. . . that I am now convinced the launch team will run out of time.

~~And “Take Four“. . . will become “Take Five“, some time in December.~~ Here’s the current NASA feed:

. . .Engineers have paused flowing liquid hydrogen into the core stage because of a small leak on a hydrogen valve inside of the mobile launcher. A team of personnel called a red crew is being assembled to go to the pad to make sure all of the connections and valves remain tight. The valve is located within the base of the mobile launcher. . . .

They will enter the zero deck or base of the mobile launcher to tighten connections to ensure a hydrogen valve used to replenish the core stage remains tight. . . .

I’ll also just run a modified prior graphic — as this has become all too. . . disappointingly routine. G’night.

नमस्ते

Elizabeth’s Defense Cost ~$30 Million: Corrected Memo Filed By AUSAs In Holmes Case.

November 15, 2022November 15, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

Well… she did get a very fine set of lawyers — and her defense’s effort was truly… first rate.

But on the concluding page of the sentencing memo, as corrected for Friday’s 10 AM PST hearing, the government notes that the able USDC Judge Davila ought to look carefully at the claims of being essentially destitute, and unable to pay her victims back… as he considers the fine and restitution order which he will likely also enter on Friday, thus:

…[I]t appears that Holmes has modest assets outweighed by $450,000 in “loan[s] for SEC Settlement” and a liability for legal fees in excess of $30 million. The PSR notes it is unknown whether any third parties, guarantors, or others are also liable on or expected to pay the legal fees. The PSR also notes that Holmes’ family appears to have substantial assets and that Holmes is managing her affairs…
…to avoid subjecting their assets to any judgment in this case. Before foregoing a fine, the Court should assure itself that such liabilities are current and genuine and consider whether Holmes’ management of her affairs reflects a genuine desire to make her investors whole….

Those are some serious $1,400 an hour lawyers… indeed. I’d bet that Martin Shkreli paid under $3 million, all in — or one tenth of what Ms. Holmes apparently says she’s paid.

Wow.

On… to Friday!

Hey There, Scott Johnson: What One “Mud-Blood / Decent Gentile” Has To Say…

November 15, 2022November 15, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This midday, Scott Johnson asks what do “decent Gentiles” have to say, about Ye — and the “Death-Con 4” remark… among dozens of others. Rightly, he calls out Candace Owens (who is likely more influential in the relevant sphere than Tucker Carlson, whom he also calls out).

As we know — Scott is a Jew. But like his “decent Gentiles” remark — it just might mean more for his overall credibility, among thinking humans, at least… if he didn’t regularly traffick in racists’ tropes about crime and policing in the US — at the behest of Heather MacDonald.

Even so, I am gratified that Scott now belatedly admits “calling out” is not canceling.

This “decent Gentile” (who, according to 23AndMe, BTW, is 24% Ashkenasi — with a maternal line, out of Northern Israel around about 1200 AD)… has long condemned Ye and Candace and Chapelle. And all the racial invective Scott and John and Steve and even occasionally Paul spewed over the last two decades.

Now you know. Do better Scott — you know better. Take ownership inside your GOP clan/klan… for Tangerine’s stoking the flames of jingoism, racism, xenophobia, and yes Anti-Semitism (against his own son-in-law).

Denounce the leader — not just the minion Candace Owens.

It. Is. Not. That. Complicated. Or. “Layered”.

I’ll close with an Irish luminary’s poem then… to move more toward… understanding:

A Found Poem

Like everybody else, I bowed my head
during the consecration of the bread and wine,
lifted my eyes to the raised host and raised chalice,
believed (whatever it means) that a change occurred.

I went to the altar rails and received the mystery
on my tongue, returned to my place, shut my eyes fast, made
an act of thanksgiving, opened my eyes and felt
time starting up again….

There was never a scene
when I had it out with myself or with an other.

The loss of faith occurred
entirely off stage.
Yet I cannot disrespect words
like ‘thanksgiving’ or ‘host’
or even ‘communion wafer.’
They have an undying pallor
and draw, like well water far down….

– Seamus Heaney (2005)

Te Gracias — that is all….

नमस्ते

CIDRAP Update: The Death In Jinja District WAS From A Known Contacts / Clusters Chain…

November 15, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

The fine folks at CIDRAP have confirmed a later breaking report, compared to my earlier one: the 45 year old man who died near the shores of Lake Victoria and the so-called White Nile headwaters… was not a new chain / cluster event.

That is pretty good news. Even so, the totals are now 55 fatalities, and 139 confirmed ebola cases. Moreover, this case falling very near a fishing harbor / water taxi-way is still… very disconcerting. Here’s the latest:

…On Twitter yesterday, the country’s health minister Jane Ruth Aceng Ocero, MBChB, MPH, said the confirmed case in Jinja involves a 45-year-old man who died at his home on Nov 10 and was buried on Nov 12. Health workers from a clinic where he sought care earlier obtained a sample from the man on the day he died….

She said the man is a contact of a suspected case, his brother who traveled to Jinja where he was sick for 10 days and died on Nov 3. Ocero said the brother is listed as a suspected fatal case and is part of a cluster from Rubaga, which is in the Kampala area….

Now you know… with tiny “dippin’ dots” like snow pellets falling — in between periods of light cold rain — here. So it… begins. Smile.

नमस्ते

Hinderaker Uses A “Dumbest People” Poll (Rasmussen) To Claim A Majority Believe “Stolen Election” Theory.

November 15, 2022November 15, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

We see anew tonight John’s… blooming case of senility.

In this piece, he thinks it persuasive (of an ultimate fact not remotely established, in any way) that 54 percent of the morons Rasmussen polls… think some form of election fraud affected this cycle, and the last one.

So to John, because some hard right frothers believe a thing… he accepts it as… fact.

We might ask how accurate that same polling organization’s numbers were on both Tangerine’s 2020 showing, and the 2022 mid-terms… but that would be… impolite.

These guys have been dead wrong on everything since 2008, including not foreseeing Trump’s “win” in 2016.

But sure, Hinderaker — the idea of stolen elections must be real if their oversampled R. audience (by a slim majority) thinks it might be.

Damn, son.

I guess the HL Mencken advice Scott quoted today should here apply: “they deserve to get it put to them, good and hard.”

Hilarious.

[U] A New Eastern Ugandan District Records An Ebola Death Overnight… Widening Threat?

November 13, 2022November 14, 2022 ~ condor ~ Leave a comment

This is not a death attributed to any known contact tracing chain. And ominously, it falls on the shores of a well-traveled waterway (Lake Victoria), at the source of the so-called White Nile. A water transport concourse, and fishing industry hub.

So, we ought to expect there have been, or will be, more cases inside Jinja District, absent a near-miracle. There is essentially no chance of declaring this outbreak over, before February 2023.

Tough news, there on the ground from Reuters reporting, this morning:

. . .An Ebola case has been confirmed in Jinja in eastern Uganda, the country’s health minister said on Sunday, the first time the outbreak has spread to a new region of the country from central Uganda where cases have been confined so far….

Uganda has so far recorded a total of 136 confirmed cases and 54 deaths, according to the health ministry….

Meanwhile, in better news — it is now certain… we will keep control of the Senate.

Update — late on Sunday, the Jeruselem Post reports that all the Israelis suspected of having brought ebola home have been cleared — 21 days with negative tests, always. That’s very good news.

Meanwhile, in other good news — it is now certain… we will keep control of the Senate. And the Buffs knocked off No. 11 Tennessee in early hardwood action! End, update.

That’s welcome overnight news, to be sure. Separately, though this outcome is highly unlikely, I’d like to see the Broncos steal one down in Music City today, since my brother in law is down there… pullin’ for them in a bar called… Luke’s — at the moment. Headed into the stadium in an hour or so. Heh.

नमस्ते