Category: Uncategorized

We May Be Near End Of Life, For One Of Juno’s Four Cameras

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Tomorrow, SWRI, JPL and NASA will begin receiving images from about 930 miles over Io’s volcanic, squeezed and stretched surface, from Juno’s cameras (all as we earlier reported).

But after 56 trips in close passes over the blistering radiation of Jupiter itself, one of the cams is showing degraded imaging processing capabilities, as well as some blank spot / striping. Indeed, this cam was only designed to function through eight passes, so it has exceeded design limits by a seven fold factor. Even so, now we may soon be down to three cams.

It is still a great triumph for space science — and more of NASA’s “dare mighty things” mantra in action. So, here is that bit:

…JunoCam was included on the spacecraft for the public’s engagement and was designed to operate for up to eight flybys of Jupiter. The upcoming flyby of Io will be Juno’s 57th orbit around Jupiter, where the spacecraft and cameras have endured one of the solar system’s most punishing radiation environments.

“The cumulative effects of all that radiation has begun to show on JunoCam over the last few orbits,” said Ed Hirst, project manager of Juno at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Pictures from the last flyby show a reduction in the imager’s dynamic range and the appearance of ‘striping’ noise. Our engineering team has been working on solutions to alleviate the radiation damage and to keep the imager going….”

Now you know — and like Juno, I dare all of you to close your year out… in a gracefully elegant but meaningful style! Onward!

नमस्ते

Again, Mirengoff — With Zero Skin In The Game — Wants to Widen The Conflict To… Sudan?!

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It is telling that he and Hinderaker want lots more civilian deaths inflicted — on all sides.

In many ways, the mayhem becomes… an end in itself, for these senile impotents.

In truth then, what distinguishes their view… from that of Hamas itself (or Isis or the now dead Saddam, and now dead Bin Laden)?

What a… putz. Here it is — in context:

…[The Western powers must] deter all Iranian backed aggression, including that emanating from Sudan. If this means strikes in Iran itself — and it might — then this option should receive serious consideration. In any case, our response should be neither “narrowly tailored” nor “proporionate…”

Insane. And malevolent.

Out.

[U] Maine Joins Colorado: Tangerine Bounced Off ‘24 Ballots.

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Updated 12.29.2023 @ Noon: California’s Sec. of State (as am I) is sure it is better to just beat the pants off him at the ballot box, come November 2024… and avoid his grievance whining altogether. So that state will leave things wherever the GOP settles, on its ultimate candidate. This in no manner makes Colorado or Maine wrong. It is just a “Plato’s wager” of sorts, now in the Golden Bear state. End, update.

I am virtually certain he’ll lose in any event, but the Fourteenth Amendment DQ is legally sound.

And each state should decide for itself, in the GOP’s own states’ rights philosophy. And so, here’s the latest:

…Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows paused her decision pending a potential appeal in state court, which Trump’s team said they intend to file.

The decision makes Maine the second state to disqualify Trump from office, after the Colorado Supreme Court handed down its own stunning ruling that removed him from the ballot earlier this month. The development is a significant victory for Trump’s critics, who say they’re trying to enforce a constitutional provision that was designed to protect the country from anti-democratic insurrectionists….

Onward, grinning… live by the sword; perish by it, as well.

नमस्ते

Again, With The Remedial Venn Diagram — Aimed At… Hinderaker’s Learning Disability.

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Nearly every capable elementary school teacher will tell you: Repetition is the best way to help struggling students “get” concepts that are beyond their ken — wherever that line of demarcation falls, in any classroom.

So it is (obviously!) with the pointy headed John Hinderaker. This is… repetitive — but needed, apparently.

But in truth, we know… he well-knows the lesson at right. Just as we all know… horrific atrocities have occurred on BOTH sides, since October 7 [and for two thousand years prior, minimum]. And he well knows, as do we — war is always… hell.

He is simply too malignant to acknowledge the truth of it.

He wants genocide.

Not justice — or even retribution.

Damn. Just… shut it, John. You are naught but are a sad, soulless son of the darkness, now.

Gaza Not Entirely UNLIKE… What Vietnam Was To Paul, John and Scott…

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This is, perhaps a minor point, but in London — about six weeks ago — well over a million people marched in support of Gazans. [The largest ever seen, inside London, according to Hinderaker himself.]

That eclipses the US protests, on all sides — and echoes numbers not seen since… Vietnam.

No, Paul — it is not one-for-one… but just as the hard right in the US badly misread how the overruling of Roe v. Wade would create a seismic shift in motivated voters, for the Democrats… you misread this one at your considerable peril, as well.

If Israel hasn’t “won” (whatever Paul might mean by that term in this context) by say about February 15, 2024… and is still inflicting numerous civilian casualties as collateral damage… it may be more than funding / checkbooks that start to disappear — for Bibi.

That is to say, I think this shift is becoming larger, day after day of collateral damage… and more durable, as a generational shift. In the US, and certainly… Europe.

Cheers.

Scott’s Glum ‘24 Cycle Forecast (For GOP) Is Likely Mostly Correct.

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He’s mostly accepted one central reality — for 2024: outside of an increasingly narrow, and geo-fenced-in area… Tangerine is a mill stone around the more moderate GOP’s neck.

And in the 2020s, the “fire and brimstone of the Nineteenth Century” Trumpies… no longer excites a younger — and browner — electorate (at least not to vote for GOP candidates).

It likely drives turnout against him, especially among younger-, and all- college educated women.

So… as Scott suggests — prepare for a GOP wipe out. [I don’t think he’s right that Democrats might lose the Senate.]

This bit is likely to come true as well “When the time comes, Harris will take the presidential oath without cackling, but she will be laughing on the inside…”

Yep. I love it! Out.

Celestial Events — On The New Year’s Weekend: Juno To Dip In Close — For A Look At The Chaotic, Active Jovian Moon Io.

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The data will come rushing back to us, very early in the new year at SWRI.

It will seem a firehose, on full blast, were it “writ in water“.

No doubt, it promises to give new insights into how this smallish rock is pulled and tugged — by the massive gravitational / tidal forces of mighty Jupiter. Here’s the latest:

…The orbiter has performed 56 flybys of Jupiter and documented close encounters with three of the gas giant’s four largest moons.

NASA’s Juno spacecraft will on Saturday, Dec. 30, make the closest flyby of Jupiter’s moon Io that any spacecraft has made in over 20 years. Coming within roughly 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) from the surface of the most volcanic world in our solar system, the pass is expected to allow Juno instruments to generate a firehose of data.

“By combining data from this flyby with our previous observations, the Juno science team is studying how Io’s volcanoes vary,” said Juno’s principal investigator, Scott Bolton of the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, Texas. “We are looking for how often they erupt, how bright and hot they are, how the shape of the lava flow changes, and how Io’s activity is connected to the flow of charged particles in Jupiter’s magnetosphere.”

A second ultra-close flyby of Io is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2024, in which Juno will again come within about 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) of the surface….

Now you know. Be excellent to all whose paths you cross, now and into the new year 2024! [Even digit years… somehow always feel… smoother, to me. Heh.]

नमस्ते

In Which DWAC… Goes… Whack-A-Doodle.

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Apologies, in advance: this is about Tangerine’s crazy pants Truth social media efforts… and the increasingly-convoluted attempts of the same to become a public company.

And yes — the below is THAT Devin Nunes. Utterly… nutty — but here it is:

…TMTG’s CEO, Devin Nunes, noted “With this filing, we are closing in on the final steps before our merger becomes effective and goes to the shareholders for a vote. Once consummated, we believe that the merger will allow Truth Social to exit the research and development phase, establishing our platform as a true start-up enterprise and the centerpiece of a movement….

For now, we’ve answered the SEC’s inquiries and will be happy to address any follow-up questions they may have….”

Hilarious. This has been. . . nearly three years of disorganization, failures to meet fund-raising goals, delays… and questionable efforts at solid SEC rules compliance. Charming. G’night!

नमस्ते

[U: Felony Trial Prep.] Hinderaker’s Senseless Right-Wing AZ Polling…

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Update (late night; unrelated): Since when is it “chutzpah”… to be well-prepared, in advance, for a momentous (in fact, rarely-seen) felony trial — as a prosecutor? Sheesh… Hinderaker is… senile. Obviously. End, unrelated update.

In any event, here is his nonsense — 11 months out.

All I can say for sure — based on yard signs in Scottsdale, Phoenix and the wealthier ex-urbs to the West, by the White Tank Mountains… as well as dozens of conversations… it is only the non-GED crowd that wants Tangerine (or Lake).

Specifically, I’ve seen tons of Haley yard signs. Which means Tangerine may end up third party.

Now you know.

Out.