Chase Million

Case 1:26-cv-01259-RKE Document 31 Files 03/06/26 Page 9 of 13 mass processing function requires CBP personnel to manually compile Excel spreadsheets that identify batches of subject entries. To mass process the removal of the hundreds of HTSUS numbers for IEEPA duties from entries, CBP would need to manually execute approximately 170,000 mass update actions to cover the 1,684,648,252 Entry Summary lines that need to be updated. Additionally, it is not uncommon for this mass processing operation to kick out (or fail to process) entries with anomalies that need to be individually evaluated and addressed, adding an unquantifiable amount of time given the unprecedented magnitude of this effort.

If you can accurately describe any system in your organization with the phrase "mass processing function requires [...] personnel to manually compile Excel spreadsheets," then please get in touch with me and we will fix that.

Full agree.

Image of handwritten text that reads as follows: Beautiful Soup is just a tool. It isn't good or bad on its own. But I chose to make this tool instead of a different tool. I choose to work on it now instead of doing other things. - - - I can't use "just a tool" as an excuse. If I'm going to feel pride about the good people do with my software, I have to share some responsibility for the bad.

In 2017, author and programmer Leonard Richardson wrote a zine called "Tool Safety" about what he learned from writing Beautiful Soup, one of the most impactful Python libraries ever. I think often about "the best use of the power we have as computer programmers."

www.crummy.com/software/Bea...

Way harder to build the space observatory for decades-timescale astronomy, though. And we won't live to see the results.

(b) Requirements.---In carrying out activities to enable Artemis missions under the Moon to Mars Program set forth in section 10811 of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2022 (51 U.S.C. 20302 note; Public Law 117-167), subject to the availability of appropriations, the Administrator shall--- (1) enter into an agreement a United States commercial entity or entities, or engage in public private partnerships, to procure capabilities and services to support the human exploration of the lunar surface; and [sic] (2) seek to obtain capabilities from not fewer than 2 commercial providers to execute Phase 2 of the Lunar Terrain Vehicle element.

This is from the latest Senate markup of the NASA Authorization Act. I am concerned that the LTVI teams will be told to build instruments that simultaneously work for two rovers, inside of already tight budgets. I have spoken to all 3 LTV provider finalists, and the approaches are wildly different.

I say the exact same thing about planetary scientists.

Does that mean we will never see a data center in space? No, it does not. Because, indeed, people will spend a whole lot of money on the stupidest things. But will it ever make more sense to put huge amounts of compute in orbit vs. anywhere on Earth? Absolutely not.

No. This is bullshit. The thing holding back space-based data centers is that they make no technical or economic sense at all. The concept has no value except as a grift designed to inflate valuations of companies and individuals who have over-leveraged in crypto, space, and AI.

a rather good sort of god, who perhaps meant well enough upon the whole, but in all cases did not succeed in his benevolent designs

"explains"

It is really important for the proponents of commercial deep space to understand that there are no "customers" other than scientists. None. And if you drive all of the scientists out by starving them of opportunities, then there will be no deep space economy. None. It's a telecom orbiter to nowhere.

For people who still care about this sort of thing, here's James Madison writing from 1793 (6 years after the delegates in Philadelphia signed the Constitution) about why the power to make war was vested in the legislature.

press-pubs.uchicago.edu/founders/doc...

I find it difficult to believe that the second paragraph of this constituent response---which is in a different typeface, wildly different tone, and confuses "detainer" with "retainer"---was actually written or approved by Senator McConnell.

President Trump's approach to Iran is reckless, the editorial board writes.

"He started this war without explaining to the American people and the world why he was doing so. Nor has he involved Congress, which the Constitution grants the sole power to declare war." nyti.ms/4rLzhbh

Usually the dead Sperm Whale floats with great buoyancy, with its side or belly considerably elevated above the surface.

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets The US Congress rejected sweeping cuts to science agencies. But the NIH, the NSF and NASA have had their spending slowed.

White House stalls release of approved US science budgets: The administration has not yet released funding Congress allocated to multiple research agencies, so they cannot provide it to funded entities/people - including NIH and NASA. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Private money cannot replace public funding of science Who should pay for American science? In the current political climate, many are looking to the private sector to compensate for cuts in public funding. At the Harvard School of Public Health—particula...

"Private money cannot replace public funding of science"
Thank you @naomioreskes.bsky.social
www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...
🧪 🌊 ⚒️ #scipol

On moonshots and Minneapolis Space exploration can bring people together and reflect deep societal divisions.

You know the speech at Rice where Kennedy says we're going to the Moon, and the crowd is cheering like crazy? They were cheering for the football team. Didn't give a shit about space.

Anyway, @astrolisa.bsky.social is brilliant. And I am also "having a hard time accessing that sentiment right now."

I finally got my Mars mission posters from @chopshopstore.bsky.social framed and hung up in my office.

Enraging, but also are you sure you weren't arguing with a bot?

NASA lost a lunar spacecraft one day after launch. A new report details what went wrong Why did a $72 million mission to study water on the moon fail so soon after launch? A new NASA report has the answer.

The history of spaceflight is one example after another of missions that were doomed by a software bug or saved by a software update. Once a spacecraft launches, all interactions with it are mediated through software. Yet software is still generally unappreciated as a tool to manage mission risk.

America was winning the race to find Martian life. Then China jumped in. The Mars Sample Return mission got off to a promising start, hunting for potentially humanity-changing space rocks. How did it fall off the rails?

Is there life on Mars? For decades, America was in pole position to find out with its multi-mission Mars Sample Return program.

But MSR is now officially dead. And in the race to find alien life on Mars, it’s now China’s to lose.

Me @technologyreview.com www.technologyreview.com/2026/02/26/1...

Job Postings For Software Engineers Are Rapidly Rising. Citadel @indeed

Alerts and brokers | Rubin Observatory An overview of alerts and brokers.

I don't know the details. I didn't work on it, and haven't gotten up to speed. But it is extremely well documented. (Further credit to this team.) This is a good entry point: rubinobservatory.org/for-scientis...

Better view of previous light curve.

Light curve and astrometry for maybe an asteroid? That is maybe measurably rotating very quickly? IDK. But it's officially Cool Shit.

Just poking around the data at random last night, I saw all sorts of Cool Shit. (Official scientific term.)

That all of this data is released to the world basically in real-time is just 🤯.

Decades of engineering and development went into this pipeline.

antares.noirlab.edu/loci/ANT2026...

800,000 in one night! This is wild! It feels like only a few years ago that I had to preface every talk with a slide explaining "the sky really does change rapidly on very short time scales, all over the place, all the time." Calling this a fire hose of data understates it. It's a supernova of data.

A 3-by-5 grid of grayscale astronomical images zoomed in on single objects, specifically active galactic nuclei. From left to right, the columns are labeled Template, New image, and difference. From top to bottom, the rows are labeled active galactic nucleus 1-5.

A 3-by-5 grid of grayscale astronomical images zoomed in on single objects, specifically solar system objects. From left to right, the columns are labeled Template, New image, and difference. From top to bottom, the rows are labeled solar system object 1-5.

A 3-by-5 grid of grayscale astronomical images zoomed in on single objects, specifically supernovae. From left to right, the columns are labeled Template, New image, and difference. From top to bottom, the rows are labeled supernova 1-5.

A 3-by-5 grid of grayscale astronomical images zoomed in on single objects, specifically variable stars. From left to right, the columns are labeled Template, New image, and difference. From top to bottom, the rows are labeled variable star 1-5.

These first alerts use early, pre-survey observations while Rubin finishes preparations to begin its decade-long survey. 🔭🧪☄️

This is just the start for a system that is expected to produce up to ~7 million of these alerts per night! ✨

🔗: rubinobservatory.org/news/first-a...

Alerts and brokers | Rubin Observatory An overview of alerts and brokers.

rubinobservatory.org/for-scientis...

1000 per minute? Holy shit.