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Reposted by Rafael Mentges

Stephen C. Smith @wordsmithfl.bsky.social · 2h

"There is no brand on the planet better than the #NASA meatball. It is the best brand in the world, and we have just thrown it into the gutter. It is a way of putting our money where our mouth is when we Americans talk about democratic values, liberty, and freedom"

www.planetary.org/articles/400...

4,000 gone: Inside NASA’s brain drain

In exclusive interviews, ex-NASA scientists speak out on the impact of the agency's mass departures.

www.planetary.org

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Reposted by Rafael Mentges

Paul Eric Scannell @pauleric70.bsky.social · 10h

OBAMA: “What if I sent the National Guard into Texas and said I don’t care what Governor Abbott says… and just kind of took over?”

Imagine that.

Fox News would’ve held a 96-hour emergency broadcast with 18 split screens and a countdown to “Tyranny Day.”

But when it’s Trump doing it? Crickets.

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Reposted by Rafael Mentges

Ruhr-Universität Bochum @ruhr-uni-bochum.de · 7h

Kalender raus 🗓️! Am 29.10. kommen der ehemalige NASA-Chef James Green und der weltweit angesehene Mathematiker Helmut Hofer für öffentliche Vorträge nach Bochum. (Foto: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI) 👉 Zur Anmeldung: transfer.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/de/gauss-in-...

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Rafael Mentges @mentges.bsky.social · 7h

"the incident exposes the Russian Navy’s declining presence in the region. Since losing its Syrian base at Tartus in 2024 and facing restrictions on movement through the Bosporus, Russia’s Mediterranean task force has largely collapsed."

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Reposted by Rafael Mentges

⭐ ᗰᗩᖇᛕ ᗩ. ǤᗩᖇᒪIᑕᛕ ⭐ @markgarlick.com · 7h

Greetings, and happy #PortfolioDay! My name is Mark A Garlick. I've been space illustration for 30 years and animation for around 15.

#SciArt #spaceart #Blender

Illustration of an asteroid repurposed as a space colony. The interior is a hollow cylinder.

Illustration of the interior of a space colony called a Stanford torus

Illustration of a rocket launching from Mars.

Illustration of an orbital ring. It encircles the entire earth. Structures can be build on it, of hung from it (e.g. space elevators)

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Rafael Mentges @mentges.bsky.social · 22h

Never heard of something like this

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 23h

Powell: "Both supply and demand in the labor market have come down so sharply so quickly. The fact that the unemployment rate has barely moved is kind of remarkable."

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Reposted by Rafael Mentges

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 23h

Powell: "Both supply and demand in the labor market have come down so sharply so quickly. The fact that the unemployment rate has barely moved is kind of remarkable."

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Reposted by Rafael Mentges

Thomas @thomasthefrench.bsky.social · 1d

Oups. Someone forgot to send the encryption TC.

Mauro Gilli @maurogilli.bsky.social · 1d

www.wired.com/story/satell...

Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data

With just $800 in basic equipment, researchers found a stunning variety of data—including thousands of T-Mobile users’ calls and texts and even US military communications—sent by satellites unencrypte...

www.wired.com

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Rafael Mentges @mentges.bsky.social · 23h

Half of the #satcom signals were unencrypted!

satcom.sysnet.ucsd.edu

🛰️ SATCOM Security

Research project homepage for SATCOM Security: papers, source code, and recent satellite communications vulnerabilities.

satcom.sysnet.ucsd.edu

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Rafael Mentges @mentges.bsky.social · 1d

If you don't have access

- try ctrl A and ctrl C while the side is still loading

- or have a look at the study: satcom.sysnet.ucsd.edu

🛰️ SATCOM Security

Research project homepage for SATCOM Security: papers, source code, and recent satellite communications vulnerabilities.

satcom.sysnet.ucsd.edu

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Rafael Mentges @mentges.bsky.social · 1d

There are some things happening you wouldn’t believe because they would be unbelievably dumb — like the idea that the world’s calls, texts, and military secrets might be raining from the sky, unprotected — until someone actually points an $800 satellite dish upward and finds out.

#SatCom

Satellites Are Leaking the World’s Secrets: Calls, Texts, Military and Corporate Data

With just $800 in basic equipment, researchers found a stunning variety of data—including thousands of T-Mobile users’ calls and texts and even US military communications—sent by satellites unencrypte...

www.wired.com

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Rafael Mentges @mentges.bsky.social · 2d

82% now 💪

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Rafael Mentges @mentges.bsky.social · 2d

Btw. for comparison the last one signed in 2022 was 4 bn Euros, or 3.5 bin, depending on how you calculate.

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Rafael Mentges @mentges.bsky.social · 2d

According to space minister Bär, Germany wants to increase the ESA budget to 5bn Euros.

www.swr.de/swraktuell-r...

Forschungsministerin Bär verspricht Milliarden für die ESA

Bundesforschungsministerin Dorothee Bär will mehr Hightech, mehr Raumfahrt – so die Vision. Die CSU-Ministerin bereitet derzeit die Ministerratskonferenz der Europäischen Weltraumorganisation (ESA) in...

www.swr.de

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Rafael Mentges @mentges.bsky.social · 3d

"The company manufactures about 25 satellites annually and wants to raise this to between 100 and 150, meaning it will need “substantial additional capital” beyond the investment from the Polish state, Modrzewski told the Financial Times earlier this year."

#Iceye #EO

on.ft.com/3IHdwIt

European satellite group Iceye weighs new funding at $2.5bn valuation

Investors move to capitalise on surge in defence spending across region

on.ft.com

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Reposted by Rafael Mentges

Dmitry Grozoubinski @explaintrade.com · 3d

This is an exact encapsulation of why I moved to Bluesky.

No amount of handwringing in the Atlantic about how I owe some eternal Promethean suffering to the discourse is going to make me stay on a site I hate, that stopped doing anything for me professionally years ago.

Well – no. Bluesky may or may not be, as one centre-right friend who felt unwelcome put it, “self-righteous island”. But the idea that’s why we went is nonsense. That I’ve largely stopped posting on a site that’s done more to shape my career and social circle than the rest of the internet combined is less about avoiding rival opinions (I love arguing with people who are wrong!) than with the fact the site simply became unusable. It stopped generating the things (good jokes, interesting debate, clicks) I wanted; it became extremely good at generating the things (racists, pornbots, racist pornbots) I did not.

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Reposted by Rafael Mentges

Olivier Simard-Casanova @o.simardcasanova.net · 3d

The data is from April but holy moly

Prof Peter Hotez MD PhD DSc(hon) @peterhotezmdphd.bsky.social · May 30

No words

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Rafael Mentges @mentges.bsky.social · 3d

Has nobody mentioned A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar?

Rafael Mentges @mentges.bsky.social · 4d

Cheapest Super Bowl ticket: $2800.

Most expensive Champions League ticket: €950.

Rafael Mentges @mentges.bsky.social · 4d

There’s still hope that they’re just too dumb to actually pull off ending US democracy.

#Qatar
youtu.be/rybrDZjirrk?...

MAGA backlashes after Hegseth announces Qatar Air Force site in Idaho

YouTube video by CNN

youtu.be

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Reposted by Rafael Mentges

Adam Posen @adamposen.bsky.social · 5d

New video! Why the substantial inflationary impact from tariffs and deportations has been lagged but is coming
A real world based take on the US economic forecast
Me excerpted from @piie.com Global Economic Prospects
www.piie.com/newsroom/sho...

Adam S. Posen on why inflation impact from tariffs and deportations has been lagged

Adam S. Posen explains at the Peterson Institute for International Economics Global Economic Prospects Fall 2025 event the effects of US policies like tariffs and deportations on inflation, the labor ...

www.piie.com

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Rafael Mentges @mentges.bsky.social · 5d

Even better Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton 🙈☺️

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · Aug 29

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Reposted by Rafael Mentges

Kriszta Satori @fulelo.bsky.social · 5d

V politico:
Commission to probe reports that Orbán’s spies targeted EU officials in Brussels
www.politico.eu/article/orba...

Commission to probe reports that Orbán’s spies targeted EU officials in Brussels

Hungary’s current European Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi was in charge of the country’s embassy at the time of the allegations.

www.politico.eu

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Reposted by Rafael Mentges

Soumaya Keynes @soumayakeynes.ft.com · 6d

Tariff exemptions mean that applied rates are below the headline. Whereas 94% of US goods imports from China face duties, for imports from Canada the share is just 10%.

From @tobyn.bsky.social
www.ft.com/content/c8f0...
And the NY Fed
libertystreeteconomics.newyorkfed.org/2025/10/a-co...

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Rafael Mentges @mentges.bsky.social · 6d

If toxic masculinity was a carpet

Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.bsky.social · 6d

I found the ugliest carpet I have *ever* seen.
These *tire tracks* are *deliberate*. Tire tracks. TIRE. TRACKS.
ON. THE. CARPET.

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