Legends of the Sun Pig

Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3

(Day 3 of our trip being day 2 of the Con: Friday 15 August.)

Friday was Abi’s big day: she was moderating one panel, and speaking on two others. The first one, “The Deeper the Roots, the Stronger the Tree” was a discussion of how non-genre authors such as Arthur Conan Doyle and Jane Austen have inspired and influenced science fiction and fantasy. Abi was really nervous about this one. Despite all her experience moderating online communities, this was her first time in charge of a real-life panel. The kids and I didn’t go along to it (it was a bit early, and a bit out of Alex and Fiona’s sphere of interest), but Abi said it went well.

While Abi was moderating, the kids and I got ourselves ready and wandered over to the Con. We planned to attend Abi’s second panel, “Settling the Alien World” at 12:00. Before then, we had a quick look in the Dealers’ Room, located the Tiki Dalek, and hung out in the Fan Lounge again for a bit.

The “Settling the Alien World” panel was neat: a bunch of authors, scientists, and fans talking about the practical and social issues surrounding humanity’s potential arrival on three different types of planet. Lots of good discussion.

On the previous day (Thursday) Fiona had taken part in the first session of the Tardis build. Before that first session, Abi and Fiona had gone back to the hotel for Fiona to change out of her Merida costume into street clothes that would not be a problem if they got dirty. However, that did leave her in normal clothes afterwards, which was a bit of a let-down after having had so much attention in costume earlier. This was one of the reasons that we went back to the hotel at the end of the afternoon – so that Fiona could change back for the evening.

For the second Tardis session on Friday we had a different plan: I had Fiona’s spare clothes with me in my bag, and she just changed into them in the toilets at the ExCel centre.

Fiona’s new best friends were all involved in the Tardis build as well. After they were done with the day’s painting, five of us (Emily, her mom Kristen, Alex, Fiona, and I) wandered up the concourse to the Indian restaurant and had a curry for lunch. Well I say “curry”, but Alex and Fiona both only wanted a plate of rice. Eh, it’s Worldcon. Whatever.

One of the cornerstones of Alex’s Worldcon experience was the role-playing in the gaming tent. At 16:00, Garry Harper of RP Haven ran the workshop “Design and Playtest your own Tabletop Game” to teach tricks of the trade to both new and experienced GMs. Alex felt a bit shy, and wanted me along. I sat in on it too, and it was great. Garry is an excellent and enthusiastic instructor. He got everyone thinking about plot and momentum, characters and crowd management. His most imporant message, though, was: make sure the players are having fun. No matter what your planned outcome was for the session, if everyone had a good time and a laugh, that’s a win. Very valuable advice. Alex lapped it up, and it even gave me some ideas for a Chthulhu scenario…

The gaming session overlapped with Abi’s third panel of the day, “Saturday Morning Cartoons: The Next Generation” at 16:30. I snuck out of the gaming workshop for a short while to find Fiona and take her up to the panel. (She’s perfectly capable of making her own way there, but I’d said I would go with her.)

After both the gaming workshop and Abi’s panel were finished, we all met up again to try and figure out a plan for the evening. The kids and I had already had a look at the programme, and hadn’t seen anything that really fired us up. One of the alternate proposals was to go out to the cinema to see Guardians of the Galaxy (which hadn’t been released in the Netherlands yet). Alex wasn’t interested, but Fiona was. There was an early evening showing at the CineWorld West India Quay that we could make if we hurried. Alex practically shooed us off.

We had to run through the ExCeL centre to find a working cash machine (because London taxis don’t take cards? WTF, London, get with the century), but we made it to the cinema on time. We bought some sweets and drinks for dinner (eh, it’s WorldCon, whatever) and had a blast watching the film. Afterwards we found our way to the nearly DLR station, and took the train back to the hotel. Half an eye on fellow passengers, trying to figure out which were con-goers. Mostly easy to tell.

For all the time that my parents have lived in Murthly (14 years now), today was the first time I’d ever been to Murthly Castle.

We has a late morning, with Aberdeen rolls for breakfast, and Saturday Kitchen (best bits) on the TV. In the afternoon we drove into Perth and had lunch at Blend. I bought myself a new pair of slippers, and we chatted with some very enthusiastic volunteers at the Yes campaign stand on the High Street. Dad and I came away with stickers and posters. Mum, who is a yes-leaning don’t-know, came away with some literature.

After we got back to Murthly, I had a nice long FaceTime call with Abi, who is at home feeling poorly but being taken good care of by Alex and Fiona. (Right? Right, Alex?) The weather turned nice again around 5, so we decided to go out for a walk. We drove the short distance to the entrance to Murthly Castle estate, parked, and had a lovely stroll along to the castle and chapel and back again. We speculated about the distance; I checked it a moment ago using gmap-pedometer.com and clocked it just short of 6km.

Mum had made a pan of chili earlier. We had that for dinner while watching Doctor Who (Robot of Sherwood). After dinner we moved through to the living room to have some panna cotta dessert and to watch a film. We tried a couple of trailers and settled on Calvary, which we unanimously agreed was amazing. Funny and painful, with a stunning performance by Brendan Gleeson. Breathtakingly good.

Then I picked up on breaking news of the 51-49 YouGov poll. So, yeah, there’s that.

In the summer months (June – September) Edinburgh University turns some of its student accomodation into general budget hotel/B&B rooms. Over the course of six trips to Edinburgh this summer I’ve racked up 18 nights at Pollock Halls of Residence. Tonight is my last.

Pollock Halls are tucked away between the Commonwealth Pool and Arthur’s Seat on the south side of the city. The location could not be better for me: it’s scenic, only a ten minute walk to the office, right next to the Holyrood park for walking, and right next to the pool for swimming. The rooms I’ve stayed in have been plain, but not spartan. You get a single bed with two thin pillows and a thin duvet. There’s a big desk, a desk chair and a guest chair. A bedside table, plenty of cupboard space, and some bookshelves over the desk. The room I had in Holland House had a tiny en-suite shower room, but the other housing blocks all have shared showers and toilets. The rooms do have a sink/toiletries area and a towel rack. There’s no TV, but the wifi is free and fast. Each floor has a shared pantry with a fridge and a microwave, so you can bring in a supermarket dinner and heat it up.

Breakfast is a huge free-for-all buffet in the restaurant of the John McIntyre Conference Centre in the centre of the grounds. Trays of eggs, bacon, sausages, black pudding, and fried potatoes. Bread, pastries, meats and cheeses. Cereals and yoghurts. Fruit juices and soft drinks. Just…loads of stuff. Fill up your tray and find a table.

In June the place seemed to be mostly full of academics attending conferences. July saw more tourists, with lots of people clearly there for the Commonwealth Games at the end of the month. Because of holidays I wasn’t around for most of August, but I’m sure it was busy with festival goers. Right now, at the start of September, it is quiet. I got down to breakfast just before 09:00 this morning. The restaurant is usually packed at that time, but today there were only a handful of people. Term starts next week, so this is probably one of the last nights that the rooms are available for booking. Judging by the piles of boxes stacked up everywhere, I think the staff are trying to get the place ready for students arriving.

If I were staying here for a whole term, I’d want to make some changes to my room. The desk chair is not height-adjustable, and it’s just too low to be comfortable for long working sessions. The walls are a thin, and sound carries. The duvet is too thin for the cold Scottish summer nights. There was one night in June when I wore my clothes under the covers, and since then I’ve brought a hot water bottle with me just in case. I’d definitely want to kit the bed out with something warmer for the winter.

But for a couple of nights at a time, at budget hotel prices? It’s great. The EasyHotel on Princes Street feels stingy; Pollock Halls feels sensibly frugal. I’ll be back again next summer.

I must reiterate this is not a security breach at Namecheap, nor a hack against us. The hackers are using usernames and passwords being used have been obtained from other sources. These have not been obtained from Namecheap. But these usernames and passwords that the hackers now have are being used to try and login to Namecheap accounts.

Our early investigation shows that those users who use the same password for their Namecheap account that are used on other websites are the ones who are vulnerable.

Urgent security warning that may affect all internet users – Namecheap Blog

It’s not the despair, Laura. I can stand the despair. It’s the hope!

John Cleese as Brian Stimpson in Clockwise

I am emotionally strongly invested in the Yes campaign for Scottish independence. I can wish and hope for a Yes vote, and try to persuade wherever I can. But in order to believe that Yes will win, one also has to believe that the current opinion polls are completely wrong.

I’m not naive: it’s a stretch. In retrospect it may seem almost delusional. But there is precendent for this in recent Scottish politics: in the 2011 election, the SNP was not predicted to win as large a share of the vote as actually happened. Could the same be happening now? I don’t know, but I’m finding James Kelly’s political and polling analysis blog Scot Goes Pop! fascinating reading. He is a Yes supporter, but his insights are rational. At this point, I can’t believe Yes will win, but he is helping to keep my hope alive.

Here he is talking about the polling methodologies and the history of Scottish devolution votes:

(The footage of the man in the elevator around 9 minutes in is of particular relevance in the last few weeks before the referendum. The ground campaign, momentum, and visibility all matter a great deal.)

Just booked a batch of tickets for some upcoming gigs:

1. Blonde Redhead at Tolhuistuin on Saturday 20 September. This is on the same day as we’re walking the 26km Dam-tot-Dam Wandeltocht. I may be tired and deserving of a cold beer that evening.
2. Little Dragon at Paradiso on Tuesday 11 November. (Hurray – Paradiso have finally converted their Flash calendar to HTML!)
3. The New Pornographers at Melkweg on Sunday 7 December. I saw them at the Fox in Oakland a few years ago, and was disappointed. Better luck this time?
4. La Roux at Paradiso on Wednesday 10 December

They all have new albums out. I’ve listened to Trouble in Paradise by La Roux and love it. I need to check out the rest of them as well.