Friday, January 11, 2008

Belated New Year

I've already broken one of my informal New Year's resolutions, which was to write regularly on this blog. Well, it's one I can always mend.

Over the past few weeks, I've been more or less following the campaign for the US Presidency, mostly on the Republican side. I have a preference for Mitt Romney, but that hasn't translated to active support. I can't stand any of the Democrat candidates.

There are about four authors (SF) who blog or write other stuff about what's going on in their lives that I follow.

I've recently picked up something I was interested a few years ago, the concept of a private-sector space industry based on reusable vehicles. It's come a bit further, but still hasn't quite materialized. Not quite like the concept of fusion reactors, which have stayed about 30 years in the future for the past 50, there are now half a dozen companies that are actually building, flying, and testing hardware, where there used to be only one or two.

Also, I've started checking out LDS (Mormon) blogs.

I seem to recall that one of my new year's resolutions was going to be keeping track of the books I've read. So, for the new year, (thanks to a Chrismas gift) I've picked up "Cyteen" by C. J. Cherryh, an old favorite. She was writing a sequel to it last year, but I don't recall the title and I haven't seen it on the to be published list yet. I also picked up "The Speed of Dark" by Elizabeth Moon, something I've been wanting to read for some time. In my self-directed study, I picked up a couple of Wiley self-teaching guides, one on Chemistry, and one on Physical geography. I also picked up "World-Building" by Stephen Gillett, one of a science fiction writing series. That one I'm actively using for yet another project: a spreadsheet that does astronomical calculations.

No comments: