Author Archives: jlredford

Cool Space Stuff: VLEO and Electric Jets, Rocket Planes

Posted on April 5, 2025 by jlredford

Here’s a quick dump on some novel ideas: satellites in very low orbits so they can take better pictures, using electric jets to deorbit space junk, and a rocket plane with big ambitions from New Zealand! Very Low Earth Orbit … Continue reading →

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“Sapiens” and the Fifth Order of Being

Posted on February 28, 2025 by jlredford

Yuval Harari’s “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” (2011) is a Big Think book, attempting to cover a vast range of subjects in a way that non-specialist readers can follow. In this case it’s the development of our species over … Continue reading →

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The Discrete and the Flashy at CES

Posted on January 19, 2025 by jlredford

I was just at the 2025 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. It’s the biggest tech show in the world these days, with 140,000 attendees and occupying a lot of the city. It fills the gigantic Las Vegas Convention Center, … Continue reading →

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Trump Will Be a Disaster for High Tech

Posted on December 30, 2024 by jlredford

Trump will be a disaster for the entire country, of course, but let me concentrate on his effect on my own area, that of high-tech. I see the following places where he’s most likely to damage the field: curtailing the … Continue reading →

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“Orbital” – A Hymn to Earth That Puts SF to Shame

Posted on November 26, 2024 by jlredford

Everyone is raving about this sort-of novel, and it’s clear why – it’s a stunning meditation on the beauty of the Earth, as seen by six astronauts on the International Space Station. Not much happens. It just follows them across … Continue reading →

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What Should the “2001” Aliens Have Given Us?

Posted on November 18, 2024 by jlredford

I recently saw “2001: A Space Odyssey” for the umpteenth time, and I have to agree with this old line: There are those who say that “2001” is the greatest SF movie ever made, and there are others who are … Continue reading →

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Execs Erasing Techs

Posted on October 21, 2024 by jlredford

The executives of companies often take credit for the innovations that their lead technicals actually created, and erase them from company history. This is hardly surprising! It seems common enough that I’ve come across it in a number of previous … Continue reading →

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Libraries – Old and Grand, or New and Bland

Posted on September 19, 2024 by jlredford

Last summer I tried to visit every local library that I could get to by bicycle. It was an excuse to exercise, but I had also just read “The Library Book” by Susan Orlean (2018). It’s a history of the … Continue reading →

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Serious Tech Tourism – the Niagara Parks Power Station

Posted on August 31, 2024 by jlredford

My wife and I recently went to the Shaw Festival at Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario. This has been presenting plays by George Barnard Shaw and other 20th century playwrights every summer for the last 60 years. It’s held in a perfect little … Continue reading →

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A Golden Age for Chemists – MIT on Climate Change

Posted on July 13, 2024 by jlredford

The physicists used to have all the fun, what with building species-ending weapons and ominously declaring that I Am Become Death. Yet nukes turned out to be useless for actual military purposes, as Putin has discovered to his dismay, and … Continue reading →

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