davidbrin

davidbrin, 6 months ago to random

It's sinking in to oligarch owners of the GOP that a re-invigorated IRS will uncover decades of hidden tax avoidance and things far, far worse. Hence THE objective of the last threatened shut-down and the next and next will be to slash that IRS budget.

https://news.google.com/articles/CBMiZGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lndhc2hpbmd0b25wb3N0LmNvbS9idXNpbmVzcy8yMDIzLzEwLzMwL2hvdXNlLWdvcC1kZW1hbmRzLWlycy1idWRnZXQtY3V0cy1wYXktaXNyYWVsLWFpZC_SAQA?hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US%3Aen

davidbrin, 7 months ago to random

The latest version of the Strandbeest! Prepare to be mesmerized! You want art? THIS is art!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWGlbpEZkNA

davidbrin, 6 months ago to random

As a former solar astronomer… (well, I worked for them 3 summers, at Caltech)… and as author of SUNDIVER, I highly recommend this gorgeous episode of ASTRUM, giving breathtaking views of our star across the spectrum.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EbuAEagQj4

davidbrin, 4 months ago to random

Glynnis Johns –RIP at 100– was amazing in the 50s, from Court Jester to Mary Poppins. “Other actresses are girls men dream about. I’m the one they invite to meet Mother.” My favorite=No Highway in the Sky + Jimmy Stewart, extolling heroic-nerdy competence.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/glynis-johns-dead-mary-poppins-1235779586/

davidbrin, 1 month ago to random

I post about a new cult term for rich preppers who seek to accelerate the "Event" or final crisis. NOT rapture-dopes, some are tech zillionaires who think a collapse -followed by their wise rulership- is for the greater good. An ingrate masturba-fantasy.
https://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2024/04/accelerationism-and-recurring-flaw-in.html

davidbrin, 2 months ago to random

With sadness and deep appreciation I must report the passing of Vernor Vinge, a titan in the literature that explores a limitless range of potential destinies, Vernor gave millions vivid tales of plausible tomorrows. My tribute to him can be found here:

https://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2024/03/vernor-vinge-man-with-lamps-on-his-brows.html

davidbrin, 5 months ago to random

Researchers spotted a dolphin with fins that appeared to have thumbs. Might they observe anything like independent movement of this ‘digit,’ as it does have its own thumb bone? If so, all the Uplift Institute? What did I call these in Startide Rising?

https://themessenger.com/tech/rare-dolphin-spotted-with-hooked-flippers-defies-scientists-expectations

davidbrin, 10 months ago to random

Sixty years -since I was 12- I've heard the same lame yammers. Across those 6 decades I've explored concepts of the 'alien' via SETI, astrophysics &TONS of SF.) UFO-jibbers have always been the dumbest, illogical BORES. ZZZ.

davidbrin, 9 months ago to random

ALL economic metrics do better across the span of Dem than Repub administrations! Deficits, employment. Investment.

davidbrin, 4 months ago to random

Despair is masturbatory treason. Zakaria chides our self-indulgent funk. So much is going well. Yes the planet must be saved and US democracy is under attack. There ARE crises - tho LESS so than Nikki Haley's 'good old' 50s, 60s and 70s! Snap-out-of-it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEIuG4p0Jnc

davidbrin, 6 months ago to random

I just finished re-editing EARTH after 30 years. (Dang that young feller could write...) And today's midweek posting offers a couple of snippet-extracts. I'll be doing more. Don't worry about 'spoilers'! In this novel, there's (almost) no such thing!

https://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2023/11/more-extracts-from-earth.html

davidbrin, 6 months ago to random

“Nepotistically Trained Generative-AI Models Collapse” asserts that AI (artificial intelligence) image synthesis programs, when retrained on even small amounts of their own creation, produce highly distorted images https://arxiv.org/abs/2311.12202

davidbrin, 6 months ago to random

With the passing of Greg Bear and the sad debilitation of most other Killer Bs, I am reminded that age comes stalking us all. But it hurts - still - to get news about the passing of Michael Bishop, one of the finest writers I ever knew.

https://locusmag.com/2023/11/michael-bishop-1945-2023/

davidbrin, 9 months ago to random

Weekend post is mostly about REAL fantastic SPACE discoveries being made for humanity, by real astronomers, spending your tax dollars very, very well. Cool stuff! Vastly more interesting than all the vapid "UFO" fetishism out there.

https://davidbrin.blogspot.com/2023/08/space-updates-mostly-great-science-and.html

davidbrin, 9 months ago to random

This BigThink does terrific illustrating the 'distance ladder' method to measure the 'Hubble Constant' expansion of the universe, now checked by the Webb Telescope. It differs from one got from the microwave background, a conundrum!

https://bigthink.com/starts-with-a-bang/jwst-confirms-worsens-hubble-tension/

davidbrin, 8 months ago to random

New models suggest a smaller PlanetX, orbiting closer in. This world, frozen and dark, would be no greater than 3 times the mass of Earth, and orbiting at high inclination no farther than 500 au, near the Sun’s gravity-lens zone described in EXISTENCE.
https://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-think-an-earth-like-planet-may-be-hiding-in-our-solar-system

davidbrin, 4 months ago to random

A great interview. My friend Roger Penrose rambles across many concepts, like an alternative theory of consciousness – a 'time-jumping, multiverse-killing notion of reality(!)' Notable: the savvy and cogency of host Andréa Morris, who Roger clearly enjoys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itLIM38k2r0

davidbrin, 8 months ago to random

Some things just explain themselves.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-destroy-america-russian-propaganda-1826734

davidbrin, 2 days ago to random

GLORY SEASON re-issued with a fine new cover! And today (only) you can get the e-version for $1.99 at Barnes & Noble and Kobo etc. One of my best characters, Maia prevails over dangers and challenges on a world unlike any you ever encountered!

https://www.davidbrin.com/gloryseason.html

davidbrin, 4 months ago to random

Prisons banning "fantasy and SF materials" - A new PEN America report shows that the number of books banned in prisons by certain states outpace all other book censorship in school and public libraries.

https://pen.org/report/reading-between-the-bars/

davidbrin, 8 months ago to random

Wow. YOU are a member of a civilization that does this sort of thing. Yet you DARE to wallow in gloom and killed confidence? Look at this! YOU helped pay for the wonder, the competence, the wisdom. Do more.

https://badastronomy.substack.com/p/jwsts-view-of-the-magnificently-dusty

davidbrin, 1 month ago to random

Fragmented crater near a CO2 icecap on Mars offers another “Gosh!” image from Red Planet. Spiders & Inca cities! Alas all of it explained by science. MY science -my doctoral dissertation re similar acts on comets. Way-kewl, even if not alien spiders!

https://www.livescience.com/space/mars/hundreds-of-black-spiders-spotted-in-mysterious-inca-city-on-mars-in-new-satellite-photos

davidbrin, 17 days ago to random

So far no big news of "EMP-level" damage from solar storm. See the massive flare that hurled the vast ion storm our way! (As described in SUNDIVER, BTW.) At minimum this will threaten low-orbit satellites eg Starlink & test lots of circuit breakers.
https://www.ndtv.com/science/nasa-shares-photos-of-massive-explosions-on-sun-that-unleashed-solar-flares-5643851

davidbrin, 13 days ago to random

Today only, the e-book of Heaven's Reach is just $1.99 on Kobo and other fine sources.
http://www.davidbrin.com/heavensreach.html

davidbrin, 6 days ago to random

J. Roberts's top job for his masters: protect gerrymandering. A Dem win will let Hakeem Jeffries pass (and Biden sign) a renewed Voting Rights Act. They hope flakes on our side will scamper to the next Nader-Stein Kremlin agent. Or a Reichstag fire.
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/supreme-court/supreme-court-rules-gop-south-carolina-redistricting-case-rcna127946