Nuclear & NASA 3

By the end of 2028, we will have launched our mission to Mars on the "first-ever nuclear reactor-powered interplanetary spacecraft" -- if Administrator Isaacman's ambitious goals come to pass.

Called the SR-1, it will begin a new era in space flight. “After decades of study," he said, "and billions spent on concepts that have never left Earth, America will finally get underway on nuclear power in space.” 

Chemical propulsion (hydrogen and oxygen) is being used to power rockets now and will continue to enable escaping Earth's atmosphere. But nuclear will power movement in space. It's far more efficient. So, with the same volume of fuel, space craft will be able to go further and faster.

from MIT Technology Review

NASA changes

Every incoming executive probably has plans to change something in his new role. New NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has a plan for America's space program which he says will take us back to basics.

We need more launches, he says first, "on a yearly cadence." Can our Artemis-designated space vehicle, Boeing's SLS, keep up with that aggressive push in light of its history of missing both budgets and target dates? His response: "It's 100% achievable." With regard to past SLS failures, NASA will take responsibility to "make better decisions." I hope so.

An additional launch was added to the original Artemis plan. Artemis 3 will launch next year, 2027, because it's "imperative," he says, to practice the docking of the SLS with the lunar lander (made by either SpaceX or Blue Origin). No human feet will stand on the Moon's surface til Artemis 4 which is scheduled for 2028.

Voter cleanup

How frustrating it is to learn of illegal or corrupt practices happening in real time while also knowing that nothing is done about it. Many of us believe that some of our elections have been corrupted, but we don't have the power to stop it.

Judicial Watch does have the ability to get things accomplished in the legal arena. Using various actions, they've worked on cleaning up voter rolls in several states. Their lawsuits in Oregon and Colorado led to the elimination of 1.1 million ineligible names recently, people who had died or moved away or were otherwise ineligible to vote.

Added to other initiatives, they have managed to get a total of over six million voter names across the country off the voter rolls--names which should not receive a mail-in ballot for the above reasons. 

It's good to know that somebody in a position to make a difference is getting things done.

from Judicial Watch

Somaliland

Migrants from the African country of Somalia, known in America for fraud and crime, seem to have earned a bad reputation. The people of Somaliland, located next to it on the African continent, would like to have it understood that they are a different country.

Though each country speaks the Somali language, Somaliland has a different system and a different currency. Their one and only terror incident in 35 years, according to the official below, was perpetrated by a terrorist from the United States who was radicalized in Minnesota. A proud and stable democracy, Somalilanders refused an offer from China.

As the official says, they live in a tough neighborhood.

Welcome, world!

So much energy, so much passion is happening during the World Cup hosted in the US this summer! It's been thrilling to see global visitors have fun here, and to hear many say they felt a warm, friendly welcome. Somebody produced an awesome song about it.

Scots celebrated their Scottish-ness, Norwegians their Viking-ness; as the song below says, "Flags from every nation waving proud and on display!" We loved it. Only a small minority of us stick up their noses (meaning) at people who love their own country. Do I love America, too? I sure do. 

Our visitors liked things I wouldn't have expected, like Walmart and Costco and Buc-ee's, things in our day-to-day ordinary life and . . American food, another surprise. Media portrayal of America did not lead them to expect overall abundance in our way of life. I'm glad they came.

Enjoy 😄

Quiet

A few readers of this blog went back to something from 2013. It got my attention, so I went back and read this 13-year-old post again. It's still good! Hope you enjoy:

Introvert

When I reserved Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking at the library, there were 500 people ahead of me.  It took about six months to finally get the book. The author did a TED talk which is a favorite of Bill Gates.

Somehow this self-identified introvert woman has really made headlines, and it cannot have happened by accident.   So, she put herself out there in uncomfortable situations by speaking in public and promoting and doing whatever she had to do, all to affirm that it's really ok to be an introvert who likes to do none of this 😄 

Author Susan Cain says on her website, "I’m actually not sure if I went to the cafés to write or wrote so I could sit around in cafés, which is my favorite activity."

Here's her TED Talk, which has been viewed by 4.7 million people. She says that introverts should be allowed to do what they do best (see my post "Strengthen Your Strengths"), and that is to think and create in solitude.  

Space debris 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

America's Space Force has a program in place to mitigate collision risk. Its 18th Space Defense Squadron monitors and tracks "all artificial objects in Earth’s orbit to ensure the safety of our satellites, astronauts, and space exploration endeavors.”

Satellite operators use "AI-powered maneuver planning systems [to] analyze conjunction data and suggest safe trajectory adjustments in real-time."

Clearly, blowing up a satellite (yesterday's video) would turn one dangerous object into many and is decidedly not the right thing to do.

Taking responsibility for what you send into space is the right thing to do. So, Starlink (as the largest launcher by far) has a plan. They monitor their satellites and de-orbit the ones that fail in a controlled, safe way. In the 6 months ending May 31, 2026, they "successfully executed controlled atmospheric deorbit" on 216 satellites. As they descended, eventually there was "total thermal destructive burn-up." 

Watch the video to see how Starlink actually works to deliver internet access:

Space debris 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

All told, there's more than a million pieces of space debris greater than one centimeter. 

Each functioning satellite in orbit represents a significant financial investment for the country or company that launched it, and continuing investment in operators who maintain it to keep the data flowing. Collision is a growing threat which they take seriously.

Yes, they have already happened (video below). One satellite stopped working and was out of control when it crashed with an American satellite. Another was intentionally blown up by its country. Both resulted in thousands of fragments:

America's Space Force and the European Space Agency both have projects in place to mitigate the risk.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Space debris

Space looks mostly empty, and it is. But there's a bit of concern about the number of things humanity is putting into orbit.

Satellites of all kinds number 14,500 this year with 90 countries having at least one. They function for science, weather, military, communication, spy purposes. Starlink, providing internet connectivity, has 9900 up there (as of March 2026) with plans for a total of 42,000.

But there's more. Over 3000 defunct satellites are still orbiting though they no longer function. Rocket upper stages and fragments of old rockets or satellites also float through space.

Tens of thousands of pieces of "debris" (including functioning satellites) are being tracked. 

from "How Many Satellites Are in Orbit?"

(cont'd tomorrow)

Faith & freedom 3

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Human rights, responsibilities and liberty were granted by our Creator (see the Declaration). American founders and the people believed the government must support these things. So, they fought a war to separate themselves from a tyrannical king and to set up a self-governing system--not an easy task.  

After the Revolution, Founder John Adams had this to say about the government they instituted: 

“We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution is designed only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for any other.”

Os Guinness, the interviewee in Wednesday's video, has explained the American system well. Freedom requires virtue, virtue requires faith, and true faith must be uncoerced--it requires freedom (image).

Happy Independence Day, Americans! Respect your heritage and enjoy your holiday.

Faith & freedom 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post) 

Liberty was, in one sense, the goal of all the revolutions: liberty from the ruling regime. 

Les Francais (the French) wanted release from their monarchy. But they murdered their king outright, then moved on to aristocracy in a "nightmare bloodbath of terror." Faith in God was present among the people, but it wasn't the foundation of the revolution. Priests and nuns were also targeted in the bloodbath. 

Russia's Tsar and his family were killed by Bolshevik revolutionaries in 1918 to make way for communist rule. Both in Russia and after the revolution in mid-century China, millions of their own people were killed to make way for regime change. Neither revolution resulted in the people gaining the freedom to govern themselves.

But America's revolution did bring that about. Faith in the God of the Bible had grown deep in its people, largely descendants of the strong people of conscience, faith and courage who had dared come to this land. The Great Awakening increased that faith's presence. They knew God was their ultimate Sovereign, not the government.

from NY Post

(cont'd tomorrow)

Faith & freedom

"Many educated people have no idea about this," says Eric Metaxas in the video below. In writing his book, Revolution, he found out that our founders were motivated by a strong desire for freedom inspired by their Christian faith - and schools tend to neglect that faith connection.

Other revolutionary wars happened in other countries, but usually they didn't end well. The French revolution (which happened soon after ours) produced mass executions, less freedom, and eventually a new dictator (Napoleon). 

Our own revolution produced peace, more freedom, and a form of government where the people were free to govern themselves. Metaxas's book documents the faith in God that led to a different sort of revolution resulting in good outcomes. It led to "covenant" power of the sort in the Bible, not to "hierarchy" power like the sort in the Roman Empire.

(cont'd tomorrow)

Intervention

Last week you heard on this blog that the leader of our war for independence, General George Washington, lost more battles than he won. You know that England was the most militarily powerful nation on earth at the time, while our military was far from professional.

How did America win that war against tremendous odds? Factor in the character of the General, the conviction of American patriots, the help of the French. There's still another factor: all throughout our history, Americans - including George Washington - believed they had the help of God Almighty.

Watch below to answer this question, "where did He intervene in a special way during the Revolutionary War?"

We should know the legendary stories around the founding of America.

Eyes opened

None of us average Americans (who have homes, jobs, families, neighborhoods, etc.) think America is perfect. But the horrid picture ("dangerous, racist, broken, failing") that legacy media paints for the world is not accurate. It's a delight to see global visitors for the World Cup get an experience of our wonderful country the way it really is.

So many have posted stories of their eyes being opened to the good things (which we average Americans take for granted) over here. Our current president's picture is featured on these videos, but may I suggest that you just ignore it if you don't like him . . and watch them anyway. They're not about politics 😊 (Woops, there is some political talk at the end of the first video)

Rights are real

Human rights exist independently of governments' decisions, regardless of whether or not government leaders ever write them into civil law. They come from "nature and nature's God" - so says our Declaration of Independence.

Our first president told Americans that "religion and morality" are essential supports of political prosperity and happiness. 

Faith and virtue supported the founding of this country. As Washington said: if you undermine them, you are no patriot.

Scots in Miami

World Cup soccer is big in the US right now. Last night, Scotland and Brazil (the biggest World Cup winner in history) met each other in Miami, Florida, and it was party time. 

About eight thousand fans from Scotland descended on the city, calling themselves the Tartan Army, singing "Country Roads," bringing their bagpipes and kilts and bursting with energy.

They enjoyed meeting "everyday" American people, watching them "being themselves, kind, welcoming, and, yeah, a little confused at our food choices. These are the real people, the people who are the fabric of the country." In Providence NJ they donated $30k to a local hospital.

A Miami sportswriter reports that they were friendly and they mingled with the locals. Miller Lite brought a barge loaded with beer to town, just in case the bars ran out (which has happened once or twice).

Fans from the world came to America, and they had a great time. I love it.

Nashville gains

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Seattle, Washington, has been losing ground. Seven more US states are ranked with Washington as "worst for business": California, New York, Illinois, Oregon, Massachusetts, New Jersey and my own state, Minnesota.

Ranked as "best" are the states of Texas, Florida and Tennessee. Dallas TX and Nashville TN attract businesses with advantages that make it worth the effort of a big move.

Local lifestyle factors in both cities are attractive to employees. With a lower cost of living, families may spend less but get more of what they want. Dallas has seen big growth in its technology and aerospace industries. 

You know Nashville as a huge music center ("Music City") but there's more. Amazon took a million square feet of office space. Health care is the biggest industry economically, and there's a young, well-educated labor force. Real estate here is the fifth hottest in the country. Oracle is moving in.

Nashville is booming. 

Seattle losses

Seattle's newly elected mayor advised its citizens not to buy the product of one of its iconic businesses last November: Starbucks coffee. She walked back her comment later, but it could symbolize an unfriendly trend toward financial supports of the city.

Starbucks originated and is still headquartered there. They made no response to the mayor but they're still planning a partial move to Nashville TN to open a second business hub. They will invest ~$100 million in the new hub and employ about 2,000 by 2031.

The coffee company is not alone in withdrawing some of their presence. Office vacancies around the country average about 17%, but downtown Seattle has vacancies of 36%. The city has lost the confidence of some of the business community. 

Since 2018, 465 company headquarters have moved elsewhere, mostly tech and manufacturing. The massive Boeing left the city back in 2001. Amazon has vacated a million square feet of office space since 2020.

Where do they go?

(cont'd tomorrow)

Disclosure

"Disclosure Day" came out this month. Its opening was well-timed, since the government has been releasing classified material about Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (formerly called UFO's).

Since it's produced by Steven Spielberg, I hoped for a movie something like "Close Encounters" in quality. Having now seen it, it's just not inspiring.

Oddly, there has been some public controversy about whether faith in God was attacked in the plot. "Odd" I say, because I don't see it, though I would be sensitive to that vibe as a believing Christian.

Was that controversy cooked up to get people into the theatre? That's the opinion of this reviewer.

Indispensable

He was called the "father of his country," not just by historians many years later, but by his fellow citizens living in his lifetime. Some have called him "the indispensable man," i.e. the founding of America couldn't have happened without him.

Other leaders wrote the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution and the Federalist Papers. But Washington led his country through the War for Independence and through two terms as its first president. He shot down the idea of becoming their king.

Thomas Jefferson commented that the "moderation and virtue of a single character probably prevented this revolution from being closed, as most others have been, by a subversion of that liberty it was intended to establish."

In his farewell address to the new US after the second term, he advised them to "Uphold the Constitution, be vigilant in protecting the liberty of all, guard the nation's independence, and above all . .  maintain the civic and moral character necessary for self-government."

French hero

America's fight to separate itself from Britain did not take place in the dark. The world was watching. The founders knew they would be.

Writers of the Declaration of Independence addressed this in the very first sentence: "a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they [we Americans] should declare the causes which impel them [us] to the separation."

A young, well-connected noble in France was indeed watching. The Marquis de Lafayette was just 19 years old when he left his country and his family to go to America, hoping to help us win our cause. That he did.

Come to the Light

Faith in God is not irrational, though some have claimed that. There is strong evidence to support belief in God, and I bring that to you sometimes. Atheists have their points to make as well. But neither view is actually proved.  

A big part of your own decision to believe - or not - goes way beyond evidence and proof, though. Do you want there to be a God? Some decidedly don't. You can choose cynicism. You can choose to say Beauty and Goodness and Truth and Meaning are just illusions. Is that what you want?

The great Dr. John Lennox clarifies the two belief options:

from X post

Morning 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Sure, ugliness can be found in today's world, whether it's created by people or naturally occurring. Dirty streets full of trash and cardboard shelters, or the charred landscape of a wildfire, both are undesirable and no one would call them beautiful.

But beauty is all around us too. A daffodil (like yesterday's picture) is beautiful, and so are the green of the trees and the blue sky that surround the garden, making the overall picture. As human beings, we do our part to try to create order and beauty around us in lots of ways.

Materialists may say beauty is just a point of view, not real. But our love for it is deep in our hearts as human beings. It's beyond material and more than the sum of its parts. It's transcendent.

"Morning Has Broken" is beautiful. It likens a fresh, early morning to God's work of Creation on Earth in the beginning. We all sense the beauty. We were made to. 

from "The Transcendental Treasury of Truth, Beauty, and Goodness"

Morning

A couple nights ago, we had rain where we live. Early the next day I walked through my gardens. "Morning had broken," flowers and leaves were sparkling in the sunlight. 

Whenever I see the "sweetness of the wet garden," it reminds me of a very old song as sung in the 1970's by Cat Stevens:

"Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning, born of the one light Eden saw play. Praise with elation, praise every morning, God's recreation of the new day."

(cont'd tomorrow)

Lasting things

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

President of Hillsdale, Dr. Larry Arnn, had a few remarks to share at the Celebration. He asks whether such a celebration is appropriate today . . because we are different than the people of 250 years ago.

Most of us don't heat our homes by burning wood and none of us wear powdered wigs. Dr. Arnn drives a cybertruck to work, it talks to him, and it could keep him constantly in touch with social media (he won't let it😉).

But, he says, the Declaration of Independence is still relevant to us because it refers to some lasting things that don't change no matter how long ago they were said:

All men are created equal - they are endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights - and governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Dr. Arnn goes on to say, "Hillsdale College exists that we may learn in a shifting world to grasp and follow the laws of nature and of nature’s God [the wording in the Declaration]. In that effort, we find and we deserve our freedom."

Hillsdale's 250th

This is the year America celebrates its 250th anniversary which is officially on July 4. As Yale professor Akhil Amar says, we need to know our nation's stories. So, we're observing the anniversary all year long with stories and celebrations.  

Hillsdale College started early, back in April, with their All-American Hometown Celebration, complete with displays, speeches, music--and the "Freedom Truck."

Six of these Freedom Trucks are making their way around the country. Go here to see if you can find one near you.

Unmanned 2

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

But despite their efficacy in many types of missions, we still need human pilots. Why?  Maverick's words in the movie show that humans go beyond textbook ability:

"He holds up a thick book that describes the operation of the fighter aircraft and says he assumes his students know the contents of the book. Then he tosses the book into the trash and says, “so does your enemy.”

"Maverick is right. Humans have the ability to respond effectively to unexpected contingencies not written in a book. AI can only respond to what it has been programmed to respond to. This is why autonomous AI will never replace commanders on the field of battle."

Creative human intelligence goes beyond what narrow AI can do. 

from Mind Matters

Unmanned

You probably saw the 2022 movie "Top Gun: Maverick." Here's the trailer, in case the years have dulled your memory of its entertainment value. Great as that was, this technology expert says that the movie's action is already outdated.

Its theme is a dangerous aviation mission requiring singular, dazzling flying skill. The question is, do we today need manned aircraft to accomplish that kind of mission? The answer is, No. Unmanned military drones can do the job.

Consider their abilities. They are unaffected by high G forces, which can cause a human pilot to black out if high enough. AI does not black out. Drones can also carry a map stored in its computer, thus not needing any GPS signals. 

Better than any of these advantages is the fact that no pilot has to risk his or her life on this mission.

from Mind Matters

(cont'd tomorrow)

Helion 2026

Lots of startup companies don't make it. Their creators are inspired by what they think is a great idea, but turning that idea into a successful business is like driving down a road that's mined with explosives: so many problems to overcome.

Helion Energy's great idea was to build a business that provides power using nuclear fusion. Researchers have been trying to find a way to do that for decades, so far without success. But it's progressed enough that Helion (photo) believes they can get it done--and they have convinced people with money that they can get it done.

Just a year and a half ago, the company was valued at about $5 billion. Now investment in Helion has tripled to over $15 billion. That's a lot of money being bet on optimism. Helion even has a legal contract to supply power to Microsoft by 2028. Many experts in the field think that goal is far too optimistic.

Fusion-sourced power would be a dream come true for the world because of its benefits. The sooner the better. Some business will be the first to make it happen.

from Scientific American, which details the difficulty of producing fusion power

Declaration

(cont'd from yesterday's post)

Yes, that document formally approved on July 4 and eventually signed by 56 delegates representing the colonies was the famous Declaration of Independence.

It begins by saying, in effect, that the world deserves an explanation of why they wanted to separate themselves from Britain. Then comes a long list of the offenses of King George III, including his failure to apply to the colonists the rights that were guaranteed to Britons. 

Most famous of the Declaration's words are these: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all people are created equal, that they are endowed by God with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. To secure these rights, Governments are instituted among people, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

It's the foundational principle behind the creating of the United States of America. It's entirely true, even if many citizens today don't agree that God Almighty is the source of these values.

Along with the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the original Declaration of Independence is displayed in the rotunda of the National Archives Museum in Washington D.C.

Over the years, this blog has given some attention to the history-making Declaration. Find those posts here.