The Evolutionary Void by Peter F Hamilton

Thrilling conclusion with great plot twists; some lazy writing with late introduction of new powerful minor characters. 4/5 Stars.

Another perspective on Chaos Engineering as Validation Testing

The folks over at ChaosMesh.com have a kindler, gentler view of Chaos Engineering as another approach to testing.

HashiConf (Digital) review

Rich Burroughs gives us a long, detailed review of the virtual HashiConf[erence].  The keynotes are interesting and the new features in Terraform 0.13 are cool.

The Dreaming Void by Peter F. Hamilton

Fun, great story, rich characters.  Awesome dialogue, fun space opera, 4/5 Stars.

The Temporal Void by Peter F Hamilton

Fantastic story.  5/5 Stars.

Embers of War by Gareth L Powell

Not bad; good awe-and-wonder.  Characters aren't great.  3/5 Stars.  I may read the next few.

Gods and Legionnaires, Galaxy's Edge Savage Wars, book 2

OK, not great.  Luckily no telekinesis or other magic stuff, but the living-in-a-simulation stuff is weak.  3/5 Stars. 

Higher, faster, further

(Nasa's X43-A Mach-10 X plane holds the jet aircraft speed record)

You may share the "dream of flying" higher, faster, & further that pilots, aviation, and space enthusiasts all have.  I grew up during the era of the "cold war" and the "space race" (to the moon).  During my formative years, the USA built and flew interstellar spacecraft, all components of autonomous apocalyptic doomsday devices, and  the iconic, ramjet-powered, blackbird; we brought people to the moon and back, and even tested and proved mach-3 compression lift that has not yet been replicated with modern X planes.  Mitch still loves watching ravens, raptors, and swallows enjoying the thrill of flight.  In his lucid dreams, Mitch flies. Recently, Mountain Aerospace Research tested their "Fenris" motor that is trying to combine an air breathing scramjet (such as the one designed in 1958 and flown in the X-43A pictured above), with a regular space rocket that uses stored oxidizer. The concept is a rebirth of the 45-year-old "Space Plane" project that was defunded. I hope their vehicle works!

Empirical Analysis of Academic Paper Reviewers

Shockingly, this paper was actually published this quarter.

Bullies' brains are physically smaller

This Lancet article with N=1037 indicates clear, morphological differences in bullies' brains.

". . . for the small proportion of individuals with life-course-persistent antisocial behaviour, there may be differences in their brain structure that make it difficult for them to develop social skills that prevent them from engaging in antisocial behavior."

Those Eugenics idiots, much like a stopped mechanical clock that tells time correctly two seconds each day, were on to something.