Kids stuff and old age...

Yesterday I told you about a website (which links to the websites authors blog) full of space art of yesteryear, aimed at children.

I've spent some time looking at his collection, and I find that it makes me quite sad.

I remember some of this from when I was young. Some crude, some wonderful (thank you, Chesley Bonestell). All of it the stuff of dreams.

And I can look at today's space art -- beautifully rendered, with real space photographs as backgrounds. But the soul is gone.

We (as a people) used to dream of the future. Show it to our children and ignite their hopes and imaginations.

Today it seems that we no longer look forward and outward, we just distract ourselves with something shiny and never look behind the curtain.

Kids stuff...

I almost lost a website (someone else's, not mine...)

Addresses move on the web. And they don't always (or even normally) leave forwarding addreses.

One of these was a website by John Sisson, full of wonderful old space art, some of which I remember as inspiring me when I was a kid (You Will Go To The Moon (see here, too. The original edition is the way to go...)

Think about this site, I decided to go to archive.org and see if it had captured any of his stuff. On one of the last archived pages, I found a pointer to his new website. Win!

Go, look, and dream. It's the first step to the stars...

Back in the day...

you didn't fire up your web browser and look for the latest thing.

Instead, you headed off to the newsstand and bought the latest magazine.

So, for the electronics hobbiest, this mean you had a set of instructions and minimal distractions. And intent...

These days, physical electronics hobby magazines are few and far between. But some of them are still around, and even have web editions.

Nuts and Volts, Silicon Chip, and Circuit Cellar are all still around.

And Makezine, even though not solely dedicated to electronics, started in the age of the web and is very popular.

Go, read, enjoy, and think of what you can do with all the little goodies around you...

Some Itty Bitty stuff...

Like TinyBasic and a programming course based on the 1802 microprocessor.

And writing a video game -- 22 years ago!

Go have some fun...

Something to peruse...

Well, after coming back from the Worldcon in Montreal, I was off again for work.

This time, however, it was an un-airconditioned warehouse in Florida. Complete with large spiders and a visiting hawk. In August...

So, while I'm not having fun, why don't you go to the LadSoft website and have fun.

Among other things, they have a couple of C compilers (with source!)

(I like C compilers. With source -- they are fun toys! Does this show?)

Fannish Express...

when it absolutely, positively has to get there eventually.

Yah, it's a Fan joke. It's actually fairly common for fans to give something to another fan on their way to a convention, to be passed off at the convention.

No, I didn't do any of this at Anticiption, but an incident there made me think of it.

My wife and I used backpacks to carry stuff around the convention. Very convenient.

On the last day, my wife and I packed our luggage, and started to relax before driving back on Tuesday. After a bit, I realized that I hadn't left my "currently reading" book out for the evening. Looking around, I couldn't find it anywhere in the hotel room.

I almost never lose things, but it can happen. I know I was reading it before my last panel on Monday, so I went back to the Palis to see if I had left it there.

The convention was over, and the place was being cleaned. Went to the room of the panel, not there. Check the chair in the hall where I had been reading it. Not there.

Head down to the information / lost & found table. Nobody there, but there was someone at the nearby table. Lost and found has moved to ConOps at a hotel a few blocks away. Sorry, too busy to call and see if they have it.

So, I walk to the other hotel. I find that Lost & Found was being run by a friend of mine (Hi, Reg!) but she had not see it. But she did suggest that if one of the Palis workers had found it, it would be in their lost and found. So, go back to the Palis and try to find a security guard.

It's getting deserted as the teardown continues. I walk towards the last panel room, thinking that if a worker had found it, it would most likely be someone who's station is in that area. Finally find someone (a waiter pushing a cart, but at least he works for the Palis) and ask him where L & F is.

However, this is overheard by a fan working cleanup. She found a book, check with the people at the end of the hall.

Yup, they have it. They were on their way to ConOps. I intercepted them just in time, otherwise it would have been ships crossing in the night.

All is known to Fans, but it might take a while to find it...

Away for a few days...

Not that I'm keeping to my M - W - F schedule, but I'm about to go on back-to-back trips.

First, my wife and I are going to Anticipation, the 2009 World Science Fiction convention in Montreal. No "spock outfits" for us, but books, movies, panels, more books, and general tourism.

Then, two days after we get back, I'm going to Clearwater, Florida for work.
Current plan is to fly down Thursday, and back either late Saturday or sometime on Sunday. Definately not as much fun...

I don't know how much net access I will have in Montreal, so the best bet for a new update is Wednesday, August 12th.