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Tag: Defense

  • Bezos-Backed Climate Satellite Shame & Name Vanishes

    Bezos-Backed Climate Satellite Shame & Name Vanishes

    Oops! The Meteoric Meteorology Mission Goes Missing

    Picture this: a sleek, high‑resolution space shuttle cruising the skies, sending back crisp images that help scientists keep an eye on our planet’s methane levels. Then—crash! A sudden power hiccup snuffs out its connection, and the satellite goes quiet, never to be seen again.

    What Went Wrong?

    • Power Failure: The satellite’s main battery ran out or a critical component failed.
    • Communication Loss: Without power, no signals were sent back to Earth.
    • Mission Gone Dark: All hopes of tracking global methane emissions from orbit evaporated.

    Why It Matters

    These satellites act like the world’s best detective, hunting down methane leaks—those pesky greenhouse gas culprits from livestock, pipelines, and festivals. Losing one means a piece of the puzzle that calculates our planet’s global carbon footprint just got a dark spot.

    The Aftermath

    NASA and its partners are already mobilizing backup satellites and ground‑based sensors. Imagine a fire‑fight-urge: “No panic, just a pivot.” They’ll dash to patch the data gaps and keep environmental monitoring humming.

    In a Nutshell

    While the loss is a setback, the mission’s spirit lives on. It’s a reminder that even in space, a simple power glitch can derail big‑picture plans—and that we’re always scrambling to bring a satellite back from the brink!

    MethaneSAT: The Greenhouse Gas Spy That Said Goodbye

    In a plot twist straight out of a space‑opera, the $88 million MethaneSAT satellite, the brainchild of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and the generous backer Jeff Bezos, went silent just ten days ago.

    What Happened?

    On Friday, June 20, the mission lost all contact with the orbital weather‑watcher. Our crew at Mission Operations tried every trick in the toolbox – from brute‑force signal boosts to elaborate handshake routines – but the satellite slipped away.

    After a frantic chase through the data, we learned this morning that MethaneSAT has lost all power and is unlikely to be saved. You can imagine the weight of the news, but seriously – it’s just one satellite north of Svalbard that faltered.

    Not the End of The Story

    • Success Ahead of Loss: When the mission launched last March, it delivered a trove of methane‑emission data that put global oil and gas giants under a very “name‑and‑shame” spotlight.
    • Cutting‑Edge Tech: Built on Blue Canyon Technologies’ X‑Sat platform, it carried a custom infrared spectrometer from Ball Aerospace, sharp enough to sniff out methane plumes big and small.
    • Legacy Lessons: As Amy Middleton, EDF’s senior vice president, explained, “We’re seeing this as a setback, not a failure. We’ve already learned so much because we dared to star‑burst into the unknown.”

    Why It Still Brings Hope

    Even though the satellite’s body has gone dark, the data it’s turned over will stay in the public domain and fuel future research. The mission was a bold step forward in science, technology and climate advocacy. When a satellite fails, scientists and activists re‑frame the narrative as a learning moment rather than a dashed dream.

    Oil & Gas Companies, Take a Breath (but not too long)

    Though the name‑and‑shame tool has taken a hiatus, counting your cattle isn’t all that easy without a shooter in space. But hey, at least the projection of the world’s methane churn will keep coming from the ground.

    And as the U.S. debates its self‑imposed “de‑growth” policies, one can’t help but wonder: did MethaneSAT ever fine‑tune its cameras on China’s coal‑powered grid? That’s a mystery for a later‑season episode.

    In the end, the loss of MethaneSAT reminds us that space missions are high‑risk, high‑reward endeavors. What matters is that we keep reaching for the stars, armed with the data and lessons each unlucky satellite teaches us.

  • British Comedy Writer Arrested For Three Gender-Critical Tweets; Hospitalized As A Result

    British Comedy Writer Arrested For Three Gender-Critical Tweets; Hospitalized As A Result

    Authored by Steve Watson via Modernity.news,

    An acclaimed comedy writer in the UK was arrested and thrown in a jail cell over three tweets that were critical of gender ideology, causing him to become extremely stressed and require hospitalisation.

    In a recent Substack post, Graham Linehan recounts his arrest at Heathrow Airport upon returning from the US, a development he attributes to complaints from trans activists over three tweets.

    Author JK Rowling shared the news via her X account.

    The ordeal began even before Linehan boarded his flight in Arizona. “When I handed over my passport at the gate, the official told me I didn’t have a seat and had to be re-ticketed,” he writes, initially dismissing it as a typical travel mishap. In hindsight, however, he believes it was a sign he’d been “flagged” by authorities, speculating that “Someone, somewhere, probably wearing unconvincing make-up and his sister/wife’s/mum’s underwear, had made a phone call.”

    Upon landing at Heathrow, Linehan says he was met by “five armed police officers” who escorted him to a private area and informed him he was under arrest for the tweets. He emphasizes the absurdity of the situation, noting “In a country where paedophiles escape sentencing, where knife crime is out of control, where women are assaulted and harassed every time they gather to speak, the state had mobilised five armed officers to arrest a comedy writer for this tweet (and no, I promise you, I am not making this up.”

    The tweets in question included one showing a man in women’s clothing with the caption implying a call to challenge such individuals, and a follow-up referencing a “punch in the bollocks” as a metaphorical point about height differences and self-defense, not literal violence.

    Linehan’s initial reaction was one of disbelief and humor: “When I first saw the cops, I actually laughed. I couldn’t help myself. ‘Don’t tell me! You’ve been sent by trans activists,’” he writes.

    At the Heathrow police station, Linehan recounts how his belongings were confiscated, including his belt, bag, and devices. He was placed in a “small green-tiled cell with a bunk, a silver toilet in the corner and a message from Crimestoppers on the ceiling next to a concave mirror that was presumably there to make you reflect on your life choices.”

    During the police interview, Linehan remarks that the tone became more intense. An officer questioned him about each tweet “with the sort of earnest intensity usually reserved for discussing something serious like… oh, I dunno—crime?”

    Linehan defended his posts, explaining that the ‘punch’ tweet was “a serious point made with a joke,” explaining that “Men who enter women’s spaces ARE abusers and they need to be challenged every time.”

    Search for the Mangoes… JUST arrived

    The conversation touched on terminology when the officer used “trans people,” prompting Linehan to challenge: “I asked him what he meant by the phrase. ‘People who feel their gender is different than what was assigned at birth.’ I said ‘Assigned at birth? Our sex isn’t assigned.’” He dismissed the officer’s response as “semantics” and accused him of using “activist language,” lamenting that “The damage Stonewall has done to the UK police force will take years to mend.”

    Linehan recounts that the stress of the situation took a huge physical toll on him, and when a nurse checked on him, it was discovered that his blood pressure was “over 200—stroke territory,” and he was rushed to A&E for observation.

    Linehan attributes this to “The stress of being arrested for jokes,” combined with travel fatigue, and his ongoing eight-year battle against “trans activists working in tandem with police in a dedicated, persistent harassment campaign because I refuse to believe that lesbians have cocks.”

    Linehan’s account paints a picture of a surreal clash between free speech, activism, and law enforcement, highlighting his frustration with a system that now prioritises ideological complaints over real crimes.

    Is it a coincidence that Linehan was on the world’s most popular podcast just three weeks ago talking about how much of a police state Britain has become?

    Linehan has been targeted for cancellation and much worse for years now, since making his views on the gender issue clear:

    The Free Speech Union in the UK has announced that it will back Linehan, posting on X:

    We do not believe Graham’s arrest or the bail conditions imposed were lawful. We will be backing him all the way in his fight against these preposterous allegations and the disproportionate response from the police.

    When @Glinner landed at Heathrow, he was met by five armed police officers, and immediately arrested.

    His ‘crime’? Three gender-critical tweets.

    As Graham says in his Substack:

    “In a country where paedophiles escape sentencing, where knife crime is out of control, where women are assaulted and harassed every time they gather to speak, the state had mobilised five armed officers to arrest a comedy writer.”

    Graham’s single bail condition is that he does not go on X.

    All of this comes in the wake of Prime Minister Kier Starmer repeatedly claiming that the UK is proud of free speech.

    *  *  *

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