I’ve been back from Norway for a couple of weeks, but for the first week was too wacked out from jet lag to do much of anything. I was thinking that were I to do a coding marathon of 30+ hours, skip one night’s sleep then get to bed at a “normal” time, I could do a hard reset of my internal clock. Nope. Didn’t work. Screwed me up (well, more than normal). The trip was terrific, but too short. While I don’t...

25 years ago, while working at the NASA Ames Research Center, I got the idea to create an astronomy program for computer users. It started out as a 17 line BASIC program and I’ve been polishing it up ever since. Thanks to you, Distant Suns has become one of the longest-lived, continually published, consumer software titles still on the market, bested only by products like Windows, Microsoft Word, and Broderbund’s Print Shop. I...

We here at DSWHQforGD (Distant Suns World HQ for Global Domination) get a lot of interesting things in the mail. No astronomy app developer should be without at least one “space helmet” to dress up the dump. Can anyone guess what movie or TV show this is from? If so, you’ll receive a handsome “prize” (meaning I’ll find some piece-of.some worthy item around here I want to get rid of). Give up? Okay. The helmet...

In what surely must be ranked as one of Apple’s most closely held secrets to date, word has leaked out that the rumored September 12 event has absolutely nothing to do with the iPhone 5, but instead will witness the introduction of the Cupertino company’s latest foray into a previously untapped market…  

In honor of one of the most beloved and sicking of all Easter temptations, Peeps, the local newspaper is having a contest of Peep inspired dioramas. Here is my entry, “Open the Peep-bay doors Hal!” I was going to fill up my full-scale 2001 helmet replica with them and title it “My God it’s full of Peeps!” But this one was too perfect and only needed two of the things. So, what am I to do with 3 dozen extra Peeps now? To see some other...

On Columbus Day weekend we celebrate “Fleet Week” here in the San Francisco Bay Area. Navy ships in the areatake part in a parade of ships, followed by their smaller counterparts by the dozens. We are treated to a grand air show over the bay, culminating with the Blue Angels. Instead of facing the traffic and parking problems the San Francisco is notorious for, I opted to go out on a boat. This “boat” was a wonderful recreation of a...