Space News June 2020

SpaceX docks at ISS May 31st:  Private initiatives have got their nose out under the tent flap and see stars beckoning. Well, metal asteroids anyway. Capitalism with government subsidies got its first crack at going into outer space on May 30.  The SpaceX module delivered astronauts to the aging space lab from a U.S. base, instead of at $86 million per chair per launch being paid to Russia as per the last nine years.  The space story here is that at least one government, the American one, has got a little out of the way and  there will be good consequences.
       You can watch the launch here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lyq_piGHKuY
And watch the link with the space station here:

Earth's magnetic field continues actively re-shaping.  The north pole moves dozens of kilometers in one year lately, requiring navigation updates all the time. It's actually close to the "real" north pole for the first time in my life   The new story is that an area of low magnetic flux in the South Atlantic is weakening and developing twin cores.  The South Atlantic Anomaly changes have been detected by a cluster of  Swarm satellites.
The Anomaly has been moving westwards about 19 kmph recently.  That's not "per year" but "per hour".The top speculation is that we are approaching one of earth's periodic reversals of magnetic poles.  The Daily Mail was all over this one for graphics.  There's a movie of the changing field at the link.   (The last polar flip was 780,000 years ago.





Every few weeks a meteorite from outside the solar system burns up in our atmosphere.  Here's a recent fireball track from May 19th.  Spaceweather.com posts a daily report from the NASA all-sky-cameras.  The straight blue line is the culprit, projecting where it would have gone if we hadn't been in the way.







Like a bump on a log in a hole in the bottom of the sea,  a speck of dust smaller than a mustard seed on a moon pebble has been analysed and The Creation of the Moon is being revealed in that speck.  A cubic zirconia crystal was found and measured.  It' formed about 4.3 billion years ago and this could only have happened in temperatures above 2300 C.  Those amazing temperatures would only have happened if that region of the moon's surface had turned molten.  The conclusion is that an immense and specific moon-rocking collision happened as part of the moon's story. The speculation is old but having a measurement is new. Today the moon is sedate with one side turned towards us, slowing its orbit by 1.5 milliseconds per century.



Near earth orbit is filling up with junk. The current cost of satellite junk cleanup is about the same as the cost of launching a new satellite.  This is an opportunity for a bureaucracy to tax new launches  (like a pop bottle deposit but a million times pricier)  and it's an opportunity for an entrepreneur to get filthy rich developing a cheaper clean-up business.


Four separate millisecond massive bursts of energy  (FRB = Fast Radio Burst) have been pin-pointed to the periphery of the galaxies they came from, eliminating a central black hole as the source.  From the Astrophysical Journal Letters, "Appears to rule out FRB progenitor models that invoke active galactic nuclei or free-floating cosmic strings."

Third Party Not Needed, Just Competition for the Uniparty.

From Sundance:

"Many people call for a third party in politics without realizing President Trump represents the first second party DC has seen in decades. That’s why he is opposed by both wings of the same legislative bird.   Both parties are deep in the pockets of Wall St multinationals."

Ocean Larvaceans as complex and airy as a thought: Particle flow filmed.

Stunning up-close underwater imagery of a life form new to me. (Ignore the sound track).
From Wikipedia:

Larvaceans (Class Appendicularia) are solitary, free-swimming tunicates found throughout the world's oceans. Like most tunicates, appendicularians are filter feeders. Unlike most other tunicates, they live in the pelagic zone, specifically in the upper sunlit portion of the ocean, or sometimes deeper. They are transparent planktonic animals, generally less than 1 cm (0.39 in) in body length,

Why I love Donald Trump

"Get any candidate ready, good or bad, I don't care, I'm endorsing. If you have a pulse, I"m with you!"

This riposte after Senator Murkowski said she may not support the reelection of President Donald Trump.

"You're stuck between lawless mobs and egomaniac government tyrants"

So, systemic racism is bad in cities that Democrat mayors have run for the last half century? They're the problem, not the solution.

"Law-abiding citizens have been sandwiched between egomaniac government tyrants and lawless mobs. Lawless mobs that are being cheered on by the aforementioned government tyrants."   (Add to that credentialed elites and actors).

The hyprocrisy is total and will kill people: From tweets betwen Olivia Gatwood and James Beatty: "Burn it down, fuck property, fuck cops".



Above excerpts from Instapundit's June 4th morning posts.

Shocking: Care Homes and New York City account for almost 70% of All Covid-10 Deaths. Targeting Here Would Mean National Lockdowns Unneeded.

71% of all Covid-19 deaths were either in long term care facilities or in New York City. The Pandemic Plans attacked every American instead of just the people in the critical core.

The numbers are changing rapidly but here goes:
A recent national death tally attributed to Covid-19          94,000  (or 100,000)
Recent deaths attributed to Long Term Care Facilities    43%  of 94,000 or roughly 40,000  (see chart)
Recent death tally in New York City area     29,650    (or maybe about 35,000)
Recent death tally from Care Facilities NY State   5800.
  Some portion of those deaths are NYC and downstate, say 1/2.
Net NYC deaths outside Care Facilities              26,750.
     Expressed as a percentage of the national tally =   28%
So, rough and ready, 28% plus 43% of 94,000 deaths are in Long Term Care Facilities across America and New York City.

Chart from the first link

If some of the hundreds of billions of dollars had been targeted on Long Term Care Facilities and the leadership of New York City, the rest of the country could reasonably have been spared the loss of millions of jobs and trillions of dollars.

Hindsight is 20-20.  This wasn't known initially.  That's no excuse for there being no logical progression to better targeted responses.  Besides getting some herd immunity to Covid-19, we've also acquired some herd immunity against the next time over-the-top tyrants want to abrogate the constitution.

Add the 2 lines together.

China Makes Moves Pointing To War But Why ?

This is becoming critical knowledge to acquire.  Why is China now making additional warlike moves towards India, towards Hong Kong, towards Taiwan and continuing to steal prominence in the South China Sea?   There is threat towards the United States too, not the least of which is blaming the US for Covid-19's creation.

Instead of an answer, I am linking to a short Instapundit note May 28th and the many voices speculating in the comment section.  There is a disturbance in the force.

New England Journal of Medicine May 2020: Mask Offers Little, If Any, Protection From Infection

"We know that wearing a mask outside health care facilities offers little, if any, protection from infection."   

That's the opener in this weeks NEJM article.  This has always been true. (Listen to Laurie Garrett  back in February who has been in dozens of disease zones).  

What exposure does it take to get sick?

"Public health authorities define a significant exposure to Covid-19 as face-to-face contact within 6 feet with a patient with symptomatic Covid-19 that is sustained for at least a few minutes (and some say more than 10 minutes or even 30 minutes). The chance of catching Covid-19 from a passing interaction in a public space is therefore minimal. In many cases, the desire for widespread masking is a reflexive reaction to anxiety over the pandemic."

Note the word "anxiety".  Masks play a useful symbolic role:

It is also clear that masks serve symbolic roles. Masks are not only tools, they are also talismans that may help increase health care workers’ perceived sense of safety, well-being, and trust in their hospitals. Although such reactions may not be strictly logical, we are all subject to fear and anxiety, especially during times of crisis.

Some people hate and hassle you if you won't wear a mask in even the safest settings.  "Because Science".   Saying "science" doesn't repair delusion.

Pretty funny exposition of Mask vs No-Mask right here.  "I didn't know sheep could speak English"  "I'm not going to wear a face diaper"  and so on.

Roughneck Team Make Drilling Rig Pipe Connection: Unforgettable 4 Minutes of Hard Dangerous Work.

Magnificent Roman Floor Tiles Uncovered

At a dig near Verona, a like-new mosaic floor has been uncovered a couple feet down. Parts are perfect and I want to take off my shoes and walk on those bright ancient colours.

Squirrel Thieves Challenge Course

A wonderful entertainment on a nearly squirrel-proof challenge course to a bird feeder, brought to you by the guy who invented glitter spray bombs for Amazon parcels that were being stolen from front door steps.  Wow.

Update:  Maybe there really is a squirrel proof bird feeder.  Glossy surface, 4.5 inches in diameter so the squirrels can't shinny down the tube, 21" long tube so they can't stretch from top to bottom of the tube and a battery powered widget at the bottom that tosses off the squirrel but supports up to four birds.

Kayleigh McEnany - A Perfect Description

"A no-nonsense camp counselor in charge of the problem kids".

Poisonous Spin in the Media Every Day. Today Pew Twists Covid-19 Chart.

The chart shouts out that Republican districts have been by far the safest to ride out Covid-19.  The spin says there has been almost no improvement in Republican districts while Democrat districts have been drops in death.  How awful and how typical.  Every day, this is the diet on offer.  Being a consumer is a dangerous occupation.  To get good information, you must be a hunter gatherer who gets out there and finds their own food.

Hong Kong About To Lose Special Status: Once in a Generation Moment

Pompeo announced that Hong Kong can no longer be considered sufficiently autonomous to have special status different from the rest of China.  This is part of his mandatory report to Congress for May 25th of this year. Next move is with congress.

“This decision gives me no pleasure. But sound policy-making requires a recognition of reality,” Mr. Pompeo said in the statement. “It is now clear that China is modeling Hong Kong after itself.”

Tariff exemptions and travel freedoms may shortly be stopped.  China's financial sector has grown immensely so that the calculus of swallowing up Hong Kong but losing special market access may now look okay to the CCP.

This is a generational change, large elements of world politics and commerce are going to re-align but go better or worse is unknown.

Elvis Worked Hard For Those Hits

I remember Elvis for dozens of hit songs. 

What I didn't realize is that he recorded over 700 songs 

to get those couple dozen.  

Top guys get lucky by working hard.

V Shaped Recovery Coming. BC Parks Re-started On-Line Camping Reservations Monday And Promptly Crashed

Unprecedented demand for BC campsite reservations exploded Monday morning as bookings were re-opened.   The government site opened at 7 a.m. and crashed immediately, yet by noon over 35,000 had gotten through, despite redials, shaky site graphics and a ban on out-of-province tourists.

From the Vancouver Sun story

This looks like a V-shaped economic recover, against all the odds.  It matches Kudlow's hopeful prediction of a Great American Comeback in the States  and a top Obama economist's fearful prediction that the United States will see the "best economic data" in its history.

A Sad Day: Twitter Branch Of The Democrat Party Owns Your Vote

Twitter started censoring the President's tweets.  If you don't like mail-in ballots, you won't be allowed to say so.  Democrat Party 1  Democracy 0.
h/t  theconservativetreehouse.com

Twitter along with Google, Facebook and even Wikipedia exercise government power through narrative control.

Apple Charts How We move: Bus is flat, foot and car is back to normal.

This is the chart behind the stories of Americans on the move again.  Cell phone tracking by Apple shows day and night pulses and dramatic changes that outstrip the partial lifting of lockdowns.  But only in private travel.  Public transit is dead and flat.  Governors holding the OFF button down are fighting a losing battle.

A fun read from Katie Hopkins (and acerbic): What I learned from Coronavirus

Before you read the rest for your entertainment, here are highlights:
1.   People overreact.  It's comforting to know that the most fearful in our society will never need to buy toilet paper again.
2.   The massive overreaction has been horrible to watch.  It's disturbing to learn people you thought you could trust are as mad as the rest of the herd.
3.   Too many people enjoy imposing rules on others.  They enjoy telling you how to ride your bike, how far away you have to stand for their safety and how many times you can walk your dog.
4.    No cost is too much to cover a politician's backside.  Think of those zombie hospitals never used.
5.    Spending more time around family is pleasant.

Erasable History: The Wayback Machine is becoming vulnerable to censorship.

The Wayback Machine is the near ultimate digital record of our past.  A new feature allows judgements to be attached to records, labelled "potential disinformation"..   This distortion is where the camel gets its nose under the tent to disrupt a faithful record.   As Faulkner wrote, "The Past isn't dead.  It isn't even past".

"More and more of humanity’s knowledge is accumulated in massive digital repositories. The danger is not only in the outright loss of stored data as a result of technical malfunctions but also in the greater ability to execute historical revisionism and misrepresenting facts to future generations. Wikipedia – a widely consulted online encyclopedia – is already guilty of this. But, now the Wayback Internet archive is trending down this slippery slope with its recently implemented labeling of snapshot results as potential disinformation."

"Elliot Leavy, warns in an article addressing the changes at the Wayback Machine site, “if we continue to censor the past, attaching intent to some but not to others, we will be unable to evaluate anything at all.”