The glass will just keep filling up.

 

I was chatting with my co-worker Wendy this morning and she asked if I was a 90210 fan.  I explained that I was not, but that my wife had already informed me of Luke Perry's premature passing at the age of 52.

Wendy is currently studying to become a personal trainer, and she mentioned that it had come up as part of her course material that there are some people who just have a genetic predilection for problems like strokes, heart attacks, what have some, and some people who just don't.

"Oh well," she concluded, "There's nothing you can do about your DNA."

"Well, not yet," I replied.

Which, really, is the ultimate expression of being a science fiction fan, and one of the things that I most enjoy about science fiction.  There's a kind of optimism to it - yes, there are people who are predicting the apocalypse in 30 years, but really, science fiction suggests that there will be a future, and that we will be in it.  And,  that hopefully we will be able to solve some of the problems that we just have to accept right now, like dying of a stroke when you're 52.

- Sid

Gateway.

 

 “Canada is going to the moon.”

- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

Yesterday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Canada's commitment to NASA's planned Lunar Gateway space station, which will hopefully begin construction sometime in the 2020s.  As in the past, our two billion CAD contribution to the orbital platform will take the form of a smart robotic manipulator - the Canadarm3, of course - which will be composed of a primary large-scale arm and a smaller arm similar to the current DEXTRE unit in use on the ISS.

 

I confess that I'm a bit conflicted regarding the Gateway Station*.  On one hand, I'd prefer to see more of a focus on Mars, in spite of the recent resurgence of interest in lunar exploration, as demonstrated by the Chinese Chang'e 4 lunar probe landing on the dark side at the start of this year, and a planned return to the Moon by NASA.  However, the name "Gateway" is well chosen - a station in lunar orbit would also be a useful stepping stone for Martian exploration while providing the perfect overwatch for lunar missions, and also allow for the development of dedicated vacuum shuttles for ISS-Gateway travel, which would be far more efficient than the hybrid craft that have made the Earth-Moon circuit in the past.

Ultimately, it's important to be sensible about things like this. To paraphrase Bachman-Turner Overdrive**, any space exploration is good space exploration. Everything we do moves us forward on the path of exploration, and, like the song says, we should take what we can get.

- Sid

* All other issues aside, I do think it's a cool name for a space station, no offense to the ISS.

** 70s band from Winnipeg, for the younger members of our audience.  The song being misquoted here is You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet.

Updates.

"Sergeant Storm, Major Matt Mason's Space Friend!"

 

Over time, I've kept a casual eye on opportunities to add to my little collection of Major Matt Mason toys from the 60s, but generally the options on eBay are either a bit more than I want to spend, or not in very good condition.

However, it would seem that perseverance is its own reward.  I had the misfortune of waking up early on Wednesday morning, and as a result had some extra time before getting ready for work.  So I checked on a Matt Mason figure that I'd been following on eBay, only to discover that it had been purchased by someone else.  However, it recommended another auction:  a Sergeant Storm figure in relatively good condition at only $49.00 for the Buy It Now option - a very reasonable price compared to similar listings. Not only that, but the seller would only ship within Canada, which sounded to me like a clear message. A few quick clicks and voila, a new addition to my toy collection.

The slightly damaged 1966 "blue strap" figure comes with a slightly damaged flight propulsion pack - interestingly, the damage on the pack matches the damage to the paint on the back of the figure. It turns out that if you leave a painted rubber action figure in contact with a polystyrene accessory for long enough, the paint will glue itself to the plastic - remind me to keep an eye on the Major, who spends all of his time strapped into his near-mint Supernaut Power Limbs. I'd really hate to see him get stuck in there.


"He had it coming, he had it coming, he only had himself to blame..."

 

I'm now on my third Survival attempt in The Long Dark game.  The second one ended 81 days in after repeated falls through thin ice (my own fault for not paying attention to the health bar - the game was telling me that my Risk of Hypothermia affliction was Healed, but apparently it doesn't matter what temperature the water is when you drown).

I'm currently 41 days into my current run, and after recently recovering from multiple wolf attacks, it was with a certain sense of grim satisfaction that I returned to the scene of the crime after finding some .303 ammo for my battered Lee Enfield rifle at the Hunting Lodge in the Broken Railroad map.  The score:  two bullets, 10 kilograms of wolf meat, and a couple of useful hides for crafting.  And hey, they started it.



"A red day, a sword day!"

 

Wish me luck:  I'm finally registered for a month of Longsword Training at Vancouver's Academie Duello, starting next Tuesday at 7:30.  I generally avoid group activities like this, a stance reinforced by an unfortunate experience with ballroom dance classes many years ago, so I'm a bit nervous about how things will work out in practice. At least in this case no one has falsely assured me that there will be lots and lots of potential partners in attendance - and if I do have to dance with the instructor, well, the circumstances are a little different.



Coming Soon!

Does anyone else mark book release dates on their calendars?  Anyone?  No?  Well, not the biggest surprise in my life...   On that basis, let me just remind everyone that the eighth book in the Expanse series, Tiamat's Wrath, will be dropping from Orbit* on March 26th.

Authors often struggle to keep a concept fresh over multiple novels, but the team of Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, the writing partners behind the nom de plume of James S. A. Corey, have done an excellent job of maintaining the ongoing story of Jim Holden and the crew of the Rocinante.  Damn - that reminds me, I still need to find some time to sit down with the first season of  the SciFi adaptation that I purchased on Blu-ray...so much media, so little time.


At least the cover art is finished...

 

The present tense made him nervous.

William Gibson, Neuromancer 

Speaking of books on the "Coming Soon" list, I was curious as to whether or not Agency, William Gibson's follow-up to The Peripheral, was going to make its scheduled debut in December after I had mentioned it in last year's Geekmas list.

Given that it was originally supposed to be released on December 25th in 2018, was pushed to April 2nd of 2019, and is now scheduled for September 3rd, I'm just a little concerned as to whether or not Bill is doing okay. Now, for all I know William Gibson has been late with every novel he's ever written, I've never tried to track that before, but it seems worrisome that the release date has been so publicly changed twice now.

The joke, if there is one, is that Agency is apparently set in an alternative 2017 in which Hillary Clinton won the 2016 election - a what-if version of the world that we are getting further and further away from every single day.

- Sid

* Ha, little science fiction joke:  Orbit is the publishing company.