| Ask Dr. Mike |
[Feb. 5th, 2012|04:34 pm] |
("Ask Dr. Mike" was a highlight of any convention that included it. As TNH said, when she did programming for Minicon, she learned never to schedule anything opposite "Ask Dr. Mike." While most of the hour-long improv was based on questions from the live audience, Mike sometimes would put some seed questions in, just in case there was a lull. These are some of his seed questions. Dating this list is left as an exercise for the reader.)
1) I have a question about household appliances. I once read a book where scientists kept talking about the speed of light in a vacuum. How is this different from the speed of light in, say, a blender?
2) Why do some Olympic athletes inject androids into their blood stream?
3) I've been following the space program for a few years, and I have never been able to understand weightlessness. Why does gravity stop just at the place where the earth's atmosphere peters out? Is this a coincidence, or what? How does gravity work on planets like Venus that don't have any atmosphere at all?
4) How do computers sometimes work?
5) Is it true what they say about Elvis?
6) What would happen if you paint a black hole a different colour?*
7) I was watching old Superman TV shows and noticed that the Man of Steel would just stand still and let bullets bounce off his chest. However, when the crook ran out of ammunition and hurled the empty gun at him, Superman always ducked. Why didn't he just let the gun bounce off his chest too?
8) In international law, what is the legal definition of an "Evil Empire"? Why has the Soviet Union lost its Evil Empire status in the last five years?
* Colloquially, "color" |
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| a silly thing from the past |
[Feb. 5th, 2012|03:20 pm] |
SIX FLAGS OVER BLOOMSBURY
A Literary Theme Park
Over 50 Great Rides and Attractions
Including
* The Tunnel of Angst
* The Pre-Raphaelite Water Slide
* The Haunted Villa Deodati
* Henry James's Morose-O-Rama
* Mad, Bad, and Dangerous To Know Land
* T.S. Eliot's Cathedral of Fun
Mike wrote that and handed it around at gaming one night to amuse the general populace, I do believe. Enjoy! |
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| Small charity auction |
[Jun. 28th, 2011|02:19 pm] |
A trustworthy person is auctioning off a collection of John M. Ford books for charity - the winner can pick the charity to donate to. The auction runs until midnight CDT on July 3rd.
http://telophase.dreamwidth.org/1990151.html
People without Dreamwidth accounts can bid using their LJ accounts, or e-mail ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=92.1) telophase if that isn't working. |
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| JMF writing for sale |
[Mar. 4th, 2011|11:53 pm] |
Two bits of news which might interest people:
1. I am auctioning copies of The Dragon Waiting, Princes of the Air, and Growing Up Weightless here to support ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif?v=92.1) con_or_bust. The books have all been bid on, but someone might want to bid higher. There are also lots of other things up for auction. Bidding ends Sunday March 6th at 11:59 PM EST.
2. As I believe I have mentioned here before, JMF wrote two stories set in the world of Steve Jackson Games' Car Wars. One, "Alkahest: The Deathtool Solution," has been available for free for some time (as are the game notes following it).
The other "Street Legal," has not been (and neither story has ever been reprinted as far as I know). However, the issue of Space Gamer where it appeared can be purchased as a PDF for $2.99. (The issue of Autoduel Quarterly containing "Alkahest" can also be purchased, if you want a copy that isn't yellow on black without formatting it yourself.)
I don't want to oversell this - it is after all a fairly short piece of gaming fiction (plus gaming notes). On the other hand, in the hands of John M. Ford even gaming fiction could turn into something rich and strange. So if you don't happen to own the physical magazine you might want to check it out. |
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| It's the silly things |
[Nov. 9th, 2010|01:10 am] |
I just pulled out a batch of older GURPS Traveler to look through. In the book was notes from Mike on a possible campaign. I would have liked to played in it. |
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| maybe you just had to be there, |
[Sep. 25th, 2010|08:31 am] |
but yesterday, Chip and I were: at the Canberra Deep Space Communications Complex (which is in reality an hour-plus drive out of Canberra on twisty little roads through some of the most "interesting" driving country outside the Scottish Highlands, so the Complex can sit in a sheep-grazing vale sheltered by hills from all the nearby electromagnetic noise).
You can easily see it from the car park: DSS-46, relocated to Canberra when the Honeysuckle Creek station was shut down. The Dish that transmitted the first images of Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon.
Wow, did we both miss having Mike on that excursion.
It wasn't until we were through the Complex and back out to the car park, a couple of hours later, that we realized what the date was.
Damn.
www.flickr.com/photos/35264582@N05/5021035243/
www.flickr.com/photos/35264582@N05/5021035255/ |
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| John M. Ford gaming material in charity auction |
[May. 6th, 2010|09:30 pm] |
I've put some John M. Ford designed and inspired gaming material up for auction on debsliverlovers, a charity auction which is raising money to get Deb Mensinger a liver transplant.
The items (which are being offered in various combinatiosn) are:
- Two copies of the Star Trek III boardgame set, which JMF co-designed (and which contains bits of uncollected JMF fiction).
- The Klingons boxed set for the FASA Star Trek RPG, which JMF worked on while writing The Final Reflection>.
- Struggle for the Throne, a FASA boardgame not designed by JMF but featuring his style of Klingons.
- The Yellow Clearance Black Box Blues, his classic adventure for Paranoia.
- Scared Stiffs, an adventure he co-wrote for the Ghostbusters RPG, set at a convention.
- Two copies of Superhero '44/2044, the first superhero RPG, inspired by the games he ran an Indiana University.
You can see all four of my auctions here. There are plenty of other interesting things being offered by others, of course. |
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| Preflash, Heat of Fusion, and Chromatic Aberration |
[Apr. 14th, 2010|03:31 pm] |
I never knew JMF personally (I don't feel I can call him Mike because of that), but I wish I had, and I love love love his writing. I think I own every book he ever wrote, and I am trying to get all the short stories as well. I fell in love with his complex and erudite way of telling a story... however, sometimes this means I don't always understand what he's getting at.
For a while I've been wanting to do a reread of all his books in this community, and I kept putting it off. However, the recent post on Heat of Fusion and Other Stories made me think, hey, an easy way to start this, anyway, would be reading his short stories! Does anyone else want to discuss his books/short stories, and maybe help me to figure out what is going on? :)
Because of apostle_of_eris's post I thought I'd start with some of the stories in that book (not coincidentally, the ones that started to be discussed in that post). Here's what I think is going on; anyone want to append or correct me?
( Spoilers, of course; for Preflash, Chromatic Aberration, and Heat of Fusion. )
What other books/stories would people like to discuss the most? |
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amused