Best of the Web:


Comet

Best of the Web: Early data from Vera C. Rubin Observatory reveals over 11,000 new asteroids

Stephanie Baum, reviewed by Robert Egan
NSF NOIRLab
Thu, 02 Apr 2026 19:07 UTC
Vera Rubin asteroids
© NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory / NOIRLab / SLAC / AURA/ R. Proctor. Acknowledgements: Star map: NASA / Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio. Gaia DR2: ESA/Gaia/DPAC. Image Processing: M. Zamani (NSF NOIRLabA model of the inner solar system showing the asteroids discovered by Rubin in light teal. Known asteroids are dark blue.
Using preliminary data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, scientists have discovered over 11,000 new asteroids. The data were confirmed by the International Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center (MPC), making this the largest single batch of asteroid discoveries submitted in the past year. The discoveries were made using data from Rubin's early optimization surveys and offer a powerful preview of the observatory's transformative impact on solar system science.

The submission to MPC comprises approximately one million observations, taken over the span of a month and a half, of over 11,000 new asteroids and more than 80,000 already-known asteroids, including some that had previously been observed but were later "lost" because their orbits were too uncertain to predict their future locations. You can interact with all of Rubin's asteroid discoveries in the Rubin Orbitviewer, which uses real data to provide an intuitive way to explore the structure of our cosmic backyard in three dimensions and in real time.

Comment: Famous last words. You ain't seen nothing yet! See also:
At the time of his death, he was focused on studying comets and asteroids that could pose a hazard to Earth.
And last, but not least: Volcanoes, Earthquakes And The 3,600 Year Comet Cycle
To summarize, the evidence suggests that a comet (or cometary swarm) interacted with Earth ca. 14,400 BP, 10,800 BP, 7,200 BP and 3,600 BP. That is to say, on a 3,600-year cycle, meaning that we are due a repeat performance around now.


Read More...
Brick Wall

Best of the Web: "Casualty Cover-Up": The Pentagon Is Hiding U.S. Losses Under Trump in the Middle East

Nick Turse
The Intercept
Wed, 01 Apr 2026 19:13 UTC
hegseth trump
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Almost 750 U.S. troops have been wounded or killed in the Middle East since October 2023, an analysis by The Intercept has found. But the Pentagon won't acknowledge it.

U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM, which oversees military operations in the Middle East, appears to be engaged in what a defense official called a "casualty cover-up," offering The Intercept low-ball and outdated figures and failing to provide clarifications on military deaths and injuries.

At least 15 U.S. troops were wounded Friday in an Iranian attack on a Saudi air base that hosts American troops, according to two government officials who spoke with The Intercept. Hundreds of U.S. personnel have been killed or injured in the region since the U.S. launched a war on Iran just over a month ago.

President Donald Trump — who wore a blue suit, red tie, and a ball cap to the dignified transfer of the first Americans killed in the war — said casualties were inevitable. "When you have conflicts like this, you always have death," he said afterward. "I met the parents and they were unbelievable people. They were unbelievable people, but they all had one thing in common. They said to me, one thing, every single one: Finish the job, sir. Please finish the job."
Read More...
Top Secret

Best of the Web: GOP Rep Says America Would Become 'Unglued' If Alien Files Get Released

Jazmin Tolliver
Yahoo
Thu, 02 Apr 2026 15:28 UTC
Rep. Tim Burchett and Donald Trump
© Getty Images/YouTubeRep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) discussed alien briefings just months after President Donald Trump said the Pentagon would release files related to “alien and extraterrestrial life.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) alleged that America would become "unglued" if the government released details about the alien briefings he's been involved in.

Speaking with Newsmax's Rob Finnerty on Wednesday, the GOP lawmaker said that the public would be "up at night worrying" if they knew what he knows about extraterrestrials.

"I've been briefed by just about every alphabet agency there is, and I'll just tell you this, if they would release the things that I've seen, you would stay up at — you'd be up at night worrying about or — thinking about this stuff," Burchett said.

The topic came up after Finnerty mentioned that former U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz claimed late last month that he was briefed about a secret breeding program between aliens and humans.
Read More...
Chess

Best of the Web: The Larak Corridor: Iran's Rial Gate with no US, no Israel, and no way around

Freddie Ponton
21st Century Wire
Wed, 01 Apr 2026 14:31 UTC
larak corridor hormuz iran control graphic
© 21st Century Wire
While MOW Secretary Pete Hegseth was telling other nations to "step up" in the Strait of Hormuz, Donald Trump was already backing away, insisting its security was "not for us." In between those contradictions, Washington dumped a fog of conflicting slogans on the public — slogans that never looked like strategy so much as panicked improvisation. That confusion is not a sideshow to the war, but the political static masking a brutal reality. While the White House and its zionist neocon war camp lurch between bluff and retreat, Iran has been moving with cold discipline, quietly building what Iranian reporting calls the Larak Corridor and what maritime trackers have identified as a tightly managed lane through the Qeshm-Larak gap inside Iranian waters.

Around Larak, Tehran is no longer just reacting to an illegal war launched against it. It is turning battlefield pressure into procedure, selective access, and proposed law, using a controlled corridor and a wider Hormuz management plan to show that the old fantasy of automatic Western command over this chokepoint is breaking down in real time. The truth of the war is not found in the bombast coming out of Washington; instead you will find it in the places where power is actually shifting, and right now, one of those places is a narrow strip of water off Larak, where Iran looks calmer, more deliberate, and more in command of events than the people who thought they could bomb it into submission.
Read More...
Snowflake

Best of the Web: Massive late-March snowstorm buries Europe's eastern Alps with up to 1.5 meter (nearly 5 feet) of snow


SnowBrains
Fri, 27 Mar 2026 15:46 UTC
nnnnnn
Emil Lonneberga shared these impressive powder shots from Engelberg.
A powerful late-season storm cycle has delivered a major refresh across the eastern Alps, with Switzerland leading the charge after several days of sustained snowfall. The standout has been Engelberg, where snowfall totals have been exceptional even by mid-winter standards. According to OpenSnow data, the resort received 84 cm (33 inches) in the past 24 hours and 132 cm (52 inches) over the past five days, catapulting conditions back into peak-season form.

The storm has been driven by a moist northwesterly flow, favoring northern Alpine regions and creating classic "Nordstau" conditions—where precipitation intensifies as air is forced over the mountains. The storm didn't stop at Switzerland. Zugspitze, Germany's highest peak, was also hammered, with around 1.5 meters (nearly 5 feet) of fresh snow reported in recent days. But that much snow comes with complications. In a post on social media, the resort cautioned: "A lot of snow does not automatically mean a lot of skiing. 1.5 meters of fresh snow must first be tamed... colleagues work around the clock to secure the ski area and prepare the slopes." Ongoing snowfall and poor visibility have delayed operations, with the resort indicating it expects to reopen over the weekend, pending improved weather conditions.

Read More...
Star of David

Flashback Best of the Web: Revealed: The Israeli Spies Writing America's News

Alan MacLeod
MintPress News
Thu, 17 Oct 2024 20:53 UTC
israel unit 5200 spies write news west
© MintPress News
One year after Oct. 7 attacks, Netanyahu is on a winning streak." So reads the title of a recent Axios article describing the Israeli prime minister riding on an unbeatable wave of triumphs. These stunning military "successes," its author Barak Ravid notes, include the bombing of Yemen, the assassinations of Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, and the pager attack against Lebanon.

The same author recently went viral for an article that claimed that Israeli attacks against Hezbollah are "not intended to lead to war but are an attempt to reach 'de-escalation through escalation.'" Users on social media mocked Ravid for this bizarre, Orwellian reasoning. But what almost everybody missed is that Barak Ravid is an Israeli spy - or at least he was until recently. Ravid is a former analyst with Israeli spying agency Unit 8200, and as recently as last year, was still a reservist with the Israeli Defense Forces group.

Unit 8200 is Israel's largest and perhaps most controversial spying organization. It has been responsible for many high-profile espionage and terror operations, including the recent pager attack that injured thousands of Lebanese civilians. As this investigation will reveal, Ravid is far from the only Israeli ex-spook working at top U.S. media outlets, working hard to manufacture Western support for his country's actions.
Read More...
Fire

Best of the Web: Heatwave in most of US brings record-shattering high temperatures for March

Andrea Thompson
Scientific American
Fri, 20 Mar 2026 22:28 UTC
An astoundingly strong heat wave is not just setting records across the western U.S. — it's pulverizing them
heatwave usa
© NWS/NOAATemperatures across the western U.S. are soaring to 20 to 30 degrees Fahrenheit above normal.
Editor's note (3/21/26): Four stations (two in Arizona and two in California) recorded temperatures of 112 degrees Fahrenheit (44.4 degrees Celsius) on Friday, March 20, besting the all-time U.S. March record set just the day before. That is 1 degree F (0.56 degree C) below the all-time April U.S. record. Eight states have set all-time high temperature records for March during this heat wave.

On Wednesday in North Shore, Calif., the temperature soared to a stunning 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42 degrees Celsius) — matching the hottest March temperature on record for the state. And then, on Thursday, Phoenix, Ariz., hit 105 degrees F (41 degrees C) — the earliest such recording by more than a month. And that same day, the temperature just outside Martinez Lake, Ariz., reached 110 degrees F (43 degrees C) — the highest March temperature ever recorded in the U.S.

The heat wave that is engulfing much of the western U.S. right now is unprecedented. A high-pressure area — the strongest ever observed over the Southwest in March — ushered in the unseasonably scorching weather. This area, also known as a ridge because of the northward humps in the jet stream that the phenomenon is associated with, covers an enormous swath of the U.S. It will persist for days and is sending temperatures 20 to 30 degrees F (11 to 17 degrees C) above normal. It is "one of the more meteorologically exceptional events that I've seen in recent years in the American West, and that is saying something," said climate scientist Daniel Swain on his YouTube channel.

Comment: Nebraska is already fighting wildfires, including the largest in its history:


The snowpack is already gone in many places, whereas it's usually at its peak this time of year:


Sioux Falls saw a temperature swing of 49C in just 5 days:



This appears to have been driven, at least in part, by a 'marine heatwave off the US west coast - i.e., heating coming from below...



Wild extremes are now the 'new norm'. The 'heat dome' has already given way to a reversal to winter temperatures:



Read More...
Fireball 3

Best of the Web: Meteorite slams into Texas woman's home after fireball explodes over Houston area

Ben Kew
The gateway Pundit
Sun, 22 Mar 2026 11:36 UTC

Comment: They're coming down thick and fast now, especially over the US, it seems...


meteorite house texas
© Sherrie James
A meteorite crashed straight through the roof of a home near Houston, Texas, on Saturday, sending shockwaves through the local neighborhood.

Local officials say the incident happened at around 4:45 p.m. in northwest Harris County.

The space rock punched a hole through the roof of a two-story house, slammed into a bedroom floor, then ricocheted and struck the ceiling again.

Miraculously, no one was injured.

Fire Chief Fred Windisch of the Ponderosa Fire Department said he had never seen anything like it in decades of service.

The homeowner, Sherrie James, described hearing a loud explosion from inside the house.

Her grandson went to investigate and found a hole in the ceiling and the rock sitting on the floor below.


Comment: The American Meteor Society reports:
We received 149 reports about a fireball seen over TX on Saturday, March 21st 2026 around 21:39 UT.

For this event, we received one video and 5 photos.


Read More...
Seismograph

Best of the Web: 3 shallow earthquakes of magnitudes 6.2, 6.3 and 6.2 in 24 hours - South Pacific Ocean off Samoa on March 22


Volcano Discovery
Sun, 22 Mar 2026 10:13 UTC
mmmmm
A very strong magnitude 6.2 earthquake occurred in the South Pacific Ocean 184 km (114 mi) from Samoa in the late afternoon of Sunday, Mar 22, 2026 at 7.15 pm local time (GMT +13). The depth of the quake could not be determined, but is assumed to be shallow. The quake was reported felt by some people near the epicenter.

Earthquake details

Date & time Mar 22, 2026 06:15:36 UTC
Local time at epicenter Sunday, Mar 22, 2026, at 07:15 pm (GMT +13)
Status confirmed (manually revised)
Magnitude 6.2
Depth 10 km
Epicenter latitude / longitude 15.3824°S / 173.0468°W Samoa
Seismic antipode 15.3824°N / 6.9532°E Niger
Quality 42 seismic stations
Shaking intensity VII Very strong shaking near epicenter
Felt 2 reports
Primary data source USGS (United States Geological Survey)

Comment: Details of the other 2 from Earthquake Track:
6.3 Magnitude Earthquake 0.0 km from Si'umu, Tuamasaga, Samoa

UTC time: Sunday, March 22, 2026 15:30 PM
Your time: Sunday, 22 March 2026 at 15:30 GMT
Depth: 10.0 km
No tsunami statement issued
Magnitude Type: mww
USGS page: M 6.3 - 144 km NE of Hihifo, Tongae
6.2 Magnitude Earthquake 0.0 km from Hihifo, Niuas, Tonga

UTC time: Sunday, March 22, 2026 15:27 PM
Your time: Sunday, 22 March 2026 at 15:27 GMT
Depth: 10.0 km
No tsunami statement issued
Magnitude Type: mww
USGS page: M 6.2 - 149 km SSW of Lotofagā, Samoa
USGS status: Reviewed by a seismologist
Reports from the public: 0 persons


Read More...
Arrow Down

Best of the Web: Trump's last gleaming: The twilight of the decomposition of reality

Phil Butler
ZeroHedge
Fri, 20 Mar 2026 20:55 UTC
trump america wreck statue liberty graphic
© Phil Butler/GeminiThe twilight's last gleaming . . . .
I've written through enough upheaval to know when the ground has actually shifted beneath us. Today's chaos isn't the usual turbulence we've learned to absorb — the predictable cycles of crisis and recovery, or the familiar rhythms of things getting worse before they get better. Something structural has given way. We all feel it, even if we can't quite name it, even if we're still performing the motions of normalcy while the framework quietly collapses around us. I didn't think I'd be writing this kind of story either. But here we are, staring at presidents and prime ministers who have created a gap that wasn't supposed to open.

So let's dispense with the throat-clearing and the false reassurances. What follows isn't speculation about whether things might get strange; they already are. The question now is what has actually happened and what it means that we're all standing here watching the most incorrect leadership ever force an unimaginable reality into being, unfolding in real time. And with everyone in the world unable to look away, unable to pretend we don't see it.
Read More...