Book promo…

Friends are very prolific authors, unlike me… sigh

First up, Peter Nealen with his latest in the Pallas Group series is out- Non-State Actors

As always, click the cover for the link to the Amazon page.

The blurb-

The war came back at Pallas Group Solutions. Chris and Nick both found themselves fighting for their families’ lives.

In response, they struck back.

Now, with two major underworld figures dead, who had facilitated crimes for the People’s Republic of China, the cartels, and others, the war has entered a new phase.

There’s no going back.

There is only the fight.

As Pallas Group Solutions becomes a Non State Actor.

You’ll love this high-octane thriller because the stakes are as high as the action is intense. 

Next up, Alma T.C. Boykin has another of her Familiar Series out- Hunter and Horseman

The blurb-

Undying love or cruel obsession?

Devon County, a quiet rural corner of Pennsylvania. That is, until two brothers refuse to take “no” for an answer. Malice and magic pull Jude Tainuit, the lone Hunter, into the fray. When a tornado rips through the county, leaving pain and twisted power in its wake, the Hunter and his allies face two foes – one in the open, and one who lurks, patient and deadly. A blood-path magic worker hides in the storm, one who hunts Hunters.

Worse awaits. Aunt Martha goes to visit relatives, leaving Jude in charge of the farm … Or as in charge as his Familiar and Martha’s cat will allow.

Jude Tainuit will need all his skills, and the help of allies great and small, to face the storm when twisted power awakens the phantom Horseman.

This one has a ‘really’ interesting twist in it… 🙂

And last but certainly not least, Cedar Sanderson has a new short story out- Running into Time

The blurb-

Time travel isn’t possible. Is it?
If it was feasible, how would it work?
And what price would the world’s powers pay to have the inventor under their control?

Garry never asked to be assigned to protect the girl he really liked in his classes. He just wanted time to get to know her better.

Pol never minded being called a mad scientist. He had good reasons for being mad. His top priority was protecting his sister, no matter the cost.

Both men were about to run headlong into a surreal reality, where the only answer might be held by a little white mouse cupped gently in a woman’s hands…

Highly recommend all three of these, and not just because they’re friends!

This could be ‘interesting’…

What if they gave a debate and nobody showed up to debate???

The Commission on Presidential Debates announced the dates and locations for its 2024 presidential debates on Monday that will lead up to November’s general election which is now less than one year away — but there’s no guarantee the GOP nominee will participate after Republicans severed ties following the 2020 debates. 

Full article, HERE.

After what happened with the ‘moderators’ questionable ‘questions’ and obvious bias demonstration, the Pubs indicated without changes they would not participate. And it looks like the CPD is ignoring that.

Possibly leading to their demise…

I don’t think Xiden will debate anybody, regardless, as I don’t believe he could get through 90 minutes of actual debate without melting down…

But that’s just my opinion, FWIW…

Some people…

Have more money than sense…

A hat that French leader Napoleon Bonaparte wore himself sold for $2.1 million at an auction Sunday.

The final price also includes a commission of 28.8% charged by the Osenat auction house, which anticipated the hat would sell for anywhere between $650,000 to $850,000. Additionally more memorabilia from the French leader were included, per the collection of entrepreneur Jean-Louis Noisiez who died last year.

Full article, HERE from the Washington Examiner.

That felt hat looks awfully good to be over 200 years old, and I can’t help but wonder about the provenance, but I can’t see myself ever spending that much for something that somebody wore/owned/or whatever…

Hmmm…

I ‘think’ Musk is pissed…

For good reason!

The left-wing media watchdog group Media Matters for America (MMFA) has a sordid record of not only publishing absurd “fact-checks” but of bullying businesses that dare to advertise on conservative outlets, or even platforms they don’t approve it. 

At 2 a.m. ET on Saturday, Musk threatened to file a ‘thermonuclear lawsuit’ against Media Matters. “The split second court opens on Monday, X Corp will be filing a thermonuclear lawsuit against Media Matters and ALL those who colluded in this fraudulent attack on our company,” Musk wrote in a post on X/Twitter.

Full article, HERE.

Everybody and their brother is going after Musk, between X and SpaceX. Starship came apart on its second test flight, and there is a lot of pressure from ‘various’ organizations to shut them down/limit their ability to fly…

BUT, we’ve been having a sidebar in a chat about SpaceX’s development program compared to the ‘old days’ between four of us old farts…

Test to fail.  All 33 engines fired; it cleared the pad with no reported pad
damage (though I thought I saw something flying as it cleared the tower); it
made it through Max-Q; it achieved stage separation with the first stage
appearing to maneuver for a “controlled” landing; it was on course; and the
second stage made it (or almost made it) to engine cutoff and coasting to
reentry.

I think the autopsy will find hot staging damaged both vehicles. 

However, under the test to fail philosophy and given Musk is pushing extreme limits, I think it was quite successful. 

Reply-

As I have been tracking what Musk has been doing for several years, I would suggest that your uncles approach is what he has been doing.  He’s at Boca Chica because NASA did not want to risk Pad 39A, the only human certified launch pad we have.  He started with Starhopper, a Starship prototype that reached an altitude of 500 feet in 2019 and then returned to its launch pad.  Then he tested several prototypes of the Starship second stage until one flew successfully.  Along the way he did multiple test stand engine tests, vehicle static fire tests, wet rehearsals (test launch procedures including fuel loading up to a second before ignition).  He has his rocket garden full of prototypes that never flew with some now being dismantled to make more storage room.  And, he has a feedback loop from his Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

        The problem is that no matter how extensive a table-top fault analysis is conducted, there will be surprises that can only be discovered by “test-to-failure.”  In fact, I am very concerned that Artemis 2 scheduled for (a manned) launch in November 2024, will be flown on the SLS that has only been test flown and then only once.

Reply-

My engineer uncles were probably too conservative for today’s environment.  I was taught to test, test, test and then build a prototype. 

Reply-

To be fair, they didn’t have the capability to do rapid prototyping!

Reply-

That is true: CAD, additive manufacturing, and CNC have made design, modeling, and prototyping much, much faster.  The perhaps unfortunate side is that it has also made far more complex designs possible.

I think we all agree that Musk is using every bit of technology available to move forward as quickly as possible. In the old days, it was months if not a year between tests due to having to ‘manufacture’ new pieces/parts and seldom were parts reused…

Obviously, he’s succeeded with the Falcon program and manned program much faster than anyone expected or believed. I think he will succeed again, but there will be more big BOOMS before he does. Testing to failure DOES tend to provide those booms and sharpens the learning curve dramatically…

Snerk…

Politics… Need more popcorn!

New Hampshire Democrats have a message for Presidentish Joe Biden, delivered figuratively with a flinty New England middle-finger salute to his plan to upend the traditional primary schedule.

Full article, HERE.
Cue the gnashing of teeth and whining from the lefties…LOL

And another one…

Bites the dust…

Yet another ‘claimant’ to be a native turns out not to be…

One of Canada’s most prominent Indigenous icons might not be Indigenous after all, according to media reports

Buffy Sainte-Marie, who was considered the first Indigenous person to win an Oscar, has always claimed to be a Cree Indian born in Canada who was then adopted by an American couple and raised near Boston. The singer-songwriter is known for her appearance on Sesame Street, was commemorated on Canadian postage stamps and performed for Queen Elizabeth II. 

Full article, HERE from Fox.

I know a lot of…entertainers, etc. have looked for that ‘edge’ that broke them out from the crowd, but with the depth of research tools available today, I wonder how many more will be outed…

And what will the fallout be?

State of the author…

Welp, ‘final’ checkup for the new eyeballs turns out to be NOT the final checkup.

Still having a bit of an issue with the left eye. The back of the retina is ‘lumpy’ so more eyedrops, and no flying for 30-45 days. Grrrr…

And at least a 2 week wait for new glasses, but at least they are free from the VA.

So, I’m not writing much, as it’s hard to be on the computer long without getting a headache. I’ve got ideas/plot/resolutions that I need to get down on ‘paper’ so to speak, but I get a couple of hundred words a day and that’s about it. I hope to finish the novella I’m working on by the end of the month, but I won’t get the next Bell Chronicles out before Christmas at this rate.

I have a question for my readers- Would you be interested in a collection of the short stories I’ve written for various anthologies, possibly with a new story added? I feel like I owe y’all something for putting up with my lack of production.

They are in various genres, and have appeared in a variety of anthologies over the past 5 or so years.

Meh…

Can’t find anything ‘good’ to say, so I’m not going to say anything…

Go read the folks on the sidebar, they write better than I do anyway.

Off to OKC VA for a final look and new prescription for glasses after the cataract surgeries, so maybe I’ll be able to see the computer again.

An interesting question…

Was ‘somebody’ advised of what was going to happen???

On October 7, four photojournalists who provide reporting and photos for the likes of the Associated Press (AP), CNN, the New York Times, Reuters, and other outlets were allegedly at the Israeli border with Hamas terrorists who committed acts of atrocities against innocent Israeli civilians that shocked the world. Since an Israel-supporting news watchdog website reported the claim, everyone wants to know if these Gaza-based reporters knew in advance about the attack and, more importantly, if they could have saved lives by alerting the world about it. The question arises: Did the AP, CNN, the New York Times, and Reuters know about the Hamas terror attack in advance? 

Full article, HERE.

And the Israelis would like some answers too… Officially, HERE.

Some interesting questions, and some non-answers and denials. Who really knows? I sure as hell don’t, but I DO have my suspicions…

A little humor…

To start the week!

The fattest  knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference.   He acquired his size from too much pi.

I thought I  saw an eye-doctor on  an Alaskan island,  but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .

She was  only a whisky-maker, but  he loved her still.

A  rubber-band pistol  was confiscated from an algebra class, because it was a  weapon of math disruption.

No matter  how much you push the envelope, it’ll still  be stationery.

A dog gave  birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

A grenade  thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

Two silk  worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

A hole has been found in the nudist-camp  wall.  The police are looking  into it.

Time flies  like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

Atheism is  a non-prophet organization.

Two hats  were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said  to the other:  ‘You stay here; I’ll go on a head.’

I wondered  why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit  me.

A sign on  the lawn at a drug rehab center said:  ‘Keep off the Grass.’

The midget  fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

The soldier  who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

A backward  poet writes inverse.

In a  democracy it’s your vote that counts.  In feudalism it’s your count that votes.

When  cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of  religion.

If you  jumped off the bridge in Paris , you’d be in Seine  .

A vulture  carrying two dead raccoons boards an airplane.  The stewardess looks at him and says,  ‘I’m sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per  passenger.’

Two fish  swim into a concrete wall.  One turns to the other and says, ‘Dam!’

Two Eskimos  sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can’t have your  kayak and heat it too.

Two  hydrogen atoms meet. One says, ‘I’ve lost my electron.’  The other says, ‘Are you sure?’ The first replies, ‘Yes, I’m positive.’

Did you  hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root-canal? His  goal: transcend dental medication.

There was  the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the  hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.