Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowiski

My kids kept saying great things about this series so I picked up the first book.  I have a very  strong preference for space opera or hard sci-fi.  But the story, characters, & politics are very well-crafted.  The magic system is mysterious and appears arbitrary at first but one assumes readers discover more about it as the story progresses in future books.  I may finish the next two books but my queue of books to read has been growing. 3/5 Stars.

as the basis for a manned lunar lander, being able to land is good

The SpaceX "starship" prototype rocket landed successfully today. 

Surveillance Capitalism

I am curious about HIPAA laws in the age of Surveillance Capitalism and proof-of-vaccination requirements.  I shall soon take a course on this topic so I may soon find out.

Gerry's Kids

As I mention from time to time, my youth and values were shaped by our mid-20th century enlightened optimism and confidence in our better future shaped by science & technology. This new documentary about Gerard K. O'Neill is a wonderful story that communicates the attitudes & feelings we had during that time.  Reading The High Frontier was one of the most life-changing events in my life.  It is no coincidence that the founders and leaders of all of the trillion dollar companies in the world today "bet the company" on big hairy audacious goals that required inventing new technology.  They are optimistic we can invent and engineer our way into the vision.  A simple example is that consumer Starlink satellite dishes currently sell for much less than their cost to manufacture.

Galaxy's Edge Dark Operator, book 3 No Fail by Doc Spears et al

The story is starting to get a little better, 3/5 Stars.

DevxConf 2021

In case you missed DevxConf on Wednesday 2021-04-28 and Thursday 2021-04-29, here is a YouTube playlist of all the talks.

Successful System Hand-Over

Aleksandra Govilovska has published a fantastic, dense, and comprehensive guide on how, successfully to transfer a software system to a different team.  This guide is a fantastic resource for your own checklist and project plan.

Steven Pinker's Psych-1 Class Lectures are Free Online

As a big fan of Steven Pinker's popular science writing, TED lectures, and enlightenment ideas, I was thrilled to discover that Harvard has made all of the videos from his new Freshman college class on Psychology freely available.  Many of the lectures are stand-alone, intrinsically interesting subjects.  I wish I had time to watch all the lectures, sigh.

Neil Gaiman teaches the art of storytelling

I listened to an audiobook version of this class and enjoyed it very much. 4/5 Stars.

War of the Worlds Global Dispatches edited by Kevin J Anderson

I had read most of these stories before but enjoyed re-reading them as well as the new ones.  The fun part, of course, is each talented writer's homage to the style, plotting, voice, and writing of each author to whom the stories are attributed.  Among my favorites is "Night of the Cooters" with the persona of Slim Pickins as a Texas Ranger, which I had read in 1987 in a magazine.  4/5 Stars.