International Space Development Conference in Addison, TX

Anyone else going there might want to keep an eye out for little ol' me.

Going down this weekend at the Hotel Intercontinental in Addison, TX.

http://isdc.nss.org/2007/

Seriously cool art auction, too.

i am slave labor for a friend running the art show.

we'll see how much i actually get to do at the convention. i'll probably post something interesting. larry niven is going to be there, after all, and i have always wondered what kind of shoes the author of "footfall" wears...

i went to a presentation about lunar architecture.

let me just say those words again:

"Lunar" and "Architecture".

I won't tell you too much, because the story are all mine now for bothering to show up for the conference.

Needless to say, sitting down with leading scientists from Johns Hopkins University, Nasa, and the University of Phoenix, to see exactly how they would colonize the moon with people in the next twenty years, and what they want to do when they get there, as well as some large hurdles they face was like having sci-fi story ideas literally poured directly into my ear.

Too bad you weren't there, party people.

Also, some fellow attendees want to get their certification to be identifiers of moon rocks.

Let's see, who did I meet... *looking at notes*

Larry Niven, alas, canceled.

Ben Bova was there, however. Nice guy. Not very tall. I always figured Ben Bova would be one of the tall writers. A couple other authors of hard sci fi were around, but no one that I really liked like Niven or Bova.

I missed the luncheon with Buzz Aldrin (too pricey for me).

X-Prize was there. Lots of cool Mars people. A spec fic literary magazine was represented, (Leading Edge, from Utah), and got to meet the fiction editor and ask the important question ("So, what's your favorite short story? Right now today?" Answer: An Alan Dean Foster short story, the one about the guy who is an "emotion" dealer and makes a bunch of money selling different kinds of rage to two guys in love with the same girl. Can anyone remember that title?)

Um... Who else? I went to one speaker about science art who was not an idiot, per se, but sure seemed to have science art ideas like one. The other speakers I encountered were quite good, though.

The coolest thing so far is actually in the art show:

Frank Kelly Freas's final painting before he passed on, "Starlight Girl", is being displayed for the first time in this conference. It's gorgeous. It's very, very gorgeous.

Any of you folks in the North Texas area got a spare 50,000 dollars to invest in a gorgeous work of art, come on by and quick sale it. Worth every penny, my friends. If you've only got around 25,000-40,000 the auction is tomorrow at 5:00.

Yes.

I was doing the art show, though, which is a much, much different animal.

We had to install an art gallery, hang paintings, make sure no one takes pictures of them, and then take it all down at the end of the night (didn't get home until 3:00 AM that night) because there was a wedding in the morning in the room.

Still, it was lots of fun. Volunteering is good for you.

-J