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Comment Nukes are a critical deterrant (Score 1) 26

It was in the news yesterday. Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have formed a NATO like pact. Saudi Arabia has mostly realized that it cannot rely on the US. Most others have come to the same conclusion and are quickly evaluating their own nuclear weapon options. In this case, they are aligning with someone else that has nukes.

Comment Re: The 3 laws aren't what you think (Score 1) 89

I don't mean ISO 26262 specifically, but a formalize standard that actually covers processes is what is needed. Not simply some laws that have painfully obvious loopholes that were fodder for several of Asimov's books. The path you took to get to the result is as important as the result, which is how ISO 9001 and 26262 and others standards work in the real world. And there are a bunch of them because there is no universal set of standards that cuts through every possible industry and situation. One for AI agents and autonomous robots will necessarily be horribly complex compared to my relatively thin examples.

Moon

Before and After Views of SpaceX Rocket's Moon Crash (apnews.com) 10

A South Korean lunar orbiter has captured the first before-and-after images of the Moon's crash scene caused by a stray SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The Associated Press reports: The Korea Aerospace Research Institute's Danuri spacecraft flew over the impact site soon after the Falcon 9 upper stage inadvertently plowed into the moon on Wednesday. Danuri made multiple passes, snapping photos from lunar orbit that were released by the space agency Thursday. The terrain is noticeably darker where the rocket hit and carved out a crater, sending dust and rock everywhere. Korean space officials said Danuri gathered before and after shots. NASA expects its Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter to fly over the crash site next week to view the aftermath. You can view the images here.
Space

NASA Figured Out How To Keep Its 48-Year-Old Voyager 2 Probe Running For Yet Another Year (space.com) 34

NASA has squeezed at least another year of science out of Voyager 2 by cutting power to nonessential systems and switching to lower-power alternatives. Voyager 1 is expected to receive the same power-saving changes in the coming months. Space.com reports: Voyager 2 and its twin launched in 1977, called Voyager 1, rely on a form of nuclear battery known as a radioisotope thermoelectric generator that uses the heat produced by the decay of plutonium. But the supply of plutonium on each probe drops at about four watts a year on each spacecraft. To keep the probe running on this dwindling power supply, engineers recently reduced Voyager 2's power requirements by turning off a few non-science devices and using "lower-power alternatives" that are still effective enough to keep the spacecraft warm while it's so far from the sun, NASA officials said in a statement. "The spacecraft power margins have grown razor thin, requiring the team to conserve energy by shutting off non-essential devices and systems," NASA officials wrote of the mission, which is managed by the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The drop in power is having a measurable science impact on both spacecraft -- each has turned off two of their science instruments since 2024 alone. While some of these instruments were shut off after the spacecraft finished their historic planetary flybys decades ago, others were turned off due to power requirements. Each spacecraft initially launched with 10 instruments, and Voyager 2 is now down to only three instruments. At first it looked as though Voyager 2 would have to shut down another of these instruments later this year, but luckily, the new power shifts will allow all three to operate "for at least another year," NASA said.

Comment Re:FOR MAGA ONLY (Score 2) 173

This has nothing to do with rationality.
Wind turbines have long been a hate object for Trump.
He has claimed that they cause cancer and that they ruin the environment, etc.

And they obscure the ocean view from his beach-front golf course in Scotland.
(He lost the legal battle to have hem stopped/removed.)

How Trump's loathing for wind turbines started with a Scottish court battle

Power

Trump Administration To Pay German Firm $1.2 Billion To Halt US Wind Projects (bbc.com) 173

An anonymous reader quotes a report from the BBC: German energy company RWE has said it will abandon its offshore wind projects in the U.S. after reaching a $1.2 billion payout deal with President Donald Trump's Department of the Interior (DoI). RWE said that it will now reinvest the sum into conventional gas projects, including $900 million in a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal project in Louisiana. "After careful consideration, it was determined there is no path forward to permit these projects in the US for the foreseeable future," the company said in a statement.

RWE said it has agreed to relinquish its leases off the California and Louisiana coasts as well as in the New York Bight. Overall, the German firm plans to invest approximately $19.6 billion in the U.S. over the next six years "to grow its generation capacity." Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said in a statement posted on X that Americans deserve an energy system built on common sense and not one dependent on "costly subsidies." "We welcome RWE's agreement and voluntary investment in projects that strengthen our nation's energy security," he added.
Earlier this year, the DOL reached a deal with TotalEnergies putting an end to the French company's offshore wind projects in the U.S. "Instead, the firm agreed to reroute investment to build a LNG plant in Texas and to develop 'upstream conventional oil' in the Gulf of Mexico," reports the BBC.

Another similar deal was signed with Charlotte-based Duke Energy last month to terminate the company's offshore wind lease in the Carolina Long Bay area.

Comment Re:new idiots lead, old history repeats (Score 1) 21

Virginia does not own Dominion Energy. They just regulate it (set rates, etc). They would regulate the resulting corporate entity after a merger, whatever that is, just the same as they do now, as is their right to do so as a state.

I suspect this will get shot down, as Virginia does not have the right to control this (it is interstate / federal level for one thing).

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