[NON BLOG] Futurities

As I begin this post, it's 3:21 AM. (Since then, I've been distracted by shiny things on the web, and delayed by writing. Leave that as it may.)

I've just come from a party celebrating the end of the MA year for English grad students, hosted by a fellow English MA student and seeing--at peak attendance--about 20 or so people. It was a very good party, lasting into the night with abundant drinks, good companionship, and the like. I had my first smoke on the stoop of the hosts' apartment, incidentally, and I can see now why people can get addicted despite the smoke and my burning my left index finger with a match. Never mind that, though.

As I was walking back towards the Graduate Residence, I passed through a field--commonly used for sports, with two baseball fields at opposite corners--to the south of the Frontenac County Court House. I looked up into the sky, and saw the stars: the Big Dipper, and Polaris, and even Eta Cassiopieae located just off of the W shape that forms the backbone of the stellar queen. It was beautiful.

Of course, I know that given the state of biotechnology, of space technologies, of interest in space generally, that it's hugely unlikely I'll get to see any of those stars or constellations firsthand.

But still, that one miniscule epoch of beauty, exposed and alone under that endless night.

[2300AD] Gamma Pavonis System

It's no secret that I'm a fan of the 2300AD RPG; see my livejournal's sidebar for examples of settings I've detailed. In the past, I've worked on rich and populous colony worlds like Tirane in the Alpha Centauri system, or promising frontier worlds like Joi at 61 Ursae Majoris, or relatively minor worlds like Heidelsheimat in the Rho Eridani planetary system. After seeing Chris Richardson's Wunderland, I was inspired to describe a marginal planetary system, far from the worlds settled by humanity.
So in this vein, here's Gamma Pavonis.

( System History )

( Gamma Pavonis III History )

( Gamma Pavonis III Environment )

( History of Human Encounters )

[BRIEF NOTE] Emperor Moon

From Crooked Timber:

The Gadflyer brings me the story that the Rev Sun Myung Moon had himself crowned Emporer of the United States and declared the Messiah at a ceremony in the Dirksen Senate Office Building in the presence and with the enthusiastic participation of a bipartisan contingent of Members of Congress. No, really.