• Bro continues his analysis of the environmental, social, and political fallout from the latest episode of the Asian Carp/Great Lakes debacle.

• If there’s one sport we Cmars know, it is the glorious pinnacle of human contest known as ice hockey. Uncle Ed is specifically a student of the Columbus Blue Jackets, and has divined the key to their success.

• My in-laws, Marv and Liz Knasel, will be heading to Gettysburg, PA, this weekend with other members of the Ohio Valley Civil War Association to do living history, including firearms and live-fire cannon demonstrations. While I’ll be away in San Antonio, Laura will be visiting the battlefield, so be sure to stop by if you can – ’tis always a fun and educational time. Did I mention live-fire cannon demos? I think I did.

• Out of my Tumblr: Arc Attack Plays Iron Man, xkcd does Online Communities again, Grover does Old Spice, and the Russians provide an unintentionally post-apocalyptic image.

• Over on the GLF, I get caught up with the CSA shares, and experiment with the forbidden joy of hard vintersquash.

• It’s flu season, and I suspect you know the drill by now – wash your damn hands, cover that cough, stay home if you’re contagious, and just go get your flu shot already. Your contribution to herd immunity saves lives, people.

• Over on the GLF, I’ve been muttering about the upcoming Oktoberfest extraveganza that is Baltimore Beer Week, and how to find your way around the 10 day festival.

• In much the same vein, there’s an excellent examination of the often-demonized high fructose corn syrup, other sweeteners, and the science of sugar over at Science-Based Medicine.

• Over on the GLF, I’ve looked at our recent CSA shares, proposed a glorious summer mixed drink, examined the gluttonous cherpumple, made some awesome corn chowder, noted the basics of malt-use in beer, and sampled the Big Boss Blanco Diablo.

• Things were rather… desolate in terms of attendance. Usually, most Worldcons run in the neighborhood of 2,000-6,000+ people, and while NASFiCs tend to be smaller, attendance is somewhere in the 1,000-3,000+ range. I was told unofficially that there were less than 800 registered people, which seems about right, based on my observations. In the huge convention center space, this number of people made it feel like a ghost town. There were likely many factors at play, not the least of which were location and challenging economic times. That noted, it also forces me to wonder about the often-discussed idea that the traditional “pure” literary SF&F convention model is less appealing to younger generations of fans, and may die off (quite literally, as the older generation of fans who started said cons and who still make up the bulk of the attendees march onward through time) over next couple of decades unless their content is adjusted for broader appeal. One data point does not itself make a trend, but this was quite the interesting data point.

you can almost see the tumbleweeds, cc by-nc-sa image from John Cmar on Flickr

• Science Which We All Know Is Wrong ended up being enjoyable, although in a trend that would persist for many panels at the con, suffered for not having a focused topic and for being given too much time (90 minutes). I shared the panel with two people with space science/physics backgrounds and one with a chemistry background. This led to a far-ranging discussion that included practical science and physics myths (ala Mythbusters territory), various space and physics theoretical topics, medical woo such as homeopathy and the marketing of “natural/organic” products, and critical thinking v. belief. The whole thing ended with an extended thought experiment in relativistic physics that involved a jet-assisted titanium phone pole traveling at near light speeds along teflon-coated pavement towards a small hole in the street. Which seems somehow appropriate.

• As evidenced by the image above, the dealer’s room was rather small, and made to look even tinier by it’s placement in an otherwise barren convention hall. The best thing in the room, bar none, was the Bull Spec table, enthusiastically showcasing Durham’s excellent Bull Spec magazine as well as books by regional authors. They were busy throughout the whole con, and that pleases me greatly. While wandering through the dealer’s room on the first day, I stumbled across the freshly released Voltron: Defenders of the Universe miniatures battle game, which uses the Monsterpocalypse rules. I have never played Monsterpocalypse, but for the love of Azathoth’s 42nd ethereal nipple, IT’S A VOLTRON GAME… and it is now MINE.

Voltron: Defender of the Universe, cc by-nc-sa image from john Cmar on Flickr

• What Podcasting Can Do For You was an interesting experience, to say the least. We ended up covering the usual ground in terms of what podcasting is, what motivates people to do it, it’s role in people’s lives and careers, etc… All was well and good until one of the audience members (who, it is important to note, was quit pleasant), instigated a back and forth discussion for the last 20 minutes of the panel that was both antagonistic and confusing. The upshot seemed to be that she was offended that in us talking about the effort and work that goes into making a good audio podcast, we were somehow insulting the old-school fannish tradition of printed fanzines. While we, kind of obviously, were not, she persisted with gently offensive comments that quickly seemed to be less about the subject at hand and more about her “brand” of fan community dying out. There’s a rant in here, but I’ll save it for after Aussiecon, for better perspective.

• Doctor Osborn’s Balloons of Doom was in full force all weekend, which kept many kids (and some adults) highly entertained. Princess Scientist collected quite a menagerie from him, and sucked me into an intermittent balloon creature LARP. Good times. For whatever it’s worth, Doctor Osborn is even better than Vlad:

• Health and Today’s Fandom was about what you might expect – how to lose weight, tips on globally increase our health, etc… I attempted to inject something different at the end in discussing a paper (relevantly enough to Worldcon this year, about a survey study done at Aussiecon 3) looking at the mental health benefits of science fiction fandom, but I got the feeling that flew like a concrete donkey. Still, it was a pleasant discussion.

• I partied with Skeeve. Hard. Twice. There was much fist-pumping, off-key crooning, and libations flowed liberally. That dude’s crazy… and I don’t need to remind you, skeevy too. Also, Mary Robinette Kowal’s launch party for Shades of Milk and Honey was a great time: Mur was introduced by Someone of Note to Someone of Note in a way I cannot repeat but was glorious, Davey (I did a dramatic reading of his Wikipedia page to him, in which we discovered that it is mostly wrong in a hilarious kind of way) considered and passed on his “Hitler moment,” and seeing Mary’s father Ken Harrison do a handsaw concert at the end was strange and wonderful.

Ken Harrison amazes with the handsaw, cc by-nc-sa image from John Cmar on Flickr

• Devo Spice rocked the house, as he always does.

Devo Spice rocks ReConStruction, cc by-nc-sa image from John Cmar on Flickr

• Where Are The Next Mad Scientists went to where I expected it would, namely lamenting the current deficiencies in encouraging general science eduction and critical thinking skills. The discussion was pleasant, but everyone breathed a sigh of relief when we cut the panel off at 60 minutes, instead of it’s scheduled 90.

• Having never been to the Raleigh Convention Center, I was pleased to discover great food nearby. After an epic sushi quest that proved Google Maps on both the iPhone and the Andriod to be full of LIES when it comes to accurate restaurant searches, we were rewarded with excellent sushi at Sushi Sono. The Oxford Gastro Pub has some odd and amazing food, as well as some good beer. Shish Kabob contained a magical man with a fez, who summoned forth delicious kabobs for our gustatory delight.

the be-fezzed master of kabobs, cc by-nc-sa image from John Cmar on Flickr

So ends this post-mortem evaluation – end of dictation.

• I did not attend Otakon, having little direct investment in things otaku at the present time, but passively got a taste of event while out with friends in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor two weekends past. Costume watching proved to be rather brilliant, and I had not been aware that the con is nearly as big as Dragon*Con in terms of overall attendance. Given that the masquerade is likely to be insanely over the top, and is held in the First Mariner Arena, that may be worth checking out next year for the spectacle alone.

• I was recently interviewed for an article in Managed Healthcare Executive on the different efforts large hospitals and health care systems are making to increase clinician compliance with appropriate hand hygiene.

• Over on the GLF, I note my participation in a CSA community blog, discover yet another DC brew destination, and lament a con-induced lack of produce.

Matt Wallace and Mur Lafferty, cc by-nc-sa image from nlowell on Flickr

• That shift in the universe you felt this past weekend? Yup. That was reality taking a moment to revere the birth-anniversaries of Matt and Mur, as is only right and proper.

• Even though Balticon feels like it ended only a few days ago, ReConStruction and Aussiecon 4 loom ever closer. I must prepare. You may tremble if you choose… it is recommended.

• Over on the GLF, I’ve been chronicling our new-to-us foray into community-supported agriculture through Breezy Willow Farm. Also, an interesting coupon experiment, the ridiculous End of History, and hoppy education have also been noted.

Janet Biggs: Nobody Rides for Free, via Janet Biggs on Facebook

• That noted, my interview on KXDJ with Chris was great. His questions were keen, and getting a chance to give a more meaningful answer to the not-so-simple question of “is the H1N1 pandemic overhyped?” is always refreshing. (Easy response – “yes” from a lay media public fear angle, and “no” from a vaccine and preparedness standpoint. That discussion is worth a post or 10… or a few convention talks, as the case may be. )

• Over on the GLF, I gave a libation report on a couple of interesting beverages found at Farpoint.

a tad more snow, image by John Cmar

• We received just a tad more snow. One upside of being trapped in the house for several days was the enhanced opportunity to actually cook (my brother contends that most of what I do is more “heating” than “cooking,” while I contend that “heating” is, in fact, “cooking”). While nothing recipe-sharing-worthy emerged, I gained enough XP to level up in the Culinary class.

the start of a great meal, image by John Cmar

• Over on the GLF, I took a look at the trailer from the Beer Hunter movie, set to come out later this year.