MID–ATLANTIC, on my way from Southampton to New York. Despite heat waves in Northern Europe, the weather is foggy, rainy, and more than a trifle chilly.
Month: July 2026
Shut Up You Freak – 7:19:26
ASFO 2026–07–18
HAMBURG, one day prior to boarding the Queen Mary for a nine–day trip across the Atlantic to New York City, and not coincidentally, the expiry date of my Eurail Pass. Once I come ashore, it will be another week before I am back in Texas.
Shut Up You Freak -7:12:26
ASFO 2026–07–11
FAREWELL to Munich? Trying to understand car ownership in Germany, and the continuing failure of the Bundes Ministerium to deal with successive oil crises, through the lens of on–street parking ; the incompatibility of austerity drives with AI hype, and the perennial question of why or how things which are bad for people in general should be good for business ; a misleading announcement about a “nuclear–powered commercial satellite”, which leads me into an explanation of a technology known as betavoltaics ; and a discussion of my medallic art projects.
Shut Up You Freak – 7:5:26
ASFO 2026–07–04
MetropolCon, in Berlin, the European Science Fiction Convention for this year. No display or program from me, but I did manage to spend some time with friends, and rope SDFer and aNONradio DJ “tyn from Berlin” into coming. I think he had a good time, too. I explain about the Double Secret Platform 22 at Berlin central railway station, and describe a Ridiculous Eurail Pass Trick ; and question why or how it is possible to sell shares in “being tortured for eternity by Robot Satan”. The sestercentennial (why in the world some people are calling it a semi–quincentennial escapes me) of the United States Declaration of Independence merits a recommendation of the musical 1776.