Author Archives: Brian H. Gill

About Brian H. Gill

I was born in 1951. I'm a husband, father and grandfather. One of the kids graduated from college in December, 2008, and is helping her husband run businesses and raise my granddaughter; another is a cartoonist and artist; #3 daughter is a writer; my son is developing a digital game with #3 and #1 daughters. I'm also a writer and artist.

Porphyrion: Black Hole Jets on a Cosmic Scale

We’ve known about “black hole jet systems” for some time, but never one as big as Porphyrion: a 23,000,000 light-year giant. I’ll be talking about that today, along with how astronomers have been studying it, a plausible explanation for its … Continue reading

Posted in Discursive Detours, Journal, Science News | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Minnesota is Not Burning

I’ll be talking about something else this week, but I’ve noticed that the stalking specter of climate change has shifted from California to the east coast. Meanwhile, here in central Minnesota, we’re under a Red Flag Warning. In other words, … Continue reading

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Neanderthals: Sensible, Decent Homebodies; and My Ancestors

A long time ago, some folks were — apparently — living happily in the Rhône River Valley. Whether or not they were happy there, we’ve found evidence that they stayed near what we call the Grotte Mandrin for 50,000 years. … Continue reading

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Radian Aerospace PFV01, Remembering Max Valier

It’s not what I’m writing about this week, but an article in TechCrunch about a prototype space plane got my attention. And reminded me of a promising development of the 1920s that didn’t work out. About a century back, someone … Continue reading

Posted in Back to the Moon, Onward to Mars, Discursive Detours, Series | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Principles, Priorities, Politics: and Being Catholic

Another election is looming, so I’m reviewing how being a Catholic affects how I vote. I’ll mention what the USCCB (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) calls the “Seven Themes of Catholic Social Teaching”, share some links, and talk about … Continue reading

Posted in Being a Citizen, Being Catholic, Journal | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments