DUNE BUGGY MOON BUGGY COMPETITION: “[NASA] has selected three private teams […] to develop their versions of the Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV), the rover that Artemis astronauts will drive around the moon’s southern polar region beginning in 2030. […] NASA will buy rover services, not the actual LTV(s).” LTV will be like those electric scooters you see littering urban landscapes (and favored by a certain writer at TOS). This also opens the possibility that private moon voyagers or the space program of another country, could rent the buggy once NASA is done with it. Full disclosure: I am a huge fanboi, and very minor investor, in Intuitive Machines (LUNR), one of the competing teams. If IM wins the final contract, I’ll have a nut on the LTV.

YOU WANT IT, YOU PAY FOR IT: “Botswana threatens to send 20,000 elephants to Germany in trophy hunting dispute.” I love this new trend of developing countries telling developed countries to fuck right off with their neocolonialism, as the president of Guyana recently did with a BBC (state media) journo.

BECAUSE DOING NOTHING IS THE CHEAPEST, EASIEST MOVE: “Panama and Colombia fail to protect migrants on Darien jungle route, Human Rights Watch says.” It’s your typical third-world shitshow with nobody to like.

WHERE CARGO SHIPS DIVERTED FROM BALTIMORE ARE DOCKING: I’m personally glad to see Port of Norfolk getting the lion’s share. That’s jobs and revenue for Virginia, and is a logical choice for any ships in or near the Chesapeake Bay.

DESERT SMITH: “Stunned archaeologists probe claims of giant skeletons in Nevada caves where they found a 15-inch sandal that had been worn down as well as massive handprints across the walls.” Huh, huh-huh, they said “probed.” And we all know what big feet mean. But, seriously, early reports of pygmies were dismissed by europe-based scientists, and only in this century have we come to learn about Homo floresiensis. If tribes of very small people exist(ed), why not very big people?

YOU DON’T SAY: “Ohio’s photo voter ID law took effect a year ago. Since then, the share of provisional ballots rejected for lack of ID has more than tripled.”

NERD NEWS: “The world’s semiconductor industry hinges on a single quartz factory in North Carolina.”

READER SERVICE: Earlier in the week, RC Dean was curious about the origin the name of SpaceX recovery droneship, the Of Course I Still Love You. Because we are all about fanbase maintenance here at Thursday Afternoon Links, here is the answer. If you already knew this, wedgie yourself. Everyone else get up and dance.