Entries Tagged 'science fiction' ↓

Ericka Crouse is a colleague, and hilarious in person, so I was incredibly happy to see her blog. Recent entries are about Sci Fi movies. Take a look!

On scifi, science and geeky miscellany — Down With Phrenology.

I’ll be at Arisia, New England’s Largest and Most Diverse Science Fiction Convention (or so they tell me), in Cambridge, MA, on January 15-18.

The con is at the Hyatt Regency Cambridge Hotel, on Mem Drive.

My panel schedule is fairly light. On Monday. I’ll be on the “Ask A Geek” panel and two panels about both licensed tie-ins/sequels produced by other people, as well as derivative art. It should be fun!

R&P Books, on Dealer’s Row, will be carrying The Science of Heroes, and I’ll be stopping by regularly.

The con organizers bill it as “An Event for Geeks, Nerds, and Dorks” so how could I resist?

I’ll be at 4Pi-Con on the weekend of August 21-23, in Springfield, MA.

I’ve also been listening in on the panel-organizing committee, and they’ve got some pretty interesting ideas. Not only will I be reading and signing from The Science of Heroes but I’ll also be one of the readers of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies!

Our days in the desert are coming to an end!

The new season of Heroes will start with a two-hour episode Sept. 21, then continue on Sept. 28 in the 8 p.m. slot, according to the LA Times.

The Heroes plans for next month’s Comic-con have changed: there’ll be no “Heroes” panel this year, but the studio promises “a presence” and some sort of sneak preview, says Maureen Ryan of the Chicago Tribune.

So — are any readers going to Comic-con? Let me know!

“we’re not recommending an end of affection…”

The swine flu situation is developing rapidly, and there’s a lot that nobody knows, yet. If you want the basics, from people who know (as opposed to, say, hysterical bloggers), here’s the CDC Swine Flu and You fact sheet.

If you want a understand public health terminology and methods, take a look at the Effect Measure. I’ve been impressed with their knowledge and clarity.

I’m a big fan of the Centers For Disease Control And Prevention (the CDC), and I’ve been known to read their press briefings for my own entertainment and education. At the moment, my favorite quote is from the CDC briefing on Monday.

Dr. Richard Besser [the acting director of the CDC] gave the briefing. He’d said something about how folks need to change their behavior to reduce the chance of transmission, for example, maybe not kissing someone hello. When a journalist asked a followup question he said in part:

If you’re in an infected area or if you have the swine flu it’s probably best not to give a kiss, but we’re not recommending an end of affection during the period.

It’s a period of time when we need a little more affection, but doing it in a way that isn’t going to transmit a respiratory disease would be a CDC approach.

(I’m not back. Just sticking my head in for a moment.)

Alas, no Conbust for me this year. If y’all are going, have a fabulous time, and say “hi” to Randall Monroe for me!

All in all, I’m ready for a weekend at home, between

• reporting on (but not attending) Pittcon (which is like Disneyland of analytical instruments — even more so than the American Vacuum Society meetings) , and
• attending (but not yet reporting on) Lunacon (which is like a state fair for science fiction and fantasy fans, not to mention being as close to being trapped in an Escher drawing as I ever want to get).

I’ll spend the time putting in order my thoughts about powers displayed by Matt Jr. and Micah and Tracy from this past week’s episode.

I’ve also got a post brewing about how we use stories to understand reality, how we demand a ridiculous amount from stories in the mass media, except in the ways that we don’t demand nearly enough. (You can see why I’m not ready to post yet.)

Really, this post is all about my envy of Iron Man.

I’m even more overwhelmed than usual, these days. I wished I could pull a Hiro, and stop time, so that I’d have time to, you know, actually, get everything done.

Then I realized that stopping time just so I could do more work (that wouldn’t count towards billable hours) is not the optimal use of a superpower.

What I really need is a huge pile of cash, ala Tony Stark, so I could hire minions to do the work I didn’t want to do, and afford a really fantastic workshop for the work that I do want to do.

And I’d get/build robot helpers. (Why is there not a mobile robot dishwasher that trundles over to where we’ve eaten, clears the table, puts the dishes into itself, washes and dries the dishes, and then puts them away?) I can understand Tony being more comfortable with robots than with human helpers, sometimes.

Not that I wouldn’t welcome my very own Pepper Potts. Because she’s awesome!

Hmm. If that was my life, I might end up with an exoskeleton like Tony Stark did. Although I’d go carbon-fiber, Tyvek, and GORE-TEX rather than, you know, iron or steel. For one thing, I’d have a better chance of maintaining my mobility if I ever encountered Magneto.

The Science of Heroes is based on looking at Heroes while wearing geek goggles.

North Carolina State University’s Dr. Larry Silverberg, professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering is wearing those same geek goggles when he describes how Santa delivers presents.

With his cherubic smile and twinkling eyes, Santa may appear to be merely a jolly old soul, but he and his North Pole elves have a lot going on under the funny-looking hats, Silverberg says. Their advanced knowledge of electromagnetic waves, the space/time continuum, nanotechnology, genetic engineering and computer science easily trumps the know-how of contemporary scientists.

Just a reminder: I’ll be liveblogging “Our Father”! Last week’s episode has been growing on me — I love the ensemble — so I have high hopes for tonight!

I own a 2001 Prius.

Stop that. Don’t judge me.

As I said, I own a seven-year old car that integrates a whole lot of electronics, a network, and some technology that was close to the cutting edge, when it was manufactured.

Soothing the ruffled chrome-plated feathers of my Prius.

The car has served me faithfully and well for the years I’ve owned it, although we’ve had our ups and downs, like any relationship. But it is showing its age, getting somewhat cranky, occasionally dripping fluids, and developing quirks. That’s fair enough, since I am doing much the same things as I age. Nevertheless, my job is writing, and it’s job is transporting me, and when one of us falls down on the job, it’s time to get help.

The check engine light went on and we had exhausted our usual resources for turning it off.*

This is where I’d love to be Micah, and just sit down and have a non-technology-mediated heart-to-heart: “Prius, baby, what’s bothering you?” Now, admitted I spent some happy hours in my childhood sitting inside the engine compartment of an International Harvester truck, but these days talking to a car is more of an IT issue than a mechanical one.

Luckily, I have a friend, Hobbit, who is a Prius hacker extraordinaire. This is sort of like having the world’s best marriage counsellor as a family friend, when your marriage begins to go south. Which is sort of what this “engine light” issue felt like. He stopped by, and we spent a portion of the day playing with the Prius, musing over the vibrations from different pumps under the hood, checking liquid levels and deciding not to look down the carb (since we’ve done that before and besides, it was sleeting), reading diagnostic codes, re-charging the starter battery when I ran it down (Hobbit jumped the battery from a UPS. How cool is that?), and generally soothing it’s ruffled chrome-plated feathers.

Crossing my fingers and hoping that the relationship stays copacetic through the stressful holiday season.

I’m taking off early — a visit to friends in Toronto — so have a great weekend, and I’ll post more next week.

Last winter, I was a guest at Arisia, a science fiction convention in Cambridge MA. One of my panels was for kids 12 and younger, called “Science Fiction is a Girl Thing Too! ”

I strongly believe that SF is not just for boys, the same way I believe that science and math are not just for boys. But I also strongly believe that SF continues to neglect girl readers and that girl characters are often badly served.

So I did my best to compile a list of books that are

• Science Fiction (Sorry, we’re not talking about Fantasy genre, and we could argue all day about Pern),
• appropriate for 12-and-unders (no, Heinlein’s “Friday” does not count), and
• have active and able girls as protagonists.
• (Also, the writing should be at least competent.)

My early readers for The Science of Heroes helped me to compile the following list. And I’d be delighted to hear about more books — as well as other forms of SF! Continue reading →