Out of Here!

Summer break time. This blog will be going dark until Labor Day. Don't worry, you won't get rid of me this easily...

Gotta Love...

...headlines like "Ancient Volcanoes Discovered In Lost Jurassic World Beneath Australia."

Honestly, people, there isn't a hollow earth full of dinosaurs under Australia. Sadly.

(What they found was a whole bunch of extinct volcanoes indicating an ancient hotspot).

Nukes in Space

No, don't worry, we're talking about nuclear power. NASA is working on a reactor that's designed to provide long-term power to missions on the moon and Mars.

Right now, nuclear power is the best way a Mars colony can power itself. The high levels of dust make solar power (used by some rovers) a problem because you have to constantly clean the panels. The atmosphere is too low density for wind power to be efficiently. On the moon, of course, there is no air, and very good batteries would be needed to store solar power through the fourteen "day" nights.

Which means nuclear. Fortunately, we as a species have good experience with small reactors - we use them to power submarines. Ultimately, some other form of power may take over, but for now if we're going to have colonies, we're going to have to put nukes in space. And get over our qualms about it.

"Loser" up at Daily Science Fiction

My story Loser is now posted at Daily Science Fiction.

You can check it out here if you aren't a subscriber (and do subscribe, it's free and they'll email you a piece of flash fiction every day to read over breakfast).

Spider-Man: Far From Home

Because somebody pointed out I forgot to write a review. It's been that kind of month.

To be honest, the primary thing Far From Home was was a palate cleanser. It was the epilogue to the entire Infinity Stones arc, and it lightened the mood. Everyone seemed to be having fun.

The casual background diversity in this movie was awesome. One of the other kids on the trip just so happened to be Muslim. No big deal. And trans actor Zachary Barack played a different kid, Zach...who was not explicitly trans himself. because it simply didn't matter. Now, I would rather have seen it established for the sake of representation, but casual diversity is just so important. Homecoming did it very well too. The students look like they come from a New York school.

Now for the spoilers. I believe we're past statute of limitations:

1. Samuel L. Jackson, you were brilliant. "Do not invoke her name" clued us subtly in to the truth revealed only after the credits: He wasn't playing Nick Fury at all. Nick Fury is in space and managed to get one of the Skrulls to be his body double for the duration. I was like "There is something not right with SLJ's portrayal" but of course there wasn't. It wasn't Fury.
2. The MCU is not 616 (or shouldn't be, anyway, I'll be mad if they switch the numbers after all of these years). Mysterioso saying it is is a nice easter egg that indicates he was, of course, lying.
3. Peter, oh, Peter. We adore you. As usual, he bumbles his way through and still wins in the end.

And as a good friend pointed out, the distance MJ runs in London is actually reasonable. Many Americans do indeed call Tower Bridge London Bridge, but it's still amusing.

It was sad to see "Executive Producer: Stan Lee" for the last time.

Thank you, Jupiter

So, apparently, Jupiter got hit by an asteroid, causing an explosion the size of Earth.

Which is one less asteroid wandering outside the belt to potentially hit us. Large gas giants do a good job of capturing solar system debris and may be required for a system to harbor a habitable planet.

This article contains images and video. Thank you for catching asteroids for us, big guy.

World Fantasy Nominations

They're out and they can be found here.

In novel:

Disappointed at the absence of Spinning Silver, but it is a tough year. Of the ones actually listed, I'd probably pick Trail of Lightning.

Novella:

The Tea Master and the Detective is absolutely science fiction, and I would put The Only Harmless Great Thing there too. Guys, guys.

Because of that, I'd pick The Black God's Drums

Others

I haven't read most of these. Same with the anthologies and collections. I suspect that The Book of Magic will win Anthology because of the dead editor effect.

For the special award - professional I'd pick C.C. Finlay, who is amazing. And for non-professional, probably Scott H. Andrews.

But it's juried, so we'll see what happens.

Just.

Why no Spinning Silver?

Step Closer to Reusability

SpaceX's goal of fully reusing rockets just got closer. Not only did they launch a rocket that had flown three times, but they managed to catch the shed fairing. The fairings cost $6 million, so SpaceX's plan to catch them in a giant net for reuse would save quite a bit of money (and the energy used to make them).

The video of the successful catch is linked here.

R.I.P. Toni Morrison

Nobel Laureate Toni Morrison, best known for Beloved, passed away this week at the age of 88. Although she was not a genre writer, she was one of the giants of the American literary scene. She did more than anyone else to bring the black experience in America to light...and much to assist and mentor young black writers.

In a world where black voices still often struggle to be heard, it's worth honoring one who was, and who did her best to pass it on to others.

Black Holes

I was watching a (terrible) movie last night that "starred" a black hole, which was accidentally created or summoned by scientists in St. Louis, apparently so the filmmakers could trash the Gateway Arch.

First of all, the "black hole" in the movie had a creature come out of it and was actually a wormhole.

But the way they portrayed a black hole hitting Earth was, well, wrong. Egregiously wrong. Terribly wrong.

So, what would actually happen if a black hole hit earth.

First, it depends on the size of the black hole. A micro black hole, which are hypothesized to exist as part of the creation of the universe?

We. Wouldn't. Even. Notice.

The PBH would zip into or through the Earth as if it wasn't there. The energy produced would be about a tonne of TNT...spread through the area. The only way we'd know is if we noticed the radiation it left behind. The lab room in which it was created would become "hot," but probably not dangerously so.

A slightly larger black hole would also pass straight through the Earth, and it would ring the Earth's crust like a bell, creating about a magnitude 3 or 4 quake...across the entire planet. We'd notice, but it probably wouldn't do a huge amount of damage.

It would take a fairly large black hole to do a lot of damage, and then it would have to stick around.

So, what about creating a black hole in the lab? It wouldn't be moving fast enough to pass right through.

First of all, it would take a lot of energy to create a black hole that would not immediately evaporate. Black holes have a lifespan. Very small black holes, such as might appear in a particle detector, have a predicted lifespan so short we can't measure it.

And even if, by some means, we did manage to do it and the black hole fell to the center of the Earth and started eating it? First of all, it would probably be expelled from the Earth by momentum anyway. And even if it did, it would take longer...far longer...than the, uh, lifetime of the Sun. In other words, Earth would be destroyed by other means.

Now, for what happened in the movie to happen you would need a fairly large black hole that had an orbital velocity perfect to keep it at the Earth's surface, geostationary. And even then it would grow in three directions.

And for a black hole to be a threat to Earth it would have to weigh billions of tonnes, which mass has to come from somewhere.

In other words, least plausible physics almost ever and if anyone tells you to worry about black holes being created in labs? Don't.

(Note. If you search for "black hole created in lab" you'll find examples, but these aren't black holes, they're called "dumb holes" which use sound not light and are created as a safe way to study black holes).

LightSail 2 Declared Success

Because, yeah, I may just be a tiny bit solar sail obsessed right now.

The Planetary Society has declared the LightSail 2 mission a success as the spacecraft successfully changed orbital altitude on the power of sail alone.

The next step from this is to try and go somewhere. My guess would be an earth-moon orbital transfer.

They will continue to work with the spacecraft for the next month, after which it will be allowed to deorbit.

This is the first time a spaceship has increased orbital altitude by sail power alone.