Balticon Reactions!

 First of all, I'm not going to talk about the bad stuff. Those who are on my Facebook know what happened.

Instead I'm going to focus on something else.

We need to find a way to do more hybrid conventions. I was able to, in the same day, get vegan lunch at a Hare Krishna festival, hang out in the bar with my friends...and do a panel with a multinational group of people including an amazing man from Nigeria. (Nigerian SF is a thing, people, and it's a thing we need more of). This was a panel on Class Structures in SF & Fantasy and we had a panel who came from places with different class structures.

I got literally the best of both worlds.

Hybrid cons require more volunteer time, they are more expensive, and there is always the risk of technical or technical related issues (The first five minutes of the Doctor Who panel were not streamed out from the hotel because the tech assigned to the room got stuck in a massive traffic jam and was late. Not his fault).

But as we do more of this we'll work out how to do it better.

Those who couldn't afford to travel to Balticon were still able to get a good chunk of the programming; we weren't able to record and stream everything because it costs in volunteers and equipment. Those who could actually got a better experience. (One person talked about how amazing it was to attend a virtual panel in their pajamas while munching breakfast in their hotel room).

Maybe one day I'll be invited to do panels...at a convention in Nigeria. I still have some issues with virtual conventions (associations with lockdown).

But the world is opening up in ways that we would have tried eventually, but were pushed to by recent events.

Let's do more of this, people. The possibilities are just so awesome.

The First Japanese Person on the Moon?

With Russia being, well, Russia, the U.S. is strengthening space alliances with other countries.

Which is going to include at least one seat on an Artemis mission for an astronaut from Japan. JAXA has been doing some good work lately, including an asteroid sample mission, Earth observation work and, of course, robotics.

Will the next ISS be a collaboration with Japan instead? 

Okay, I Just Want Everyone to Check This Out...

 ...this being the images and videos right here.

That is our friendly neighborhood giant fusion reactor, otherwise known as the sun.

We are getting so much data. So much data. The scientists monitoring Solar Orbiter say they are already looking at years of analysis.

A better understanding of the sun will help us more accurately predict space weather, which can be a danger to orbiting technology. Predicting a solar flare lets us put technology in its path into safe mode so it can be rebooted afterwards.

(It also lets skywatchers know when aurora viewing is particularly neat).

For Once, Legit Laughing at the Daily Fail...

 ...for the phrase "Sharkcano' and a discussion of mutant sharks living in an acidic underwater crater.

I want this movie.

Hunting down a more reputable source, it appears the Daily Fail may not have invented it.

But the volcano concerned is Kavachi and it provides habitat to silky sharks and hammerheads...who may or may not be mutants, but are certainly living in a harsh environment. These sharks are not dangerous to humans, but if they're mutants?

It writes itself.

Most likely the sharks will have some kind of ancestral memory of the last eruption and go hang out somewhere else for a bit. Sharks are pretty smart fish.

Why You Should Watch the Nebula Awards This Year

 Yes, you. Why?

Because the MCs are the wonderful Connie Willis and Neil Gaiman. Gaiman is an amazing public speaker and tickets to hear him speak typically start at $60 and go up.

But you can hear him MC the Nebs for free tomorrow. The public access livestream will be on Youtube here. Go live time is 5pm PACIFIC (8pm Eastern).

"Solar" at Night

 Solar doesn't work at night is a huge criticism. But it appears something similar does.

Thermoradiation cells generate power as heat flows out of them, radiating back into the night sky. It's tiny, tiny, tiny, but the potential use case is this:

You put them with your solar panels. Solar panels heat up during the day, generating power. When the sun goes down, that heat leaks back out...and you could capture that power. It's kind of like the energy harnessed from the brakes on a race car. Essentially it would increase the efficiency of solar panels. Kinda neat!

I've Seen This Movie

 Headline: CRISPR Gene Editing Now Possible in Cockroaches.

Yeaaaah.

Let's not?

(Actually, it's so that they can do genetic experimentation without having to inject insect embryos, which is a real pain). But...genetically engineered cockroaches just doesn't seem entirely smart.