I was just looking at the basic info on the Roman Space Telescope, which just launched on a Space-X rocket. It uses one of two fancy NRO telescopes that they offered for astronomical use. NRO is the federal reconnaissance outfit that surveils just about everything on earth from space.
They are parking this scope at the L2 stable Lagrange point which places it farther from the sun than the other Lagrange points and yet not super far from earth, such as L3 would be.
The Wiki on what its objectives are:
Science objectives
The science objectives of Roman aim to address cutting-edge questions in cosmology and exoplanet research, including:[15]
Answering basic questions about dark energy, complementary to the European Space Agency (ESA) Euclid mission, and including: Is cosmic acceleration caused by a new energy component or by the breakdown of general relativity on cosmological scales? If the cause is a new energy component, is its energy density constant in space and time, or has it evolved over the history of the universe? Roman will use three independent techniques to probe dark energy: baryon acoustic oscillations, observations of distant supernovae, and weak gravitational lensing.
Completing a census of exoplanets to help answer new questions about the potential for life in the universe: How common are star systems like the Solar System? What kinds of planets exist in the cold, outer regions of planetary systems? What determines the habitability of Earth-like worlds? This census makes use of a technique that can find exoplanets down to a mass only a few times that of the Moon: gravitational microlensing. The census would also include a sample of free-floating planets with masses likely down to the mass of Mars.[16]
Establishing a guest investigator mode, enabling survey investigations to answer diverse questions about the Milky Way Galaxy and the universe.
Providing a coronagraph for exoplanet direct imaging that will provide the first direct images and spectra of planets around the Solar Systems nearest neighbors, similar to giant planets.
I often write that my favorite writings by Chief Justice Roberts are when he’s in dissent. These are the rare instances when I think he actually believes what he is writing. But the opposite seems true in National Park Service v. National Trust for Historic Preservation in the United States. The Court, by a 5-4 vote, stayed the injunction, thus allowing construction of the East Wing ballroom/military complex. The majority opinion was per curiam, though as I’ll explain below, it is almost certainly a Kavanaugh production. Chief Justice Roberts was in dissent, joined by the Court’s three liberals. Based on my quick search, this lineup appeared only one other time in NIH v. APHA.
At this point, John Roberts is utterly unrecognizable. This was the person that George W. Bush nominated to the Supreme Court because of his robust understanding of presidential power in the national security context, yet Roberts dismissed the government’s national security concerns in a perfunctory footnote. This was the same justice who bitterly dissented in Massachusetts v. EPA, finding that the broad theory of standing would inject the judiciary into political disputes, but Roberts allowed a person walking past the White House to halt the construction of a military facility. This was a Justice who upheld the arrest of a D.C. tween who ate a single french fry on the metro, but extolled a D.C. busybody who walked past the metro as “deeply committed” to preserving the nation’s capital.
A cousin had a similar situation. My cousin and her then boyfriend gave up a baby girl for adotion at her mom’s instance because they were way too young. My cousin and her boyfriend got married a few years later and had a son. They son became a police officer. Somehow his sister that was adopted also became a police officer. They were in the same precinct when the learned that they were brother and sister.
On a topic occasionally discussed in comments here: Michigan’s AG, a Jewish woman, is advising Michigan Jews to vote for El Sayed against their own interests and safety for the greater good of stopping global warming.
The telescope is cool but the name always makes me think of the obnoxious former prosecutor-turned-talking-head Nancy Grace, instead of Nancy Grace Roman the Chief of Astronomy at NASA.
Any day we talk about Lagrange is a good day. Like Napoleon, he was not born French and spoke French with an Italian accent. Napoleon made him a Count of the Empire. He had amazing accomplishments in both math and physics.
Everything goes out the window when POTUS is a man named Trump. Stupid women of both genders can’t control their emotions. They are fully willing to trash the legal system over crap like this. It is truly stunning. I don’t particularly like Trump’s style either but good lord.
Kate,
Jews and their adherence to a party that seeks their destruction is still a mystery. Despite much evidence to the contrary, they still consider the GOP to be the real evil…..sigh…
“ZZ Top”
You mean that song they ripped off from Slim Harpo?
Amazing video, Neo. I have some mystery with a missing relative in my family so was especially drawn to it. What a blessing! Thank you for it.
I often wonder how you find so many very interesting videos.
@FOAF : You mean that song [La Grange] [which ZZ Top] ripped off from Slim Harpo?
I hadn’t made that connectgion. Thanks.
I onnly knew Slim Harpo’s “Shake Your Hips,” the riff in “La Grange,” from the Stone’s cover on “Exile.” When Jagger sang the lyric, “I’m Slim Harpo,” I paid attention and looked up Harpo.
The Stones cover wasn’t intended to be an improvement nor the alternate Stones version. It was an homage, quite true to Harpo. Only the production was different.
Slim Harpo was a deep, important influence on Jagger. It wasn’t a secret. The Stones and Jagger aren’t above criticism, but they knew their roots and they often paid it back.
_______________________________
No point in listening to us do “I’m a King Bee” when you can hear Slim Harpo do it.
–Mick Jagger
physicsguy, it’s clear to me that Jews who would follow the AG’s advice are secularized Jews, which is the majority in the US.
Kate,
True, as Neo has pointed out many times. Fascinating that even as such, they don’t realize they will still be the first targets regardless of whether they are practicing or not.
The L2 Lagrange point is not stable, it is a saddle point. The telescope flies a halo orbit around the L2 point and requires some thrust to do so, but not much. Flying that orbit is easier than the trying to stay directly on the point. Eventually the fuel will run out and the telescope will drift away. The projected lifetime is 5-10 years unless it is refueled. It was designed for possible refueling.
I should mention that the orbit also keeps the telescope out of the earth shadow, so it receives sun light for power, but the sun can also be shaded so the telescope itself is cold. The L1 point, OTOH, has the sun on one side, and the earth on the other, not good for an IR telescope.
As a further comment, the Lagrange points are not stationary, they are perturbed by both the moon and the fact that Earth’s orbit isn’t exactly circular. They move around and distort in strange ways, which can make the actual motion maintained around them remarkably complicated over time.
+ (worrisome) Bonus, as Hungary’s recently-elected new government continues to cozy up to the EU while taking a wrecking ball to the country and any and all potential opposition:
Kate, yes I saw a brief blurb on this particular AG, saying Jews should in essence sacrifice themselves.
Appalling! Absurd.
I didn’t know it was related to “climate change”. That seems even a larger mockery, to me.
Good Lord!!
If you are a Jew and your primary religious affiliation is with Judaism, you are probably WAY more likely to vote against candidates who want to kill you.
But if you are a Jew whose primary religious affiliation is with the left – in the sense that the progressive ideology is a quasi-religious faith – it is unsurprising that you would fail to see the obvious and you would advocate for candidates like El-Sayed.
Dr. Neil K. Shah takes down the BigPsych polypharmacy/lack of care that likely caused the death of Lindsay and Patrick Clancy’s three beautiful children.
(I had no idea how deranged the prosecution’s “expert” testimony was.
The guy had to resign from his day job after it.)
From the civil suits filed by herself and Patrick,
McLean looks really, really, really bad in all this.
She was there for three days before she even saw an MD.
Discharged to home on day five, having started a new drug less than 24 hours before.
And McLean supposedly being “the best” psych hospital in the US tells you all you need to know about the horrendous state “mental health care” is in.
I’ll say this again. The Tucker Carlson dilemma is an albatross around the neck of the Vice President no matter how much he claims to oppose “blood guilt”.
An upgrade on the GOP’s chances of winning presidency in 2028? Yep, and I hope JD “Bootlicker” Vance makes ‘Buddy Buddy’ w/ Carlson for at least the next two years. The ‘Party of White Men‘ shouldn’t do another white man as GOP’s presidential candidate in 2028!
A U.S. official said the move was part of a new “tanker for tanker” policy approved by President Trump to further deter Iranian attacks on tankers that move through the strait.
OK…great move, IMHO!
Karmi,
Yes, even some video this morning of such a strike
Former Israeli minister Ron Dermer praises Vance:
“Dermer sends blunt message to Vance critics at RJC conference;
“Former minister Ron Dermer praises JD Vance’s role in Israel’s war with Iran as the vice president faces growing criticism from pro-Israel groups.”— https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/432593
+ Bonus:
“Smartest Guy I know” turns out to be 110% jerk.
(Gosh, who knew?!)
J.D.Vance has consistently expressed support for Israel and for U.S. policy. He did this at this conference, which was closed, but naturally information has leaked. What right-wing accounts are calling for is for him to denounce his long-time friend on a personal basis. So long as he expresses support for administration policies, I don’t see a need for him to go personal.
Kate:
The words “denounce” and “personal” are somewhat puzzling. Carlson isn’t some quiet personal friend, he’s a major figure who is or used to be on the right, and he is a disgusting blood-libeling Jew-hater who is vocal about it nearly on a daily basis. Vance’s refusal to even criticize him in that regard is very telling, in my opinion.
Vance says he’s an Israel-supporter but has also said many things having nothing to do with Tucker Carlson that show a very compromised support of Israel which is more like a politician on the left than one on the right. I’ve written about it before; please see this.
J D Vance has yet to choose wisely regarding Tucker. JDV is toast to me.
@ om & others > “J D Vance has yet to choose wisely regarding Tucker. ”
What could Vance be thinking (exercise in long-distance psychology).
Does he see some kind of political advantage in staying quiet about Tucker Carlson et al.?
Is he seeing polls or intel that hasn’t made it out to the internet?
Or what?
He is not stupid, and hasn’t shown any political naivete before now (AFAIK).
Or is he just anti-Israel and/or anti-Jewish and is dancing around his true feelings?
My guess is worth what you paid for it.
That’s very interesting about the Lagrange points. Thanks, Charles.
If you are a Jew and your primary religious affiliation is with Judaism, you are probably WAY more likely to vote against candidates who want to kill you.
But if you are a Jew whose primary religious affiliation is with the left – in the sense that the progressive ideology is a quasi-religious faith – it is unsurprising that you would fail to see the obvious and you would advocate for candidates like El-Sayed.
— illana
It is an odd fact of history that a disproportionate number of the Western supporters of the USSR and Communism in the first half of the 20C were Jews, and mostly very secular Jews. Not many devout among them.
I’ve seen the hypothesis made that Communism appealed to these individuals because of its false promise of universal classless society, everyone would merge into one human category. They would no longer be ‘double outsiders’, that is, outsiders among Western countries because they were Jews, outsiders among other Jews because they were so secularized.
If that was the motive, obviously they were naifs, that promise was never going to be fulfilled. But it’s as plausible an explanation for the attraction as any I’ve heard. I’m not saying I believe it, because I don’t know. It would, though, as least provide some reason for the attraction.
Leave a Reply
HTML tags allowed in your
comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>
Boy meets girl meets boy. Cute. Until the end of love…
Worth a click just to see the cool topo map of the Lagrange points of the Sun/Earth system.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/where-is-the-roman-telescope-in-space/
ZZ Top: https://youtu.be/rG6b8gjMEkw
I was just looking at the basic info on the Roman Space Telescope, which just launched on a Space-X rocket. It uses one of two fancy NRO telescopes that they offered for astronomical use. NRO is the federal reconnaissance outfit that surveils just about everything on earth from space.
They are parking this scope at the L2 stable Lagrange point which places it farther from the sun than the other Lagrange points and yet not super far from earth, such as L3 would be.
The Wiki on what its objectives are:
sdferr, 😉 I should have guessed.
No. Joseph-Louis Lagrange
Not known for having “a lot of nice girls.”
Quite, TommyJay, albeit I simply take amusment at the thought of Kepler’s Music of the Spheres finding ZZ T playing out there at the wobbly balances.
Josh Blackman, “Strictly Ballroom: Justice Kavanaugh Defeats Chief Justice Roberts“: https://reason.com/volokh/2026/08/31/strictly-ballroom-justice-kavanaugh-defeats-chief-justice-roberts/
A cousin had a similar situation. My cousin and her then boyfriend gave up a baby girl for adotion at her mom’s instance because they were way too young. My cousin and her boyfriend got married a few years later and had a son. They son became a police officer. Somehow his sister that was adopted also became a police officer. They were in the same precinct when the learned that they were brother and sister.
On a topic occasionally discussed in comments here: Michigan’s AG, a Jewish woman, is advising Michigan Jews to vote for El Sayed against their own interests and safety for the greater good of stopping global warming.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/dem-ag-urges-jewish-voters-put-needs-world-above-future-own-people
The telescope is cool but the name always makes me think of the obnoxious former prosecutor-turned-talking-head Nancy Grace, instead of Nancy Grace Roman the Chief of Astronomy at NASA.
Any day we talk about Lagrange is a good day. Like Napoleon, he was not born French and spoke French with an Italian accent. Napoleon made him a Count of the Empire. He had amazing accomplishments in both math and physics.
Everything goes out the window when POTUS is a man named Trump. Stupid women of both genders can’t control their emotions. They are fully willing to trash the legal system over crap like this. It is truly stunning. I don’t particularly like Trump’s style either but good lord.
Kate,
Jews and their adherence to a party that seeks their destruction is still a mystery. Despite much evidence to the contrary, they still consider the GOP to be the real evil…..sigh…
“ZZ Top”
You mean that song they ripped off from Slim Harpo?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HbgxVrn7tg
Who in turn may have ripped it off from John Lee Hooker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAJYPJ5Q5Xs
Amazing video, Neo. I have some mystery with a missing relative in my family so was especially drawn to it. What a blessing! Thank you for it.
I often wonder how you find so many very interesting videos.
@FOAF : You mean that song [La Grange] [which ZZ Top] ripped off from Slim Harpo?
I hadn’t made that connectgion. Thanks.
I onnly knew Slim Harpo’s “Shake Your Hips,” the riff in “La Grange,” from the Stone’s cover on “Exile.” When Jagger sang the lyric, “I’m Slim Harpo,” I paid attention and looked up Harpo.
The Stones cover wasn’t intended to be an improvement nor the alternate Stones version. It was an homage, quite true to Harpo. Only the production was different.
–“Shake Your Hips ~ The Rolling Stones” (“Exile on Main Street”)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVJUJxCQp0I
Slim Harpo was a deep, important influence on Jagger. It wasn’t a secret. The Stones and Jagger aren’t above criticism, but they knew their roots and they often paid it back.
_______________________________
No point in listening to us do “I’m a King Bee” when you can hear Slim Harpo do it.
–Mick Jagger
physicsguy, it’s clear to me that Jews who would follow the AG’s advice are secularized Jews, which is the majority in the US.
Kate,
True, as Neo has pointed out many times. Fascinating that even as such, they don’t realize they will still be the first targets regardless of whether they are practicing or not.
Returning to our regular irregular broadcasting…
“400,000 California Voters Didn’t Provide Any ID at Registration”—
https://www.blazingcatfur.ca/2026/09/01/400000-california-voters-didnt-provide-any-id-at-registration/
@TJ
The L2 Lagrange point is not stable, it is a saddle point. The telescope flies a halo orbit around the L2 point and requires some thrust to do so, but not much. Flying that orbit is easier than the trying to stay directly on the point. Eventually the fuel will run out and the telescope will drift away. The projected lifetime is 5-10 years unless it is refueled. It was designed for possible refueling.
I should mention that the orbit also keeps the telescope out of the earth shadow, so it receives sun light for power, but the sun can also be shaded so the telescope itself is cold. The L1 point, OTOH, has the sun on one side, and the earth on the other, not good for an IR telescope.
As a further comment, the Lagrange points are not stationary, they are perturbed by both the moon and the fact that Earth’s orbit isn’t exactly circular. They move around and distort in strange ways, which can make the actual motion maintained around them remarkably complicated over time.
From the “Other People’s Money” File:
“Brussels Eyes Private Savings as Public Money Runs Out”—
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/brussels-eyes-private-savings-as-public-money-runs-out/
+ (worrisome) Bonus, as Hungary’s recently-elected new government continues to cozy up to the EU while taking a wrecking ball to the country and any and all potential opposition:
“MCC Brussels Head Resigns as Budapest Withholds Funding”—
https://europeanconservative.com/articles/news/mcc-brussels-head-resigns-as-budapest-withholds-funding/
Kate, yes I saw a brief blurb on this particular AG, saying Jews should in essence sacrifice themselves.
Appalling! Absurd.
I didn’t know it was related to “climate change”. That seems even a larger mockery, to me.
Good Lord!!
If you are a Jew and your primary religious affiliation is with Judaism, you are probably WAY more likely to vote against candidates who want to kill you.
But if you are a Jew whose primary religious affiliation is with the left – in the sense that the progressive ideology is a quasi-religious faith – it is unsurprising that you would fail to see the obvious and you would advocate for candidates like El-Sayed.
Dr. Neil K. Shah takes down the BigPsych polypharmacy/lack of care that likely caused the death of Lindsay and Patrick Clancy’s three beautiful children.
(I had no idea how deranged the prosecution’s “expert” testimony was.
The guy had to resign from his day job after it.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ZWkVKDgiBU
From the civil suits filed by herself and Patrick,
McLean looks really, really, really bad in all this.
She was there for three days before she even saw an MD.
Discharged to home on day five, having started a new drug less than 24 hours before.
And McLean supposedly being “the best” psych hospital in the US tells you all you need to know about the horrendous state “mental health care” is in.
Laura Loomer Warns JD Vance ‘Tucker is the Kiss of Death’ For His Future Ambitions
An upgrade on the GOP’s chances of winning presidency in 2028? Yep, and I hope JD “Bootlicker” Vance makes ‘Buddy Buddy’ w/ Carlson for at least the next two years. The ‘Party of White Men‘ shouldn’t do another white man as GOP’s presidential candidate in 2028!
U.S. strikes Iran tankers under new “tanker for tanker” policy
OK…great move, IMHO!
Karmi,
Yes, even some video this morning of such a strike
Former Israeli minister Ron Dermer praises Vance:
“Dermer sends blunt message to Vance critics at RJC conference;
“Former minister Ron Dermer praises JD Vance’s role in Israel’s war with Iran as the vice president faces growing criticism from pro-Israel groups.”—
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/432593
+ Bonus:
“Smartest Guy I know” turns out to be 110% jerk.
(Gosh, who knew?!)
“Hunter Biden says he’s ‘48 percent gay’ in podcast interview”—
https://nypost.com/2026/09/01/us-news/hunter-biden-says-hes-48-percent-gay-in-podcast-interview/
File under: “Follow the Stats!”
J.D.Vance has consistently expressed support for Israel and for U.S. policy. He did this at this conference, which was closed, but naturally information has leaked. What right-wing accounts are calling for is for him to denounce his long-time friend on a personal basis. So long as he expresses support for administration policies, I don’t see a need for him to go personal.
Kate:
The words “denounce” and “personal” are somewhat puzzling. Carlson isn’t some quiet personal friend, he’s a major figure who is or used to be on the right, and he is a disgusting blood-libeling Jew-hater who is vocal about it nearly on a daily basis. Vance’s refusal to even criticize him in that regard is very telling, in my opinion.
Vance says he’s an Israel-supporter but has also said many things having nothing to do with Tucker Carlson that show a very compromised support of Israel which is more like a politician on the left than one on the right. I’ve written about it before; please see this.
J D Vance has yet to choose wisely regarding Tucker. JDV is toast to me.
@ om & others > “J D Vance has yet to choose wisely regarding Tucker. ”
What could Vance be thinking (exercise in long-distance psychology).
Does he see some kind of political advantage in staying quiet about Tucker Carlson et al.?
Is he seeing polls or intel that hasn’t made it out to the internet?
Or what?
He is not stupid, and hasn’t shown any political naivete before now (AFAIK).
Or is he just anti-Israel and/or anti-Jewish and is dancing around his true feelings?
My guess is worth what you paid for it.
That’s very interesting about the Lagrange points. Thanks, Charles.
— illana
It is an odd fact of history that a disproportionate number of the Western supporters of the USSR and Communism in the first half of the 20C were Jews, and mostly very secular Jews. Not many devout among them.
I’ve seen the hypothesis made that Communism appealed to these individuals because of its false promise of universal classless society, everyone would merge into one human category. They would no longer be ‘double outsiders’, that is, outsiders among Western countries because they were Jews, outsiders among other Jews because they were so secularized.
If that was the motive, obviously they were naifs, that promise was never going to be fulfilled. But it’s as plausible an explanation for the attraction as any I’ve heard. I’m not saying I believe it, because I don’t know. It would, though, as least provide some reason for the attraction.