"In Milan, near the end of the ceremony’s lengthy Parade of Nations, the U.S. delegation of athletes entered the stadium to cheers and whistles. But the crowd’s mood seemed to shift when the screen switched from the athletes to the stands, where Mr. Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, were waving small American flags.
Their appearance was met with a smattering of jeers and boos that were audible despite the loud music playing for the parade."
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/world/europe/jd-vance-olympics-opening-ceremony.html
#Politics #Olympics
2/n
In other Olympics news -
"Having a bigger bulge on a required 3D body scan taken in the pre-season could earn jumpers extra centimeters of material in their jumpsuits—and a suit’s larger nether regions provide more surface area to glide to the gold.
A 2025 simulation-based study suggested that every 2 cm of extra fabric in a ski jumpsuit could increase drag by about 4% and increase lift by about 5%, providing an extra 5.8 meters of distance."
https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/02/penisgate-erupts-at-olympics-scandal-exposes-risks-of-bulking-your-budge/
3/n
"Team GB skier Gus Kenworthy has launched a blistering attack on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers by urinating the words “Fuck Ice” on the snow just before the start of the Winter Olympics.
In a post on Instagram the 34-year-old, who will compete for Team GB in the free-ski half-pipe in Milano Cortina, also urged Americans to write to their senators to “rein in” ICE and border patrol."
😮
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/06/team-gb-winter-olympic-skier-gus-kenworthy-targets-ice-graphic-message-in-snow
https://www.instagram.com/p/DUWAmjeDq2L/?hl=en
#Politics #Olympics
1/n
"In Milan, near the end of the ceremony’s lengthy Parade of Nations, the U.S. delegation of athletes entered the stadium to cheers and whistles. But the crowd’s mood seemed to shift when the screen switched from the athletes to the stands, where Mr. Vance and his wife, Usha Vance, were waving small American flags.
Their appearance was met with a smattering of jeers and boos that were audible despite the loud music playing for the parade."
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/06/world/europe/jd-vance-olympics-opening-ceremony.html
#Politics #Olympics
2/n
"Team GB skier Gus Kenworthy has launched a blistering attack on US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers by urinating the words “Fuck Ice” on the snow just before the start of the Winter Olympics.
In a post on Instagram the 34-year-old, who will compete for Team GB in the free-ski half-pipe in Milano Cortina, also urged Americans to write to their senators to “rein in” ICE and border patrol."
😮
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/feb/06/team-gb-winter-olympic-skier-gus-kenworthy-targets-ice-graphic-message-in-snow
https://www.instagram.com/p/DUWAmjeDq2L/?hl=en
#Politics #Olympics
1/n
A blunt assessment of "AI datacenters in space” by Prof. Matthew Buckley in Dec 2025 -
"To be blunt, the entire stupid idea is a giant middle finger to multiple fundamentals of physics, and the fact that it is apparently being taken seriously by our tech lords, mainstream journalism, and political leaders is a damning indictment of not just the ridiculous amount of money chasing bad ideas in the tech/LLM/hype sector that has eaten the American economy, ..."
https://www.physicsmatt.com/blog/2025/12/11/the-dumbest-thing-ive-seen-this-week
4/n
Another good article by a former NASA engineer/scientist on why "Datacenters in space are a terrible, horrible, no good idea."
"This is an absolutely terrible idea, and really makes zero sense whatsoever. There are multiple reasons for this, but they all amount to saying that the kind of electronics needed to make a datacenter work, particularly a datacenter deploying AI capacity in the form of GPUs and TPUs, is exactly the opposite of what works in space."
https://taranis.ie/datacenters-in-space-are-a-terrible-horrible-no-good-idea/
5/n
The filing is short on details and long on lofty goals and promises.
And also a bit sloppy -
"Global electricity demand for data centers is projected to more than double by 2035 driven by growth in AI — reaching ~1,200-1,700 Terawatt hours and ..."
You gotta specify TW or TW-hours per month or per year.
Also, I suspect the million satellite number comes from 1 million * 100 kw = 100 GW total power.
For comparison, Starlink v3 satellites will generate 20 kW with a 60x8 m array.
3/n
A blunt assessment of "AI datacenters in space” by Prof. Matthew Buckley in Dec 2025 -
"To be blunt, the entire stupid idea is a giant middle finger to multiple fundamentals of physics, and the fact that it is apparently being taken seriously by our tech lords, mainstream journalism, and political leaders is a damning indictment of not just the ridiculous amount of money chasing bad ideas in the tech/LLM/hype sector that has eaten the American economy, ..."
https://www.physicsmatt.com/blog/2025/12/11/the-dumbest-thing-ive-seen-this-week
4/n
To keep the clueless masses intoxicated, SpaceX threw in these flowery words in the FCC filing -
"Launching a constellation of a million satellites that operate as orbital data centers is a first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization—one that can harness the Sun’s full power—while supporting AI-driven applications for billions of people today and ensuring humanity’s multi-planetary future amongst the stars."
Earth must be destroyed to save it?
https://www.scribd.com/document/990116826/Orbital-Data-Center-LOA-Narrative
2/n
The filing is short on details and long on lofty goals and promises.
And also a bit sloppy -
"Global electricity demand for data centers is projected to more than double by 2035 driven by growth in AI — reaching ~1,200-1,700 Terawatt hours and ..."
You gotta specify TW or TW-hours per month or per year.
Also, I suspect the million satellite number comes from 1 million * 100 kw = 100 GW total power.
For comparison, Starlink v3 satellites will generate 20 kW with a 60x8 m array.
3/n
New FCC filing by SpaceX for constellation of million data center satellites for AI apps.
# of sats: up to 1 million!
Orbit: 500 km and 2,000 km altitude and 30°inclinations. Multiple orbital shells 50 km apart.
Cooling: radiative
Schedule: unspecified
Sat size, weight, power, cost, ..: unspecified
Launches: millions of tons of mass per year
There goes the neighborhood.
Or is this just marketing fluff and orbital hoarding?
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
https://www.scribd.com/document/990116826/Orbital-Data-Center-LOA-Narrative
https://fccprod.servicenowservices.com/icfs?id=ibfs_application_summary&number=SAT-LOA-20260108-00016
1/n
To keep the clueless masses intoxicated, SpaceX threw in these flowery words in the FCC filing -
"Launching a constellation of a million satellites that operate as orbital data centers is a first step towards becoming a Kardashev II-level civilization—one that can harness the Sun’s full power—while supporting AI-driven applications for billions of people today and ensuring humanity’s multi-planetary future amongst the stars."
Earth must be destroyed to save it?
https://www.scribd.com/document/990116826/Orbital-Data-Center-LOA-Narrative
2/n
New FCC filing by SpaceX for constellation of million data center satellites for AI apps.
# of sats: up to 1 million!
Orbit: 500 km and 2,000 km altitude and 30°inclinations. Multiple orbital shells 50 km apart.
Cooling: radiative
Schedule: unspecified
Sat size, weight, power, cost, ..: unspecified
Launches: millions of tons of mass per year
There goes the neighborhood.
Or is this just marketing fluff and orbital hoarding?
@sundogplanets@mastodon.social
https://www.scribd.com/document/990116826/Orbital-Data-Center-LOA-Narrative
https://fccprod.servicenowservices.com/icfs?id=ibfs_application_summary&number=SAT-LOA-20260108-00016
1/n
It's Miller-speak.
#UsPol
1/n
Former CNN anchor Don Lemon was arrested by federal authorities on Thursday night in Los Angeles, where he was covering the Grammy awards.
It was not immediately clear why Lemon was arrested. However, the Justice Department promised to pursue charges against Lemon after the independent journalist covered a protest in a Minnesota church last week.
What de-escalation?
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/don-lemon-arrested-federal-authorities-attorney-says-rcna256680
#UsPol
2/n
It's Miller-speak.
#UsPol
1/n
AkaSci 🛰
️