The 3D simulation in the video below from The Overview Effect compares Artemis II’s flight path with its predecessor Artemis I as well Apollo 8. It also goes into a little depth about how the moon’s orbit itself affect the earth and the path it takes fluctuates through an 18.6 year long cycle as it circles the earth.
NASA’s New Moon Photos
NASA has a Flickr album full of new images from the Artemis II mission.
Just look at these beautiful photos:
(via Kottke)
Artemis II Mission Blasts Off
On Wednesday, the Artemis II took off for the moon. I watched the launch with Ian.
Here’s a replay from NASA’s livestream:
Later we called my dad to talk about his memory of watching previous moon landings. He explained that during the first moon walk, he went outside and took a picture of the moon. Ian immediately wanted to know if he would send us that photo. We’ll try to track it in my dad’s old album the next time we have a chance.
The next day NASA released this image of the earth even as the spaceship continues on its historic journey to the moon.
Mercury 1.0.6
There is a new version of my recipe app in the App Store today and with it a new icon.
As well a dark mode version:
There have been a lot of new features since the app was first released and I’m very pleased with how things have progressed. If you give Mercury a try and I hope you will (the first 5 recipes are free) please give it a 5-star rating in the App Store. There’s a link to “rate the app” right in the settings menu.
Mercury Recipe App
This morning I woke up to news that Apple has approved my new recipe app, Mercury. The special thing about Mercury is that it harnesses on-device A.I.1 to import recipes from your favourite recipe sites. The app also sports an achievement reward system that tracks user actions in app and provides 35 different awards. There is a grocery list page for any given recipe as well as a deletion back-up system that holds deleted recipes for 30 days in case you change your mind.
Download it now at the App Store and if you’re so inclined, I would appreciate your positive ratings to help get the word out on this labor of love.
- Apple Intelligence™[↩]
Milner Stats
I’ve been having some major problems with the site over the past few days. Three nights ago I discovered that all the posts newer than January 15th from the last week were being wiped each day1.
The errors started after I updated the Jetpack plugin and while that doesn’t prove anything, I was never happy with Jetpack anyway so I decided to see if Claude.ai was up to the task of rolling a fresh stats plugin and to my surprise and delight: I can now present WP-Milner-Stats, a lightweight post view tracking plugin with day, week, month, year, and multi-year breakdowns. No external services; no bloat; and after disabling Jetpack: no more missing posts.
- this has happened four times[↩]
Fake Recall in Lethbridge
The Calgary Herald posted a story about the Fake Recall1 yesterday, in which I was quoted:
“I’m not aware of anyone actually being able to sign the petition,” said Jeff Milner, a Lethbridge-East resident.
Milner was part of a group who had submitted a petition of their own to recall Neudorf, a United Conservative Party MLA, to Elections Alberta. But because Elections Alberta approved Tanner’s petition, the group’s petition was rejected.
Milner told Postmedia in December he believes the recall campaign was orchestrated to prevent “a real recall petition,” such as the one organized by him and others, from moving forward.
I also did an interview with the CBC but I after the amount of time it’s been, I’m not sure it’s ever going to air.
Colin Furze’s Magnetic Hoverboard
You can spin magnets above a copper surface and create a board that hovers, albeit not very high, but it does hover or you can freeze a superconductor and have it float above a magnetic track and also get a hover effect. The dream of course is to get a hoverboard that bounces under your feet as it floats above the ground but does not limit you to a track or localized area. Colin Furze comes close with simulating that hoverboard feeling while creating something that will still take you anywhere a skateboard will go.
The Recall that Never Was
Yours truly in an interview with Bridge City News today:
Watching the Olympics in Ukraine
Despite the heartbreaker this morning watching Canada take silver medals after losing to the United States 2-1 in three on three overtime, nevertheless, we have much to be grateful for. This thoughtful article about watching the olympics in Ukraine keeps things in perspective.
The tone of the Ukrainian Olympic coverage is humane. Like other national commentators, the Ukrainians pay attention to their own athletes. But they do a better job than some of explaining the sports, of dwelling on the funny moments, of keeping things in perspective. Hockey fights and little scandals get abundant and amused attention. Commentators and correspondents seem unscripted, and they laugh spontaneously. A sign language interpreter brings the the banter to a broader audience.
And so, ironically, when I watch the Ukrainians covering sports, I can think about the sports. I get to have that distraction, that pleasure, that moment.
And this, of course, is what Ukrainians are doing for many of the rest of us, on a vast scale, the scale of life itself: buying us time, buying us moments, with their pain, with their lives.
(Via Dave Winer)