A big week for lunar exploration

If all goes as planned – and it’s space flight so that’s a big IF – next week will be a big week for lunar exploration.  First off, on Monday we’ll see the landing of Luna 25.  Luna 25 is the first Russian lunar mission since Luna 24 in 1976, back when it was still the Soviet Union.  Then on Wednesday, India’s Vikram lander will land, which is part of the Chandrayaan-3 mission.  If successful, India will become only the fourth entity to land something on the moon, after the Soviet Union’s Luna 9 in February 1966, the US’s Surveyor 1 in June 1966, and China’s Chang’e 3 in December 2013.  And we hopefully won’t have to wait another decade for the fifth entity, because on Friday/Saturday Japan will launch the SLIM mission, which will land in a couple of weeks or months (I couldn’t quickly find any info on how soon it would land.) So in six days we could have two landings and the launch of another lander.  And there’s like a dozen more lunar missions scheduled to launch by the end of 2024.  I wish all the teams luck.

Random Story – The burning bush

This is just an odd little story from my life.

Years ago, I lived in this apartment complex.  I’m a bit of a night owl, and I would often take a walk around the complex late at night/early morning to clear my head or think through some story elements.  Anyway, one night, it was probably around midnight, I turned a corner and started down this parking area, and I saw something flickering at the end.  It took a bit to figure out, but I eventually realized that one of the decorative bushes at the entrance to the parking area was on fire.  It might not have been that big a deal, but this bush was right next to an electric pole. 

Now, cell phones were a thing then, but I didn’t have one.  So I scrambled for several minutes trying to find someone with a light on.  I eventually found an apartment, and told them to call the fire department because a bush was on fire.  Now, their apartment didn’t face the fire, and I think English was their second language, but I got the point across. 

I went back to the bush, and a couple guys joined me.  By now, the fire had mostly burned out, and they stomped most of it out.  A couple minutes later, a cop pulled in, and he had a fire extinguisher and put it out.  He figured someone threw their cigarette in there and it was dry enough to burn, although it might have been smoldering for hours.  A couple minutes later, a firetruck pulled in, and they gave it a quick hose down to really make sure it was out.

So that’s my story of encountering a burning bush.

Random Story – The Joke Off

This is just an odd little story from my life.

In high school, there was a group of six or seven of us who shared a table at lunch.  One day – I’m pretty sure it was a Monday – either I or my friend Jason told a joke.  And then the other told a joke in reply.  And pretty soon, we had started a joke off, to see who could tell the most jokes.  I believe it went on for five days during lunch, that’s why I think it started on Monday because I don’t think we went over a weekend. 

While we started strong, by the end we were scrapping the bottom of the barrel.  I think one joke I came up with was, “What do you get when you cross an orange and an orange?  An orange.” Between groans, the “judges” accepted that as a joke, but they allowed Jason to do a similar joke, I think his dealt with apples. 

After five days, everyone was tired of jokes, and I think we just declared it a draw.  I’m pretty sure I would remember if I won.

Right now, I probably only know a dozen or so jokes, so I can’t remember how I went five days telling jokes.  I almost wish someone had recorded what jokes were told.  Of course, the majority of them were most likely in poor taste, so it’s probably best no records were kept.

Can America be Great?

The other day I wondered what I would do if I was dictator of America for a day.  Meaning, I could change any law without having to go through Congress.  (Sure, the things you do to pass the time make perfect sense.)

So what would I do?  Well, I’d get rid of the Electoral College.  That way Republicans in California and Democrats in Texas would have their voices heard.  I’d make Election Day a Federal Holiday.  I’d also make some standard for voting, like for every X number of people in a district you need Y number of polling places, as well as being open for early voting.  And making it easier to vote by mail.  And then, I couldn’t really do this in a day, but I’d set it up to happen in a month or two, but Puerto Rico and DC would vote on their futures.  There would be three options, and the voters could rank them, but they’d be to stay as is, become states, or Puerto Rico to become independent or DC to merge back into Maryland.  And I’d do that so that all those citizens could have their voices heard.

I’d then set term limits.  I think two terms as Senator, four, or maybe five terms as a Representative, and say thirty years as Supreme Court Justice.  I’d also make it a law that failure to disclose gifts of, say, $1,000 or greater, wouldn’t get you a slap on the wrist but removal from office, be you President, a Senator, or a Supreme Court Justice.  It wouldn’t be immediate, you’d have one year to disclose it.  There is a joke that politicians should be like NASCAR and wear the names of all their “sponsors.” I’m half-tempted to actually make that a law.

As I understand it, there are eleven courts in The United States courts of appeals, which is the step below the Supreme Court.  So it would make sense if there were eleven members on the Supreme Court so there would be one point-justice to each appellate court.  So I would expand the Supreme Court to eleven justices, but I’d make so that, while normal vacancies would be filled as normal, the tenth spot would only be filled after the 2024 Election, and the eleventh only after the 2028 Election.  Expanding the court, but not packing it.

Next I’d raise the minimum wage to whatever it would be if it grew with inflation.  I’d then make it so that each year it would be adjusted, so it wouldn’t get stuck for twenty years.  I’d also make it, so that while the minimum wage could be raised on its own, if Congress ever raises their wages by 5% or whatever, the minimum wage would also increase by the same amount.

Then I’d burn down the tax laws and start over from scratch.  Actually, I’d probably just make it a basic tax plan, just without the bazillion loopholes hammered out for the benefit of rich people.  One thing I’d definitely change, is say two people each made $100,000.  One actually did labor of one kind or another, and the other just played golf all day while their money made the $100,000.  Well, in my system, the one who actually worked for their money would pay a lower tax rate. 

I spent ten minutes or so thinking about all that, and I realized that I hadn’t even covered guns.  Or abortion, or gay rights, or trans rights, or immigration, or the bloated military, or climate change, or any of the other 8,000 other problems we face in the country.  I’d need to be dictator for a month to fix everything.  If America is that broken, can it be great?

Fourth of July Sale and voter registration drive

I think for every Fourth of July since I published Political Pies – my collection of short stories of a political nature – I’ve had a free sale for it.  On one hand, it’s hard to make money if you give your books away for free, but on the other hand the point of Political Pies is to get people to start thinking about politics in the hope we could start working on some of the problems we face to make a better world.  I’ll sacrifice a few sales for that.

And over the last few years, I’ve also had voter registration drive … sales.  Basically, if you’re an American citizen over 18, all I ask is after you download the free copies of my books, you register to vote or check your voter registration to make sure it’s up to date.  Democracy only works if the people participate, and the first step to participating is to register to vote.  And the sooner you register, or fix any problems with your registration, the easier it will be come Election Day.  To register or check your registration, you can go to your state’s website, which should have the necessary information.

If you’re not an American citizen, you can still download my books for free.  All I ask is you participate in your nation’s politics. 

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The following three ebooks will be free to download from Saturday July 1st, through Wednesday July 5th.  I hope you enjoy, and I hope you vote in the next election.

 

The Only Certainty

On The Day, for reasons unknown, people began changing. They went to sleep as their old selves and woke in their beds in different bodies: bodies that had belonged to other people. And each time they fall asleep, they wake in a new body. Set months later, “The Only Certainty” follows Derrick Gorton on an average day in this new world as he deals with food shortages, the semi-collapse of society, and how to finish his latest novel.

Political Pies

Everybody complains about politics, but does anyone do anything about it? My attempt to do something about it is to collect forty of my short stories with a political element into my Political Pies anthology. The stories are either politically neutral or equally condemning of the national parties. Instead of trying to sway you to one ideology or another, my goal is to just get people thinking about politics in the hopes a rose might grow out of all the political manure.

Duty

For reasons of safety and avoiding paradoxes, Time Travel Incorporated assigns a Guardian to all its travelers. So when there is an accident during political historian Roj Hasol’s trip back to 1968, it’s his Guardian Susan who sets out on the arduous task of cleaning up the mess.

What will we have accomplished in space by 2033?

There are a lot of things I’m waiting for in the long quest to turn humanity into a spacefaring civilization.  I made a list over four years ago of four things I’m waiting for, and so far we’ve accomplished one.  One is a few years away from being done, one is more than a decade away, and the other, who knows if it will be accomplished.  But I was thinking about all of this the other day, and I wondered what will we likely accomplish in the next decade.  This is what I came up with.

Suborbital tourist flights will probably be finished.

For years, the idea of suborbital tourist flights excited me and I truly thought that – even though the common folk could never afford them – they would excite the public about space.  But it took so long for these companies to get flying, that I figure the industry is DOA.  People will still fly, but instead of the expected hundreds of people a year, it will probably only be dozens.  And the next accident – especially if passengers die – will ground the entire industry.  There will still be suborbital flights for experiments, and maybe once a blue moon they’ll brave the paperwork to have a technician along with the experiments, but I expect by 2033 suborbital tourism will be in the history books.

Private space stations.

One factor against suborbital tourism will be orbital tourism.  Yes, orbital tourism will be 1,000X as expensive as suborbital tourism, but you’ll get a 10,000X greater experience.  And the best place to go for orbital tourism will be a private space station.  Now, the ISS is great, but it’s not a hotel.  It’s a stinky laboratory filled with people doing various experiments.  To really get your space tourism money’s worth, you’d want a purpose-built hotel with large windows to view the Earth and space, and sound-proof cabins to join the 200-mile-high club.

But private space stations won’t just be hotels.  Some could be other laboratories, or even new businesses.  I can easily imagine robotic tugs bringing broken satellites to a space station where astronauts fix and upgrade them before returning them to service. 

Landing on the moon.

The biggest thing that will likely happen in the next decade will be humans returning to the moon.  By 2033 there may only be two or three landings, but they might be from two different programs, which will be fantastic.  And hopefully these won’t just be flags and footprints missions, but ones that start building a permanent presence on the moon. 

Mars?

Unlike what seems to be a majority of space people, I’m not that interested in human exploration of Mars.  Yes, we’ll do it someday, but unlikely in my lifetime.  The main reason, is that I’ve long maintained that while we are 100X better prepared to go to the moon now than we were in the 1960’s, going to Mars is 200X more complicated than going to the moon.  Any rush to get a crewed mission to Mars in the next decade will, in my humble opinion, be doomed to fail.  In fact, a successful, crewed mission to Mars by 2043 is probably overly optimistic.

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So, those are my thoughts.  Do you agree or disagree with them?

Random Story – The broken window

This is just an odd little story from my life.

Many years ago, I moved into my first apartment.  It was this old house that had been split up into five or six apartments, and my apartment was the third floor.  I was excited and wanted to move everything in, but it was July and it felt like 100 degrees.  For my first trip, I didn’t have a fan or anything, but I figured I’d open the windows to get some air movement.  But when I started opening the windows, I found that the landlord had put a fresh coat of paint on the window sills, and they either hadn’t waited for the paint to fully dry before closing them, or they didn’t open them to begin with.  The windows in the living room weren’t that bad and I was able to force them open.  But when I went to force open one of the windows in the kitchen, I was able to get it open, but it jerked so fast that my elbow broke the glass and I got a cut on my arm.  For the rest of the windows, I got a screwdriver and broke the paint seal before carefully opening them.

Not only did I break a window, I found that one window in the hallway had a hole in it from before I moved in.  The next day I had to sign some papers with my landlord company, so I told them about the window with a hole in it from before I moved in, and the one window I accidently broke.  They said they’d have someone around to fix them.

The window in the kitchen wasn’t one pane of glass, but rather nine small panes and one of them was what I broke.  A couple of weeks or a month after I moved in, a guy came out to measure the pane to replace it.  And then nothing happened.

That winter, I noticed when I sat in the living room that a draft came the hallway window with a hole in it.  To seal it off I cut the side out of a cereal box and taped it over the hole.  Sometime in early spring, one of the landlords was looking at the house, and saw my taped over hole and figured that wasn’t a good look for the property since it was on the side facing the street, so somebody came out and replaced the hallway window.  So the window that was broken when I moved in was finally fixed, it just took about eight months. 

As to the kitchen window, I think when the guy fixed the hallway window, I pointed out the kitchen window, and he came back one day to remove the shards from the broken pane and measure it to get the right size.  And then nothing happened.

I only stayed in that apartment for a year, but I had broken a window on the day I moved in, told the landlord about it the next day, had it measured to be replaced, twice, but it was still broken the day I moved out.  Fortunately, I wasn’t billed for any repairs.  In the following years, I had two other apartments in the same general area, but I never went through that company again.