M. Thomas Apple's Blog, page 7

Lesser leather never weathered wetter weather better…

What is your favorite type of weather?

It depends on my mood.

I like cold weather in winter, especially on the weekend when I can take it easy and enjoy coffee properly.

I don’t mind rainy weather when I feel like being contemplative and writing.

I prefer clear sunny weather when I want to go watch a baseball game outdoors with friends and family.

I enjoy cool and dry windy weather in autumn when the falling leaves decorate the nearby temple and shrine.

What I don’t like is when the weather changes from winter in the morning to early summer by mid-afternoon, and I especially get irritated when people can’t tell the difference between weather and climate.

“You don’t need a Weatherman to know which way the wind blows…”

Ask a foolish question…

Daily writing promptWhat do you wish you could do more every day?View all responsesSleepDrink coffeeWriteRead.Watch old episodes of Star Trek that I have watched so often that I have virtually memorized the dialogue…

Trolling trolls rarely works

On March 13th, someone on Goodreads shelved Bringer of Light, and on March 14th gave it a one-star rating, the lowest possible.

On March 15th, Bringer of Light was finally published online.

I flagged the “review” as violating Goodreads policy, and received an email saying the company would deal with it appropriately.

Six days later, the one-star “review” still stands.

It’s been very tempting to post a comment. But for the moment, I have resisted.

If you don’t like my work, that’s fine. But it is simply mean-spirited to try to judge it without even bothering to read it.

There are lots of trolls out there. They must be starving for attention.

Poor buggers. You’ll have to find food elsewhere.

Do not trust those who believe themselves too much

Who is the most confident person you know?

“A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do.” (Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”)

Those who show supreme confidence often are masking an extreme inferiority complex. There is a very thin line also between confidence and arrogance, and there are too many people who believe those who exude confidence when in fact they are simply scared little children in an adult body.

Have the courage to admit that the way you formerly thought was actually wrong. When confronted by facts, admit that your former beliefs were mistaken. Be able to change your mind and have the strength to challenge your beliefs. Confidence is not always a positive attribute. Confident people can often be wrong, and those who are not confident should not be easily dismissed.

I am not confident all the time, and I instinctively am suspicious of those who are always confident. I prefer those who are circumspect about their abilities and have a back up plan just in case their guess is inaccurate. That is why I always suspect the “con man” — which stands for “confidence man” of course, the person who would have you believe that they are so supremely confidence that they, and only they, can fix everything and make everything all right.

Confidence is overrated. Hesitation and self-reflection should be elevated. The truly confident recognize their own flaws and own them.

Bringer of Light: Locations video

This time I figured out how to import the slides directly into mmHmm, and I managed to update my MacOS to Sonoma, which allowed me to use my USB mic (yay). But I also called Ceres a “moon” at some point (it’s not a Moon but a dwarf planet in the asteroid belt near Mars). Oops. Not enough time to edit that bit out or record it again, so just word to the wise! Always fact-check videos, folks. Enjoy!

Goodreads giveaway for Bringer of Light!

Enter to win a free Kindle version of Bringer of Light!

**Note: Due to Goodreads rules, the Kindle giveaway is only available for residents of the US and Canada. Apologies for readers who reside elsewhere, but them’s the rules (I live outside the US and Canada, so the rule also applies to me!)

Bringer of Light – pre-order now!

See Children of Pella (series) for details.

Water molecules detected on the surface of an asteroid in space for the first time

Water molecules have been detected in asteroid samples returned to Earth, but this marks the first time that the molecules have been discovered on the surface of an asteroid in space. The team studied four silicate-rich asteroids using data from the now-retired Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy(SOFIA). 

https://www.popsci.com/science/water-asteroid-space/

The asteroids in question are Iris (124 miles / 200 km in diameter) and Massalia (84 miles / 135 km). Both are in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Iris is about the size of the US state of Maryland, while Massalia is roughly the size of Connecticut.

Note that the same observatory also found water on the Moon, about a “12-ounce bottle” worth. Not nearly enough for a settlement, but where there’s surface water (albeit trapped in soil on the surface), there’s likely to be more underneath.

(See also https://www.swri.org/press-release/swri-scientists-identify-water-molecules-asteroids-the-first-time — the PopSci linked article above essentially plagiarised almost its entire text. Bad scientist, bad.)

Original article here: Arrendono et al. (2024) Detection of molecular H20 on nominally anhydrous asteroids. Planet. Sci. J. 5. 37 doi 10.3847/PSJ/ad18b8 – good luck trying to read it!

Bringer of Light: Characters

This time I tried “mmhmm” studio. Some bumps and bruises, but managed to survive!

Oh, and it doesn’t really have a “pronunciation guide.” Oops. The names (I thought) were fairly easy to pronounce. (Weng is not “wehng” but more like “wong,” or even “wung,” but otherwise straightforward…)

Hope you like the video! (2 of 4, I hope)

AGI by 2027? 2028? 2030?

“It should be able to make a smarter AGI, then an even smarter AGI, then an intelligence explosion,” he added, presumably referring to the singularity.

https://futurism.com/artificial-superintelligence-agi-2027-goertzel?fbclid=IwAR2v9500C6hNEfhD4RehqCa04Dltys7KuVkyuepcgmiqoNhSBseMtpHojJs

Seriously. Am I the only one who thinks this is, like, a really, really, REALLY bad idea?