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High in the atmosphere, mysterious flashes light up the sky during thunderstorms. Unconfirmed until 1989, these Transient Luminous Events, or TLEs, have mythological names like sprites, TROLLS (Transient Red Optical Luminous Lineaments), and green ghosts. 👻
Now, NASA is on the hunt with a project called Spritacular, where people across the globe photograph and study these TLEs.
NASA’s Illuminate: Out-of-this-world images shining light on our Sun and solar system.
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Hitting “No Tip” at the Mexican restaurant and telling the waitress, “Remember the Alamo,” before she reminds me I’m at an Olive Garden.
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The core stage of the Artemis III rocket is officially stacked.
ALT A partial view of the orange core stage of the Artemis III rocket standing between two white solid rocket boosters inside of the VAB. The rocket spans several stories. Platforms on each floor surround the rocket. There are railings and equipment on every level. Credit: NASA/Sean Cannon
ALT Two employees in hard hats look up as a crane lifts the 212-foot core stage of the Artemis III rocket vertically into the transfer aisle of the VAB. Dominating the center of the image are four rocket engines on the bottom of the core stage. They are covered in red caps. Credit: NASA/Sean Cannon
ALT The bottom half of the orange core stage of the Artemis III rocket is suspended vertically in High Bay 3 of the VAB as a crane moves it into place above the mobile launcher. Several levels of observation platforms are visible behind the core stage and one of the solid rocket boosters is seen below. Credit: NASA/Sean Cannon
ALT The orange core stage of the Artemis III rocket is suspended vertically in the transfer aisle as a crane moves it into High Bay 3 of the VAB. Several levels of observation platforms are visible behind the core stage. Credit: NASA/Sean Cannon
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The launch of a United Launch Alliance Vulcan VC6L rocket carrying the next batch of production satellites for @AmazonLeo, Vulcan Leo 1, is planned for Friday, Nov. 13, pending range approval. bit.ly/vulcan_leo1
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NASA has confirmed the UVEX (UltraViolet EXplorer) mission for launch by January 2031. 🚀 UVEX will map the universe in ultraviolet light, study the evolution of stars and galaxies, and help capture cosmic events tied to gravitational waves. Read more: go.nasa.gov/4sM2DYt
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Meet our Solar System's newest dwarf planet candidate: 2026 ED138!
Orbiting past Pluto, scientists found it in NSF–DOE Rubin Observatory data from earlier in 2026. Early analysis suggests it's 600–1500 km across, one of the largest found past Neptune!
🔗 rubinobservatory.org/news/ru…
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CONCLUSION 🧵(1/2): Putin would have the world, and especially the United States, believe that he is somehow holding back from crushing Ukraine, but that he could do so at any moment of his choosing. The opposite is the case.
If Putin had had a way of ending the war quickly, he surely would have used it. The effort to field an army large enough to make virtually no gains is costing Putin a fortune, driving up inflation in Russia, and generating increasing social discontent. Fielding a larger army would cost more with no guarantee of materially changing the situation on the front. That is why Putin is holding back at least for now. ⬇️
Putin has likely recognized the folly of trying to drown Ukraine in Russian blood and has instead opted to try to hammer Ukraine into submission with a strategic bombing campaign. The Russians have secured a temporary advantage in the skies over Ukraine through their jet-powered drones and the shortage of Patriot missiles that can intercept their ballistic missiles. But Ukraine is fielding solutions to defend against the jet-powered drones, and it is hardening and decentralizing its infrastructure to survive the ballistic missile strikes (as well as developing its own ballistic missile interceptors, although that effort will take time).
The Russian strikes are currently devastating Ukrainian energy and other infrastructure and imposing a brutal cost on Ukrainian civilians—as Putin intends. But there is no reason to think that this strategic bombing campaign will be any more successful than every other strategic bombing campaign in history—all of which have failed to compel a country holding its own on the battlefield to surrender.
It is unclear whether Putin is lying about Russian gains or being lied to by his own military—or both. Russian military correspondents constantly complain of what they call “beautiful reports” that Russian military units send to higher headquarters, claiming gains they have not made. Ukrainian forces say that they have been able to use the Russian military’s own internal culture of lying to their advantage, luring Russian troops into traps because the Russians think that they are moving through territory they control. Leaked Russian military maps show phantom gains, often matching Putin’s claims. The pervasive lying within the Russian military is a problem for Russian soldiers, but likely an advantage for Putin, as it supports his own efforts to present Russian forces as advancing and winning when, in fact, they are doing neither.
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34 days after this tweet was made chatgpt was released to the public
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One in 46 Taiwanese babies is born to a TSMC employee. The Taiwanese gene pool is being sexually selected for semiconductor proficiency.
re-reading gideon lewis-kraus’s feature story “sand castles” on @NewYorker.
so many great details. the AI supply chain becomes a breathing, moving, growing beast, something so visceral and material.
one detail i can’t stop thinking is: one in forty-six babies in taiwan is born to a tsmc employee (?!?!)
next year’s goal: convince a magazine or foundation to fund my tsmc tradwife story.
link: Computer Chips Are the Most Magnificent Things Humanity Has Ever Made newyorker.com/magazine/2026/…
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‼️ This week, Putin will most likely try to turn the evacuation from Oleshky into a propaganda operation - rewriting the story and presenting Russia as the savior rather than the architect of the atrocity.
Putin will try to portray himself as a humanitarian after Russia has starved people into desperation.
He’ll try to exploit that desperation to take civilians to Russia and and portray it as their free choice.
He’ll try to take more Ukrainian children under the pretext of “protecting” them.
And he’ll try to blame Ukraine for the horrors Russia has unleashed on Oleshky.
The American public - especially those who haven’t followed the story of Oleshky from the beginning and are hearing about it for the first time - must be aware of these tactics.
Please read and share this incredibly important article by @siobhan_ogrady @nytimes on what’s really happening in Oleshky, including firsthand accounts from people trapped there because of Russia's blockade.
The world must not let Putin turn a humanitarian catastrophe of his own making into a propaganda win.
Gift link ➡️ nytimes.com/2026/10/05/world…
🤞
THE CEASEFIRE HAS COMMENCED
The ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia took effect at 4:00am Moscow time on October 27, 2026.
Timing was accelerated two days ahead of schedule to protect the safety of civilians and to facilitate the delivery of critical humanitarian aid. The ceasefire’s geographic area has expanded beyond Oleshky, within the Kherson Region, to provide safe passage for the humanitarian convoys.
General Valery Gerasimov, Joint Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces has confirmed.
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About the ongoing revolution in America, Swedish King Gustav III writes: “It is such an interesting drama to see a nation create itself, that I, if I now had not been who I am, would go to America to follow up close every phase in the emergence of this new republic. This is perhaps America’s century. This new republic […] may perhaps take advantage of Europe some day, in the same manner as Europe has taken advantage of Europe for two centuries.”
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"Generational slander" where a bunch of Algerians tell the same 3 jokes about Americans we've already heard for years but it'll somehow have 100k likes each tweet
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Don't let this election season distract you from what really matters: grinding down the worthless planet Mercury into a Dyson swarm.
