The Vera C. Rubin Observatory has discovered a new Dwarf Planet candidate in our solar system - 2026 ED138, a large, bright trans-Neptunian object orbiting beyond Pluto.

Distance from Sun: ~46 au (1 au is the average distance between the Earth and the Sun. Pluto has an average distance of 40 au)
Orbital tilt: 25°
Diameter: 600 - 1500 km

If confirmed, ED138 would be among the largest dwarf planets ever discovered in this region of the Solar System.

https://rubinobservatory.org/news/rubin-first-dwarf-planet-candidate
1/n

Space Debris Found Twice Within Days Amid ‘Growing Casualty Risk’ (Gift Article)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/10/22/world/asia/space-debris-indonesia-minnesota.html?unlocked_article_code=1.KlE.XhE1.X1I6PofV6xWW&smid=bs-share

🚨 TODAY’S THE DAY 📚

After years of work, my new book HYPERSCALE is finally on bookshelves!

It chronicles the data center boom just as the backlash is reaching a fever pitch.

Get your copy today: https://hyperscalebook.com

#tech #books #newbooks #techbooks #datacenters #ai #artificialintelligence #politics

I 100% bet this **actually happened**

The heat wave is here in Pasadena. We had 38 C/100 F this afternoon. At 7 PM, it is still 32 C/90 F.

When climate scientists say things are going to be horrendous, people find out many years later that we’re right. With this El Niño, the “find out” part will come in months.

Bluesky is having an odd little debate about use of the phrase "stochastic parrot" and how it appears to be the one phrase that just sends AI advocates into a rage, and I'm really torn, because while I'm in favor of making Ai advocates angry, I sincerely believe that parrots are capable of both understanding concepts and using language to intentionally communicate about their understandings of concepts. And I believe this is not true of LLMs

TV's gettin' stupider thanks to these two. https://patreon.com/BrianMcFadden

Software engineering in 2026. Everything has to be an API or an LLM, even if it could quite literally be 5 lines of code. #enshittification

LG smart TVs scan user’s local network for phones and watches, log location and nearby Wi-Fi names. Then send it to LG Ad Solutions. Pull the cable and it keeps recording, stores the audio, uploads when reconnecred. Automatic Content Recognition samples whatever comes through HDMI, so the console counts too. https://www.theverge.com/tech/991190/lg-tv-spying-standby-recording-wi-fi-scanning-gamers-nexus

1. At first you have #fascism

2. Then you have #satire of fascism

3. And then... fascism embraces satire as real?

🥴

I think #PoesLaw is broken

We've entered an era where satire is not indistinguishable from fascism without an indication of intent, but instead satire is just more fodder for fascism regardless of intent

This fucking world

Stupidity²

" #Trump posts #SpaceForce uniforms derived from fascist-inspired ‘ #StarshipTroopers’ outfits"

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2026/09/07/trump-posts-space-force-uniforms-derived-from-fascist-inspired-starship-troopers-movie/

#USA #Space #movies

We never get rain in September. This may be an early sign of the effects of the very strong El Niño on California.

Rain woke me up in Pasadena. They predicted some chance of rain today, but it was strong rain for 20 minutes. Radar map from Apple Weather app.

"When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be, I go a nd lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds."

Wendell Berry 1934-2026

#WendellBerry #Death #bikeTooter #poetry

Successful launch of the NASA Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.
🚀 🔭 👍
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9wq3VHsL_bE

Note that it will take a few weeks to reach the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, 1.5 million km away.
8/n

Loinnir (pronounced Lin-ir) is an Irish word for the flickering/dancing sparkle on the waters surface.
Here the Doolin ferry is retuning from a spin under the Cliffs of Moher on a sea full of Loinnir.
County Clare, Ireland.

Cormacscoast.com walking tours

🚀 Roman is on its way!

Now the science begins. The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope could conduct “one of the most powerful exoplanet programs ever executed,” helping reveal how common different kinds of planets are across the Milky Way.

Watch the full conversation: https://youtube.com/live/e42ZRBaA1ZA

#RomanSpaceTelescope #Exoplanets #Astronomy #Space

BREAKING: New York is the only state bordering Lake Ontario, governor announces it will not honor Trump's [insane] renaming to "Lake America"

West Point’s only climate scientist fired after continuing to teach human causes of climate change https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/27/west-point-climate-scientist-fired #UsNews #UsEducation #ClimateCrisis

A famous southern 80-year-old country-singing Christian woman died today, and none of the rather lefty people I know are insulting her, making fun of her death or faith, or calling her a nazi. They are posting positive messages about her. People on "the left" don't hate religious people. They hate bigotted assholes.