Claim that Russian Satellite Came Within 85 Feet of Commercial Imaging Satellite
October 20th, 2026Via: The War Zone:
A Russian satellite, Kosmos 2612, may have passed within approximately 85 feet (26 meters) of a U.S.-registered satellite belonging to commercial imagery provider ICEYE. This would be an extraordinarily close and potentially dangerous pass-by for two objects in space traveling at thousands of miles per hour. For weeks beforehand, ICEYE-X36, which would be of special interest to Russia, had already found itself in increasingly close orbital alignment with its pursuer. The two satellites now look to be drifting further and further apart, but the episode has been a clear sign of what is to come as the potential for conflict in space only continues to grow.
Publicly available space tracking data from the satellitemap.space and orbitalradar.com websites show that Kosmos 2612 (also written sometimes Cosmos 2612 and abbreviated K2612) and ICEYE X36 had their especially close encounter at approximately 16:07 UTC today. Private space services company LeoLabs also told TWZ today that it could not “confirm or contradict what other data sources have stated publicly,” but that it has “high-confidence that the objects came within approximately [emphasis in the original] 500 meters [1,640 feet] of each other.” Kosmos 2612 had been making progressively closer passes by ICEYE X36 in recent days.
Scientists Built a Computer Using Living Human Brain Cells—Now It Can Decode Braille
October 20th, 2026Via: The Debrief:
Biohybrid computers made of organoids—tiny human brain models using real cells—have reached an important new benchmark by reading braille for the first time, even under challenging conditions.
…
Although biohybrid computers could eventually offer advantages in energy efficiency, demonstrating that they can reliably process and transmit meaningful information remains a work in progress. The Bristol team sought to advance this research by developing organoids modeled on the human forebrain and testing their ability to process information encoded from Braille characters.
The researchers ultimately achieved an 83% classification accuracy rate by combining signals from three brain organoids to identify Braille letters.
“We can take information from a real tactile sensor, turn it into a form that a living neural network can receive, and then recover meaningful information from the organoid response,” said first author Tianyi Liu, PhD candidate at Bristol University. “That gives us a practical way to connect artificial sensors with biological neural systems, which are a very interesting possible route towards more energy-efficient computing.”
“How to Deal with Shipping AI-Written Code You Don’t Understand?”
October 20th, 2026Via: Hacker News:
I’m an engineer at Meta and I never felt this uncomfortable doing my job. I’m writing code these days and it all feels like a black box. This new standard of shipping with AI is moving so fast that if we’re going to spend our time checking each line of code, it’s going to take forever. That means you can end up with systems you’ve built where you don’t truly understand how all the code works. You understand the high level, but not every detail. And maybe this is becoming the new standard. It goes against every instinct of being a software engineer. I’m used to understanding what I’m building. Now I’m trying to figure out how much I need to understand before I’m comfortable moving forward. Are other engineers feeling this too?
How are you handling this?
44% of Americans Have Trouble Paying for Basic Necessities, 20% Got Food from a Food Bank or Food Pantry in the Last Year
October 19th, 2026Via: Pew Research:
As the 2026 midterms approach, economic issues are top of mind for voters. Many specifically mention prices and affordability as key concerns, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted this fall.
…
More than four-in-ten Americans (44%) indicate they have had trouble paying for at least one of these basic necessities in the past year:
– Medical care for themselves or their family (28% had trouble paying for this)
– Daily transportation costs (22%)
– Rent or mortgage (21%)
– Food (20% say they got food from a food bank or food pantry)
Ukraine Claims First Battlefield Evacuation of Wounded Soldier by Drone
October 19th, 2026I assumed this was fake the first few times I came across it. Maybe it’s real. I don’t know.
Via: The War Zone:
The Ukrainian Armed Forces say they have carried out the world’s first frontline evacuation of a wounded soldier by aerial drone. The soldier, from the 30th Mechanized Brigade, is said to have been recovered successfully and is undergoing treatment and rehabilitation.
…
At this point, it should be noted that the footage has not been independently verified and could depict a staged demonstration rather than an actual combat evacuation. It should, at least, be treated with a degree of caution.
Russia’s New Jet Drone Contains Over 75% U.S.-Made Components
October 18th, 2026Via: Militarnyi:
More than three-quarters of the Geran-4’s onboard computer consists of electronic components manufactured by American companies. Products from Texas Instruments account for the largest share, along with components from its acquired subsidiary National Semiconductor — together accounting for more than half of all identified components.
This information was revealed in a report analyzing the flight controller recovered from the wreckage of one of the drones. The investigation was conducted by an engineer using the call sign Prop, who serves with the 1230th Athena Engineering and Technical Regiment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Support Forces. The unit shared the results with Militarnyi.
Components from foreign companies handle navigation data processing, engine control, power supply, and signal exchange between circuit boards. At the same time, the circuit boards’ serial number markings indicate that they were manufactured in Alabuga.
Related: The Best Enemy Money Can Buy by Antony C Sutton
Replacing Europe
October 18th, 2026Via: Muckraker:
France: Riots Continue
October 18th, 2026Des véhicules de police sont prises pour cible par la foule dans le secteur République à Paris.
#Paris #17octobre https://t.co/yMReav1Tie
— Luc Auffret (@LucAuffret) October 17, 2026
Via: Daily Mail:
Chaos hit the streets of France yesterday as violent protesters rebelled against the cost of living, education standards and Emmanuel Macron’s government, with police admitting they ‘lost control’.
More than 1,200 demonstrators were arrested as the streets of major French cities were turned into a battleground, with city halls and prefectures set on fire and hundreds of shops looted in ‘apocalyptic riots’.
Desperate business owners and horrified residents could only watch in fear as the mob went door-to-door, smashing their way into each business.
More: “A Decade of Unfettered Mass Migration and a Cancerous Far-Left Movement”
Gold Became Top U.S. Export for Several Months
October 17th, 2026This article is from April 2026.
Via: Forbes:
The value of U.S. gold exports soared to $17.88 billion, the highest monthly total dating back at least two decades and almost certainly ever, according to my analysis of the latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
Gold, which is coming off its best year since 1979, is a safe haven in uncertain times. While many factors can affect its price and movement, economic and political uncertainty are generally the factors that lead to the widest swings.
This year, those factors are plentiful…
…
So, perhaps not surprisingly, February was the highest monthly total on record for U.S. exports in the primary gold category (HS 7108), enough to make it the No. 1-ranked U.S. export among the 1,200-plus categories.
That had never occurred – until last October. Now it has done so a remarkable three of the last five months.
That’s uncertainty. Economic and political.
Zelenskyy Resumes Russian Refinery Drone Strikes
October 15th, 2026Via: ZeroHedge:
A defiant President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the Financial Times on Thursday morning that Ukrainian forces will resume attacks on Russian refineries. The move certainly seems more political than anything else. Such attacks have been described as one of the drivers behind the global refining crisis, which has collided with Strait of Hormuz disruptions.
“The block [on attacking refineries] is out. We’re done,” Zelenskyy told the FT. He said Kiev had suspended energy strikes for three days at the Trump administration’s request.
Even before that, the Trump administration had requested many times that Kiev stop bombing Russian refineries, but Ukraine remained mostly defiant and ramped up those attacks leading up to the US midterm elections. One can only wonder whether the escalation was politically motivated, worsening the diesel crisis and translating into consumer pain at US pumps.
Zelenskyy’s new narrative is that the resumption of drone attacks on Russian refineries is a response to what he described as a “dangerous” cutoff of US intelligence sharing and the degradation of Starlink service.
Trump has denied cutting off intelligence sharing. Elon Musk said the US government controls Starshield’s speed and usage limits, the military satellite network built on Starlink technology. Zelenskyy’s office said Thursday that it had lifted the speed restrictions.
