Sky Show Tonight! Geminids Peak This Evening
The Geminid Meteor Show will peak tonight at around midnight (at least for east-coasters). If you are in a relatively dark skies area, go outside an hour before or after midnight and look up. Maybe […]
SpaceX Update: Starship Lands…and then it exploded…Successfully Captures Starship Booster
SpaceX’s main goal with the fifth launch of its Starship and heavy booster was to capture the booster at the launch site with giant gripping arms positioned at the top of a tower. This morning, […]
SpaceX Attempts Fifth Test Launch Of Starship – NOW
SpaceX will attempt its fifth test launch of the monstrous Starship rocket…and this time they may even attempt to capture the booster on landing. Multiple Youtube channels are providing live coverage, including SpaceFlightNow. You can […]
Matt’s Reviews: The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley
Publisher: Harper Perennial Publication date: 06/07/2011 Pages: 480 ISBN: 9780061452062 Author: Matt Ridley The Rational Optimist by Matt Ridley begins with the premise that overall, the world has been improving […]
Matt’s Reviews: Clade by James Bradley
Publisher: Titan Books (UK) Publication date: 09/05/2017 Pages: 320 ISBN: 9781785654145 Author: James Bradley Clade by James Bradley is a dystopian tale of a self-destructing Earth in the not too distant […]
TONIGHT is the Best Night to Watch Dual Meteor Shower!
Take a nap this afternoon because you’ll want to be checking out this evening’s Double Meteor Shower during its BEST viewing time – 4 AM. The Southern Delta Aquariids and Alpha Capricornids meteor showers are […]
Reality and Artificial Intelligence
Given the nature of the current artificial intelligence or AI landscape, any attempt to discuss the technology is like trying to describe an ocean wave racing towards you. You might posit that the wave’s amplitude […]
CONTRARY BRIN: Updates: science & robotics
As you know by now, I’ve been roped into speaking a lot about the Great Big AI crisis of 2024. I’ll touch on some aspects here. Plus some light on other areas of fast-emerging science! But first […]
Matt’s Reviews: The Roots Of The Self by Robert Ornstein
Publisher: HarperCollins Publication Date: January 1, 1993 Pages: 248 ISBN-10: 0062507885 ISBN-13: 978-0062507884 Author: Robert Ornstein, Ph.D. The Roots of the Self by Robert Ornstein contains Dr. Ornstein’s thoughts […]
SpaceX Starship Test Flight 4
SpaceX successfully launched its fourth test of its Starship/Heavy Booster combination. Starship successfully reached orbital insertion and the heavy booster successfully performed its landing operations – boostback burn and landing burn – before dropping into […]
Matt’s Reviews: I Am A Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter
Publisher: BASIC BOOKS Publication date: 07/08/2008 Copyright Date: 2007 Pages: 436 ISBN-13: 978-0-465-03079-8 ISBN-10: 0-465-03079-3 Author: Douglas Hofstadter I Am A Strange Loop by Douglas Hofstadter is the author’s attempt to explain his thoughts on […]
Matt’s Reviews: Anti-intellectualism in American Life by Richard Hofstadter
Publisher: Alfred A. Knopf Publish Date: 1969 Copyright Date: 1962 Pages: 434 Author: Richard Hofstadter ISBN (The version I read from the library pre-dated ISBN, but a more recent edition): ISBN13: 9780394703176 ISBN10: 0394703170 Anti-intellectualism […]
NASA Will Conduct An Interesting Operation This Thursday
On May 6th (at about 10:34 PM EDT) NASA will attempt to launch Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule to the ISS (a night time launch I hope to be able to see and film from my […]
NASA Telescopes Shed Light on Mysterious Fast Radio Bursts
Fast radio bursts, a mysterious type of high-energy flash emanating from deep space, have perplexed scientists for years. We’re beginning to unravel the mystery thanks to extensive study with powerful telescopes and a little bit […]
Matt’s Reviews: Range: How Generalists Triumph In A Specialized World by David Epstein
Publisher: RIVERHEAD BOOKS/PENGUIN PUTNAM Publication date: 04/27/2021 Pages: 368 ISBN: 9780735214507 Author: David Epstein Range: How Generalists Triumph In A Specialized World by David Epstein includes several real world examples […]
CONTRARY BRIN: Yet more Space News! And reasons for us to have some confidence.
There are so many reasons why we ought to refuse and reject the propaganda-against-confidence, out there. A better-than-expected economy? Dropping crime rates? A working vaccine against malaria and looming extinction for both the Guinea worm […]
Review: Architects of Worlds by Jon F. Zeigler
Ad Astra games soon to release Architect of Worlds by Jon F. Zeigler
Newly Discovered Ring of Galaxies Threatens Our Understanding of the Universe
A cosmic megastructure more than 9 billion light years away from Earth challenges what we know about the universe. A doctoral candidate at the United Kingdom’s University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) has spotted a […]
Matt’s Reviews: The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat by Oliver Sacks
Publisher: SIMON & SCHUSTER TRADE Publication date: 04/02/1998 Pages: 256 Copyright Year: 1985 ISBN: 0-684-85394-9 Author: Oliver Sacks The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a […]
CONTRARY BRIN: Human origins – and evolution. Patterns of cooperation and competition
I’m avoiding politics once again this time, in order to dive into the endlessly fascinating topic of human origins. And hence first, for your holiday shopping…. Can you hunt and gather and woo and connive […]
India reveals that it has returned lunar spacecraft to Earth orbit
A little more than three months ago the Indian space agency, ISRO, achieved a major success by putting its Vikram lander safely down on the surface of the Moon. In doing so India became the […]
CONTRARY BRIN: Space resources and advances… plus aliens & UFOs, oh my!
Okay SPAAAACE-time. To the chagrin of those trying to destroy our confidence, we keep doing fine and wonderful things! Let’s begin with my own milestone… after 12 years in the funnest gig ever, I just attended (in […]
How Humans will Live Underwater in ‘Ocean Stations’
In 2026, a crew of six fully-trained aquanauts will be deployed to a new oceanic habitat system – beginning what promises to be the era of humanity’s continuous presence underwater. A cable vanishes from the […]
“Tasmanian Devil” event has the power of trillions of Stars
What is hundreds of billions of times more powerful than the Sun, flashes on repeat with intense bursts of light, and verges on defying the laws of physics? No, it’s not your neighbors’ holiday lights […]
Matt’s Reviews: Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much by Sendhil Mullainathan and Eldar Shafir
Publisher: Picador; Reprint edition (November 4, 2014) Language: English Paperback: 304 pages ISBN-10: 125005611X ISBN-13: 978-1250056115 Author: Sendhil Mullainathan Author: Eldar Shafir Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much […]
Starship: Successful Launch
Starship successfully launches on its second try (the booster did fail just after separation).
Starship Launch Saturday November 18 Starting At 8 AM EDT
SpaceX will attempt the second test launch of its ginormous Starship rocket tomorrow.
Matt’s Reviews: The Genius Plague by David Walton
Publisher: PYR Publication date: 10/03/2017 Pages: 384 ISBN13: 9781633883437 ISBN10: 1633883434 Author: David Walton The Genius Plague by David Walton is a fun sci-fi thriller. A mycology researcher (someone who studies fungus) comes […]
CONTRARY BRIN: Anticipating Artificial Intelligence – the Problems the Promises
Doug Rushkoff’s Team Human podcast dives into an hour with me, discussing a vital Big Picture Question — perhaps the biggest – that’s applicable to the current ‘crisis’ over artificial Intelligence: What methods did people […]
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