Helsinki - Konstan Molja

Konstan Molja is a buffet restaurant that has reindeer, lamb, fish and other delectables on the menu. It also has many sketches of the Continuation War with the Soviet Union on their walls.

 Salmon chowder with a local cider that is only made for the restaurant. Both excellent!

 A miscellany of delights.

Helsinki - Day 4 of Worldcon 75

Saw six panels today for Worldcon 75.

Beyond the Goldilocks Zone; Olli Wilkman, Janet Catherine Johnston, Julie Novakova, Michael Reid
-The Goldilocks zone is the range of distance from a star that an Earth-like planet would be habitable. This distance varies depending on the size and energy from its sun.
-Looking beyond this zone we may find the beginnings or existing life as we have found in exo environments here on Earth (deep sea, volcanoes, thin atmosphere...etc).
-A good example of this is the TRAPPIST-1 system. It has a smaller and colder star and there are three Earth sized planets in their goldilocks zone. An ultra slick website is here.
-We have to look beyond this human centrist area to find life on planets that have a diversity of zones to encourage evolution and eventual intelligent life
-The TESS mission in March 2018 will look for more systems using the transit method (detecting planets that pass in front of a sun by measuring decrease in the suns emitted energy. Can also be used to analyze a planet's atmosphere)

Gravitational Waves and Cosmology; David Weir
-A very interesting talk on how gravitational waves are created and what they can tell us of stellar cosmology.
-LIGO is a terrestrial gravitational wave detector and the space based LISA Pathfinder missions will allow for more distant, directional, and sensitive detection. LISA launches in 2034.

Maintain your Scientist Character's Credibility; Euan, Mommi Salminen, Livia Santa Clara, Karen Lord, Kristine Hejna
-Be as credible as you need to be for the story and environment to maintain the flow. No infodumps. Show what the reader needs to know for the story then stop.
-Don't add a number you don't need or it will come back to haunt you.
-When a character talks about themselves or their work use the vocabulary and idioms they would.
-Its ok for a science character to say "I don't know" or "I was wrong". This makes the character more credible, human, and believable.
-Talk about the politics in science and the sociology within it.
-There is a difference between applied sciences and engineers. Few people are good in both.
-A character grounded in the sciences views the world differently and can add subtlety.

Inevitable Romantic Subplot;Daniel Starr, Croline Stevermer, Catherine Lundoff
-In order to eventually write some day, thought this panel would be able to give hints on whiting these plots. I was right!
-Don't force one in otherwise its not believable, and interrupts the plot and tempo.
-Must be for a reason and fulfill a need in the characters.
-Should be proceeded by occasional subtext that gets the readers to care the characters get together.
-Tension during trauma and hesitant resolution during quiet.
-Over a series, a slow burn is better than a quick get together and more realistic.
-Can end with an adult conversation and still be satisfying.

Nordic Horror in Nordic Settings: What scares us?; Mats Strandberg, Tiina Hantala, Emil Hjorvar Petersen, Kjarton Lindoe
-Thrillers have constant excitement that can be seen, with a closed resolution. Horror has constant excitement that is unseen but is horrific when it is seen, with open resolution.
-There is a difference between fear and the uncanny and it is a fine line in the horror genre. Horror is also in the eye of the beholder.
-Told the folklore story of the necropants, or nabrok. Click here for more information. Warning...its creepy.

Folklore and Myth in the Fantastic; Alexandra Rowland, K.A. Laity, Michael R. Underwood, Tim Phin, Carolyn Ives Gilman
-Folklore is the belief in how things got to be how they are. Answers questions the culture was trying to answer with violent and destructive punishment for not following the social norm. One person's folklore is anothers sacred texts.
-Oppressors have used a culture's folklore to alter the narritive, justify their world view, and suppress the rest.

Helsinki - Day 3 of Worldcon 75

On day three of Worldcon I attended eight panels.

The Times that Shaped the Science: Guy Consolmagno, Shana Worthem, Brad Lyau, Ada Palmer
-There always was a conflict between the status quo and explorers of natural law but severe moments of confrontation were rare. The church only saw threats in things that were almost true not that which is believed to be false (Arianism, Jainism, Heresies)
-The building blocks of modern science were done by people who were doing research and philosophy that agreed with the status quo but ended up upsetting it which changes the status quo over time
-From 1400-1700 more people read for enjoyment and books decreased in cost from a house to a months salary. Coffee shops expanded knowledge through having places for people to discuss things, as with any social network (drugs, essential material, transportation, new organizations)
-There are many acceleration events in progress and discovery; new wealth, resources, population rarity, leasure time, technology

How to tell the Ducks from the Rabbits: Ian Stewart
-This fellow and a friend are trying to determine how the eye and brain work by using optical illusions. Here is a link to a bunch.
-There are four types: Illusions 1 (Ambiguous information presented to both eyes like the spinning dancer), Illusions 2 (Not present and non ambiguous information is presented to both eyes like the moving circles), Rivalry (Conflicting information is presented to each eye like the duck/rabbit), and Impossible Figures (Information seen by both eyes is impossible like these).
-The brain moves between possibilities with the same information provided by the eye.

Are Utopias worse than Distopias: Klaus AE, Mogensen, Tom D Wright, Stephanie Saulter, Jans Savell, Maria Candia
-One persons utopia is anothers distopia
-Utopias are a way of discussing how something should be or how good it is. Distopia is the opposite
-An optimist believes we are living in the best of possible worlds while a pessimist believes it is true.
-Encourage those who seek the truth but fear those who claim to have found it
-Utopias are good thought experiments for what could and should be, aspired to

James Webb Telescope: The Premiere Telescope for the Next Decade: Norma J Watts
-Will be launched October 2018 and reside beyond the Earth but using the Earth to block out solar saturation of the telescope thirty days after that
-Will use a large infra red telescope to see further than ever before to capture points of time much closer to that of the big bang
-Launch and deployment plan video here
-More info here and here

Space Medicine: Dr Kjell Lindgren
-There are long periods of boredom and short moments of terror on the ISS
-He found an EZV tool in a drawer that was missing for eight years. They have a lot of drawers on the ISS
-Only time he got goosebumps was seeing the aurora borealis...that and an extra dose of radiation
-Because of the higher CO2 levels and weightlessness, there is more congestion in space
-70% of the people get zero-G sickness in space and it takes about two days to recover
-The increace in height is due to loss of curvature not lengthening of the spine. Also lose caluses on the bottom of the feet, and skin comes off in sloughs, but get calluses on the top of feet from using them to steady yourself
-Still learning how to prevent the optic nerve at the back of the eye from changing to prepare for longer space time
-Groups of people in a space is not allowed beyond 30 minutes. Cannot be in an enclosed space or in cabinets for any long period of time either.
 
War on Science: David Clements, Jonas Arnquist, Nicholas Whyte, Rachel Coleman, Renee Sieber
-Science is not epistemology but a process to the truth. Its findings cannot be debated only what the findings tell. Debate about the findings do not dispute the process as long as the process is correct and unfalsifyable
-The anti-fillintheblank is not the lone hero fighting the evil group but they instead are ignorant of the process
-The skills to be a scientist does not mean they have the skills to be a good communicator. The anti-fillintheblank are good communicators when talking emotionally to others who are also emotional.

-There is lots of attacks on accreditation. Trust but verify and evaluate the risk and analysis.
-Why cannot people listen for more than two sentences? Its because of a change in temp of our society
-Five methods of denying science acronym is FLICC (Fake experts, logical fallacies, impossible expectations, cherry picking, and conspiracy theories. Good video is here.

Prisoner and Portmeirion
-This was supposed to be a panel of countering surveillance with sousveillance but it was cancelled and I was unaware of the change. It was a muddied love-in of the Prisoner TV show and the shooting of it at the resort of Portmeirion. Being in the front row it was hard to leave.

Supermassive Black Holes: Joni Tammi
-Radio telescopes can be used to observe the energy generated by the plasma jets shooting out of black holes, due to the energy collapsing into it. The energy only comes out of the top and bottom but it is conjectured that there are a lot of black holes out there from the energy observed so far
-Black holes are defined as matter collapsed under its own gravity, surrounded by an event horizon, which nothing can get out.
-Our sun cannot become a black hole as it needs 40% more mass and it will give off more mass as it ages (whew)
-Because space curves around mass, the real and observed location of objects are in different locations as seen by the observer

Had supper at the Hesburger in the convention hall of falafel burgers. It is a Finnish chain that has expanded beyond its borders. The burger and fries were good as well as the accompanying cider.

Also that night was the Hugo awards. As we preferred to chat and have drinks, we met in the Winter Garden area and livestreamed. It was odd because the official livestream did not work and we instead has to get it from a fellow in the auditorium through a South Korean re-streamer. Isn't technology cool.  The alcohol here was licorice based and not bad. For the winners of the Hugos go here. Some of the ones I chose to win, won. Others were head scratching but not too much head scratching.

Outskirts of Helsinki

On the outer areas of Helsinki, there are some suburbs built by the Russians during their final years in Finland. These houses were built for the workers of the newly industrialized Helsinki. These buildings are very trendy to live in now and expensive. They also come in slightly different styles but are similar with the up and down long plank siding.

 There was also this place with the interesting window pattern and offset design.

Helsinki - Savotta Restaurant

Savotta restaurant is an upscale Finnish restaurant on Senate Square. It was the meal that the convention friends gathered and consumed exceptional food.

Some berry and sauce amuse bouche for the group.

 The menu that myself and my wife chose as well as others present that night. I had the alcohol pairings.

 Don't worry, this was for two people!

 

A lovely illuminated sight when leaving the restaurant. Slept well that night.

Helsinki - Day 2 of Worldcon 75

Day 2 of Worldcon 75 was a moderate day with five panels attended.

Visiting Kalevala Heritage from a North American Standpoint: Matias Bergora, Anna Dillman, Konsta Klemetti
-Focus was on an IP created by a Finnish company to bring the folklore of the Kalevala to world audiences, in particular their comic Iron Danger. It was interesting for a behind the scenes look at the comic making process between people in far away places. They also spoke briefly about a film on the same subject.
-An amusing question was from one audience member who asked how the group felt about appropriation of another culture when it was Finnish people who sought out the artists outside of their country to do the drawing. It was like he wasn't listening during the talk and wanted to be offended regardless.

Appeal of the Bland Protagonist: Caroline Stevermer, Robert Silverberg, Kari Sperring, Angus Watson
-Some very good points made by the panelists. Normal in their own world does not mean they are normal to us. If main charachter is bland the secondary characters must shine. Bland can be relatable but cannot remain so. Can use bland protagonist to bridge the gap tot eh fantastic as an observer. A character could seem bland but could be hiding the horrible/fantastic/insane.

NASA and the Future: Norma J Knotts
-Among other things, talked about and showed images of
                   -ES1 Orion manned spacecraft
                   -R5 Valkyrie Robot
                   -Chris Hatfield video explaining how to use the bathroom in space
                   -Commercial Crew Program to save NASA money

Remember Who Is Boss: Golem as a Jewish Joke with Rots and a Universal Admonition: Ellen Miriam Pederson
-The woman who gave this knows her subject matter but I was lost during most of the presentation. It was part of the academic track and my wife hit the nail on the head when she said it was like it was the middle of the term on a subject and we missed all the other classes before it. I agreed. With little introduction on the subject the presenter just bored right through as if we had known the previous classes. I never went to another academic track or long title panel the rest of the con. I did take some notes for story and plot ideas though so not a total waste of my time.

Darkness at the Heart of Original Folktales: Dalia Sherman, Linn, Anaea Lay, Michael R Underwood
-Some interesting points in this very good panel were:
               -Folktales are sacred narratives where the thing that must not be done is introduced and the character does it with two outcomes; doom and/or maiming, reforms and corrects behavior
               -Stories have been changed over the years as more transitions to adulthood are created to "protect" youth (childhood to adulthood changing to baby/toddler/child/preteen/teenager/young adult/adult)
               -When folktales were sanitized it was because they wanted sanitation of their society
               -They were used to prepare a people for necessary violence against another

Cool Wonder Woman and Shredder costume

 Giant 3D printed Ticket to Ride Europe game board

Helsinki - Wanha Mylly Restaurant

The Wahna Mylly restaurant is situated in an old 18th century farm steward's estate on the outskirts of Helsinki. It has been operating for 45 years. It was a great meal.

 More of that great bread!

 Morel soup with white South Moravian wine.

 Fresh water pan seared whitefish with potatoes, fried fennel, and cream sauce.

 Here is a picture of the old house.

 It also has some grounds that is available as a park.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela Home and Museum

The Gallen-Kallela Museum is based in his home and property on the outskirts of Helsinki, Finland.

Andre Gallen-Kallela was a multi-method artist who lived from 1865 to 1931 and was most renown for producing art based on the Finnish folklore of the Kalevala. He was also asked to design the flags and uniforms of the Finnish military after the civil war. The following was some of the work that my wife and I liked.

 "Ice Breaking at Ruovesi"; 1916; oil on canvas

 "A Guilty Conscience Needs No Accuser"; 1897; stained glass

 Designs for a place dedicated to the Kalevala, which was never realized.

 "Portrait of Professor E.M. Setala"; 1911, oil on canvas

 "Kullervo with a Herd of Wild Beasts"; 1909, oil on canvas

 "Kullervo with a Herd of Wild Beasts"; 1920, bronze relief

 "Kirsti"; 1915, watercolour on paper

 "Broken Pine"; 1906, oil on canvas

 "Portrait of Mrs. Phyllis Sjostrom"; 1914, oil on canvas

 "Winter Landscape"; 1917, oil on canvas

 "Portrait of Professor Mathias Anselm Ayropaa"; 1913, oil on canvas

This is just a portion of what is on display. We were so impressed by this fellows work that we bought a large book and planned to go visit the Art museum downtown Helsinki to see some of his other works.

Helsinki - First day of Worldcon 75

So today was the first day of Worldcon number 75. The premier science-fiction and fantasy convention. One of the writer GOHs was Walter Jon Williams, whom I've read two books of his: Hardwired and Aristoi (one of my top sci-fi books). The science GOH was Ian Stewart. The special guest was Dr. Kjell N. Lindgren, a NASA astronaut that spent 141 days on the ISS. He was supposed to be at the Spokane, WA Worldcon (our first Worldcon) but was picked for STS-130.

Registration went off very smoothly so it seems that we did not have to get here so early, as the first panels started at 11am. The convention center was very well laid out, bright and clean.

 This is what we got in the loot bag!

 As per most conventions, some things did not open on time like the dealers room.

There was a good food place at the convention site called "Meet and Eat". They are buffet style and has lots to choose from with a few choices of mains. It was our preferred place for lunches although they also did suppers.

Now the bad. The convention organizers were expecting around four to five thousand attendees. They got just over seven thousand. That meant that day passes after the first day were limited to one-hundred people. The extra people also meant semi-organized lineups and not being able to get into some of the panels I wanted to see. The lineups did get much better organized by the third day and to make it fair for everyone, those without disabilities had to leave after a panel and line up again for the next if it was in the same room. This demolished a tactic I have used in past conventions but was democratic and fair.

I did not attend any panels today because of long lineups and meeting with a person in the afternoon for touring around.

Helsinki - Walk to Messukeskus for Worldcon 75

Today was the first day of Worldcon 75 and we wanted to get some exercise in. Therefore we walked North to the Messukeskus convention center, about a 35 minute walk.

Fortunate for us, the walk was through parkland and on a walking/biking trail for most of the journey.

 Some very nice houses were along the pathway as well.

 There were some parts that were sparse but still good.

Even flowers with pollinating insects to brighten the day.

Finally the convention center, Messukeskus!