I have just finished reading The Goblin Reservation by Clifford D. Simak
Peter Maxwell, Professor of Supernatural Studies at Time University, takes a transport beam to another planet to try to investigate reports of a dragon, but he never arrives where he was going. Instead he is diverted to a strange crystal planet by some alien intelligence. When he finally returns home he is rather surprised to learn that a copy of himself did make it to his original destination and returned home to earth a month earlier, and was then killed in an accident under suspicious circumstances. His finds his belongings have been disposed of, his apartment rented to a new tenant and his position at the university filled by a new employee. He has little time to deal with these personal problems though as a mystery involving his trip and a strange prehistoric artifact being kept by the department of Time quickly develops. Accompanied by the woman now living in his apartment, her pet biomech saber tooth tiger, his Neanderthal friend Oop and their friend Ghost he sets out to unravel the mystery. Throw in William Shakespeare, aliens with wheels, a few goblins and trolls, and a time traveling painter, and the adventure takes off.
This a was a fast easy read, but still had an interesting story line worthy of some thought, and some fun characters and pretenses. Since this book lacks the ever present steamy sex scenes in all the John Varley books I have been reading lately, I was able to let my 10 year old son read and enjoy this book also, instead of just sharing the highlights as I have been with Varley. I decided to read this after after reading a good review on Dustyloft and I will keep my eyes open for more Simak books, although every time I say his name I think of some tall silver robed Star Trek alien. “I am am Simak! You have entered our space and we will now take your ship!”

I have just finish reading The John Varley Reader by John Varley. This one took me a while to get through, through not fault of the book though. I have just been busy, and it contains so much. Having only recently discovered author John Varley, (through his excellent Red Thunder trilogy) this collection of short stories exposed me to a much greater cross section of his works. It also introduced me to his Eight Worlds theme which is carried in many of his books. In some unspecified time in the future, aliens invade the earth and the human race is forced to leave the planet and move to colonies on other worlds in the solar system. The stories in this book vary greatly in their theme, tone and length. I of course enjoyed some more than others, but overall it was journey (and that’s what it felt like) worth taking. It also offers an interesting insight into John Varley the man, as each story is preceded by a personal introduction where he shares some background about how the story came to be, or about what was happening in his life when he wrote it. It is interesting to connect his young adulthood in the 60’s alternative lifestyle scene in California as an influence on his vision of the future. Like Heinlein he envisions (or perhaps hopes for) a future where people have overcome many of the social taboos about nudity, love and sex. If you want to learn more about John Varley and be exposed to a nice cross section of his work, this book is worth a read.

“I see them everywhere. They’re languishing on doorsteps, hanging out in the middle of the road, dangling off street signs, peeking out of piles of garbage, reclining in the middle of the sidewalk, riding the bus for free. A great number of them are bright yellow as if they’re fresh and have just been dropped, although they appear in all states of decay.”

Banana phone spotted in Ann Arbor, MI by Flickr user stplast.

Previous post: Banana Phone Video

As of May 2008, Owners of the Nintendo Wii game console can now download free game demos to their Nintendo DS game system at home just like the Download Service available at some stores. The service is available as part of the new free Nintendo Channel on the Wii. You can purchase the Nintendo Channel (for free) through the Wii Shop Channel. The Nintendo Channel features Wii game videos and trailers. To find the DS Download service you will need to agree to allow “Data-Sharing” service that sends data on what games you play to Nintendo. Then go to “Find Titles for You” and the bottom choice will be “DS Download Service”. If the option is grayed out as unavailable, then you have not agreed to the data sharing. Once in the DS Download Service you will see a list of available demos, some of which appear to be permanent, some of which seem to be available only temporarily. I have noticed the “Distribution Ends:” date they give is not always accurate . After you download a game you can keep it on your DS until it is powered off. If you want to save a demo to play the next day, just close the DS to suspend it without turning it off.

I will post the new list on this blog as they change. Enjoy!

August 2008 Wii Download Service Titles (Updated August 18, 2008)

Crosswords DS - Crosswords Demo - always available
Brain Age Demo - always available
Brain Age 2 Demo - always available
Flash Focus Demo - always available

Crosswords DS - Wordsearch - Distribution Ends 08/24/08
PICTOIMAGE - Distribution Ends 08/24/08
Air Traffic Chaos - Distribution Ends 08/24/08
Carnival Games - Distribution Ends 08/24/08

I have returned from Airventure 2008. My feet are a bit sore, my skin is a bit tanned, and my head is swimming with more images of airplanes than it can hold. Even though I knew from last year that this was a huge event, I was re-amazed as I discovered several more hangars and complete fields of planes that I had not reached before. I was there for three full days and was still not able to see it all.

A few notes;
I was looking forward to seeing the V-22 Osprey tilt rotor plane which was supposed to arrive on Tuesday, but apparently they pushed it back to Thursday which was beyond my stay so I did not get to see it. It looked like they had the Harrier fill in for it which is always a impressive sight in it’s own right. They must have burned more than our annual household budget in jet fuel as it hovered and turned for several minutes and performed repeated vertical takeoffs and landings. And let me just say, wow is that thing loud on hover! In case there was any doubt, the Harrier scene in True Lies was complete fantasy.

Tuesday they unveiled the new Martin Jetpack. Unfortunately, unlike the rest of the event, this was not so well organized. A massive crowd encircled the designated spot, leaving only a small circle around the pack, which was of course not large enough for their planned demonstration flight. So, as the planned time came and left, they were still struggling to push back the crowd into a larger circle which was of course difficult and potentially dangerous as the front rows tried to back into a tight crush of people who did not want to back up. They then moved around their little platform and podium several times and finally began setting up their PA system while the crowd grew hot and impatient. When they finally pulled off the sheet to unveil the “Jetpack” a child called out what was probably on the mind of many there, “it’s not a jet! it has propellers!”. Indeed, the “Martin Jetpack” is not actually a jet at all and instead sports two ducted fans connected to a 200hp, 4 cylinder 2-stroke engine (water cooled). They explained that they were not cleared for an actual flight among the crowd due to safety reasons and instead performed a short hover with a handler holding each side of the pack. Many people wondered aloud why they didn’t take it out to the runway for a real flight. Talking to them later at their booth I learned that they are keeping it in the “ultralight” classification by limiting the onboard fuel to 5 gallons, which should give a 30 minute flight time, and the top speed to 60mph, although they have not reached that speed in tests yet. They are also including a ballistic parachute system for safety, the only problem being that the chute can not operate under 400 ft, and the cushioned landing legs can only handle up to about 10 ft, which still leaves them with a safety issue for anything in between. They have looked at the zero altitude, zero speed chute systems used in military ejection seats, but found them prohibitively expensive. They say that overall the pack is very stable and training time is only about 3 days, being much easier to handle than a helicopter or even a small plane. Currently the control system is all mechanical, but they note that the future addition of a computer system could help overcome pilot error. It is indeed an impressive looking piece of technology, although the big unveiling was not worth the hot crush, and it is not clear to me who the market for such a device would be.

And speaking of new technology with out a clear market, the folks from Terrafugia were showing off their new flying car prototype, insisting that, “it is not a flying car, it is a road-able aircraft.” An interesting concept which has certainly been tried many times, but leaves some interesting questions like, how safe is it on the road, how does it handle on the road, or in the air for that matter, and what happens in a fender - bender? I would guess the answer to the last one is a very expensive repair bill and re-certification for flight. They claim you can fly to a destination airport, then drive in to town, or that you can continue a long trip on the road when flying conditions become unfavorable, but the only real niche for this that I can see is those new “fly in” communities with their own small airport. Saves you having a hangar I guess.
The aerial displays were amazing as usual. I still am boggled by the way those stunt pilots manage to put their planes into an end-over-end tumble which in no way seems to include the characteristics of normal airplane flight, then recover and zoom on. An interesting additional this year was the world’s’ first acrobatic helicopter display. Chuck Aaron, the only FAA certified stunt helicopter pilot, put his stock BO-105 CBS Red Bull helicopter through rolls, loops and flips to the delight of an amazed crowd.
Another piece of acrobatic work that grabbed my attention was Matt Younkin’s astounding performance in a Twin Beech 18. Seeing a large old twin engine craft like this scream towards the ground to pick up speed, then pull up sharply into a loop, or haul over into a roll was really something. I could hear those engines roar, heaving that beast through it’s maneuvers and part of me kept wondering why those wings didn’t rip themselves from the fuselage.

There were many many more exciting sights than I can list here, not the least of which were the field after field after field of beautiful vintage aircraft. I seem to particularly like the lines on the old sea planes. Interestingly there seems to also be a trend in the new Light Sport plane market for small sea planes which offer the freedom to fly in to all kinds a beautiful lakes and small ocean island locations.
Airventure Oshkosh is a great time for anyone who is even passingly interested in airplanes. If you get the chance to go, I recommend it. Now I have to continue sifting through the 700+ photos I took. I will be uploading photos in groups to my flickr set over the next few days. Look there in a few days for lots of photos and a few short videos.

Tomorrow morning I depart for Oshkosh Wisconsin for that amazing airplane extravaganza known as Airventure. Put on by EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) the Airventure airshow is the premier non-military airplane enthusiast event of the year. Last year was my first year at Oshkosh at although I knew it was going to be big, I was still taken back but just how huge it really was. I think I read that there were over 10,000 airplanes and 300,000 visitors in attendance over the week of the show. The amazing thing was that it did not feel crowded because it covers such a massive space. Their web site states, “If you were to walk past … not down … each row of airplanes, you would cover 5.2 miles! “.  It certainly can be overwhelming and requires some comfortable shoes and good sunscreen. Just about every kind of flying machine you can imagine is represented, from antique biplanes to experimental tilt rotor VTOL airplanes, and although it is billed as a civilian aviation airshow there is certainly a significant military presence as well. Last year I got to witness a Harrier come to a stop in mid air and perform a vertical landing (having previously only walked around one parked on the ground) which was quite the sight. This year the V-22 Osprey is on the schedule. The airshow itself is an amazing feat of air traffic control with many groups and formations of various planes all coming and going and crossing overhead at the same time. Like last year, I will of course be taking lots and lots of airplane pictures again this year, so check back next week if you are interested in that kind of thing.

As of May 2008, Owners of the Nintendo Wii game console can now download free game demos to their Nintendo DS game system at home just like the Download Service available at some stores. The service is available as part of the new free Nintendo Channel on the Wii. You can purchase the Nintendo Channel through the Wii Shop Channel. The Nintendo Channel features Wii game videos and trailers. To find the DS Download service you will need to agree to allow “Data-Sharing” service that sends data on what games you play to Nintendo. Then go to “Find Titles for You” and the bottom choice will be “DS Download Service”. If the option is grayed out as unavailable, then you have not agreed to the data sharing. Once in the DS Download Service you will see a list of available demos, some of which appear to be permanent, some of which seem to be available only temporarily. I have noticed the “Distribution Ends:” date they give is not always accurate . After you download a game you can keep it on your DS until it is powered off. If you want to save a demo to play the next day, just close the DS to suspend it without turning it off.

I will post the new list on this blog as they change.

Click here for August 2008 list

July 2008 Wii Download Service Titles (Updated July 30, 2008)

Crosswords DS - Crosswords Demo - always available
Brain Age Demo - always available
Brain Age 2 Demo - always available
Flash Focus Demo - always available

Crosswords DS - Wordsearch - Distribution Ends 08/03/08
Trauma Center: Under The Knife 2 - Distribution Ends 08/03/08
PICTOIMAGE - Distribution Ends 08/03/08
Contra 4 - Distribution Ends 08/03/08
Carnival Games - Distribution Ends 08/03/08

I have just finished reading The Robots of Dawn by Isaac Asimov. This is the third book in his robot trilogy and is again a great combination of the science fiction and mystery genres. The main character, Elijah Baley, whom we got to know in the first two books is off into space again to solve another murder mystery, this time to the planet Aurora. Aurora lies somewhere between Earth and Solaris on the sociological spectrum. It combines the lower population density and ample use of robots of Solaris, with the social interactions and personal relationships of earth. The victim is a robot, which makes the crime not technically a murder, but the circumstances are entwined with global and galactic politics. Baley is summoned to duty and given no choice but to accept, and the future of not only his career but of earth itself rests on his success. Baley gets to team up with his old partner R. Daneel Olivaw, and must use every bit of his cleverness to unwrap the mystery. Similar to the last book, The Naked Sun, he is presented with only one suspect who could have committed the crime, and the assertion that that suspect could not have committed the crime. He has been conditioning himself to face the Outside and is not as crippled by his agoraphobia, but faces a new personal challenge when faced with his first experience with being outside during a thunderstorm.
When I started this series I commented on the apparent differences between Asimov and Heinlein’s writing style, but I found this book to actually be much more similar to Heinlein’s style than either of the other two books in the series had been. The Robots of Dawn was actually written 30 some years after The Naked Sun and it is apparent that Asimov’s style changed over that time. The text is full of long intricate conversations between sharp individuals engaging in a kind verbal fencing to outmaneuver each other, which is a style I had previously associated more with Heinlein. While the intriguing mystery held my attention, the long-winded dialog did get a little tiresome at points. Overall, I am very glad I finally got around to reading this classic trilogy and get to know Elijah Baley and the esteemed R. Daneel Olivaw.