Mostly Bits Newsletter - Issue #86
Tony's Pick
I'm not seeing as many long threads on the Fediverse as I did on Twitter in recent years. Probably just a function of who I follow? Anyway, here's one about UI/UX failure in the US Navy's Aegis air defense system. Sad and interesting!
Kyle's Pick
Wife and husband team Kelly and Zach Weinersmith (of Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal fame) have a new book out around space travel and colonization. I have not read the book yet, but Zach was on EconTalk discussing the main points of the book.
In general, they are optimistic about the prospect of human expansion throughout the solar system, but are pessimistic that we are anywhere close. In the podcast, Zach discusses issues ranging from the lack of water on the Moon to the mechanics of bone development in children born in space to the simple fact that billionaires doing space playtime wouldn't actually want to live underground in cramped quarters to avoid radiation with no luxuries for hundreds or thousands of years while we figure out terraforming. They suggest that we should be running many more small-scale experiments before we even consider expansion beyond Earth.
Planning to check out the book, but the podcast episode was a good preview!
