Blogs / Bad Astronomy

Chapter 3, in which I almost sleep through my panel.

After lunch with Seth, I perused the dealer room, which was fun (I found an incredible carved wooden dragon that I may get for the Little Astronomer). But I was exhausted after getting so little sleep, so I checked into my room and took a nap. I was almost asleep when I realized I should set my alarm, so I crawled out of the bed to do that. Good thing: if it hadn’t gone off I would’ve slept through my panel!

This one was about podcasting, and continued a theme I have found to be true for the half-dozen panels I have witnessed: things aren’t organized terribly well. The moderator wasn’t completely sure she was a moderator, and left right before the panel to take care of some personal business, and didn’t come back until five minutes into the panel! That wasn’t really a big deal, and I don’t mean to sound like I’m complaining. I’m not. Something this size, with nearly a thousand people, all of whom are openly rebellious to authority, must be a nightmare to organize. Honestly, it really incredible that anything gets done at all!

Anyway, the panel on podcasting went in about ten different directions, all at the same time. Two of the panelists were writers who were making a series of podcasts where they read their novels, and people can download the book pretty much chapter by chapter that way. I listen to mostly science and skeptical podcasts, so this was interesting to me. One of the novels was straight fantasy, and not my cup of tea, but the other is more horror, so I will check it out.

During the panel discussion, I talked a bit about blogs (since they are related to podcasts) and mentioned the comet not hitting the Earth last week, and how I debunked that on my website. One of the panelists suddenly looks at me, and says "You’re the Bad Astronomer?"

That made my day.

After, I went to an interview with Larry Niven, who did a brief synopsis of various stages of his writing career. That was fun, even if I knew most of the stories. I will get an autograph from him tomorrow on my Ringworld game, I suppose. I also have some work-related ideas I have where I could use a gang of hard science fiction writers. I asked him about it, and he was tentative at first but may be interested in it– after I told him more, I think he realized I was legit and not some demented fan. Or perhaps both. I won’t go into details here, but I promise that if this looks like it will happen I’ll be blogging all about it.

Next: dinner (sigh, probably McDonalds), and then I’ll surf some of the notorious parties that swing on the second floor, and then maybe the hot tub. My feet hurt.

(You knew that would be the second title, didn’t you?)

Chapter 2, where I am empaneled and have lunch.

After I wrote part I of this saga, I waited around outside the room for my panel talk, waiting to see if anyone would show up early. No one did, so I did a quick tour of the lobby, and was greeted with the sight of several hundred people in costume eating breakfast, talking, and generally enjoying themselves. Auspicious!

My panel started right on time. We were ostensibly to discuss how things get named incorrectly in science fiction (Centaurus is a constellation, a large area of the sky, so being called a Centauran makes no sense). We skipped over lots of topics, like what’s a planet, what’s a brown dwarf, what do you call an alien– do you use their language, or yours? What about their planet? What if we someday colonize a planet orbiting HD209458… what then?

It was fun, though a bit of a free-for-all. Afterwards, I went to a panel about what happens if we really do find aliens, which was pretty good. My old friend Seth Shostak was there (astronomer, skeptic, alien-hunter, and host of "Are We Alone", a radio show I have a monthly segment on). I have never heard him in this kind of situation, and he is well-spoken and thoughtful, as well as funny (though his puns are awful, which I already knew). Seth and I had lunch together, and we talked about writing, conventions, and we might have mentioned all the low-cut and high-rise costumes we saw wandering about. That too was fun!

I have a little while here before the panel about podcasting (Seth is on that too) so I’m going to wander the dealer room and see if I want to buy a BatLeth or a book or something. I wish I had my camera!

Chapter 1, in which I arrive at BayCon.

So I got up at freakin’ 5:45 this morning after a night of tempestuous sleep. Shower- check. Shave- hmm, nope, Mrs. Bad Astronomer is still asleep. Bigger suitcase than the one I packed last night so I can fit all the crap I’m bringing to the convention- check. Leave in a hurry because I’m running low on time because our puppy puked on the carpet in the middle of the night, and I didn’t want Mrs. BA to wake up to that- check.

So I get on the road, tank up on gas ($3.19 a gallon!), and start driving. I love California driving on the weekends, because there’s no traffic, but I hate California driving on the weekends, because no one is in a hurry, and people who drive 10 mph under the limit just love love love the left hand driving lane.

Nonetheless, I get to San Jose at 8:30, an hour and a half early. Yikes! The hotel won’t let me register until 3, so I have no place to change, to shave, to iron my shirts. Nuts. So I sit in the car to change out of my driving t-shirt and into a nice button-down shirt, and realize I left my belt at home. OK then, I guess I’ll be wearing t-shirts this weekend. And hey– where’s my camera? Probably with my belt. Damnation!

So here I sit in a hallway with a wireless connection, waiting another 35 minutes for my first panel (Where in Centaurus do Centauris Come From?) with no belt, no camera, and no one I know. I’m hoping some big famous author will walk by and start chatting, but so far it’s mostly too-wide-awake fans with a bounce in their step and smiles on their faces. I had forgotten how happy people are at science fictions cons. I’m tired and grumpy from the drive and wishing I had a bed to nap in, but I’m thinking this is gonna be fun.

Now that the world is still here, I have some fun things to attend to. This weekend, I will be at the BayCon science fiction convention, generally talking astronomy, debunking bad guys, and shilling my book. Authors Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle will be there, which is cool, though I don’t have any official events with them (yet somehow I will manage to spend some quality time in the guest lounge at some point, I imagine). Actually, while rooting through my closet a few minutes ago, totally by coincidence I found my old old copy of the role playing game "Ringworld" based on a classic series of books by Niven. I’m bringing that with me to get signed.

So, there’s lots to do. Here’s a list of my official stuff:

• Saturday, 10:00 a.m.
  Panel: "Just Where in Centaurus Does a Centauri Come From?"
  G David Nordley (M), Cris Fitch, Phil Plait, Jim Terman

  Use and misuse of astronomical nomenclature in science fiction. There are real places out there, with real names–sometimes several real names. Nomenclature has evolved in the past and may keep evolving, but some names are taken. Phenomena have names too, and, well, there are subtleties and borderline objects that are just weird.

• Saturday, 4:00 PM
  Panel: "Podcasts: The Next Generation"
  Laura Majerus (M), Margaret Bonham, Hugh Daniel, Phil Plait, Scott Sigler, Seth Shostak, Martin Young

  Radio to TV to Cable to Internet to Podcasts? Will Podcasts rule? Where will we go from here? It’s a new way of getting published and getting even closer to your audience, and there’s some wonderful stuff out there.

• Sunday, 2:30 PM
  Kaffee Klatsch: Phil Plait

  I’m guessing here I will drink coffee and debunk things that need caffeinated debunkings.

I’m planning on having fun. I’ll have internet access, so if I can I’ll do some live blogging while I’m there.

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One of my favorite movies of all time is the original Superman movie from 1978. If you can find a better soundtrack, then I wanna hear it! It’s a goofy flick, sure, but it understands that it’s supposed to be a little over-the-top, a little satirical. The sequels, of course, were crap.

But now, Superman Returns. The new movie is due out on June 30, but if you can’t wait that long, check out the trailer. Wow. If the movie lives up to the trailer, it’ll be a worthy sequel.

Added bonus: my friend Richard Saunders is an extra in the flick (they filmed a lot of it in Sydney, Australia). I’ll have to keep my eyes open for him.’

Hey, this is California Bike to Work Week! That’s cool. Biking is all-around good: it saves gas, saves wear-and-tear on the car, is healthy, and is a lot more fun than sitting behind the wheel.

I didn’t know it was CBtWW until I read about it on Cosmic Variance. I biked in anyway! I try to use my bicycle when the weather is nice.

Hmmm, nothing cosmic here, so to speak. Just thought I’d mention it. I may have a more meaty post tonight. Oh– we think we have the server problem fixed, though this is not 100% certain. I hope we won’t see any more outages like yesterday.

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Webcams are pretty cool. Beyond the Jennie-cam variety I mean, which is fine if you’re into that. But they’re the kind of technology that can be applied in imaginative ways, ways the inventor may not have thought of. For example, you can set up live cams outside of rocket launches; NASA has done that as have some private space companies. These aren’t your $30 Logitech cams, but still, the principle is the same.

One of my favorite uses now is for spying on critters that are a bit shy. Naturalists and other nature lovers have set up cameras near birds’ nests, so they can check up on the feathery fowl. Two of my favorites:

a Peregrine falcon cam

and

a bald eagle cam.

I like to keep them open in a browser in the background and check up on them every now and again. It’s pretty cool.

Maybe I need to install one on my hummingbird feeder…’