Category: Various and Sundry

Various and Sundry

The Worst Derelict Spaceships to Board

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I’ve mentioned science fiction tropes here before, back in 2016 and also this year. Heck, I’ve even written a Jabberwocky Audio special that parodies the many tales of crews boarding derelict ships. This is quite established, as the crew over at Generation Films knows well: Warning, this will have spoilers for The film Ad Astra The TV series The Expanse The video game Dead Space The film Sunshine The film Alien The film Predators The film Event Horizon The film Pandorum

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Producing Various and Sundry

Business, Heal Thyself

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I know a lot of self-employed and small business folk who are hurting during this pandemic. And for my own business, we’ve needed to rethink how and what we’re doing. One of those entrepreneurial, self-employed friends, Russell Nohelty, wrote a post about how he retools his business… as he has done many times. It’s a non-trivial amount of time –especially if you haven’t done it before– and figuring out how to best attribute the costs…

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Various and Sundry

Commence Docking Procedures!

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

In a little under two hours, if all goes well, there will be a rocket launch to the ISS via Space X (you can catch NASA’s live feed here). If you want to wile away a couple hours, you can get good at docking the Dragon capsule with the ISS in a simulator using similar controls to what the astronauts are about to use. Be warned though, it takes patience and precision. But as gastronaut…

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Various and Sundry Writing

How to Pronounce Names in Dune from the Great Maker’s Mouth

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I’m still debating whether or not to rewatch or reread the various version of Dune leading up to this Fall’s new film adaptation. One definite thing I want them to get right? How to pronounce all those names. Of course, it might help if we all knew how to pronounce the names. So that’s where one superfan comes in. He’s compiled Herbert saying a bunch of the names, none of which are presumably a killing…

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Various and Sundry

Chris Hadfield finds your lack of Hard Sci-Fi Disturbing

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I’ve really enjoyed Chris Hadfield letting us know about the realities of space exploration, from his space-based cover of Bowie to his book to his counsel on dealing with the pandemic. So, I was happy to check out what his thoughts were on some of my favorite “hard sci-fi” films were and– oh, it’s like comparing notes with my dad, the physicist and history buff…

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Various and Sundry

Supporting your friendly local bookstores…

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

So many industries are being shaken by the coronavirus pandemic, the retail section overall is suffering, but specifically, small retail businesses are hurting. What with coming from a family of librarians and book-lovers, I’m especially keen to see independent book shops weather this latest storm, so I was happy to see an article earlier this month about how one online outfit, Bookshop.org is helping brick-and-mortar operations have an online footprint too. My “unread” bookshelf is…

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Various and Sundry

Life? Don’t talk to me about life! RIP, John Conway

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

I hope this doesn’t become too frequent, but I had to post something about one of the recent victims of the pandemic. As is being reporting in multiple outlets, John Conway has died at the age of 82. I know Conway the same way so many people know him: from his game of Life. No, not the family board game with the impressive spinner in the middle of the 3-D board. Conway’s game was abstract…

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Various and Sundry

Tips on Isolation from Astronauts

By Bjorn Munson | by Bjorn Munson

It’s week two of a lot of us Americans staying at home. Per historian and librarian recommendation, I am keeping a journal during this time. Lesson plans and activities are set up for the kids. We’re doing our best to make sure Jabberwocky Audio Theater continues as planned for this year. And of course, there’s some home projects that are rearing both their practical and sanity-based heads. In the face of all this, it can…

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