Mia and I enjoyed Windycon 51. Once again, it was it was at the Doubletree Oak Brook, like last year and the year before. As at our previous Chicagoland conventions, it was good to catch up with old friends.

For lunch on Saturday we walked to the Oak Brook Mall. There we ate at a Nandos, a chain that has not yet come to Minnesota. They have a branch in downtown Chicago, and we have enjoyed meals there the last few Capricons. The Oak Brook location was just as good.

My notes about events we attended.

• Harp Twins Concert. We had heard them at a previous Windycon, a year or two B.C. (Before Covid) This time they were accompanied for part of the concert by the Volfgang Twins on drums. Good music, but rather loud for the space, especially with the drums.

• Fact, Fiction , and the Future: Learning Through Sci-Fi and Fantasy. From the con program:
  

  Science fiction and fantasy aren’t just entertaining — they’re powerful tools for learning, imagination, and exploration. Join us as we explore the intersections between speculative fiction and education. Does SF have a role in teaching scientific concepts, critical thinking, or inspiring curiosity about the universe? How do imagination and story foster skills that pure facts alone cannot? We’ll discuss the idea that Fact = learning through information, Fiction = learning through imagination, and invite you to share your thoughts on how SF & fantasy can expand minds, spark creativity, and shape the learners of tomorrow.

  Interesting discussion with lots of examples. Larry Niven participated. Ada Palmer also contributed. Why Most Things Fail was mentioned.

• OSH Violations in Sci-Fi: A Safety Inspector’s Worst Nightmare. From the con program:
  

  From unshielded warp cores to catwalks with zero railings, science fiction is a galaxy full of workplace hazards! Join our panel of fans and armchair safety inspectors as we take a hilarious look at the most egregious OSHA violations across sci-fi and fantasy — from Star Wars and Alien to The Expanse and beyond. Who’s responsible for all those bottomless pits? How many stormtroopers have fallen off ledges that clearly needed guardrails? Suit up, grab your hard hat, and prepare for a dangerously fun discussion about the least-safe universes in pop culture.

  This was a lot of fun. It started with a look at Star Wars. Why do characters keep falling off platforms in the movies? Why don’t they have railings? The only place we see them is with the Ewoks, and even there they seem too high, more like human size. The first speaker showed all of this with pictures, contrasting all of the real safety features he saw in the United States Navy.

  A lot of radiation should be leaking from the sides of the Death Star beam. Where is the shielding? Also, those long flowing Jedi robes are a problem They could easily be caught in machinery, or simply snagged on furniture.

  Turning to Star Trek, especially the original series (TOS), why don’t the seats on the bridge of the Enterprise have seat belts? See Star Trek BRIDGE TILT with VIDEO STABILIZATION

• Europa Clipper: Nasa Investigates an Icy Ocean. From the con program:
  

  Europa, one of Jupiter’s four biggest moons, appears to harbor a liquid ocean not far beneath its bright, icy surface. Is there life there? NASA plans to fly the Europa Clipper spacecraft, launched last year, to orbit Jupiter and, making frequent flybys of Europa, will study the satellite’s geology, composition, and subsurface ocean. Learn about the mission, its scientific objectives, and the suite of sophisticated instruments it will employ in the decade to come.

  Another fine presentation on space exploration by Bill Higgins. The surface of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, is much too cold for life as we know it, but under the ice there is an ocean with liquid water. Hence the possibility of life. It may be heated by tides caused by Jupiter. See Europa Clipper.

• An Interview with Larry Niven. From the con program:
  

  In the 60s and 70s, Niven was one of the new, young voices in science fiction. Winner of multiple Hugo awards, Niven has written stories and novels across the SF and fantasy spectrum, as well as television scripts and comic books. We’re happy to welcome him back to Windycon after many years and are interested to hear what he has to say about his long and varied career.

  I met Larry Niven long ago, possibly at St. Louiscon in 1969. In this interview he talked about John W. Campbell, Frederick Pohl, and Forry Ackerman. He also discussed his collaborations with Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes. He had a long case of writer’s block ago, for the perfectly understanable reason that his wife had died. This is perfectly understandable. His most famous work is Ringworld.

  Niven is 87 years old now, but his mind is still sharp. He mentioned two (somewhat) scientifically plausible ways to deal with the speed on light barrier for interstellar travel. One was the Bussard ramjet, proposed in 1960. I have known about it since at least 1972. Niven used it in his Known Space stories and Poul Anderson used it in Tau Zero. The Alcubierre warp drive was proposed in 1994. It is based on a legitimate solution of Einstein’s General Relativity equations but requires large amounts of matter with negative rest mass (not antimatter). Niven said he prefers the Bussard ramjet. I suspect this is because while the engineering obstacles are enormously difficult, it does not actually violate the known laws of physics and does not depend on finding Unobtanium.

• Art Auction

  As I have written before, this has been one of our favorite events at Chicago area cons for decades, and we enjoyed it this year as well. Mia was one of the runners.

As we now regularly do, we left the con Sunday morning to go to St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Evanston. More on that in another post.