While researching documents related to the formation of the Space Force, it made the most sense to begin with Space Policy Directive-4. The Space Policy Directives have been a series of executive orders released by President Trump starting in 2017. The first three of these established the desire to return to the moon; discussed regulations of the commercial use of space; and worked through how to approach space traffic management, respectively. The fourth directive establishes the United States Space Force.
Continue reading “Space Force – Part 1”Break Without Break
Even though I’ve been vaguely aware of a certain dynamic when home in Minnesota for breaks, it has somehow become more acute this year. My break is not really a break due to how difficult my routine is to track, and how many people are vying for some time together. Of course I am happy to see my friends and family during the holidays, but there is something about being back home, as if it were high school, now that I am much more independent and live on my own. It is difficult to not have my own space anymore, and to have very little time to myself. In fact, I have to work today and that sounds like it’ll be the largest mental break available to me.
What strategies are there to help fix this dynamic and reclaim my own time and space even while at home? I’m not quite sure yet. But I’m actively working on it, and making use of the bits of time available to me. However, there has not been nearly enough to investigate the Space Force as I mentioned last week, so that will have to wait a little longer until I have more time.
Exploring the Space Force
A year and a half ago, Trump announced his intentions of forming a sixth branch of the US military: the “Space Force”. Just last week, a defense bill was passed that included appropriations and direction for the creation of said branch. This felt like an excellent opportunity to dive back into research mode and figure out what I could using primary sources. So I’ve been spending time digging up memos, executive orders, and legislation related to this process. Over the next month or so I’m planning on writing a few posts discussing how we got here, what the stated intention of the Space Force was, what it sounds like it will be immediately, and what it might become in the future.
Reading these documents is tough and somewhat amusing; it makes you wonder how many words of legislation are never read. The aforementioned defense bill closes in on 4000 pages. But that’s beside the point. The relevant section is actually only about 20 pages, which then makes you wonder how much wiggle room there is. But we’ll get to that.
Of course what I’m going to come up with is probably less useful or accurate as those writing based on insider information, but I have a strong sense that many news reports began as notes taken from a spoken summary in a press briefing, then new reports are written based on the initial ones. In either case, it’s good to be aware of where these documents are accessible, even if reading some parts is an exercise in futility.
Kindle vs. Nook
During this year’s Black Friday, I switched teams in the (not very large) e-reader wars. Ever since I was a sophomore in high school, I’ve used some sort of Nook from Barnes and Noble. Growing up, I always loved Barnes and Noble. Sure it’s a chain, but it’s still a bookstore and I enjoyed supporting it. This extended to the Nook. It always felt like they had better features for a slightly cheaper price than the Kindles that were available. They received backlights on the base model well before the Kindle did, and they still have physical buttons.
Despite all that, the Kindle has finally eclipsed the Nook in certain key features that are useful for me: water resistance, integration with libraries, file transfer, and services.
For reference, I specifically have the Kindle Paperwhite 2018, and previously had the Nook Glowlight 3.
Continue reading “Kindle vs. Nook”Season Dissonance
Once again it’s supposed to winter, and yet it is not. In fact, we finally achieved “sweater weather” status in San Diego the other week with an uncharacteristic amount of rain and high 50’s temperatures. It’s still odd trying to adjust, and I feel a lot of dissonance between the weather and what 23 years of experience tells me should be happening.
I don’t expect I’ll ever fully adjust, and I think that’s okay. Proper winter will always have a special place in my heart. And at least I can bake cookies.
More Nostalgic Reading
Earlier this year I reread (and finally finished) the Inheritance Cycle, which is the series with Eragon. It’s an excellent set of books that had a lot of nostalgia for me. Now that my month-long writing spring is over, I’ve been able to start reading more and the next series I’m focused on is also somewhat nostalgia-fueled. I’m reading His Dark Materials (the most well-known book being the first in the trilogy, The Golden Compass). I first read this series back in 7th grade, and I remember enjoying it but remember very little about the specifics. I also know that it is a fantasy written by the author in his own voice, not written for a particular audience. In that way it’s very approachable and enjoyable for anyone, and I’m enjoying reading it from an adult perspective. It’s not totally fresh, as plot points and characters are coming back to me as I read, but it’s good so far. It makes for a fun and exciting read, and I’m looking forward to working my way through the trilogy this month.
Won and Done?
I officially “won” NaNoWriMo as of writing this post on November 23.
Fighting Through Burnout
As I mentioned last week, I’m participating in National Novel Writing Month. As of writing this blog post I’ve reached 37,000 words in my novel, which I’m quite happy about. I found the first week or so pretty easy to manage, and I consistently went above the official daily word goal.
The last week has been a bit tougher. I set a personal daily goal of 2000 words, and I have managed to hit it every day so far. But it’s been tough at times. Many nights I’ll have only written 800 words or so, and think about just calling it for the day since I’m ahead of the official mark. But part of this month is being disciplined on my own; the official goals aren’t that meaningful, they are just a guide. I want to do this with internal motivation, that’s the real challenge.
One trick, or probably more of a strange placebo, that I have found works is using an app like Forest (or really, just some count-down timer) to do what cool writers call “word sprints”. I’ve found fifteen minutes is the sweet spot for me. I get locked into trying to write as much as I can in fifteen minutes, which is really the length of a YouTube video that’s a bit longer than average. It’s a unit of time I can easily wrap my head around. And in each sprint I tend to get at least 500 words. I then take a short break, and repeat again. I’m not sure why it works, but it doesn’t leave me feeling burned out; I tend to feel more energized in my writing after accomplishing one.
I don’t have much else to say (I’m in the middle of one of those days where I’m at about 1200 words and it’s 9:30 pm) except try playing around with ideas for avoiding burnout. I find that setting up systems to avoid short-term fatigue can be incredibly beneficial in staving off long-term issues as well.