Category Archives: fantasy and science fiction

Wheels that are not circles

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Triangle-Wheeled Bike Gives New Meaning to ‘Tricycle’. The inventors

… went back to the drawing board to see if they could come up with a bike design featuring triangular wheels. They succeeded, and unlike the square-wheeled bike, these triangular wheels actually roll like round ones.

This is known as the Reuleaux triangle. I first ran across it in Poul Anderson’s 1963 SF story The Three Cornered Wheel, which I read sometime in high school (1964-68). A stranded spaceship crew needs to transport a heavy object over land. Unfortunately, the use of anything circular for mundane purposes is forbidden by the religion of the natives. However, the use of a curve of up to 1/3 of a circle is allowed for a sufficiently important cause. The young hero figures out that using such a “three cornered wheel” will solve the crew’s problem without offending the religious authorities.

Seeing Stars on the Moon

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Why don’t moon photos show stars?. Specifically, why can’t we see the stars in the photographs of the Apollo Astronauts on the moon? As the article clearly explains, all of the pictures were taken during lunar daylight, during which the lunar surface is well illuminated by the sun. This completely washes out the light from the stars. If you made a long enough exposure to catch the stars, the lunar surface, the astronauts and their gear, and the lunar lander would be grossly overexposed. This would defeat the purpose of documenting human activity on the moon.

In fact, this issue was anticipated by Arthur C. Clarke in his classic science fiction novel A Fall of Moondust, first published in 1961, eight years before the first Apollo expedition landed on the moon. Continue reading →

Mining Our Biblical Matriarchs

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A workshop on Friday, September 2, 2022 at Chicon 8, presented by Sally Wiener Grotta

The women of the Bible (Eve, Esther, Miriam, etc.) have been amongst the West’s most enduring female archetypes. As lush and varied as any mythology, their stories have been reinterpreted by every generation’s artists, clerics, and political leaders, according to how they expected women to be. However, these archetypes have been largely overlooked by modern spec fic authors. In this workshop, we’ll have fun challenging and toppling common preconceptions about various women of the Bible, as we mine this rich mother lode for SF&F story ideas.

The following are my notes and amplifications. I am solely responsible for their content and any mistakes.
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Chicon 8

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Thursday

On Thursday, Sept. 1, Mia McDavid and I drove to Chicago for Chicon 8: The 80th World Science Fiction Convention at the Hyatt Regency Chicago . This was our 5th Chicon. Previously we had attended:

Despite some glitches, we really enjoyed the Con, and visiting downtown Chicago again.

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Capricon Notes

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As I wrote previously , Mia (my wife) and I spent last weekend at Capricon, a Chicagoland science fiction convention. We went to most of the Capricons in the ’80’s and ’90’s, but in our first years in Minnesota the pressures of parenthood prevented us from going. Those have eased somewhat and we have been to most of the Capricons (and Windycons) since 2009. While most Capricons have been in the Chicago suburbs, this year the convention was downtown, at the Sheraton Grand Hotel.

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Chicago again

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Mia (my wife) and I spent last weekend in Chicago for the Capricon, another science fiction convention that has been part of our life for decades. This year the convention was downtown, at the Sheraton Grand Hotel. Our room was on north side of the 28th floor and the view from our window was magnificent by night and day:

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Windycon 2021

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My wife Mia and I spend the past weekend in Chicagoland. Friday and Saturday we were at Windycon, a science fiction convention that we have frequently attended since the 1970s. This was first SF con we have been to since the world shut down for Covid-19. There was no Windycon in 2020. Covid, of course, has not gone away, but this year Windycon was back, with changes. There were very strict and detailed Covid policies. Proof of vaccination or a recent negative Covid test were required for admission. Masks were required everywhere except “while … actively consuming food or drink in the consuite or green room” or for performers while performing and at least 6 feet from anyone else. Bill Roper has a positive con report, with which I completely agree.

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Rang Gaeilge, 29ú lá Mí na mí Mheiteamh 2021

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Duinnín agus an Bhadhbh (tuilleadh)

  • Bhí tost sa seomra. Bhain an Duinníneach taitneamh, soicind,
    as éifeacht a scéil ar an gcomhluadar. An soicind ina
    dhiaidh sin, chúb sé roimh an mbéic a lig Woodley as.

    ‘Mo chuid sionnacht [var pl?]! Iad á ngoid ag mo thionóntaithe féin!’

    ‘Ach ni bhíonn tú ag seilg sionnach, a thaisce, agus tá’s agat
    go n-itheann siad na piasúin . . .’arsa a chéile.

    There was silence in the room. Dineen enjoyed, for a second, the effect of his story
    on the company. The second after that he cowered before the shout Woodley let out

    ‘My foxes! My own tenants are stealing them!’

    ‘But you don’t hunt foxes, my dear, and you know they eat the pheasants . . .’ said his wife.

    taitneamh Shine, brightness; Liking, enjoyment
    soicind second [of time] m
    éifeacht Force, significance; efficacy, effect; value, importance f
    comhluadar (Social) company m
    chúb bend, cower, shrink
    béic yell; shout f
    seilg hunt, chase f
    piasún pheasant m gs npl piasúin

    • Léigh tuilleadh