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Initiatives • Activities • Interests

Space Settlement and Atomic Energy

I am quite certain that these two things are inextricably linked. It is not merely the evil coincidence that the space rocket and the fission chain reaction appeared almost simultaneously, at the end of the Second World War, in the guise of horrible messengers of death, and that the inability of the nations of the Earth to recognize and admit to the true character of the situation has kept them in that role, with intercontinental ballistic missiles poised to rain down devouring flame upon our cities.

It is, rather, that the control of the intranuclear strong force, the strongest force of physics, with its very short range of action, and the ability to escape from gravitation, the weakest of the fundamental forces, with its infinite range of action, gather into our hands the forces which light the stars and shape the galaxies. We are not as gods — not yet! But we are masters of our own destiny in a way impossible before, and our choices are, in the words of Wells, the whole Universe, or nothing!

The Campaign for Real Mail

In this day of e–mail, instant messenging, SMS, and so on, many people find it easy to believe that the letter post is somehow obsolete. They are, thus, willing to ignore the importance in our civilization of postal service, with its messengers visiting practically every household and business practically every day. As a result, the post offices, already assailed from without by private courier and parcel services (which take the most lucrative part of the business, and leave the rest to the public system), are increasingly undermined from within. The world of the 21st century is far wealthier than that of the 19th was. Shouldn’t it be able to boast better postal service?

Live–Action Audiobooks

People keep telling me I have a radio voice. With the popularity of Internet video live–streams, I thought, perhaps people would be interested to see me read an entire novel in a single sitting. Specifically I settled on early science fiction, stories which are often powerful but neglected influences on the SF and fantasy literature of today — and through it, on our world as a whole, which in many ways reflects the dreams inspired by that literature.

Classic Anime Festival

Since the summer of 2000 I have been accumulating a library of Japanese Animation on LaserDisc. To me, this is not a mere dead collection, but something to be put to use. One of these uses, something I have been doing since 2007, is showings at anime fandom conventions. My feeling is that the fandom has become sufficiently mainstream, and gathered a sufficiently large following, that it is desirable to take a little time and show the newer fans the kind of material which captured the attention of the people who became the early fans — in other words, the foundations which made the fandom possible, or the seed from which it grew.

Because of the challenges inherent in moving discs and player around, I have tended to stick fairly close to home with these events, and my primary venue has been Project A–Kon, the oldest regularly–held Japanese animation fandom convention in North America. My tradition, when holding the event at A–Kon, has been to finish up with the film Project A–Ko, one of the inspirations behind the name of the convention. A–Kon 2020 and 2021 were cancelled as a result of the global pandemic, but 2022 has seen it return. Whatever the future holds, I should state that I am fully willing to go as far as, say, San Antonio or even Corpus Christi in one direction, Oklahoma City or Tulsa in the other, and I have held a CAF event at a Chibi–Ushikon (north side of Austin).

Miscellany and Interests

Telephony

C D Carson
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