Five Bullets 5.24.24
Dyson spheres, Downwinders, Danny Carey & more
Good Morning & Happy Friday!
It’s a beautiful day here in New York City with blue skies and temperatures reaching the 80s later today.
Next week we’ll be celebrating two years of Circles in Space! As always, thanks for reading and for all your support. I’ve learned a lot about writing a newsletter and from the topics we’ve discussed each week.
Check out my very first post below.
Friday 5.27.22
Happy Friday everyone! Here’s five things I found interesting this week: This past weekend I took a trip to Hammondsport, NY, home of perhaps the most influential person in aviation history, Glenn Curtis. While most know of the Wright brothers legacy, Curtiss was a pioneer in his own right. I…
Bullets this week:
Books: Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm, Restrepo) reflects on dying and the afterlife in his new book In My Time of Dying. Check out this essay detailing Junger’s near-death experience.
History/News: “Downwinders”, people who lived at or near U.S. nuclear testing sites, suffered rare forms of cancer and diseases due to radiation. A bill to extend The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which offers medical payment and coverage for victims, is stalled in Congress.
Music: Tribal People React to Danny Carey, drummer for Tool, playing the band’s song Pneuma. Aside from their excitement while watching Carey’s complex but groovy playing, the men offer interesting insights into the cross-cultural aspects of music.
Science: What other proof of extraterrestrial life might we find in the galaxy? An advanced civilization might build a megastructure called a Dyson sphere which captures a star’s energy. The structure would result in artificial infrared radiation which we could detect here on Earth.
TV: As a sci-fi fan (and anything to do with aliens) I’ve been enjoying Invasion. I wasn’t immediately intrigued after a few episodes - it felt like a take on War of the Worlds - but I gave it another shot and realized there’s something about it that has me hooked. The show unfolds slowly, almost like a book (it’s an original screenplay). The concept of the alien hive mind might borrow from Childhood’s End, though the invasion taking place is definitely not peaceful.
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