Last show of the year! In which I ramble quite a bit about the World Science Fiction Convention, the unsatisfactory outcome of the Site Selection voting there, and some spectacular posters by Frank Kelly Freas which I acquired for the shockingly low price of nothing at all.
Author: publius
Fools! I will destroy you all!!
ASFO 2021–12–11
Revised plans for the World Science Fiction Convention (15―19 December, Washington, DC) ; and the question of what we gain by allocating energy and other resources to “space tourism”. My answer? Hope, first and foremost ― and that may be the most important thing of all. Also some audience interaction, digressing into the proper use of the term “black light”, and the scammy use of ionizing radiation to give odd colours to glass and gemstones.
ASFO 2021–12–04
A letter from the President of the United States! No, not a notice from the Draft Board.
2 Supplementary ShowsASFO 2021–11–27
Much complaining about Greens, their mendacity, and its effect on public discourse. Also a brief report of a conversation with Dr Knief, author of a text on nuclear engineering for commercial power plants ; the Russian coal mine explosion (coal kills!) ; musings about nuance ; and a questionable word coinage. Surely I can come up with something better than “cosmification”.
2 Supplementary ShowsASFO 2021–11–20
Waiting for Kessler Syndrome ; “think global, act local” ; and a Climate Marshall Plan.
Supplementary ShowASFO 2021–11–13
Aleksandr Lukashenka of Belarus offers to help Europe reduce its carbon emissions, and everybody is mad at him for some reason. Also a digression on the horridness of Veblen goods.
2 Supplementary ShowsASFO 2021–11–06
William Shatner is old and fat, and COP 26 accomplishes nothing. Not exactly breaking news!
2 Supplementary ShowsASFO 2021–10–30
The two Texas Tokamaks ; a quick look at the new German coalition goverment, featuring the amazing Schulz–o–Mat™ ; and an idea for an extremely provoking ad campaign.
Supplementary ShowASFO 2021–10–23
This show, which was not aired on the date, consists largely of a discussion of nuclear research reactors, to give some context for the show from the previous week. I also get into some discussion of the use of various kinds of reactors for producing bomb materials.
2 Supplementary ShowsASFO 2021–10–09
After a week involuntarily taken off due to technical difficulties, I narrate my visit on 3 October to the open day at the Heinz Maier–Leibnitz Neutron Source in Garching, north of Munich. The “source” is a specialized nuclear reactor (but the people in charge of it will thank you not to talk about that), otherwise known as FRM–II, the successor to the original Forschungs–Reaktor München (Munich Research Reactor), built by American Machine & Foundry in 1957, and noted at the time for its ellipsoidal aluminium dome. The campus of the Technical University of Munich was subsequently built around this reactor.
2 Supplementary Shows