THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER

“If we fall into a Dalton, let alone a Maunder, we may again see those picturesque post cards of snow enshrouded Christmases.  So pray for global warming, friends.” But before you assume the position (whichever one you favor), read it all.

This is a recurring nightmare of mine, though not so vivid that it was easy to figure out at first. Sounds awful. Icy, for sure, and dark. Yet, if the populace was far-enough advanced to have developed their own renewable heat sources, they might continue to thrive underground. Or so I imagine.

Well, as you can see, this Texas dragon is obvious from space.

Shocka, right? But Spock’s alter ego, Leonard Nimoy, is obviously less prudent than the pointy-eared one when it comes to not interfering in the internal development of other civilizations. Hence his Hollyweird-esque meddling in Israeli domestic policy. Nimoy, who cribbed his split-fingers “live long and prosper” from Israel’s ancient high priests (without, natch, any attribution), [...]

Great quote on the subject from Ann Druyan, the widow of Carl Sagan: “I really believe that the marijuana laws are a terrible injustice. They make no sense scientifically, ethically, legally, or any way. They cost a fortune to enforce and we incarcerate hundreds of thousands of people who have done nothing else, but possess [...]

MCGREGOR, TEXAS – Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and the City of McGregor have signed a lease agreement allowing SpaceX to expand the size of its rocket development facility in McGregor—between Austin and Dallas. Under the deal, SpaceX will lease 631 acres — the equivalent of almost 500 football fields — for its test facility. The [...]

Hobby-Eberly Telescope, a spectroscopy giant, in the Fort Davis Mountains.

On good old Sol, where else? It’s an impressive video of plasma on the sun.

“We also go to the really big telescopes, and we get very sharp images to see if there’s anything around that star that could explain it. When we’re through with all those tests, we go to the Keck or the HET or another large telescope and we measure the spectra. “If the spectra show that [...]

This is a wonderful hard science fiction story, marred only by occasional repetition (characters show tension so often by running their hands through their hair that I finally decided they all needed a change of shampoo) and, in the Kindle edition, at least, enough typos, misspellings, and grammar mistakes to make an honest proofreader turn [...]