Kardashian responded to Duffy’s critique on X, commenting under his post: “Wait … What’s the tea on 3I Atlas?!?!!!!!!!?????”
I've got a few questions:
1. Why is a government official calling out a private citizen who expresses interest in a conspiracy theory? We're Americans. We have our conspiracy theories. Keep your government nose out of our business. You're only giving more ammunition to the conspiracy theorists. Why stick your neck out to deny what isn't true? You're making it more fun to believe the theory!
2. Why did we go to the moon 6 times — 6 times, in rapid succession, and then no more? What was the sense of all those repeated trips and then to stop for half a century?!
3. What is the tea on 3I/Atlas? I just heard Joe Rogan and Elon Musk talking about it — "The thing about the 3-eye-Atlas"/"That's it's a hell of a name... sounds like third eye or something":
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98 comments:
You're making it more fun to believe the theory!
…another win for the Trump administration!
Why is a government official calling out a private citizen who expresses interest in a conspiracy theory
…because that private citizen is very public private citizen #1. Have you seen her Q score? If you want attention hitch your comet to Lim Kardashian.
Made you look…
"AA : 1. Why is a government official calling out a private citizen who expresses interest in a conspiracy theory?"
Because in this case the private citizen is an idiot and begs to be called out.
2. Why did we go to the moon 6 times — 6 times, in rapid succession, and then no more? What was the sense of all those repeated trips and then to stop for half a century?!
Because Werner von Braun personally vetted the engineers who got us to the moon via the Mercury, Gemini, and Apolllo programs, but after the Apollo program was shut down NASA was forced to hire to meet affirmatives action goals (meaning quotas). Too many people hired for their skin colors or vaginas — we literally cannot rebuild the Saturn rockets we used back then.
I worked for an engineering subcontractor at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center back then. I saw it firsthand.
’Why did we go to the moon 6 times — 6 times, in rapid succession, and then no more?’
Primarily funding. And there wasn’t much more to do on the moon at that time, and perhaps there’s not that much now.
…once you drive around in the buggy and get in nine holes what is there to do there? Looks boring…
’What is the tea on 3I/Atlas?’
I’m not saying it’s space aliens, but…
This object is characterised by 33% Nickel content, and essentially no iron, but it's nevertheless an icy comet. As a geochemist -- which means *Earth*, okay? -- my first take is that this thing had its origins billions of year ago as part of the core of a small rocky planet which got smashed up in a collision and launched into a forever journey.
Planetary cores are loaded with nickel and iron from earlier white dwarf explosions, but nothing in general planetary chemistry suggests that Fe-Ni segregation is not possible.
My take is that this thing is unusual but certainly possible by normal planetary processes.
Further the Deponent saith nought.
3I/Atlas is C/2025 N1 (ATLAS). It used to be A11pl3Z. Why'd they change it, I wonder.
2. Why did we go to the moon 6 times ?
oh! i can answer this!
we had to build enough vessels to make sure that we'd have enough to make it (including testing and spares)..
once we'd made it; there was LITTLE point in going back..
BUT! we still had those spares.. Might as well use them up
Which costed more? the race to the moon, or the war in Vietnam?
(don't forget to include the costs for project Geminii
I suspect the tweet had a lot more to do with plugging the Artemis project to return to the moon, and simply used Kardashian's comments as a hook (per rehajm)
“Why did we go to the moon 6 times — 6 times, in rapid succession, and then no more? What was the sense of all those repeated trips and then to stop for half a century?!”
Because when we discovered the Nazis living in the secret Nazi moon base they took over from aliens in 1945 (the aliens had abandoned it millennia ago), the Nazis threatened to lob nuclear missles down on the rest of humanity. Iron Sky was a lightly fictionalized movie based on these facts. Wake up, sheeple !!!
’I saw it firsthand.’
Since your last experience, the environment at NASA has returned to the von Braun standard of engineering rigor. You’d be delighted!!
(Defund everything at NASA other than their observatory and planetary missions. And it crushes me to say that.)
“What is the tea on 3I/Atlas?”
Jean-Luc Picard responded…
“Earl Grey, hot”
95% of all mass to orbit worldwide in 25 has been by spacex
Something like 75% of all mass to orbit ever has been Spacex
Musk has a new interview with Jo rogan yesterday.
I've not listened yet but am looking fowaeto it.
John Henry
@Beasts, I last worked there circa 1982.
Thank goodness you escaped, Big Mike. The Paperclip dudes would be justified for buying piano wire in bulk…
I'm always in favor of calling out stupid people. Under any circumstance.
Does it mention Duffy invited her to NASA to see evidence up close?
“Why is a government official calling out a private citizen who expresses interest in a conspiracy theory?”
Because said conspiracy theory directly impugns the integrity of the organization that Duffy is the head of. And as others have already pointed out, Kim K is not some rando posting some tweet, but a very public figure.
An Atlas rocket approaching a waxing moon is an apt metaphor for how Kim became famous in the first place, isn't it?
I bet Kim is pissed at the NASA official didn't call her an ignorant slut. How is a girl to make a living? Mama needs new shoes.
The US quit going to the Moon because it was very expensive and people got bored with it even with the dune buggy footage. I remember when that happened my father worked at a company called Rocketdyne who built the F-1 engine. Following cancellation of the program their company went from the 17,000 to 3,000 employees over some months of massive layoffs. It seem like every Friday my dad and his coworkers would go celebrate another layoff by going to a restaurant called Charlie Brown's where you could buy martinis by the foot. It was the only time period that I can ever remember that my father drank alcohol.
Human curiosity, national competition, then priorities changed.
We went with detente and skylab then the glorified 18 wheeler called the shuttle
Because shes a moron,
Not sure I agree with our Hostess that government should remain silent on conspiracy theories. I get damn angry when people talk about 9/11 being an inside job or done by israel. Make people like Van Jones pay for his crackpot, and hate filled theories.
In my opinion, going to the moon was a Cold War political statement. After Sputnik the superiority of communism was assumed. After the US went and CCCP did not, the virtue of capitalism was reinforced.
We now are getting over our obsession that it must have a human in it or it does not count. That is true commercially and militarily, unless there is a risk that our robot could be hijacked, but so could a human.
The old comment was that we need to take the “High Ground” but I m not sure there is a difference in a base on the moon and a base in LEO/GEO either one can attack Earth. And attacking a LEO/GEO base seems easier from Earth than from the moon. But, as Heinlein discussed, if you drop a rock from the moon at escape velocity it eventually goes very fast, 1/2mv^2 compounds.
Thus ends my speculation.
"Why is a government official calling out a private citizen who expresses interest in a conspiracy theory?"
It's a way to say to moderates, "See, we're not the anti-science party."
Secretary Duffy is following the lead of DJT in calling out Kardashian for her comments. Personal call-out may be bad policy perhaps, but it's good politics to draw attention to the kooks, flakes, and assholes that your political opposition's public face. Ridicule is a potent weapon in politics as Rules for Radicals noted in 1969.
Acting stupid is not a good look
’…if you drop a rock from the moon at escape velocity it eventually goes very fast…’
I think that depends on the size of the rock. ;)
Republicans recognize a separation of logical domains that have been conflated through social contagion and are following Trump's lead to be proactive and mitigate its progress. Democrats are holding trials for effective influencers to spread misinformation, disinformation, and malinformation.
“ I think that depends on the size of the rock. ;)”
I defer to you, But Galileo taught us that a feather and a rock accelerate identically? And so reach equal velocity at equal times? Not counting quantum or relativistic effects?
You're making it more fun to believe the theory!
Perhaps that was the point, perhaps he was just having fun!
Why did we go to the moon 6 times then nothing? Money. The government set aside a shit ton of money during the arms race. Why haven’t we been back? Money. The 70s were a shit show for money. The government wasn’t willing to spend huge amounts of money simply to do something we have done before and that added little. Plus, certain demographics complained that the money being used by NASA was better spent on welfare.
’I defer to you…’
Please don’t, I was joking.
Wikipedia has an excellent page with a very thorough debunking of all the looney Apollo conspiracy theories.
And Tim Dodd, who runs the excellent Everyday Astronaut channel on YouTube, hs a really good video debunking these as well.
I follow a number of pages on Facebook and users on X tied to space travel, its history, and the Apollo program. These conspiracy theorists flock to every post about the moon landings with their insanely stupid comments. A lot of these people couldn't pass a 5th grade science test. It's incredible how so many people will go on a social media platform and expose how dumb they are.
Why is a government official calling out a private citizen who expresses interest in a conspiracy theory? We're Americans.
Kim Kardashian isn't exactly a private citizen and she made false claims about Buzz Aldrin. Duffy responded to her respectfully and in the proper forum. It would be different if he called a NASA press conference and went at her hard.
Fake news gets out there, and if no one in authority refutes it, casual readers take it as true.
"gilbar said...
2. Why did we go to the moon 6 times ?
oh! i can answer this!
we had to build enough vessels to make sure that we'd have enough to make it (including testing and spares)..
once we'd made it; there was LITTLE point in going back..
BUT! we still had those spares.. Might as well use them up"
That is a very good answer.
’It's incredible how so many people will go on a social media platform and expose how dumb they are.’
Our Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and one of the Indian lunar missions have taken photos of a few in situ Apollo descent stages.
"Our Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and one of the Indian lunar missions have taken photos of a few in situ Apollo descent stages."
Seez you!
Why did we go to the moon 6 times — 6 times, in rapid succession, and then no more?
The argument was that social spending was more important. The early 70s were a turning point and we may never recover.
I'd say we've "been to the moon" eight times.
Actually, Whitey's been to the moon eight times. Nobody else has made it yet.
It occurs to me that we — meaning the US — have been to the moon nine times — astronauts landed on the moon (and returned safely to earth) six times, but in terms of just going to the moon I think you have to include Apollos 8 and 13, which looped around the moon and returned to earth, and Apollo 10, which went into lunar orbit.
How the idiot Kardashians have climbed the status ladder is a reflection of how vapid our culture is.
She has a large ass. The big one on her back, and the ass that sits on her neck.
the fake moon landing conspiracy is one reason i detest the band REM.
’Seez you!’
We paid off the Indians to be part of the cover up!
On, right. Nine times. Somehow, I forgot Apollo 10.
Kim Kardashian somehow influenced the governor of Colorado to reduce the sentence of a non-English speaking/non-English reading man who killed 5 innocent people in a terrible road accident on I-70 several years ago.
I didn't think these people existed in real life (Kim Kardashian is not real life), but we got chatted up by our cab driver in Sydney about how the moon landings were fake. I don't remember what got him started on that; he probably asked what I did for a living.
There isn't much reason yet to go back to the Moon other than the weak tea bragging rights of getting to say, "We did it again first." I suppose we could learn something more today by practicing for a landing on Mars which would be a next level accomplishment. However, I am one of those technophile pessimists about permanent human colonization efforts for the Moon and Mars- I think neither will happen in the next 200 years and I don't think they will ever happen on Mars at all.
As for 3I-Atlas I will just repeat my stand on aliens visiting Earth/the Solar System- if there is ever any concrete evidence that it has or is happening, I will take that as proof that we are living in a computer simulation.
"There isn't much reason yet to go back to the Moon other than the weak tea bragging rights of getting to say, "We did it again first.""
There are good astronomical reasons for observing facilities on the back side of the moon.
Conspiracy theories usually require conspirators of astounding ambition and competence using personnel who are sworn to secrecy, and who all keep their promises. That's why I don't believe them.
"There are good astronomical reasons for observing facilities on the back side of the moon."
That are much more easily accomplished and maintained by low lunar orbiting satellites if the Moon need be invoked at all- remember, the back side of the moon isn't dark all the time.
"That are much more easily accomplished and maintained by low lunar orbiting satellites if the Moon need be invoked at all- remember, the back side of the moon isn't dark all the time. (emphasis added)
Gee, thanks ;-)
In astronomy, aperture is king.
Mining for helium 3 (probably not profitable) unless there really is turbinium on the moon
Does australia have a tracking station
Sorry for the italics faux pas.
Humans don't always do things because there is a good reason, otherwise there wouldn't be much of an America yet.
Alternatively, there wouldn't be a bunch of people trying to destroy it either.
Even more than the visual spectrum, radio astronomy could use a quiet environment. And a 2,000 mile baseline.
"Private citizen"
That's funny. I've seen as much of her as I have some of my own girlfriends, and I've been trying to avoid her.
In the visual spectrum, when you can integrate for 2 weeks, you wouldn't even need that large an aperture.
Weren't the Kardashians the name of an alien race in some science fiction show? Aren't the Kardashians themselves a little alien?
We stopped going to the moon because we beat the Russians and started worrying about inflation and recessions.
No they are much stranger than space spartans
This is still more easily done with orbital satellites, Mike. However, this still doesn't mean you need to send humans to the Moon to do it from the far side of the Moon.
Some conspiracy theories are true. Some are false. Some are manifestly jokes. Government officials don't want to respond to the first two types and draw attention to them. With the third type, the temptation to respond may be too strong. If some underling publicly denied that Brigitte Macron was a man, would that cause the story to spread or would it just be another part of the comedy?
Maybe some in Trump’s cabinet believe it would please Trump to engage people in the socials.
Yancey Ward: However, I am one of those technophile pessimists about permanent human colonization efforts for the Moon and Mars- I think neither will happen in the next 200 years and I don't think they will ever happen on Mars at all.
That makes two of us.
Were looking for the
I said...In the visual spectrum, when you can integrate for 2 weeks, you wouldn't even need that large an aperture."
I forgot about diffraction. I was right the first time; aperture is king.
Many conspiracies are real. Everyday people are prosecuted for participating in a conspiracy. All it means is the crime was committed by 2 or more people. @Conspiracy theories” is a pejorative term used by lazy journalists who should examine the facts
We need a new word. It's not a conspiracy. It's not quite a myth. It's an alternative theory to the common knowledge with varying degrees of evidence for or against. Anywhere from obvious bullshit to a real possibility. I propose we call it a "possashit".
“Why did we go to the moon 6 times — 6 times, in rapid succession, and then no more? What was the sense of all those repeated trips and then to stop for half a century?!”
It wasn't about exploration, it was about humiliating the Soviets. Plus, once we'd been there a few times, with little show for it, the American public became bored with it, and the expense became hard to justify.
"Whitey on the Moon.":
https://youtu.be/goh2x_G0ct4?si=lAixNi7310gkrcmA
OK, I swore off commenting for a month, and I was reading a book on dead tree this morning, "Hammer of God" by Arthur Clark, and that story about 3I-Atlas, the whole thing, could have been stitched right in as a chapter, or looks like it was lifted from the novel, if it was the actual next chapter, I would not have batted an eye.
Much of this comment thread would have fit right in, too. And that's not intended as any kind of insult, since, in the novel, the object, "The Hammer of God" headed for a collision with Earth, was discovered by a colonist on Mars, and SPACEGUARD, the fictional organization tasked with finding dangerous objects orbiting the Solar System seems to have accidentally signaled aliens on another planet by setting of a nuclear powered radar signal, on the other side of the Sun, in order to illuminate space this side of Jupiter with X rays the echoes of which were then analyzed.
This novel has really held up.
As you were.
I'm currently reading "Lucifer's Hammer". I'll check out "Hammer of God" next.
"2. Why did we go to the moon 6 times ?"
In addition to gilbars observation that 'we had the vehicles, might as well use them', there was value in getting geological samples from different lunar formations.
What does Sydney Sweeny think about the moon landings?
I think there was also a growing awareness within NASA that we'd been incredibly lucky that none of the lunar missions had turned into a massive disaster. They were too close to the bleeding edge of BOTH technological innovation and heroic human capability. It was only a matter of time--and not that much time--before something went catastrophically wrong. Those WWII-experienced guys had the wisdom and self-discipline to know when to stop in addition to having the boldness to know when to go.
It would be nice to figure out some way to develop another generation of men like that without the whole global war thing.
Didn't the government get involved in "calling out" Alex Jones by virtue of a government official known as a judge, and later, appeal and Supreme Courts? Hmm
In my younger days I enjoyed driving back from the lake in northern Wisconsin after midnight, listening to Coast to Coast AM. Somewhere, Art Bell is watching this object and trying to give us the tea.
"Why did we go to the moon 6 times — 6 times, in rapid succession, and then no more? What was the sense of all those repeated trips and then to stop for half a century?!"
Paglia really nailed it, didn't she.
detente the shuttle program, which ended up a dead end after 2003, also the death of von braun, and the revelation of some of his exploits before Huntsville,
What Drout said. The risk and cost weren't justified by the reward once we learned the paucity of that reward.
It's just a big rock, but we didn't know that in the beginning.
Next up: "It's Turtles all the way down."
’…also the death of von braun, and the revelation of some of his exploits before Huntsville,’
I don’t know if you remember Clarice and I getting into it about Arthur Rudolph. My position was, and is, we made the deal and weren’t naive about who they were and what they did - directly, indirectly, or tangentially. We didn’t want the Soviets to capture that knowledge. End of story.
Oswald Lange, the director of guidance and control for the V2, worked for my dad, who had enlisted in WWII to kill those bastards. But the deal was done and he accepted it. Lange made incredible contributions to several of our anti=ballistic missile systems. And he was my 7th grade science advisor, so he had that going for him. Scary dude, for real…
certainly whoever rounded up the peenemunde group, understood, I think they were called JIOA, just like with the British T 4 unit
https://www.thecollector.com/operation-paperclip-us-nazi-scientists-wwii/
Thanks for that link, narc. More than a few familiar names and faces in the article and photos. :)
“ Why did we go to the moon 6 times — 6 times, in rapid succession, and then no more? What was the sense of all those repeated trips and then to stop for half a century?!”
It was a government program.
But now, thanks to the wisdom of Joe Biden, we realize the importance of putting a Black lesbian on the moon. We must honor his commitment.
Why is a government official calling out a private citizen who expresses interest in a conspiracy theory?
Because that private citizen (private only in the sense of not holding a government position, she is a very public figure,) is stating that the government did not do something that it decidedly did. It is useful to have public officials stand up for historic truth, especially when it is in their area of responsibility, which it most certainly is, as he is acting director of NASA. Moreover, he is doing it the right way, by engaging in a direct rebuttal, instead of encouraging media companies not to carry such views.
Why did we go to the moon 6 times — 6 times, in rapid succession, and then no more? What was the sense of all those repeated trips and then to stop for half a century?!
We went to the moon for a couple of overlapping reasons. One, after Sputnik and the flight of Yuri Gagarin, it looked like the Soviets were better at space technology, seen as the wave of the future. At a time when it was not clear that democracy and capitalism were inherently more productive than Soviet communism, it demonstrated to the world that America was capable of great feats. Which leads to the next reason- governments (individuals too, but on a different scale are prone to doing big, impressive things to demonstrate that they are capable of doing big, impressive things. The pyramid-building complex. Not that the Apollo program should be criticized for that, if you are going to have pyramid building (and it seems to be an inescapable attitude) space exploration has definite positive aspects. At the very least, it is a lot better than the traditional forms- building giant palaces for rulers to live in, and giving a bunch of young men uniforms and weapons and telling them to go somewhere and kill people.
Why did we stop. Because we had proven we could do it. After that, there was an expensive war in Vietnam, and a Great Society to fund, and those could draw more support (and funding) than astronaut heroics. Also, we were learning certain inherent problems of space exploration. If you want to learn about the solar system, probes are a lot simpler and cheaper than manned exploration- robots don't need to breathe. You could make a case that humans offer more capabilities, but you have to find out how to keep them alive in space. Post-Apollo, the United States switched to robot probes for pure science, and the shuttle program, which explored (historians will spend a long time arguing with how much success) making launch a more routine and cheaper event. Meanwhile, the Soviets built space stations, which explored what it took to keep humans alive in space for an extended period. All less glamorous than moon shots. But more necessary for the future of space exploration.
As for question three- beyond my expertise.
I accept that I will hear some of the most inane, over the top shit in America. That's what makes America great. But an over-botoxed nincompoop deserves to be checked on her stupid shit.
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