Astronaut Greg Chamitoff, aboard the International Space Station 220 miles above Earth, is ready to take your questions. Here’s your chance to hear direct from space. Chamitoff’s schedule will not allow him to answer many questions, but he will attempt to answer a few each week. In this video, he talks about the concept of […]
Ask the Astronaut on Space Station a Question Read More »
Well, this is handy, if a bit outdated. In 1988 NASA released a Space Shuttle News Reference Manual which is full of details about how the shuttle program works. I’m using it to short-cut on some SF world-building. How Stuff Works has a good section on the Shuttle as well.
Space Shuttle News Reference Manual Read More »
For a story I’m writing, I needed to know what kind of fire extinguisher would be on a space ship. Which lead to this NASA article about fires in space. It’s chock-full of interesting things, such as: In microgravity, there is no buoyancy, so instead of a tall yellow flame on a candle, for example,
I just got the final art for Charles Stross’s book, Toast, coming out from Wyrm. I’d already done a preliminary layout using the rough draft of the art, so it was easy to drop the final art in place, make a few tweaks and send it over to Neil. The art is by the talented
I finished painting the largest wall of the dining room Venetian Red. We’ve moved the bookshelves back into place and have begun the process of unpacking books. It is quite clear that we have more books than we have space. We’re discussing were the additional shelves will go–clearly, we can’t get rid of any of
Surprise! We were comfortable with the things we were going to have to leave behind because of space. What we did not anticipate was the weight of what we did manage to get into the truck. We have bottomed out the suspension. Totally. The truck is so overweight that after A LOT of thought, we
Look! Schadenfreude and trucks! Read More »
PuppetVision Blog pointed out this fact that will have an enormous impact on my move to New York City. It is apparently illegal to perform a window puppet show in New York City. § 10-114 Street shows. a. It shall be unlawful to give any exhibition of climbing or scaling on the front or exterior
PuppetVision Blog: SWAT Team Takes Down Puppeteer Read More »
We’re in the studio and Rob is editing the chapter I recorded. We recorded a page and then had to go back and re-record because my voice is too low for consistency with the earlier chapters. I’ve been raising my narrator voice above my natural speaking pitch because there are a number of male characters
Today was mostly spent tidying and sending things away. Folks from various corners of Portland came and picked up various things, slowly creating more space in the house. I also made snowcream tonight with the snow I saved in the freezer. Snowcream, for those of you who didn’t grow up with it, consists of a
Cleaning and treats Read More »
Our house is noticeably warmer. Amazing. For the first time in years, I slept without a space heater in our bedroom. I think the house is quieter too, but that’s harder to tell.
The effect of new windows Read More »
Acephalous: Measuring The Speed of Meme: An Experiment in which You Will Participate, Or Else… You too can participate in science from the comfort of your own home. Click on the link above to read the details of the experiment, or take the shortcut and just follow the instructions below. Write a post, in which
Modern Mechanix » Typewriter Spaces Words To Fill Lines Really. What girl wouldn’t want one of these? Such a cool gadget. Although, it does make me very conscious of all the retyping people used to have to do. I dimly remember this from when I was typing on our IBM Selectric, but we had some
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I forgot to mention a couple of my favorite tricks, which work nicely with a microphone. If you drop your volume and lean into the microphone then it will sound as if you are right next to the listener, whispering in their ear. This can have a wonderful effect to distinguish between “asides” and dialogue.
Reading Aloud 6: Recording tricks Read More »
I’ve had time to cook lately, which has been a nice change of pace. Last night I made a Espresso Black Bean Chili that I’d discovered when I was staying with my folks at Woodthrush Woods. I really like this recipe, although I cut it in half and still have more chili than makes sense.
Adding Injury to Insult Read More »
To celebrate, I thought I would share some pictures of my neighborhood back home. A friend took these a few days ago and sent them to me, I think as a way to tempt me back to Portland, OR. This is the cooperative organic grocery store that is three doors from our house. I miss
Happy Fourth of July! Read More »