See All Those Mirrors

“See all those mirrors?” starts as a goofy line, then turns into a genuinely unsettling idea: selling moon-bright light from orbit. We read a report that raises the possibility of a giant space mirror casting a moving patch of reflected sunlight onto Earth, and we can’t stop turning it over from every angle. If you care about the night sky, space technology, astronomy, or just the simple human experience of darkness, this one hits a nerve fast.

We talk about why astronomers already struggle with satellite megaconstellations like Starlink, how bright streaks can ruin deep sky images, and what happens when the next step isn’t just “more satellites” but intentional light directed at the ground. Then we zoom out to the parts people forget: nocturnal animals, night-blooming plants, and ecosystems built around day-night rhythms. Even if a company promises it won’t start fires, the bigger question remains: who gets to flip the night on and off, and what are the unintended consequences for nature and for all of us?

To keep it real, we also do what we always do: a quick weather report around the world, a short moment to breathe and reset, an earthquake report, and a final story about Texas becoming a lithium powerhouse. That lithium conversation turns into a blunt debate about battery demand, land use, and the “more, more, more” mindset that keeps showing up in modern life.

Transcript

Welcome And Soccer Side Note

Bruce 0:01

See all those mirrors?

Capella 0:04

Welcome to the ugly quacking duck. We like to joke that we're the worst podcast in the unknown universe, but we're pretty sure that's just our charm. We're here to offer a different perspective on the things you see every day, moving away from the usual noise to bring a little more light, perspective, and an uplifting spirit into your routine. Life is plenty heavy as it is, so we're just here to help you find a reason to smile. Thanks for stopping by.

Bruce 0:28

Whatever day it is.

Sunny 0:31

Whatever time it is.

Bruce 0:34

You are listening to the ugly quacking duck, and I am Bruce.

Sunny 0:39

And I am Sunny. Hello everyone.

Bruce 0:43

I hope everybody's having a good day while you listen to this episode. We welcome you to the podcast. This is episode 152. And there you go. And we are recording this episode out of our Midwest studio, you know, the hidden studio.

Sunny 1:03

Yeah, it's not real good hidden, Bruce, but we like to call it our secret studio.

Bruce 1:11

That's right. It's not really hidden, not really secret, but we like to call it that anyway. And as we're recording this, it is January the 15th, and the soccer game between England and Argentina is going on, and England right now has a lead of one.

Sunny 1:33

Couldn't resist, could you, Bruce? You had to mention soccer, so all the people out there who's not enjoying soccer will be irritated, right?

Bruce 1:48

That's absolutely right there, Sunny. I had to mention it, but as you know, I'm not going to talk very much about it. I just wanted to mention that game is going on while we're recording, and sometimes I may have to stop and gander at the game, okay?

Sunny 2:07

Despite what Bruce is saying, we still want you to enjoy the episode. We thank you for being part of it, and we hope you stay for the full episode.

Bruce 2:21

That's right, Sunny. I agree. Um, we want you to stay. We thank you very much for tuning in. And as I said earlier, I hope I did, this is episode 152. Glad to have you here, folks, and enjoy the show.

Weather Check Across The Globe

Bruce 2:41

Well, Sunny, you've been enjoying this warm weather we've had uh all week.

Sunny 2:46

Yeah, it's been nice, but I would have used a little bit of more rain if I could have got it. You know, I like bouncing around in the mud puddles and all that.

Bruce 2:58

Well, it didn't rain.

Sunny 3:00

I know. It it almost did. Uh it rained in the weekend, but not this week.

Bruce 3:08

Yeah, there you go. It's been a kind of a humid, warm week thus far, uh, but not real, real hot, um high eighties, uh that around here anyway. Uh let's speaking of that, let's go over the weather so people know what's going on at this time, wherever you are, whenever you're listening. On Wednesday, 715, 2026, this is the weather around the world.

Sunny 3:40

Yeah, and I want to do Spoke Can today. So pull it up, Bruce. All right, Bruce, you got it. And I want to tell you folks, if you're not in Spoke Can, then you won't know this, but they're having their heat. Oh yeah. Just like we did a week or two before, they're having it up there now. It was like in the 70s and the 80s, not now. 91 there, right now as we speak, and the humidity's 25%, UV index is eight, which is very high, the wind's out of the east seven miles an hour, and the air quality is 37, which is good. Now the barometric pressure is dropping 29.94, and their visibility is 10 miles.

Bruce 4:39

Well, that was a good deal sunny, and I'm gonna do our local weather uh right now here locally. I have 93 at the house. Our studio uh temperature, which I've got an outside reader or sensor, says 93, and I just looked up Mount Vernon and they say 90, which it's a couple, you know, it's a little bit farther away from us, but not that far. So I don't know what the difference is. But anyway, they are at 90 degrees today, and their my their humidity is 50 percent. UV index is six, which is high, but not real high. They are um wind at seven miles an hour northeast coming out of the northeast. Air quality is thirty-three, which is good, barometric pressures thirty point zero zero and falling, and the visibility is only nine miles today. Huh. Interesting.

Sunny 5:48

All right, Bruce, if you'll pull up Phoenix, Arizona, that's the one you like to do. I'm gonna do it today.

Bruce 5:56

Oh, alright. I don't mind. I got it up.

Sunny 6:00

Yeah, I see it. Okay, Phoenix, Arizona has 105 today. They say it feels like 108. I don't know, you know, at that temperature, I don't know if you can tell the difference between 105 and 108. Your tires are gonna melt, you know what I mean?

Bruce 6:21

Yeah, that's probably about right. It's gonna feel like your tires are melting, whether it's 105.

Sunny 6:27

Or 108.

Bruce 6:29

Yeah, I like it when we do that.

Sunny 6:31

I do too. Okay, anyway, it's 105 degrees there. Right now, as we speak, the humidity is 23%, which is kind of low. Their UV index is nine, which is very high. The wind's coming out of south-southwest at 9 miles an hour, the air quality is 33, which is good. Bear maker pressure is 29.72 and falling, and the visibility is ten miles. Very good job. Hey, I like that.

Bruce 7:10

All right, Sunny. Yeah, you did you bragging on yourself?

Sunny 7:14

Maybe just a bit.

Bruce 7:16

All right. Hey, I'm gonna take a break real quick, folks, and um they're I'm they're one to one now. I'm taking a break. All right, we're back, folks. Yes, we are. All right, that was a good game. Uh, Argentina pulled off the win uh with a two goals against England's one, so we'll see where they go next.

Sunny 7:40

Yeah, I guess.

Bruce 7:43

Yeah. All right, back to the weather. I think I'm gonna talk about Australia and the Australian plains. Um, it's 37 degrees there right now. They have a frost warning from 3 p.m. till Thursday at 3 p.m. And it is right now around uh a little bit after six at their location. So they're saying it's 37 degrees over there, but it feels like 34. I just don't understand that difference. But anyway, humidity is 91%. Very high. And I bet you can't guess what the UV index is since it's nighttime. Oh, wait, it's zero. Winds coming out of the north at 3 miles an hour. Air quality is 73, which is moderate. Uh barometric pressure is 30.68 and rising, and their visibility is only four miles.

Sunny 8:47

All right, Bruce, I want to do Beijing, China, okay? All right, you got it up for me. Don't move it now. Uh okay. I'm starting to read. Here we go. It looks like it's 78 degrees over there. Yep, 78 degrees. And it is uh 83% humidity, which is very high. The wind's coming out of the north seven miles an hour. UV is zero, air quality is 164, which is very unhealthy. Yeah. And barometric pressures 29.59 and rising, and their visibility is six miles an hour or six miles. That sounds like Bruce doing that, doesn't it?

Bruce 9:40

Now what are you trying to say, Sunny?

Sunny 9:43

Oh nothing.

Bruce 9:45

Alright, but uh they're actually got better visibility than uh the Australian plains, which is strange. Alright, I'm gonna do Moscow, Russia, and it is sixty-six degrees there, and it feels like sixty-six degrees. The wind's coming out of the west-southwest at nine miles an hour. Humidity's eighty percent, which is very high. Uh the UV index is zero, of course. Air quality is fifty-two, which is pretty moderate, and the barometric pressure is twenty-nine point eight nine and falling. Visibility six miles.

Sunny 10:31

All right, Bruce, if you'll pull Paris up for me, I will do them.

Bruce 10:37

Alright, there you go.

Sunny 10:39

Alright, I got it. It don't move it now. Okay, it is right now 83 degrees in Paris, France. Their humidity's 40%, UV is zero, wind is seven miles an hour from the north-northeast, air quality 71. Pressure is 30.04 and rising. Wow, that's a different one. Invisibility six miles. Six miles. Not six miles an hour, but six miles.

Bruce 11:17

Okay. Yeah, you're absolutely right that time, six miles. That's a long ways, but not quite as long as the ten mile mark. We might as well figure finish our list off, and I'm gonna do Tokyo. So Tokyo right now has eighty-two degrees. Yay! I guess that's a yay. And it is 80% very high humidity over there. The wind's coming out of the west at 2 miles an hour. UV index is zero because it's like 6.30 in the morning. Air quality is 92, which is kind of moderate. Barometric pressure is 29.55 and rising, and their visibility is nine miles.

Sunny 12:04

All right, Bruce. I might as well do the last one. You've already got it pulled up, so I'm gonna do London, which just played the soccer game, and it is 73 degrees there. Yeah, really. Humidity's 55%, the UV index is zero, winds coming out of the southeast at three miles an hour, air quality is fifty-five, barometric pressure's 30 point nineteen, and visibility is ten miles. And from around the world?

Bruce 12:42

That is your weather. This is January uh January, hello. July 15th, uh 2026, and that'll tell you what's going on.

Sunny 12:55

January. Really? You said January.

Bruce 12:59

I know, I messed up.

Sunny 13:02

Yeah, a little tongue tied or brain tied.

Bruce 13:05

How about brainless tide?

Sunny 13:08

Well that sounds more like it. Yeah. All right. Oh, that was a good one, Bruce. I I had to laugh.

Bruce 13:16

All right. Well, at least I made you laugh, probably nobody else.

A Quick Moment To Reflect

Bruce 13:23

All right, everybody, it is time. That's the tone. So take a minute, reflect on what you're doing, uh something important in life. Cheer yourself up. If you can, think of something positive. And if you're driving, don't do that. No, don't don't do it.

Sunny 13:50

Well, they can still take a moment and take a deep breath and exhale and relax for a minute. When they get stopped, then they can do it.

Bruce 14:00

That's very true there, Sunny, and I appreciate that. Yeah, so there you go. That was that moment to reflex, give yourself a moment to enjoy life and think about what you're doing.

Space Mirrors And Moon Bright Light

Bruce 14:16

Well, for this next story we want to look up. Um there were um I got get this from thespaceweather.com and his article says this sounds like a bad idea. Since SpaceX began launching Starlink satellites in twenty nineteen, astronomers have grown increasingly increasingly concerned. It's almost impossible now to take a deep sky image without satellite streaks in the background. The megaconstellation numbers nearly eleven thousand functioning satellites and the SpaceX launched over or launched another one thousand five hundred and eighty-nine during the first half of twenty twenty-six. Soon Starlink will may be the least of their worries. And then it goes on and it talks about that last week FCC authorized Reflect Orbital Incorporated to launch a huge space mirror named uh I'm not gonna even try to pronounce it, E R E N D I Lrom an orbit about six hundred and twenty-five kilometers high, it will cast a moving five kilometer wide patch of light onto the Earth about as bright as a full moon. And later the company could combine beams from multiple satellites to create much brighter spotlights. Reflect orbital wants to launch fifty thousand more by twenty twenty or twenty thirty-five, selling sunlight on demand to solar farms, constructive sites, and search and res rescue teams. This author goes on and says if a reflective orbitals plan is realized, it could be a cont calamitous not only for astronomers, but also for the natural world as a whole. Nocturnal animals and night blooming plants tuned by evolution to the rhythm of day and night would suddenly find their darkness interrupted by moving pools of redirected sunlight. Small favors. Reflect orbital says the light will not be bright enough to start fires. Are you sure that's not the plan? We've seen uh weirder things, but anyway, the FCC uh actually gave them uh that ability, even though they said they can't rule in space right now.

Sunny 17:15

So that's what your introduction comment was.

Bruce 17:21

It is exactly what it was. See all those mirrors. Can you I pictured a young person, man a boy or girl, it doesn't matter, but that young child looking up and saying, Mommy, look at all those mirrors. And you know, if they've got fifty thousand of those and they're all moving separately, you're gonna have little dots of light here and there and there and there. It's gonna be crazy. Now that's not happened, and it's gonna take a while before they get them all up. And there could be some uh things go wrong that would not allow them to do this, but as of right now, that's the game plan. So there you go. Um it's science fiction once again coming alive.

Sunny 18:17

Oh yeah, it's definitely here. The future has come.

Bruce 18:23

Yeah, we'll see what happens, but I don't know if you agree with it, disagree with it, but I think that was worth noting and letting you hear it. Um Wow. Unbelievable that uh we are going to upset the darkness with these mirrors. And not only is that a possibility, but having all those up in space, if you believe in space, we're not gonna get into that controversy. But they're orbiting or they're gonna be locked in position and then they're gonna have to move 'em. However, they're gonna work that. Can you imagine the junk that's gonna be flying around if one of 'em gets broke, gets hit by another satellite, gets hit by a meteorite, uh the space shuttle hits it, a rocket hits it, uh it could be a nightmare really quick. And you talk about stuff flying down. How'd you like to be uh eating a picnic out somewhere and glass come flying down and about a hundred miles an hour and jabs you now chances are they could burn up, but I don't know if I would trust glass to burn up. Uh wouldn't it get harder? I don't know. Interesting thought though. They could make a science fiction horror movie where uh somebody blows all them mirror satellites up and they rain on the earth and it's like little bullets falling. And that could be a bad scene, right? Good science fiction movie though.

Sunny 20:16

Are you trying to scare our people and our listeners? The flock's gonna go and run.

Bruce 20:25

That was the worst flock uh sound you've ever made.

Sunny 20:31

Well, I wasn't trying to do a flock.

Bruce 20:34

Obviously.

Sunny 20:35

Well, you do a better one.

Bruce 20:37

All right, I will.

Sunny 20:39

Oh, oh that sounds like a blackbird or crow. You need to go back to school.

Bruce 20:47

Oh, I do, do I?

Sunny 20:49

Yes, you do. You're a crummy auditor.

Bruce 20:55

Okay, uh, I'm just not.

Sunny 20:59

Oh, afraid you're gonna lose, huh?

Bruce 21:01

No, I'm just not.

Tell Us What You Think

Bruce 21:04

All right, before we leave this subject, though, and um get on with uh the rest of the episode, uh, I'm gonna ask our flock and any of our new listeners out there to go to our uh description page uh on the podcast, uh, whether you listen to our podcast play on a podcast player or on Spotify or Apple, I think they all do it. They have in our description our details, it says it says send us a fan mail or send us fan mail. And it's good you just click on that link right there, and then you take into a page where you can send us a text or send us a voicemail. You can record that with your phone, or if you got a microphone hooked to your computer. But what I'm saying is I would like you to send me a reply about this last story. What do you think about it? Mirrors in space. See all those mirrors? See those bright little dots of light that's bright as the sun or the moon, I mean. And the moon's pretty bright some nights, so that's going to be an interesting concept. But what do you think about the concept? What do you think about how it's going to work out for mankind and nature both? And uh what dangers do you foresee? That is your homework. That is your challenge for this episode. Send me a response. I want to know what you guys all think. And if I don't hear from you, I'm gonna sit down and gripe and complain and gripe and complain.

Sunny 22:57

No you're not.

Bruce 22:59

Don't I sound dramatic enough?

Sunny 23:01

I'm gonna gripe and complain. No, that wasn't dramatic. That was just pathetic.

Bruce 23:08

Oh, okay. How about this? I'm gonna gripe and complain.

Sunny 23:14

I'm gonna gripe and complain, meh.

Bruce 23:19

Alright, we'll leave it. But send us a fan tag or fan mail, folks. Go ahead.

Earthquake Report And Banter

Bruce 23:32

Alright, folks, let's do a little bit of earthquake report.

Sunny 23:36

Oh, Bruce, I want to do it.

Bruce 23:39

Alright, I'll let you do it. Go ahead, Sunny.

Sunny 23:42

Alright, thank you, Bruce. Alright, we're gonna do the earthquake report. Uh as far as today goes, there's only 270 earthquakes uh worldwide, all magnitudes. However, if we go back seven days, uh we will get a four brand new 6.0 and over earthquakes. So we'll go back to the first one, which was 7 Eleven. 7 Eleven, get it, guys.

Bruce 24:20

No, they probably had never heard of 7 Eleven. Uh, if you do remember that, that's what he's talking about. The old uh uh service station uh stores, uh convenience stores, whatever they called them, 7 Eleven.

Sunny 24:36

All right, thanks for that, Bruce. We had on 7 Eleven a 6.5 in the South Sandwich Islands, and then again on 713 we had a 6.4 southeast of Papua New Guinea and a 6.3 uh three, six point three Loyalton Islands, Loyalty Islands, then a six point two on seven fourteen, six point two in the Philippines, and that was all.

Bruce 25:19

Thank you, Sunny. Um, yeah, he kind of mistook misspoke because if you go back, we only went back six days on that report because we did our recording last week on Thursday, which was the ninth, and we're doing it on Wednesday this week, trying to, you know, whenever I get time. And that uh makes it six days if we go back to or not even that, if we go back to the 10th, which was Friday. So that that's not even six days. Good grief.

Sunny 25:55

Oh, you can't count either. Can't talk, can't think, can't type, can't add uh what are you good for, Bruce?

Bruce 26:08

Uh I've been asking myself that for a long time. But the good father keeps me around anyway, so I must be worth something to him.

Sunny 26:20

Well, yeah, for sure. We all are. But you still ain't worth nothing anymore. You can't count.

Bruce 26:28

Okay. Leave me alone.

Sunny 26:30

Nope, not doing it.

Bruce 26:32

Alright, let's go to the last story. Why don't we?

Sunny 26:36

Well, why don't we?

Texas Lithium Boom And Big Concerns

Bruce 26:38

All right, I'm going.

Sunny 26:39

Well we should hurry up.

Bruce 26:43

Well right. All right, and this story had come out of 1440 News email, and it's titled How Texas Will Become a Lithium Powerhouse. So apparently Texas has made his history Energy X Commission the largest lithium production demo facility of its kind in the state. An emerging lithium hotspot.

Sunny 27:19

Can I go to sleep on this news report, Bruce? You're kind of boring me.

Bruce 27:24

No, I may need you to make a rude comment here in a minute.

Sunny 27:28

Oh, I can do that for sure.

Bruce 27:30

All right. So anyway, um they um America may need up to five times more lithium by 2040, but supply deficits are already forming with Morgan Stanley projecting an 80k ton shortage this year. So Energy X's patented technology produces up to three times more lithium than usual. Message that uh let me redo that. Up to three more three times more lithium than usual message at five hundred times the speed. See how I did that? I sped it up.

Sunny 28:17

Good grief fruits, come on.

Bruce 28:20

All right. They have rights to fifty K acres of lithium-rich Texas land with three million plus untapped tons, part of a global portfolio with up to fifteen million tons.

Sunny 28:41

All right, you hear that? I heard that, guys.

Bruce 28:45

Yeah, I heard it too. What I heard was they are gonna rape the land, mess up the ecological uh properties of all that area to get that lithium out because they're gonna do it faster. And I could be wrong. I their faster way maybe better, but we will see. But it worries me if they've already got fifty thousand acres of lithium-rich Texas, that's a lot of land. Who's been buying up all that land, you ask? Well, maybe these guys have. We'll have to see what happens, but that's just the beginning. Uh are we in need of batteries that bad? I I just think that maybe we are gearing up for a major disaster to leave to our grandkids or great grandkids. It's gonna take a little bit while more time to destroy things. So my kids, my grandkids probably will see more destruction, but they won't see the ultimate tear up everything kind of until these guys get done with this plan, the mirrors get done with their plan, uh, just all these nonsense things that we're doing so we can have more. We gotta have more.

Sunny 30:26

More and more and more.

Bruce 30:28

That's right. It's not mine mine as much as it's more, more, more, more, more and more and more. Can't be satisfied with just enjoying life, doing what you can to get by and enjoy. No, we gotta have more, more, more. And that's all I got to say about that.

Sunny 30:52

All right, Bruce, you've really laid it on sick.

Bruce 30:55

I know I have, but uh, you know, it just irks me. Uh, especially these people that can't get enough, can't get enough property, they can't get enough money, can't get enough power. And most of us just want to enjoy life and have, you know, have our needs met and maybe a few extras. Nothing crazy, but oh no, we got to have more, more. All right, settled Ambers. All right. Well, here we go. Don't forget, though, that it's not over until

Support The Show And Sign Off

Bruce 31:35

it's over. So, you know, we can we can help out or we can hinder. But let's make a positive difference no matter what we do. Pray, think positive, and let's get this under control before it goes crazy.

Sunny 31:56

Yeah. Losing it very much, Bruce?

Bruce 32:00

I'm not lost anything, except uh my mental no, just age.

Sunny 32:08

All right. Folks, if you believe any of that, then write me. Yep. Send me an email at the uglycracking duck at gmail.com and I will read it online and tell everybody how much you agree with Sunny.

Bruce 32:28

All right. Well, good luck on that, Sunny, and uh we'll see what happens next episode. We'll see if we get any responses to any of that, or we just have to sit here and record by ourselves once again.

Sunny 32:46

Don't be crying, Bruce. It'll be alright. Don't be crying.

Bruce 32:52

He all right.

Sunny 32:56

What do you say, Bruce? Let's say give it over to Capella one more time today.

Bruce 33:03

Yes, let's do that, and let's uh do some clean up afterwards, so here we go.

Capella 33:14

There are many ways you can show your support for the Uggy Quacking Duck Podcast. First, simply keep us in your thoughts and prayers, and maybe send good vibes too. Second, spread the word. Tell your friends about us, even the ones with questionable taste in podcasts. Third, share your talents. If you have skills in technology, art, or anything else that could help us, we'd love to hear from you. And finally, consider supporting us financially. Equipment, hosting, and website costs add up, and any contribution is greatly appreciated. We promise not to spend it all on rubber duckies, unless you want us to. Thank you for your support.

Bruce 33:51

Alright, there we are, folks. We're at that time again where we're gonna have to say bye. We've enjoyed uh recording this uh episode, and we tried to have fun with it as much as possible, and we hope that it took your mind off what you're doing and gave you something to listen to while you was doing it. Um again, let us know how you feel. Give us a text or an email. Go to our webpage, the uglyquacking duck.com, and um check us out.

Sunny 34:26

Yes, we need you to check out that webpage. Yeah. Yay. Okay.

Bruce 34:34

You excited?

Sunny 34:36

I'm always excited, Bruce.

Bruce 34:38

All right, Sunny, we're gonna say goodbye to everybody. Thank you, everyone of you, for tuning in, for sticking with us to this part of the end, so you know that uh we do shut up from time to time.

Sunny 34:53

No, no, we don't. As soon as you hit stop on the record, you go off mouthing about something else, Bruce. You know you do.

Bruce 35:02

Um no, I don't.

Sunny 35:05

Yes, you do. I've got a whole family of witnesses, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah all day long.

Bruce 35:16

Okay. I uh I'm gonna say thank you once again, everybody, to our flock. Come again. We will see you next time around. 73 to all of you. God bless you. May the father be with you.

Sunny 35:33

All right, Bruce. We're gonna say it. Are you ready?

Bruce 35:36

I'm ready.

Sunny 35:38

Bye. You moved the button so I can't hit him. I want to hit him.