(1) ZENO’S MARTIAN THEOREM. You can’t get to Mars before you…“The first trip to Mars will come with the longest layover ever”
Nobody likes layovers, but the first astronauts heading to Mars will get to experience one of the longest such experiences of their lives. They’ll have to spend one year going around the moon, which will probably be a very annoying wait for the first people heading to the red planet. It’s not all bad news, however, as they won’t just wait for time to pass by. NASA actually wants to make sure that the round trip to Mars, a 1,000-day endeavor, is carefully planned during the time.
NASA’s Greg Williams, revealed that the agency’s Phase 2 of its plan to send humans to Mars includes a one-year layover in orbit around the moon in the late 2020s, Space reports..
Williams, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for policy and plans at the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, revealed that NASA wants to build a “deep-space gateway” around the moon that would serve as the testing ground for the first Mars missions.
(2) ZUBRIN’S MARTIAN KERFUFFLE. Joel Achenbach’s article for the Washington Post, “Mars Society founder blasts NASA for ‘worst plan yet’”, reports on a space exploration conference sponsored by The Atlantic in which Robert Zubrin said NASA’s plan to build a space station orbiting the moon is a giant waste of money because no one before this suggested Mars expeditions needed to have a midway stop before.
Until recently, NASA branded virtually everything it was doing as part of a “Journey to Mars,”and Mars remains the horizon goal. The destination was even mandated in a recent congressional authorization act for NASA that was signed by President Trump.
In the meantime, NASA has more modest plans — and these plans don’t please Zubrin, for one.
NASA wants to put a “spaceport”in orbit around the moon. It would be a habitat for astronauts on long-duration missions. You could call it a “space station”if you wanted, though it wouldn’t be nearly as big as the one that’s circling the Earth right now. NASA refers to it as the Deep Space Gateway and describes it as “a crew tended spaceport in lunar orbit.“
…After the presentations, Zubrin gave The Post some additional thoughts on what he perceives as NASA’s failure to come up with a bold and coherent plan. He said that in the long history of NASA studies on the future of human spaceflight — and there is a long list of these lengthy reports — no one ever suggested that an orbital lunar outpost was a necessary part of an exploration program. Part of the problem, as he sees it, is the agency’s recent announcement that the first, uncrewed flight of the Space Launch System rocket will be delayed again, to 2019: “The tragedy of SLS is not that it is being delayed. The tragedy is that it doesn’t matter that it’s being delayed, because there’s nothing for it to launch anyway.”
(3) BACK IN ACTION. After an 8-year break, Elizabeth Moon relaunched her Vatta’s War series in April with Cold Welcome.
(4) EMERGENCY BACKUP. “Justice League director Zack Snyder steps down due to family tragedy”. Joss Whedon comes off the bench to finish the picture.
Zack Snyder, who has acted as DC Comics’ directorial visionary on a number of its most ambitious film projects, is stepping down from Justice League due to a family tragedy. The news, announced in an interview published today by The Hollywood Reporter, means Snyder will be handing the reins over to Avengers director and writer Joss Whedon, who will ferry the project through its remaining post-production stage before its November 17th release later this year.
‘Justice League’ is now in Joss Whedon’s hands
Snyder, whose daughter committed suicide in March at the age of 20, admits that he originally misjudged how the loss would affect his work. “In my mind, I thought it was a cathartic thing to go back to work, to just bury myself and see if that was way through it,”Snyder told The Hollywood Reporter. “The demands of this job are pretty intense. It is all consuming. And in the last two months I’ve come to the realization…I’ve decided to take a step back from the movie to be with my family, be with my kids, who really need me. They are all having a hard time. I’m having a hard time.”
(5) DANCING IN THE SAND. A ballet adaptation of Dune will be performed August 4-6 by the Vaught Contemporary Ballet at the Baltimore Theater Project (45 West Preston Street, Baltimore, MD 21201):
Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, Dune, is widely recognized as the best selling science fiction novel of all time. It’s exploration of politics, religion, sexism and ecology set against an interstellar backdrop allows the reader a reflection on the human condition in the modern era. Herbert’s Fremen of Arrakis provide a counterpoint to a culture consumed by avarice — the desire for melange.
Join us as we depict Herbert’s illustrative words through the art of ballet. Movement will be on full display in its varied definitions as we follow Paul Atreides in his rise to power as both royalty and the prophet of the Fremen.
Keep track of the event on Facebook.
(6) GO GO GO. I don’t pronounce it, I just report it. “Google’s AlphaGo AI defeats world Go number one Ke Jie” — The Verge has the story.
Google’s AI AlphaGo has done it again: it’s defeated Ke Jie, the world’s number one Go player, in the first game of a three-part match. AlphaGo shot to prominence a little over a year ago after beating Korean legend Lee Se-dol 4-1 in one of the most potent demonstrations of the power of artificial intelligence to date. And its defeat of Ke shows that it was only getting started.
“I think everyone recognizes that Ke Jie is the strongest human player,”9th-dan professional and commentator Michael Redmond said before the match. And despite defeat, Ke’s strategy suggested that the 19-year-old Chinese prodigy has actually learned from AlphaGo’s often unorthodox approach. “This is Master’s move,”said Redmond of one of Ke’s earliest plays, referring to the pseudonym that AlphaGo used for a recent series of online matches in which it racked up a 60-game winning streak.
(7) COMIC SECTION. A commenter seeing yesterday’s news item about someone in a T-rex costume scaring horses in Charleston aptly contrasted the episode with the comic “Menace” at Hyperbole and a Half.
(8) THE PHENOMENON. Carl Slaughter has an update about prolific YA author Bella Forrest:
When we last checked in on Bella Forrest, she had just launched her dystopian Gender Game series and was continuing her longrunning Shade of Vampire series. In June 2017, she will wrap her Gender Game series. In March 2017, she launched her magic academy Spellshadow Manor series. Shade of Vampire is at #45. With all 3 series, she cranks out a book per month. Meanwhile, the first Gender Game novel has received 1500 Amazon reviews, over 90% of them 4 and 5 star.
(9) PUSHME PULLYU. “Oh, your tractor beam is so itty bitty.” “Oh, your imagination is so itty bitty.” —“Physicists sketch plans for a matter-wave tractor beam”.
A team of physicists have outlined a means of making tractor beams to push and pull objects at a distance using “matter waves” those strange analogues of light waves that underlie quantum mechanics.
Tractor beams, staple tools of science fiction for remotely pulling in space shuttles and yanking away incoming space debris, have been edging into reality in recent years.
The first real-life tractor beams were made of photons. It is easy to imagine a stream of photons carrying a particle of matter along like a river picking up a leaf and carrying it downstream. What is astounding about tractor beams is that by skilfully manipulating the transfer of momentum from the beam, physicists do not have to rely only on pushing particles, but can make light pull particles of matter, like a tractor. Beams made of sound waves have also been demonstrated in the lab.
(10) LEST PAYDAY FAIL. At Tor.com, Jo Walton asks “Why is Genre Fiction Obsessed with Belisarius?”.
I once wrote jokingly here that there are only three plots, and they are Hamlet, Pride and Prejudice, and Belisarius, because those are the ones everyone keeps on reusing.
There is a conference in Uppsala in Sweden the weekend before the Helsinki Worldcon called “Reception Histories of the Future“which is about the use of Byzantium in science fiction. The moment I heard of it, I immediately started thinking about our obsessive reuse of the story of Belisarius. (I’m going. Lots of other writers are going. If you’re heading to Helsinki, it’s on your way, and you should come too!)
It’s strange that science fiction and fantasy are obsessed with retelling the story of Belisarius, when the mainstream world isn’t particularly interested. Robert Graves wrote a historical novel about him in 1938, Count Belisarius, and there’s Gillian Bradshaw’s The Bearkeeper’s Daughter (1987), but not much else. Whereas in genre, we’ve had the story of Belisarius retold by Guy Gavriel Kay, David Drake (twice) and Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, and used by L. Sprague de Camp, John M. Ford, Jerry Pournelle, Robert Silverberg, and Isaac Asimov. So what is it about this bit of history that makes everyone from Asimov to Yarbro use it? And how is it that the only place you’re likely to have come across it is SF?…
(11) ANOTHER ONE BITES THE DUST. Trae Dorn at Nerd & Tie says a Chicago convention is pivoting to serve a different market and adopting a new name — “Kollision Con Calling it Quits, Organizers Launching GEM Expo Chicago Gaming Con in Its Place”.
After six conventions, Chicago based anime convention Kollision Con€˜s organizers have decided to call it quits. They made the announcement on the con’s official Facebook page late last week, citing venue issues and an overcrowded Anime con scene as their primary reasons for ending the show.
The organizers aren’t giving up on running conventions though, as in that same post they announced the GEM Expo Chicago, a gaming convention that will occupy the dates originally reserved for Kollision Con 2017.
(12) FLYING OFF THE SHELVES. Last year toy sales received a boost and the reason is clear — “Year-round ‘Star Wars’ toy sales boost entertainment merchandise revenue” reports the LA Times.
Year-round “Star Wars” hype is giving a boost to Hollywood’s merchandising business.
Licensed goods based on movies and other entertainment properties generated $118 billion in global retail sales last year, up 5% from 2015, according to a new report.
Toys, apparel and other wares tied to movies such as “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” and “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” helped propel the increase, the Licensing Industry Merchandisers’ Assn. said Monday.
The year benefited from two “Star Wars” installments as bookends: “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” which was released in December 2015, and “Rogue One,” which came out a year later, said Marty Brochstein, senior vice president of the association.
“In 2016, you had a full year of sales of ‘Star Wars’ merchandise,” Brochstein said. “Obviously that helped on the entertainment side.”
(13) DON’T STIFF THE STAFF. Are you a bad tipper? You’re a science fiction fan, of course you’re a bad tipper. Okay, maybe not you personally. But ever been out to dinner with a group of fans? It can be excruciating! Here’s one commentator’s advice about “How to Tip in All Situations”.
Tipping has been known to divide families, ruin relationships, and even start wars. Not really. But tipping is an issue that brings out all sorts of passionate opinions.
Who should you tip? How much should you tip? When is it appropriate to leave a bad tip? And is the whole idea of tipping flawed in the first place?
If you’ve ever asked those questions, then we’re here to provide a little clarity on the all-important subject of tipping etiquette.
When in doubt about whether or not to leave a tip, always err on the side of generosity. Remember, your tip says more about you than the person you’re leaving a tip for.
So let’s take a look at some of the people you should tip. Then we’ll give you a general idea of how much to tip them.
(14) FEELINGS OF INSECURITY. Yahoo! News lists major cyber attacks over the past 10 years.
A huge range of organisations and companies around the world have been affected by the WannaCry ransomware cyberattack, described by the EU’s law enforcement agency as “unprecedented”.
From “cyberwar” to “hacktivism”, here are some of the major cyberattacks over the past 10 years: …
…In November 2014, Sony Pictures Entertainment became the target of the biggest cyberattack in US corporate history, linked to its North Korea satire “The Interview”.
The hackers — a group calling itself Guardians of Peace — released a trove of embarrassing emails, film scripts and other internal communications, including information about salaries and employee health records…
(15) STATE OF THE ART. Carrie Vaughn’s Amaryllis and Other Stories was named winner of the Colorado Book Award in the Genre Fiction category on May 21. [Via Locus Online.] (See, proper attribution can be done. It hardly hurts at all.)
(16) WE HAVE MET THE ENEMY. The latest explanation for bee colony collapse — “How beekeepers help deadly parasites thrive” in Cosmos.
Deadly mite infestations considered a leading cause of the continuing collapse of the global commercial honey-bee industry are being abetted by modern bee-keeping practices, new research suggests.
The research, published in the journal Environmental Entomology, points the finger at the practices of siting commercial hives too close to each other, and of thwarting the bees’ swarming behavior, for creating conditions ideal for the rapid growth and spread of the parasitic Varroa mite.
The mite (Varroa destructor) is a text-book example of zoonosis — a predatory or parasitic species that has “spilled over” from its traditional host into a new species which, not being adapted to it, suffers catastrophic consequences.
Varroa’s natural host in the Asian honey-bee (Apis cerana). Co-evolution has resulted in the two species being able to live in balance.
[Thanks to Cat Eldridge, Rob Thornton, John King Tarpinian, Kreiri, and Carl Slaughter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Andrew.]
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(13) DON’T STIFF THE STAFF.
Every time I read an article like this, I am again thankful to live in a country where tipping is not obligatory.
Mr. Mxyzpxlk
I habitually tip 20%. Because a) I know too many people who have worked in waitstaff positions at one time or another and b) 20% is easy to figure; take 10% and double it…
(Soon Lee, waiters are usually paid far less than the minimum wage in the U.S. with the EXPECTATION that tips will make up the difference. So if you don’t tip, you’re directly harming your waiter’s ability to pay their rent. It’s not right; it’s not fair, but it’s the system in place and I have no ability to change it.)
(13) Tipping is an awful thing. Pay people enough in the first place, then we wouldn’t have to deal with that nonsense. And it is complete nonsense.
In other news, is anyone else annoyed by Marvel’s heavy watermark on the Graphic Stories in the Hugo packet? I don’t mind having a watermark, but the Marvel one is *just* dark enough to interfere with reading. Very annoying.
I tip generously, but I’d much rather people got paid a proper wage, and that tips were not figured as part of income but were instead tax-free. I’d still tip, but less.
Hm–twenty percent. That’d make this a fifth, right? 😉
In case anyone is interested, here’s a link to a fact sheet for federal Wage and Hour rules regarding the server wage, tips, tip pools and tipping credit:
https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs15.pdf
I worked waiting tables. I tip and tip heavily.
Appropriately for its name, the first several Kollision Cons were scheduled opposite long established conventions in Chicago, whether it was Windycon, Chicago TARDIS, or Midwest Furfest. None of them were focused on exactly Kollision Con’s target audience, but all had some overlap with them.
I do tip well by European standards (10 to 15%), though I’m probably stingy by US standards. I don’t mind tipping at all, though it should never have to make up for too low wages. And the insistence on IMO extremely high tips in the US (and 20% is extremely high) coupled with the expectation that I won’t tip, just because I’m not American (honestly, I’ve had cover charges added to bills in the US that Americans don’t get, just because they expect I won’t tip, because I’m not American) is annoying. As is the fact that US waiters sometimes tend to behave as if they were on drugs or something. I know that they need to be excessively friendly, because they need the tips, but honestly, you don’t have to ask me every five minutes, if I want something. If I do, I will tell you.
Besides, in the US you encounter service staff in situations (gas stations attendants, bagging clerks at a grocery store) where you wouldn’t encounter people elsewhere, so I’m never sure whether to tip them or not. I usually err on the side of tipping, but it’s awkward. And I can pack my own groceries and would much prefer it. Honestly.
Ballet Dune sounds intriguing but I hope they don’t expect the dancers to perform with real sand… imagine how how uncomfortable it would be to get it stuck in your leotard.
I am annoyed with having to tip housekeeping in hotels, because I can’t get a receipt for that. This means that I can’t be reimbursed by my company nor deduct it from my taxes. If the hotel can’t pay a living wage, they should make it easier for business travelers to tip. Rant aside, I keep my annoyance to myself and tip anyway.
ETA, none of my friends ever went on a second date with a guy who short tipped the waiter…
7) Whoever recommended ‘Menace,’ many thanks! I loved it!
For years at Bouchercons, we would have these big dinners with 12-20 people and I was the guy who got the big check and broke it down to what everybody owed. There was never a question of undertipping, because when I told each person or couple what they owed, the tip was already included.
And it was from the WisCon program book that I learned to tip the hotel maid every day rather just a large amount at the end of the stay — I never expected to learn how to tip better from fandom.
@Cassy B,
I appreciate that in the USA, one should tip to properly remunerate staff. But IMO it’s a messed-up situation that wouldn’t be necessary if workers were paid a decent wage.
(We have one tax (GST or Goods & Services Tax ), 15%, which is included in menu pricing, so the amount on the menu is the amount you pay. There are no state or local taxes. Maybe we’re poorer at mental arithmetic because of it, but I’m happy with the trade-off.)
Cora:
There’s a European standard? In Sweden, it is a bit more confusing. You never tip at lunchtime. You do not tip at places where you pay before eating. You do not tip at places that are seen as fast food places. You typically do not use a percentage when tipping, instead you round upwards to a nice number. And if that number is next to nothing, you get rid of some coins or add a 20 crown note. And you do not really have to tip, you do it because you think it was nice.
When having a beer, you do not need to tip at all, but can choose to leave the change (small coins). In Taxis, you typically round up.
And that’s it.
(also, beware! Some tourist traps in the Old Town adds a mandatory service fee. Unswedish! Sad!)
Scroll, what is it good for? Absolutely nothing! Fifth! File it again.
(1) Isn’t being weightless for an extra year a bad idea? Or is this just a test flight for the poor sods who have to go around and around the moon for a year and then someone else gets to go to Mars?
(13) Most places stick an 18% mandatory tip on large parties, which frankly isn’t enough considering what a hassle large parties are. 20% is standard in civilized parts of the US, and that’s what we tip unless the service is terrible. Have tipped over 25% for excellent service. Food is cheap in the US — if you can’t afford to tip, stick with fast food, ya cheap bastids. Like Cassy B said, 20% is easier to figure anyway. When we’re out with a group, nobody gets to leave the table till there’s at least 20% tip, and shaming happens till everyone comes up with their share. Undertippers don’t get invited to group meals once they show a pattern.
And I tip hotel maids every day, because different ones clean on different days, and those ladies earn their wages cleaning up after us. I can’t imagine how gross it must be to clean up after hundreds of strangers every day. Cash on the barrel, so they won’t have to report it to the IRS or bad bosses (This also means, if you do have the same maids your whole stay, you get better service — plenty of extra towels and little soaps, willing to let you sleep in). I inquire of waitpersons whether they’d prefer the tip in cash too; rest of the staff gets an hourly wage.
This link is pretty good, except bag boys don’t get tips. The one place here that they still haul them out to the car, they’re forbidden to take tips, since they get paid at least minimum wage. I also don’t know anyone who tips for takeout. People at burger joints get minimum wage; it’s only real sit-down restaurants that tips are required for servers to live on.
15% has been the standard for DECADES in the US, so unless you’re over 80 and still think everything costs a nickel, you best be tipping at least that. 10% or less, you may be literally taking money out of the server’s pocket. If you eat there again, prepare to get bad service, bad food, or a fee tacked on to teach you some manners.
@Hampus
The Swedish approach was how I was brought up to think about tipping in the UK at least as far as the rounding up in restaurants and cabs are concerned. In pubs you don’t tip, although I am sure in touristy places tips are given.
Over the past decade or two there has been a move by restaurants to add a “service charge” on the bill. Sometimes it is discretionary, sometimes compulsory (but if compulsory it must be clear upfront). I never tip in places that have a service charge on the bill.
I remember a TusCon where a dinner party being organized had more people join in, and more people, and more people… and by the time everyone arrived at the restaurant, when the hostess asked “How many in your party?”, the answer was “Umm… forty-two.”
They actually got us all seated within a half hour, rearranging tables to stretch down the center of the side section of the restaurant, then make a right-angle turn and arrange more tables down the center of the front section so we were all seated at a long L-shaped table..
We tipped generously that night.
Two things bother me about restaurant tipping. 1) While not over 80, I do recall when the standard tip was 10%. Then it became 15%. Now, when I read a story on tipping, quotes in it or comments on it are frequently of the tone “If you won’t tip 20%, you shouldn’t go out you pond scum”. Not really clear on why the percentage goes up given inflation does hit restaurant prices.
2) Why is only the wait staff tipped? Yes, I know they can be paid less than standard minimum…but in places from sit down casual up, tips usually more than make up for that. Meanwhile, the line cooks are often getting less than the total of waitstaff wage plus tips. Admittedly I’m willing to do a lot of the stuff a waitron usually does, but I think the cooks have more to do with my meal.
(Yes, I do tip the socially acceptable amounts. Doesn’t mean these things don’t bother me about the custom.)
@andyl, Hampus: (also a Brit) that’s pretty much how I tip mostly too. Exceptions if we’re a large group, but even then it’s usually more like a bunch of us just throwing a few extra quid into the pot rather than going by a particular % amount or anything.
Japan and Korea have a no-tip culture as far as I’m aware, and in certain situations trying to leave a tip can be seen as rude and insulting. Or it’ll just confuse the bejesus out of them.
My problem with tipping is that it does not add to your retirement pension. That is why any mandatory cost should be part of your salary. Tipping is extra because it was nice. Not something your livelihood should depend on.
Hampus Eckerman: My problem with tipping is that it does not add to your retirement pension. That is why any mandatory cost should be part of your salary.
There are pretty much no retirement pensions in the U.S. any more. Even people who had them from jobs they started decades ago are having them snatched away now when their employer/former employer gets taken over by another company, which is able to legal maneuvering to strip them of the pensions they were promised 30, 40, or 50 years ago. 🙁
In Sweden, the employer pay a fee to the state. Then you can choose to let the state handle the money or choose your own pension fund.
> “…it’s only real sit-down restaurants that tips are required for servers to live on.”
Food delivery drivers (pizza, chinese, wings, ect.) get paid a sub-minimum wage. They pay for their gas, oil, insurance, repairs, and automotive sundries with your tips.
> “10% or less, you may be literally taking money out of the server’s pocket.”
That’s because the Employer, to make their paperwork with the IRS easier, ASSUME that delivery drivers get a 10% tip. If the driver gets less, the driver eventually loses money on the tax withholding later.
> “My problem with tipping is that it does not add to your retirement pension.”
People who depend on tips for a living don’t get to retire.
[TipStalk]
10) I do like that point that Walton makes about SFF readers being interested in the non-fall of Empires. Be it Middle Earth, Steampunk (which usually have a never-fallen British or British like Empire), or what not, shoring up Empires as a way to keep Civilization going, lest darkness fall. (allusion intentional).
13) Tipping
I deplore tipping and would rather that workers be paid a decent wage. The minimum wage for tipped employees in some parts of this country is abysmally laughable. I try to hit around 20%, but I’d rather the prices were higher. But apparently individual attempts to do this on the part of restaurants apparently go south, every time. Why IS that, I wonder? I
A late and probably repeated Meredith moment (but it never hurts to say these things again):
I just did my annual check of the Gmail spam folder to discover that 1. Walter Jon Williams‘ mailing list has been tragically redirecting into my trash since I signed up in the hope of scuba pics and 2. The Praxis, first of his Dread Empire’s Fall series, has been on sale for £0.99 or equivalent outside the US and Canada since 11 May. The reduced price is still applicable on Amazon UK at least!
I’ve been keen to try this book out since reading glowing reviews from other filers, notably JJ’s writeup of the series and other things WJW a few months back (apologies, am on mobile otherwise would go looking for the link). I’m not sure how i feel about the shape of the spaceship on the cover, but hopefully such objections will be put to rest when I get around to reading it…!
Edit: OK link to the rec post wasn’t that hard to find: https://file770.com/?p=31828
Mmm. I have a lot of time for Walter Jon Williams in general – he’s certainly one of the most varied writers in the business – but I’m afraid I couldn’t work up a lot of enthusiasm for “Dread Empire’s Fall”… it read, to me, too much like another case of Napoleonic-era-navy-IN-SPACE, and some of the antagonists fell into the “too stupid to live” category.
It is of course possible that WJW is making subtle and clever points (about how all brutal disciplinarian militaries are kind of the same, and how working for a moribund and repressive empire for several centuries has a damaging effect on your capacity for innovative thinking), and I’m just too dumb to see them. Anything’s possible.
Clickity. Possibly clackity.
Have comments to make, yet not awake yet.
@Steve Wright weell, it’s still only 99p at the moment, so hopefully people seeking more intelligent villains in their Napoleon-in-space stories won’t feel too shortchanged…!
Having supported my wife, daughter and myself waiting tables as we finished college, I always tip well.
At the time, waitstaff were paid 1/2 minimum wage, but we also had to claim 8% of our receipts for withholding taxes, as well as tip out the hostess staff 1% and the barstaff 3%. Anyone who constantly shorted the bartenders or complained that they were claiming more than they made soon found themselves self-selecting out of the industry, often after having hours and tables cut.
[godstalk]
(2) That is an amazingly short-sighted view of the Gateway.
(13) My Father, back when 15% was the norm, always used to tip 20%. When credit cards became the norm, he would tip $1 on the card and the rest of the $20 in cash.
My Step-father, conversely, is the type to have a stack of ones on the table. He will make sure the waiter sees it when he removes a dollar for whatever imagined slight. Not wanting to consume a large amount of other people’s saliva, I have a habit of pre-tipping the wait staff when I eat with him.
In Hugo homework news, I just watched “Hidden Figures” last night.
It would take Katherine Johnson to calculate the orbital trajectory of my socks.
Currently #1 on my ballot. (Caveat: I’ve not seen “Arrival” yet.)
I don’t want to be That Guy (tho’ I clearly am), but T-Rex was a British pop/glam-rock band (ya know, like the Beatles, the Byrds or the Monkees). I could ignore it in the previous newspaper journo’s report, but really? In an SF fan’s blog? The correct abbreviation has the same format as for any other binomial species name – T. rex (yes, all in italics). Sheesh.
As a former Holiday Inn maid, I tip for the room. Like lurkertype says, it’s best to tip daily instead of at the end. I tip for take-out, adding a buck to the tab (sometimes two). Tipping overseas required study that was forgotten as soon as we came home. I tried to tip a cab driver in Guangzhou, and he seemed amused turning it down. We haven’t had food delivered since Pizza Hut failed to show up for 45 minutes and then charged us $20 after we went somewhere else to find food. Fuck Pizza Hut.
[Still not getting notifications when I sign up. Ready to believe it’s my computer/browser/connection/karma/whatever.]
(13) I drove a taxi once upon a time so I always tip generously. I have the same criticisms of tipping as a system that everyone else does – it’s criminal that restaurants can get away with paying their staff sub-minimum wages and treating the rest as a matter of grace – but I’m certainly not going to rebel at the expense of the workers, especially after having lived on tips myself.
@Jonathan Edelstein I have the same criticisms of tipping as a system that everyone else does but I’m certainly not going to rebel at the expense of the workers
No disagreements there. And I’d add that it’s always worth supporting hotel and food workers’ unions when you can. Here in London we’ve had several campaigns against restaurant chains who skim the “service charge” that gets added to the bill, and action by Deliveroo and Uber Eats couriers for fairer pay.
@lurkertype: I’m not over 80 and I still think everything ought to cost a nickel or thereabouts – 25 cents for the latest pulp, a dime for the movies (two features plus shorts), a nickel for the popcorn, a nickel for the hotdog after and dinner later the same day at Horn&Hardarts for about 40 cents. A full day of meals and entertainment for under a buck, generously supported by the half-cent-per-word rate for the stories. Sell one short and you’re set for a month!
On Tipping: I’m a tough customer at restaurants as the ONLY reason I eat out is to be served…by both the kitchen and the wait staff. If food prep is not correct – NOT the wait staff’s fault. Note, I don’t expect dancing or obsequious slobbery so much as efficiency, timeliness and courtesy. Good wait staff judge your mood in a snap and adjust themselves accordingly (uh oh, the king is in a bad mood today, better be as unobtrusive as possible). When I order my baked potato and ask for butter on the side, no sour cream, and that the butter arrive WITH the potato, I’m not asking for anything out of the ordinary. (And why is it that every freakin restaurant that serves piping hot baked potatoes drops those frozen, unspreadable butter nuggets on the table?) Anyway. If you forget the butter, you had damn well better get it to me before the potato has cooled to the point that it won’t melt butter. And no, now my appetite is gone, I do not want a second potato (lord only knows what you’re going to do to it in the kitchen); if you insist on bringing me a second potato despite my protests I’m gonna have to get up and go outside to cool off for a bit…and if you make nasty remarks to my wife about me while I’m gone (can’t happen anymore, but), you damn well know I’m talking to your manager, who better not invite himself to sit at my table (“excuse me, but what the fuck do YOU think you’re doing? I didn’t invite you to sit down, I called you over to complain. And yes, I AM going to keep getting louder and louder until you get up from my damned table!”). No, I don’t want another meal. I want to explain the physics of heat loss to you. Go get some potatoes, we’re gonna be here for a bit!
BUT. If you exhibit a small amount of intelligence and logic, if you are polite and courteous, even if you have problems (I’m sorry sir, they’re all out of butter), you’ll get your tip, without the bonus of my entertaining rants
Oh, and another thing: “Southern Hospitality” is NOT an excuse for taking 45 minutes before taking my order….
My condolences on your wife, Steve.
NASA’s response to 45’s goal of a Mars shot looked like everything they were planning to do anyway in Earth-Luna space, with “… and then Mars” tacked on the end. While it’s true that the profile for a crewed Mars shot, originally put forward by Zubrin and since adopted by NASA as their reference mission, doesn’t involve a Luna lay-over, there is something to be said for proving the flight and life support systems close to home. I can see why he was ticked off though.
Arifel on May 24, 2017 at 3:01 am said:
The Praxis, first of his Dread Empire’s Fall series … I’m not sure how i feel about the shape of the spaceship on the cover, but hopefully such objections will be put to rest when I get around to reading it…!
I liked this trilogy.
Apart from the space-going cock-and-balls on that cover (!) there is a certain amount of spaceship related cock-and-bull inside, too. There is a dramatic rescue sequence towards the start which makes no sense. I seem to remember WJW said somewhere that it made sense to him when he modelled it with two pencils, but nope.
There is also the small irritant that everyone in the Galaxy thinks “football” means American football, but we may be able to blame aliens for that.
Since any trip to Mars is going to take a really long time, it makes a lot of sense for NASA to do some testing fairly close to home to verify that we really can make a spaceship that’s capable of long missions without continual material support from Earth. If you’re in lunar orbit and have problems, you can always come home. If you’re half-way to Mars, it’s likely you’ll just die.
By the same token, I can’t see the logic of building a Mars base before we’ve demonstrated that we can operate a lunar base. And, given the cost and distance involved, I can’t see the point of a Mars mission that doesn’t establish a Mars base.
I can sort of understand the frustration of people like Zubrin, though. The Space Shuttle was supposed to service the Space Station, and the Space Station was supposed to be where the Mars rocket would be assembled. Instead, the Shuttle and the ISS sucked up all the money, and so no one went anywhere for decades. It’s easy to see anything involving the moon as a new dead end.
Towards thee I scroll, thou all-destroying but unconquering pixel; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last fifth at thee.it read, to me, too much like another case of Napoleonic-era-navy-IN-SPACE
His actual Napoleonic-era-navy series is pretty good.
@rea: I believe you! He’s a good writer. And I’ve no objection to Napoleonic-era-navy stories, provided they stay at sea, in the late eighteenth/early nineteenth centuries, where they effing well belong.
(I have a vague feeling that I might have come to The Praxis after a spate of David Feintuch and/or Honor Harrington, which might excuse me being a bit Napoleonic-era-navy-IN-SPACE-ed out….)
Not sure if anyone has touched on this in the tipping discussion, but regarding why the standard USA tip percentage has crept upwards, compare it with the trend in base wages for tipped industries with respect to the cost of living. And I’m not sure that everyone is aware that there are special exceptions to minimum wage laws for certain industries where tipping is standard. People are legally paid less on the expectation that the difference (bringing them up to level of minimum wage) will come from tips. And taxes as deducted from their paycheck based on an assumption of a certain level of tip income…whether they actually receive those tips or not. It’s a travesty.
Tipping barbers was always my problem. You can’t just leave the money at the table like you do in a restaurant. Plus you weren’t supposed to tip if the barber owned the shop. My theory is that shaved heads have become more popular as tipping gets more complex.
Eight pixels high and scrolling down
Just scroll a bit around the edges and leaves the pixels above shoulders, will ya?
Just have to jump in here to reinforce what a lot of people have said:
Federal labor law does not require restaurants to pay minimum wage if tips will bring the serviers’ wages up to minimum wage.
THIS IS NOT THE SERVERS’S FAULT AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU OR THEY CAN DO TO CHANGE IT.
So please tip generously. If you don’t tip, or tip stingily, you are literally taking money out of their pockets.
This system sucks. One thing wrong with the current movement to raise the US minimum wage to $15/hour is many of those proposals don’t touch this aberration. (Abomination, more like it.)
Any rational analysis of take home pay across the entire economy shows clearly that over the last 40 years, workers have not benefited from rising productivity. All of that money has flowed to the CEO and rentier class, while taxes have gone down for those groups.
The latest abomination coming out of Washington demonstrates yet again that the billionaire class isn’t satisfied, and won’t be satisfied until we are all serfs, living at their sufferance.
Mick Mulvaney, the Budget Director, calls for ‘compassion’ for TAXPAYERS as the safety net is destroyed.
Tip the people that do you service.