(((Charles Fishman))) 💧

(thread) The idea that going to the Moon was expensive, a big show that led nowhere, gave us nothing but Tang and Velcro — that's all silliness, even if it is the conventional wisdom. We misunderstand Apollo, almost completely.

I would pay $1 per month for life for a browser I could tell my cookie preferences to and never see a f*cking European GDPR popup from ever again. how did these idiots let this happen

ma'am, respectfully, genX did all that with no internet access we hand wrote those 12-pages using fucking encyclopedias and zima siphoned in a sprite bottle

RARE GOOD NEWS in 2026: Monarch butterfly numbers have surged in Mexico by 64% this year, with the area they cover in Mexican forests growing significantly!

🚨Crews at risk in the Gulf🚨 Just heard from a crewmember on one of the 3,200 ships stuck in the Persian Gulf. A ship called the local port authority requested permission to dock as they had run out of water. They were denied permission! Multiple ships are in the same condition, with stores, food and fuel running low. Ports are overwhelmed and security is such that they are refusing permission for ships to dock. Crews cannot get off and reliefs cannot fly in. What is being done to address this matter @POTUS @SecWar @SecDuffy @DOTMARAD @IMOSecGen @IMOHQ.

Now that we've declared winter over, let's look back it! Some cool stats: * Coldest Dec-Feb since 2002-03; first time Dec, Jan, and Feb were all colder than normal since 2009-2010. * If no more snow falls, the total in DC of 10.6" would be 3.1" below normal. But snow was on the ground longer than normal because of combo of Snowcrete and cold. * Midwest Regional Climate Center rated it a "severe" winter on its scale, level 4 out of 5, mainly because of the cold and long-lasting snow cover.

Texas is going renewable. Texas.

The best thing we can do for our kids right now is to just let them be kids. Kids are getting cell phones sooner than any generation before them, screen times are up while real human connection is down, and foundational skills aren’t being taught enough these days. We need to take a step back. It’s why I just signed a bipartisan bill into law, requiring cursive handwriting to once again be taught in PA public schools. It’s also why I’ve called on the legislature to pass a bill requiring schools to both implement a bell-to-bell cell phone ban and guarantee recess for every Pennsylvania student.  Let’s continue our work to set young people on a path to success — and let our kids be kids.

This is where the old RFK stadium used to stand; now you can actually see across the Anacostia River and straight down East Capitol Street. Wild.

Voyager hit a 90,000°F wall at the solar system’s edge. NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft crossed one of the most dramatic frontiers in the cosmos: the heliopause, the tenuous boundary where the Sun’s influence finally gives way to interstellar space. What the probe discovered there was astonishing—a turbulent zone of superheated plasma with temperatures soaring between 30,000 and 90,000 °F (roughly 17,000–50,000 °C). This wasn’t a physical wall or barrier, but a dynamic transition region where the outward-flowing solar wind abruptly slows, compresses, and piles up against the incoming pressure of interstellar material. That compression converts kinetic energy into thermal energy, driving the plasma to extreme heat levels far beyond anything found inside the heliosphere. Remarkably, despite the blistering temperatures, this “wall of fire” would pose no danger to a hypothetical astronaut. The plasma is extraordinarily diffuse—far less dense than the best vacuums achievable in Earth laboratories—so there are simply too few particles to transfer meaningful heat. The region is hot in temperature but cold in practical effect. Voyager’s instruments captured clear signatures of the crossing: a sudden plunge in solar wind particles, a sharp rise in galactic cosmic rays, and faint plasma oscillations that revealed the density and temperature of this exotic boundary layer for the first time. These vibrations—analogous to ripples on an unseen sea—provided direct measurements of conditions in a realm previously known only through theory. The heliopause itself serves as a vital shield. The entire heliosphere—the vast bubble carved by the Sun—deflects most of the galaxy’s high-energy cosmic radiation, helping protect life on Earth from constant bombardment. Beyond this protective envelope lies the harsher, unfiltered radiation environment of the interstellar medium. Today, more than 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) from home, Voyager 1 remains the farthest human-made object ever sent into space. Still operational and transmitting precious data, it continues to reveal the secrets of this distant frontier. At the outer limit of our solar system, space is neither empty nor serene. It is a violent, glowing threshold—and humanity has only begun to map its mysteries.

Because of the 15th St bike lane, you can ride from Meridian Hill Park to the White House, from the Washington Monument to the Tidal Basin and all the way to Mount Vernon. It’s simply the best urban bike facility in the country and removing any part of it is a travesty

Serious, baffling question: Why do digital airline boarding passes that you put in your iPhone wallet not have a date of travel on them? Seems bizarre. Anyone out there know?

NEW: Bessent actually just said: The US may “unsanction” Iran oil that is floating on water What message does this send to Iran?

Anyone ever miss the rules-based international order?

Washington, D.C. sports bar Proper 21 confirms to NBC News they will be hosting a Polymarket pop-up at their K Street location beginning this Friday night, and running through the weekend.

The James Webb Space Telescope has a problem. A beautiful, maddening, keeps-you-up-at-night kind of problem. Scattered across nearly every deep image it captures are roughly 1,000 tiny red specks. They date from the universe’s first billion years. They are compact, they are bright, and after three years of serious scientific argument, nobody can agree what they actually are. Three camps have formed. The first says the dots are supermassive black holes wrapped in thick shrouds of dust, feeding voraciously in the infant cosmos. The second argues they are ancient stars in the final act of collapse. The third proposes something even stranger: direct-collapse black holes, objects that skipped the star stage entirely and simply fell straight into darkness. All three theories have problems. None fits the data cleanly. So the proposals keep coming. Dozens of them, queued up for Webb’s next observation cycle. Radio telescopes may eventually settle the argument, offering a signal that cuts through the dust and ambiguity alike. For now, the dots just sit there. Small, red, and completely unbothered by our confusion.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​ What do you think this means? Stay connected, Follow Gandalv @Microinteracti1

$200 billion would pay for free college for every American, $10 day childcare, 1000 new trade schools, the 40% federal share of special needs education and a lot more. What are we even doing here? MAGA is now Iran first?

A brief summary of last night’s events: A. Iran emerged with the upper hand. It demonstrated once again that it will not hesitate to raise the level of escalation to defend its strategic assets — without any retreat on the issue of the Strait of Hormuz. This was entirely predictable. B. Yet another indication that this war lacks a coherent, pre-planned strategy. Once the regime did not collapse early on, it is no longer clear what the overarching strategy actually is. C. Trump was aware of the strike, but chose to look the other way once tensions escalated. This reflects an ongoing gap between Washington which may still be interested in preserving a future-facing Iran and Israel, whose approach appears aimed at systematically degrading the country’s entire infrastructure. D. The strike itself seems to have been driven by frustration: Iran is not yielding, and there is a desire to force outcomes (such as opening the Strait of Hormuz) without committing ground forces — and before external pressure brings the campaign to a halt. E. The strategic failure so far leaves Trump facing a difficult choice: escalate dramatically, potentially including boots on the ground, or move to stop the campaign now. F. At this stage, the fundamental questions remain unanswered: What is the ultimate objective? What are the exit ramps? What does success even look like? G. Instead, the conflict is drifting into a war of attrition — with no clear signs of regime collapse in Iran. Meanwhile, the president, having committed to the idea that Iran has effectively capitulated, may find it difficult to disengage while facing a visible disadvantage in the maritime arena and no resolution to the nuclear issue. Bottom line, last night’s events underscored just how unstructured this campaign has become — lacking strategic clarity, long-term planning, and a defined end state. At the same time, they exposed growing gaps between Israel and the United States, gaps that may widen further if similar outcomes repeat. And as always..just because something is operationally feasible does not mean it is strategically wise. One more point that must be stated clearly — Iran is not close to capitulating. #IranWar‌

“Although President Donald Trump says he has ‘destroyed 100% of Iran’s Military Capability’, the 0% that remains is playing havoc with the global economy.” -The Economist

Remember that 20 million people saw their health care premiums double because $30 billion was too expensive.

Trump’s first supplemental for Iran looks set to be more than all the supplementals for Ukraine in the Biden administration.