Master Ninja Theme Song @MasterNinjaTS@qoto.org

Round and Round
(photo by International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. Chu/J. Pollard)

Click bait sucks, but 2023 click bait aimed at '90s aviation conspiracy nerds grudgingly gets a golf clap.

It's getting dicey up there.

Since it's #nationalbirdday I'd like to highlight the Andean Condor (Vultur gryphus). With a wingspan of up to ten feet and excellent vision, one of the places it can be found is Cerro Pachón, Chile - home to other large things with excellent vision.
(Andean Condor photo by The Rainforest Alliance)
(Cerro Pachón photo by International Gemini Observatory/NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/R. Rutten)

Something to look forward to in the coming years is the availability of new radio telescope arrays to be backdrops in sci-fi movies.
One is ngVLA, the planned successor to New Mexico's famous JVLA. ngVLA will have 244 18m antennas, vs 28 25m antennas for JVLA.
(image by NRAO)

Yesterday HAARP lit up a passing asteroid with radio waves during a test. It's great to see one of the OG science facilities that caused conspiracy theorists so much consternation over the years still going strong.
(photo by UAF/GI/JR Ancheta)

Seasons greetings to all the super-cool people out there. May you receive whatever it is you need.

Some holiday scenery courtesy of deep space: The Cone Nebula and The Christmas Tree Cluster (NGC 2264)
(photo by ESO)

I can let a dumb meme slide, but this one annoys me for being terrible and involving the JVLA in such unforgiveable terribleness.

Small but important: The Daniel K. Inoyue Solar Telescope's heat-stop. The heat-stop is a liquid-cooled aperture which reduces the light from the 4m primary mirror to a very narrow beam to protect the secondary mirror and instruments from excessive heat. Failure of the cooling system automatically shuts down the telescope by deploying covers over the primary and secondary mirrors, and closing the dome.
(photo by NSO/NSF/AURA)

So Green Launch is a thing (new to me). Someone's giving Super HARP another try at using a ballistic launcher to replace rocket first stages.
(photo by Green Launch)

Reading about Oceanix, a prototype floating community that's planned for Busan. One of the more frustrating things about ideas like this is that it sells the notion as long as you throw enough clean technology at the problem, there doesn't have be any decrease in the standard of living. On our current chaotic climate course, where resources are dwindling and life support systems failing, it doesn't work like that.
(image by Oceanix)

Fun fact: Homes that were in the way of the planned telescopes and buildings were moved to other locations and got new owners, instead of being demolished.
(photo by NRAO/AUI/NSF)

Green Bank Observatory was built on several farms that were acquired by the NRAO in the '50s. This meant that initially farmhouses were used as work spaces, leading to this one, 'The Nutbin', looking like my dream home.
(photo by NRAO/AUI/NSF)

Ya'll..........🤦‍♂️

From the National Park Service:

A good look at Orion.

I'm happy that Artemis I was successful. But it's also difficult to ignore that this is all that's left of a 300 ft tall vehicle because $3B of space hardware was disposable.

Things that stick with you for some reason: In the 90s there was an ad for Waste Management that featured one of its trucks driving past an ornate iron and glass canopy at night, and as a kid I wondered where that was because of how picturesque it looked. Fast forward to today and the same structure appeared in an article about Seattle. A little digging and I learned that it's the Pioneer Square Pergola. So mystery finally solved.
(photo from pioneersquare.org)

The flying taxi ending traffic (just not for you)
Wisk’s self-flying taxi will transform city commutes (just not yours) by 2028.

Oooooor we could modify urban spaces to be more walkable, work from home, use flexible working hours, make public transportation more abundant, convenient, and affordable.

This is far cooler than anything I ever made as a kid. Looking at you, underwater magnetic retriever (horseshoe magnet on a string).