ASFO 2022–10–08

You too can receive propaganda by mail! Whatever else I originally meant to talk about, I got distracted by Green hypocrisy and disingenuousness, in Ireland (where ten people were killed in the accidental explosion of a petrol station), in British Columbia (where the government recently announced ambitious “climate targets”, in conjunction with the Pacific Coast states of the USA, despite its continued pursuit of an immense and economically questionable gas scheme), and elsewhere. Also I mention how my uncompromising committment to whatever–this–is attracted the attention of some very serious law enforcement types. And in the last couple of minutes I start talking about emigration to space settlements, which may be the theme of next week’s show.

Supplementary Show

2022–10–14 Some selections from the 1967 Winter number (“Vol 3 No 25”) of Canute, house magazine of “The Nuclear Power Group Limited”, from Knutsford, England. Tidal Power in Tomorrow’s World by TL Shaw, Lecturer in Civil Engineering, University of Bristol, discusses the possible development of the Severn Estuary for power and transportation. Then Doing the Easy Bit… in which an architect identified only as “EJB” discusses the troubles of his job ; and a description of the Hunterston B power station, for which the contract was placed on Friday, October the 13th of that year ― which is to say, 55 years before the date of reading, almost exactly to the day. Hunterston B, a two reactor–station of the AGR type, went into operation in 1976 and was shut down at the beginning of 2022, after a lifetime generation of 287 terawatt–hours. Although it was the third AGR station to be ordered, it entered commercial operation years before the first (Dungeness B) and some months before the second (Hinkley Point B, also built by TNPG).

ASFO 2022–10–01

Cheers for the Double Asteroid Redirection Test and the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University! Also, I test the Watermelon Hypothesis (“Green on the outside, Red on the inside”) and find it wanting. In particular, personal experience leads me to believe that life in a solar–powered city would be far more socially unequal, and far less pleasant, than in a nuclear–powered one.

2 Supplementary Shows

ASFO 2022–09–24

In which I step outside my usual track and talk about Computers and “AI” for a bit. This is, if anything, a propos of the misguided efforts to tame inflation by depressing wages, when labour productivity has grown much more rapidly than wages since the 1970s, with the result that direct labour costs are a less proportion of the cost of providing goods and services than they ever have been. Also something about a video game and what it implies for our efforts towards space settlement. Maybe next week we’ll have a Double Asteroid Redirect Test or SLS launch to talk about.

A page with the text A COMPUTER CAN NEVER BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE THEREFORE A COMPUTER MUST NEVER MAKE A MANAGEMENT DECISION (as discussed on the show)
This appears to be from 1970s IBM training materials
View of a "claw machine" with a bin of plushies. On the mechanism is the text "MACHINE'S DECISION IS FINAL".
The opposing viewpoint
A desktop with a mailing envelope on which the recipient address has been obfuscated ; some pro-nuclear stickers and pamphlets ; and an accompanying letter
Sample parcel of stickers as mailed to a Reddit user
Supplementary Show

ASFO 2022–09–17

More poetry! “If it can’t be grown, it has to be mined” ― but we live in the era of bioengineering, so maybe it can be grown. (In which context, I refer to a cartoon.) Buying a ticket to Mars with frequent–flyer miles proves impossible, and I express doubts about the ability of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to do anything even slightly outside their established competency. Also a letter to the editor of the Coffey County (Kansas) Republican.

Partial scan of three art photos received in the mail from Lithuania. One is predominantly greenish, one has blue sky and crepuscular light, and one orange like sunset.
Segments of three art photos from Žygimantas “RGB” Tauras

ASFO 2022–09–10

Back from the Worldcon, hopefully back to doing regular shows. Yes, I have a report to give on the convention (photos here), as well as opinions to express about people who think refrigeration is wasteful, and a campaign in the Netherlands to conserve gas by getting people to bathe less. But first : poetry!

Photo of the "Man and Atom" display at Chicon 8. There are two tables with exhibits on them, and hortatory table fronts. Above these are displays of art. In the background is the famous Lunar Orbiter low-angle photo of Copernicus, printed on cloth.
“Man and Atom” display at Chicon 8. That’s me in green.
2 Supplementary Shows

ASFO 2022–08–20

More about my plans for the Worldcon, and other preventable catastrophes. Gifts of Support are Acknowledged. Also, in the last minute of the show, I start talking about something far more interesting, and make a complete and total hash of it by saying “ninety” instead of “twenty”.

ASFO 2022–08–13

Does electrification lead to moral laxity? Pinball machines are electric–powered, after all! I give my account of a California public hearing on the possible life extension of Diablo Canyon, and muse on what seems to me the similarity between the anti–nuclear movement and cults or thought–reform movements. Also, mail call! And an acknowledgement of gifts of support.

Supplementary Show

ASFO 2022–08–06

My plans for the upcoming World Science Fiction Convention in Chicago, revealed! Also, two new films ; worries about the inexplicable Russian assault on the Zaporizhian Nuclear Power Plant, and the effect on world public opinion if something goes badly wrong there ; and a tiny bit of good news about the food supply.

2 Supplementary Shows

ASFO 2022–07–30

Financialization, the scourge of the modern world ; a distinction between directed and undirected growth ; “lifestyle environmentalists” ; why the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022” is unlikely to do anything useful ; a brief animadversion on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission ; and a mention of the situation in France (will have to get back to that next week).

2 Supplementary Shows

ASFO 2022–07–23

There’s a shortage of fresh water in the East Cape region of South Africa, and I (to employ a little contemporary argot) get salty about it. Also, the gas crisis continues, and the Europeans continue to avoid facing facts ; and I find myself working on something I call the Man and Atom Briefing Book.

2 Supplementary Shows