Category: General

Terribly Technical: that Sinking Feeling when you realise your readers are far better server engineers than your web host, 1&1 Ionos.
It is going to be a functional rather than philosophical blog update for you, this month. Ever since Google strong-armed SFcrowsnest into getting an SSL secure certificate for every web page just to stay in their stupid search engine index many months back, we’ve been playing this weird frustrating game where a small but not […]

Green energy to bankrupt the energy mega-corps? (and a writing update).
With the upswell in ‘free’ green energy, electricity suppliers in Germany and Denmark have applied to shut down newly unprofitable power plants, but the nervous governments are resisting, afraid of being caught short on some cold winter’s night with little wind. A case for a nationalised back-up system if I’ve ever heard it! Read the […]

Solar reaching price parity with conventional electricity.
Some interesting news in from Bloomberg concerning energy research – a new report by Deutsche Bank indicates that solar energy is about to reach price parity with conventional electricity – and keep on going down, getting cheaper with every year (hint: solar panels are mostly based on semiconductors – so share the PC chip’s ability of sliding […]

Embrace solar energy before global warming destroys the world . . . The Burning Answer.
I have just finished reading Keith Barnham’s excellent non-fiction tome, The Burning Answer: A User’s Guide to the Solar Revolution. This is a book that every climate change denier and big oil executive should be forced to read before they go on TV to spout off about fracking and nuclear power and all the […]

New Stephen Hunt novel, In Dark Service, for £1.99 if you pre-order now.
My British publisher Gollancz are reducing the price of their digital e-Book editions debuts this year to £1.99 … for the first week of publication and on any pre-orders as well. My next novel – the first in my new Far-Called series – ‘In Dark Service’ is one of those being included in their scheme. […]

Lord of the Rings in Lego
Only 9000 more Lego pieces to go tomorrow and Chris Hails‘ attempt to become the Kiwi James May is complete! Oh, the things those New Zealanders will do for kicks!

Prometheus, Russian ship.
Here’s a new trailer for Prometheus; clearly demonstrating that it’s the Russians who are getting to land on the first offworld away mission, da comrade?

Leonard Nimoy in new The Big Bang Theory
If you, like me, are a fan of The Big Bang Theory, you will be glad to see this clip of Leonard Nimoy guest starring in the current episode showing in the USA this week. Sadly, in the UK, this geeking moment will have to wait for the latest series to screen here… and for […]

First Dr Who pic of Jenna-Louise Coleman
Here’s the first Doctor Who picture of Jenna-Louise Coleman, looking rather Richard Branson-like in her big jumper. They’re obviously trying to de-sex her a little to tone down the babe within. Good luck with that.

Meet the new jungle water-world, says NASA
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has come up with a new class of planet, a waterworld enshrouded by a thick, steamy atmosphere. It’s smaller than Uranus but larger than Earth. Zachory Berta of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and colleagues made the observations of the planet GJ1214b. “GJ1214b is like no planet we know of,” Berta […]