NASA Hot Fire Test for Artemis Moon Missions

NASA is targeting a two-hour test window that opens at 5 p.m. EST Saturday, Jan. 16, for the hot fire test of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket core stage at the agency’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Live coverage will begin at 4:20 p.m. on NASA Television and the agency’s website, followed by a post-test briefing approximately two hours after the test concludes.

See NASA Press Release for more info: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-tv-to-air-hot-fire-test-of-rocket-core-stage-for-artemis-moon-missions

Latest Calibre update and DeDRM plugin

I only just realized the latest update to the wonderful and long-running and continuously improved Calibre E-book Manager application removed my old DeDRM Plugin when I went to add one of my new ebooks to my Calibre library and discovered the DRM was still attached. Apparently the app now uses the Python 3 language for it’s plugins…
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Watching ‘Babylon 5’ in its original format is pretty great | Engadget

I have this series on DVD, but from the sound of it, it may be interesting to watch it in the format it was first aired in. Not worth the money it would cost for me to buy it again, but someday?…

https://www.engadget.com/babylon-5-original-4-3-ratio-video-150022687.html

Leviathan Falls Next Year

The last Expanse novel’s title & cover was released and the book’s release date kind of announced. It is sadly still a ways off. Right now they’re just saying will release 2021. Cool cover and call back to the first novel’s title. I’m guessing the Levithan in this case will be the Laconian Empire.

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What Really Frightens Me

I saw the cool animated gif of lightning showing through the clouds of Hurricane Laura in the Tweet below, visible from space via weather satellites.

That by the way is NOT what frightened me. No, that made me feel inspired by nature, its power and beauty, and how we can never entirely control it (nor should we).

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Language is a Virus: “Luck Out, Cash In” Conundrum

So I see this lottery touch screen kiosk thing in a store and its big blurb is: “Luck Out, Cash In”. Okay I know in United States & Canada colloquial speech, “Luck Out” means to be lucky. Heck, I’ve used it that way myself. But it has always annoyed me as it seems short for “out of luck” to me, which of course means UNlucky. Apparently I’m not the only one who feels that way, as the dictionary also gives the colloquial definition in England and Australia as exactly that — luck out there means to be unlucky.

Continue reading Language is a Virus: “Luck Out, Cash In” Conundrum