For many weeks I’ve been having tons of problems with my mouse pointer skipping across the screen seemingly without rhyme or reason. After much wailing and gnashing of teeth (I won’t admit to the renting of raiment…or the refusing to paint of raiment) I think I found the reason: the color in parts of my mouse pad rendered the laser in the mouse ineffective to the cause. Since changing out that mouse pad for a different one which lacked the offensive color zones, no noticeable problems (so far).

Sometimes it’s the simple things that trip us up the most easily in our complex technological world.

Mudskipper: A Mars Colony Ship

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To boldly go beyond Earth’s orbital neighborhood is the next level of courageous, crewed exploration. To make it to that step, we’ll need a spaceship purpose-built with the idea that that crew will be gone for protracted amounts of time and will likely set up camp somewhere else. Continue reading 

For Want of a Couple of Gibibytes

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It’s been an interesting couple of weeks, computer-wise, here at the casa. My main machine has started showing its age and I’ve been forced to put it on blocks for a while to see if I can get it back to its usual self. In the meantime, I’m having to do my work on my laptop — which beats not having a computer at all, n’est ce pas?. Continue reading 

Anti-sciencers Should Stop Stealing Science

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One of the things that really irks me is unabashed hypocrisy. Take, for example, the recent report that a growing number of conservatives are increasingly distrustful of science. Fine. Distrust science; you can believe what you will. All I ask is that you stand by your convictions and stop using this science that you find so onerous. Continue reading 

What Is Space Exploration Worth? (The Planetary Society Blog)

“Our space program is one of the things that makes us great, that sets us far apart from other productive countries, that makes us respectable, that makes our advice worth listening to.” I was going to write a blog entry … Continue reading 

Let’s Talk “Que Será Serees”

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Barring disaster, my science fiction novel, Que Será Serees, will be released in early May. It is being prepped to be available for sale both in a print version and an ebook version for the Kindle so you’re free to pick your preferred format. Continue reading