this was supposed to be the future

This is a fascinating article about the future that never was and much of SF's current preoccupation with the past and futures past.

Here's an excellent response to it:

Media scholar Henry Jenkins recently published an article about residual media–outmoded views of the future from a point in the past. Think of the ceramic spires of the 1939 World’s Fair, or the relentless utopias of 1950’s pulp SF. These futures are now generally viewed as overly silly or optimistic, given our wildly divergent present.

( rest of the text archived here )

Thanks to chronovore for the tip.

Best,
Chris

this was supposed to be the future

This is a fascinating article about the future that never was and much of SF's current preoccupation with the past and futures past.

Here's an excellent response to it:

Media scholar Henry Jenkins recently published an article about residual media–outmoded views of the future from a point in the past. Think of the ceramic spires of the 1939 World’s Fair, or the relentless utopias of 1950’s pulp SF. These futures are now generally viewed as overly silly or optimistic, given our wildly divergent present.

( rest of the text archived here )

Thanks to chronovore for the tip.

Best,
Chris

Astro-image of the day: the M65 galaxy

Today's astro-image: the M65 galaxy. I love galaxies - the scale is vast and almost unimaginable like so many things in deep space, but because you can see things like star clusters, you can imagine the scale of things. Amazing.

This sharp view of M65 shows off the galaxy in remarkable detail, with tightly wound spiral arms and dust lanes stretching into a core dominated by the yellowish light from an older population of stars.

Click the image to see the story.

Click here for a big-huge image which is just "wow."

The SF Writers Workshop is progressing wonderfully, which is why I'm posting so late. The 1951 Chevy has sold, I got the cashier's check, and I spent a couple of hours of my day (hours I don't really have to spare) working with the buyer, but U-Haul screwed up his reservation so he can't take the car home. I'm going to help him out by storing it until he gets back from his vacation in a couple of weeks, and see if I can get the brakes fixed while he's away. *sigh*

Back to reading!

Best,
Chris

Astro-image of the day: the M65 galaxy

Today's astro-image: the M65 galaxy. I love galaxies - the scale is vast and almost unimaginable like so many things in deep space, but because you can see things like star clusters, you can imagine the scale of things. Amazing.

This sharp view of M65 shows off the galaxy in remarkable detail, with tightly wound spiral arms and dust lanes stretching into a core dominated by the yellowish light from an older population of stars.

Click the image to see the story.

Click here for a big-huge image which is just "wow."

The SF Writers Workshop is progressing wonderfully, which is why I'm posting so late. The 1951 Chevy has sold, I got the cashier's check, and I spent a couple of hours of my day (hours I don't really have to spare) working with the buyer, but U-Haul screwed up his reservation so he can't take the car home. I'm going to help him out by storing it until he gets back from his vacation in a couple of weeks, and see if I can get the brakes fixed while he's away. *sigh*

Back to reading!

Best,
Chris