I am pleased to announce the release of my latest novel, The Everything Machine, on Amazon. Set in the same universe as The Cunning Blood, it's part hard SF and part space western. It's the big drumlins novel. A link to a fuller description is in the predictable place.

I had to delete, edit, and repost this to fix a significant typo, sorry.

Our best Thanksgiving wishes today from Carol and myself to all of you! Be thankful in all directions, I like to say, because the components of our lives come at us from all directions, as gifts, love, challenges, victories, failures, and, yes, suffering. Each of these comes with

I tried to upgrade a Win10 Intel NUC Mini PC to Win11 & MS refused, because the CPU is too old. It's got a Core I5-7260U 2.2 GHz CPU, plenty of SSD and RAM, and was made in 2017. Another NUC built in 2020 was upgraded without a whimper. Middle-aged PCs can't get Win11, I guess.

I've not seen the core problem with AI put better than Dr. Michael A. Covington puts it: "Point of logic: If AI is a threat to humanity, it's not because of what AI can do or will do, it is because of human beings deciding to let computers make decisions for them."

Here's the winery that offers Extradimensional UFO Wine. https://t.co/uZ6yNMU51j

Behold Extradimensional UFO Wine, from Sonoma Valley, CA. The label is very cool. No retailer near me carries this wine, but damn, I'd sure love to try it. Link where you'd expect it.

Alas, it was overcast in central AZ last night, so we were out of luck, camera or no camera. Solar max is evidently still with us, so we may get another chance before the daystar starts calming down.

One other thing: Even if you can't see the auroras directly, try taking pictures of northern skies with your phone. Phone cameras can see phenomena that the human eye cannot, without help. That's what I'm going to do, and I'm in central Arizona.

Here's Space Weather Live for web browsers. The app can be had on the app store for Android. https://t.co/0CrEPRTS9n

Good site to watch for aurora maps & solar activity graphs linked below. For phones & tablets get Space Weather Live. https://t.co/qD2FT1eokA

The Sun's been going a little nuts the last few days, and we may see auroras as far south as, well, probably not Phoenix, but close. And I'm going out looking tonight anyway. MN? Yeah. WI? Sure. Even Colorado. Don't miss it. Good graphs & maps linked in 1st comment.

Well, history repeated itself in our neighborhood this Halloween: Carol and I sat in lawn chairs in front of our front gate with Dash and a bowl of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. In almost three hours we had only ONE trick-or-treater, 8 or 9 and dressed in Army camo. He and his

Here's the science of Snickers bars. It's ok if the article makes you...yeah, sure, too dumb, I won't do it. https://t.co/cWY5z4V9ph

And let's not stop at candy corn. Ars Tech has a similar article on the science of...Snickers bars. In truth, I have no memory of EVER eating a Snickers bar. And that, perhaps, conveys some of the science around them. Link where you'd expect.

Halloween! I gave up trick-or-treating in 1964 (I was 12) but I consider this one of the best costumes EVER:

Candy corn under the microscope: https://t.co/GaiDJw5UTu

I've never been a huge fan of candy corn. I found its taste odd, as a kid, but ate it anyway. The tragedy for me was that when I tried to load candy corn into my Pez dispenser, the dispenser broke. See link that follows for a scientific analysis of candy corn. Really.

“Everybody wants to save the earth; nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.” P. J. O’Rourke

49 years ago today--how could it BE?--Carol and I stood at the altar of St. John Brebeuf church and joined our spirits, and thus our lives, in an unbreakable union blessed by God and hence (in my reckoning) by all creation as well. Until death do us part? Don't count on it.