Building the Dream

Two men share a dream.
To escape the air stream.
Together they start to build.
Gathering parts to be milled.

With a screwdriver, hammer, and wrench.
Building each part on the bench.
On to the carts to be wheeled.
Strung along the field.

Looking over their notes.
They assemble it with screws and bolts.
Connecting it all to the hull.
With each problem rolling around in their skulls.

Fusion reactor and Ion engines are in.
Then they attach the fins.
Wiring the controls in the cockpit.
They make everything fit.

Once a pile of junk.
Now something to get them out of their funk.
Seeing before their eyes.
The craft that will reach beyond the skies.

Strapped in their seats.
A new adventure they will meet.
When they started people would scoff.
But now it’s the countdown to blastoff.

Higher and higher they go.
Leaving behind them their woes.
Everything feels right.
Forward into the eternal night.

Sci-Fi Sports

I do a lot sci-fi world building and have a few sports created for it. The first game was called Floatball. It is a game played in zero-gee. It has rules are a combination of water polo and team handball. It takes place in a large room that is totally enclosed. Beginning of each period and after each goal is a face-off/jump ball where one player is on the ceiling and the other on the floor. The ball is between them and would push off and try to tip the ball to one of your teammates. There is also bars players can grab to stop or change directions.

The other other sport I have is called Scapela and is played by one of my alien races called the Elvari. There is a scoop similar to Jai Alia strapped to one hand. The ball is hard like a lacrosse ball. Played on a hard court with a goal that is on a pole that can be scored at in 360 degree. There are also rebound broads in key spots on the side lines.

The last game is called Hover Hockey. Instead of ice it is replaced with cris crossing mag rails. Players have special shoes that let them “skate”. The puck also hovers as well. Not sure if I am going to have goalies or not.

Cosmic Lounge at Montreal World Con

I have been doing party room at Sci-Fi conventions for a few years now. I would have karaoke with non-alcoholic drinks and snacks. I don’t have alcohol because I can’t check IDs and run karaoke at the same time. I am planning getting a suite for the party room at Montreal World Con in 2027.

Flower City Comic Con 2017 Montage Video

This is a video I made of the fans at FC3 in Rochester, NY.

Flower City Comic Com: http://www.fc3roc.com

Music is Welcome to the Con by Ookla the Mok.
Written by Rand Bellavia and Adam English.
http://www.ooklathemok.com

Geek Code is obsolete?

Back in the 90’s when the Internet was the playground for nerds in college they created the Geek Code to show off our geekiness.  It increadiblely out of date especially with DOOM!, Star Trek, Babylon 5, Usenet, Kibo, and Dilbert.  It really needs to be updated.  USENET can be replaced with Reddit and Dilbert can be changed with web comics.  That should be updated for the times.  Well below is my geek code.  Click here to decode.

—–BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK—–
Version: 3.1
GIT d- s:+> a+ C++(+++)$>++++ UL+>++ P L++ !E—- W++ N++ !o !K w+>$ !O— !M !V PS+(++) PE-(–) Y+ PGP(++) t+ 5++ X R(+) tv+ b+(++) DI+>+++++ D G++ e++ h– r>++ y+>+++
——END GEEK CODE BLOCK——

Thinking About Podcasting Again

Back in 2006-ish I was introduced to podcasting by a friend at the time.  Being a fan of sci-fi I got into Escape Pod and Galacticast.  Would download them and then transfer them to PDA.  Over time I found out about Podiobooks and others that are non-scifi.  It inspired me to make my own.  So I made started making my own.

I started with The Radical Geek Video Podcast.  I thought that video would show the visual aspects of the geek community.  (Videos are in past posts)  Then there was Literary Wasteland.  Did 5 episodes of it were I would review self published speculative fiction.  I stopped that one because I am terrible with monologues because there is no feedback.

If I am going to make another podcast I would like to have a partner because I like feedback.  I don’t know what it will be about, but that is part of the fun.  Maybe do a Hogan’s Heroes introcast.

Sad Puppies aren’t Much Fun

SAD PUPPIES

parody of Dead Puppies by Ogden Edsl

Sad puppies, sad puppies
Sad puppies aren’t much fun

They want to say mean things
They want all the bling
Sad puppies aren’t much fun

Those puppy cried late twenty-fourteen
They keep making an awful scene
Sad puppies aren’t much fun, no, no, no

They says puppy’s days are through
They say they’re going to lose
Sad puppies aren’t much fun

Sad puppies, sad, sad, sad, sad puppies
Sad puppies aren’t much fun
Come on everybody out there, sing along, okay

Sad, sad, sad, sad puppies
Sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad puppies
Sad puppies aren’t much fun

One more time for rolling resca
Sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad, sad puppies
Sad puppies aren’t much fun

Dog Catchers

Lately if you’re a sci-fi/fantasy fan you might of heard about the Sad or Rabid Puppies.  They are a campaign to get books from white male authors nominated for a Hugo and try to flood the slate of categories to once of there approval.  The system is easy to game for that of all it’s over 10000 members at WorldCon only a small portion of them submit ballots for nomination.  This has many of the same vain as Gamergate.  It seems like the right wing hate machine is getting it tentacles into everything that is changing to be more diverse.

So how we going to change this you ask?  Do the same that the occupy movement and the Bernie Sanders presidential campaign.  We need to get the rest of the WorldCon goes to nominate books that are not supported by the sad puppies.  To strengthen are resolve like the Occupy Wall St movement.  Pressure authors and artists to no accept the nomination if they are on the sad puppies list.  Same goes for publishers also.  TO BE DOG CATCHERS.

Return of the R.U.D.I. project.

A few years ago I was helping out with a scifi convention and wanted to make a robot as a mascot.  I tried to learn programming arduino boards to do it.  Tried as hard as I could but couldn’t get the board programmed to work.  I scraped the project and gave some of the parts away.  Years later I was looking on Instructables and found out about the EZ-Robot Developer Kit.  So I ordered the kit and am going back to creating R.U.D.I. again.  Bring him to EerieCon
in Buffalo/Niagara Falls, NY area to entertain the guests.  Will keep you posted.

P.S. R.U.D.I. stands for Rudimentary Utility Droid Intelligence.

Floatball: Future Sport

When I was in Jr High(1985-87) I remember this Foot Locker commercial during the Superbowl.  (Superbowl Ad)  It showed this futuristic sport with players are flying and trying to get a ball into a goal that was the size of the ball.  Some players had an arm cannon to launch the ball why others had a scoop on one hand to catch and throw the ball.  This kinda stuck with me, and inspired me to create a future sport that was in zero-gee called Pargon.  The more I looked into weightlessness it has evolved over time to be Floatball.
The rules were taken from Team Handball/Water Polo and goes as follows.  The playing area is an enclosed space that is 20-30m wide by 15-20m deep by 2.5-3m high (Partly based on water polo pool), so there is no out of bounds.  There were poles placed throughout the “field” so players can change direction.  Goals where in the end walls 2.5 meters wide and meter high with bars along the opening for the goalie to hold on to.  There is 7 players to a side: 1 goalie and 6 field players (i.e. water polo and team handball).   Playing time was divided into 4 quarters of 8 minutes.  Goals are worth 1 point. 
Game would start with the ball in the center with one player for each team would do a jump ball/face off where one would push off the floor with another player off the ceiling.  Penalties would be spearing where a player would charge head or shoulder first into another player.  Holding onto another player and an push off where you would launch yourself off another player.