Displays of prior ships named Enterprise in Star Trek shouldn’t include the original space shuttle, as it was only named such due to support from fans of the show, which wouldn’t exist within the Star Trek universe.
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Star Trek: Discovery S02E02: 👍
I really liked the extrapolation of Clarke’s Third Law; it was new to me, but WikiPedia says that particular variation is also known as Shermer’s Last Law.
Michael assuring Pike she wouldn’t make him laugh was the best line of the episode.
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Book seven of 2019: The Way to the Stars, by Una McCormack. ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 📚 🖖
16-year-old Tilly must deal with an overbearing mother, boarding school ups and downs, and choosing between what’s expected of her and what actually interests her. A fun, light Trek YA novel.
Linkdump for January 11th through January 23rd
Sometime between January 11th and January 23rd, I thought this stuff was interesting. You might think so too!
- A meteor hit the moon during the lunar eclipse. Here’s what we know.: “In what may be a first-of-its-kind event, a flash of light seen during totality has astronomers on the hunt for a new crater on the moon.”
- DuckDuckGo Taps Apple Maps to Power Private Search Results: "We're excited to announce that map and address-related searches on DuckDuckGo for mobile and desktop are now powered by Apple's MapKit JS framework, giving you a valuable combination of mapping and privacy."
- To save the sound of a Stradivarius, a whole city must keep quiet: “Cremona is home to the workshops of some of the world’s finest instrument makers, including Antonio Stradivari, who in the 17th and 18th centuries produced some of the finest violins and cellos ever made. The city is getting behind an ambitious project to digitally record the sounds of the Stradivarius instruments for posterity, as well as others by Amati and Guarneri del Gesù, two other famous Cremona craftsmen. And that means being quiet.”
- An Idea for Electoral College Reform That Both Parties Might Actually Like: “As long as we continue to have the Electoral College, we should make it work as intended. This means bringing it back into compliance with the majority-rule principle.”
- The oral history of the Hampsterdance: The twisted true story of one of the world’s first memes: “What started 20 years ago in Nanaimo, B.C. spawned hit songs, worldwide LOLs and a giant hairball of drama.”
Edgar
Lots of people on Twitter and Facebook getting all excited about Edgar, and every time, the first picture I have in my head is from Men in Black.
(I think they’re actually talking about sports. Glad they’re excited, it’s just not a fandom I’m a part of, and it’s been making me laugh this afternoon.)
Book six of 2019: A Man of Shadows, by Jeff Noon. ⭐️⭐️ 📚
An odd book, with elements that reminded me of other media I’ve enjoyed (the film Dark City, Michael Ende’s Momo), but which ultimately didn’t satisfy me. Hoping I’ll like the #PKDickAward nominated sequel more.
For the third year running, we hit the Seattle Women’s March today. A small selection of photos is on my Flickr account (because something choked my blog when I tried to send them here…I’ll look into that some other time).
Book five of 2019: The Once and Future King, by T.H. White. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1939 Retro Hugo Best Novel 📚
I’ve updated my post about Marie Kondo’s approach to cleaning out bookshelves with a few more thoughts, prompted by an article calling out the classist and racist undertones of the reactions to her advice.
My stack of this year’s Philip K. Dick Award nominees has arrived! 📚