Pixel Scroll 12/9/21 They’d Rather Be Scrolled

(1) DIANA RIGG ESTATE. Bonhams is auctioning the Estate of the Late Dame Diana Rigg on December 14 starting at 10:00 GMT . You can inspect items online by using the search in this link: “Bonhams : Collections: Including: The Contents of Stanley House, The Estate of the Late John Schaeffer, The Estate of the Late Dame Diana Rigg”.

AN ITALIAN GUNNER’S STILETTO DAGGER

Early 17th century
With sharply tapering blade of triangular section graduated on one side from ‘1’ to ‘120’, hilt comprising writhen swelling iron quillons and pommel, and swelling writhen dark horn grip en-suite and set with numerous brass nails, 40cm (15 3/4in) long

(2) STOP AND SHOP. DisCon III has posted the Dealers Room Map for those who will be physically present.

(There also will be a Virtual Dealer’s Room.)

(3) CAN’T EVEN PREDICT THE PRESENT. In WIRED, Canadian sf writer Madeline Ashby denounced cyberpunk as antiquated. “It’s Time to Reimagine the Future of Cyberpunk”.

CYBERPUNK IS LIKE cyberspace: instantly recognizable, but so ubiquitous as to be intangible. An aesthetic movement and a commentary on capitalism, it can be a genre, a subjectivity, an adjective, a political approach, a time period. (Though the same could be said of the words Renaissance or Victorian.) It can tackle artificial intelligence, embodied identity, digital immortality, or simply, in the case of Pat Cadigan’s Synners, whether a marriage can survive electronic pornography addiction. Like the best fiction, cyberpunk still slips on like a pair of fingerless gloves, even if—in the 21st century, partially situated in the future it imagined—it’s hard to see where fiction ends and reality begins….

… Considering the world has caught up with, if not surpassed, the genre’s imagination, its place in fiction might be limited, or limiting, in the way that rehashing Tolkien might be limiting for a fantasy writer. This is one of the challenges of telling a future-set story: Eventually time catches up, like a rubber band snapping back into shape. And sometimes it stings. Readers often assume that authors are happy when they “predict” future events “correctly,” but rarely are we asked about the queasy feeling of watching one’s worst vision come to pass. Describing his debut novel for CrimeReads, Lincoln Michel says, “The Body Scout is an attempt to replace the ‘cyber’ in cyberpunk with flesh and look at what happens when the human body becomes the major realm of technological innovation and corporate control … These days, the greatest dystopian novel might be the evening news.”…

(4) HEX. [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] In the Financial Times behind a paywall, Sarah Hemming reviews Hex, a musical adaptation of “Sleeping Beauty” now playing at Britain’s National Theatre.

The theatre’s seasonal family show, Hex. is a new musical that flips the story (of Sleeping Beauty), reaching beyond the ‘happily ever after’ to give Princess Rose a chance to make some decisions and furnishing the prince with a back-story (his mother is an ogre with a taste for human flesh).

But most notably, Hex shifts the focus of the tale.  Here the ‘wicked fairy’ gets to tell her side of the story; it turns out that Fairy (played by Rosalie Craig) is not a mean old ratbag, but a lonely and loveable little comic oddball who longs to do good.  Rather than setting out to do mischief, she is summoned to the palace by an exhausted king and queen who are desperate to get their daughter to sleep.  What happens next depends on the subtle distinction between a blessing and a hex and is a mistake Fairy spends the next century trying to repair.

(5) CAN YOU DIG IT? [Item by Mlex.] Map a tunnel through the center of the earth in a 4D visualization. Another app you never knew you needed, and you do: SuperTunnel Simulator.

SuperTunnel is an educational tool that simulates a hole through Earth, indicating where in the world you would end up if you were to dig in a certain direction

(6) WHERE DOES THE EXPANSE GO FROM HERE? “The Expanse Season 6 Interview: Short Season, Future Plans?” at Gizmodo.

Cheryl Eddy, io9: If you had to sum up season six with a single overarching theme, what would it be?

Daniel Abraham: The necessity of normal people to do the good thing in order to get us through. I mean, so much of this is about not just one hero—not just finishing up a conflict with two guys having a fistfight on a catwalk. [It’s about] everybody just being a little bit better in order to make things better, recognizing people’s humanity, recognizing people’s place, giving room to each other, giving respect to each other—the kind of banal goodness that actually makes society better.

Naren Shankar: I think recognizing the inherent humanity in others is really part of the season in the big way. I’m trying to remember what we wrote on the board [in the writer’s room]. Remember we always would write the theme…

Ty Franck: Normally we would have had a theme looking at us every day as we worked. And this was the first year we didn’t do that. So now we’re just fumbling around like dumbasses [laughs].

(7) BURY ME NOT ON THE LONE PRAIRIE. Yahoo! reports “’Cowboy Bebop’ Canceled at Netflix After One Season”.

… The 10-episode series failed to find much love upon its debut, with both critics and audiences alike largely split on it. The show holds just a 46% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 54% audience approval. In her review for Variety, Caroline Framke wrote “Netflix’s live-action remake of ‘Cowboy Bebop’ tries to be so much all at once, and appeal to so many different potential audiences, that it ends up struggling to forge an identity of its own….

(8) OCTOTHORPE. In Octothorpe episode 46, John Coxon is afraid, Alison Scott is in Portugal, and Liz Batty is an absolute unit. They discuss Smofcon, and Worldcon site selection, and picks. “And in the middle we have a worryingly serious conversation about COVID that you can skip if you want to.”

Listen here! “Is My Head Extremely Solid, Or What”.

(9) MEDIA BIRTHDAY.

2006 [Item by Cat Eldridge.] Fifteen years ago at L.A. Con IV where Connie Willis was the Toastmaster, Serenity, the film that wrapped up the short-lived Firefly series, won the Hugo for  Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form. Other nominated works that year were Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-RabbitThe Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the WardrobeBatman Begins and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Most critics agreed with Hugo voters, with Roger Ebert in particular saying that it was “made of dubious but energetic special effects, breathless velocity, much imagination, some sly verbal wit and a little political satire.” Unfortunately, the box office for it was dismal as it made forty million against production costs of, ooops, forty million. Audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes currently give it a near perfect ninety-one percent rating. 

(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAYS.

[Compiled by Cat Eldridge.]

  • Born December 9, 1900 Margaret Brundage. An illustrator and painter who is now remembered chiefly for having illustrated Weird Tales. Here is her first cover for them.  She’s responsible for most of the covers for between 1933 and 1938. Wiki claims without attribution that L. Sprague de Camp and Clark Ashton Smith were several of the writers not fond of her style of illustration though other writers were. She’d win the the Retro Hugo at CoNZealand for Best Professional Artist after being nominated four times before. And she’s a member of the First Fandom Hall of Fame. (Died 1976.)
  • Born December 9, 1902 Margaret Hamilton. Most likely you’ll remember her best as The Wicked Witch and her counterpart in Kansas in The Wizard of Oz. She would appear later in The Invisible Woman, along with much later being in 13 Ghosts, a horror film, and a minor role in The Night Strangler, a film sequel to The Night Stalker. (Died 1985.)
  • Born December 9, 1934 Judi Dench, 87. M in a lot of Bond films. Aereon in The Chronicles of Riddick, Queen Elizabeth in Shakespeare in Love which is at least genre adjacent, Society Lady in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Miss Avocet in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. Her very first genre film in the late Sixties, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, was poorly received by critics and I recall her role being a mostly nude and sexy faerie.  No, I’m not mentioning Cats. Really I’m not.
  • Born December 9, 1944 Eric Saward, 77. Script editor and screenwriter during the Sixth Doctor’s time. He wrote “Earthshock”, “Resurrection of the Daleks” and “Revelation of the Daleks”.  He was forced to resign because he was blamed for numerous scenes of graphic violence and darker themes during the first season of the Sixth Doctor.
  • Born December 9, 1952 Michael Dorn, 69. Best remembered for his role as  the Klingon Worf in Trek franchise. Dorn has appeared on-screen in more Star Trek episodes and movies as the same character than anyone else. He also played at least one other character in the Trek universe. Though rumored to be appearing in the second season of Picard, that is not happening after all. In that, he joins a long list of actors so rumored. 
  • Born December 9, 1953 John Malkovich, 68. I was pondering if I was going to include him then decided that his performance in Being John Malkovich, which won him a New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Supporting Actor, was enough for me to include him. What a strange role that is! He also shows up in the dreadful Jonah Hex film and played Edward ‘Blackbeard’ Teach in the Crossbones series which is at least genre adjacent. He also appeared in Mutant Chronicles, though, and there was The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy as well.
  • Born December 9, 1970 Jennifer Brozek, 51. She picked up a Hugo nomination at Sasquan for Best Editor Short Form for the Beast Within 4: Gears & Growl steampunk anthology (she also edited numbers 2 and 3 in the series). Her novel The Last Days of Salton Academy garnered a Stoker nomination.
  • Born December 9, 1970 Kevin Hearne, 51. I have really enjoyed the Iron Druid Chronicles in its audio narrative form.  Though I’ll confess that I’ve not yet read the spin-off series, Oberon’s Meaty Mysteries I’m planning to. Yeah it really, really does exist. Sausages figure prominently, a given as Oberon is a canine. 

(11) SCROLL TITLE EGOBOO. [Item by Daniel Dern.] This (substitute “your name” for YOURNAMEHERE, of course) seems to find (many) previous winners. (https://file770.com/?s=%22contributing+editor+of+the+day+YOURNAMEHERE%22&submit=Search) or, from the top of a scroll, in the search box, including the double-quotes “contributing editor of the day YOURNAMEHERE”.

Depending on your name, you might get some false positives, since OGH sometimes tweaks the fullname, e.g. “Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Streetcar-Named-Dern”, which is why I’ve just used my first name in my search string.

(12) YOUR JEOPARDY! HOSTS. It’s not forever, but they’re sticking around for now. “’Jeopardy!’: Mayim Bialik, Ken Jennings to Host Rest of Season 38”.

Mayim Bialik and Ken Jennings, who have been sharing hosting duties for season 38 following the Mike Richards debacle, will continue to serve in the same capacity into 2022. Producers Sony Pictures Television said Wednesday that the duo will remain hosts through the end of the syndicated game show’s current 38th season, which ends July 29. 

(13) BURSTING FORTH. In the Washington Post, Steven Zeitchik says that “3-D anamorphic outdoor ads” are about to become reality.  Amazon has begun advertising “The Wheel of Time” on Oceazn Outdoors’s 3-D  billboards in Picadilly Circus and  Times Square.  These ads could eventually be personalized based on “what a sensor picks up from passerrby.” “A ‘Wheel of Time’ 3D image could be the future of advertising”.

…Two weeks ago, the British agency that worked on the “Wheel of Time” spot, Amplify, brought it to Times Square. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

In that ad, actress Rosamund Pike, whose character Moiraine represents “the light,” reaches out her hand, beckoning for help. The Fade, an agent of “the darkness,” reaches out his mouth, looking for a city bus to devour. The effect can give passersby the impulse to duck and is a leap ahead of the area’s famous steaming cup of soup.

(14) NOT UNDEAD YET. Reboots: Undead Can Dance by Mercedes Lackey, just named as the 2021 SFWA Grandmaster, and Cody Martin, author of the Secret World Chronicle braided novel series, and two previous entries in the Reboots series, was released by Caezik Notables on November 30.

Say hello to Humph the Boggart, the principled, down-on-his-luck private detective, Skinny Jim the zombie, and Fred the werewolf, in this film noir style space opera.

Humans aren’t alone anymore—in fact, they share a planet with undead and near-dead beings, living in…semi-harmony, depending on who you ask!

This is the world of Reboots—where zombies, vampires, and werewolves live side-by-side with humans, taking whatever jobs they can in order to coexist peacefully. So, what better job to give almost-dead or dead beings, than one that consists of no air, cosmic radiation, and a lack of life-sustaining essentials?

In comes a cast of interesting, unique, and downright paranormal creatures as they travel through space.

(15) ADMIRATION SOCIETY. Scalzi was amused, too, and retweeted this discovery:

(16) ‘TOON BID. The facetious “Saskatoon in 2067 WorldCon Bid Progress Report 2021” begins —

Progress has been smooth, if nonexistent, on getting things in place for our filing (anticipated by the World-con Business meeting of 2062 at the latest.

We are making early preparations for a restaurant guide for the event, but have little luck identifying restaurateurs willing to commit to deals, menus, locations, or existing, in 2067.

We are currently seeking co-chair, preferably who will be under the age of 80 for the con, so born after 1987. There are a couple of candidates at the moment, but so far the youngest interested party is Jukka Halme, who will be 100 at the time of the con….

Read the whole thing at the link.

(17) VIDEO OF THE DAY. Take a virtual tour of the Toronto Library’s “Spaced Out: 50 Years of the Merril Collection” exhibit, continuing through December 31 (more info here.)

This video is a guided tour of the library’s exhibit, Spaced Out: 50 Years of the Merril Collection, in the TD Gallery at the Toronto Reference Library, an exhibit showcasing some of the exciting, strange and wonderful things held by our Merril Collection of Science Fiction, Speculation & Fantasy.

The Merril Collection dates back to 1970, when science-fiction author and editor Judith Merril donated 5,000 books to Toronto Public Library to found what was at first called the “Spaced Out Library”.

Visit the exhibit to learn more about the collection and speculative fiction, the literature of the “what-if.” This kind of literature explores the outer reaches of human imagination — our most spectacular dreams and darkest fears.

[Thanks to Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, JJ, Chris Barkley, Mlex, Michael J. Walsh, Kent Pollard, Daniel Dern, John King Tarpinian, Andrew Porter, Michael Toman, and Cat Eldridge for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Steve Davidson. This is the first in his suggested series “The Hugo Pixel Scroll Winners.”]

Fran Skene Named CUFF Delegate

CUFF Administrator Kent Pollard announced today that the Canadian fan selectors have chosen Fran Skene to be the 2019 Canadian Unity Fan Fund Delegate representing western Canada to the Can-Con Canvention in Ottawa October 18-20, 2019  

Fran received widespread support among participating fans and nominations from the following Canadians:

  • Eastern Canada: Murray Moore, Lloyd Penney, Yvonne Penny
  • Western Canada: Graeme Cameron, LeAmber Kensley, Garth Spencer

CUFF’s press release adds:

Fran Skene has been active in SF fandom, in Canada and internationally, since the 1970’s. Her fannish credits include publishing fanzines and organizing a number of conventions. She was the Fan Guest of Honor at four conventions between 1978 and 1988. In consultation with other Canadian fans she helped move the Canventions into their current form, at the same time turning the CUFF race from a one-off to a mostly yearly event. For the last three decades she’s helped raise money for CUFF through her infamous Turkey Readings, in which a panel of pro writers read from actual published books, volunteers from the audience act it out, and people bid with their money to stop or restart each reading.

This is the first time she’s run for CUFF. After being nudged by Murray Moore, she decided that – at her advanced age – it’s now or never. She’s also a retired librarian (Vancouver Public Library) with three kids, one grandkid, and a cat with attitude, Bastet. Professional writing credits are two articles on images of women in SF in scholarly journals, two locally produced SF plays, and she’s a co-writer of Windship: the Crazy Plague, available from Amazon.

[Thanks to Kent Pollard for the story.]

Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) Seeks 2019 Nominations

The Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) is taking nominations to select a fan delegate from Western Canada (Manitoba -> west) to attend CAN-CON 2019 / Canvention 39 the national Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention.

Can-Con 2019 takes place October 18-20 at the Sheraton Hotel, Ottawa, Canada with Canvention Guest of Honour Kelly Robson, Author Guest of Honour Charlie Jane Anders, and Agent Guest of Honour DongWon Song.

Kent Pollard, CUFF’s Western Administrator, adds, “The delegate is welcome, even encouraged, to stay longer than just the convention and hang out with the local fans.”

In exchange for funds that are likely to cover all of their costs for the trip,  the primary responsibilities of the CUFF delegate are to:

  • Attend this year’s Canvention and report back to your fellow fans on the event
  • Assist in raising funds for the next year’s delegate as they are able
  • Administer (with the assistance of a fan from the other side of the country) the process to select the next year’s fan delegate.
  • Promote Canadian genre-related media and fan activities.

Prospective nominees must submit an application by June 20, 2019 to [email protected]. The application must have a minimum of three fan supporters from the east and three in the west (six total). It should contain a letter with a brief fan-related bio and how you hope to make this trip beneficial for you and the fan community. Complete guidelines plus details on the voting process are available in a public Google Document here.

Voting will begin June 21 and close July 15, in order to give the successful candidate enough time to work with CAN-CON programming and to schedule their visit.

[Thanks to Kent Pollard for the story.]

Canadian Unity Fan Fund (CUFF) Seeks Nominations


By Kent Pollard (CUFF 2011 Delegate to SFContario): Nominations are now open to find a CUFF delegate for 2018. Canadian fans are looking for a fan from Eastern Canada to travel to attend VCON 42 / Canvention 38 in Vancouver this October 5-7 as the CUFF delegate. The delegate is welcome, even encouraged, to stay longer than just the convention and hang out with the local fans. In order to be nominated for the CUFF this year an application must be submitted by July 31, 2018 to [email protected].

In exchange for funds that are likely to cover all of their costs for the trip,  the primary responsibilities of the delegate are to:

  • Attend this year’s Canvention and report back to your fellow fans on the event
  • Assist in raising funds for the next year’s delegate as they are able
  • Administer (with the assistance of a fan from the other side of the country) the process to select the next year’s fan delegate.
  • Promote Canadian genre-related media and fan activities.

In order to be nominated for the CUFF this year an application must be submitted by July 31, 2018 to [email protected]. The application must have a minimum of three fan supporters from the east and three in the west (six total). It should contain a letter with a brief fan-related bio and how you hope to make this trip beneficial for you and the fan community.

Voting will be open August 1st and close August 24th. This is a short voting period, but necessary to give the successful candidate enough time to work with VCON programming and to schedule their visit.

Any Canadian fan or pro may individually nominate a fan to be this year’s CUFF delegate by filling out the form.

If you (the nominator) are not likely to be known to the current fund administrator (Kent Pollard) please indicate the name and contact info for a fan who is likely to be well known and can confirm you are an active fan, or links to information that will make your involvement in fandom clear. The same process will hold true for voting.

Voting, when open will be permitted by anyone who has been active in Canadian fandom for two years prior to the Canvention, (for this year, October of 2016) or anyone who has a membership to VCON 42. Voters are requested to make a donation to the fund of at least $5.00

CUFF is donation supported and provides for covering expenses for a Canadian science fiction and/or fantasy enthusiast to attend CanVention on the opposite side of the country. CanVention is the annual convention of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association, which traditionally alternates between Eastern and Western Canada.

VCON 42 will take place at the Sheraton Vancouver Airport Hotel October 5th through 8th, based around a theme of how Douglas Adams and the British Invasion affected Canadian Fandom. It features the following Guests of Honour:

  • Author GOH: Charles Stross
  • VCON Artist GoH: Ashley Mackenzie
  • Canvention GoH: Amal El-Mohtar

More Information about VCON 42 / Canvention 38.

Pixel Scroll 10/2/17 The World Will Always Welcome Pixels As Time Scrolls By

(1) HERALDRY. The former astronaut, now Governor General of Canada Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, has an official Coat of Arms.

Arms

A symbol of exploration and liberty, an open wing embodies our desire to reach higher and expand our horizons. As with birds protecting their young, the wing also conveys the strength and safety of family ties. Moreover, it represents Ms. Payette’s career as an aviator and astronaut. The Royal Crown symbolizes the viceregal office and service to all Canadians.

The astronaut’s helmet represents the never-ending quest for knowledge, a quest that extends beyond the frontiers of the known world.

(2) FEATHERED FRIGHT. Chloe N. Clark begins a new series of posts for Nerds of a Feather with “HORROR 101: An Introduction to Fear”.

Welcome to Horror 101. This will be an ongoing series of essays about the horror genre: from analysis about the elements of horror to using monster theory to in-depth looks at individual works of horror….

So as a writer and reader I loved what horror could give me. As a teacher and scholar, though, I wanted to look under the hood. I became interested in exploring how horror operates on a level of mechanics as well as how it operates as a means of communicating ideas. What was the rhetorical value of horror? After studying monster theory, a fairly new form of critical study that looks into monsters and horror from the analytical perspective, I began to think even more deeply about the value of monsters and using them both in writing and in teaching. I’m lucky to teach at a university that allows me to shape my composition courses and this allowed me to create a class that teaches multimodal composition and communication through the theme of Monsters. Monsters are a fun way to get students thinking about much deeper issues. By exploring the ideas of monstrosity, we’re able to look at acts of othering and monstering that permeate history: racism, sexism, xenophobia, homophobia, and the list goes on. My students began to pick up on these ideas and tropes in various media they consumed. They realized it wasn’t just a “genre” thing as they could point to the language of othering and monstering in the speeches of politicians.

(3) INKY AWARDS. The winners of the 2017 Inky Awards were announced October 2. The award recognizes achievement in young adult literature, with nominees and winners selected by voters under the age of 20. Some of the shortlisted titles were of genre interest, though it’d be a stretch to say that about either winner.

The Gold Inky for Australian titles went to Words in Deep Blue, and the Silver Inky for international titles to Radio Silence..

(4) WHAT A LOAD OF BOVRIL. The Royal Albert Hall website, in a 2016 post, claimed to have hosted the first sff convention in 1891 — “5-10 March 1891: Bovril and the first ever Sci-Fi convention, at the Royal Albert Hall”. It was a fancy-dress ball for charity, that’s all.

Widely regarded as the first ever sci-fi convention, the ‘The Coming Race’ and ‘Vril-Ya’ Bazaar and Fete was held at the Royal Albert Hall on 5-10 March 1891.

This costumed fund-raiser was themed on a 1871 science fiction novel, The Coming Race by Baron Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in which the Earth is threatened by the ‘Vril-ya’. This superior and winged master race find the source of their power in ‘Vril’ – a latent source of energy akin to electricity. The Coming Race was a pioneering publication of the sci-fi genre, and extremely popular in popular culture in the 1890s.

In the model of modern comic-cons, visitors were encouraged to come in fancy dress, filling the Hall with various ‘Coming Race’ characters and generally ‘exotically’ costumed fans of the book; many donned wings. The character of Princess Zee, from the novel, was played by a young lady wearing a black satin dress and silver flower tiara that glowed with electric lights.

With Vril-ya architecture having been described as similar to that of ancient Egypt, Sumeria and India, the Hall was bedecked in flowers, palm leaves and ferns. A grand ‘Pillar of the Vril-ya’ was erected in the arena, modeled on Cleopatra’s Needle. Vril-themed magic shows, a fortune telling dog, musical entertainment and grand feasts were held in the auditorium, while winged Vril-ya mannequins flew above….

(5) DIEHL OBIT. The founding editor of the Los Angeles Times Book Review, Digby Diehl, died September 26. With many publishing credits as a reviewer, he also wrote celebrity bios and a history of EC Horror Comics series Tales from the Crypt. He was 76.

(6) TODAY IN HISTORY

  • October 2, 1959The Twilight Zone premiered.
  • October 2, 1976 Ark II aired “The Robot.”

(7) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY BOYS

  • Born October 2, 1895 – Bud Abbott, whose resume includes Abbott and Costello Go To Mars (1953).
  • Born October 2, 1906 – Willy Ley

(8) COMICS SECTION.

This is sick humor I tell you, John King Tarpinian — today’s Off the Mark.

(9) PRAISE FOR BARDUGO. NPR’s Jason Sheehan approves of Leigh Bardugo’s The Language of Thorns: “‘The Language Of Thorns’ Will Ensnare You With Dark Magic”.

Good fairy tales balance sweetness and nightmares. They are candy apples with razorblades inside; kisses touched with poison. Bad ones are nothing but sweet. They coddle and muffle and take all the sharp, dangerous edges off of the dirty business of learning important lessons in a world that’s rarely as nice as we want it to be. The bad ones sing Careful what you wish for and Sometimes pretty isn’t as important as smart with choruses of cute mice and bluebirds. But the good ones don’t end before there’s blood on the knife.

The good ones understand that scars are the best teachers.

(10) CURRENT EVENTS. NPR considers, “Winter Is Coming. What If Roads And Runways Could De-Ice Themselves?”.

Starting in 2002 and working with the Nebraska Department of Transportation, he ran a five-year test on a 150-foot-long bridge near Lincoln, Neb. He says a 208-volt current running through electrodes kept the bridge free of ice during 15 major snowstorms at the “amazingly low” operating cost of about $250 per storm.

The conductive concrete involves adding steel fiber and carbon to the concrete mix, he says. While regular concrete costs $120 per cubic yard, the conductive concrete costs $350-$400 per cubic yard. But in the long term, Tuan says the conductive concrete means fewer de-icing chemicals in the ecosystem, and concrete that lasts longer and costs less to maintain.

(11) FAST FORENSICS. A practictioner discusses the “The computers being trained to beat you in an argument”

It has long been the case that machines can beat us in games of strategy like chess.

And we have come to accept that artificial intelligence is best at analysing huge amounts of data – sifting through the supermarket receipts of millions of shoppers to work out who might be tempted by some vouchers for washing powder.

But what if AI were able to handle the most human of tasks – navigating the minefield of subtle nuance, rhetoric and even emotions to take us on in an argument?

It is a possibility that could help humans make better decisions and one which growing numbers of researchers are working on.

The next thing they’ll need after that is a computer that knows what to do when humans ignore their superior arguments – Facebook should give them lots of practice.

(12) STILL NEWS TO THEM. Geek Girl Con managed to produce a bubble in time – Galactic Journey filled it — “[Oct. 2, 1962] Women of Washington, Unite!  (The Seventh Geek Girl Con in Seattle)”.

Ah, Geek Girl Con.  Every year, Seattle’s clarion call of intellectual feminine fandom calls us to attend Washington’s signature science fiction/fantasy event.  It is an intimate (but growing) gathering of sff devotees with a fascination for things both creative and technical.

This year, as with last year, the Journey was invited to speak on the last 12 months in fandom, and boy did we have a lot to relate.  From coverage of Marvel Comics’ slew of new superheroes to a report on this year’s Hugo winners, and with a special piece on the woman pioneers of space exploration, our four panelists ensured that our several dozen attendees left educated and excited.

(13) CUFF INFO. Kent Pollard tells his plans for moving the Canadian Unity Fan Fund history to a new home.

The cometedust.ca website hasn’t been used for anything else in half a decade, and the hosting has become pointless for me. rather than have it drop off the net completely, I’m going to transition the pages into a blogger account. the domain name itself is sufficiently inexpensive that I will retain it and point it that blog when I can (The Canadian Internet Registration Authority being privacy-aware requires all .ca domains to have private whois information, which must be manually removed before Google will accept a transfer of the name control.) The existing site will function for an un-defined period. Eventually (I hope), cuff.cometdust.ca will point to cufffanfundery.blogspot.ca. for the moment, users can go directly to that blog if they are seeking old info about the Canadian Unity Fan Fund.

(14) DIVING AGAIN. Kristine Kathryn Rusch told fans today that WMG just published the latest Diving novel, The Runabout. “Also, I finished the next novel in the series. That’ll appear next year, but bits and pieces of it (as well as a standalone novella) will start appearing in Asimov’s in 2018.”

The Runabout

A Diving Novel

Kristine Kathryn Rusch

A graveyard of spaceships, abandoned by the mysterious Fleet thousands of years earlier. Boss calls it “the Boneyard.” She needs the ships inside to expand her work for Lost Souls Corporation. Yash Zarlengo thinks the Boneyard will help her discover if the Fleet still exists.

Boss and Yash, while exploring the Boneyard, discover a small ship with a powerful and dangerous problem: the ship’s active anacapa drive.

To escape the Boneyard, Boss must deal with the drive. Which means she’ll have to dive the ship on limited time and under extremely dangerous conditions. And she can’t go alone.

(15) FISHLIPS. Is this a threat or a promise? The Verge reports “Big Mouth Billy Bass will soon work with Amazon Alexa”.

The tacky-but-classic Big Mouth Billy Bass will soon be compatible with Amazon’s Alexa assistant, according to Business Insider. This means the fish will be able to pair over Bluetooth and then lip sync and dance when music plays. I’m sure this is just what you all wanted: a connected, dancing silicon fish.

In case you didn’t know —

The Big Mouth Billy Bass is a classic of novelty shops and Wal-Marts, designed to sing “Take Me To The River” or “Don’t Worry Be Happy” when its motion sensor is activated. There’s no built-in microphone, so presumably Billy is running off some off-camera offboard microphone.

 

[Thanks to Chip Hitchcock, John King Tarpinian, James Davis Nicoll, Andrew Porter, and Michael J. Walsh for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Jack Lint.]

2014 CUFF Nominations Open

cuff01_logoThe Canadian Unity Fan Fund is looking for nominations to be the delegate from Eastern Canada to attend the 2014 V-Con in Surrey, BC this October. CUFF provides for a Canadian sf/fantasy fan to attend Canvention on the opposite side of the country.

Canvention is the annual convention of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association. In 2014 CanVention will be held at V-Con 39 in Vancouver, October 3-5.

In order to be nominated for the CUFF this year an application must be submitted by email to [email protected] or via mail to CUFF 2014, c/o 250 Jarvis Street, Toronto, ON M5B 2L2.

Nominees must apply by April 27. Applications require a minimum of three supporters from the West and three from the East, plus a letter from the nominee including a self-description and an explanation about why his/her selection would be beneficial to the community.

Any Canadian fan or pro may individually nominate a fan to be this year’s CUFF delegate by sending an email outlining your reasons for believing that the fan would make a good delegate to: [email protected]. Nominators who are not known to the current fund administrators Debra Yeung or Kent Pollard should provide a name and contact info for a fan who is known to one of them.

Final voting will run May 1-21. Anyone may vote for CUFF who has been active in Canadian fandom for two years prior to the Canvention, (so for this year, October of 2013) or anyone who has a membership to Can-Con 2013. Voters are required to make a donation to the fund of at least $5.00.

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CUFF Looking for Candidates

Nominations are open for the 2013 Canadian Unity Fan Fund which will send a fan from Western Canada to Ottawa for Can-Con in October.

Debra Yeung, last year’s winner, explains the Western region of Canada is defined as Manitoba and parts West.

Can-Con is host of 2013’s CanVention, the annual convention of the Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy Association.

CUFF nominees must apply by April 21. Applications require a minimum of three supporters from the West and three from the East, plus a letter from the nominee with a self-description and explanation why this would be beneficial for them and their communities.

Any Canadian fan or pro may individually nominate a fan to be this year’s CUFF delegate by sending an email outlining your reasons for believing that the fan would make a good delegate to: [email protected] or filling out the form at:- http://bit.ly/14wjpMP. Nominators who are not known to the current fund administrators Debra Yeung or Kent Pollard should provide a name and contact info for a fan who is known to one of them.

Final voting will run May 1-June 10. Anyone may vote for CUFF who has been active in Canadian fandom for two years prior to the Canvention, (so for this year, October of 2013) or anyone who has a membership to Can-Con 2013. Voters are required to make a donation to the fund of at least $5.00

2012 CUFF Winner

Debra Yeung is the winner of the 2012 Canadian Unity Fan Fund. She will be CUFF’s delegate to When Words Collide/Canvention in Calgary Aug 10-12.

CUFF Administrator Kent Pollard reports there were 42 selectors this year. The vote totals were: Debra Yeung, 29; Jane Garthson, 12; No Preference, 1.

Yeung scored a first-round majority (70% of those expressing a preference) to avoid a runoff.

Donations from this year’s selectors added $302.48 to the available funds for the delegate’s trip. Pollard plans a financial report later.

The text of the full press release [PDF file] follows the jump.

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CUFF Stuff

They’re off and running – for the Canadian Unity Fan Fund. Jane Garthson and Debra Yeung are competing to be named the CUFF delegate and represent fandom at When Words Collide (combined with the 2012 Canvention) in Calgary from August 10-12.  

Votes for CUFF race must be submitted by 12 midnight PST, April 17, 2012 to either the current Delegate, Kent Pollard, or the Eastern administrator, Diane Lacey.

Eligible to vote are Canadian fans who have been active for at least two years as of April 17, or are paid, attending members of this year’s When Words Collide convention. Voters are asked to make a donation to CUFF — $5.00 is the suggested amount. Either use Paypal and e-mail — [email protected] — or paper mail (with checks payable) to Kent Pollard at 1222 Junor Ave., Saskatoon, SK S7L 7K1, Canada.

[Thanks to Auroran Lights #6 for the story.]

2012 CUFF Race Probable Starters

Looks like there will be a real horse race for the Canadian Unity Fan Fund again in 2012. That’s become the usual thing in recent years after a long dry spell where CUFF typically was challenged to find even one potential delegate. Congratulations to fund administrator Kent Pollard if he pulls it off.

Pollard told Facebook friends that he expects Jane Garthson and Debra Yeung to run. He intends to post the information here on March 5.