Mitch's Blog

New research shows sleeping in an extra hour and a half on weekends is good for you. Previous research said you shouldn’t do that. Either way, it’s nothing to lose sleep over.

2026-09-03

The original “Star Trek” often told morality tales about the Cold War, with the Klingons standing in for the USSR.

Tom Nichols, writing at The Atlantic:

I retired from a long teaching career a few years ago, but during my later years in the classroom, I offered a course on the Cold War and American pop culture, to try to help younger students understand the fears that dominated so much of American life in the 20th century. When my students saw how many times images of nuclear devastation (and references to Ronald Reagan) popped up on MTV back in the day, they started to get it. We also discussed The Twilight Zone, a series full of barely disguised allegories about the Cold War; the series’ head writer and creator, Rod Serling, a World War II veteran, explored traumas from his past and his worries about the future in many of the episodes he wrote.

But the students were surprised—as you might be—to find that Star Trek, one of my childhood favorites, was an ongoing and intentional commentary about the Cold War during its three original seasons from 1966 to 1969.

This was not subtle — it was obvious even to me and my fellow 13-year-old Trekkies in the early 1970s.

We also thought the Romulans were stand-ins for the Communist Chinese. I don’t know whether that holds up.

2026-09-03

Watched: Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S4E7, Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass . I do not expect to have adult emotions watching Star Trek, particularly not during a gimmick episode. 📺

2026-09-03

Like “spotting a firefly buzzing around a powerful searchlight from thousands of miles away.” How the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope searches for planets in other star systems.

2026-09-04

Chris Arnade rides the 22-hour bus trip from Darwin, Australia, to Alice Springs.

2026-09-04

From the comments: “It’s also a palindrome in binary. 1001001”

Time Of The Great Freeze by Robert Silverberg, cover Harry Schaare reddit.com/r/CoolSci…_of_the_great_freeze_by_robert_silverberg/

Strange Tales Of Mystery And Terror, January 1933, cover H. W. Wesso reddit.com/r/CoolSci…_tales_of_mystery_and_terror_january_1933/

1954 Advert for Bisma-Rex reddit.com/r/vintage…

2026-09-04