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The Coolest Rock

We found the coolest rock in the history of cool rocks. We've also made a bunch of incredible technological strides while the world tries its best to politically shit the bed.

Endeavorance

Endeavorance

— 13 min read
The Coolest Rock

I entered some data into a spreadsheet, but Stuff still Happened.

So what's up?

The Coolest Rock We Ever Found

Humans may have discovered the single coolest rock of all cool rocks. And we found it on Mars.

A few (billion) years back, Mars had a dense atmosphere and ample liquid water, making it a prime candidate for seeking signs of life outside of Earth. Unfortunately for us, it is not a few (billion) years back, it's now—which is not then. Due to this unfortunate temporal detail, searching for life on Mars is tough.

And yet, scientists have been looking at a really cool rock for about a year and think it may be our strongest sign yet that life existed on Mars.

It's not just a boulder. Source: NASA.gov

The Perseverance Rover found the rock at the bottom of an ancient riverbed on Mars. Scientists noticed it had some strange markings, so they took a closer look.

It is at this time that I want to stop and say that "life on mars" here means, "indications of possible organic matter of some kind." It doesn't mean, like, Martian Jeremy.

Anyway, they dug into the rock to analyze its cool specks and determined that the markings appeared to be evidence of a reaction that took place between mud from the riverbed and some kind of organic material. The reaction created minerals which only occur—to our knowledge—by way of either intense heat or organic interaction. Since the rock was at the bottom of a cold river, the heat option is out. So… life?

Maybe! Maybe not. They're pushing to plan and fund a mission to retrieve a sample to bring back and study, which is how we'd actually be able to tell. Unfortunately, NASA has seen massive budget cuts under the current administration, so the likelihood of further missions around this soon are low.

Stateside

For Whom the Wrong Proves

Last week, Charlie Kirk was killed by gunshot to the neck while at a college campus doing his "Prove Me Wrong" show on tour. I posted a video the next day with some of my immediate thoughts, and I don't intend to rehash much of that here. Instead, I'll summarize with: Charlie Kirk was a shitty person and I do not care that he is dead, and I am appalled at the level of revisionism happening to make him appear as if he wasn't profiting off of the recruitment of young men into a racist, hateful ideology. Also, don't kill people.

Since his death, it's been a wild ride of finger pointing, escalating tensions, and a few genuine revelations from folks who had only really heard the name in passing.

Ultimately, the shooter was turned in by his father to authorities, who then started their press conference with, "we got him," as if they did anything.

Before, during, and since the arrest, we've seen myriad right-wing figures directly calling for "war," while other groups have been organizing to dox people who made light of Kirk's death, often trying—sometimes successfully—to get people fired from their jobs.

This is where someone could point out the irony of the fact that they're trying to chill speech over people making light of the death of a guy who claimed to be all about free speech while he actively chilled speech with threats and logical fallacies. Someone could certainly do that.

Instead, I'll draw the connection between how recent it was that the right was loudly cheering the unilateral extrajudicial killing of 11 foreign civilians at the hands of the US military off the coast of Venezuela (and we'll get back to that soon!) and how suddenly, "nobody deserves to be killed like that." Nevermind, y'know, Gaza.

I'm going to wait before covering more of this. This has been the entirety of most news coverage since it happened, and there's too much dust in the air still for me to feel comfortable sharing anything further as fact.

Charlie Kirk was not a subject I spent much time lending breath to before last week, and I don't intend for that to change much now. When we have concrete information that meaningfully updates stuff, I'll cover it.

Until then, we're watching in real time as the story get construed to meet each narrative as it best fits one's intentions. Stay frosty.

Venezuela Boat Update

Okay so about that boat from Venezuela that we bombed. As a recap: the Trump administration bombed a vessel in the ocean off the coast of Venezuela, killing all 11 people on board. The admin maintains that the boat was a drug smuggling boat, and that we are at war with gangs in Venezuela, so the military has the right to bomb the boat. None of that is accurate.

New reporting tells us that national security officials—in a closed door meeting to the press—stated that the boat was actually heading back to shore towards Venezuela, and that we actually struck it twice: once to make the hit, and again to finish off survivors.

International legal experts seem to agree that this violates international law, as jumping to lethal military force in a judicial jurisdiction is unacceptable. Some experts have drawn parallels between this kind of action and the actions of Rodrigo Duterte who is currently being tried by the ICC for crimes against humanity.

Ultimately, not much can happen here unless someone decides to step up. The US is still putting military pressure on Venezuela, and while the attack likely violated international law, the US isn't one to be brought to heel by the ICC.

ICY Days in Chicago

ICE has landed in the Chicago area, creating havoc, clashing with protestors, and killing a 42-year old man in the first few days of what the Department of Homeland Security has dubbed, "Operation Midway Blitz"

Of note: a government naming law enforcement operations as if they are military operations while targeting cities within their national borders is fucking insane.

Silverio Villegas González was a Mexican immigrant who worked as a cook at a restaurant in a Chicago suburb. (For those who need to know that someone has kids in order to care about their death, he had three children, since "he had kids" seems to be the favored argument for why Charlie Kirk's death is bad).

González was driving when he was stopped by multiple unmarked cars. Men climbed out of the cars, surrounded his vehicle, and began questioning him. Witnesses at the scene noted that people originally thought it was a robbery, given how quickly they moved and how they did not adequately identify themselves.

González reportedly was not fully fluent in English, and likely did not understand what they were saying to him. He tried to escape by driving away.

ICE officials state that in doing so, González dragged an ICE officer, injuring them. The officers opened fire on González, killing him at the scene in what ICE referred to as a valid use of force.

Since the killing, activists and community leaders have heavily organized, with protests breaking out and statements made from local organizers and faith leaders. Chicago has been loud about not wanting ICE in their city to begin with, so while the state maintains that González caused his own death by fleeing, I'd argue that ICE shouldn't have been there in unmarked cars using kidnapping style tactics in the first place.

So far this year, 15 people have died in ICE custody, comparable only really to 2020 when there were excess deaths from COVID. ICE's operations have sown chaos across the county, and has already started a chilling effect on foreign investors since the Hyundai factory raid. Detained workers described horrific holding conditions, such as having to bend down and lap up water, or only having a fist-sized hole in the ceiling to see the sky.

Elsewhere

You Can Hold Criminal Leaders Accountable, Turns Out

Brazil has sentenced former president Jair Bolsonaro to 27 years and three months in prison. Bolsonaro is 70 and was found guilty of conspiring to retain power after losing the election in 2022.

The sentencing was handed down by a panel of judges from Brazil's supreme court, with all but one judge agreeing with the guilty verdict. Bolsonaro has been calling this a "witch hunt," mirroring what Trump has said about similar legal issues regarding his failed attempt to retain power after losing an election.

Pictured: A former president of a country who will actually face justice for crimes

But here in Free Country USA, we cannot possibly hold a former president responsible, because then we wouldn't be able to keep acting like former US presidents are some kind of deities.

Bolsonaro will be appealing the decision.

One last weird note on this is that Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, has vowed that the US would "respond accordingly" to the decision of the court, citing too that it is a witch hunt.

Brazils' response can be summarized as, "the fuck you on about?"

Alone at the Dinner Table

Israel may have finally stepped in it. Maybe. Prob not, but we can dream.

After carrying out an unprecedented airstrike on Hamas members based in Qatar, Israel is finding itself with fewer friends to stand up for them.

Qatar is a US ally, and is where negotiations for peace talks with Hamas are supposed to be taking place. Of course, that's a bit hard when the peace talks are interrupted by hellfire.

The strikes were condemned from around the world, of course with Qatar issuing a scathing statement. The UN Security Council even managed to pass a condemnation including support from the US, but of course the condemnation doesn't actually refer to "Israel" by name, instead just saying that the attacks are unacceptable.

WHO DID THE ATTACKS, HM?

Trump has stated that the attacks won't happen again, but that "eliminating Hamas" is still a "worthy goal." After this, Netanyahu clarified that Israel would, actually, do it again if they wanted to.

Russian Drones in NATO Airspace

Russian drones have been flying over NATO airspace over the past few days, sparking an escalation in the war on Ukraine.

Polish forces shot down 4 drones and recovered 16 more as scrap back on September 9th. This prompted Poland to invoke Article 4 of the NATO agreement, which has only been used eight times since the formation in 1949.

You probably know of "Article 5" which is the "if anyone in NATO is attacked, we all got your back" article. Article 4 is more like, "if anyone in NATO is kinda annoyed, we'll have a mixer and talk about our feelings."

On September 13th, a Russian drone entered Romanian airspace for a little under an hour. Although fighter pilots were given authorization to shoot it down, the pilot chose not to in order to avoid collateral damage. The drone eventually left, realizing nobody wanted to be it's friend.

Russia claims the drones were just innocently returning from an attack against Ukraine.

A New Nepal

Things got extremely real extremely fast in Nepal, where young protestors recently managed to oust the corrupt government and establish an entirely new Prime Minister with an eye towards radical change. The uprising was fast, deadly, inspiring, and almost unbelievable at times.

Here's a timeline.

Science & Tech

Powered by Sand

Who needs fancy battery tech when you can just use sand?

A small town in Finland installed a massive "sand battery" capable of heating the entire town for a winter season after being charged by renewable energy.

The sand battery is a new-ish concept in the world of thermal batteries, with this being the largest deployment of the sand concept so far. The "battery" is a large structure filled with sand and pipes. The pipes heat up the sand to incredibly hot temperatures during sunny and warm months, then extract the heat over time in the cooler months.

Big ol thing fulla sand

Sand is able to maintain heat for a long time without losing its integrity, and given the wide availability of sand compared to other battery components, it makes for a solid solution. At least, in the right conditions.

The sand battery is excellent at maintaining and distributing heat, but converting that heat back into electricity remains inefficient. Still, installing a box of sand which can heat an entire town for a whole season sounds like a great deal to me.

Powered by Power

Okay but also normal batteries are important, too, and are one of the primary tech challenges we face today. You're probably familiar with lithium ion batteries, which are what power phones, laptops, electric vehicles, and mostly any consumer electronic. They also explode! Sometimes. More often than we'd like.

These batteries have a sludge inside which is where the battery magic happens, but "solid state" batteries have been considered a next step in battery tech for quite some time. That is, batteries which are solid all the way through.

Ion Storage Systems is a Maryland based company that has been building solid state batteries recently which promise a possible 50% increased storage capacity over lithium ion, as well as a near-zero chance to do that whole "exploding" thing. While investment in the solid state battery space has dropped due to no meaningful market progress for a while, these batteries are currently being tested by the US military and several private tech companies who apparently report good early results.

If these batteries work and can be mass produced, it may lead to a huge revolution in things like EV uptake and safety records.

Koalas Be Fuckin'

Researchers have been trying to develop a vaccine for chlamydia in Koala bears, as the sexually transmitted disease can have rates up to 70% in some populations.

Scientists at the University of the Sunshine Coast in Australia have spent nearly a decade developing a vaccine for the disease, finally reaching a formula which has been approved for use.

I mean, it should be obvious

A vaccine will help preservation efforts more than treatment would, as treatment is expensive, reactive, and invasive. Unfortunately, distributing the vaccine is no easy or inexpensive task either. At time of writing, efforts are ongoing to secure funding to help distribute the vaccine to nature preservation efforts free of charge.

Big Day for Copper Alloys

TAKE AN ALLOY BUT MAKE IT SUPER. Okay, so "super alloys" are metals which maintain their structural integrity at extremely high temperatures. Usually, these are made primarily of nickel, cobalt or iron.

Martin Harmer lead a team at Lehigh University who made a massive breakthrough in copper-based superalloys. This is a big deal due to copper's significantly better heat and electrical conductivity compared to existing super alloys.

"These tantalum bilayer complexions make the alloy so stable that it can be held near its melting point for over a year without losing its nanostructure. It's unprecedented for copper."
—Martin Harmer

They did this by layering materials and restructuring things at the atomic level to leverage the natural imperfections in the metals to become sort of a reinforcement system rather than flaws in the structure.

So that's fucking cool.

The Best Flamethrower

Engineering researchers in South Korea made a hydrogen plasma torch to recycle plastics back into raw components. The machine blasts plastic with absurdly high levels of energy for just 0.01 seconds to convert the plastics into base components pure enough to be reused.

This is nascent work still, but in theory could be powered by renewable energy sources to create a zero emission option to recycle plastics.

Gaming

Nintendo Direct

Nintendo did a Nintendo direct, in which they announced a NEW FIRE EMBLEM GAME FOR 2026 as well as some other stuff which wasn't the announcement of A NEW FIRE EMBLEM GAME.

Here's a few highlights:

  • NEW MAINLINE FIRE EMBLEM GAME
  • DID YOU SEE?
  • NEW FIRE EMBLEM
  • Metroid Prime 4 is slated to release on December 4th 2025
  • Mario Galaxy and Mario Galaxy 2 are getting a release as a new bundle
  • A sequel to the Super Mario Movie was announced, titled The Super Mario Galaxy Movie
  • New Mario Tennis announced (I have a weird affinity for Mario Tennis games)

There's a ton more stuff, here's an article giving a more in-depth rundown.

SEGA's Decluttering Fiasco

Back in July, authorities in the UK raided the home of a video game reseller, charging him with money laundering and seizing some of his merchandise. Now, we're getting some more clarity into what happened, and it is BIZARRE.

The reseller had a box of old Nintendo console development kits, which authorities confiscated. The reseller had purchased the box of dev kits from a clearance sale from a SEGA office. It was among a bunch of other stuff from furniture to old game cartridges. However, it would appear SEGA didn't intend for these to be sold, especially considering development kits are only rented out, not sold, so they're technically Nintendo property.

Then, all of a sudden, not long after a suspicious prospective buyer inquires about the dev kits, the cops raid the guy's house and arrest him.

At time of writing, the reseller is wrestling with the UK court system to get clarity on how this all happened, how his home was raided, and how he ended up charged with money laundering after SEGA's own mistake.

This reminds me of the time when Hasbro sent the literal Pinkertons to retrieve leaked magic cards.

Here's the Weather

Source: VentuSky

More Stuff

I—

I actually think that was enough stuff for now.

Thanks for readin'.

~ Dev

UPDATE 9/15/2025 2:03pm US Eatern: Corrected the final gaming story, SEGA was the company, not Sony.

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