Get ready for a little jolt, fellas.
As the Space Shuttle program goes, so goes Ascent Stage. It’s time for a fundamental redesign.
The backend’s been upgraded to MT 4.1 and good things are in store for the user experience too.
I shall endeavor to redo the website for less than the US $1B pledged to make pretty new American rockets. But only slightly less.
Sorry for any bumpiness.
Hi, I’m John Tolva!
The Ampcamper
How I hauled myself, two teens, an 80 lb dog, and a whole load of crap 4000+ miles across six states in twenty days using an electric vehicle. And survived to tell the tale.
The Terror Tourist
A roughly monthly exploration of places in horror fiction — real or imagined, geographical or psychological — culled from The Heavy Leather Horror Show.
Subscribe to the podcast or the email newsletter or just read through the archives posted here.
Views From The Tank
Coral and fish photos, water chemistry data, and notes on home reef-keeping. Dive in.
Latest Photos
Marginalia
Stuff I’ve found interesting from around the web lately.
Chromeography
Original range in our cabin built by my grandparents in the 1930s.
American Suburbs Are a Horror Movie and We’re the Protagonists
My partner and I regularly have to pass this street next to an abandoned bank. There’s no sidewalk, yet cars zoom around the corner all the time. Creepy and dangerous! This past year, my partner Dakota and I have been making an effort to walk to the nearest grocery store, rather than drive there.
What do LEGO bricks and celestial bodies have in common?
Thank you to Brilliant for sponsoring this video! To try out STEM courses for free, visit https://brilliant.org/PhysicsfortheBirds/. The first 200 subscribers will get 20% off of an annual premium subscription. How many things are there of each size in the universe? Are there more sun-sized obje
‘I’m Good, I Promise’: The Loneliness of the Low-Ranking Tennis Player
I was once Ireland’s No 1 player, and tried for years to climb the global ranks. But life at the bottom of the top can be brutal.
Why A.I. Isn’t Going to Make Art
To create a novel or a painting, an artist makes choices that are fundamentally alien to artificial intelligence.
Dark Matter Black Holes Could Fly through the Solar System Once a Decade
Black holes the size of an atom that contain the mass of an asteroid may fly through the inner solar system about once a decade, scientists say.
What's the worst meal you've ever had?
If you're like us, you enjoy a good meal. Doubly so in the company of friends. The atmosphere, the food, and the conversation all add up to a great time. Not every meal goes as planned, though. There's the noisy business-bro two tables over. Or that case of food poisoning.
Sports Celebrate Physical Variation—Until It Challenges Social Norms
The Olympics are a celebration of athletic prowess, an event that incidentally highlights the diversity of the human body. Take height for example. Simone Biles, the GOAT, hurtled herself through her Paris 2024 floor routine at 4’8”.
I Wish I Went Before Mary Shelley in This Storytelling Contest
“‘We will each write a ghost story,’ said Lord Byron; and his proposition was acceded to. There were four of us.” – Mary Shelley, Introduction to Frankenstein. Wow, Mary! Wow. Dr. Frankenstein and his monster. I can’t imagine anything more chilling.
The FTC is finally making it easier to cancel your gym membership
The US Federal Trade Commission is taking action against subscriptions that are difficult to get rid of. On Wednesday, it adopted a final “click-to-cancel” rule requiring businesses to make canceling a subscription as easy as signing up.