Cannonade Microblog Feed

5 min read Original article ↗

Artemis II

April 7, 2026, 9:17 pm

Recently, we've waded a little way out, maybe ankle-deep, and the water seems inviting - Carl Sagan

Captured by the Artemis II crew during their lunar flyby on April 6, 2026, this image shows the Moon fully eclipsing the Sun. From the crew’s perspective, the Moon appears large enough to completely block the Sun, creating nearly 54 minutes of totality and extending the view far beyond what is possible from Earth. We see a glowing halo around the dark lunar disk. The science community is investigating whether this effect is due to the corona, zodiacal light, or a combination of the two. Also visible are stars, typically too faint to see when imaging the Moon, but with the Moon in darkness stars are readily imaged. This unique vantage point provides both a striking visual and a valuable opportunity for astronauts to document their observations during humanity’s return to deep space. The faint glow of the nearside of the Moon is visible in this image, having been illuminated by light reflected off the Earth. NASA’s Orion spacecraft captures the Moon and the Earth in one frame during the Artemis II crew’s deep space journey at 6:42 p.m. ET on the sixth day of the mission. The right side of NASA’s Orion spacecraft is seen lit up by the Sun. A waxing crescent Moon is visible behind it. And then, a crescent Earth, tiny compared to the Moon, is about to set below the Moon’s horizon on the right. Credit: NASA The Artemis II crew captures a portion of the Moon coming into view along the terminator – the boundary between lunar day and night – where low-angle sunlight casts long, dramatic shadows across the surface. This grazing light accentuates the Moon’s rugged topography, revealing craters, ridges, and basin structures in striking detail. Features along the terminator such as Jule Crater, Birkhoff Crater, Stebbins Crater, and surrounding highlands stand out. From this perspective, the interplay of light and shadow highlights the complexity of the lunar surface in ways not visible under full illumination. The image was captured about three hours into the crew’s lunar observation period, as they flew around the far side of the Moon on the sixth day of the mission. Earthset captured through the Orion spacecraft window at 6:41 p.m. EDT, April 6, 2026, during the Artemis II crew’s flyby of the Moon. A muted blue Earth with bright white clouds sets behind the cratered lunar surface. The dark portion of Earth is experiencing nighttime. On Earth’s day side, swirling clouds are visible over the Australia and Oceania region. In the foreground, Ohm crater has terraced edges and a flat floor interrupted by central peaks. Central peaks form in complex craters when the lunar surface, liquefied on impact, splashes upwards during the crater’s formation.

Images from the March/April 2026 Artemis II Mission

Permalink - Comments - Tags: Misc

Monsters and Memories

March 13, 2026, 10:03 am

Twenty six years ago I was pretty enthusiastic about the future of what I thought as a "graphical mud", so it's suprising that it has taken this long for a game to appear that feels like a spiritual successor to Everquest. Last year the the Monsters and Memories team made this trailer as part of the ramped up schedule of playtests:

The trailer demonstrates pretty much everything I love about this game, the aesthetics, the technology (doing things that weren't possible in 1999), the nod to EQ and other games from that era.

I became aware of this game during aLovingRobot's facinating interviews with early Everquest developers that he recorded in 2020 (at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic). Occasionally Shawn (aLovingRobot) would mention an MMO side project he was working on. It's pretty extrodinary that this side project has grown to something so significant. This very early development footage gives you a sense of how far the project has come.

It's impressive how this small, self funded team has been building this game in public over the last four years. They have been completely transparent about when and how they will take money and I think, without the demands that come with crowd funding, that's created a pretty special community around the game.

Monsters & Memories will use a monthly subscription model with no microtransactions of any kind and no box price ... In-game coolness should be earned.

The artists, designers and developers working on the project often do so on stream and I really recommend checking out and supporting these talented people if this is something you're interested in:

The art style is obviously lower resolution than what people might have come to expect from modern triple A games, but it's a deliberate choice. I think, not based on what's achievable for a small team, instead an aesthetic that just works for this kind of fantasy world. Combined with with amazing lighting and sound design the character and world art comes alive.

If you watch a few of these streams you get the strong impression that these people, despite being very talented, work incredibly hard and care deeply about this game. It really shows.

This impression has been reinforced by the amount of fun I have had in the handful of playtests I have been able to join over the last couple of years. The following two screenshots are a perfect example of the kind of thing you constantly encounter while moving through the world this team has created.

In the first you can see my goblin avatar standing at the entrance of a tiny crypt built into a cliffside. This particular crypt entrance was one of a few running along a pretty remote cliffside that I had climbed up to have a look at. I had checked out a few at this point and just found the occasional coffin, an abandoned cart, nothing really unexpected.

On your way back out, if you happened to glance up, this is what you see. The developer who placed that giant skeleton hanging from the roof above the door knew exactly what they were doing and I absolutely love it.

Following are a few more screenshots from my playtest adventures. I can't wait for EA and look forward to paying my monthly subscription for a long time to come.

Permalink - Comments - Tags: Games

The Rose Field (The Book of Dust, #3) - Philip Pullman

November 29, 2025, 12:00 am

Unsatisfying. This review expresses eloquently something like what I felt finishing the series.

Permalink - Comments - Tags: Books,Review

Shroud Pod

November 15, 2025, 1:07 am

Outside, the pod's various limbs clattered and banged as Ste Etienne moved them about. I began to appreciate the versatility of its design, for a vehicle that was going into such an unknown. The collar around the pod that had the legs fixed to it, with the main body of the pod designed to pivot freely within it, ensured that we, the occupants, were kept the right way up no matter what. An important consideration given how much work the cushioning couches were doing to support our fragile Earth evolved bodies. There was another collar, entirely free moving, that bore the various extendable arms, so St Etienne could use them to get tat any part of the pod's exterior she needed to, as well as any proximate part of Shroud we wanted to sample or molest.

Shroud is the recent hard sci fi novel from Adrian Tchaikovsky which inspired my latest Blender 3D modelling project. I'd learnt quite a bit about creating armiatures on my last project (another Adrian Tchaikovsky inspired scene) so getting the robotic arms and legs rigged up was quite straighforward.

Getting the lighting and atmostphere set up was more of a challenge. I wanted it to feel very soupy, but still have some of the detail on the model visible in the scene. Especially tricky given, in the authors words, "the entire thing takes place in complete darkness". I am quite pleased with how it turned out.

Permalink - Comments - Tags: Art?,3D

La Belle Sauvage (The Book of Dust, #1) - Philip Pullman

November 4, 2025, 12:00 am

There was a terrace above the river, where peacocks (one called Norman and the other called Barry) stalked among the drinkers, helping themselves to snacks without the slightest hesitation and occasionally lifting their heads to utter ferocious and meaningless screams.

One of my favourite books of all time. A little sad the trilogy was ultimately unsatisfying for me.

Permalink - Comments - Tags: Books,Review

[First Page] [Prev] Showing page 1 of 111 pages [Next] [Last Page]