Summer Potpourri
This month I thought I would hit some short topics, light reading for the vacation season. Since we just completed two months of coverage of various space programs, I thought I might start with some space news.
Space News
Boeing successfully launched the Starliner on June 5th for what should have been a 10 day mission to visit the International Space Station (ISS). As I write this, several concerns have extended the mission beyond 42 days with no return date set at this time.
NASA and Boeing are working to determine the risks related to returning with multiple helium leaks and thruster malfunctions discovered during the journey to the ISS. These components need to be in working order and safely guide the craft to its landing destination.
If the risks appear too large, it is possible the two astronauts can return on the SpaceX Dragon. The Dragon can carry 6 crew members, but usually travels with 4 . However, SpaceX is having its own problems right now. During the week of July 10th, a SpaceX launch of the very reliable Falcon 9 failed to deliver its payload successfully due to an issue with the 2nd stage of the rocket. Because of the failure, the Falcon9 rockets remain grounded until the investigation until the completion approval of the report by the FAA. This may take weeks or even months as the Starliner astronauts remain stuck on the ISS.
Science Fiction Books and Movies
Often, I share book titles that I have enjoyed with my readers for the summertime. These usually come from the Gutenberg collection of free public domain books. These books are all free for download from Gutenberg.org for keeping. They include classics of fantasy, science fiction, and horror and authors like L. Frank Baum, H.G. Wells, Mary Shelley, Jules Verne, and Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Since these books should be easy to find, instead this year I thought I would list some of my favorite books that haven’t yet reached the public domain. You can view these books as movies or streaming shows as well.
Title | Author | Description |
Starship Troopers | Robert Heinlein | Young People enlist to fight aliens |
I Robot | Isaac Asimov | Short stories about future robots |
Bicentennial Man | Isaac Asimov | A family robot desires to be human |
We can remember it for you wholesale/Total Recall | Phillip K. Dick | A man has Memories implanted for a Mars vacation and discovers he is a spy |
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? | Phillip K. Dick | A detective hunts androids to end their existence. |
Journey to the center of the Earth | Jules Verne | A scientist and his crew explore an entrance underground to earths center and journeys there and back |
Ender’s Game | Orson Scott Card | Children are trained to fight a war against aliens |
Dune | Frank Herbert | First in a long series, families fight over control of spice, a resource enabling interstellar travel. |
Jurassic Park | Michael Crichton | A man creates a zoo of genetically recreated dinosaurs |
Ready Player One | Ernest Christy Cline | A young man explores a VR games world with friends to win a prize |
I have read all of these books except Jurassic Park and Ready Player One, which I hope to read this summer. I have also seen all of the movies. These are just a few of the stories that started as books and turned into movies. The books are typically available in the local libraries or as electronic books through the local libraries. You can usually search for the movie versions of the books using a search engine online. Be aware that sometimes there are multiple versions of the movie and some are better than others. For example, I have seen at least three versions of Dune and Journey to the Center of the Earth.
My Favorite Computer Games
Besides reading books and watching movies, I use my vacation time to play computer games. I started to play Borderlands 3 about 3 months ago and I have been playing earlier versions of Borderlands as well. The original Borderlands had four playable characters, Roland: a soldier, Lilith: a siren powered via Eridium, Brick: a strongman ruffian and, Mordecai: a hunter that uses a large bird to attack. Each player has different strengths and weaknesses, so each require the player to play differently depending on the character they are using. I have completed the play through of the original game with each player. The player are called vault hunters, and they are all looking for a vault. Once opened the protector of the vault must be defeated.
Borderlands 2 continues the story begun by Borderlands. In this game the original players are now characters in the story but not controllable. Instead, six new vault hunters are available for the player to control, one at a time. I have completed play-through of two of them so far and just started a new play-through of a third one.
After Borderlands and Borderlands 2, the next game was “Borderlands the pre-sequel”. This game’s story fits between the first two and fills background gaps in the larger story line. Then Borderlands 3 arrived. It also introduces a new set of vault hunters, and the Borderlands two characters are now non-playable characters in BL3. I am hoping to complete my first play-through this summer.
I tend to buy games that are a little bit older and cost less. These games are just as good as the newest games but do not require the most recent video cards and computers. I also like Pinball machines, so I own a couple of different pinball simulators and many games for them. My favorites of the videos games I enjoy include:
The Bioshock series,
The Portal series,
The Bridge Constructor series,
The Civilization series
Almost anything created by Sid Meier.
Out of room
Well, it looks like I am out of room until next month. Have a great summer break.
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