I was cleaning out a closet this afternoon and came across the center pages of the program for Minicon 12, which I attended back in 1977. At 2:30 PM, on Saturday, April 9, there was this event:
Debate: “Resolved: Science Fiction Should Get Out of the Classroom and Back into the Gutter Where It Belongs” with Lester del Rey and Ivor Rogers
I must have been there, but I do not remember anything about it. It is an old issue and not to be taken too seriously,
William Shatner and Adam West reflect on their toga days
from RogueClassicism
One additional thought: William Shatner is now 80 years old. Alexander the Great was 33 when he died.
From Popularity for Purchase:
- signs and symbols did indicate something real – a message from a friend or family member whom you see and care about
- signs and symbols indicate a false reality – the early stages of Facebook, when people would beef up their friend count with casual acquaintances and friends of friends, and use Like and Follow to build up a “social network“
- Signs that are not backed up by any reality. One hires ad hoc workers to write posts for one’s Facebook page, blog, Twitter feed. One appears to be a prolific writer, well versed on news and culture. One’s friends (the real ones!) are impressed, and notice one’s growing social circle. Then one hires other ad hoc Workers to Like, Follow, and Comment on the material written by the first lot. Your Google Analytics look great; you rank high in the search engines because you hired writers who are good at SEO. Many people leave comments on your site
- One day you wake up to find that (a) no one is interacting on your site except your paid workers and (b) the content you paid for was scraped to other sites and is being used by your new paid workers to write new-old material.
The Internet once again confirms Sturgeon’s Revelation.
Mitt is reputed to say whatever an audience wants to hear, but that’s not quite right. In reality he says nothing, but does it in such way audiences believe they’ve heard what they want to hear. He is the chameleon candidate. To call Mitt Romney an empty suit is an insult to suits.
which reminded me of one of my favorite quotes, from Isaac Asimov’s Foundation:
“That,” replied Hardin, “is the interesting thing. The analysis was the most difficult of the three by all odds. When Houk, after two days of steady work, succeeded in eliminating meaningless statements, vague gibberish, useless qualifications—in short all the goo and dribble—he found he had nothing left. Everything canceled out. Lord Dorwin, gentlemen, in five days of discussion didn’t say one damn thing, and said it so that you never noticed. There are the assurances you had from your precious Empire.”
The same SF quote can be applied to many other (most?) American politicians who make the national stage.
From Boing Boing
Back in November our foster daughter, carpe_noctum_93, introduced me to Half Price Books. This evening we made a family visit to the Roseville store.
Continue reading
Illustration by Stephanie Fox. Research by Nivair Gabriel.
At io9, with an explanation of why Star Trek was not included.
Via Universe Today.
At Convergence this past July they showed Mission to Mars with a live running commentary by a Physics professor and a JPL Systems Engineer. It was hilarious.
Irish Class, October 11, 2010
<!–
Fadas: áéíóúÁÉÍÓÚ
–>
<!–
–>
Listening resource: Raidió Rí-Rá.
Especially Ar Éileamh (“on demand”)
Looking for E.T.? Try His Artificial Intelligence Instead, Astronomer Says
The suggestion that artificial ET’s might more evident than biological ones is not new. Frank Tipler (before he went off the deep end) suggested in 1981 that alien civilizations might use von Neumann probes to explore a galaxy. He concluded that since we do not see such probes,
there are no ET’s in our galaxy. In science fiction the concept goes back at least to 1963, when Fred Saberhagen’s first Berserker story appeared.
Actually, almost all suggestion for SETI come down to Searches for ExtraTerrestial Technology. It will be a long time before we can find any other sign of intelligence out there.
Bok globules are another search target for sentient machines. These dense regions of dust and gas are notorious for producing multiple-star systems. At around negative 441 degrees Fahrenheit, they are about 160 degrees F colder than most of interstellar space. [Is this correct?-GTM]
This climate could be a major draw because thermodynamics implies that machinery will be more efficient in cool regions that can function as a large “heat sink”. A Bok globule’s super-cooled environment might represent the Goldilocks Zone for the machines, says Shostak.
The idea that Bok Globules might be linked to ET’s was anticipated by Fred Hoyle in his 1957 novel The Black Cloud. Early in the book some astronomers are looking at some images of the cloud (which turns out to be an intelligent and powerful life form). One of them describes it as “a fine example of a Bok globule.”
From Hilbert Space to Dilbert Space, and beyond 
