Aggregator
Threat of ‘The Big One’ sends Californians scrambling for earthquake insurance
Stefon Diggs has challenge for NFL teams as free agency lingers after Patriots split
Here’s how to honor Sen. Lindsey Graham’s unmatched patriotic legacy
Geothermal Heats Up: Fervo Drilling Rates Soar 143% While Quaise Raises $134M
While the Trump administration keeps pushing domestic energy addition through funding vehicles and executive orders aimed at grid reliability and AI-driven demand growth, two next-generation geothermal developers just posted updates that move past announcements and into measurable progress on drilling and capital formation.
Fervo announced that its third-generation well design at Cape Station in Utah has lifted drilling rates by 143% compared with the first Cape well.
The latest well, Sawtooth 7, reached 19,448 feet measured depth, including a 7,500-foot lateral, in just 21 days. That’s a 70% reduction in drilling time versus the prior design generation, even as the team targets hotter rock at 460 degrees Fahrenheit and larger casing diameters for higher output per well.
Phase I at Cape Station remains on track for first power later this year, with Phase II targeting 400 MW online in 2028. Faster wells directly compress costs and timelines for the kind of repeatable deployment investors have been waiting to see.
Fervo’s Cape Phase II is tracking toward roughly $5,500/kW installed, with a longer-term target of $3,000/kW as the drilling learning curve keeps compounding. That remains well below the Georgia Vogtle nuclear units, which ultimately landed somewhere between $10,000 and $15,000/kW after years of delays and overruns.
As we reported back in February when the DOE released its $171.5 million Notice of Funding Opportunity for EGS field tests and resource confirmation drilling, the policy environment has turned supportive for technologies that can deliver firm, 24/7 carbon-free power without weather dependence.
Quaise Energy moved in parallel with the initial close of a $134 million Series B round, bringing total funding to roughly $230 million. Prelude Ventures led, with strategic participation from JERA and Idemitsu Kosan of Japan.
The proceeds target Project Obsidian, the company’s planned first commercial superhot geothermal plant on federal leases in central Oregon near Newberry Volcano. Quaise’s millimeter-wave drilling technology is approaching one kilometer of depth in Texas test wells after penetrating more than 100 meters of granite.
The goal remains first electrons to the grid by 2030 from a facility with long-term gigawatt-scale potential once superhot rock above 300 degrees Celsius is routinely accessed.
Both moves align with the administration’s emphasis on unleashing American energy dominance and securing reliable power for data centers that cannot tolerate intermittency. Geothermal’s baseload profile makes it a natural complement to the nuclear builds that remain frustratingly slow on actual construction despite regulatory tailwinds.
Tyler Durden Sun, 07/12/2026 - 19:15Trump directs fresh round of strikes on Iran to hold regime’s forces ‘accountable’
Did The Knicks Championship Destroy “Knicks for Clicks” Media Narratives? | NY Got Game
Far-left Californian’s wicked two-word response to Lindsey Graham’s death
Hamptons home prices surge to record highs thanks to Wall Street and shrinking supply: ‘No end in sight’
Hornets GM reveals why he made stunning LaMelo Ball trade: ‘Honest look in the mirror’
Tony Vitello’s moves pay off as Giants end horrid first half on positive note vs Rockies
American kids all want to be influencers — but they’re really just followers
Priscilla Presley’s son, Navarone, 39, defends launching GoFundMe to start pizza business
Priscilla Presley’s son, Navarone, 39, defends launching GoFundMe to start pizza business
The Real Point Of The "Patriot Front" Psy-Op
Authored by Kit Knightly via OffGuardian,
Over the Fourth of July weekend, Washington DC found itself beset by the "Patriot Front", about 400 guys in matching outfits, with white balaclavas covering their faces and waving flags about.
The (relatively small) gathering walked about a bit, did some marching, waved some flags...and scared the press to death!
The group marched away from Union Station, carrying various flags, including Confederate flags. pic.twitter.com/Xo0WDH2B9O
— Mitchell Miller (@mmillerwtop) July 4, 2026They're not real, of course.
The running joke has already become they are barely-disguised federal agents indulging in some rather lame propaganda, even as some members of rightwing defend both their realness and their aims.
Apparently they do community projects and stuff.
Regardless, they are not real. Even if they're not literally all FBI agents - which we can't actually rule out - they are a psy-op to some extent or another.
Just look at them. And you can just look at them, do you know why? Because they're all over the press and social media.
This picture in particular has "gone viral":
Several similarly themed "lone ethnic minority surrounded by faceless Nazis" pictures all sprang up at once, which is suspicious in and of itself, but this is the one that really stuck.
Both the bots and people who don't realise they've become bots are promoting it all over the place. "It should win a Pulitzer prize" they say. "This photo will define our age."
This kind of coverage, this kind of engineered viral content, is the hallmark of the psy-op, and it shows what Patriot Front (and groups like them) are really for:
Creating the illusory threat of potential fascism on the fringes to distract from very real fascism already in the very centre of power.
"You see those guys? In the khakis waving flags about? They're Nazis. That's what fascism is, waving flags and doing wrong think.
"Us, the people who spy on you, lock you in your house, track your movements, restrict your speech and indoctrinate your kids, we're not fascists. In fact, we're protecting you from the meanie fascists and their heinous flag-waving ways."
That's the point of displays like the Patriot Front.
They transform fascism from policy into paraphernalia. Fascism becomes a combination of outfit and accoutrements, rather than authoritarian politics.
With the implied corollary that, as long as you're not wearing the outfit or waving the flag, you're not actually fascist.
Even as the Flock cameras spread, digital ID looms, and authors are imprisoned for criticizing the regime.
Tyler Durden Sun, 07/12/2026 - 18:40