C. J. Cherryh

Latest Crazy floating the interwebs: "AI creates new Sun...solar will replace oil and free power forever!!!!"
The actual story: an AI app has taken our data about the Sun and collated it into a spherical rendition: because we know the speed at which the Sun rotates and can see PART of its poles thanks to instruments in space, we can take that info, turn it into a visual of a globe we can rotate to any angle and much more accurately predict when we're about to have solar weather (sunspots, flares, etc) that can damage EARTH's orbiting weather sats and, potentially, power sats, and our communications and other things impacted by solar activity---predict and send them into safe mode, because, I assure you, nobody can futz with the Sun, which will go on and do what it does. We can build larger solar power installations, potentially sited, eg, IN SPACE, with the assurance we can see around corners (well, the far side of the Sun) and predict what's coming so we can protect those investments.

Nope, we're not building another Sun. Nope, that's not how you do solar power. But protecting the installation of power in orbit and on the ground, that, we have a new tool to use.

Many people who've paid zero attention to world economics---may not realize the problem with the Houthi attacks...but they're taking place at the point where a good portion of all world ocean shipping passes through choke points, and it makes shippers rethink their routings and schedules. This means shortages on the one hand and price increases on the other.
This affects world economics directly.

People tend to look at local matters and the goods at their hardware store or gas pump as untouched by world politics.

Not so. Where ships, weather, and politics are involved, we are as vulnerable to all three as our ancestors in the 'Colonies' or any other point in an unexplored globe, waiting for goods to arrive.

Allergic to Christmas trees, real OR artificial ones [after a year's storage?]
I've got a fix---at least partial.
I sadly AM that allergic---either to the real trees OR the mold/breakdown of artifical stuff on the made-ones.

And if exposed to them I come down with a terrible runny nose, stinging sinuses and sneezing that will, through irritation and bacteria, lead to a nasty nasal infection in real short order. Usually it takes about 2 weeks of exposure.

This year it got me ahead of time. And in determination not to ruin Jane's beautiful Christmas decorations---I've come up with a fix good enough to suggest you MIGHT be able to attend a Christmas party with real evergreen and live---or tolerate the fake ones after your own allergies have cut in. I'm spending most of my time in my room with the windows open to winter---BUT---from helpless sneezing and misery, I've gotten to the point I can come into the living room, have supper, watch a little telly unmasked. And masked up I'm good for a few more hours.

You know those good ol' N95 masks we have so many of?
Yup. And I've got a brilliant fix for the discomfort of ears in long wearing thereof---a hook or rubber band pony tail holder to connect the two ends of the ear-piece loops at the nape of your neck instead of behind your ears. I learned that from one of my docs.

So....at least a little holiday cheer made available, eh? You've got to spend a few hours in the open clean air, but you can mask up and tolerate an evening sociality without constant Kleenex and sneezing.

Another little tip for neuropathy sufferers (nerve damage to hands, feet) ---
Aspercreme. A little dab (1/2") used as a hand cream. Knocks back the over-sensitivity and increases circulation.
You're welcome.

I love creative, nervy science.

Fighting superbugs: Scientists bring molecules back from the dead | CNN The search for new antibiotics is going back to the Stone Age. Bioengineers are using AI-based computational methods to mine genetic info from Neanderthals and more.

In my feed are 2 people who've caught Covid for the holidays. It takes 2 weeks to get full immunity from the shots.

You have less than that time for Christmas day, but 90% is better than less-than-that. Run down to the drugstore and get that booster if you've been too busy or forgot. There's still time to get it.

Let me speak a moment to young people (women and men) who may be freaked out about the possibility of breast cancer.
1. it's equal-opportunity risk---we share the same internal structures, no matter that men don't use them.
2. if you are good and get your mammograms once a year you are NEVER likely to be blindsided by the appearance of a 'lump' that's grown beyond a manageable size.
3. if you fear disfigurement or inability---it's not likely an issue AT ALL if you pursue it annually: I just had one excised that I couldn't feel even when I KNEW where it was. And I delivered it to the surgeon who rid me of it---about the size of a pencil eraser---with NO visible disfigurement except the thin surgery scars, no imbalance of size, FYI. Nor even much pain.. Itching is another matter (the surgery) but you can survive itching. And I'm 'cured' of cancer. No problem. No big deal. I had zero pain, and I'm up and running in two days, back to my exercise program. As opposed to---you don't ever wanna go there.

PLEASE get those annual checks. Guys, too!

I happened across a very nice article on the internal structure of the Roman Republic: it's rare you see this information collected in one place, so for those of you who like to understand things, you may appreciate this.
Rome is fairly unique in its development of a non-monarchical government so early in history (509 BCE)---and then its struggling reversion to an 'iron man' control (supposedly in the establishment of the Empire (44 BCE) ---but even the Empire wasn't as 'one iron hand' as most assume it was---emperors had limits: sometimes one would go way over those limits, but the system that defined Rome as a 'partial autocracy' remained quite potent right through some of the worst of the emperors. [Rome again defied labels, because while it had 'emperors', the term never meant what 'king' meant in, say, China, eg, or even Tudor England. There was always, even if momentarily trampled upon, the concept of 'constitutional, institutional, not-hereditary, and ultimately replaceable.'

Here's your reference to the Romans' earliest power structure.

Roman tribe - Wikipedia A tribus, or tribe, was a division of the Roman people for military, censorial, and voting purposes. When constituted in the comitia tributa, the tribes were the voting units of a legislative assembly of the Roman Republic.[1][2]

Coming this October from the amazing duo C. J. Cherryh and Jane S Fancher… DEFIANCE! Available for preorder at your favorite bookstore now: https://bit.ly/3ItrWIT

The 22nd book in the beloved Foreigner saga continues the adventures of diplomat Bren Cameron as he navigates the tenuous peace he has struck between human refugees and the alien atevi… The Foreigner series sets the standard for sci-fi first contact sagas—a smart, probing, engaging sociopolitical narrative from an acknowledged master of the genre.

C J Cherryh Appreciation Group C. J. Cherryh

Voila! The action-packed cover of ALLIANCE UNBOUND, coming from Cj Cherryh and Jane S. Fancher in January. This is the 2nd novel of The Hinder Stars series, returning to the intergalactic corporate conflict, set in the Hugo Award–winning Alliance-Union Universe. Preorder at your favorite bookstore: https://bit.ly/3ZWa3YX