10 April 2010

[13:45] Kghia Gherardi: Hi Jago
[13:45] Kghia Gherardi: Hi Fleche
[13:45] Fleche Xeno: hey
[13:46] Jago Constantine: hi, folks :)
[13:46] Kghia Gherardi: Jago, is this a podcast today or a what are you reading discussion?
[13:46] Jago Constantine: what are you reading :)
[13:47] Fleche Xeno: hey
[13:47] Simeon Bookmite: hi Jago
[13:48] Quin Jules: mind if I join you guys?
[13:48] Eddi Haskell: you can join us
[13:48] Jago Constantine: Come join us Quin :)
[13:48] Quin Jules: thanks :)
[13:48] Eddi Haskell: this is a science fiction discussion group!
[13:49] Kghia Gherardi: notices sent
[13:49] Jago Constantine: brb just getting a cup of tea / thanks kghia !
[13:49] Fleche Xeno: before we start, can I tap everyone's brain/
[13:49] Kghia Gherardi: Hi Eddi
[13:49] Kghia Gherardi: Welcome, Quinn
[13:49] Eddi Haskell: hi KG
[13:49] Kghia Gherardi: Sure
[13:49] Fleche Xeno: I'm looking for books/stories
[13:49] Fleche Xeno: that deals with first encoutner
[13:49] Fleche Xeno: on earth
[13:49] Quin Jules: hey
[13:49] Fleche Xeno: like alien visiting earth
[13:50] Fleche Xeno: the only tying sticks in my mind is the miniseries V
[13:50] Fleche Xeno: and I want something more interesting than that.
[13:50] Quin Jules: Some of Ray Bradbury's Martian Chronicles stories are pretty good for that kind of feel.
[13:50] Quin Jules: it's sort of opposite, but the feeling's the same
[13:50] Simeon Bookmite: footfall is one
[13:50] Simeon Bookmite: but it did not impress
[13:51] Fleche Xeno: anyone recent works on that kidna of general
[13:51] Fleche Xeno: I know calculating god had the briefst mention
[13:51] Fleche Xeno: but it was more about the idea of a god head
[13:51] Kghia Gherardi: Hi Judi. Welcome
[13:51] Kghia Gherardi: Any of Tobias Buckell's work, Si?
[13:51] Kghia Gherardi: Welcome, Everly
[13:51] Everly Porterfield: thank you
[13:51] Simeon Bookmite: no
[13:51] Jago Constantine: ok back
[13:51] Kghia Gherardi: We are talking science fiction in the back room
[13:51] Everly Porterfield: waiting for rez..
[13:52] Simeon Bookmite: the wirld war series by turtledove
[13:52] Simeon Bookmite: second world war with aliens
[13:52] Simeon Bookmite: world war
[13:52] Quin Jules: huh. sounds interesting.
[13:52] Jago Constantine: ok thanks for coming everyone
[13:52] Judi Newall: Oops sorry thought I'd rezzed all
[13:52] Fleche Xeno: thanks simeon
[13:53] Jago Constantine: For anyone who hasn't been to one of these meetings before / we go round the group and take turns discussing what we've read last in sci fi
[13:53] Everly Porterfield: /me nods.
[13:53] Quin Jules: sounds like fun. :)
[13:53] Jago Constantine: its been a while since we had one of these meetings - / we've been listening to podcast stories a lot lol
[13:54] Simeon Bookmite: so we should all have read something
[13:54] Eddi Haskell: i love thoese stories
[13:54] Jago Constantine: yes lol / ok I'll begin
[13:54] Everly Porterfield: /me smiles, listens
[13:54] Jago Constantine: the last sci fi I read was Alastair Reynolds' Redemption Ark
[13:54] Everly Porterfield: new book?
[13:54] Jago Constantine: it's from his revelation space series - from 2002 / so not new
[13:55] Everly Porterfield: /me nods.
[13:55] Jago Constantine: I've just been going back through the series
[13:55] Everly Porterfield: premise?
[13:55] Jago Constantine: The revelation space books are a hard sci fi space opera / so no FTL travel / the human race is spread across a few dozen light years / about 600 years in the future
[13:56] Everly Porterfield: /me listens.
[13:56] Eddi Haskell: yah
[13:56] Jago Constantine: there seem to be a few main factions ... in this book we see a lot of the Conjoiners
[13:56] Kghia Gherardi: Hi Roy. Welcome.
[13:56] Roy Smashcan: Hiya
[13:56] Jago Constantine: who are into enhanced intellect and are almost an incipient group mind / they're having a war with another group, the demarchists, but it turns out that they're only going through the motions in the war / and preparing to face a greater threat
[13:57] Eddi Haskell: what is a demarchist just a name?
[13:57] Jago Constantine: Demarchy is a political concept / in which, I think, people are hooked into the political process in their mind
[13:57] Everly Porterfield: /me nods.
[13:57] Jago Constantine: and vote on issues all the time / it's a kind of direct democracy
[13:58] Everly Porterfield: /me nods.
[13:58] Jago Constantine: without elected representatives I think
[13:58] Roy Smashcan: A more efficient Switzerland?
[13:58] Everly Porterfield: /me grins.
[13:58] Jago Constantine: lol
[13:58] Eddi Haskell: Demarchy (or lottocracy) is a form of democracy in which the state is governed by randomly selected decision makers who have been selected by sortition (lot).
[13:58] Quin Jules: lol
[13:58] Fleche Xeno: so a mob-rule? emergent consensus model?
[13:58] Everly Porterfield: with a hive mind
[13:58] Quin Jules: huh
[13:58] Jago Constantine: well the demarchists in the novel don't seem to have elected representatives / and they're not a hive mind like the conjoiners seem to be becoming
[13:59] Everly Porterfield: ah, had that backwards
[13:59] Fleche Xeno: so it's people voting on issues on a contonla basis, high end electronic democracy?
[13:59] Jago Constantine: thats right
[13:59] Fleche Xeno: i've seen that in a few stories
[13:59] Everly Porterfield: Not sure I have...
[13:59] Jago Constantine: in other books its explored a bit more
[13:59] Simeon Bookmite: what is the greater risk?
[13:59] Fleche Xeno: please continue
[13:59] Jago Constantine: for instance it seems that some people have more weight given to their votes / if they consistently make what turns out to be the best decision in retrospect / as determined by computers / AIs
[14:00] Everly Porterfield: oh..hm.
[14:00] Jago Constantine: so one quasi-mythical person has a vote worth 4 votes :P
[14:00] Fleche Xeno: so democracy as a test bed that evolves into an expert-influenced model?
[14:01] Jago Constantine: yes ... well I imagine that a lot of people wouldn't know much about the issues they're voting on
[14:01] Everly Porterfield: so, it's a sci-fi book that makes a political statement.
[14:01] Jago Constantine: that's really just background in this book
[14:01] Everly Porterfield: /me nods.
[14:01] Jago Constantine: its mostly about the threat of the Inhibitors, and the response to it
[14:01] Roy Smashcan: Ah, which book is this?
[14:01] Jago Constantine: Redemption Ark by Alastair Reynolds
[14:01] Roy Smashcan: Ok, thanks
[14:02] Jago Constantine: as I said the Inhibitors are berserker probes / machines that want to destroy intelligent life / they turn up in sci fi now and then / Reynold's interesting take / on the subject is that they are not simply destroying civilizations / for the sake of it, but only doing it as a temporary measure until after / a great catastrophe 3 billion years in the future
[14:03] Everly Porterfield: /me nods.
[14:03] Jago Constantine: after that their job will be done and life can flourish / of course that's no comfort for humans right now lol
[14:04] Quin Jules: lol one would imagine not
[14:04] Everly Porterfield: /me grins.
[14:04] Jago Constantine: anyway, it's an enjoyable book - one of the better ones in the series I think
[14:04] Everly Porterfield: /me smiles.
[14:04] Jago Constantine: because of the revelations about the inhibitors, and seeing them in action when they reach the first solar system in human space
[14:05] Eddi Haskell: what is human space or am i being bart simpson today again
[14:05] Jago Constantine: the novels are quite dark and gritty if you like that kind of sci fi / that is the part of the galaxy where humans are :)
[14:05] Eddi Haskell: ah
[14:05] Simeon Bookmite: hi Bart
[14:05] Jago Constantine: lol / ok that's my reading / Eddi - did you read anything?
[14:05] Everly Porterfield: thanks Jago
[14:05] Eddi Haskell: yes
[14:05] Eddi Haskell: I have been reading alot of alternative history
[14:05] Eddi Haskell: but i cannot figure somethinng out
[14:05] Eddi Haskell: and i am wriging my own now
[14:06] Eddi Haskell: writing
[14:06] Jago Constantine: cool
[14:06] Eddi Haskell: can i ask the group a question?
[14:06] Jago Constantine: sure!
[14:06] Eddi Haskell: in alternative history
[14:06] Everly Porterfield: /me listens.
[14:06] Eddi Haskell: and i cannot remember the exact name it was a footnote
[14:06] Eddi Haskell: there are two schools of thought
[14:06] Eddi Haskell: 1.
[14:06] Eddi Haskell: if in the past events changed
[14:06] Eddi Haskell: such as in britain in May 1940 when Churchill took over as Prime Minister from Chamberlain
[14:06] Eddi Haskell: it almost went to Lord Halifax who was ready to cut a deal with the Germans for peace
[14:06] Eddi Haskell: right
[14:07] Eddi Haskell: if THAT happened one school of thought holds that the future would be very different
[14:07] Eddi Haskell: a second school of thought holds
[14:07] Eddi Haskell: that at some point, if an event in the past changed
[14:07] Eddi Haskell: everything would turn out to be the same in the end at nth point of time
[14:07] Eddi Haskell: what are they talking about?
[14:07] Everly Porterfield: course correcting
[14:07] Eddi Haskell: how can someone say that
[14:07] Eddi Haskell: can you explain to me
[14:07] Quin Jules: I think it has to do with how influential the event is.
[14:07] Jago Constantine: well they're talking about how determined history is
[14:08] Everly Porterfield: nod
[14:08] Fleche Xeno: I think we need to make a distinction between needing to change some historilca precedent
[14:08] Jago Constantine: predetermined
[14:08] Eddi Haskell: only God can do that right
[14:08] Fleche Xeno: to use the alternate historical as a background
[14:08] Fleche Xeno: vs. examinigng history
[14:08] Eddi Haskell: yeah
[14:08] Fleche Xeno: by changing causal points
[14:08] Fleche Xeno: to create potential historical narrative
[14:08] Fleche Xeno: I think there' is the great confusion
[14:08] Jago Constantine: Well in a materialistic universe things are theoretically determined by the previous physical states / (barring quantum effects)
[14:08] Kghia Gherardi: Hi Eppie
[14:08] Simeon Bookmite: they say that economic abd social pressures have more influence than indivuals
[14:08] Eddi Haskell: hi eppie!
[14:08] Fleche Xeno: One book I recommend is Focult's Pendalum
[14:09] Fleche Xeno: it's a great novel
[14:09] Everly Porterfield: and we do not know what things are happening behind the scenes.
[14:09] Eddi Haskell: oh great
[14:09] Everly Porterfield: love that book
[14:09] Fleche Xeno: about how our mind can reinteerpte history
[14:09] Fleche Xeno: and how conspiracy theory are created, not ot crate alternate universe
[14:09] Fleche Xeno: but to undermine our understanding of the commonly agreed upon causes.
[14:09] Fleche Xeno: and ,thsu, shift our mind about how we preceive theworld.
[14:09] Everly Porterfield: hm
[14:10] Fleche Xeno: a conspraicy theory doesn't change the historicla fact
[14:10] Fleche Xeno: but links them with an alternative causal theory
[14:10] Fleche Xeno: while an alternate history changesthe hoistorical facts
[14:10] Fleche Xeno: to play with ideology
[14:10] Eddi Haskell: i can understand what you are saying
[14:10] Eddi Haskell: i get it i think
[14:10] Jago Constantine: anyway basically Eddi / I think both schools of thought are correct at different times / individual changes can have great consequences / or not
[14:11] Fleche Xeno: conspiracy theory is psychology. alternate history is mix some whale bones with t-rex bones
[14:11] Quin Jules: depending on what other events hinge on those
[14:11] Fleche Xeno: and create a new creature.
[14:11] Jago Constantine: say if hitler had died in WWII
[14:11] Everly Porterfield: or maybe someone is writing history and we'll never know it because we're only the characters in the book
[14:11] Jago Constantine: WWI I mean
[14:11] Fleche Xeno: with conspiracy theory, you only swtich the bons around. but you can't take any away.
[14:11] Jago Constantine: the stage was set for fascism to arise in europe perhaps / so maybe there would have been a war similar to WWII
[14:11] Everly Porterfield: /me nods.
[14:11] Quin Jules: but perhaps not on the level of WWII
[14:11] Roy Smashcan: Maybe we're all just characters on the screen in some online game O_o
[14:11] Everly Porterfield: /me grins.
[14:12] Fleche Xeno: one book I recomend on alterate history, The Polish Policemen's Union, by michael chabon
[14:12] Eddi Haskell: roy i have often thought that
[14:12] Jago Constantine: say maybe the communists would have taken over in Germany instead
[14:12] Fleche Xeno: it's an alterant history
[14:12] Simeon Bookmite: New ideas that gain influence have more effect than an individual character i think.
[14:12] Quin Jules: lol We're all a massly huge game of the Sims God is playing right now
[14:12] Fleche Xeno: but the alt hist is background.
[14:12] Jago Constantine: well that might be a big change now lol
[14:12] Eddi Haskell: yiddish i think it is
[14:12] Jago Constantine: yes, yiddish :)
[14:12] Fleche Xeno: yes, yiddish
[14:12] Fleche Xeno: I was reading about wiki entry on wwii book you gusy mentioned
[14:12] Fleche Xeno: and got piroski on my mind
[14:12] Fleche Xeno: the chabon book is a great example of alternate history as backgournd
[14:13] Roy Smashcan: The Chabon book was a Hugo winner in 2008.
[14:13] Eddi Haskell: yah
[14:13] Fleche Xeno: chabon used alternate history to create a society that is in transiotn
[14:13] Fleche Xeno: its' like chinatown, the movie, using the owen vallye water theft, as backgrond
[14:13] Fleche Xeno: but it makes the plot more interesting
[14:13] Everly Porterfield: /me nods...although none of that is familiar.
[14:13] Jago Constantine: ok Eddi did we answer your question?
[14:13] Fleche Xeno: I think a true alterante history book is
[14:13] Fleche Xeno: Pride and Prejudice, with zombies.
[14:13] Eddi Haskell: well , the question cannot be answered but you explained it well! thanks!
[14:13] Quin Jules: lol!
[14:13] Simeon Bookmite: alternate history should cast a differnt light on our present
[14:13] Judi Newall: Sorry, major crash, I'll try again to make another meeting! Excuse me pls
[14:13] Fleche Xeno: there, the alternate history is central to the story.
[14:14] Everly Porterfield: /me grins.
[14:14] Jago Constantine: bye judi!
[14:14] Everly Porterfield: bye judi
[14:14] Simeon Bookmite: bye
[14:14] Quin Jules: bye judi! hope your computer behaves!
[14:14] Jago Constantine: kghia - have you been reading any sci fi?
[14:14] Eddi Haskell: I have all these notes and I will be writing a story that I will ditribute
[14:14] Eddi Haskell: i love to write
[14:14] Kghia Gherardi: I haven't. Just following the conversation today
[14:14] Jago Constantine: ok cool ... simeon?
[14:14] Quin Jules: e-high five to fellow writer!
[14:14] Eddi Haskell: lol
[14:14] Eddi Haskell: historians seem to thing
[14:14] Eddi Haskell: the emman telegram
[14:14] Eddi Haskell: i think it is called that
[14:14] Simeon Bookmite: I read Sly Mongoose by Tobaias Buckell
[14:14] Eddi Haskell: which caused the franco prussian war
[14:15] Eddi Haskell: is crucial sorry simone
[14:15] Jago Constantine: how was it?
[14:15] Everly Porterfield: Sly Mongoose, I've not heard of that either.
[14:15] Everly Porterfield: /me listens
[14:15] Simeon Bookmite: very good
[14:15] Everly Porterfield: /me nods...
[14:16] Simeon Bookmite: it is set on floating citys above a planet similar to venus
[14:16] Simeon Bookmite: one of the power groups sounds very similar to your Demarchists
[14:16] Jago Constantine: cool / hehe
[14:17] Everly Porterfield: so many sci-fi books are really political in nature I think. I wonder if that's really true of MOST books.
[14:17] Everly Porterfield: (in some way or another)
[14:17] Jago Constantine: well humans are political animals :P
[14:17] Everly Porterfield: /me nods.
[14:17] Quin Jules: true that. :)
[14:18] Simeon Bookmite: It is very much space opera
[14:38] Simeon Bookmite: and the best thing I have read by Buckell
[14:38] Jago Constantine: is it his latest book?
[14:38] Everly Porterfield: I don't know much about sci-fi, what's space opera? that's the 2nd time I heard the phrase today.
[14:39] Jago Constantine: space opera is like ... star wars
[14:39] Simeon Bookmite: Pepper the guy who turns up in a lot of his stories
[14:39] Everly Porterfield: /me nods.
[14:39] Jago Constantine: its science fiction on a grand scale / with lots of dramatic storylines
[14:39] Everly Porterfield: oh...hm.
[14:39] Simeon Bookmite: and generally sjhoots all the badies while everyone else gets on with the plot
[14:40] Everly Porterfield: /me listens to Simeon.
[14:40] Simeon Bookmite: finds that he has to play the the politics game this time
[14:40] Simeon Bookmite: to become a Sly mongoose
[14:40] Everly Porterfield: /me smiles.
[14:40] Jago Constantine: heh
[14:41] Simeon Bookmite: some body has launched a bio weapon that turns people into group Minded Zombies
[14:41] Simeon Bookmite: at the planet
[14:42] Jago Constantine: wow
[14:42] Simeon Bookmite: Pepper has to get the oposition organised work out the real target.
[14:43] Everly Porterfield: Oh Dear, I'm sorry, but RL just called me up. Sorry to interrupt Simeon. Thank you for the talk Jago.
[14:43] Jago Constantine: no worries / come again next week!
[14:43] Simeon Bookmite: nice effects allways important in s space opera
[14:43] Jago Constantine: thanks simeon :) / Roy - have you read any sci fi lately?
[14:44] Simeon Bookmite: with good tech ideas not just ray guns and rockets
[14:44] Jago Constantine: oops sorry simeon I thought you were done lol
[14:44] Roy Smashcan: Hmm. Last book I got was The Trade of Queens by Charles Stross. It's the wrapup of his Merchant Princes series.
[14:44] Simeon Bookmite: sm now
[14:44] Jago Constantine: oh I didn't like that series :P / what did you think?
[14:45] Roy Smashcan: I quite like it - but I'm a fan of all his writing.
[14:45] Jago Constantine: this was a bit too fantasy for my liking
[14:45] Roy Smashcan: I liked the way he set up the whole medieval thing then ripped it apart.
[14:46] Jago Constantine: heh / that reminds me of the connecticut yankee in king Arthur's court
[14:46] Roy Smashcan: Well, I quite like fantasy - but there's too much "Extruded Fantasy Product" out there.
[14:46] Jago Constantine: true
[14:46] Quin Jules: No kidding.
[14:46] Jago Constantine: thanks roy
[14:46] Eddi Haskell: hey I got a bunch of speedos like that at junglewear
[14:46] Jago Constantine: Quin - what have you read lately
[14:47] Quin Jules: I think the last one I read was sort of scfi/horror
[14:47] Quin Jules: It was "I have no mouth and I must scream"
[14:47] Jago Constantine: oh nice
[14:47] Quin Jules: Bad reading for the middle of the night, let me tell you XD
[14:47] Jago Constantine: harlan ellison
[14:47] Quin Jules: I really enjoyed it.
[14:47] Jago Constantine: yes me too
[14:47] Quin Jules: I hadn't read much by him, but I really like that one.
[14:48] Jago Constantine: yeah Its one of my favourites of his
[14:48] Quin Jules: It's got such a great creepy ambiance. So good. :)
[14:48] Jago Constantine: basically its about an AI that wipes out the human race except for a few survivors / and lets see ... / I forget how it works
[14:49] Quin Jules: And the AI has worked it out so that he can keep them alive and tortured forever.
[14:49] Jago Constantine: is it insane because its stuck where it is? I forget
[14:49] Quin Jules: It was developed during the Cold War and got fed up with how ridiculous and illogical the humans were being.
[14:49] Fleche Xeno: sounds like Matrix with a BDSM bent.
[14:49] Jago Constantine: heh
[14:49] Quin Jules: So it took over all the other AI's like it and blew the planet and the human race to kingdom come save for five people.
[14:50] Quin Jules: lol!
[14:50] Eddi Haskell: i have to go see my mom she called me bye eveyrone see ya next week!
[14:50] Jago Constantine: cya eddi babe
[14:50] Quin Jules: bye!
[14:50] Quin Jules: :)
[14:50] Jago Constantine: thanks quin! / eppie - have you read any science fiction lately?
[14:50] Quin Jules: np. :)
[14:51] Eppie Shoreman: not lately
[14:51] Jago Constantine: thats ok :) / Fleche? / ok folks / I think its about time to finish up anyway :)
[14:53] Simeon Bookmite: uep iur hour ts up
[14:53] Fleche Xeno: yeah
[14:53] Fleche Xeno: sorry. :)
[14:53] Jago Constantine: thanks for coming!
[14:53] Fleche Xeno: just in middle of galileo's dream. :)
[14:53] Kghia Gherardi: he is such a clock watcher. :D
[14:53] Jago Constantine: next week we'll be listening to a podcast short story again / hehe I go to breakfast on sunday mornings :)
[14:53] Quin Jules: Is this every week around now?
[14:53] Jago Constantine: I'm in Australia / yes every week at 2pm saturday SL time
[14:53] Simeon Bookmite: yes an hour every week
[14:53] Quin Jules: cool! I think I'll make this a habit. :)
[14:53] Quin Jules: It was really nive talking to you guys.
[14:53] Quin Jules: *nice
[14:54] Jago Constantine: glad you liked it! / bye folks!
[14:54] Quin Jules: See you next week! :)
[14:54] Simeon Bookmite: yes!

13 June 2009: Liberation Square

[13:30] Jago Constantine: Hi, Athena
[13:30] Athena Maeterlinck: hello
[13:31] Jago Constantine: cool avatar!
[13:31] Athena Maeterlinck: Thanks
[13:31] Jago Constantine: Are you here for the science fiction discussion?
[13:31] Athena Maeterlinck: Aye a little early I know
[13:32] Jago Constantine: it's upstairs at 2pm :)
[13:33] Athena Maeterlinck: Great rocketship
[13:33] Jago Constantine: yeah it's fun :) / Would you like an invitation for our group?
[13:34] Athena Maeterlinck: No room in groups I'm afraid
[13:35] Jago Constantine: Ok, well we have meetings each week same time and are in search
[13:35] Jago Constantine: Hi, Zobeid!
[13:35] Zobeid Zuma: hello
[13:36] Athena Maeterlinck: Hello Zobeid
[13:36] Jago Constantine: It's a little early yet, so I'm doing some things in IM :P
[13:36] Zobeid Zuma: okay
[13:39] Jago Constantine: lol athena
[13:39] Zobeid Zuma: SL locked up. . . again / It has been doing that often.
[13:39] Jago Constantine: it seems better for me the last few months
[13:39] Zobeid Zuma: BRB. . .
[13:39] Jago Constantine: ok
[13:42] Jago Constantine: Sorry if the chairs don't work for you, Athena :P
[13:42] Athena Maeterlinck: Meh its pretty normal with atiny av
[13:43] Jago Constantine: It's a cool skybox :)
[13:44] Athena Maeterlinck: Apparently so
[13:44] Zobeid Zuma: now that's better. . . I hope :/
[13:44] Jago Constantine: WB Zobeid, nice outfit :)
[13:45] Zobeid Zuma: thankee!
[13:45] Athena Maeterlinck: What was wrong before?
[13:46] Zobeid Zuma: oh, nothing important. . . / let's hope trying to sit down doesn't crash me again. . .
[13:46] Jago Constantine: hehe
[13:46] Zobeid Zuma: I think it works this time. :)
[13:47] Jago Constantine: Would you like a group invite, Zobeid?
[13:47] Zobeid Zuma: What group?
[13:47] Jago Constantine: Science Fiction Discussion :)
[13:47] Zobeid Zuma: sure why not?
[13:48] Jago Constantine: Hi, Arii!
[13:48] Arii Arida: hello :))
[13:48] Jago Constantine: I like the key :)
[13:49] Arii Arida: thanks...it's kookey..and has no particular use,lol
[13:49] Jago Constantine: ok so it won't wind down at all :P
[13:49] Arii Arida: ya..it will....but nothing happens
[13:49] Jago Constantine: hehe / try sitting on that athena
[13:50] Arii Arida: whats the athena?
[13:50] Arii Arida: ahhhhhh
[13:50] Jago Constantine: i meant the pose ball
[13:50] Athena Maeterlinck: oh
[13:50] Jago Constantine: the one near the book on the ground
[13:51] Arii Arida: I think for tinies...it wont work
[13:51] Jago Constantine: not the book itself, the ball is above it / its kind of transparent
[13:52] Athena Maeterlinck: Well pobably not if it mattered I'd just switch avvies
[13:52] Jago Constantine: heh oh well
[13:52] Arii Arida: love the rotating globe
[13:53] Jago Constantine: thanks it's a star emitter :P
[13:53] Arii Arida: I'm pulling my cam back.......Very nice
[13:53] Jago Constantine: wow athena!
[13:54] Arii Arida: we dont have a planatarium where I live...would br lovely if we did
[13:55] Jago Constantine: they're wonderful things :) / brb making a cup of tea
[13:57] Eddi Haskell: hai
[13:57] Zobeid Zuma: howdy
[13:57] Arii Arida: sorry....I changed the channel...me and my button pressing...lolz
[13:58] Athena Maeterlinck: Heelo there
[13:58] Eddi Haskell: im in chatanooga tenessee now. this place is science fiction
[13:58] Eddi Haskell: i cant beleive how slow everyone is.
[13:59] Eddi Haskell: jago will tell me to be nice in an im soon
[13:59] Arii Arida: be genuin.....
[13:59] Eddi Haskell: lol
[13:59] Athena Maeterlinck: Slow
[13:59] Athena Maeterlinck: ?
[13:59] Eddi Haskell: well they take their time doing things
[13:59] Eddi Haskell: this is the deep south in the US, im visiting here
[14:00] Eddi Haskell: i love sl . this to me is reality. the situation outside is what is strange.
[14:00] Jago Constantine: ok i'm back :) / welcome avex
[14:00] Eddi Haskell: good you dont have to see what I said
[14:00] Jago Constantine: hey eddi babe
[14:00] Arii Arida: well...I find here..paople are really free to be themselves..........
[14:00] Jago Constantine: lol
[14:00] Eddi Haskell: hey jago
[14:00] Eddi Haskell: yes
[14:01] Athena Maeterlinck: Nah this place is warped
[14:01] Arii Arida: freaky and deaky
[14:01] Eddi Haskell: well so am I / so it works
[14:01] Athena Maeterlinck: Were all completely nuts
[14:01] Eddi Haskell: i am for sure
[14:01] Arii Arida: to a degree yes...
[14:01] Arii Arida: some more than others
[14:01] Jago Constantine: ok i think it's time to start :)
[14:02] Jago Constantine: basically, we go round the group and talk about the last book we each read
[14:02] Arii Arida: cool
[14:03] Jago Constantine: I've been away for a few weeks so I read a few
[14:03] Jago Constantine: The best one was Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow
[14:03] Arii Arida: why did you like it?
[14:03] Jago Constantine: it's very topical / about the surveilance society we're creating / how it can be used by the authorities to take away our freedoms
[14:04] Arii Arida: scary
[14:04] Jago Constantine: and how it can be subverted and fought by the community
[14:04] Jago Constantine: basically it's about a kid in san francisco
[14:04] Jago Constantine: he's a hacker but not a bad guy
[14:05] Jago Constantine: so there's a terrorist attack in the city and he's arrested for being on the street
[14:05] Jago Constantine: sort of arbitrarily ... he's eventually released, but the experience makes him notice
[14:06] Jago Constantine: how people are willingly surrendering freedoms for security
[14:06] Jago Constantine: the title obviously is a reference to Big Brother from 1984
[14:06] Arii Arida: I think in this society.....people born into it....they dont notice as much
[14:07] Jago Constantine: I often read about how the UK is the most videod society in the world / hey melch, good to see you again
[14:07] Melch Savon: Afternoon all
[14:07] Melch Savon: Yeah -- been on vacation, no SL
[14:07] Arii Arida: Hi Melch :)
[14:07] Jago Constantine: I'm just talking about Cory Doctorow's Little Brother
[14:07] Eddi Haskell: hi melch!
[14:07] Jago Constantine: I really liked it
[14:08] Melch Savon: Really!
[14:08] Jago Constantine: yes :P
[14:08] Jago Constantine: Doctorow is the guy behind the site Boing Boing
[14:08] Jago Constantine: he's also a technolibertarian if that's the right word
[14:08] Melch Savon: Also, I believe, a native of my fair city :)
[14:08] Jago Constantine: he worked for the electronic frontier foundation / Which gets a plug in the book :)
[14:09] Zobeid Zuma: That reminds me, I need to join EFF.
[14:09] Melch Savon: The idea is an encrypted sub-section of the net used to organize against a police state, right?
[14:09] Jago Constantine: That reminds me, I bet the book is available online for free, knowing Doctorow
[14:09] Zobeid Zuma: Arisia, hii! :)
[14:09] Jago Constantine: http://craphound.com/littlebrother/download/
[14:09] Jago Constantine: there it is lol
[14:09] Melch Savon: I do read his blog occasionally
[14:09] Jago Constantine: I bought it :P / Hi, Arisia :)
[14:10] Arisia Vita: Hi everyone
[14:10] Melch Savon: Hey Arisia
[14:10] Eddi Haskell: hi arisia
[14:10] Eddi Haskell: does eveyrone have sound?
[14:10] Arii Arida: Hi Arisia :)
[14:10] Arii Arida: yup
[14:10] Jago Constantine: Yes melch, that's the idea
[14:10] Melch Savon: Yes - starting now
[14:11] Zobeid Zuma: starting what?
[14:11] Jago Constantine: the protagonist uses a sort of free internet to fight the government
[14:11] Melch Savon: Sound. Does Doctorow explain why the net is not just shut off to encrypted packets?
[14:11] Jago Constantine: Why do you ask, Eddi?
[14:11] Eddi Haskell: i dont have sound
[14:11] Jago Constantine: I forget :P / I can hear the birds, I think the music is off
[14:12] Melch Savon: It always bothered me about that kind of plot.
[14:12] Eddi Haskell: ok ill put it on
[14:12] Jago Constantine: I turned it off lol
[14:12] Eddi Haskell: ok
[14:13] Jago Constantine: Eddi did you read any sci fi lately?
[14:13] Eddi Haskell: no but ive taken about 100 steampunk photos all over sl
[14:13] Jago Constantine: hehe cool
[14:13] Eddi Haskell: the next issue of VR Style is the steampunk issue
[14:13] Jago Constantine: There's so many nice steampunk builds in SL
[14:13] Eddi Haskell: yeah
[14:14] Jago Constantine: Ok then, Arii ... what did you read last?
[14:14] Arii Arida: well
[14:14] Arisia Vita: currently reading Singularity Sky
[14:14] Jago Constantine: Cool / Charles Stross
[14:14] Arii Arida: dont judge me but
[14:14] Arisia Vita: yes
[14:14] Arii Arida: I dont like romance and I dont like Vampire reads....but I got sucked into reading twilight,lol
[14:14] Jago Constantine: Sorry Arisia, I meanr Arii across from you :)
[14:15] Arisia Vita: oh, I loved Twilight
[14:15] Jago Constantine: hehe
[14:15] Arisia Vita: just finished the fourth book
[14:15] Jago Constantine: I haven't seen the movie or read the book yet
[14:15] Arii Arida: all my little neices and gorlfriends kept bugging me ...so I caved
[14:15] Arisia Vita: I liked Host too
[14:15] Jago Constantine: so what's it like? I imagine like buffy :P
[14:15] Arisia Vita: sort of a Beauty and the Beast story
[14:15] Arii Arida: it's basically a romance...with good vampires.lol
[14:16] Jago Constantine: I keep seeing people making jokes about the vampires being shiny
[14:16] Arii Arida: they did it well. though...made me fall in love with Edward the main character...
[14:16] Jago Constantine: what;s that about?
[14:16] Arii Arida: I wont go to the movie...so I don't know / but their skin sort of shines in the sun / like diamonds
[14:17] Jago Constantine: heh ok / so the sun doesn't kill them
[14:17] Arii Arida: no
[14:18] Jago Constantine: have you read anne rice's vampire books?
[14:18] Arii Arida: no....vampires..I just can't get into it
[14:18] Jago Constantine: that's the only vampire series I read really
[14:18] Arii Arida: perhaps I should try one
[14:18] Jago Constantine: actually there was one schlock horror series called Necroscope with some very weird vampires
[14:19] Arii Arida: what was weird about them?
[14:19] Zobeid Zuma: I've never seen the point of vampires. . . never understood why other people find them interesting, really.
[14:19] Jago Constantine: oh well they're from another planet and they're shapeshifters kind of
[14:19] Zobeid Zuma: Except for Count Orlock of course. He was really creepy!
[14:19] Jago Constantine: it's very lurid writing
[14:19] Jago Constantine: but it was interesting because the main character can speak to the dead (necroscope)
[14:20] Arii Arida: ohhhhhhh
[14:20] Jago Constantine: Brian Lumley was the author
[14:21] Jago Constantine: A friend who loves twilight asked me for a recommendation and I pointed her to anne rice
[14:21] Jago Constantine: Hi, Mike!
[14:21] Arisia Vita: Hi Mike
[14:22] Melch Savon waves at Mike
[14:22] Arii Arida: I need to go..so sorry....this has been pleasant :)
[14:22] Jago Constantine: Ok, so Arisia ... how was Singularity Sky
[14:22] Arisia Vita: Bye Arii
[14:22] Jago Constantine: thanks for coming Arii
[14:22] Melch Savon: Bye Arii
[14:22] Jago Constantine: See you next week maybe :)
[14:22] Arisia Vita: it's great so far, just about 1/4 through
[14:23] Jago Constantine: I sent you a group invite did you get it?
[14:23] Eddi Haskell: bye Ari
[14:23] Jago Constantine: It wasn't my favourite stross novel
[14:23] Jago Constantine: but he fills it with a lot of cool ideas
[14:23] Arisia Vita: it's hard to write stories which occur after the singularity
[14:23] Jago Constantine: yeah, by definition it's almost not predictable :P
[14:23] Arisia Vita: right
[14:24] Mike111 Ewing: hello
[14:24] Jago Constantine: Hey mike welcome
[14:24] Jago Constantine: The way the meeting works is we go around and talk about what we read during the week
[14:25] Jago Constantine: it's like alcoholics anonymous for sci fi :P
[14:25] Jago Constantine: I only have a vague notion of how AA works lol
[14:25] Eddi Haskell: you have to admit you have a problem
[14:25] Eddi Haskell: and ask for help from a superior force
[14:25] Eddi Haskell: then you go to weekly meetings and become obnoxious
[14:25] Jago Constantine: ok well this is not like AA then :P
[14:26] Melch Savon: Hi, I'm Melch, and I don't have enough time to read all the good sci-fi out there
[14:26] Jago Constantine: except for going round the group :P
[14:26] Jago Constantine: Hi, Melch!
[14:26] Eddi Haskell: i went to a meeting of sarcastics anonymous once.
[14:26] Jago Constantine: :)
[14:26] Jago Constantine: lol
[14:26] Jago Constantine: So Zobeid, have you read anything good lately?
[14:27] Jago Constantine: heh
[14:27] Jago Constantine: ok Melch how about you?
[14:27] Zobeid Zuma: er?
[14:27] Jago Constantine: oh ok zz
[14:27] Jago Constantine: I thought you might be afk
[14:27] Zobeid Zuma: I read something old. . .
[14:28] Zobeid Zuma: A Barnstormer in Oz, by Phillip Jose Farmer!
[14:28] Jago Constantine: Wow, I remember that
[14:28] Melch Savon: Oh, what was that about? It sounds cool
[14:28] Jago Constantine: I got it from a 2nd hand store
[14:29] Zobeid Zuma: It's like a SF novel derived -- loosely -- from A Wonderful World of Oz.
[14:29] Jago Constantine: yeah it's kind of like a connecticut yankee in king arthur's court ... but in oz, right?
[14:30] Zobeid Zuma: The conceit is that Baum wrote his original book (the first one, not any of the sequels) based on an interview with the *real* Dorothy, who had inadvertently visited a parallel world.
[14:30] Melch Savon: Now that is an good premise
[14:30] Zobeid Zuma: And in this book, her son accidentally flies his biplane back to Oz and finds out the True Story of it all.
[14:30] Jago Constantine: yeah it's fun
[14:31] Jago Constantine: farmer writes a more adult style than baum :P
[14:31] Zobeid Zuma: But it's not a kid's story, and it's not fantasy. It's framed as real SF.
[14:31] Zobeid Zuma: Which means Farmer had to really stretch to come up with rational explanations for things.
[14:31] Jago Constantine: hehe
[14:32] Jago Constantine: it reminds me of tad williams' Otherland series
[14:32] Jago Constantine: in one of them the characters visit a version of Oz
[14:32] Zobeid Zuma: Something Farmer was well qualified to do, since he's written some really far-out SF. . .
[14:32] Jago Constantine: where the emerald city is a totalitarian state
[14:32] Zobeid Zuma: I kind of like the surreal, sort of trippy SF that came out of the 1970s. This I think is from 1983, but it really is that sort of style anyhow.
[14:33] Jago Constantine: yeah farmer is a pretty 70s author in his style
[14:33] Jago Constantine: You should read Mick Farren's DNA Cowboys series
[14:33] Zobeid Zuma: He's famous for the Riverworld series. . . which I personally wasn't crazy about. But he did The Stone God Awakens, which was another old favorite of mine.
[14:33] Jago Constantine: if you like surreal and trippy
[14:34] Jago Constantine: I liked the riverworld concept - all the human race being resurrected on a strange planet
[14:34] Zobeid Zuma: I'm not going to say Barnstormer is a *great* book, but it's a worthy experiment. Good for stretching the imagination a bit.
[14:35] Jago Constantine: Ok, melch, your turn :)
[14:35] Melch Savon: A book called Web Mage.
[14:36] Jago Constantine: never heard of it :P
[14:36] Melch Savon: Cross sci-fi and urban fantasy. The premise is the Fates have updated everything to modern technology
[14:36] Jago Constantine: cool
[14:36] Melch Savon: One of their descendants is a hacker, and refuses to debug their doomsday program to remove free will from humanity
[14:37] Jago Constantine: lol
[14:37] Jago Constantine: so the fates want to remove free will?
[14:37] Melch Savon: They take badly to that, and on we go ... Discord, the Furies, and sundry notables appear
[14:37] Melch Savon: Trolls and Goblins are all computer programs
[14:37] Jago Constantine: oh of course
[14:37] Melch Savon: Sure -- they are about order -- Discord is about free will and chaos
[14:37] Melch Savon: It is a great premise from, I think, a good but growing author
[14:38] Jago Constantine: who is it by?
[14:38] Melch Savon: Ummm ... hold on a sec
[14:38] Melch Savon: Kelly McCullough
[14:38] Mike111 Ewing: do you guys think scifi stories with aliens have been over done or still lots of room for improvement?
[14:38] Jago Constantine: ok that rings a bell
[14:38] Melch Savon: No, every story is new with the authors personal spin
[14:38] Jago Constantine: oh I think there are still a lot of good alien concepts
[14:39] Jago Constantine: I loved the aliens from Blindsight
[14:39] Melch Savon: i am writing one about golems created in the lab -- golems are pretty much done, but I think my spin is unique
[14:39] Jago Constantine: what's your angle?
[14:39] Mike111 Ewing: cool.. heh
[14:40] Melch Savon: Imagine a heroin addict wakes up in a hospitall ... clean. No tracks even
[14:40] Melch Savon: The first guy he sees tells him he is part of a super soldier experiment, and has a radio controlled explosive laced to his spine
[14:41] Jago Constantine: lol
[14:41] Jago Constantine: cool
[14:41] Melch Savon: What they don't tell him is he isn't him -- he is a golem, made using Kabbalistic magic as much as science
[14:41] Eddi Haskell: wow the golem
[14:41] Jago Constantine: ok ... so he's a golem with a person's memories?
[14:42] Melch Savon: yeah
[14:42] Melch Savon: Then he is attacked, to everyone's surprise, by anothre golem left over from 1100 BC
[14:42] Melch Savon: From there escape; look for parents; find out truth; go home; see 'real' self through window. Close3.
[14:42] Jago Constantine: cool
[14:42] Eddi Haskell: and he thinks its his motherinlaw right?
[14:42] Melch Savon: Still outlining the scenes, may take a few months yet
[14:43] Jago Constantine: sounds cool
[14:43] Melch Savon: Ideas are never the problem -- time to execute on them is :)
[14:43] Melch Savon: This feels right though. It started off totally different, but the story didn't work that way
[14:44] Jago Constantine: My favourite golem book of recent years is The Narrows, by Alexander Irvine
[14:44] Melch Savon: Hmm, missed that on
[14:44] Jago Constantine: ok, it's about industrial golem making in america
[14:44] Eddi Haskell: my favorite golem book is called "the Vicepresidency of Dan Quayle"
[14:44] Jago Constantine: Detroit in WW2
[14:45] Jago Constantine: They make a golem production line in the Ford plant
[14:45] Eddi Haskell: really that sounds cool . the one in willow run
[14:45] Jago Constantine: it is a cool book
[14:45] Jago Constantine: so there are germans and imps trying to sabotage the effort :P
[14:46] Melch Savon adds to his reading list ... "The Narrows"
[14:46] Eddi Haskell: i want to red it but
[14:46] Jago Constantine: it's magical realism
[14:46] Eddi Haskell: what is an "imp?"
[14:46] Jago Constantine: like a gremlin
[14:46] Jago Constantine: hey sandoone, nice to see you again
[14:46] Eddi Haskell: hi sandoone
[14:46] Sandoone Loudwater: Nice to be back JC.
[14:46] Sandoone Loudwater: Hey EH.
[14:47] Jago Constantine: So, Mike, what have you read lately?
[14:48] Jago Constantine: I should mention that Eddi and I are selling this block, so the next meeting will probably be somewhere else, maybe Insilico
[14:48] Jago Constantine: Mike might be afk
[14:48] Melch Savon: Love Insilico
[14:48] Eddi Haskell: btw we are having a cool yard sale downstairs
[14:48] Jago Constantine: hehe
[14:48] Eddi Haskell: you should check it out
[14:49] Jago Constantine: Sandoone, did you read any good sci fi in the last few weeks?
[14:49] Zobeid Zuma: aww. . . I like this place
[14:49] Jago Constantine: We might still have the island set up, it depends
[14:49] Sandoone Loudwater: Well, I've been thinking a lot about Mission to Marz, which I read a while ago.
[14:49] Eddi Haskell: well what about the rain room?
[14:49] Jago Constantine: good idea eddi
[14:49] Sandoone Loudwater: I read a bio of Von Braun and it's been filling my thoughts.
[14:50] Eddi Haskell: was he a nazi?
[14:50] Sandoone Loudwater: And head of Nasa...
[14:50] Eddi Haskell: really? wow
[14:50] Sandoone Loudwater: Ran the whole joint in Huntsville.
[14:50] Jago Constantine: I didn't know he was head of nasa cool
[14:50] Zobeid Zuma: That was the US Army's rocket program, wasn't it?
[14:51] Sandoone Loudwater: But back in the Weimar, he was like a rocketeer and was involved in their version of Monster Truck Rallies... Yup... the open air tests in the pacific, etc.
[14:51] Eddi Haskell: well after the war the americans would do anything to match the russians
[14:51] Arisia Vita: head of NASA or the Marshall Spaceflight Center in Huntsville?
[14:52] Sandoone Loudwater: Well, they kept giving him second spots cuz the V2 program killed about 10000 people in Nederlands and London and 50000 in central Europe.
[14:52] Jago Constantine: I don't think he was actually head of nasa, I just googled it
[14:52] Sandoone Loudwater: Not head, he just lead on policy.
[14:52] Jago Constantine: but he was Deputy Associate Administrator for Planning at the end
[14:52] Arisia Vita: you are right though, he was big at Marshall
[14:52] Eddi Haskell: Von Braun worked on the American intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) program before joining NASA, where he served as director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and the chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle, the superbooster that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon.
[14:53] Sandoone Loudwater: His fiction book, Mission to marz...
[14:53] Sandoone Loudwater: That's the one that got me started.
[14:53] Zobeid Zuma: There's a story about how they were woring on the Atlas rocket and somebody wanted to use a pressurized tank as the body structure.
[14:53] Zobeid Zuma: Von Braun said no, no. . . You can't do that, it has no strength. It's just a thin sheet of metal.
[14:54] Zobeid Zuma: So they pressurized the tank and gave him a hammer, and he gave the side of the tank a good whack to show them how easily it would collapse. . .
[14:54] Zobeid Zuma: But the hammer bounced back and hit him in the forehead. :)
[14:54] Jago Constantine: lol
[14:54] Zobeid Zuma: So they went with the whole pressurized tank design after all.
[14:54] Sandoone Loudwater: Yea, he was really a PR guy and a rocket enthusiast, then an engineer, not really a scientist at all.
[14:55] Jago Constantine: interesting
[14:55] Jago Constantine: hey mike you back?
[14:55] Mike111 Ewing: yeah
[14:55] Jago Constantine: did you have anything to discuss? read a good book?
[14:56] Eddi Haskell: sounds like me
[14:56] Mike111 Ewing: i havnt been reading much scifi recently unless you concider history scifi.. lol
[14:56] Eddi Haskell: but ive been reading alternative history
[14:56] Jago Constantine: heh only alternate history, or space history :P
[14:57] Sandoone Loudwater: I love history, what are you reading, Mike?
[14:57] Zobeid Zuma: I like alt-history, time travel stuff.
[14:57] Mike111 Ewing: wasnt it in one of orwells books that said history is rewritten by the ruling party
[14:57] Jago Constantine: me too, except for harry turtledove, he stinks :(
[14:58] Zobeid Zuma: buh?
[14:58] Zobeid Zuma: My favorite of all time is Guns Of The South! :P
[14:58] Jago Constantine: yeah?
[14:59] Jago Constantine: I seem to like nazis win WW2 books ... my favourites are Fatherland and The Man in the High Castle
[14:59] Zobeid Zuma: It's the definitive alt-history/time-travel story.
[14:59] Melch Savon: Fatherland was good
[14:59] Arisia Vita: my favorite series led me to choose my first name...which I bet someone here can guess?
[15:00] Jago Constantine: umm ...
[15:00] Jago Constantine: lol
[15:00] Arisia Vita: considered the father of space opera
[15:00] Sandoone Loudwater: It's weird... if you think of nazis and soviets as kooky modernists, I guess we did just assimilate them in some ways.
[15:00] Arisia Vita: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lensman
[15:00] Jago Constantine: lol thanks
[15:01] Jago Constantine: I could never get into the lensmen books
[15:01] Zobeid Zuma: Oh, I remember Lensman. . . Though I thought Skylark of Space was better. :)
[15:01] Arisia Vita: I liked that too
[15:01] Zobeid Zuma: Yeah, I couldn't really get into them either.
[15:01] Zobeid Zuma: Also, Invaders From The Infinite is worth looking up.
[15:02] Arisia Vita: Asimov loved them, so I am in good company
[15:02] Jago Constantine: sandoone, have you read John Ralston Saul? Voltaire's Bastards?
[15:02] Sandoone Loudwater: thanks for the link though
[15:02] Zobeid Zuma: superscience book
[15:02] Sandoone Loudwater: Nope. But I will look them up, thanks.
[15:02] Jago Constantine: He said that communism and capitalism were two sides of the same coin
[15:02] Zobeid Zuma: atomic this, atomic that, heat rays, force rays, energy shields, etc., etc. :)
[15:02] Jago Constantine: from memory
[15:03] Jago Constantine: I like superscience ... John C Wright's golden age books :)
[15:03] Eddi Haskell: uh
[15:03] Sandoone Loudwater: What are some of the themes?
[15:03] Eddi Haskell: what is superscience?
[15:04] Jago Constantine: amazing far out science
[15:04] Jago Constantine: heh
[15:04] Jago Constantine: like hyperspace and forcefields
[15:05] Arisia Vita: is Star Trek superscience?
[15:05] Sandoone Loudwater: Or maybe meta science... like how there are patterns in the discourse.
[15:05] Eddi Haskell: science about science
[15:05] Sandoone Loudwater: ST is funny.
[15:05] Sandoone Loudwater: I met some UFS people lately.
[15:05] Zobeid Zuma: I'm not sure if I can come up with a concise definition of the supercience genre. . .
[15:05] Sandoone Loudwater: It's like a Role Play cult, like Gor or something.
[15:06] Sandoone Loudwater: Only ST.
[15:06] Jago Constantine: I consider it anything not just beyond our current ability, but that we can't really even begin to speculate about making
[15:06] Zobeid Zuma: But usually it involves some super-genius who invents galaxy-spanning, planet-crushing spaceships and has adventures with them.
[15:06] Zobeid Zuma: Skylark could be an example.
[15:06] Jago Constantine: Ok, I have to go grab breakfast
[15:06] Sandoone Loudwater: Oh, BTW did y'all trash the Accelerando guy in the meetings after?
[15:07] Arisia Vita: and I must take a break too
[15:07] Jago Constantine: heh I didn't go to his SL visit
[15:07] Arisia Vita: this has been fun...
[15:07] Jago Constantine: thanks for coming arisia, and everyone\
[15:07] Sandoone Loudwater: Been great AV.
[15:07] Jago Constantine: I'll send out a notice where the next meeting will be
[15:07] Sandoone Loudwater: I liked Mike's hair.
[15:07] Jago Constantine: probably in our other skybox
[15:07] Jago Constantine: heh
[15:07] Jago Constantine: in a friend's parcel
[15:08] Melch Savon: Nice to have seen you all again
[15:08] Jago Constantine: yes it's good to be back :)
[15:09] Sandoone Loudwater: Oh, it's stand up time.
[15:09] Jago Constantine: bye sandoone and zobeid!
[15:09] Sandoone Loudwater: TaTA JC.
[15:09] Eddi Haskell: bye eveyrone

14 March 2009: Armada

[13:56] Jago Constantine: Hi, Bryce, welcome :)
[13:56] Bryce Galbraith: Hi Jago
[13:56] Jago Constantine: You're the first to arrive :)
[13:56] Bryce Galbraith: :)
[13:57] Jago Constantine: That means you get to find a seat with the best pose lol
[13:57] Bryce Galbraith: maybe I'll wait for the room to finish rezzing before trying to move around... / :)
[13:57] Jago Constantine: lol yes
[13:58] Bryce Galbraith: I like the cat there...
[13:58] Jago Constantine: Yes it's cute / I think its from damiani / Damani, yes
[13:59] Bryce Galbraith: brb....
[13:59] Jago Constantine: ok
[14:00] Eddi Haskell: hello
[14:00] Jago Constantine: Hey, Eddi :) / heh nice pose
[14:01] Bryce Galbraith: Hi Eddi
[14:01] Eddi Haskell: hi / my computer is messed up / and i dont know what to do LOL
[14:01] Bryce Galbraith: Well, you can always re-install the OS .:)
[14:01] Eddi Haskell: that wont help
[14:01] Bryce Galbraith: That might be a bit extreme....but effective! / Hi Lewis
[14:01] Jago Constantine: Hey, Lewis :)
[14:01] Eddi Haskell: if you look at the picture i gave you
[14:02] Lewis Luminos: hi everyone
[14:02] Eddi Haskell: you can see triangles / that is what is wrong / hi lewid / l;ewis
[14:02] Lewis Luminos: waiting for things to rez
[14:02] Jago Constantine: Sure :)
[14:02] Bryce Galbraith: Ah.... this is just in SL....not the rest of your computer then, right Eddi?
[14:03] Jago Constantine: Oh nice costume Lewis :)
[14:03] Lewis Luminos: heh its the same coat I wore last week
[14:03] Jago Constantine: I am kind of appropriate, my clothes could be anywhen from edwardian onwards
[14:03] Lewis Luminos: with cap and pipe instead of punk hair and cyber gear
[14:04] Bryce Galbraith: Hi Redgrrl
[14:04] Jago Constantine: Gentlemen, this is Redgrrl, the owner here :)
[14:04] Redgrrl Llewellyn: Welcome to my Club and Reading Room!
[14:04] Lewis Luminos: hi redgrrl
[14:04] Redgrrl Llewellyn: i'm so glad you could visit us! .....and happy to have you here! / i'm also a librarian RL so i couldn't resist to listen in
[14:05] Jago Constantine: There is a tip jar on the bar which I encourage you to use :)
[14:05] Redgrrl Llewellyn: thank you Mr. Constantine too kind / and please everyone drink up!
[14:05] Jago Constantine: Thankyou for letting us meet here :)
[14:06] Jago Constantine: Ok, for Bryce and Redgrrl, the meeting usually works like this
[14:06] Jago Constantine: we go round the group and discuss the last book we read
[14:06] Jago Constantine: after that, we talk about what we plan to read next
[14:07] Jago Constantine: but there's plenty of latitude for meandering conversation :)
[14:07] Lewis Luminos: we do tend to meander quite a bit *g*
[14:07] Jago Constantine: lol
[14:07] Bryce Galbraith: :) / sounds good....
[14:07] Jago Constantine: Anyway last week I read this novel by Brian Herbert, Sidney's Comet
[14:08] Jago Constantine: This week I read the sequel, The Garbage Chronicles
[14:08] Jago Constantine: They're satirical sci fi about consumerism
[14:09] Jago Constantine: and I really liked them, as I said last week, I wish Brian had kept writing that instead of going on to write Dune sequels
[14:10] Jago Constantine: The Garbage Chronicles is much better than his first book, he really improved quickly from his debut
[14:10] Bryce Galbraith: Interesting...I wasn't familiar with either of those. I guess the 'Dune' franchise has a higher profile...
[14:11] Jago Constantine: Yes, I suppose you can't blame him. His early books were whimsical and funny, but he was no Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett
[14:12] Bryce Galbraith: I noticed on Amazon.com that there is a (relatively) new release of Sidney's Comet (Jan. 2008)..
[14:12] Jago Constantine: must be due to the popularity of the new dune books
[14:13] Bryce Galbraith: I haven't read anything by Brian Herbert actually. Both of these books were written earlier in his career though it looks like -- mid 80's....
[14:13] Jago Constantine: Yes, and you can tell they're from the 80s
[14:13] Lewis Luminos: really? that long ago?
[14:13] Jago Constantine: yes / Actually, Sidney's Comet reminded me of the movie Wall-E
[14:14] Bryce Galbraith: The synopsis reminded me of an episode of Futurama :)
[14:14] Jago Constantine: That too :)
[14:14] Redgrrl Llewellyn: my favourite book is Time and Again by Jack Finney...time travel illustrated and Victtorian
[14:14] Jago Constantine: I haven't read it / What is it about?
[14:14] Eddi Haskell: is there a bart simpson character in futurama? that is what i feel like at these discussions
[14:14] Redgrrl Llewellyn: its' a great Sci Fi
[14:14] Eddi Haskell: lol
[14:15] Jago Constantine: lol eddi / you should read more sci fi
[14:15] Redgrrl Llewellyn: a modern guy is recruited to travel back in time to solve a mystery
[14:15] Eddi Haskell: i got snow crash / im startng
[14:15] Jago Constantine: oh sounds interesting, redgrrl
[14:15] Lewis Luminos: sounds like just my sort of thing redgrrl
[14:15] Redgrrl Llewellyn: the last book i read was Fingersmith by Sarah Walters..."novel is awash with all manner of gloomy Dickensian leitmotifs: pickpockets, orphans, grim prisons, lunatic asylums, "laughing villains," and, of course, "stolen fortunes and girls made out to be mad."
[14:16] Jago Constantine: Yes I thought of making up a bingo card of victorian cliche
[14:16] Redgrrl Llewellyn: and that's's all i'm going to add gents! enjoy your meeting!
[14:16] Jago Constantine: absinthe, pickpockets, etc
[14:16] Redgrrl Llewellyn: omg that would be brilliant! / twirling mustaches
[14:16] Jago Constantine: lol
[14:16] Jago Constantine: thanks for coming, redgrrl!
[14:17] Redgrrl Llewellyn: cheers dears and the secret opium den upstairs is open to you , too!
[14:17] Bryce Galbraith: Bye Redgrrl!
[14:17] Bryce Galbraith: :)
[14:17] Jago Constantine: Ok, Lewis, how did you go this week? / sci fi wise
[14:18] Lewis Luminos: nothing at all until Thursday, then guess what I bought? *grins*
[14:18] Jago Constantine: lol The Scar?
[14:18] Lewis Luminos: Yep :-D
[14:18] Jago Constantine: awesome :)
[14:18] Lewis Luminos: not very far into it let but loving it
[14:18] Lewis Luminos: *yet
[14:19] Jago Constantine: Have a look around here later, the whole region is built on boats
[14:19] Lewis Luminos: yeah I did have a zoom out with the camera and a bit opf a look round that way
[14:19] Bryce Galbraith: This is by China Mieville, right?
[14:19] Lewis Luminos: yes
[14:19] Jago Constantine: Yes
[14:20] Lewis Luminos: I read Perdido Street about 3 weeks ago
[14:20] Jago Constantine: This sim is based on the book
[14:20] Bryce Galbraith: Ah, okay :)
[14:20] Jago Constantine: It's set on a floating city called Armada / I liked The Scar more than Perdido Street Station
[14:21] Lewis Luminos: I'm not sure yet. I really liked Perdido so its a hard act to follow
[14:21] Jago Constantine: I suppose if you haven't read much you might not be on the floating city yet, Lewis, so I won't say anything :P
[14:21] Lewis Luminos: and I'm only about 5-6 chapters into the Scar so far / oh yeah we got to the floating city
[14:22] Jago Constantine: It's a really unique concept I think / offhand I can't recall anything else like it
[14:22] Lewis Luminos: made me think of the Raft in snow crash
[14:22] Jago Constantine: other than waterworld
[14:23] Lewis Luminos: only I guess Armada is a lot bigger than the Raft
[14:23] Jago Constantine: true ... and the raft wasn't the setting for a whole book / so not as detailed
[14:24] Lewis Luminos: it wasnt as complex anyway. The Raft had only been going a short while. The Armada... didnt it say some of the ships in it had been there hundreds of years?
[14:24] Jago Constantine: I think so yes
[14:24] Lewis Luminos: great concept though
[14:25] Jago Constantine: some with big trees growing on them
[14:25] Bryce Galbraith: Yeah, it's been a while since I read Snow Crash but the Raft was just one of the locations and it felt like a transitive point in the novel. A cool idea that Stephenson came up with but didn't feel the need to explore in more depth :)
[14:25] Lewis Luminos: I wondered whether they grew plant food in Armada / or just steal it
[14:25] Jago Constantine: Well, he has so many cool ideas I guess he has to skip over them
[14:26] Jago Constantine: So what have you read lately, Bryce?
[14:26] Bryce Galbraith: Last week I finished 'Death: A Life' by George Pendle. Not exactly science fiction, but definitely a good, fun read :)
[14:26] Jago Constantine: What's it about?
[14:27] Bryce Galbraith: It's basically the autobiography of Death and along the way a funny re-tell of the Creation up to modern times.
[14:27] Bryce Galbraith: Very irreverent too...
[14:27] Bryce Galbraith: :)
[14:27] Jago Constantine: heh
[14:27] Jago Constantine: I have seen biographies of God and the Devil before
[14:27] Bryce Galbraith: Before that I read Charles Stross' 'Saturn's Children'
[14:27] Lewis Luminos likes irreverent
[14:27] Jago Constantine: I loved Saturn's Children / the concept was great
[14:28] Bryce Galbraith: Yeah, I loved that book too! Lots of real interesting ideas, but also the way the story unfolded was really interesting too.
[14:28] Bryce Galbraith: I like the take on robots and the Three Laws...
[14:28] Jago Constantine: Basically Lewis, robots in the future are programmed to obey humans / Humans died out tho
[14:29] Bryce Galbraith: And then humans go extinct without giving any final instructions or, more specifically, giving robots freedom.
[14:29] Jago Constantine: so robots manage their own affairs, but a plot arises to resurrect a human from dna
[14:30] Jago Constantine: and raise it under the control of some group
[14:30] Jago Constantine: that will have control of all robots by proxy
[14:30] Jago Constantine: it's a lot more clever than it sounds from my description :P
[14:31] Bryce Galbraith: I think what makes the book work is that Stross also explores what this robot civilization is like along the way.
[14:31] Bryce Galbraith: The robots are basically very flawed too -- just like their human creators.
[14:31] Jago Constantine: yes, it's rather ruthless
[14:32] Bryce Galbraith: They can be cruel and ruthless, but also have emotions too.
[14:32] Jago Constantine: they buy and sell each other
[14:32] Jago Constantine: the protagonist is a sex robot whose ultimate erotic object is a human male ... but they are extinct
[14:32] Bryce Galbraith: At best they are able to own themselves because they create these shell corporations that they control which in turn owns them.
[14:33] Bryce Galbraith: An interesting departure from Asimov's robots is that most of the robots are not human-shaped, in the era the book takes place in.
[14:33] Bryce Galbraith: The robots are more compact and some have very functional shapes.
[14:34] Jago Constantine: Yes, I think androids are a really limited design
[14:35] Bryce Galbraith: Just like in the new Battlestar Galactica, where the cylon raiders _are_ the robots, in Saturn's Children the spaceships and buildings in cities even are basically robots.
[14:36] Jago Constantine: So at the moment, I'm reading a cheap thriller, I should finish it in a few days ... not sure what sci fi I will read next
[14:36] Jago Constantine: I guess Lewis will be reading The Scar :)
[14:36] Lewis Luminos: yeah I think that will keep me going the rest of this week
[14:36] Bryce Galbraith: I just started 'Evolution' by Stephen Baxter...just got started though the other night so I'm only a couple chapters in.
[14:37] Jago Constantine: it's nice and thick, good value for money lol / Oh cool, I've been reading some Stephen Baxter / I think I read Evolution a while back / what is the plot again?
[14:38] Bryce Galbraith: Well, I just started so I can't say much :) But it looks to be basically a novel of the evolution of life on earth...
[14:38] Jago Constantine: Hi, Fourside, thanks for coming :)
[14:39] Eddi Haskell: back
[14:39] Bryce Galbraith: starting in the Cretaceous...then going back a bit actually to the Jurassic.
[14:39] Jago Constantine: Baxter writes a lot of evolutionary sci fi
[14:39] Fourside Janus: Hi, still rezzing.
[14:39] Bryce Galbraith: I'm interested to see what he does with it. :)
[14:39] Bryce Galbraith: I really loved Baxter's sequence to The Time Machine ... The Time Ships.
[14:39] Jago Constantine: A lot of his books and stories involve human evolutionary twists
[14:39] Jago Constantine: I didn't read that, I should :)
[14:40] Bryce Galbraith: Yeah, seems like he likes to write in long long time frames -- millions of years!
[14:40] Jago Constantine: yes lol
[14:40] Bryce Galbraith: Yeah, I highly recommend Time Ships...
[14:40] Jago Constantine: the last book of his I read took just 10000 years :P
[14:40] Bryce Galbraith: Oh, short then ;)
[14:40] Jago Constantine: lol
[14:40] Lewis Luminos: lol is that all?
[14:40] Bryce Galbraith: Hi Fourside...
[14:41] Jago Constantine: Hi, fourside, have you read any good sci fi lately?
[14:42] Fourside Janus: Ah, finnally rezzed!
[14:42] Jago Constantine: By the way, Bryce and Fourside, would you like an invite to the group?
[14:42] Bryce Galbraith: Yes, please
[14:43] Fourside Janus: Sure.
[14:43] Jago Constantine: Great :)
[14:43] Jago Constantine: I send out notices of where the next meeting will be
[14:43] Jago Constantine: and if you like, you can always talk about sci fi during the week :)
[14:44] Fourside Janus: Sounds interesting.
[14:44] Jago Constantine: The next meeting will either be at the Museum of Robots, or at the Channel Island Asylum :)
[14:45] Bryce Galbraith: ok...
[14:45] Jago Constantine: lol
[14:45] Fourside Janus: O.o
[14:45] Jago Constantine: The asylum is a nice linden-build
[14:45] Jago Constantine: Creepy
[14:46] Jago Constantine: it's haunted
[14:46] Jago Constantine: lol
[14:46] Bryce Galbraith: It's running on a server... of course it's haunted! :) / Ghosts in the machine...
[14:46] Jago Constantine: lol / So Fourside, have you read any good sci fi, or do you plan to?
[14:48] Fourside Janus: Funny, i could remember them all before you asked... >_>
[14:48] Bryce Galbraith: :)
[14:49] Jago Constantine: heh yes I just went blank before about the title of the last Stephen Baxter I read / lol
[14:49] Bryce Galbraith: Another book I read a couple months ago that I thought was real interesting was a book called 'Inverted World' by Christopher Priest. / The book was written in the 1970s sometime actually..
[14:50] Jago Constantine: hmm it is set in a world where space is distorted, right?
[14:50] Bryce Galbraith: Yep...exactly.
[14:51] Fourside Janus: How so?
[14:51] Bryce Galbraith: The inhabitants of the city are always trying to move the city forward on rails.
[14:51] Bryce Galbraith: So it is sort of like a train car where people are laying track in front of it and removing it from behind.
[14:51] Jago Constantine: I like the concept of a moving city :)
[14:52] Bryce Galbraith: All in an effort to reach the 'optimum' , which is sort of a zone of normality... but it's always moving.
[14:52] Bryce Galbraith: SO the city has to keep moving.
[14:52] Jago Constantine: There's a nice book, Calenture, by Storm Constantine, set in a world of moving cities
[14:53] Lewis Luminos: I've read some of hers but not that one
[14:53] Jago Constantine: it's good, kind of surreal / a little steampunk
[14:54] Lewis Luminos has met Storm in RL :-D
[14:54] Jago Constantine: wow cool!
[14:54] Eddi Haskell: guys i have to run
[14:54] Jago Constantine: Ok babe
[14:54] Eddi Haskell: make a quick appearance at an opening / i will be on later / take care gusy thanks
[14:54] Bryce Galbraith: Looks interesting... Calenture. I'll have to check that out.
[14:54] Lewis Luminos: bye Eddi
[14:55] Bryce Galbraith: Bye Eddi
[14:55] Eddi Haskell: bye all!
[14:55] Bryce Galbraith: Actually I should be heading out as well.
[14:55] Fourside Janus: bye
[14:55] Jago Constantine: Well, it's almost the hour :)
[14:55] Bryce Galbraith: Nice talking with you all :)
[14:55] Jago Constantine: And we've gone through everyone
[14:55] Lewis Luminos: always a pleasure
[14:55] Jago Constantine: Hope to see you next week!
[14:55] Bryce Galbraith: Yep! Nice meeting you all.
[14:55] Fourside Janus: Glad I could catch the end. Bye!
[14:55] Jago Constantine: I will send out a landmark to the group / otherwise search for science fiction in events / we're the only one lol
[14:56] Lewis Luminos: well I think I'm going to explore the sim :)
[14:57] Jago Constantine: oh here is something for you
[14:57] Fourside Janus: I'm checiking out a newly opened Edo Period sim next...
[14:57] Jago Constantine: Redgrrl gave it to me / There are some nice japanese sims around / Ok, bye Lewis, Fourside!
[14:58] Lewis Luminos: thanks Jago
[14:58] Fourside Janus: Take care! ^_^
[14:58] Jago Constantine: If you like the sim, tip the jar here :)