In April 1957, a month after Ghana liberated itself from British colonial rule, Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. gave a speech entitled "The Birth of a New Nation." He used Ghana's battle against colonialism and it's significance in representing the hard work that is necessary to bring about desegregation.
MarsCon is a fan-run science fiction convention for all ages held every March in the Twin Cities area. This year's theme was Robots, Rayguns, & Rockets: The 3 R's of Sci-Fi. Each year that I have gone, I have had a wonderful time - unfortunately, there have been a number of events over the years that have made me decide to not go back in the future unless substantial changes are made. Rae Black of Twin Cities Geeks wrote a fantastic article about how MarsCon has a potential to be better; this post will be about my perspective of recent events and why it is I am not going back.
Hello, everyone.
Please forgive the bit of self-promotion - I have been working on regular blog posts and creative stories, but those take time. At the same time, I have also been attempting to be a panelist at conventions, volunteer in my community, and work enough to make ends meet. Sometimes it is all pretty daunting! But I am striving to bring you plenty of quality content, some of which is educational and some that is for your entertainment. However, the time that is needed to create content comes at a cost - it takes money to be able to keep going to conventions, to do research, and to have the infrastructure to sit down and write. If you are in a position to help, and would like to see content created at a higher frequency, or if you just enjoy what you are reading and would like to contribute to the process, please consider donating.
A week ago, I attended MarsCon 2018 and was on 10 panels. I also attended a couple of other panels. Two such panels I was able to take notes on: "Mysterious Minnesota: Unwrapping Urban Legends and Ghostly Tales from the Dead" and "Planetarium Star Show."
Saint Louis Park residents and community members: the Saint Louis Park Police Department is offering the Citizen's Academy once again, on Thursdays April 12th - June 14th 2018 from 6-9pm.
If you haven't read MarsCon 2018 - Day 1 or MarsCon 2018 - Day 2 already, I would suggest that you read those two entries first. Some parts of the eight previous panels can be connected to today's panels: "Androids, AI, And Gender Theory" and "Artificial People in Science Fiction."
If you didn't read the previous post, MarsCon 2018 - Day 1, I would suggest checking that out first. The panels that I was on, "Avoiding the Tokenism in Comics and Sci Fi Cultures," "How to Fail Gracefully," and "Polyamory: Perceptions and Realities" are all related to today's panels in one way or another: "The Prime Directive as Liberal Eurocentric Superiority," "Gem Watch," "Star Trek," "Cleavage Optional: Gender, Cosplay, and Genderbending Cosplay," and "Race and Culture in the Honorverse."
MarsCon is a fan-run science fiction convention for all ages held every March in the Twin Cities area. This year's theme is Robots, Rayguns, & Rockets: The 3 R's of Sci-Fi. Today I was on two panels, "Avoiding the Tokenism in Comics and Sci Fi Cultures," "How to Fail Gracefully," and "Polyamory: Perceptions and Realities." There are audio recordings of all three panels; however, they are still the raw, unedited versions. The normalized, balanced versions will be put up on a later post. I also took some notes for some of the panels - I will include them here so that I can expand on them on a later date. Please feel free to ask questions and post comments about the panels. Enjoy!
MarsCon 2018 has begun! Check out my schedule here.
Here are some links to previous posts that relate to upcoming panels:
The other day, I saw a very fascinating answer on Quora to the question “Why does the NPR station have so much propaganda against Trump?” It was much more elegant and detailed than I have ever been able to be when it comes to explaining that it is not NPR who is generating propaganda against 45 [Note 1], but rather his spinmasters making a non-profit station seem like a tool of propaganda to his loyal adherents.
Before getting into the answer that I first found to be rather fascinating, I would like to highlight a few points that have been put out there in response to this question. A number of people who have answered the question have pointed out that NPR relies on public funding, and that stories about bias by NPR are intended to destroy support for ongoing funding of public radio and television. NPR does have a soft bias, yes, but public media is centrist due to the fact that it is public - to keep its funding, it has to remain centrist.
If you haven’t seen E.C. Henry’s videos, I suggest that you check them out. He makes really great stuff - I’ve been following him for a while. Some of my favorite stuff from him includes Pacific 201 Show-and-Tell, how much tea Captain Picard drinks, and the size of that planet in the opening credits of Star Trek: Voyager.
In his most recent video, "How ONE LINE Fixes The Last Jedi", E.C. Henry argues that the biggest problem around the plot and story-structure was from Vice Admiral Amilyn Holdo’s role in the film, saying that her refusal to share her plan with anybody is seemingly irrational. I’ll take the reasons why this is incorrect in the order that he brings them up:
Noemi Alcocer – Community Based Service Development from Hennepin County wants to share this open position with you:). Hennepin County is working hard to increase the number of HSRs who speak the languages most needed in the community and of them is Spanish, but please note that the posting closes Monday at 5 pm.
We hope you will think about your networks and how you can share this news!
If you know interested individuals who are NOT bilingual Spanish or Somali speakers, the next general HSR hire will be posted in May.
In my review of The Last Jedi, I mentioned that the officer [Note 1] rank structure for the Resistance is canonically Lieutenant, Captain, Major, Commander, Colonel, General/Admiral (although Amilyn Holdo is a Vice Admiral and Nien Nunb is a Lieutenant Commander, but that’s not germane to this post). The Resistance is inspired by the Alliance to Restore the Republic (aka the Rebel Alliance), as the New Republic was unwilling to stand up to the threat of the First Order. I believe that the Resistance took its rank structure directly from the Rebel Alliance.
One of the reasons why I started the website was to be able to share my experiences with the world and answer questions about my perspective on things. To that end, I would love to hear from all of you! Feel free to ask me anything, and I'll give you an honest answer. I plan on having a monthly response post.
On Sunday, 04 Feb 2018, Super Bowl LII will be hosted in Minneapolis, Minnesota at US Bank Stadium (also known as that damn Sandcrawler [Note 2]). Up to 1 million visitors [20] [21] [22] are expected, and the NFL is projecting that it will bring $350-407 million [12] [20] [21] to our local economy. Hotels have been booked, tickets are being sold, and plans have been put into place. Areas of Downtown Minneapolis will be cordoned off, security will be enhanced, and Minneapolis will be a hub of activity for a short amount of time.
On April 3, 1968, at the Mason Temple (Church of God in Christ Headquarters) in Memphis, Tennessee, Rev. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. gave his final speech. On the following day, King was assassinated. He was 39 years old.
The speech primarily concerns the Memphis Sanitation Strike. King calls for unity, economic actions, boycotts, and nonviolent protest, while challenging the United States to live up to its ideals. At the end of the speech, he discusses the possibility of an untimely death.
Both the Democrats and the Republics had factions to contend with, shaping how the parties attempted to govern and what was considered to be important issues. It is important to remember that not all members of a party have the same beliefs, especially in the 19th century - issues were not nearly as partisan then as they are now [Note 1]. The factions of today (Centerist/Moderate, Conservative, Liberal, Libertarian, Progressive) are not the names of yesteryear - the names that were in use at the time may be a bit confusing. There were also Third and Fourth parties at the time, which also were a factor in the political landscape, but the major players at the time were the Democrats and Republicans.
Patreon said: "We messed up. We’re sorry, and we’re not rolling out the fees change." However, they are still going to be figuring out changes to make, and they say that they are going to involve the creators in said changes - I believe them, especially after all of the feedback after this attempt at change.
