Kate Orman
@kateorman.bsky.social
http://kateorman.wordpress.com. she/her
Three Doctor Who novels available at Penguin Books: https://www.penguin.co.uk/search-results?q=kate+orman
Black Archives: The Pyramids of Mars https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/12-pyramids/
Three Doctor Who novels available at Penguin Books: https://www.penguin.co.uk/search-results?q=kate+orman
Black Archives: The Pyramids of Mars https://obversebooks.co.uk/product/12-pyramids/
Pinned
Kate Orman
@kateorman.bsky.social
· Jul 25
she/her
Occasional news kateorman.wordpress.com
Doctor Who Novels www.penguin.co.uk/search-results?q=kate+orman
Black Archives: Pyramids of Mars obversebooks.co.uk/product/12-pyramids/
Read "Saltier" free at IZ Digital interzone.digital/saltier/
The Mirror Matter - 3rd Dr audio www.bigfinish.com/
Occasional news kateorman.wordpress.com
Doctor Who Novels www.penguin.co.uk/search-results?q=kate+orman
Black Archives: Pyramids of Mars obversebooks.co.uk/product/12-pyramids/
Read "Saltier" free at IZ Digital interzone.digital/saltier/
The Mirror Matter - 3rd Dr audio www.bigfinish.com/
The moon covers itself in regolith for the same reason a cactus covers itself in prickles. (See also: Mars)
Lots of challenges for sustained human presence on the Moon. One of them is dealing with regolith:
"We don’t know if it’s deadly, ... I’m really worried we’re going to plump a billion dollars’ worth of hardware on the Moon, and within three months it will be unusable.”
"We don’t know if it’s deadly, ... I’m really worried we’re going to plump a billion dollars’ worth of hardware on the Moon, and within three months it will be unusable.”
Sustaining Life on the Moon is Harder Than it Looks
Artemis requires scientists and researchers to find long-term solutions to the problems space creates for human health.
payloadspace.com
November 28, 2025 at 12:46 AM
The moon covers itself in regolith for the same reason a cactus covers itself in prickles. (See also: Mars)
There are many YouTube videos about unimaginably large numbers (Numberphile is very good for them). They terrify me, and I think it's because of the irrational feeling that, having come this far, you could never get back again.
😵 The INSANE Scale of NUMBERS (From 1 to Infinity) 😮 3D Comparison
YouTube video by MetaBallStudios
www.youtube.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:23 PM
There are many YouTube videos about unimaginably large numbers (Numberphile is very good for them). They terrify me, and I think it's because of the irrational feeling that, having come this far, you could never get back again.
Had a little wobble about the novel. Is this the sort of SF that I want to be writing? Shouldn't there be more rocketships and stuff? Heck with it, bang out a draft, figure it out as you go.
November 27, 2025 at 11:24 AM
Had a little wobble about the novel. Is this the sort of SF that I want to be writing? Shouldn't there be more rocketships and stuff? Heck with it, bang out a draft, figure it out as you go.
Read this thread
I'm not the only author I know who has a huge surfeit of ideas for books that we would love to write and send out into the world if only we had the time to write them.
November 27, 2025 at 11:12 AM
Read this thread
Reposted by Kate Orman
Love that it's still exploring
November 26, 2025 at 9:57 PM
Love that it's still exploring
The Bookshop Darlinghurst is still trading until 24 Dec; nip over to their bricks-and-mortar store, or their Web site, and buy someone a Christmas present (you!). www.thebookshop.com.au
I'm sadder about this than I can possibly say. I came here for the first time as a baby dyke and maxed out my meagre funds on a copy of "Tipping the Velvet" I still own. One of my dreams was to see my own book on the shelf here one day. I'm sad beyond words. www.starobserver.com.au/news/sydney-...
Sydney Loses Beloved Institution: Bookshop Darlinghurst to Close After 43 Years - Star Observer
It is with a heavy heart we share: after 43 years of serving Sydney’s LGBTQ+ community, The Bookshop Darlinghurst is closing its doors.
www.starobserver.com.au
November 26, 2025 at 8:36 PM
The Bookshop Darlinghurst is still trading until 24 Dec; nip over to their bricks-and-mortar store, or their Web site, and buy someone a Christmas present (you!). www.thebookshop.com.au
... horrible suspicion that the solution to the Fermi paradox goes like this:
1. To contact other planets, you need an industrial civilisation.
2. Industrial civilisations destroy themselves with pollution.
A galaxy of worlds sparking into radio life for a couple of centuries, then falling silent.
1. To contact other planets, you need an industrial civilisation.
2. Industrial civilisations destroy themselves with pollution.
A galaxy of worlds sparking into radio life for a couple of centuries, then falling silent.
I reckon the evolutionary mechanisms that generate intelligent life also make it highly likely it destroys itself upsettingly soon after achieving industrialisation. hope everyone's having a good tuesday
November 26, 2025 at 7:09 AM
... horrible suspicion that the solution to the Fermi paradox goes like this:
1. To contact other planets, you need an industrial civilisation.
2. Industrial civilisations destroy themselves with pollution.
A galaxy of worlds sparking into radio life for a couple of centuries, then falling silent.
1. To contact other planets, you need an industrial civilisation.
2. Industrial civilisations destroy themselves with pollution.
A galaxy of worlds sparking into radio life for a couple of centuries, then falling silent.
Reposted by Kate Orman
New observations of Uranus’s small inner moons to be presented at #AGU25 reveal that they’re darker, redder, and more water-poor than their larger counterparts. And they’re not always where they should be. 🧪🔭🪐 eos.org/articles/ura...
Uranus’s Small Moons Are Dark, Red, and Water-Poor - Eos
…Except for Mab, which is even weirder than expected.
eos.org
November 25, 2025 at 2:22 PM
New observations of Uranus’s small inner moons to be presented at #AGU25 reveal that they’re darker, redder, and more water-poor than their larger counterparts. And they’re not always where they should be. 🧪🔭🪐 eos.org/articles/ura...
Five well-spent minutes.
CODE ROSE
YouTube video by École des Nouvelles Images
www.youtube.com
November 25, 2025 at 10:53 PM
Five well-spent minutes.
Some years ago I was sitting on a bus when I suddenly realised that everything in the universe had once been in one place. Like, really realised it. There's a proton on the other side of Laniakea that used to be in exactly the same place as every atom in my body. Comforting.
November 25, 2025 at 6:52 AM
Some years ago I was sitting on a bus when I suddenly realised that everything in the universe had once been in one place. Like, really realised it. There's a proton on the other side of Laniakea that used to be in exactly the same place as every atom in my body. Comforting.
“You’ll be visited by three spirits.”
The three spirits:
The three spirits:
November 24, 2025 at 11:41 PM
“You’ll be visited by three spirits.”
The three spirits:
The three spirits:
Plot of novel (code-named INVINCIBLE SMILE after that fake Camus quote, better title later) starting to shape up after what feels like aeons of struggle. Still, better to figure out what the hell is going on now than to figure it out 2/3 of the way through the book!
November 24, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Plot of novel (code-named INVINCIBLE SMILE after that fake Camus quote, better title later) starting to shape up after what feels like aeons of struggle. Still, better to figure out what the hell is going on now than to figure it out 2/3 of the way through the book!
'kn A
Man Who Thought Fleetwood Mac’s ‘The Chain’ Was Over In For Thrill Of His Fucking Life https://theonion.com/man-who-thought-fleetwood-macs-the-chain-was-over-in-for-thrill-of-his-fucking-life/
November 24, 2025 at 9:46 PM
'kn A
Now to watch the final episodes of Alice In Borderland and again feel that whole-body clench. Argh
November 24, 2025 at 9:03 AM
Now to watch the final episodes of Alice In Borderland and again feel that whole-body clench. Argh
Writing a role-play scene for skool. Straightforward enough, except that I so want to end on a punchline.
November 24, 2025 at 1:59 AM
Writing a role-play scene for skool. Straightforward enough, except that I so want to end on a punchline.
Saw a thread on Reddit discussing the most beautiful passages people had read in SF. My mind went to the Library in Larry Niven's novel Protector: "They were nearly indestructible, those books. They would have emerged like fluttering meteors from the heart of a hydrogen fusion explosion."
November 23, 2025 at 10:43 PM
Saw a thread on Reddit discussing the most beautiful passages people had read in SF. My mind went to the Library in Larry Niven's novel Protector: "They were nearly indestructible, those books. They would have emerged like fluttering meteors from the heart of a hydrogen fusion explosion."
Reposted by Kate Orman
Happy Doctor Who day!
November 23, 2025 at 4:15 PM
Happy Doctor Who day!
What’s the lore behind choosing your career path ?
In Year 9 we had to write one page about a bushfire. I wrote four, anthropomorphising the fire (and being awful to sheep). At 14 I still intended to be a scientist and find the cure for cancer, but I'd found something I really, really liked doing.
In Year 9 we had to write one page about a bushfire. I wrote four, anthropomorphising the fire (and being awful to sheep). At 14 I still intended to be a scientist and find the cure for cancer, but I'd found something I really, really liked doing.
I won a writing competition when I was about 9, and the author David Henry Wilson came into school and gave me a prize (book tokens naturally).
What’s the lore behind choosing your career path ?
November 23, 2025 at 12:22 AM
What’s the lore behind choosing your career path ?
In Year 9 we had to write one page about a bushfire. I wrote four, anthropomorphising the fire (and being awful to sheep). At 14 I still intended to be a scientist and find the cure for cancer, but I'd found something I really, really liked doing.
In Year 9 we had to write one page about a bushfire. I wrote four, anthropomorphising the fire (and being awful to sheep). At 14 I still intended to be a scientist and find the cure for cancer, but I'd found something I really, really liked doing.
Reposted by Kate Orman
Journalist challenge: Use “Machine Learning” when you mean machine learning and “LLM” when you mean LLM. Ditch “AI” as a catch-all term, it’s not useful for readers and it helps companies trying to confuse the public by obscuring the roles played by different technologies. 🧪
November 22, 2025 at 4:50 PM
Journalist challenge: Use “Machine Learning” when you mean machine learning and “LLM” when you mean LLM. Ditch “AI” as a catch-all term, it’s not useful for readers and it helps companies trying to confuse the public by obscuring the roles played by different technologies. 🧪
I would write the heck out of the Doctor's first encounter with Bastet -- the ferocious lioness version, rather than the cuddly kitty.
In The Story & the Engine, the Doctor refutes the Barber's claim to be Anansi, Dionysus, Sága, Bastet and Loki with personal memories of the first four. He leaves out Loki: a hybrid trickster, liar and shapeshifter, normally male but sometimes female, who lives among gods but isn't one of them. Hmm.
November 22, 2025 at 10:09 PM
I would write the heck out of the Doctor's first encounter with Bastet -- the ferocious lioness version, rather than the cuddly kitty.
A bit of fun. science.nasa.gov/photojournal...
Europa Clipper Captures Uranus With Star Tracker Camera - NASA Science
NASA’s Europa Clipper captured this image of a starfield — and the planet Uranus — on Nov. 5, 2025, while experimenting with one of its two stellar reference
science.nasa.gov
November 22, 2025 at 7:42 AM
A bit of fun. science.nasa.gov/photojournal...
Windows going 100% CPU has been a PITA for me forever. I think I've found the fix at last: using the Group Policy Editor to limit CPU use by malware service executable. I'm linking it here in case anyone else has the same problem. learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answer...
antimalware service executable high cpu usage - Microsoft Q&A
slow performance
learn.microsoft.com
November 22, 2025 at 1:57 AM
Windows going 100% CPU has been a PITA for me forever. I think I've found the fix at last: using the Group Policy Editor to limit CPU use by malware service executable. I'm linking it here in case anyone else has the same problem. learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answer...
I've said this before, but: Saturn's rings might have only been there for a few hundred million years, and might only last another hundred million. Now, the Earth's been around for four and a half *billion* years. How lucky we are to be alive at the right time to see the rings!
Man, everything is so bleak, anyone got a fun fact or little bit of trivia they want to share
November 21, 2025 at 7:31 AM
I've said this before, but: Saturn's rings might have only been there for a few hundred million years, and might only last another hundred million. Now, the Earth's been around for four and a half *billion* years. How lucky we are to be alive at the right time to see the rings!
Reading this and worrying again about whether Angel Bob is conscious or not. (I suppose one reason the p-zombie is terrifying is because you don't know what's happening inside its head, like someone wearing a mask, only in reverse.)
In which I articulate the case that AGI is impossible and machines just plain cannot think. www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/on-inco...
On Incomputable Language: An Essay on AI
An incidental consequence of having written a book on tech-fascism and the so-called rationalist movement is that I find myself periodically queried for my thoughts on artificial intelligence. On the ...
www.eruditorumpress.com
November 20, 2025 at 7:32 AM
Reading this and worrying again about whether Angel Bob is conscious or not. (I suppose one reason the p-zombie is terrifying is because you don't know what's happening inside its head, like someone wearing a mask, only in reverse.)