In The News...

[cory]

Voyager 1 approaches one light day from Earth

As it heads out of the solar system never to return, the deep space probe Voyager 1 is headed for yet another cosmic milestone. In late 2026, it will become the first spacecraft to travel so far that a radio signal from Earth takes 24 hours, or one light day, to reach it.

newatlas.com

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Poorly written. But a great subject.
The discoveries those two craft have made and are making are very interesting.
We are now exploring interstellar space.
Congrats humans 👏

NASA’s Voyager Spacecraft Still Reaching for the Stars After 40 Years - NASA

Humanity’s farthest and longest-lived spacecraft, Voyager 1 and 2, achieve 40 years of operation and exploration this August and September. Despite their vast

www.nasa.gov

https://www.iflscience.com/nasas-voyager-spacecraft-detected-a-30000-50000-kelvin-wall-at-the-edge-of-our-solar-system-83008

 

[Cobleskill]

It always seemed kind of risky looking to tell other civilizations where to find us. We can't even get along with our own kind.

 

[cory]

True but it is a fascinating concept

 

[CurSedVoyce]

 

[pigwot]

BREAKING: The Trump administration ordered the dismantling of the U.S. Forest Service with an eye-crossing, sleep-inducing press release written in the densest bureaucratese you've ever had the misfortune to read. In brief:

The U.S. Forest Service’s 121-year history isn’t ending with a budget cut or reorganization—it’s being dismantled.

Headquarters is moving from Washington, D.C. to Salt Lake City, a hub of anti–public lands advocacy. All ten regional offices are being closed, along with the career experts who provided independent oversight.

More than 50 research facilities across 31 states will be eliminated, wiping out decades of long-term science that cannot be replaced. In their place: 15 political “state directors,” embedded with the same state officials and industry groups that have long pushed for more logging and fewer protections.

That puts 193 million acres—an area larger than Texas and the nation’s largest public land system—under political control with little warning.

Created by Theodore Roosevelt and built by Gifford Pinchot to ensure professional, science-based stewardship, the agency is now being reshaped under Chief Tom Schultz, a former logging executive.

Long-term studies, datasets, and partnerships will collapse. Scientists won’t relocate en masse, and their expertise will be lost.

Once the science is gone, so is the safeguard against wholesale sell offs of forests to private concerns for “profit utilization”.

 

[SeanKroll]

That sucks so much!

 

[Cobleskill]

Lee Zeldin, head of the EPA, appointed former chemical company executives and others with the opposite view on pollution to be chiefs.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/25/climate/epa-staff-oil-gas-chemical-industry-lobbyists.html

 

[Burnham]

I weep. Things have been pretty dismal for the USFS for good while now, but this is really disheartening.

 

[Nutball]

Insanity, and lots of it!

 

[cory]

The western fire season could be otherworldly given the low snowpack and the cutbacks, disarray and sudden climate change denial caused by the prez, but I hope not

 

[SeanKroll]

Fukt!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Yup

 

[cory]

The U.S. Forest Service is closing 57 of its 77 research facilities in 31 states under a reorganization plan announced this week, threatening science that looked at how wildfires, drought, pests and global warming are putting pressure on forests

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/03/climate/forest-service-research-stations.html?unlocked_article_code=1.YlA.NJnj.HKf-1m8xUh7u&smid=url-share

 

[cory]

More on Right to Repair

https://www.wsj.com/business/deere-settled-for-99-million-over-repair-costs-farmers-are-still-worried-4a9dfd34?st=xbEdkw&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

 

[cory]

@Mrs.B Northern California homeowner cuts down redwood tries, sparks outrage - https://archive.is/20260430132322/https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/redwood-trees-cut-down-22220281.php#selection-1593.150-1593.151

 

[Mrs.B]

@Mrs.B Northern California homeowner cuts down redwood tries, sparks outrage - https://archive.is/20260430132322/https://www.sfchronicle.com/california/article/redwood-trees-cut-down-22220281.php#selection-1593.150-1593.151

The homeowner called Jerry months ago to possibly look at it and take it down, but Jerry can't climb anymore so he referred a young friend of ours. Our friend will be doing the job next week. The news article over dramatizes the situation a bit. The tree is a hazard to the home. I wouldn"t live under it. It's not old growth and it's not the only tree in the neighborhood, by any means. The plan is to take the tree down next Wednesday, with cops and sheriffs there to keep the protesters out of harms way. We'll see how it goes. The protesters have been able to stop it once and are trying to get another court order. It's Humboldt County...land of hippies, dope growers, and protests. Anything could happen!

 

[treesmith]

That law enforcement is needed on site to keep the ferals at bay is preposterous.

 

[cory]

That is wild, thx for the info @Mrs.B ! That remaining tree is massive, he must be a heckuva tree guy.

Yo, Housers- can you imagine being the guy that Gerry recommends?!? 🦍!!!!!

Having a somewhat decent idea of how fast redwoods grow, it seems doubtful to me that the remaining tree is 225 y o but perhaps they counted the rings on it's similarly sized bro.

Dang it would suck to have to work on that tree with cops and protesters down below.

. The tree is a hazard to the home. I wouldn"t live under it.

My thoughts exactly!!

 

[Kaveman]

That is wild, thx for the info @Mrs.B ! That remaining tree is massive, he must be a heckuva tree guy.

Yo, Housers- can you imagine being the guy that Gerry recommends?!? 🦍!!!!!

Nope, I literally can't imagine it, but then I just finished his book, so...

 

[cory]

I just lent my autographed copy of HCTF to a very deserving and appreciative young tree guy, he was very stoked about it. He already owns the Bible, FGTW