Postcard of the Interwebs - 28 April 2016

We forget as we Learn: Interesting article on memory and how it works.

Mars gravity map: Great map created to assist satellites be better and for targets for future space probes.

Superman helps prevent a suicide: Wonderfully done comic.

Surviving Ten Types of Apocalypses: Tongue-in-cheek guide to surviving the nigh-unsurvivable.

50 Life Tips: Good little tips.

Cuts of Beef: and how to cook them.

Terraforming Mars: Excellent step by step on the current theory on how the red planet can be livable...in 1000+ years.

Nubo Japanese Tapas

Located in the old Black Olive location on Pandora, Nubo Japanese Tapas is a fantastic new restaurant in Victoria. Its sashimi is really fresh and tasty and they have very unusual yet delicious ideas in their menu: Udon Cabonara, Japanese pad thai, fish liver foie gras...etc. I tried the Nippon thai, some sashimi, spinach salad and some edamame. Delicious! I'm coming back here again.

NORWESCON 2016

NORWESCON was a great con this year, at Seattle's Doubletree hotel at Sea-Tac. I went to a lot of writing and science panels to get new ideas for techniques and what is current and on the cutting edge.  Also ate at Wild Ginger (always awesome), Sharp's Roaster twice (also great), and a Hawaiian BBQ place (not as good as the real thing). Did some shopping too and picked up a cigar box blues guitar, books and some minor clothes.

Thursday

-You Must Write Every Day and Other Lies. There was a lot of do’s and don’ts on this panel. Takeaways were to write for practice and habit, read outside your genre, know the rules so you know how to break them, and have good cadence and rhythm (read out loud).

-Flying Wind Power. A great snapshot on the science behind wind power generation, new methods being used and planned and what might be great for the future.

-Failure of Imagination: The Crash of Spaceship II. Solid step by step of the errors and problems that caused the crash and a great sidebar talk by an investor for XCOR (another space plane company).

Friday

-Science and Religion in Space. A good group talk on how religion can survive space travel and advances in science. Takeaways for writing religion in science-fiction are to ask the following questions: is it practical, is it current, is it popular, is it relevant.

-Escher Girls, Striking a Pose & the Hawkeye Initiative. An amusing look at the contortions and impossibilities of some characters on book covers or comic books. Also went into the rule that if it look ridiculous if a male is in the pose then the artist should not do it.

-The Rest of the World in Space. A nice look at what non-USA counties are doing in space.

-Finding Your Voice. A fantastic panel on how to make the work that you are writing your own style and to do it consistently. Takeaways were: Use the different sides of yourself to write different styles and genres, write to yourself as you were 20 years ago, and be honest and bare for the first draft.

-Talk with Science Guest of Honor Dr William Hartmann. A very smart scientist who was one of the first planetary scientists (under Dr. Keiper) and who developed the current theory of the formation of the moon. He is also the foremost expert on dating craters and geological features on the moon and Mars. Validates the use of generalist who can step back from problems to see the bigger picture.

-From the Moon to Mars with William Hartmann. An overview of the life, science and art of Dr Hartmann.

-Mercenaries. An insightful look at the history and use of mercenaries. Takeaways were the contracts and UN laws that they abide as well as the modern use of “contractors” and “occasional” that are in use today.

Saturday

-A Culture by any other Name. A great panel on writing new and/or alien cultures without having it as window dressing for an Earth culture. Takeaways were: start with how they discuss and have sex and expand from there, do a mental exercise by evolving them and developing different technology to see what would happen to them, and the reader may not know why the alien is doing what it is doing but we need to see the outcome.

-Dawn to Vesta and Ceres. Lots of very cool conversation and pictures/video on the Dawn probe’s mission to the Vesta and Ceres asteroids. Given by Cathy Plesko a previous science guest of honor.

-Old School RPGs. A fun romp down memory lane of fun role playing games of years and decades gone by. Ones I need to investigate are 007 from Victory Games, Westend Games Ghostbusters and Star Wars, and the 1^st or 2^nd edition of Cyberpunk.

-Asymmetric Warfare. Detailed look at this type of quick or long term strategy by thinking outside of normal warfare. Also looked at the politics of using asymmetric warfare. Takeaways were: orient/order/decide/act, must force insurgents to fight warfare on your terms, and if objectives are weakly written then the victory will also be weak.

-Journey to a Comet: Voyage of Rosetta. The scientist present went into an overview of the different types of comets, current and future missions, and showed pics/video on the Rosetta mission.
-Mining the Sky. Very lively talk on how viable mining the moon and asteroids are, how it should be done and what we can mine to make a profit.

At various times I demoed a miniature game called Guildball and hung out with con people. Look forward to next year and perhaps Worldcon in Helsinki.

For lots of pics of costumes and such, visit here.