Science Made Cool

. . . the Ocean Blue

Back in August I took note of the date on which Christopher Columbus set sail on his voyage to the East Indies. Nearly seventy days later (with a stopover in the Canary Islands) Columbus made landfall somewhere near Watling Island in the Bahamas. He was nowhere near his destination.

For some reason the story of Columbus bugs the heck out of me. In elementary school, even though it was a good-quality private school in the 1970s, we still got the "proved the world was round" myth. No sooner was that put to rest than Columbus was de-rehabilitated (if such a word exists) and transformed into a villainous imperialist bringing ecological devastation and insensitive pronouns to the untouched, Eden-like environment of the New World. That's just as much hogwash as his proving the Earth is round.

Christopher Columbus was an absolutely great sailor, on a par with William Bligh. He planned and executed a round-trip across vast expanses of unknown water. He may well have worked out the Atlantic trade wind pattern, a remarkable feat decades ahead of its time.

He was a terrible geographer -- and when his estimate of the Earth's diameter was proved wrong by his own voyages, he began speculating that perhaps the Earth was really pear-shaped, with the New World on a kind of "breast" sticking out of one side. So, far from insisting the Earth is round, Columbus was actually willing to imagine other shapes just to avoid admitting he'd been wrong about something.

And as to his imperialist eco-whateverness, he's as "guilty" as the first human who stepped from Africa to Asia, or the ones who walked from Siberia to Alaska. Happy Columbus Day!

Voyage of Beagle, Take 2

A group of British and Dutch scientists and journalists are celebrating the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth by retracing the voyage of the HMS Beagle -- tho' where it took Darwin 5 years, modern equipment means they can make the same trip in only 8 months. They'll be broadcasting it live to the world over the internet: through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr. It'll be fun to see what they find, but be warned -- so far, unless you read Dutch, it's mostly a visual affair.

Museum Report: The National World War II Museum

Our Crack Team made another visit to New Orleans, and spent an afternoon at the National World War II Museum there. The Museum began life in 2000 as the D-Day Museum, focusing on the amphibious landings at Normandy which relied on landing craft built in New Orleans by the Higgins Boat Company. It then expanded with a section devoted to the island-hopping campaigns of the Pacific, and then took on the entire war as its subject matter.

GenCon Report

I'm back from GenCon Indy 2008, after 13 hours of driving. Here are my own, very subjective impressions.

-- The convention was very well-attended. Industry insider gossip has the attendance at 5 or 6 percent above last year, which is pretty impressive given the jump in gas prices.

-- One way the fans saved money was by not spending it in the dealer room. It wasn't a bad year, but nobody I talked to said it was fantastic, either. Certainly not the best sales year ever, despite the bigger crowds.

-- There wasn't really any one single "gotta-have" product this year. Fantasy Flight Games had their Battlestar Galactica board game, and Privateer Press had Monsterpocalypse. Wizards of the Coast, of course, had the Fourth Edition of Dungeons & Dragons -- but that's been out in stores for months already. I don't think this is a bad thing, really. "Must-have" products in the past have sucked all the oxygen (i.e. dollars) out of the dealer room for everyone else.

-- The most heavily-promoted item was Champions Online. Pretty much every flat surface in downtown Indianapolis had a Champions Online logo plastered on it. Rather impressive for an online game which won't even go live until 2009.

-- In the roleplaying section, I was impressed enough by A Dirty World by Greg Stolze to buy a copy.

-- Best meal:  Mexican-style red snapper stuffed with octopus and shrimp at Huachinango, on the northwest side of Indianapolis. Heartily recommended.

-- Worst meal:  breakfast at a Bob Evans restaurant in Dayton on the homeward leg. Biscuits with the consistency of an art eraser, sausage patties cooked to hockey-puck toughness, a mix of underdone and overdone potatoes on the side, and coffee like weed killer. The place to have breakfast if you're planning a tri-state murder spree and want to get in the right frame of mind.

-- Best side trip:  The Air Force Museum in Dayton.  I could have spent a week there instead of two hours on Monday morning. Also qualifies for Best Juxtaposition:  the Wright Flyer replica hanging opposite an F-22 Raptor in the Modern Flight gallery.

Off to GenCon!

Tomorrow our crack team -- let's be honest, it's just me -- will head off to sunny Indianapolis for GenCon Indy 2008, the hobby game industry's annual big show. I'll be demonstrating PARASITES UNLEASHED! to all comers, and showing off BONE WARS as well. This year Zygote Games are partnering with Tangent Games in the exhibitor area, so stop by for a double helping of science-related fun!

If possible, along the way home I hope to make a stop at the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. The Museum has a superb collection, including the only surviving examples of some aircraft, like the mighty B-36 Peacemaker. I can do this because of the stealthy ninja-like way I take down the booth when the dealer room closes.

Diane’s Research Trip to Louisiana

Dissect. Draw. Photograph. Dissect. Draw. Photograph. Dissect. Draw. Photograph. Lunch. Cripes, BIG gator. Dissect. Draw. Photograph. Raining. Dissect. Draw. Photograph. Raining sideways. Move specimen to lab shed. Dissect. Draw. Photograph. Sounds like taiko drums on the roof. Clean up for the day. Dinner. Tropical storm, you say? Sleep. What’s that howling noise? Only wind. Blowing hard, though. Back to sleep. Wake up. Breakfast. What? We had a hurricane? Dissect. Draw. Photograph.

Sushi Deluxe

On Monday the Zygotes visited the famous Kaiyukan Aquarium in Osaka, Japan. It’s a truly impressive place, specializing in creatures of the Pacific Rim. The arrangement is very well-thought-out:  one starts at the top, looking at coastal and riverside organisms like penguins, otters, monkeys, sloths, and sea lions. The visitor gradually descends through the building, seeing creatures at different depths in their respective environments.

The star of the aquarium is the resident whale shark, Kai-Kun. Kai-Kun is an exceedingly big fish, with fins as long as a tall man, and a wide mouth which is very menacing if you’re a krill. Kai-Kun swims around and around in the giant center tank of the aquarium, escorted by rays and smaller fish. He’s the living mascot of the Kaiyukan Aquarium, and the gift shop is full of Kai-Kun merchandise and photos of various celebrities posing with a Kai-Kun model.

Worldcon Update

Jim will be participating at Worldcon in both game designer and writer modes, so they’re keeping him pretty busy. I’ll join him on the very last panel on the very last day to talk about Zygote Games.

Here's the schedule:

Thu    14:00 Want to Play a Game? Teaching Other People to Play
How many times have you flipped through the rulebook, trying to find answers while others wonder "can we just start playing already?" Learn what not to tell people, why the rulebooks are bad and other ways of assuring that you're not ruining a good game with a bad explanation.
James L. CAMBIAS, Michele ELLINGTON, Terry O'BRIEN

Fri    10:00 James L. CAMBIAS reads “The Dinosaur Train” (forthcoming in F&SF)

Fri    16:00    Kaffeeklatsche with James L. CAMBIAS

Sun    10:00    Alternate Futures
We talk about alternate histories, but there are also alternate futures. What futures might plausibly grow from today? Are the traditional SF futures still possible? Is history really at an end? How do you build a future anyway? How about futures based on alternate pasts -- do they count?
Charles STROSS, James L. CAMBIAS

Sun    14:00    Free Will? Or Neurochemistry?
Some behaviors (anger, violence) might be neurological in nature. If these traits can be identified and treated, what implications does this have on social interactions, legal contracts and frameworks? The social contract? The idea of individual responsibility? Could we program ourselves into becoming mindless sheep? Should we?
Eileen GUNN, Jack William BELL, James L. CAMBIAS

Mon    11:00    The Zygote (Games) Panel
The last panel of the convention. We talk about Zygotes or whatever other fancy comes to mind.
James L. CAMBIAS, Diane A. KELLY

Zygotes In Japan

Jim put on his science-fiction author hat (it has a propeller beanie) for the World Science Fiction convention. The con starts in Yokohama later this week, but we’re touring around a bit first. So far, we’ve seen the bounty of seafood on display at the Tsukiji fish market at 5 am (thank you jet lag!) and been mugged by the semi-tame deer in Nara. NB: if you feed deer for centuries, they start to feel entitled.

                           

Tomorrow, we’ll see what the aquarium in Osaka looks like.