The "Sadly we are not at #Fencon" party was better than many convention parties I've been to. And that's not just sour grapes speaking! #

An engineer couple at the Center For Inquiry Secular Family gathering brought remote-controlled cars which they made jump off a ramp. #

But remote-controlled cars were not nearly as exciting to Erika as a ball- ( Read more... )

At the Extreme Fun children's bouncy place with Erika. Boy babies and toddlers are attracted to my laptop like a magnet! But only boys. #

Austin science fiction fans! You're invited to a "Sadly we are not at #Fencon" party at a local author's home tonight. DM me for address. #

Turns out it's nontrivial to write regular expressions in PHP that would ( Read more... )

Finally, a last post from this year's Fencon ( Read more... )

"Science -- fact or crap?" was a game played by a team of pros against a team of fans... I think. The most prominent pro on the team was Gregory Benford, a physics professor, science fiction writer, and Fencon guest of honor. The purpose of the game was to score points by answering science-related questions. Each question had two parts: a fact-or- ( Read more... )

While I did not stay for the Fencon masquerade, I got to see some of the spectacular costumes on the Catwalk. It was a pre-masquarade event where the costumers discussed their creations with those who wanted to know the what, why and how behind a costume.

The Unseelie court were truly stunning. The level of detail in those costumes was jawdropping ( Read more... )

There was a rather striking fact mentioned by the woman who represented FenCon's charity for this year. It is Reading & Radio Resource: an organization that records audiobooks for the blind and for kids with learning disabilities. Many kids drop out of high school because of learning disabilities that make them unable to follow written text, and ( Read more... )

Heard a knock-knock joke about Harlan Ellison in the Fencon Consuite. The joke was rather straightforward, hence not very funny. Also heard a story about Harlan Ellison taking part in a dating game (a reality show). The highlight: Harlan's answer about his ideal first date involved taking a woman to a dump and shooting rats' eyes out. The tape ( Read more... )

I came home from Fencon one day early. Could not tolerate another night in the hotel. It would have been hazardous to my health. The hotel itself was great: it's the people in it that made life miserable. I don't mean Fencon guests, but random people who were staying there. My room was in the designated quiet zone, where, according to the hotel's ( Read more... )

I may be late to this party and everybody else may have made their arrangements already, but I thought I'd let the universe know. (The small subset of the universe that's going to Fencon.) I'm looking for a roommate of female persuasion to share the hotel room. I also wouldn't mind sharing the ride to Dallas and back. I'll be leaving Thursday, ( Read more... )

The little girl got to experience her first science fiction convention in a small dose appropriate for a baby. Judging from the attention she got, she must have thought it was an Erika convention. Well, not really. A typical science fiction fan is far less of a breeder than general population, and therefore is less likely to be fascinated by babies ( Read more... )