iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

The attacks on 9/11 constituted an unprecedented, stunning, complicated event. It wasn't surprising that some citizens questioned the official story. But here's the last word on the technology and engineering involved. mattbille.blogspot.com/2026/09/tech...

mattbille.blogspot.com

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

I’ve not said much lately about my upcoming scientific thriller Apex Predator, but now we have a firm publication date. Blackstone, my first large publisher, will launch it February 23. Very excited! I’ll post more often as we enter the home stretch. www.blackstonepublishing.com/products/boo...

blackstonepublishing.com

Apex Predator

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

The last changes and inputs went to Blackstone Publishing in response to the line edit of my scientific thriller Apex Predator, due out in February. Apex is my effort to elevate the prehistoric creature thriller with a literate novel focused on human drama and accurate science. Onwards!

Author Matt Bille standing next to a skull of the prehistoric fish Dunkleosteus at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science.

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Constitution? Rule of law? Inalienable rights?

Vigilantism? Doing extrajudicial violence to citizens, however screwed up, who have the same rights you do? I thought only lunatics like the KKK claimed the right to hurt whoever they wanted.

The military is executing orders and doing its missions... but the orders have no logical purpose. I don't know if there's anything that damages morale more than telling pilots to risk their lives for no objective you can understand.

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We did lots. We didn't take over public spaces and wreck them.

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No, but for most of us rioting was out of bounds.

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Jim Butcher: "It's not about sitting around drinking coffee and waiting for the muse. You don't have a muse. You have a mortgage."

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Sharks are vital to ecosystems, mostly not dangerous, and amazingly varied and adaptive. There are some 500 species filling every niche, and more are found every year. They're not all hanging off Amityville looking for tourists.

60+ guy replies: we were outside. We weren't taking over and trashing public spaces in huge groups. We were dumb sometimes, sure, and not always law-abiding, but we were not like this.

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Agreed. Fortunately I think the House at least is going to flip.

How do you root out bigots? Anyone can hide their flags, say the right things in public, and act like proper citizens when they want to.

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Harder and harder to believe these are tragic misjudgments or any ICE claim is true. If you massively increase numbers at an armed agency and shorten training, you're going to get some jerks who shouldn't have guns and aren't LE professionals. That's on the bosses at ICE, DHS, and the President.

MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

I'm in deep enough on something I shouldn't have said, because I don't have expertise beyond simply being a parent. I bow out of the discussion.

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If it's the evil capitalist conspiracy, Why was it universally expected throughout modern history, in every nation under every system, including those with NO support programs, that parents handled basic parenting?

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

When dis you work with them? (Curious space historian)

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 12/07/2026

Those of us 60+ are very interested in warding off dementia, but a lesson from the admittedly fuzzy data is that healthy changes should start long before that.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 10/07/2026

And that's just stuff we know about. You can do a lot of reasonable extrapolation. What if they are marrying technologies X and Y? What if technology Z is developed another decade?

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Cost to drivers for damage to finishes and windshields would not be trivial.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

Isn't the first one still true?

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

I don't know how or if I'm technically divergent, though ADHD was suggested. But it's really different for everyone. There are days it's a waste of time for me to write, though I think you have to try a little when your schedule allows some time. Just remember the best advice is what works for you.

Nina Willburger @drnwillburger.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Reposted by MattBille

Just another monday... A grumpy #squid on a Greek #fish plate from Apulia, dating 330-300 BC. Fish plates were decorated with various examples of seafood. They were invented in Athens in the 5th century BC. Most of them are found in Southern Italy, where they were produced in... 🧵1/2

A detail of a Greek fish plate, with a red squid on a black background. The squid looks a bit grumpy.

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Accurately or not, the most obvious answer is that journalists dislike DT as much as I do and want to see a Democratic Senate as a brake on him. Fair?

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Your apology, rare in the media, is greatly appreciated. There's a fascinating study to be done on why so many intelligent people saw only the parts of him they wanted to and handed Republicans who claim the media is biased a silver bullet.

Not only that, except for DT no one has any interest in it. It wasn't on the wish list of a single person in the government that we know of.

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Agreed but who pays? Authors can't afford it. Journals will use it to inflate prices. Universities would take it out of the grant.

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For those of you who love insects, good news: there are many more species than we knew. For those who hate insects, bad news.

How do you estimate WS population in an area? Sonar? Net sampling?

Scientists need all the humor they can come up with these days

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Legends capture truths too terrible to tell.

Good novel, great characters. The author did her research in the space program - as a space geek/historian I had minor nitpicks but that's all.

Can't agree. You can like or dislike the idea of nation-states, but there's no realistic way they are going to vanish. Maybe in 150-200 years. Until then we have to work with what we've got.

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Intelligent policies, explained so people understand them, plus a rational vs irrational love of country, used to work. I think.

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Patriotism is a good thing - if you understand it. If you think it means, "my country is perfect," it's a road to disaster. Patriotism should mean "my country is worth perfecting. "

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Patriotism should not mean "my country is perfect." It means "my country is worth perfecting."

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Great discovery (I don't know how I'd missed it).

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

This is really cool (unless it happens again).

MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

As a longtime space analyst, I think the US should take the lead to forge an agreement limiting mega constellations to two or three in consortia like the 1960s Communications Satellite Corp (COMSAT). Alas the current administration won't try, and U.S. participation is vital. I don't know the answer

u.us

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Having studied space exploration and utilization for decades now, I can't see the logic in the data centers (you get efficient solar power, but waste heat will be a massive pain), and smart policy in giant networks would be to have one or two with consortium ownership vs the many now in work.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

One need not ignore the problems of the NIH and NSF to say they are valuable. They are not perfectly efficient or insulated from politics, but more funding ends up doing important science. The op-Ed cites only existing private funding: the author ducks the fact it would not increase to fill the gap.

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MattBille @mattbille.bsky.social · 01/07/2026

Harvey Specter. Would be disbarred about three times per episode of Suits, but if the stakes are high, I want him.