The blog in 2013

Life has been extremely hectic the last three months, both at home and at work. So the blog has been sadly neglected. Nor have I had any opportunity for writing science fiction because there has been no spare time.

However, now it is Christmas season in Sweden and I plan to watch The Hobbit and put my review of it here. Plus possibly also the new Goro Miyazaki movie which premiered in Sweden last week. .

In 2013, I intend to write more reviews on books old and new (and perhaps why old parsimonious stories still may be more enjoyable than new verbose ones).

Anyhow, right now ’tis the season to be jolly. Enjoy the Indian take on Christmas.

Lego 1889 skycraft

Here is a chap who constructs Space 1889 airships in Lego (link to his albums >>>)

Apollo 17 forty years ago

Forty years ago this week, the United States launched the (so far) last manned expedition to the moon: Apollo 17.

The Apollo 17 expedition – a NASA movie >>>

In those days, we spoke of the conquest of space. Today the United States has no manned space capacity and has to rely on Russia instead. Constellation got cancelled some years ago, too, so there is no active development of new capability.

Both Russia and China are using tried-and-tested technology based on 1970s designs for their manned spacecraft. It seems that the US has gone astray somewhere in the quest for ever-more-advanced vessels. The Apollo project ended during the Vietnam War malaise in Washington and it seems that now similiar consequences have accompanied the end of the Iraq war. A bitter draught, indeed, for us advocating space exploration.