A Mixture of Gravity and Waggery
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Below are the 11 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Del" journal:
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10:39 pm
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Big thanks to ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) charlieallery
 for looking after Buzz and Rocky for a week. She brought them back on Sunday and they're right back into the home routine, as in this picture from the last few minutes.
I'm still not getting the settings right in low light, and this one ended up with so much colour noise I just made it black and white. With black and white cats it's not like you're losing much information.
Tags: cats, photography
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06:15 pm
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Before the deluge
With the ESA satellite COROT nearing its first 300 days in orbit, I hear that a truckload of new extrasolar planets are due to be announced to the world soon. These detections will be based on planetary transits, which means this may be the last time my graph of exoplanets detected by doppler spectroscopy (based on data from exoplanet.eu) represent a majority of all the exoplanets known, so I'd better pimp it one last time :-)
Current Mood: creative
Tags: graphs, science, space
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12:10 pm
![[User Picture]](http://p-userpic.livejournal.com/59034318/857206) [Link] |
Enta Geweorc
 nhw posted that writers born between 1942 and 1951 are overrepresented in Hugo and Nebula awards, sparking a flurry of responses attempting to explain the decline of science fiction. I think the debate is mainly missing the fact that the Hugos and Nebulas have only been around for about fifty years, and the full range of a ten year cohort's output—from the first wunderkind born at the start of the ten years who wins an award at twenty five, to the grand old man born at the end who wins at seventy five—can easily span sixty years. Jack Williamson, of the 1902-11 cohort, won the Hugo and Nebula Best Novella awards in 2001 for "The Ultimate Earth" at the age of 93. Peter Beagle of the 1932-41 cohort won the best Novelette Hugo this year for "Two Hearts".
The Hugos didn't start to be awarded until 1953, and only 23 of them had been awarded (counting ties and collaborations) by 1964, the year before the Nebulas began. We can increase this to 35 by including twelve retro-Hugos. 334 Hugos and Nebulas have been awarded since 1965. The 1942-51 cohort are in that sweet spot where the Hugos and Nebulas in all four length categories (Short, Novelette, Novella, Novel) were available to be won at all stages in their careers, starting from 1965: the first award won by a member of the cohort was the 1965 Nebula for Best Novel, Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany. The most recent is Connie Willis's Hugo for Best Novella, for "Inside Job".
"Younger" writers, i.e., those born after 1951, haven't had time to rack up the full number of awards possible for their cohort. If we had the Hugo and Nebula results from 2007-2047 available to us, the statistics might look a little different.
Edited to correct the "first Hugos in 1946" error. Thanks to timill
Tags: books, graphs, science fiction
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05:19 pm
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"You keep using that word..."
"...I do not think it means what you think it means."
The Guardian reports:
British officers took part in a US war game aimed at preparing for a possible invasion of Iran, despite repeated claims by the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, that a military strike against Iran is inconceivable.
"I've hired you to help me start a war. That's a prestigious line of work with a long and glorious tradition."
"You never said anything about killing anyone."
A Foreign Office spokesman said: "The foreign secretary has made his position very clear that military action is inconceivable. The Foreign Office regards speculation about war, particularly involving Britain, as unhelpful at a time when the diplomatic route is still being pursued."
Tags: politics
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03:42 pm
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Boskone - wrap up
( After the con - Tuesday 18th Feb )
( Wednesday 19th Feb )
Summary
The Sheraton was a great venue, right in the middle of Boston with great restaurants nearby. I kept hinting that I’d like to go eat at one of the Legal Sea Foods chain of restaurants, but all the Bostonians I was with declared it had gone downhill since the good old days, so I never got to try it for myself. One day when I’m back in Boston with some other new-in-town folks, perhaps. I’m strongly tempted to go back for Noreascon 4 next year, when the Worldcon takes the Sheraton, the Marriott, and the Hynes Convention Centre, with the very handy mall outside for fast food.
I had a fantastic time, great food, old friendships renewed and new friendships made. I enjoyed Boston as a city, and Boston fans were very friendly, although there seem to be so many of them that they don’t all know each other!
I’d especially like to thank Ellen Brody and Susan Murosako for encouraging me to come, and help finding accommodation, and acting as native guides in Boston; Mike Devney for offering emergency crash space; Victor and Sheila for their hospitality, and Gary Feldbaum for the room share. My extra special thanks to Ellen for driving me around Boston and showing me the city, even when I wasn't as gracious a guest as such a gracious host deserves.
Thanks to everyone else whose friendliness and generosity I’ve forgotten to mention, and I hope to see some of you again at Torcon.
Tags: fandom
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01:47 pm
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Boskone - Monday 17th Feb
 Monday morning I went down to the bar where some of the fans snowed in by the blizzard had gathered. About 50 were still in the hotel, having missed flights or similar. Since my own flight was scheduled for Wednesday anyway, this was gravy for me. An extra con! Two for the price of one. They were calling it Snokone. Chatted with Hope Leibowitz, Michael Pins, Elaine Brennan, Sharon Sbarsky, Dave Cantor, met Naomi Fisher and Pat Molloy. George R. R. Martin was there too.( Read more... )
Tags: fandom
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11:57 am
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Boskone - Sunday 16th Feb
Sunday morning I walked the long way from Victor and Sheila's place to the MBTA station in Central Square. I had intended to walk to Harvard Square, I don't know how I got turned around. Back at 11, dropped bags in Charlie and Feórag's room.
12:00 noon What Should Good Fantasy Do? Ellen Asher, Ellen Kushner, George R. R. Martin, Beth Meacham.
Charlie asked the question from the audience, "what should fantasy not do?". Ellen Kushner said at the end "let's take it to the bar", which doesn't make sense in an American con context; is this a borrowed expression from British fandom?( Read more... )
Tags: fandom
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02:23 pm
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Boskone - Saturday 15th Feb
No hotel breakfast for the room crasher, so I went out to the food court in the Prudential Mall for something, then back for the morning programme.
11:00am: Uplifting Biology Judith Berman, Tom Easton, Jeff Hecht, Shariann Lewitt, Robert J. Sawyer. The discussion was more around psychology than physical features as I’d expected. Shariann Lewitt had to physically move the microphone away from Rob( Who? )
Victor Gonzalez and Sheila Lightsey kindly invited me back to Cambridge to stay on their sofa, so we went back across the Charles River by taxi, where I met their cats Cassie, Art and Trouble.
Tags: fandom
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08:09 pm
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Boskone - Friday 14th Feb
I checked out of the Tremont in the morning, then went and( Read more... )
Tags: fandom
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10:32 pm
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Boskone - Thursday 13th Feb
Thursday morning I walked around a bit on my own, then hopped on the T to meet Ellen at the New England Aquarium. The Green Line is pretty run-down looking, in both stations and rolling stock, which is surprising for what seems to be basically the backbone of the system( Read more... )
Tags: fandom
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10:20 pm
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Boskone - Wednesday 12th Feb
 I understand the key to a good con report is a detailed account of the journey to the con, so... ( Flying out and first day in Boston )
Tags: fandom
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