Yesterday I met with my collaborators on the current world-building book project, working title "Composer of Cultures." We spent an hour starting a run-through of my current-draft (0.3) Cultural Evolution Game. We're going to push that forward next week, but in the meantime ... (1/7) #gamedesign

Good day today. Went with my wife to do the shopping for the next week, then came home and knocked out most of an online mathematics quiz that's due in a week. Should be able to finish that tomorrow, and get busy finishing the written assignments I have due in both courses by mid-January. #studying

Kind of how I'm approaching the new year.

See, I was actually there, I have photographic evidence . . . (Top right. Might have been the “games for writers” panel.)

BRIGHT MEADOW Our first steps into the galaxy devastated the Fermi Paradox. With FTL, we found life everywhere, in environments beyond our imagination. The ‘Dark Forest’ made us afraid. Rather than predation, we found a ‘Bright Meadow,’ with diverse lifeforms oblivious to each other. #FiftyWords

Busy day today. Did a bunch of work on my current tranche of mathematics, had a two-hour meeting with my collaborators on "Composer of Cultures," then off to bar trivia with my ladies. Rest of this week is going to be devoted to linear algebra and systems of differential equations. Fun. #studying

When #writing serialized fiction in the long form, one of the most-fun moments is when your readers start discussions *with each other* in the comments about upcoming plot developments. Saw that this morning in the current project. Excuse me while I bounce for a moment.

Just found a new image of Colin Stanley Gum, the Australian astronomer who mapped the southern Milky Way in hydrogen-alpha (discovering the Gum nebula), pioneered radio astronomy in the southern hemisphere and established the current system of galactic coordinates. vwma.org.au/explore/peop...

my fav ever….

Spent most of today finishing up and posting a chapter. At this point, I need to put #writing on the back burner for a few days and concentrate on my mathematics course. Online exam due next week, written assignment due the week after that, and there's some thorny material in there. #studying

Hmm. I'm currently reading "The Autobiography of James T. Kirk." This has possibilities.

Another day of incremental progress. Finished my reading in a module on systems of linear differential equations, which is going to be, um, a challenge. Also knocked out about 1,500 words of new prose. I seem to be on track for all my outstanding projects. #studying #writing

I do not object to this plan.

Lot of new folks showing up, so this might be a good time to tap the sign. This is me, or at least the public me:

'Heritage American,' noun. 1) An American insufficiently committed to the founding values of the United States. 2) An American actively betraying those principles. 3) A white supremacist euphemism used by [2] to mean 'white people.'

The secret to #writing good serialized fiction is to produce solid scenes and attention-grabbing cliffhangers. The payoff is readers who stay engaged and are eager to see each new installment. Looks like I managed a good one this morning. It’s always fun to see your readers having “Aha!” moments.

Yeah, today was . . . less than productive. I think I'm wrestling with a low-level sinus or middle-ear infection and it's killing my spoons budget. I did get a little reading done in mathematics today, and with any luck I'll be able to finish the unit's readings tomorrow. #studying

👀 Our scientists used Gaia's data to craft the most accurate 3D map of star-forming regions in the Milky Way! 🌌 🧪🔭 🔗 esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia/Fly_through_Gaia_s_3D_map_of_stellar_nurseries

Was up at 0330 and could not get back to sleep to save my life, so I got up and did some #writing instead. Next chapter of story is posted. Not sure what this portends for the rest of the day. I suspect there will be some napping involved.

Tonight I decided to try something new. I managed to detect Exoplanet TOI 3714b transiting its host star using my 190MN scope and 2600MM camera. Totally blown away that this is possble from my back yard here in the UK. Transit took 1H 38mins and was about 5% in depth 🤯. #Astrophotography #exoplanet

One day is much like the next lately. Finished reading a unit on linear algebra in my mathematics course, and knocked out about 1,200 words of new prose. Good chance I'll have another chapter of the current story ready to go out the door tomorrow. (1/2) #studying #writing

The research suggests that when intolerant white people fear democracy may benefit marginalized people, they abandon their commitment to democracy. The Trump effect: New study connects white American intolerance and support for authoritarianism github.com/svmiller/woi

Was feeling under the weather today, but aside from having our Christmas feast there wasn't anything I absolutely needed to do. I did get some more reading in on linear algebra - mmm, eigenvectors - and I may get a thousand or so words down by bedtime, so it wasn't a total loss. #studying #writing

Resisting the temptation to point out that an online essay is wrong on absolutely every point, and was almost certainly assembled out of prompts to a hallucinating LLM. “Forget it, Jack, it’s Reddit.”

From a webcomic I’ve become rather fond of:

Merry Christmas and Happy holidays of many cultures from all of us at Tranquility Press However you choose to mark the season (or don’t) we hope it’s filled with warmth, stories, and good company. Thank you for being part of this strange, thoughtful, creative little corner of the galaxy.

I never again want to hear about how the Republican Party is the party of national security. You don’t incinerate our diplomatic capacity & violate all of our treaty commitments if you care about national security.

Helping my publisher out a bit here. Over at Wargame Vault, the Winter Offensive sale is running! 25% off of everything Ad Astra Games publishes - including my most recent book, "Architect of Worlds."

Slow day today. Went out with my ladies to pick up the last items for tomorrow's feast, and incidentally stop in a grill to have a big yummy breakfast. Then came home, took a food-coma nap, and then spent the afternoon doing some quiet reading in linear algebra. Not feeling much guilt. #studying

What living in the Second Gilded Age feels like . . .

Over at Wargame Vault, the Winter Offensive sale is running! 25% off of everything Ad Astra Games publishes! (Including my book, "Architect of Worlds.")

It's still kind of early in the evening, but I'm taking the rest of the day off. I've managed to check off lessons in both of my astronomy and mathematics courses, and also get about 1,200 words of new narrative prose down. I've earned dinner and a break. #studying #writing

One of the most amazing people in the history of astronomy. Probably the biggest revolution in astronomy since Galileo built an optical telescope and pointed it at the moon.

Didn't get much studying done today, but I did get about 2,000 words of new narrative prose down, and a chapter posted, so there's that. My readers seem to be snapping this story up a bit more than usual. Have to see how it does over the long haul. #writing

I have to admit, this young fella is starting to grow on me.

"Au contraire. He's the person you wanted to be. That Rutherford never spent two days in a Jeffries tube; he took that job on the Apollo, went through his career with a plan & an agenda, led away teams to save ambassadors, and was offered command. And he never, ever gets to fix an engine anymore."

Also, today I had a brainstorm about my "Human Destiny" space-opera universe. Thinking of going back to the trade models from GT:Far Trader and building an economic model, from which I can estimate how many and what kind of ships are carrying trade. Should be a useful exercise. #worldbuilding

Another slow day of some #writing and some #studying - got about a thousand words down and worked through a few more hours' worth of astronomy. Good chance I'll have my next chapter finished as early as tomorrow, and my current astronomy module finished by Christmas, three weeks early. Acceptable.

One year ago today #StarTrekLowerDecks season 5 finale aired and these two started sharing the duty of the first officer on USS Cerritos. I wonder how well they are taking it and getting along 🥹 PS: Mariner is only a menace off the clock. 💖 #StarTrek #lowerdecks #BeckettMariner #BradBoimler

Incremental progress day today - got a little #writing done, worked my way through readings and an assignment for my astronomy course. No big milestones. Days like this sometimes feel like a loss, but enough of them mean I hit my objectives anyway, so I'm not complaining. #studying

Had a chapter in my head, scratching to get out, so I finished it this morning and posted the thing before I was off for tai chi and errands. Otherwise, not much done today. On the other hand, no tai chi lessons until late January, so the next 3-4 weeks are going to be good creative and study time.

It's always risky when I write a scene that involves music. Yesterday I spent a couple of hours #writing a scene in which two characters have a "first dance" at their wedding reception. I've had a truly *vicious* earworm of Frank Sinatra singing "Fly Me to the Moon" ever since.

Well, I didn't get up this morning planning to write 2,000 words of tooth-rotting fluff and fanservice, but I'll take it. First chapter of my next "Lower Decks" story may be out as early as tomorrow. Then I really need to focus on astronomy and mathematics for a few days . . . #fanfiction #writing

It’s a special kind of fun, being an American working on a degree in the sciences from a British institution right now. You know, while the US is destroying its own scientific institutions and the UK appears to be gutting higher education. Living amid cultural suicide is no good, do not recommend.

Got my second big assignment back for my astronomy course - got a 94%. Still on track to do very well with this one. #studying

Was thinking I might need a couple of weeks to plot out the next "Lower Decks" story, but then I managed to relate the entire plot outline to my wife on the way to tai chi this morning, so I guess that's done already. Might start writing as early as tomorrow. (1/2) #gamedesign #studying #writing

I used to consider myself a political conservative. The core idea was: it's wise to be cautious about political and social changes, and make sure you're conserving the things that are worth conserving. The problem is, as we've seen demonstrated for decades now, American conservativism ... (1/2)

Today I put together a writeup of a fictional world. It's a moderate super-Earth, metal-rich, whose major oddities include a mildly eccentric orbit and really slow rotation (local days are about 200 hours long). Be interesting to see what kind of aliens we come up with for the place. #gamedesign

Odd, how often I’ve been dreaming about being back in the office lately. Always pleasant dreams, too. My subconscious really is out of touch with reality sometimes. Had I not retired a few months ago, no doubt I would’ve been absolutely climbing the walls by now.

Another small task finished this evening: I ran through the "Architect of Worlds" design sequence and built a Earthlike-but-somewhat-exotic planet for a collaborative project. Think I'll write that up in more detail tomorrow and share it with my "Composer of Cultures" collaborators. #worldbuilding