These go to eleven

While in Dublin I went to see Broom Bridge, where William Rowan Hamilton was when he had the inspiration for quaternions, and scratched the equation on the bridge:



Not many people are likely to have made the trip because it's not in the middle of town the way you might think from hearing the story; but it was no detour for me because it's near where my aunt and uncle's house is.



When I got back and told everyone where I'd been my uncle said that was where he and my dad used to skip Mass and go fishing!

The Worldcon itself was sadly the most disappointing I've ever been to, so I quit two days early to have more time with the family and to drive down to Waterford and Cork.

Blimey, this setting everyone up with all the right settings in DW is murder on the mouse wrist. If anyone drops in or out of sight on either site, please bear with the management during this period.

John WINOLJ Holden just called to say he's coming round tomorrow lunchtime, so if anyone else wants to come and hang out, I'm in to visitors. This isn't a mooch for helpers; if you want to come round later in the afternoon when we're getting in the pizzas, you're very welcome to a slice and some beer. Speaking of which, I understand there's a beer festival in Reading this weekend.

It's also my birthday on Monday :-)

I read this BBC news article saying "The average UK person will this year have a greater income than their US counterpart for the first time since the 19th Century, figures suggest." Now this may be true, but I would point out that "GDP divided by population" is not the same as "The income of the average person". The first is the mean, the second is the median.

( What I mean is )

That's why I'm never interested in hearing whether something is "helping" or "hurting" the country's Gross Domestic Product. The income of average people depends much more on the shape of the distribution than its total size.

Update: Elsewhere in the BBC, someone gets it right.( ... )

nhw posted that writers born between 1942 and 1951 are overrepresented in Hugo and Nebula awards, sparking a flurry of responses attempting to explain the decline of science fiction. I think the debate is mainly missing the fact that the Hugos and Nebulas have only been around for about fifty years, and the full range of a ten year cohort's output—from the first wunderkind born at the start of the ten years who wins an award at twenty five, to the grand old man born at the end who wins at seventy five—can easily span sixty years. Jack Williamson, of the 1902-11 cohort, won the Hugo and Nebula Best Novella awards in 2001 for "The Ultimate Earth" at the age of 93. Peter Beagle of the 1932-41 cohort won the best Novelette Hugo this year for "Two Hearts".

The Hugos didn't start to be awarded until 1953, and only 23 of them had been awarded (counting ties and collaborations) by 1964, the year before the Nebulas began. We can increase this to 35 by including twelve retro-Hugos. 334 Hugos and Nebulas have been awarded since 1965. The 1942-51 cohort are in that sweet spot where the Hugos and Nebulas in all four length categories (Short, Novelette, Novella, Novel) were available to be won at all stages in their careers, starting from 1965: the first award won by a member of the cohort was the 1965 Nebula for Best Novel, Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany. The most recent is Connie Willis's Hugo for Best Novella, for "Inside Job".

"Younger" writers, i.e., those born after 1951, haven't had time to rack up the full number of awards possible for their cohort. If we had the Hugo and Nebula results from 2007-2047 available to us, the statistics might look a little different.

Edited to correct the "first Hugos in 1946" error. Thanks to timill

( After the con - Tuesday 18th Feb )

( Wednesday 19th Feb )

Summary
The Sheraton was a great venue, right in the middle of Boston with great restaurants nearby. I kept hinting that I’d like to go eat at one of the Legal Sea Foods chain of restaurants, but all the Bostonians I was with declared it had gone downhill since the good old days, so I never got to try it for myself. One day when I’m back in Boston with some other new-in-town folks, perhaps. I’m strongly tempted to go back for Noreascon 4 next year, when the Worldcon takes the Sheraton, the Marriott, and the Hynes Convention Centre, with the very handy mall outside for fast food.

I had a fantastic time, great food, old friendships renewed and new friendships made. I enjoyed Boston as a city, and Boston fans were very friendly, although there seem to be so many of them that they don’t all know each other!

I’d especially like to thank Ellen Brody and Susan Murosako for encouraging me to come, and help finding accommodation, and acting as native guides in Boston; Mike Devney for offering emergency crash space; Victor and Sheila for their hospitality, and Gary Feldbaum for the room share. My extra special thanks to Ellen for driving me around Boston and showing me the city, even when I wasn't as gracious a guest as such a gracious host deserves.

Thanks to everyone else whose friendliness and generosity I’ve forgotten to mention, and I hope to see some of you again at Torcon.

Sunday morning I walked the long way from Victor and Sheila's place to the MBTA station in Central Square. I had intended to walk to Harvard Square, I don't know how I got turned around. Back at 11, dropped bags in Charlie and Feórag's room.

12:00 noon What Should Good Fantasy Do? Ellen Asher, Ellen Kushner, George R. R. Martin, Beth Meacham.
Charlie asked the question from the audience, "what should fantasy not do?". Ellen Kushner said at the end "let's take it to the bar", which doesn't make sense in an American con context; is this a borrowed expression from British fandom?( Read more... )

I checked out of the Tremont in the morning, then went and( Read more... )

I understand the key to a good con report is a detailed account of the journey to the con, so... ( Flying out and first day in Boston )