FANDOM & INDUSTRY
The only real news today (other than the newsletters & PRs found below) is the release of the Hugo Voter’s Packet.
If you are a member of MidAmeriConII, you can go to the Hugo Awards page on the website and, after entering your name, membership number and password (forwarded to you by the BigMac folks in an earlier email), you will be confronted by numerous PDFs in ZIP files for download.
You can survey the contents before downloading by reading this roundup on File 770 (full disclosure – one of the Finalists – but I’ve searched and searched, double-searched and even resorted to using a scanning electron microscope and have not found one whisker of a suggestion that File 770 uses this opportunity to promote themselves. Fly specks and typos – yes, self-promotion – no.)
Once the works are in-hand, you also might want to turn to these resources – Puppy Free Finalists List, original and revised. You might also want to read this roundup of statements (or lack thereof) by Finalists, here on SFKittens.
You all have a lot of reading to do if you are going to vote according to the generally approved methods, which is and always has been: vote for works you are familiar with and that you believe are worthy of winning the award (while paying attention to whether or not something was gamed onto the ballot by those whose goal is to “burn down the Hugo Awards”).
Me? I’m pretty much restricting myself to reading the works that WEREN’T on slates (due consideration given to disavowals) and then making my picks from them, with liberal use of the No Award vote thrown in.
While it does get old, all-puppy award categories do tend to make voting a little easier and faster. Maybe the puppy credo ought to be “Helping Fandom by Taking Your Choices Away”….
Anyway.
This will NOT be the last year of Hugo Awards afflicted with puppy bullshit; EPH (the much ballyhood salvation) has been shown to be less effective at countering slates than was originally believed by many (it was also never a solution to the real problem regardless, as suggested here numerous times over the past couple of years) and this revelation, along with on-going discussions of potentially more effective methods – such as Second Round Voting (proposed by Kevin Standlee and others and gaining a lot of attention and support in recent weeks), may very well prevent EPH from being ratified at this year’s Business Meeting.
My personal recommendation(s) are that: EPH be ratified with an amendment (if allowed under the By-Laws) such as a sunset clause that would stop the use of EPH once a more effective and more transparent anti-slate methodology is developed. I also strongly encourage the adoption of SRV, either the pure version or SRV +1 and (again if possible under the By-Laws) take a vote to put SRV into effect for next year (2017) by either voting to suspend the need for ratification or by putting it into practice provisionally, pending ratification.
I’m also working on language for a proposal myself – one requesting that a preamble be added to every Hugo ballot, that states that campaigning and slating, while not technically illegal under the rules is greatly frowned upon by the community.
So. Go vote, if you are eligible. Read, watch and listen to the Finalist entries (don’t forget the Retro Hugos!); decide whether or not you wish to support the gaming of the awards, pick those works worthy of a Hugo and then make your picks. Regardless of how you are voting, please do so in a manner that does not leave you regretting your choices when all is said and done.
PRESS RELEASES & NEWSLETTERS (full text included)
Harlan Ellison Books (Harlan has circled the sun one more time); Pandemonium Book News; Planetary Resources (kills one reward, announces funds for a new project); This week in OMNI magazine; Solars Books new Release
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I’ve been excitedly looking forward to the U.S. release of The Invisible Library since my friends in the U.K. started raving about it last year. Magic, library… that’s really all it takes to pique my interest.
I am not generally a fan of horror, but The Library at Mount Char manages to walk a fine between fantasy and horror in a way that did not turn me away.
When a reviewer describes a book as a cross between Diana Wynne Jones and Lemony Snicket, I am both dubious and immediately sold.
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Planetary Resources Raises $21.1 Million In Series A Funding; Unveils Advanced Earth Observation Capability
company
investment
techSpace-based multi-sensor platform will better manage and
increase humanity’s access to natural resources
Redmond, Washington – May 26, 2016 – Planetary Resources, Inc., the asteroid mining company, announced today that it has secured US$21.1 million in Series A funding. The capital will be used to deploy and operate Ceres, an advanced Earth observation business that features the first commercial infrared and hyperspectral sensor platform to better understand and manage humanity’s natural resources. The funding was led by Bryan Johnson and the OS FUND; and joined by Idea Bulb Ventures; Tencent; Vast Ventures; Grishin Robotics; Conversion Capital; The Seraph Group; Space Angels Network, a syndication of investors from Angel.co; and Larry Page. Earth observation will be another aspect of Planetary Resources’ operations in addition to prospecting and mining asteroids.
Conceived from the company’s vision for the exploration and utilization of asteroid resources, Ceres will leverage Planetary Resources’ Arkyd spacecraft to deliver affordable, on-demand Earth intelligence of our natural resources on any spot on the planet. While typical satellite imagery provides only a picture, Ceres will provide actionable data with higher spectral resolutions – going beyond what the human eye can see – by measuring thermographic properties and detecting the composition of materials on Earth’s surface. The midwave-infrared sensor is the first ever commercial capability from space to offer thermographic mapping and night-imaging, and the hyperspectral sensor includes an unprecedented 40 color bands in the visible to near-infrared spectrum.
The imaging technology is integrated onto the Arkyd spacecraft and deployed as a constellation of 10 satellites in low-Earth orbit. The constellation will provide global monitoring capability to benefit multiple industries including agriculture, oil & gas, water quality, financial intelligence and forestry. Ceres can analyze the spectral signatures of crops and provide customized information to growers, identify energy and mineral resources, and monitor pipelines and remote infrastructure. The system can also track toxic algae blooms, monitor global water quality and enable the detection of wildfires in their earliest stages.
Planetary Resources is currently testing Ceres’ sensor platform and will demonstrate the technology in space with an upcoming scheduled launch of the company’s Arkyd 6 spacecraft onboard a Space X Falcon 9 rocket. The mission will validate the thermographic sensor and supporting technologies for the Arkyd series of spacecraft.
“As we continue toward our vision of the expansion of humanity and our economy into the Solar System, our team has been working on the critical technologies required to detect and identify the most commercially viable near-Earth asteroids and their resources,” said Chris Lewicki, President and CEO, Planetary Resources, Inc. “To characterize these resources, it required more than just a picture, and our team has developed advanced spectral sensors to serve this need. We have also created new technologies for onboard computing, low-cost space platforms, and are now applying these transformative technologies in additional markets.”
Bryan Johnson, Founder of OS Fund and Board of Director member at Planetary Resources, Inc., said, “With Ceres, Planetary Resources has leapfrogged traditional imagers for monitoring Earth’s natural resources, creating far-ranging opportunity. It’s a seismic shift for the new space economy.”
James Crawford, Ph.D., Founder and CEO, Orbital Insight, Inc. said, “When Planetary Resources’ Ceres constellation is complete, it will transform the ability to monitor, model and manage global commodities and provide visibility across all major industrial supply chains.”
Liam Condon, CEO, Bayer CropScience said, “The highly innovative and cost-effective technology Planetary Resources is deploying has the potential to transform activities that were once confined to the laboratory into everyday use, as growers increasingly rely on data-driven tools and new technologies to inform their business decisions.”
Jim Hollis, CEO, Neos GeoSolutions said, “We are very excited about Planetary Resources’ new infrared and hyperspectral imagery system. This promises to be a powerful new component to our energy exploration system.”
For more information on Planetary Resources’ Ceres, please visit www.planetaryresources.com.
ABOUT PLANETARY RESOURCES
Planetary Resources, Inc., the asteroid mining company, was founded in 2009 by Eric Anderson and Dr. Peter H. Diamandis. The company’s vision is to establish a new paradigm for resource utilization that will bring the Solar System within humanity’s economic sphere of influence. The pathway in identifying the most commercially viable near-Earth water-rich asteroids has led to the development of multiple transformative technologies that are applicable to global markets, including the agriculture, oil & gas, mining and insurance industries.
Planetary Resources is financed by industry-launching visionaries who are committed to expanding the world’s resource base so humanity can continue to grow and prosper for centuries to come. Some of the company’s partners and advisors include 3D Systems, the Bechtel Corporation and Analytical Graphics Incorporated; Sara Seager, Ph.D., professor of Planetary Science & Physics at MIT and TED fellow; Dante Lauretta, Ph.D., professor of Planetary Science at the University of Arizona and principal investigator of NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission; Anatoly Gitelson, Ph.D., Emeritus Remote Sensing Specialist, University of Nebraska’s School of Natural Resources, now with Israel Institute of Technology, Technion; and Susan Ustin, Ph.D., professor of Environmental and Resources Sciences, University of California, Davis. Members of the company’s technical staff have worked on every recent U.S. Mars lander including Spirit, Opportunity and Curiosity, and include other key non-aerospace and safety-critical disciplines. For more information, please visit www.planetaryresources.com.
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https://www.omnimagazine.com
THIS WEEK IN OMNI
Q&A with Candace Pert on
The Molecules of Emotion
This extraordinary interview with neuroscientist Candace Pert by the journalist Judith Hooper takes us back to the the discovery of the opiate receptor, which binds to natural joy-inducing, pain-reducing molecules — the endorphins. Pert’s pioneering work established the reality of the mind-body connection and revolutionized psychopharmacology and brain science.
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They’re Made Out of Meat
by Terry Bisson
Ever since Enrico Fermi first stated his famous paradox, we’ve
wondered why we haven’t heard from the aliens — if they’re really out there. Maybe this is the answer.
Copyright © 2016 Alpha Cygni, Inc. All rights reserved.
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I’m delighted to share with you some big news for Rebellion Publishing this afternoon, as Solaris unveils its first ever non-fiction title: Generation Decks: the Unofficial Story of Gaming Phenomenon Magic: The Gathering.
An affectionate, enthralling and superbly written account of the rise and rise of the world’s biggest trading card game, Generation Decks is written by lifelong Magic: The Gathering fan and journalist Titus Chalk.
Part geek history, part biography, Generation Decks tells the true story of how a trading card game conquered the world, and is coming from Solaris in April 2017.
There will be plenty of interview opportunities with Titus, and if you’d like to be on the list for an ARC please let me know.
Please find a press release, cover and picture of the author here.
