Core Dump 2.0

2011 Nebula Awards winners

Keith — Sun, 20 May 2012 14:51:47 +0000

The winners of the 2011 Nebula Awards have been announced. These are voted on by the Science Fiction Writers of America. I’m extremely happy to see that Jo Walton won the best novel award for Among Others. Walton will be guest of honour at SFContario 3 in November and Nancy and I will be attending. Here’s the list of winners:

NOVEL: Among Others, by Jo Walton (Tor)

NOVELLA: “The Man Who Bridged the Mist,” Kij Johnson (Asimov’s Science Fiction, October/November 2011)

NOVELLETTE: “What We Found,” Geoff Ryman (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, September/October 2011)

SHORT STORY: “The Paper Menagerie,” Ken Liu (The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, March/April 2011)

RAY BRADBURY AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING DRAMATIC PRESENTATION: Doctor Who: “The Doctor’s Wife,” Neil Gaiman (writer), Richard Clark (director) (BBC Wales)

ANDRE NORTON AWARD FOR YOUNG ADULT SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY BOOK: The Freedom Maze, Delia Sherman (Big Mouth House)

2011 DAMN KNIGHT GRAND MASTER AWARD: Connie Willis

SOLSTICE AWARD: Octavia Butler (posthumous) and John Clute

SERVICE TO SFWA AWARD: Bud Webster

Locus has the list of winners and nominees.

SpaceX readies for launch

Keith — Fri, 18 May 2012 23:09:39 +0000

SpaceX plans to launch its Dragon capsule to the International Space Station tomorrow morning at 4:15 a.m. ET. I probably won’t get up to watch it but it’ll certainly be the first thing I’ll be checking on when I get up. This is an important launch, one of the most important in the last couple of decades, because if it goes well it will usher in a new era in private space enterprise. Watch the two videos linked in this BoingBoing post – they’re very informative and exciting.

Update: Launch was aborted about 1/2 second before liftoff because of high pressure in combustion chamber 5. They’ll ty again on Tuesday, assuming they don’t find any more serious problems.

Star City and the Baikonur Cosmodrome

Keith — Thu, 17 May 2012 09:54:08 +0000

We don’t see a lot of pictures of Russia’s space launch centre, the Baikonur Cosmodrome, despite the fact that it’s now the world’s primary manned spaceflight centre. The Atlantic’s Big Picture blog has a great series of photos from Baikonur and the cosmonaut training centre, Star City, featuring preparation for and launches to the International Space Station.

Earlier today, a Soyuz-FG rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying an International Space Station (ISS) crew into orbit. Baikonur, Russia’s primary space launch facility since the 1950s, is the largest in the world, and supports multiple launches of both manned and unmanned rockets every year. With the U.S. manned space program currently on hold, Baikonur is now the sole launching point for trips to the ISS. Gathered here is a look at the facility, some of the cosmonaut training programs in Star City outside of Moscow, and a few recent launches and landings — plus a bonus: 3 spectacular long-exposure images of Earth from the ISS.

It’s amazing to see these photos considering how secretive the early days of the Soviet space program were.

#G20 #Fail Byron Sonne innocent

Keith — Wed, 16 May 2012 00:13:23 +0000

Byron Sonne, who spent two years fighting trumped up terrorism-related charges after he was arrested before Toronto’s G20 summit, has been found not guilty of all charges. It’s a small breath of sanity in an otherwise insane judicial process. BoingBoing has a good series of posts that cover the story going back to his arrest.

Also worth checking out are Jesse Brown’s Search Engine podcasts on the subject.

Taking a break

Keith — Thu, 10 May 2012 00:23:09 +0000

I’ve been feeling particularly unmotivated recently when it comes to blogging. I’m not sure why, but I think I’m going to take a break. Posts will resume when I find something interesting to blog about and feel like writing, probably in a week or two.

The Dynamic Publisher

Keith — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:48:41 +0000

A while back, Scott Abel announced the launch of the Dynamic Publisher site. If you’re interested in content managment, XML publishing, or DITA, you’ll probably want to keep an eye on this one. There isn’t a huge amount of content on it right now, but what’s there is pretty good.

Just a quick note to say that in addition to my many other roles, I’m also now the editor of TheDynamicPublisher.com. Formerly a web property used by Quark to publicize its dynamic publishing products, TheDynamicPublisher.com is now a vendor neutral home for all things related to dynamic content. You’ll find interesting articles about XML, content management, eBooks, semantic web, content conversion, content quality, as well as information about events, training, and industry news.

But, alas, I can’t do it myself. That’s where you come in. Stop by the blog and take a look around. Read some articles. Leave some comments, if you like (and I hope you do). Make some suggestions, should you feel inclined.

Ebooks and problems with print reference material

Keith — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:34:47 +0000

Teleread has an article that points out some problems with ebooks and how they present reference material. The article uses examples from several fantasy novels, where the ebook presentation of maps is markedly inferior to the maps in the printed edition. (I’ve noticed this myself in some books, particularly the figures in James Gleick’s The Information. From what I understand of ebook formats and ebook production, I’m not sure what the solution is – current devices and formats have a lot of limitations. However, if you’re reading an ebook on a tablet with a high-res display like the current iPad and you’re finding problems with graphics, then I’d complain to the publisher.

So what’s my point? It seems to me that publishers ought to be doing a much better job with the publication of ebooks, and how they represent and provide access to reference material. Keep in mind that, until I started writing this article, I never realized Mistborn had maps of any sort, because rather then starting me at the cover, ebooks start me at the first page of actual text—a nice feature, but it’s only really highlighting the problem with the serial presentation of information, a style of presentation that, it seems, does not need to exist in ebooks.

Why all the hype?

Keith — Mon, 07 May 2012 09:04:30 +0000

We went to see The Avengers last night and I’m wondering what all the fuss was about. Given the hype this movie has engendered, you’d think it was the second coming of Citizen Kane. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy it – it’s probably about as good a Saturday night popcorn flick as you’ll find and it is visually spectacular. But it’s not very deep, despite having Joss Whedon as screenwriter and director. It lacks the characterization of The Watchmen (the book, not the movie) or the moral complexity of Chris Nolan’s Dark Knight series.

If I was rating it on IMDB I’d give it about 7.5 or maybe 8.0, just because the special effects are so good. If you go, do stay until the very end of the credits. There’s a final Easter egg to reward you. And you’ll also understand how a movie can have a budget of $200 million.

Day Against DRM O’Reilly Sale

Keith — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:08:49 +0000

For all you computer nerds reading this (I know there are a few), in celebration of Day against DRM, O’Reilly is having a half-price ebook sale – and all of O’Reilly’s ebooks are DRM free. Today only so act fast.

Pursuit of Light

Keith — Fri, 04 May 2012 09:02:07 +0000

NASA has put together a wonderful, inspirational video called Pursuit of Light. It looks at the Earth, the solar system, and our place in the universe. It ends with this capton: “We’re heading out. Join us”.

Watch it in HD if you can. It’s worth it.

NASA dreams big science. In this awesome new short, NASA presents the Earth, the planets, the Sun, and the endless universe beyond. Come for the cool, stay for the music, take away a sense of wonder to share. It’s six minutes from Earth to forever, and you can see it here!
This video is public domain and can be downloaded at: ‪http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?10958

Tech writers and Google

Keith — Thu, 03 May 2012 09:23:57 +0000

By now, I expect that most technical writers are thoroughly familiar with Google search and how to squeeze the most out of a search query. But Google has many more products than search, and some of them can be even more useful. Roger Renteria has an article on TechWhirl that explains how to use some of the more advanced features of Gmail and Google’s Android (assuming you have an Android smartphone). I use both and I found a lot of things in this article that I didn’t know about.

Google is everywhere. Really. So it’s no wonder Google wants to help you migrate into the cloud, and they make it easy because their services work seamlessly and amazingly well with each other. If you have a Google Account, you have access to a plethora of programs and services, some of which you may not even be aware of, that can make your everyday life much more productive. These services can be a boon for technical communicators who want to break the chains of the old-fashioned desktop and move their digital lives onto personal, mobile, smart devices.

Here’s a list of tips and tricks to Google your way to productivity, and save yourself the grief, frustration, and anger associated with trying to live the digital life; some quick ideas for setting up filters and labels to easily manage the flood of email; apps to protect your smartphone’s pictures and contacts; and using Google tools and apps offline.