THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER

Michael Flynn’s third installment in his January Dancer series falters nae a bit, with such lines as these: “A faint band of red has cut the throat of night and bleeds across the eastern horizon.” I’m only half through this one but it’s already safe to say it’s as good as the first two about [...]

  Had a bumper sticker by that title, years ago. Back in the 80s, I believe it was, when talk of O’Neil’s orbiting colony at L-5 (left) was rather more popular than now. But it should be, again, in some form, avers aerospace guy Rand Simberg. Exploration, per se, makes no sense. Unless we go [...]

I’ve read a lot of Robert Sawyer’s scifi, and enjoyed most of it, but this conclusion to a trilogy (and, indeed, the first two books, Watch and Wake), takes the prize. It’s a bit preachy, as others have said, but the AI’s achievements, particularly the takedown of a dictatorship, justifies most of it. Sawyer’s usual [...]

“If we fall into a Dalton, let alone a Maunder, we may again see those picturesque post cards of snow enshrouded Christmases.  So pray for global warming, friends.” But before you assume the position (whichever one you favor), read it all.

This is a recurring nightmare of mine, though not so vivid that it was easy to figure out at first. Sounds awful. Icy, for sure, and dark. Yet, if the populace was far-enough advanced to have developed their own renewable heat sources, they might continue to thrive underground. Or so I imagine.

Well, as you can see, this Texas dragon is obvious from space.

Shocka, right? But Spock’s alter ego, Leonard Nimoy, is obviously less prudent than the pointy-eared one when it comes to not interfering in the internal development of other civilizations. Hence his Hollyweird-esque meddling in Israeli domestic policy. Nimoy, who cribbed his split-fingers “live long and prosper” from Israel’s ancient high priests (without, natch, any attribution), [...]

Great quote on the subject from Ann Druyan, the widow of Carl Sagan: “I really believe that the marijuana laws are a terrible injustice. They make no sense scientifically, ethically, legally, or any way. They cost a fortune to enforce and we incarcerate hundreds of thousands of people who have done nothing else, but possess [...]

MCGREGOR, TEXAS – Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and the City of McGregor have signed a lease agreement allowing SpaceX to expand the size of its rocket development facility in McGregor—between Austin and Dallas. Under the deal, SpaceX will lease 631 acres — the equivalent of almost 500 football fields — for its test facility. The [...]

Hobby-Eberly Telescope, a spectroscopy giant, in the Fort Davis Mountains.