My Schedule for Minicon 50
K and I are headed for Minicon 50 (yeah, fifty Minicons!) this weekend, 2 through 5 April. I love Minneapolis fandom and I love Minicon-- but this is the first time I've been able to attend in a few years. Here are the program items I'm doing. Can't wait! Inappropriate (Mis)uses of Astrophysical Matter
FRI 8:30 PM Krushenko's
Forget about using the universe for good! That's not the human way of doing things! Murder by black hole was used as a plot device by Larry Niven in his Hugo award-winning "The Borderland of Sol." Dominic Green postulated using a Penrose accelerator as a waste management "solution" in his Hugo-nominated story, "The Clockwork Atom Bomb." A discussion of the Pandora's Box aspect of particle physics and astrophysics within SF.
Chris Beskar
Bill Higgins
Larry Niven
Michael Kingsley
Almost There
SAT 4:00 PM Veranda 3/4
So, we don't have flying cars. What "technology of the future" is actually right around the corner? A discussion of technologies that we almost have licked including nuclear fusion, anti-gravity, cloaking devices, and teleportation.
Bill Higgins
Bill Thomasson
Chris Beskar
Ctein
Neil Rest
Tyler Tork
Battlefields of Tomorrow
SAT 7:00 PM Veranda 5/6
Powered and unpowered - a discussion of various battle armors in Sci-Fi and the corresponding reality of what is being fielded, under development, and what is to come. Also, find out about the real world development and deployment of lasers, particle beam weapons, rail guns and other directed energy weapons.
Bill Higgins
Chris Beskar
John Stanfield
[Looks like I'll need to get a quick dinner between about 5 and 6:30, or wait and have a late dinner after 8.]
Dawn of the Asteroid Belt: Exploring Vesta and Ceres
SUN 1:00 PM Edina
Asteroids are relics of the ancient Solar System. NASA's Dawn spacecraft orbited Vesta for a year. Now its ion thrusters have propelled it across the Asteroid Belt to Ceres, the largest asteroid, where Dawn has again entered orbit. Join Bill Higgins to explore Dawn's findings at Vesta and its plans for doing science at Ceres.
Bill Higgins
I don't think I've met Chris Beskar, but it looks like I'm going to be seeing a lot of him in the next few days...
FRI 8:30 PM Krushenko's
Forget about using the universe for good! That's not the human way of doing things! Murder by black hole was used as a plot device by Larry Niven in his Hugo award-winning "The Borderland of Sol." Dominic Green postulated using a Penrose accelerator as a waste management "solution" in his Hugo-nominated story, "The Clockwork Atom Bomb." A discussion of the Pandora's Box aspect of particle physics and astrophysics within SF.
Chris Beskar
Bill Higgins
Larry Niven
Michael Kingsley
Almost There
SAT 4:00 PM Veranda 3/4
So, we don't have flying cars. What "technology of the future" is actually right around the corner? A discussion of technologies that we almost have licked including nuclear fusion, anti-gravity, cloaking devices, and teleportation.
Bill Higgins
Bill Thomasson
Chris Beskar
Ctein
Neil Rest
Tyler Tork
Battlefields of Tomorrow
SAT 7:00 PM Veranda 5/6
Powered and unpowered - a discussion of various battle armors in Sci-Fi and the corresponding reality of what is being fielded, under development, and what is to come. Also, find out about the real world development and deployment of lasers, particle beam weapons, rail guns and other directed energy weapons.
Bill Higgins
Chris Beskar
John Stanfield
[Looks like I'll need to get a quick dinner between about 5 and 6:30, or wait and have a late dinner after 8.]
Dawn of the Asteroid Belt: Exploring Vesta and Ceres
SUN 1:00 PM Edina
Asteroids are relics of the ancient Solar System. NASA's Dawn spacecraft orbited Vesta for a year. Now its ion thrusters have propelled it across the Asteroid Belt to Ceres, the largest asteroid, where Dawn has again entered orbit. Join Bill Higgins to explore Dawn's findings at Vesta and its plans for doing science at Ceres.
Bill Higgins
I don't think I've met Chris Beskar, but it looks like I'm going to be seeing a lot of him in the next few days...