Reason #3928554 for loving the SF Institute

The last SF Instituters just headed back to the dorm after... let's see, eight hours of mostly SFnal talk ranging from books and stories and movies, to the notion of transcendence, to religion and politics of SF - all of this with a healthy dose of theory - finally to life the universe and everything.

My brain is tired but supremely satisfied. I wish we could do this every year... hey, wait; we can! W00h00!

Now to try to get some sleep before tomorrow's discussions (we meet for 12 days straight).

Chris

Reason #3928554 for loving the SF Institute

The last SF Instituters just headed back to the dorm after... let's see, eight hours of mostly SFnal talk ranging from books and stories and movies, to the notion of transcendence, to religion and politics of SF - all of this with a healthy dose of theory - finally to life the universe and everything.

My brain is tired but supremely satisfied. I wish we could do this every year... hey, wait; we can! W00h00!

Now to try to get some sleep before tomorrow's discussions (we meet for 12 days straight).

Chris

Astro-image of the day: before-and-after supernova

On the left we have a binary-star system, where a white dwarf star (radius about 100 times smaller than the Sun) is consuming a red gaint (whose radius is about 100 times larger than our Sun). At a critical point, BOOOOM! The system goes kaplooey, because the white dward can't hold that much mass, and you get the supernova remnant on the right 20 days later, with a radius of about 450 AUs, thousands of times larger than the image on the left (for scale, see the little box in the center of the supernova that corresponds to the image on the left).

Click the image to see the story.

Best,
Chris

Astro-image of the day: before-and-after supernova

On the left we have a binary-star system, where a white dwarf star (radius about 100 times smaller than the Sun) is consuming a red gaint (whose radius is about 100 times larger than our Sun). At a critical point, BOOOOM! The system goes kaplooey, because the white dward can't hold that much mass, and you get the supernova remnant on the right 20 days later, with a radius of about 450 AUs, thousands of times larger than the image on the left (for scale, see the little box in the center of the supernova that corresponds to the image on the left).

Click the image to see the story.

Best,
Chris

science-fiction discussion at my place, tonight

Hi folks -

Just a quick note to let y'all know that I'll be hosting yet another nightly discussion with the Science Fiction Institute folks at my house tonight, and you're welcome to join the discussion, too! Beforehand, we're going to Vermont St. BBQ at 7pm.

I expect we'll move from last night's epistemology discussion to eschatology and feminist approaches to SF. Probably also talk of beer.

Best,
Chris

science-fiction discussion at my place, tonight

Hi folks -

Just a quick note to let y'all know that I'll be hosting yet another nightly discussion with the Science Fiction Institute folks at my house tonight, and you're welcome to join the discussion, too! Beforehand, we're going to Vermont St. BBQ at 7pm.

I expect we'll move from last night's epistemology discussion to eschatology and feminist approaches to SF. Probably also talk of beer.

Best,
Chris