Let's Get Off This Rock Already!
Musings on space travel, science fiction, and the radiant future
Historians will remember 2022 as the year AI took the internet by storm. Algorithmic text and image generators---the likes of ChatGPT, MidJourney, and Jasper---exploded in popularity, spawning new internet trends, provoking fierce opposition from flesh-and-blood artists, and threatening the security of creative jobs (like mine). As 2023 dawns, it seems there is no stopping the... Continue Reading →
A couple weeks ago, I wrote a piece on the next steps for American space travel, and speculated about a permanent lunar base within the next two decades. Today I have another guest post from my friend Eamon Minges, following up on my speculation with some hard numbers---he definitely has a knack for that sort... Continue Reading →
Despite the fact that I have yet to publish my novel---it is over-budget and years behind schedule, much like the Space Launch System---I assure you that I do, indeed, still write fiction. I posted two stories to this site a couple years back; today, I am publishing a third. If you've always itched to read... Continue Reading →
The first and only time I ever saw the Grand Canyon was when I was eight years old, traveling through the southwestern United States on a family road trip. I knew roughly what it looked like, of course, but nothing had prepared me for the sheer scale of that thing. It was a sculpted, dizzyingly... Continue Reading →
Happy Fourth of July, everyone! I have a special post for y'all, in the patriotic spirit of this great holiday. Right now, we're at a critical juncture in space history---any month now, we're supposed to see SLS and Starship take flight, after many years of waiting---and it's clear that there's a different energy in the... Continue Reading →
One afternoon in tenth grade, when I was home sick with a nasty cold, I curled up beneath some blankets and watched an old 1950s sci-fi movie about a mission to Mars. I ended up drifting in and out of consciousness through most of it. Afterwards, I only recalled bits and pieces, but the images... Continue Reading →
You may have noticed, reading this blog, that I don't dive into hard science or serious calculations very often. That is because I am a squishy liberal arts major who dropped out of engineering school three years ago. My good friend Eamon Minges, however, has me covered---he has previously furnished Let's Get Off This Rock... Continue Reading →
Hello again, everyone! I have awakened from my long slumber---not since the ancient year of 2021 have I uploaded anything to this site. Now, that may be due to a combination of procrastination, a busy couple of terms at school, and getting distracted with other projects, but the more interesting explanation is that I was... Continue Reading →
Happy November, everyone! I'm starting up my blog again with what is admittedly an oddball of a post. It was originally a handwritten exercise for my personal nonfiction class, until the thought occurred to me: "Hey, this is about Star Trek, and I write about Star Trek sometimes on my blog, so why not upload... Continue Reading →
I know what you're thinking---The Hunt for Red October isn't even sci-fi or alternate history, so why am I reviewing it? I could make the (weak) argument that it is alternate history, as a 1990 film depicting events in 1984 that did not really take place. I could also say that the movie is science... Continue Reading →
Let's Get Off This Rock Already! 