M. Thomas Apple's Blog, page 30
January 27, 2022
Robot performs surgery — on pig intestines
They slice. They dice. They perform complicated microsurgery without the aid of doctors…
US researchers say a robot has successfully performed keyhole surgery on pigs all on its own – without the guiding hand of a human. Furthermore, they add, the robot surgeon produced “significantly better” results than humans.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/jan/26/robot-successfully-performs-keyhole-surgery-on-pigs-without-human-help
OK, that’s neat. But.
Hands up, who wants to have their intestines spliced together by the Terminator v. 1.0?
January 22, 2022
Bringer of Light, Chapter 32: United Mars Colonies
Unaware of events on Ceres or Lunar Base, Martin Velasquez is finding out that the “united” Mars colonies aren’t so united at the moment…
Things on Mars had gone from bad to worse. Riots had broken out all over the Colonies. The water supply was dangerously low. The hydroponic farms were about to give out at any moment. The UA forces were still on their way from Earth, and Martin still hadn’t figured out how to hack into the UA ice factory’s electronic lock systems.
And now the settler factions wanted a conference.
With the sounds of fighting in the background of nearly every speaker, Martin found it nearly impossible to hear what the leaders were saying.
“—can’t control your own people, let alone—”
“—five dead already, our children starving and running around half-mad. What are—”
“—anything at all. The situation is insane!”
“YES!” Martin shouted at them. “It is insane! I completely agree!”
“Then do something, Overseer!” the speaker from the Central African Alliance bellowed.
He looked at her. “I’m sorry, who are you? Where is Mr. Mbutu?”
“He is…otherwise occupied. As are most of my staff!”
“Mine, too!” the speaker from the Greater Indian Empire interrupted.
“Yes, here, as well.” The European Consortium.
They began to squabble again. The noise rose to a deafening pitch.
A button glowed under Martin’s left hand. He muted the conference and answered.
“Martin.”
“Overseer, an incoming message has been attempted. It has been blocked as ordered.”
“Incoming? From where?”
“Three ships on a trajectory to intercept Mars Colonies orbit. ETA three months.”
“Thre—Where are they from?”
“The message claims they come from the United Americas.”
He calculated. No, it couldn’t be troops. The UA forces would reach them much sooner, which is why he had taken the precaution of guarding the ice factories in the first place.
Then who?
“I’ll take it in just a minute. Remove the communications block temporarily and tell them to hold until I finish the conference call.”
“Yes, Overseer.”
He hesitated, covered an ear, and depressed the mute button. The deafening noise burst back into the speakers.
“Gentlemen,” he tried. They continued unabated. Some gesticulated at his direction, but he couldn’t make out what they were saying.
“Gentlemen,” he tried again. No change. Louder, if that were possible.
Oh, hell.
“WILL YOU ALL SHUT UP!” he screamed at the top of his lungs.
That seemed to have got their attention. For a moment.
“Overseer! How dare—”
“The UA is coming.” Martin said slowly, loudly, enunciating as clearly as possible.
He let the words hang there for a minute, letting the implication set in.
“I do not know what they want, but there are three ships,” he said in a more normal tone of voice, trying desperately not to let a note of panic in.
“What,” the Brazilian leader began. “What does the UA want with us?”
The Islamic Nations representative laughed nervously. “Perhaps they come with water we can actually drink without losing our minds.”
Martin glowered. “I don’t know why they are here. I don’t know how to stop the riots. I suggest you increase your own security, obey the water restrictions and food rationing. We are at a critical juncture. The UN appears to have failed. I will contact you again after I have found out what the UA ships want.”
He closed the session to somber, blank faces.
Martin rubbed knuckles into strained eyes. No water for washing. No water for tea. He dare not drink the contaminated water supply. Even using it for electricity seemed to have nearly drained what was left.
What chance had they got? Weng and Gen had not contacted him yet, so he had no idea when they might arrive with the supplies from Luna.
He sighed. Nothing else to lose, at any rate.
He clicked on the comm. “Patch through the UA ships. Visual if possible.”
A haggard white, bearded face topped with unruly dirty blond hair appeared on the aging console. The man appeared to be wearing the uniform of the UA from about two decades prior. An old Earthside airline pilot, Martin guessed.
“This is Dirk Prosser,” the man said in an exhausted, strained tone. He seemed on the verge of a breakdown. “Former Captain in the United Americas Airforce, now representing four hundred refugee families, requesting permission to dock at United Nations Mars Colonies orbiting station.”
“Refugees?” Martin asked quizzically. Not military?
“Yes, sir. Fleeing war zones in northeast UA, New York, Boston, Montreal, Halifax. Everything’s on fire.”
“I see.”
On the one hand, Martin felt he could relax. But on the other, this was the last thing they needed. More people. At least they weren’t invading marines.
But he had no choice.
“Go back,” Martin said curtly. “Or go to Luna. Our water and food supplies are critically depleted, and there is a medical quarantine in place throughout most of the settlements here.”
“Sir,” Prosser said, his voice quivering. “We have taken several months already. Several families are experiencing space sickness and we have virtually no medical supplies to treat them. Lunar Base is in chaos. We have nowhere else to go.”
“Go back,” Martin repeated in a calmer voice. He tried to remain emotionless, but an ugly thought entered his memories. Something from his family’s past. Something passed down to him.
“You don’t know what it’s like back there!” the representative pleaded. Martin could see the terror written on the man’s face. “Are you so heartless? We have children, infants, even. Starving! Being beaten, murdered!”
“Go back,” Martin repeated, his voice raising. “They will starve here, too. Didn’t you hear? Even if by some miracle we get new supplies, we do not have the electricity to operate enough gravity generators. The low gravity of Mars will deform the children. What kind of parents would make their children suffer so?”
“Don’t you think we thought about that?” The man seemed on the verge of hysteria. “Do you think we had any alternative?”
Something in Martin snapped.
“You should have thought of that when you denied entry to my country’s people,” Martin suddenly spat out.
“I, I don’t—”
“When the UA denied entry to refugees fleeing war and hunger. Arresting parents and returning them, separating them from their children and selling them off to the highest bidder. Leaving infants to die of thirst and hunger on the desert border. How dare you come to Mars now and ask for the same!”
“Sir! I was only a child myself at the time. How can you—?”
“How can I!” Martin shouted, slamming his hands on the console. “How can I?!”
Another beep on the console. He abruptly cut the connection to the UA ship and swore. “Dammit! What now?”
“Overseer, a message from the shuttle.”
“What shuttle?”
“Gen and Mr. Weng, sir. They say they will arrive in two days.”
“What?” Martin cycled through the incoming records and known trajectories. “I don’t see any sign of incoming ships aside from the UA refugee ships.”
“They say they will arrive in two days, sir,” the Martin Colony Council receptionist robot repeated tonelessly. “They say to let all in. Everything is under control.”
Martin sat down, stunned.
He couldn’t handle this any more. With a barely suppressed giggle, he toggled the comm. The inside of the refugee ship appeared. Children crying in the background. The captain’s hand first appeared, then his bedraggled face as the man dragged himself back into view. “Yes? Yes?!”
“Mr. Prosser,” Martin said, shaking his head. “Continue on your course to Mars. I’ll see the docking station is open to you.”
“Thank you! Oh, thank you, sir!”
“Don’t thank me, Mr. Prosser,” Martin replied. He cracked his knuckles and shoved his chair away from the console and spun himself around slowly. “Enjoy your final few days in space. We may all very well die together!”
Next: Bringer of Light, Chapter 33: Ceres – Weng. Star-crossed lovers begin their final journey on February 5th…
January 21, 2022
The Death Star has an inner ocean
New analysis of one of Saturn’s moons suggests that it may harbor a liquid ocean. No, not the usual suspects – the new culprit is Mimas, the little moon with a big crater, which gives it more than a passing resemblance to the ‘Death Star’ from Star Wars.
https://www.sciencealert.com/evidence-for-a-liquid-ocean-has-been-uncovered-in-saturn-s-death-star-moon
Add Mimas to Europa and Enceladus as possible moons harboring ET.
Like, IWOW —-
January 13, 2022
Quantum Leap pilot episode confirmed (but Bakula is only a “maybe”)
“Considering how many different possibilities there are for a series like Quantum Leap in today’s world, it’s more than a little surprising that it’s taken this long for the series to attempt a return. Bakula had previously stated how relevant a series reboot would be, and the idea of creating a sequel series in which a new team searches for him is perhaps the perfect way to reignite the intrigue that the original program offered.”
https://screenrant.com/quantum-leap-sequel-pilot-scott-bakula-return-update
My family used to watch this each week in the late ’80s and early ’90s. Near the end it did get a little weird (the main character Sam Beckett jumped into the body of a space race NASA chimpanzee, and animal rights activists went totally ballastic).
Still, it ended on a very unsatisfying note (basically, “He never returned home. The End.”) and almost any kind of sequel would be great. Since Sam is a “missing person,” there is likely more to this than meets the eye (see https://www.thewrap.com/quantum-leap-reboot-nbc-plot-details/).
January 9, 2022
China investigating how to build a mega spaceship
“China is investigating how to build ultra-large spacecraft that are up to 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) long. But how feasible is the idea, and what would be the use of such a massive spacecraft?“
https://www.livescience.com/mega-spaceship-china-proposal.html
The original title of the Live Science post linked above is “China wants to build…” but this is incorrect. The National Natural Science Foundation of China is proposing a feasibility study. This is not the same thing as “China wants to build a kilometer-long ship.”
Likely the study will find out that it’s just too expensive and not worth it in terms of effort, resources, and maintenance costs. But it may show the benefits of setting up a base on the Moon and then sending materials there to be 3D-printed for future exploration or human colonies elsewhere.
Sending up a ginormous ship from Earth is foolhardy. Figuring out how to build stuff in space is much smarter.
January 8, 2022
Bringer of Light, Chapter 31: Ceres – The mining station (Part 2)
The Seventh Sister finally shows her hand, and no one is particularly pleased…
Gennaji strolled forward, keeping one eye on the traitor, Andrej. But the miner was no longer paying attention to him. Riss and her crew were the star attraction now. And they seemed to have infuriated Ildico.
He was curious, yet the fate of Sergey gnawed at him. Better to glean whatever information he could here and run to Luna. The old man was stubborn and still had allies. Surely he’d hold out, regroup and bide his time until help could arrive.
“Gennaji!” Riss called. “We’ve been waiting for you. This,” she gestured, “is what we are prepared to offer you.”
Andrej gave a mild yelp and threw his weapon to the floor. “It’s burning!”
“No,” Riss said calmly. “It’s changing.”
Before their eyes, the pistol seemed to melt, then condensate. The grey metal dissipated into the air and the shimmering form emitted a vapor and slight hiss as the color changed.
It was a dull yellow and black.
Gennaji pushed through Ildico and Taygete, knelt at the former weapon. He touched it with a tentative finger, then picking it up. Heavy. Much too heavy.
Gold.
“How?” he raised his head.
“Another demonstration,” Riss answered. She turned to the shorter man standing just behind her. “Coop.”
He seemed to hesitate, then slowly withdrew a pad from a front suit pocket and held it with both hands. A thin rivulet of sweat filled a forehead crease, then two.
The Artemis’s geist, Gennaji thought. He grimaced. The schwarze. He would never have allowed such a person on his ship. Weak.
A voice behind him spoke softly. “It is not logical to deny opportunities to talent simply because they do not look the same as yourself.”
He turned around. Gen. “What would you know about not looking the same?” he demanded. “Clone. I would think you, of all—people—would appreciate sameness.”
The clone gave a brief smile.
“There is strength in unity,” Gennaji continued. “Difference leads to arguments. Dissent. Weakness.”
Gen shook his head. “You are mistaken, Captain. Some clones are, as you say, virtually identical. But others…”
He trailed off, then smiled again.
“The more advanced clones do appreciate various contributions to their enhanced genetic makeup.”
“By contributions, you mean—” Gennaji began. He was cut off by a sudden gasp from Ildico.
“Finished,” the geist—Coop? he had heard Riss say—the geist holding the pad announced. Triumphant, Coop stepped forward and handed the pad to Ildico.
She took it, darting a look at him, and nearly dropped it.
“So heavy,” she gasped again. Then caught herself. “No,” she said, “It must be fake. Many metals weigh this much.”
“It makes little sense to speak of weight in a microgravity environment,” Gen said. “Check its molecular density and composition.”
Gennaji held out his hand. After a moment’s hesitation, Ildico gave it to him.
“Gold,” he said bluntly. No doubt about it. The object was solid gold.
The value!
He looked to Riss, then to the geist.
“How much, how much of this can you produce?”
Riss shrugged. “As much as is needed. Not from nothing, of course. But anything made of metal can be transmuted.”
“A fool’s alchemy,” Ildico snapped. “This is some sort of trick, Gennaji!”
“No,” he interrupted, hefting the object. “I know gold when I feel it.”
He ground his teeth and stared at Riss. Somehow, she had deflected his bullet. Somehow, she had protected herself from an atmosphere-less port with an open gate.
Somehow, the geist had made a pad into a solid block of gold.
Damn them!
He gripped the formerly-pad-now-gold-brick and pondered. No use in challenging them here. He still had two crew members and the ship he had always wanted. With more gold bricks such as the one he was holding, he could easily upgrade the Sagittarius, finally. Which was in the end all he really wanted.
Revenge. Perhaps there still was a way.
“How about it, Gennaji?” Riss asked. “The Artemis is worth much less than two or three more blocks like that.”
He nodded, slowly. “Yes,” he said dully. “Yes, give me two more, to fix my ship. And then take the Artemis and go.”
“No!” Ildico bellowed, reaching for Riss. She stopped suddenly.
A rifle had intervened. Taygete.
“Captain,” the military clone said with a tone of urgency. “I fail to see how this situation involves us.”
Ildico snarled. “I am Captain. Our business on Luna is not done, and I will not see this — person — interfere with justice.”
“Justice,” Taygete repeated. “Revenge. These are human concerns. We only want what is ours.”
She pointed her rifle at Ildico. “Get back into the access room. The Sisters are waiting there.”
Ildico looked around bewildered. As if she were finally realizing for the first time, Gennaji thought with satisfaction, what she had done to herself. What position she was in.
“I am the Head of the Mining Council now!” Ildico shouted. “You must obey!”
Her voice echoed across the port, replaced by a quiet chuckle. She turned to see Sue Talbot standing, arms crossed, with two of the Sisters flanking her.
“No, Captain,” Talbot said. “She has no need to obey, nor will she. Taygete is a Sister, not a robot.”
“The Mining Council,” Ildico began.
“The Mining Council,” Talbot said, “will do just fine without you. The other captains have already agreed. Consider yourself deposed.”
Ildici’s eyes narrowed. “Backstabber!”
Talbot shrugged. “Yep.” She motioned to Taygete. “Take care you don’t damage her. She’ll make fine genetic stock.”
An inarticulate cry from Ildico was swiftly silenced. Taygete had knocked her unconscious with a snap of the rifle butt. Talbot eyed her; the clone shrugged. “She’ll be fine. Tough head.”
The two Sisters next to Talbot picked up Ildico as if she weighed virtually nothing, carried her toward the access room door.
Taygete gestured at Gennaji with her rifle. “And him?”
Talbot shook her head, approaching. “Let him return to his ship. He can’t change what has happened, and we already have enough male stock. Plus we still need good Hunters.”
“Ildi was a good Hunter,” Gennaji grunted. “Once.”
He paused, looking between Riss and Talbot. “What about her?”
Talbot considered. “I doubt there is anything we could do now to prevent her from leaving. Particularly since the three of them could conceivably turn the entire port into a different metal with the consistency of a wet noodle, which would not exactly help our export rate.”
“Speaking of noodles, you still need foodstuffs,” Riss said. She had silently observed the conflict, remaining carefully neutral. She handed two additional pads to Gennaji. “As requested.”
Gennaji accepted them, checked them. “Your geist does good work.” He looked over at Coop, who looked thoroughly exhausted.
“No need for concern,” Gen said behind him. “He will recover quite quickly.”
“Concern?” Gennaji spat, “I—”
He stopped. Damned mindreader.
He turned back to Riss. “Go. Get out of here. Don’t make me change my mind.”
Riss returned his gaze evenly. Sadly? No, he didn’t see that. Couldn’t. She turned abruptly and entered the Hopper with the geist.
Gennaji, Talbot, and Gen returned to the access door. Gennaji tried his best to keep his thoughts to himself, but he was positive the damned little clone would read them anyway.
Luna. He must find out what had happened.
Wait.
“The three of them?” he said aloud.
“I was wondering when you would figure that out,” Talbot said with a chuckle. “You didn’t seem to realize that their navigator was also in the Hopper. With a steady aim on your forehead. And Ildico could easily have been stopped, as well.”
Outwitted again, he thought savagely. Sergey was right. He had no sense of strategy.
“Sergey,” Gen said sadly. “I never thought to include him at all. It did not involve us, your revenge.”
Gennaji opened his mouth, then shut it. No, not his revenge.
Ildico.
He paused again.
“Already have good stock?”
This time Talbot laughed loudly. “Twice! A little slow on the uptake, as usual.”
Gennaji growled.
She laughed again. “No need to get so upset, dear Gen. We have more than enough genetic material for generations to come. Both male and female. And anything in-between.”
“A planet of the clones,” he said, as they walked him back to the suiting area. A beep on his wrist informed him that Orynko and Karel were ready. “Sounds like something about of an old science fiction movie.”
He began to pull the outer suit on for the return walk.
“Oh, no,” Gen said matter of factly. “This is not fiction, Captain.”
Gennaji tapped his wrist pad, then yanked the helmet on. Pressurizing complete. He glared at the clone, then Talbot. She looked the same as ever.
What had he done?
“You’re right,” he said gruffly. “There will be no happy ending.”
And headed back to the port, and then to the Sagittarius.
Gen stood quietly, watched the Captain disappear into the corridor. Talbot tsked next to him. “Poor Gen.”
“I’m fine, Mother.”
“Oh, not you, Gen,” she laughed. “Gennaji. This is all well above his head.”
“Yes,” he replied. “Captain Ildico was also surprised.”
Talbot shrugged. “She proved sneaky, in her own way. I had forgotten entirely about her wrath towards Bardish. Never did I assume that he was her real target. I would not have had our own operative infiltrate Luna Base had that been the case. Perhaps a brief message can reach her in time to escape.”
“Gennaji may try to rescue Captain Bardish. Surely that will complicate matters.”
Talbot shook her head. “Maybe. Maybe not. First things first. You need to ensure the ditrium flies with your wingman to the Mars colonies. We will need them to survive. Particularly if Luna is compromised.”
“How long can we last?”
She did a quick mental calculation.
“Several months, at least. But it’s in our best interest to make sure Mars is self-sufficient as soon as possible. Our operative there has told us of the dire circumstances.”
Gen nodded. “From what I now know of Captain Clarissa and her crew, I believe they can be of assistance. Weng, as well.”
“Please see to it, then. I will try to contact Luna and assess the situation.” She pulled a pad out of a pocket and made as if to return to her work. “Also, please refrain from calling me ‘Mother.’ It makes me feel uncomfortable.”
“Yes, M—Talbot.”
Gen turned to go, then turned back. “Gennaji, will he be in time?”
Talbot paused, scrolled down her pad, then shook her head.
“Not for everything.”
Next: Bringer of Light, Chapter 32: United Mars Colonies. Where things have quickly gone from bad to very, very bad for Martin.
January 3, 2022
Should Pluto and Ceres be “planets”?
Demoted by the IAU in 2006, the Once and Future “9th planet”…a study announced in December from a team of researchers in the journal Icarus now claims the IAU’s definition was based on astrology — a type of folklore, not science — and that it’s harming both scientific research and the popular understanding of the solar system.
I’m not sure I agree that moons of Jupiter and Saturn should be classified as “planets,” but frankly I see little difference between “dwarf planets” and “planets.”
Plus it wrecks the song I learned to remember the order…
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/pluto-planet-debate-rages-rcna8848
December 31, 2021
Happy New Year 2022!
Happy New Year, everybody!
My New Year’s resolution: to finally finish the first draft of Bringer of Light and get the editing done by summer.
Thanks for reading this blog. Best wishes to all of you for a safe and prosperous 2022!
December 26, 2021
Ho, ho, ho, Merry Akira!
In case you didn’t know, the entire film of Akira has been available on YouTube since 12/23…in Japanese.
Kanedaaaaaaaaaaa!
Still, it’s free. I first watched it (in badly translated dubbed English) on the big screen in a cheap arts cinema in 1991.
Glorious.
Bought the original Japanese comics (MUCH better than the movie, which barely covers the first volume) and then the English translated comics. Then got the collector’s edition movie with a new English translation (both subtitles and dubbed).
Tetsuooooooo!
It’s online for free until 12/28, so if you’re sick of Santa movies go check it out!
Kanedaaaaaaaaa! Help me…..!
(It’s meant to advertise the upcoming Katsuhiro Otomo Complete Works manga collection, available at the end of January.)
Tetsuooooooooooooo!
December 25, 2021
World’s largest space telescope has liftoff
The James Webb Space Telescope – Hubble’s successor – has successfully lifted off.
Now starts the “two weeks of terror” as it gets into position and unfolds. Fingers crossed! 
