My 15-year-old, cobbled-together computer finally gave up the ghost. It's taken me a while to get a replacement, but I finally settled on this puppy. It's taking me some time to get comfortable with it, though; going from Windows 7 to 10 has given me the bends!

Memorial Day 2017

I'm doing something different this Memorial Day. I'm gonna remember one guy, an 18-year-old kid who drowned in the surf at Normandy Beach on June 6, 1944. His backpack was too heavy, and he was too seasick from the ride to shore. He wanted to be a hero, wanted to keep America free and all that claptrap fog of war shit, but all that happened was he died. His family tree has one limb missing; he didn't get married, have kids; he didn't get to see Donkey Kong, or HDTV, or feel central air conditioning, or buy a pack of smokes at a 24/7 convenience store. He's dead. Forever.

I don't know if it matters, but thanks, kid. Thanks for trying.

The French at Normandy always remember

Kiwis in Space!

The launch site is on North Island's Mahia peninsula.

Very interesting deal, here. We're talking about launching small, low-cost creative boxes called cubesats - only a few kilos each, with photographic, weather and agricultural capabilities. New Zealand is well away from commercial air traffic patterns, so there would be little cause for launch delays because of busy skies, and the Kiwis are uniquely positioned to achieve north-south orbit.

Read all about  it, see more pictures, just click here.