REM and Telescope

Hi,

Interesting set of dreams this morning:

1.) It was evening, but the sun had set early so it was dark out, and I'm driving along when I looked up and saw shooting stars. They'd just suddenly appear as bright points in the sky and then shoot off in a random direction leaving a trail behind. But these meteors got quite a ways down into the atmosphere because they'd get brighter and then suddenly burst into a bright cloud followed by a boom. It was really pretty neat.

2.) But right after that, it got light out again. And I'm like, "hey, it's still 8pm and it was dark just a minute ago, what gives?". Eventually, Bill Nye the Science Guy tried to explain how it was some weird effect of orbital mechanics -- something about the tilt of the Earth and stuff. I really wasn't buying his explanation though.

3.) I was at a convention running this large, complex wargame. There was this huge model of a WWII aircraft carrier. The scenario was that a hurricane had beached the carrier on a South Pacific island. Now the Japanese were attacking by land, sea and air and the carrier had to fend them all off. There must have been a few US warships in the area because otherwise the Japanese would've just shelled the thing to scrap (or maybe the Japanese only had a couple small ships or something). It struck me as a neat idea.

that's all
Tom

REM and Telescope

Hi,

Interesting set of dreams this morning:

1.) It was evening, but the sun had set early so it was dark out, and I'm driving along when I looked up and saw shooting stars. They'd just suddenly appear as bright points in the sky and then shoot off in a random direction leaving a trail behind. But these meteors got quite a ways down into the atmosphere because they'd get brighter and then suddenly burst into a bright cloud followed by a boom. It was really pretty neat.

2.) But right after that, it got light out again. And I'm like, "hey, it's still 8pm and it was dark just a minute ago, what gives?". Eventually, Bill Nye the Science Guy tried to explain how it was some weird effect of orbital mechanics -- something about the tilt of the Earth and stuff. I really wasn't buying his explanation though.

3.) I was at a convention running this large, complex wargame. There was this huge model of a WWII aircraft carrier. The scenario was that a hurricane had beached the carrier on a South Pacific island. Now the Japanese were attacking by land, sea and air and the carrier had to fend them all off. There must have been a few US warships in the area because otherwise the Japanese would've just shelled the thing to scrap (or maybe the Japanese only had a couple small ships or something). It struck me as a neat idea.

that's all
Tom

Revelation Review

Hi,

So I just finished reading Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. This book was just a tad too long. Probably could've been cut down by about a third and it would've been just fine, but instead we spend about half the book getting everyone to the same place and up to the same level of information and then we get on to the heart of the matter.

In short, a guy named Dan Sylveste is the leader of an expedition to the world of Resurgam to study a long-dead alien species. Unfortunately, he's so obsessed with his studies that half the expedition rebels and takes off (his wife head of the rebellion) and then a follow-up coup puts him in prison. Then the alien city is discovered.

Meanwhile, on the near-lightspeed ship Nostalgia for Infinity, Ilia Volyova needs a new Gunnery Officer. The last one went insane when she hooked him up to the gunnery systems on-baord. Luckily, they're making a stop at a planet called Yellowstone to find Dan so that he can come aboard and heal the ship's captain (who's in suspended animation and slowly being eaten away by a nanoplague).

Meanwhile, on Yellowstone, a woman named Ana Khouri who arrived here thanks to a clerical error has taken up contract assassinations when she gets an offer she can't refuse. By hook or by crook, she needs to get to Resurgam to kill Dan.

Oh, and with the relativistic ship speeds and cryogenic suspension the dates are all over the place until everyone gets to the same spot/time.

Once everyone gets put on board the Nostalgia the book really picks up speed and gets interesting. Indeed, the ship is really the most interesting thing in the book. There's only a crew of 5-6 people in a ship several kilometers long. The ship is centuries old with numerous subsystems and winding passageways that no one crew member is aware of. Previous crew members are stored in ship's memory for consultation, the rats in the hold are just another system -- really, the ship is pretty fantastic. The rest of the book? Like I say, once everyone gets into the same frame of reference it's great, but up until then, you kinda wish everything would hurry up a bit -- but it still can't get past the speed of light. DAMN YOU EINSTEIN!!!!

later
Tom

Revelation Review

Hi,

So I just finished reading Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds. This book was just a tad too long. Probably could've been cut down by about a third and it would've been just fine, but instead we spend about half the book getting everyone to the same place and up to the same level of information and then we get on to the heart of the matter.

In short, a guy named Dan Sylveste is the leader of an expedition to the world of Resurgam to study a long-dead alien species. Unfortunately, he's so obsessed with his studies that half the expedition rebels and takes off (his wife head of the rebellion) and then a follow-up coup puts him in prison. Then the alien city is discovered.

Meanwhile, on the near-lightspeed ship Nostalgia for Infinity, Ilia Volyova needs a new Gunnery Officer. The last one went insane when she hooked him up to the gunnery systems on-baord. Luckily, they're making a stop at a planet called Yellowstone to find Dan so that he can come aboard and heal the ship's captain (who's in suspended animation and slowly being eaten away by a nanoplague).

Meanwhile, on Yellowstone, a woman named Ana Khouri who arrived here thanks to a clerical error has taken up contract assassinations when she gets an offer she can't refuse. By hook or by crook, she needs to get to Resurgam to kill Dan.

Oh, and with the relativistic ship speeds and cryogenic suspension the dates are all over the place until everyone gets to the same spot/time.

Once everyone gets put on board the Nostalgia the book really picks up speed and gets interesting. Indeed, the ship is really the most interesting thing in the book. There's only a crew of 5-6 people in a ship several kilometers long. The ship is centuries old with numerous subsystems and winding passageways that no one crew member is aware of. Previous crew members are stored in ship's memory for consultation, the rats in the hold are just another system -- really, the ship is pretty fantastic. The rest of the book? Like I say, once everyone gets into the same frame of reference it's great, but up until then, you kinda wish everything would hurry up a bit -- but it still can't get past the speed of light. DAMN YOU EINSTEIN!!!!

later
Tom

ALL ARE MOVIE!

Hi,

So Coolidge Corner Theatre is showing Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox, a documentary about Dr. Bronner -- the guy who produced the soap with an Internet Screed for a label.

I really want to see this. It's showing at 7.30 and 9.30 pm tonight.

Is there anyone out there who'd like to see this with me? C'mon, you know it'll be cool.

later
Tom

ALL ARE MOVIE!

Hi,

So Coolidge Corner Theatre is showing Dr. Bronner's Magic Soapbox, a documentary about Dr. Bronner -- the guy who produced the soap with an Internet Screed for a label.

I really want to see this. It's showing at 7.30 and 9.30 pm tonight.

Is there anyone out there who'd like to see this with me? C'mon, you know it'll be cool.

later
Tom

New Pig Can Be Used As a Three Prong Plug Adaptor!

Sad news,

Weekly World News to cease publication.

*sniff*
Tom

New Pig Can Be Used As a Three Prong Plug Adaptor!

Sad news,

Weekly World News to cease publication.

*sniff*
Tom