The Maniacal Musings of M.W. Chase
Steampunk at Dragon*Con 2010
Posted: 2 Sep 2010
I truly regret the fact that I’m going to miss Dragon*Con 2010, and the insufferable agony is only exacerbated by the fact that there will be a motley presence of fellow steampunk frea… I mean geeks… attending this year.
From the release on Dragon*Con’s Daily Dragon:
“Don’t miss “The Steampunk Exhibition” at Dragon*Con, a showcase of the best Steampunk builders, inventors, and craftsmen from across the U.S. Featuring all the mechanical contraptions, elegant gear, and re-imagined Victorian devices, peopled by pith-helmeted British explorers and goggled Airship captains and superheroes, “The Steampunk Exhibition” will showcase the inventions, modifications, and designs of the Steampunk subculture’s most noted builders. Featured exhibitors include Doktor A, the British designer of Mechtorians, Atlanta-area designers Penny Dreadful Productions and Outland Armor, whose work has attracted worldwide notice, as well as many noted Steampunk craftsmen from across the U.S.”
Sniffle… Sniffle… Oh well. There’s always next year, I suppose.
On the Dilution of Steampunk
Posted: 29 Aug 2010Clint Wolf of the Satellite Show rants about the “Scope Creep” of Steampunk, and I heartily agree. I’ve been noticing this gradual scope creep too, and it has tended to give me a bit of an uneasy feeling these past few years. There seems to be such a profusion of “steampunk-like-things” these days that it’s just diluting the genre, and in some respects, lessening the core appeal. I recently watched Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow and thought to myself: “Wow, that’s not steampunk at all–it’s barely even dieselpunk–but lots of people consider it steampunk.” I agree with him on Bioshock as well–definitely dieselpunk, but I would add that it also has some crazy genepunk/psiberpunk thrown in for good measure.
I also have no love for the “-punk” suffix in general, and find it rather inappropriate for most works that it is applied to. Then again, it is shorter than saying “Steam age fantastical fiction.” Perhaps “steam-fic” could catch on as an alternative, much as “sci-fi” caught on as an alternative for “science fiction” which was an alternative for “scientific romance” (that’s romance in the classical sense, of course).
Anyway, go read the essay now and judge for yourself, steampunkers!
Capitalization of Fantasy Race Names, Redux
Posted: 10 Aug 2010I have revised my essay on the Capitalization of Fantasy Race Names. With further consideration and additional research, I have determined that my original conclusion — that the race name should be treated as a proper noun — was wrong. Instead, fantasy race names are really common nouns, and in most situations should be lower cased (in other words, Tolkien was wrong — so there).
Rather than posting a revised essay, I have updated the old one, primarily due to the number of link backs from other sites and forums which are referencing that essay. Anyway, go ahead and check it out.
Lots of Earth-like Planets
Posted: 27 Jul 2010Wow. We all knew the launch of the Kepler Telescope would likely reveal a few interesting Earth-like planets that might be capable of harboring life. I don’t think anyone expect hundreds of Earth-like planet candidates to be discovered within a year of its operation. But no one, not even NASA, expected Kepler astronomer Dimitar Sasselov to spill the beans about it, without any authorization whatsoever, at the TEDGlobal conference at Oxford! Oops. Here’s the offending slide.
Much to the dismay of NASA and other Kepler astronomers, Dr. Sasselov announced in several slides during his presentation, preliminary data that indicates Kepler has already discovered nearly 150 Earth-like (meaning less than 2x Earth’s radius) planets. These are, of course, unconfirmed findings, and Kepler will continue to observe these candidate planets over the next few years. Sasselov then went on to speculate that, based on statistical projections, there may be as many as 100 million Earth like planets in our little galaxy.
Hooray! You might exclaim, except that Sasselov did this without permission. The Kepler data has been kept under tight guard, which has mystified some, but apparently it was for good reason. Yes, they may well have found nearly 150 Earth-like candidate planets, and as exciting as that is, scientific professionalism requires rigorous testing and confirmation that they really are Earth-like planets before such astronomically earth-shaking, far-reaching, and likely sensational results are released to the public. What’s more, Dr. Sasselov made absolutely no mention of these findings in his article in the newly published August 2010 edition of Scientific American. It’s almost like he promised an “exclusive scoop” to TED. Hmmm…
You can see the complete TED talk below. If you start to doze off, just skip to 8 minutes into the video for the tasty bits.
Anyway, you can read more about this exciting-yet-troubling-from-a-professional-point-of-view scientific faux pas on this article at Discovery News, Kepler Scientist: ‘Galaxy is Rich in Earth-Like Planets’.
Victorian Sci-Fi and Steampunk Blog
Posted: 24 Jul 2010I recently stumbled upon this rather stupendous blog called Yours in White Wine Sauce! which has nothing to do with wine or wine sauces (much to the chagrin of many visiting chefs and wine aficionados), but rather, a plethora of Victorian-esque science fiction and steampunk subject matter. The blog claims to contain general ramblings about Aeronefs, Dirigibles, Land Ironclads, Anarchists, Dinosaur Hunting, Terranefs, Aquanefs, Mad Scientists, and all manner of electric contraptions and steam conveyances. Fantastic!
Unfortunately, it hasn’t been updated since April of 2010, but the blog does go back all the way to February 2006, so it’s been around a while and I’m surprised I haven’t stumbled upon it before. Oh well — it’s a big Internet, and there’s billions of people who have utterly failed to stumbled upon my blog, too.
Abney Park – Airship Pirates video
Posted: 21 Jul 2010Here’s a nice high quality video of Abney Park playing their most excellent steampunk shanty, Airship Pirates, at the Edison Club. Check it out!
Be sure to observe their outfits and instruments. This is what makes steampunk rock… Literally.
Yet Another Article on Steampunk
Posted: 15 Jul 2010The Economist partner site More Intelligent Life is carrying an article on, well, steampunk. It seems everyone these days is talking about steampunk, which will either burn it out or make it more popular. I’m hoping for the latter, but humans are fickle creatures.
Anyway, you can read the article on the MoreIntelligentLife.com site titled What’s With Steampunk? It does have some nice introductory information and talks about a recent steampunk exhibit at Oxford’s Museum of the History of Science. I wish I could have seen that.
Oh, and just for kicks, there’s a big flame-war in the comments following the article. Enjoy!
Show Me the Mummy!
Posted: 2 Jul 2010Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities, who might as well be known as “Zahi the Great and Mighty Curator of Upper and Lower Egypt”, now has his very own television show. Premiering July 14th at 10pm on the History Channel, “Chasing Mummies” is basically a reality TV show that follows Dr. Hawass and small band of intrepid but determined amateur archaeologists on various finds.
And he screams at them.
A lot.
Here’s the quick teaser.
And here’s the full promo video. It’s great fun if you’ve seen Dr. Hawass in other Ancient Egypt shows, you’ll find a lot of “in humor” regarding his legendary temperament and epic ego (whether real or just for show).
It should at least be worth a look, that’s for certain.
Steampunk Down Under
Posted: 28 Jun 2010
The Aussie newspaper, The Age, as an impressively long article on the Steampunk scene in Melbourne. The article goes into detail on the appeal of Victorian aesthetics, historical reenactment, “cosplay”, LARPing, and the various do-it-yourself steampunk projects by various Melbourne enthusiasts. One featured enthusiast is Stirling Gill with his Mad Uncle Industries Specific Device 5A (shown right).
Says Gill of the device: “We haven’t come up with an appropriate name for it yet. But its purpose is to maintain the correct amount of tea in the bloodstream. And possibly act as a Frenchman detector as well.”
So drop by The Age and read the article, then hop over to Mad Uncle Cliff’s blog and see all the other fascinating steampunkery they are up to.
Transformer Owl
Posted: 18 Jun 2010OK, this is freaky funny. It’s a transformer owl. Actually, it’s a scary owl for exacerbating your inner owl fear (strigiphobia).
The source, from Discovery Channel Animal Planet blog, is worth looking at too (though the video is obviously in Japanese, from some Japanese show).
http://blogs.discovery.com/animal_oddities/2010/05/transformer-owl.html
Check it out! It’s a hoot!
My Review of the ASUS VH242H Display
Posted: 11 Jun 2010I just bought a new display screen for my computer. For a writer/programmer half-breed like myself, it’s important to have an excellent display to stare at day in and day out so that my eyes don’t shrivel up and disintegrate as though someone threw a beaker full of concentrated fluorine in my face. Plus, my 8 year old 19″ LCD was starting to show these weird green lines. So this is my little review of latest addition to my home-office menagerie.
After much research and price hunting, I finally elected to purchase the ASUS VH242H, which actually came out early last year so this review won’t be anything new to those of you keeping up on the latest tech news. It’s a 23.6″ wide screen display (that’s 24″ inches if you’re in marketing), with a maximum native resolution of 1920 x 1080, 1000:1 contrast ratio, 0.272mm pixel pitch, and HDMI if I ever want to use that. And it is indeed a very nice display–a far cry from the old 19″ 4:3 ratio display I’ve had for so long.
Before I say anything negative, I want to say that I’m not a videophile or a critic of the finer details of what makes one display better than another display. As far as I can tell, this display has no dead pixels, handles glare and reflection very well, and is absolutely stunning to look it. It is an incredibly good display. My desktop has never looked better at 1920 x 1080 resolution. Yet, as crystal clear and pixel perfect as it is, I’m almost afraid to say it, but this monitor is just too darn big! The reason: it’s too wide.
It has taken me this long to get a new display because virtually all displays are now made wide screen. Wide screen displays never really made a lot of sense to me because I would rather look up and down (vertical space) than pan my head left and right. The reason I got a 24″ display was because the 16:9 ratio dictated that anything smaller would be too short in the vertical space. For every 9 additional millimeters of vertical space, I had to get 16 additional millimeters of horizontal space. As a result, I now have a screen with an acceptable 1080 vertical pixels, but an utterly ridiculous 1920 horizontal pixels. The display area is actually only 11.5 inches high, which is half an inch shorter than my old 19 inch, but it is 20.5 inches wide, as opposed to the 14.5 inch width of my old 19 inch. In other words, my new screen is really, really wide.
As in all things, ergonomics is essential to comfort when sitting down and working for hours on end. Displays are no exception. Unfortunately, the ASUS VH242H does not have enough adjustments. The display’s base has a pivot mount that allows it to be angled back, but there is no vertical adjustment to allow me to rise or lower the height of the monitor. Nor can I lower my chair anymore, as it would then be too low for my desk and keyboard. As a result, I have been forced to order an adjustable monitor stand to raise the display so it is at the optimal eye level.
However, the missing vertical adjustment is my only real quibble, and it I knew it was missing it when I bought it. The fact of he matter is, virtually all monitors designed for the home or home-office these days are missing this essential feature, and I was not able to find a single display with a vertical adjustment stand that was not priced in the “pro” category. My other issue with the monitor is simply a matter of getting used to its sheer size and expansive girth. I will just need to learn to work a bit different from how I used to work, and continue to make adjustments until I find the best positioning that strikes a perfect balance between distance, height, angle, and relative scale.
By the way, if you have a big monitor, here’s a good rule of thumb for finding the optimal position. Sit straight up in your chair with your hands positioned as though to type on your keyboard, and make sure your sitting position, and placement of the keyboard and mouse are comfortable. Look straight ahead. Your eyes should focus along a line approximately 1/3rd from the top of the display, give or take. If you are looking at or over the top of the screen it is too low, and if you are looking at the center of the screen or below then it is too high, and you should adjust it. Now make a fist and push it out to the screen. If it’s a big screen, your fist should stop such that you can just touch the screen with your knuckles. Obviously, this is a very subjective test, and the resolution, screen size, and your eye sight, all play important factors as well. However, this test should at least give you a good reference point to help you adjust your display’s position for optimal viewing and comfort.
Museum Replicas Now Carrying Steampunk
Posted: 23 May 2010Museum Replicas, the famed (and somewhat pricey) provisioner of well-crafted replica Medieval, Renaissance, Viking, and fantasy swords, armor, clothing, and apparel, have leapt heedlessly headlong into the alternative 19th century realm of steampunk. Currently, they have some clothing and accessories, a few weapons, and a couple steampunkish gadgets. Their catalog is small, but I suspect it’s just a “feeler” to see what the market is really like out here.
If their sales are good, I image they might expand their catalog, but be warned: Museum Replicas is known for their premium prices. Still, their Feromonic Field Detector Ring or the Steampunk Aether Monitor might be worth a look. They also carry a few of the exorbitantly priced WETA rayguns.
Ninjas Take on Muggers, Win
Posted: 20 May 2010This must be one of the funniest, and most satisfying, news stories I’ve heard in a long time. Apparently, some ninjas in Sydney, Australia recently took on some street thugs who had the misfortune of carrying out their dastardly deed in an ally behind a ninjutsu dojo.
From the Sydney Morning Harold:
When the student, who has asked not to be identified, turned down a dimly lit alley his pursuers thought their moment had come… The men tripped the 27-year-old student, kicking him as he lay on the ground and grabbing his mobile phone and iPod. What the assailants did not realize was that they were standing outside Ninja Senshi Ryu – western Sydney’s ninja warrior school.”
Oops!
You can read the whole story at the Sydney Morning Harold, the New Zealand Harold, or on CNN.
Ultimate Steampunk House Revisited
Posted: 13 May 2010Last year I drew your attention to the ultimate steampunk house, created by Bruce and Melanie Rosenbaum of Modern Victorian Home Restoration (they also did the ultimate steampunk workstation, which I recently posted on). I recently revisited their website and discovered that they now have an extensive virtual tour available for all to see, with additional photos as well. Check it out. Something tells me they like puffins too… Can you count all the puffins in the tour?
Ubuntu 10.04 Quick Review
Posted: 29 Apr 2010
The latest Long Term Support release of the Ubuntu Linux operating system is now available: Ubuntu 10.04, Lucid Lynx. And yes, it just keeps on getting better. Being a Long Term Support release, 10.04 is designed to be stable and mostly bug-free (more so than 9.10, at least), and will be officially supported by Canonical until April of 2013, or 2015 for the server edition. That’s great news since support for both 8.04 and 9.10 will end in April 2011.
But on to the good stuff. With 10.04, Ubuntu has at long last dropped its horrid, some say “vomitus”, brown and orange default theme. No longer will you install Ubuntu on a friend’s or loved one’s computer, only to have them rush to the toilet with their hand over their mouth the instant they gaze upon its initial color palette. Okay, perhaps it was never quite that bad, but at least Canonical has seen the light and changed the default theme to be more… well… dark. And purple. Apparently they love purple now. Inevitably, some will complain that the default theme is now too much like Mac OS X, but those are the sort of people who will find anything they can to complain about.
Another complaint I’ve heard is with the repositioning of the minimize, maximize, and close buttons from the right to the left, again making it look more “Mac-like”. I really don’t see the problem, or perhaps its just that I’m adaptable enough to handle it. You can move them back to the right in any event, which is one of the nice things about Ubuntu and Linux in general–if you don’t like something, you can change it.
Of course 10.04 brings the latest and greatest of all major software packages: Linux kernel 2.6.32, Gnome 2.30, OpenOffice.org 3.2, Firefox 3.6.3, X.org 1.7.5, and the list goes on. The major missing component is the GIMP photo and graphics editor. For whatever reason, Canonical decided that they would not include GIMP in 10.04, even though it is perhaps one of the best software packages designed specifically for Linux–and it gives Photoshop a run for its money (which is quite a lot of money, being that Photoshop CS 5 costs $699 while GIMP is free). However, installing GIMP is trivial using the Ubuntu Software Center. Just open up Software Center from the top menu, type “GIMP”, and click “Install”. Done.
That goes for all software too. The Ubuntu Software Center makes finding and installing software a cinch. Windows has nothing like it. Mac OS X has nothing like it. It is, quite simply, a stroke of brilliance–and it is one of Ubuntu’s “killer apps”, at least in my opinion. In the early days of Linux, circa 1991 to 2004, people using one of countless Linux distributions such as Red Hat or Debian, had to hunt down software packages built for their distribution (.RPM or .DEB, respectively), or attempt to compile and build the package manually from the source code–not something your grandma would do (unless she happened to be someone like Grace Hopper, of course). Now, however, you can just open up the Software Center and browse software by category (Game, Graphics, Office, etc.), or just type the name of the software you want in the search box. You can then read about the software, and install it. You can also see all your currently installed software and uninstall anything that you do not use or do not want. Simple. With 10.04, Canonical has added a 3rd party vendor area, which will probably become something like Apple’s App store in the near future. Things are looking good!
Another new edition to Ubuntu is a music store. That’s right–a music store–just like iTunes. By now you’re probably saying “Hey! Ubuntu is just copying Apple!” But so what? Microsoft has been copying Apple for decades. At any rate, to access the music store just open Rythembox (the default music player for Ubuntu, which you can think of as iTunes), and click on Ubuntu One. They claim to have millions of DRM-free MP3s and albums from both major and independent labels. Excellent!
What else is new? Even though GIMP has been dropped from Ubuntu, they have added a non-linear video editor called PiTiVi. Why they could add this, but had to drop GIMP, is beyond me, but it does appear to be a pretty good, albeit basic, video editor. I do not do a lot of video editing, so I did not mess with it much.
Gwibber is another killer app that Canonical has added to Ubuntu 10.04. What is Gwibber you ask? Gwibber is a GNOME desktop app designed to facilitate quick and easy microblogging. For example, if you have a Facebook, Twitter, and Digg accounts, with Gwibber you can update all of them at once, right from the comfort of your desktop. I would love to see them add WordPress or Blogger in the future.
I was disappointed that Gnome Shell was not included with 10.04, but I know a lot of people breathed a sigh of relief. Personally, I was looking forward to checking it out (and then discovered that I could indeed use it with 10.04, but I plan to make another post about that later). Even so, for a Long Term Support release like 10.04, I think the decision to not radically change the entire desktop UI and user interface experience was probably a wise move.
For years I’ve been saying Ubuntu is the Linux desktop for the everyday user, and with 10.04 it has truly gone “prime time”. The only real impediments I see are lack of games (greatly mitigated by the growing popularity of consoles, like PS3 and Xbox360), and certain apps that are still not available on Linux. Microsoft Office can go stuff itself, as OpenOffice.org is an excellent productivity suite which can save documents and spreadsheets in Microsoft Office formats when necessary. On the other hand, while I feel that GIMP is a great alternative to Photoshop, most graphics professionals still balk at it. While I remain hopeful that Adobe’s recent squabbles with Apple might eventually lead to Adobe porting their Creative Suite for Linux, it seems unlikely to happen in the near-future. Certain financial apps such as Quicken and tax preparation software also have no real Linux alternatives, which is a real shame. I recently had to install Windows on VirtualBox on my Ubuntu machine for the sole purpose of running TaxCut (now called H&R Block at Home). Even so, the list of missing applications for Linux seems to be growing shorter and shorter every day.
It is therefore with great delight that I unauthoritatively declare 2010 to be the Year of the Linux Desktop, and its operating system is Ubuntu 10.04, Lucid Lynx.
