Nickel cell matrix "metallic wood" stronger than titanium, lighter than wood, floats

It takes a day to suspend the nano-scale plastic in water, dry them out, electroplate them with nickel, and then dissolve the plastic.  The largest pieces of the substance are postage stamp sized but it appears straightforward to scale up.

Black Dawn by Jay Allen

A mighty new empire is introduced into Allan's universe as the characters overcome overwhelming odds again.  The tropes are getting a little ragged but the stories are still fun, 3/5 stars.

Catriona Shearer's "Tilted Twin" puzzle

I just stumbled across Ben Orlin's "Math With Bad Drawings" blog, where he mentions Catriona Shearer's geometry puzzle tweets.  Both Orlin's blog and Shearer's tweeted puzzles are enormous fun.  Here is the answer to the puzzle above:

 cos(?) = 1/2 ; ? = 60 degrees.  The answer was tweeted at the author by Alaadin Cizer.

Misc Stories and Books by Frederik Pohl

Day Million, The Deadly Mission of PHineas Snodgrass, Fermi and Frost, The Knights of Arthur, The Mayor of Mare Tranq, Spending a Day at the Lottery Fair, A Life and a half, In the Problem Pit, the Day of the Boomer Dukes, The Hated, The Merchants of Venus

I chanced upon a collection of Frederik Pohl's complete works and am reading through them in fits and starts.  The early works have great ideas but are not as polished.  Many of his ideas stand the test of time.  Merchants of Venus in particular was really good, 4/5 stars.

The White Fleet by Jay Allan

More great plot twists in this very-long series.  The bad science and cardboard politics are a little grating but I hope to finish the series.  3/5 stars.

The History of Jihad from Muhammad to ISIS by Robert Spencer

The writing is a little inconsistent and the author omits some scholarly research and data from influential thought that do not support his narrative.  The history is interesting; the details are good and some of my personal knowledge gaps are filled.  At times it was a slog to get through and I think the text needs better editing, 3/5 stars.

How to Have a Good Day by Caroline Webb

I have not read this book.  However my daily Blinkist spam had an ultra terse distillation worth sharing:

Take a moment to think about one of your goals. It could be anything – from a professional aspiration to a dietary resolution.

Got it? Okay, now jot it down.

Did you write something like "Stop eating junk," or was it more like "Make healthy, delicious meals for myself"?

The former formulation is an avoidance goal; the latter, in contrast, is an approach goal.

Create approach goals for feel-good productivity

As you probably guessed, approach goals – aiming for something positive rather than steering clear of something negative – make us feel better and are more effective at ushering us to actual goal achievement.

One 1997 study found that students who used approach goals improved their performance, while the opposite was true for students using avoidance goals.

So why not take a couple of goals you already have and reframe them? Because not only does "Deliver a presentation that I'm proud of" sound a lot more appealing than "Don't screw up my next presentation," it literally gives you a better chance of achievement.

This approach to goal setting seems very simple, straightforward, and useful.  I have not tried it yet.

Stand on Zanzibar by John Brunner

Another classic that withstands the test of time, great drama, amazing characters. 5/5 stars

The tunnel under the world by Frederik Pohl

Long flight from Frankfurt to Seattle.  Another very-old story that stands the test of time, 3/5 stars.

Bullshit Jobs, A Theory by David Graeber

I really enjoyed this (audio) book while flying back from Zurich.  The data are terrible and many of the assumptions are silly.  The politics are, of course, uninformed, wonderfully idealistic, and naive.  Despite these fatal flaws Graeber's concepts are fantastic.  The anthropological analysis and social insights are very interesting and in many cases spot-on.  The microeconomics are also good.  Most summaries of the book gloss over or fail to mention the strong anthropological analysis the author makes and therefore the concepts sound stupid.  Read the original. The phenomenon is real.  The book is worth reading, 4/5 stars.