M. Thomas Apple's Blog, page 51
January 10, 2020
New “habitable” Earth?
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The newly discovered exoplanet, called TOI 700 d, is located about 100 light-years away from us and is roughly 20% larger than Earth.
Okay, not exactly close, but looking good…
A year on TOI 700 d takes 37 days.
Um. Wait. What?
One thing astronomers have discovered though is that TOI 700 d is tidally locked to its star, which means that one half bathes in eternal sunlight, and the other half always exists in darkness.
Oy.
And even better…
One of the burning questions is whether the planet has an atmosphere or not.
Is this really the best way to phrase this? 
January 9, 2020
US phones come with preinstalled Chinese malware
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One of the pre-installed apps, which looks and operates as a wireless update program, automatically installs more apps without user consent, according to Malwarebytes.
And it appears to be a variant of Adups, malware previously traced to China, which transmits text, call-location and app data to a Chinese server every 72 hours.
China is so far ahead of the US in terms of hacking and spyware. And this is only the stuff that they didn’t even bother hiding…
Btw the image used is a repeat from a 2018 article about Lebanon-based spyware installed on phones in five different countries.
Missile strikes are distractions. The next war will be online.
January 8, 2020
No, it’s not actually an iPhone. Yes, please stop the sloppy reporting, thanks
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This is already a few months old, but I thought I’d finally get around to blogging about it: The “ancient iPhone” of “Russia’s Atlantis.”
Spoiler alert: it’s not one, and there was no such place. But that didn’t stop the “news” from spreading.
“Archaeologists discover a 2,137-year-old iPhone in a grave of a buried woman in Russian Atlantis,” blares the headline of one article.
“2000 year old ‘iPhone case’ found in Russia,” proclaims another…going on to misquote the date by over 100 years and then ending with “The first iPhone went on the market in 2007.” (Uh. OK. And. ?)
“Archaeologists stunned by 2,100 year old ‘iPhone-like’ belt buckle found in Russia’s Atlantis,” screams a third. (Don’t actually click on this third one, unless you enjoy endless pop-up ads and videos that drain your actual iPhone battery.)
OK, OK, I get it. It’s clever. It hits all the right click-bait key words: iPhone. Atlantis. Russia.
But it’s crappy, sensational reporting like this that spreads fake news and disinformation around the planet, further dumbing down the human race.
Dozens of web sites did a quick copy-paste within a day of the initial science report, slapping on ridiculous headlines in a bid for attention (“Found in depths of ocean!” enthused the New York Post, “Incredible moment! Bizarre!” brayed the Daily Star.)
Granted, most of these sites are not exactly well known for their journalistic integrity.
But shouldn’t they be?
The archaeologists said it was roughly the size of an iPhone. Not an actual iPhone. One took a picture of himself holding the belt buckle to his face, like a phone, and then Instagrammed it. (THAT was what set off the fake news merry-go-round.)
[image error]But the thing looks NOTHING LIKE a phone. It’s a freaking piece of stone, covered in other stones. (One “news” site even stupidly said it was a piece of wood. It’s a piece of lignite. Stinky coal, basically.)
It was found near its owner’s waist, because it was a belt buckle (where else would it be worn?)
Just because you can hold an object in your hand doesn’t mean it looks like a smartphone.
If the archaeologist had posted a picture of the belt buckle held sideways (like, you know, an actual belt buckle), nobody would be going around crowing about how much like a iPhone it looks.
But the damage was done from the get-go.
Sure enough, it only took a few minutes after the initial post before Chinese Whispers started and swept the globe.
At least one web site skipped the “iPhone-like” description and went straight to “2100 year old iPhone.”
Others were even worse.
“Is it long-long technology?” (No, Canada News, it’s not.)
“Is this the Queen of the ‘Russian Atlantis’?” (No, Daily News, she isn’t. And no, Spain News, the archaeologists never said she was Queen of the Tuva.)
And, no, her real name probably wasn’t “Natasha.” That was a playful nickname given to her by the archaeologists. Nobody knows her real name. Nobody is 100% certain what position in society she had. She died around 100 BCE. There was no written language in Siberia then. Nobody knows for sure who she was. Nobody knows! Stop making s$#t up!
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Honestly. I think we already have enough BS around about “ancient aliens” as it is. It’s enough to make me fear for the future of humanity.
January 7, 2020
Your Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker Reviews All Miss The Point
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Okay, so I figured that I would never do this.
I mean, write a Star Wars movie review? When so many have already been there, done that, loved it/hated on it/debated it? When I already did it (ah, twenty years ago, but still…)
But, then again, why not?
Especially when so many have gotten it so wrong…
Here’s the thing:
It’s a Star Wars movie
This is not Oscar- or Golden Globe-award-winning material. Not for the storyline and acting, anyway. (Well, Adam Driver excepted.)
You see, everybody seems to be forgetting that Star Wars, when it first came out (Episode IV: A New Hope), was regarded even by its own actors as basically a light-hearted B-movie. Typical ’70s sci-fi schlock with some pretty awful dialogue.
Alec Guinness in particular hated working on the original movie. From Bridge Over the River Kwai and Laurence of Arabia to in a American good guy v bad guy space western? (He needed the money.)
Harrison Ford figured it would bomb, so he got ready to go back to work as a carpenter.
The dialogue in Lucas’ movies are so clunky that the most remembered line even in the best of the first trilogy (Empire Strikes Back) is an ad-lib from Ford:
And there were muppets. I mean, muppets for crying out loud. And clichés aplenty. And bad acting. I mean really downright awful piss-poor bad acting (seriously, go watch the first trilogy again and you’ll see what I mean).
This is not a human drama story. This is not real life. There is nothing, repeat, nothing deep here.
Everybody’s getting so hung up on “oh, Rey has no character development, I don’t understand Finn’s motivation, Poe’s dialogue is corny, blah blah blah.”
You’re missing the point.
Star Wars is a fairy tale in space
Look, George Lucas pointedly told people that he plotted Episode IV to match the “monomyth” of the hero’s quest — the theory espoused by Joseph Campbell in his classic 1949 book The Hero With A Thousand Faces (this is so well documented I won’t even bother citing anything — go google the interviews!).
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Star Wars characters are archetypes. They don’t “develop” or interact realistically at all. And so what? They’re not supposed to. (This is, in fact, why Ford hated playing Han Solo.)
This is why kids love to dress up in Star Wars costumes and run around pretending to be one of the characters. Archetypes represent aspects of humanity, not individual humans. So anybody can imagine themselves as one of the characters, grafting their own personality onto the cardboard figure.
And what’s up with all the butthurt white Reddit fanboys? They got all pissy to see a woman as the protagonist, a black guy as an ex-Stormtrooper, even (gasp) an Asian on screen.
How dare Disney show a future — wait, isn’t this supposed to be “a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away” anyways? — that has more diversity than a State university fraternity?
Oh, so you mean archetypes extend to people who aren’t white and male? Hm. Ya think?
And how DARE the filmmakers just make stuff up about the Force? That’s not how it works!
Sigh. Get this…
It’s all fictional
Guess what: filmmakers make stuff up. It’s all fiction. It’s make believe.
Did y’all know that?
It’s not real. None of it.
JJ Abrams et al were rewriting the script on the fly on set.
And so was George Lucas, even in Episode IV.
(That’s really common, actually. The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit movies, for instance, were notorious for last minute rewrites.)
But in the end, it’s still all just imaginary. These characters are just characters. They don’t exist in real life.
Maybe that bears repeating.
Star Wars is just fiction. Sorry. Moreover…
You do all know that Star Wars is not just a movie, right?
It’s a franchise. A series of movies, novels, games, conventions — a cultural behemoth —part of the background of modern pop culture around the English-speaking world. Episode IX has dozens of easter eggs and references to Star Wars lore. Go back and watch it again.
For example, the original costumes in A New Hope were based on Japanese clothing (or at least what Lucas thought was Japanese clothing). Scenes, character relations, and even dialogue was lifted directly from Akira Kurosawa’s Hidden Fortress (隠れ砦 Kakure Toride).
So in keeping with this tradition, Rise of Skywalker has a nod to Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai. (Thanks to Rob Murphy for pointing this out to me! Hadn’t noticed the first time.)
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So why should anybody be at all surprised that the average Chinese moviegoer doesn’t get Star Wars? Gee, you mean, because Jedi knights are a cross between Japanese samurai and Buddhist warrior monks from 12th century Kyoto, Chinese don’t get all that excited about Star Wars? Or that the movies feature rebels fighting a monolithic empire run by a power-hungry dictator? Go figure.
Anyways, back to the main topic…
Face it: Star Wars isn’t all that great
Right. So. Look. I get it that some fans are upset because Episodes I through III and VII through IX didn’t match their expectations.
I’m just saying your expectations are unfounded. Way too high.
We all love to remember Star Wars as the best movies EVER. But they just aren’t.
Do I like Star Wars? Hell, yeah, of course. It’s fun to watch. It’s eminently quotable. Some of the memes are endlessly amusing (and editable).
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I finally got my 8 and 10 year old daughters hooked on it last month. They spent most of Christmas and New Year’s running around singing the Darth Vader theme song and trying to use the Force to levitate each other.
But let’s keep things in perspective. As a cultural tour de force (so to speak), Star Wars is right up there. As a work of cinematic art, it’s not all that great. Seriously. It’s good, and the visuals are pretty cool. But the story and the characters are overrated. (Like this newbie says, and I mostly agree).
It is fun to watch sword fights and stuff blowing up, though.
So how can you enjoy these movies?
Here are my three simple steps for watching a bunch of movies that don’t have any real deep, significant things to say about the human condition but are kind of fun to watch:
Step 1. Microwave some popcorn.
Step 2. Crack open a drink of your choice.
Step 3. Relax. It’s a movie!
In the end, my advice is to stop taking movies like Star Wars so seriously. They’re fun to watch, but, hey, somebody just made this stuff up. Take it easy.
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January 4, 2020
Happy (Belated!) New Year’s 2020!
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Hi, everyone. I guess I should have planned a little better — should have written a “new year’s post” and then saved it before the holiday season began, scheduled the post, and then enjoyed overeating, overdrinking, and sleeping in.
Except of course that’s not what actually happened.
Instead, I spent Christmas Day evening holding a wastepaper basket in front of my 7 year old, who promptly filled it. Traveled to in-laws (five-hour train ride). Then repeated the Christmas Day evening festivities the following day.
Then did the same for my 10 year old the day after that. (Fortunately, my wife got sick in a restaurant bathroom during a class reunion party. I say fortunately because at least I didn’t have to hold a wastepaper basket for her. Not in public, anyway.)
Myself, I spent three straight days on the loo. My body’s preferred method of disposing of nasty viruses. Strong beer on New Year’s Eve helped. Rinse, flush, repeat.
Anyway, without getting into any details (oops! too late) an eventful end of year was had by all. No worries; we all recovered with aplomb. I am now ready to face the new year with more resolve…
Nah. Make that “hope.” That I will FINALLY finish the novel Bringer of Light, which I have been working (off and) on now for four plus years. Word count currently stands at 74,000. About 282 pages.
Problem is, the more I think I am approaching the finish line, the more I read, and the more I think “you know, it would be cool if I were to add…ah, s&*%, I did it again.”
But I will finish it. I WILL finish it. As long as I can avoid writing more of three separate novels…
Also, I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU! to all for reading my blog. I sincerely hope to continue posting on a regular basis — about once a week, if my health approves — and I do aim to get this novel edited and published very soon. I really think it’s a good, a very good story. So good that I’m considering sending it to DAW (which currently is accepting unsolicited manuscripts).
But of course I am totally prepared to self-pub if need be. I’ve already posted a “prologue” (which may or may not find its way into the novel — I’ll post a bit of the opening chapter in a short while and let readers compare them).
An artistic friend (whose original idea sparked the story, and who helped with the basic plot outline and character generation) and I are exchanging ideas about a book cover design. Nothing firm yet, but you all here will be the first to know.
Don’t forget to sign up for my mailing list, i.e., newsletter (which I will release soon! as soon as I have updated news of the new novel and an Amazon free ebook campaign I plan to run in a couple months). Hey, free short story!
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December 27, 2019
What’s more valuable than gold? This rock
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If you find a big rock in your backyard, and you can’t break it open with normal tools, guess what?
The researchers argue that the Maryborough meteorite is much rarer than gold. It’s one of only 17 meteorites ever recorded in the Australian state of Victoria, and it’s the second largest chondritic mass, after a huge 55-kilogram specimen identified in 2003.
This next bit is more interesting to me:
“Other rare meteorites contain organic molecules such as amino acids; the building blocks of life.”
Hmmm… 
December 20, 2019
Khufu, I mean, Cheops is a go!
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Ever wonder this about “Super Earths”?
Do they have atmospheres and how thick are they? What kind of clouds? Do they possess oceans on their surface? Do they have rings and moons? Cheops ought to be able to address such questions just from looking for these tiny dips in light during a transit.
ESA finally does something! Wow. Go Europe!
I love how BBC says “The Americans” when referring to NASA, as if a) American is an ethnic group and b) all NASA scientists are American.
But anyway…
Prof Didier Queloz, who won this year’s Physics Nobel for discovering the first planet orbiting a Sun-like star in 1995, was on hand to watch the launch.
You can watch/listen to his interview here.
December 14, 2019
Bringer of Light: Prologue now available!
After what seemed like ages, the ship rolled left and headed toward the location of the explosion. Earth slowly came back into view, followed by a new field of debris streaming away from the planet.
Silence filled the command module.
“Hamno…”
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It’s been a long road, getting from there to here… 
December 8, 2019
Odo has returned to the Great Link
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Another TV and movie great has left us a legacy of decades of entertaining, thought-provoking, inspiring stories.
Farewell, René Auberjonois. The Great Link welcomes you home.
http://blog.trekcore.com/2019/12/rene-auberjonois-star-trek-deep-space-nines-odo-dies/
December 5, 2019
ESA and NASA? Airbus? Still not ready?
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Right now, engineers have got a dummy rover practising the business of retrieving packaged rock samples. And, yes, the stand-ins really are whiteboard markers.
Yay! Whiteboard markers. Um. OK.
But different agencies and companies are finally working together?
Great!
Wait. What’s the catch?
It is, though, going to take more than a decade to achieve.
Sigh.
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