Links for you. Science:
Publisher investigating DNA contamination paper that authors say CDC vaccine committee will consider
U.S. Is Losing Race to Return to Moon, Critics Say, Pointing at SpaceX
Vaccine panel that limited covid shot scrutinized after chaotic meetings
An estate from the early Christian era found in Kafr Qasem shows the rise and decline of the Samaritans in Byzantine times as luxury was replaced by the industrial production of olive oil
Unlike Our Stupid Human Arms, Octopus Arms Are All Equally Beautiful And Talented
A Breakthrough Prehistoric Discovery May Rewrite Early Human History
Other:
The Commanders’ D.C. Stadium Deal Is An Abomination
The Worst Candidate Intake Since 2006
RFK Jr.’s dismantling of the vaccine schedule has only just begun. Why it matters that the CDC is altering the childhood immunization schedule. (even Leana Wen is appalled)
Iconic ‘Winged Lion’ of Venice Turns Out to Have Been Made in China
National parks remove signs about climate, slavery and Japanese internment
ICE Is Offering Voiceover Actors Like Me An Insane Payday — But Look At What They Want Us To Say
The damage RFK Jr. has inflicted on the Kennedy vaccine legacy. The Kennedy legacy in public health provides the scaffolding of today’s immunization system. Undermining it has consequences.
AOC: Congress Can Condemn ‘Vile’ Killing Of Charlie Kirk Without Honoring His ‘Ignorant’ Views
The Homelessness Crisis Under Trump Will Only Get Worse
GOP Lawmaker Pushes To Build Charlie Kirk Memorials On Public Campuses In Red State
Jimmy Kimmel’s Bosses Sold Us All Out. The mainstream media is complicit in the biggest attack on free speech since the McCarthy era. Kimmel’s suspension is just the latest proof.
MAGA’s plan for a white Christian America is unfolding before our eyes
Trump’s ‘Golden Age’ Of Tariffs Has Been Great — If You Like Higher Prices
Texas needs what James Talarico is selling — and so does America
Bonkers CDC vaccine meeting ends with vote to keep COVID shot access
Trump is destroying America. Are his voters starting to realize that?
Librarians Are Being Asked to Find AI-Hallucinated Books
As Soon As The Hyperloop Is Done
$2,000 Shipping: International Sellers Charge Absurd Prices to Avoid Dealing With American Tariffs
Accidentally Posting Your DMs
The MAGA Movement Is Not a Debating Society
The Age of Monsters
Age verification on porn sites is putting queer adult industry workers at risk
As The Far Right Rises, Don’t Be Ezra Klein
The bruise on America’s soul: Moral injury in the age of Trump
The Forgotten History of Disabled Children under Nazism
The real enemy of democracy sneaked up on me
Jimmy Kimmel and How the Right Is Overplaying Its Hand (Bouie’s comments are very good)
Award-Winning Black Screenwriter Says He Was Pulled From Train Because White Woman Objected To How He Sat
Trump Justice Dept. Closed Investigation Into Tom Homan for Accepting Bag of Cash
mikethemadbiologist
At some point I’m just gonna stop correcting mistakes about that fascist asshole’s rocket company, but apparently it is not today.
The moon lander was a competitive bid for a fixed price milestone-based award. SpaceX had one of three valid bids and was literally half the cost of second place and a third of third place.
Multiple lawsuits delayed both authorization significantly. Some delays were anticipated based on the use of a completely new rocket, but apparently these days we should tack on an automatic two years for lawsuits and legislative shell games.
That said, they’ve demonstrated cryogenic propellant transfer between two test tanks in orbit last year. They’ve demonstrated a booster RTLS with tower catch several times and launched a recovered booster. The engine has also developed rapidly from its early explodium-based performance into something reliable. These objectives smell less like vapor and more like steel with each launch, although the number of explosive incidents is definitely concerning.
Speaking of delays and cost overruns, let’s talk about the Orion MPCV. It’s been in development since 2006 (as the Constellation program’s CEV), has cost at least $31 billion (in 2025 dollars) and has flown a single test article in 2014 and an uncrewed integrated flight test in 2022. It is only in the Artemis program because if it was cut then we’ll have spent an eighth of the Apollo program on a crew capsule ( a goddamn *capsule*) that never actually flew crew. Maybe with Shelby out that Congressionally-engineered travesty of a spacecraft can finally be taken out back and shot.
So no, I don’t think the problems SpaceX has been dealing with on HLS Starship are unprecedented or unbeatable. It’s pretty clear the Orange One isn’t gonna get his moon landing during his term, but we have bigger problems to deal with at this point.
Frankly, one could argue that two point eight-ish billion dollars to distract Elon Musk for a couple of years is a bargain even if it produces nothing else of value.