George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four defined the dystopian genre1. It became one of the greatest fictional examples of a totalitarian government ruling through fear and force, permeating every last aspect of its citizens' lives, and it tackled complex themes about individuality, resistance, and even the nature of reality itself. Altogether, the book is a timeless classic,... Continue Reading →
NASA’s Dragonfly: A Quadcopter on Titan
A couple posts ago, I reviewed a book about an expedition to Titan---arguably the most interesting celestial body in the Solar System---and I'd like to continue in that theme this week, turning my attention to a real, official Titan exploration project under development at NASA: the Dragonfly mission. Dragonfly will be a quadcopter aircraft sent... Continue Reading →
By Fusion Drive to Pluto
Oddball mission studies are my jam. Sometimes, they are NASA's jam, too---the agency is not afraid to occasionally explore the more speculative topics, spacecraft which rely on advanced technologies and are many decades away from ever seeing implementation. I stumbled across one such study when I was doing some reading on Pluto the other day.... Continue Reading →
Book Review: Mission One
My search for good indie sci-fi novels goes on. It is a perilous test of literary endurance, an endless journey through a wilderness of Kindle previews---perhaps an expedition into the heart of darkness itself. Some days I doubt I shall return with my health or sanity intact... Just kidding. There is no place for snobbery... Continue Reading →
Alternate History TV Review: The Man in the High Castle (2015-2019)
I really don't watch much TV. Movies, sure; books, I'll devour; but TV is a medium that I've found difficult to get into, with very few shows holding my attention. Partly, this is because most modern television is very popular and I'm the sort of ivory-tower nerd who prefers obscure things, but it's also because... Continue Reading →