Wednesday Overnight Open Thread - October 22, 2025 [TRex]

Good evening Horde. The time has come for mid-week shenanigans of the overnight variety.

Welcome to the Wednesday night ONT which means another random assortment of interweb debris. Pull up a chair and sit a spell. Be nice to your fellow commenters and AoS contributors.

"Sir, it is time for the Wednesday ONT."

This is not AI. This is not fake.

Last Wednesday, we featured ESPN's coverage of the 2024 Microsoft Excel World Championship Finals. I wasn't looking for it, but happened to be flipping through channels over the weekend and stumbled across ESPN coverage of kickball.

Kickball at least has a more credible argument than Excel to be considered a sport.

Guess some respect is due to whomever figured out how to turn kickball into a thing. They call it "Turf Wars" and hold tournaments across the US. The "National Championship" is scheduled for November 15 and 16 in Austin.

Public Service Announcement: Apologies to drivers in cities that I previously characterized as "the worst." Those assessments were made in good faith with solid grounds, but also made before visiting Houston. Wow.

Since this is a quasi-smart military blog (sometimes):

This seems like...something. Micro nuclear reactors for the military?

Army announces Janus Program for next-generation nuclear energy

The Department of Army today announced the launch of the Janus Program, a next-generation nuclear power program that will deliver resilient, secure, and assured energy to support national defense installations and critical missions.

Executive Order 14299, "Deploying Advanced Nuclear Reactor Technologies for National Security," directs the Department of War to commence operation of an Army-regulated nuclear reactor at a domestic military installation no later than September 30, 2028.

The program will build commercial microreactors through a nimble, milestone-based contracting model in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), accelerating delivery of advanced energy solutions to the warfighter.

This initiative represents a substantial investment in military and national energy dominance and will help chart the course for widespread deployment of Microreactor Power Plants.

The program will field nuclear microreactors capable of operating independently of the civilian power grid, ensuring uninterrupted power for forces in any environment through collaboration with the Department of Energy (DOE). By leveraging its nuclear regulatory authorities in partnership with the DOE, the Army will move forward with microreactors that are safe, resilient, and adaptable.

Shopping for real estate in the North Carolina mountains?

Out of this world: Former North Carolina NASA campus for sale, listed for $30M

The former satellite tracking facility for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in Rosman, North Carolina, is now up for sale, according to a listing posted on NAI Piedmont Triad.

The Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) is a 192-acre site, built in 1963, that features more than 30 buildings, including a welcome center, library, exhibits, dorms and staff housing, and dining facilities. The site is selling for $30 million.

From the listing:

Nestled in North Carolina's Blue Ridge Mountains, Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) offers a rare, ready-made gateway to the stars. This scientific landmark is ready for next-gen use, from AI research and data archiving to aerospace communications, STEM education, and even quantum computing.

Originally developed by NASA in the 1960s as part of the space race, this 192-acre campus helped capture the first images of Earth from space, and later, was used by the NSA during the Cold War as a key satellite communications hub. Today, the site is an International Dark Sky Park for public education, surrounded by over a half-million acres of protected national forest, ideal for astronomical observation and scientific research. But it's not just that past that makes PARI extraordinary, it's the future.

Nearly a quarter-billion dollars of investment has primed PARI's infrastructure to nurture the future's innovators, technological breakthroughs, and connections to the stars. Located in an electromagnetically quiet zone, one of only about 100 in the world, PARI is decidedly positioned to leverage its institution-grade elements in an environment where few other sites can.

Some of the scientific and technological highlights include two NASA-built dishes, two radio telescopes, Solar and Jupiter radio arrays, and an Eight-Meter Transient Array. Of the more than 25 optical telescopes, PARI features a Coronado Solarmax 40, Polaris 12-inch Cassegrain, SPACE 10-inch Cassegrain, and a 16-inch DFM Research Grade Telescope with a 7-inch Questar Finder Scope.

NC MoMe location?

What could go wrong with building a utopia in California?

Billionaire-Backed Group California Forever Unveils Master Plan for "Next Great American City"

An ambitious real estate consortium known as California Forever has unveiled its detailed 40-year master plan to build a vast new community from scratch on former farmland northeast of San Francisco.

California Forever CEO Jan Sramek touted the plan as a key step in creating "the next great American city," which the group envisions as the eventual home of 400,000 people living in "affordable homes in safe, walkable neighborhoods."

The plan filed on Tuesday reveals that California Forever now plans to build the master-planned community as an extension of nearby Suisun City, a community of 30,000 that stands to dramatically expand its tax base by annexing the new development.

The Pittsburgh police scanner keeps giving. Thank you people of Pittsburgh!

Reba for the big ONT finish:

Written correspondence can be sent to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. Are you a large scale dino looking for a home? We can help. Are you lurking ?? Thank you for your attention to this matter.

posted by Open Blogger at 10:00 PM

| Access Comments