Oct 19 7pm, San Diego Transhumanists at Rock Bottom

The title is "Understanding Paths and Goals to Our Improvement" for the San Diego Transhumanists at Rock Bottom in la Jolla.  RSVP here.  Sorry, no outdoors bonfire this time, but this way we can have good beer and food.

Oct 19, I'm Doing a Talk for San Diego Transhumanists

This Friday October 19 I'll be doing a talk entitled "Understanding Paths and Goals to Our Improvement" for the San Diego Transhumanists. RSVP here. It will be informal and relatively brief with discussion afterward, and I'm planning on doing it outside with a bonfire (exact location to be announced in the next few days). Bring a snack and a fleece if it's chilly, or just modify yourself to tolerate the cold better, your call.

Metal Update - GWAR Nov 3 in Santa Ana

Gwar at the Observatory in Santa Ana, November 3rd. Bunch of San Diego types coming up for the show. If you see me in there say hi. Or better yet, say America Must Be Destroyed.

Also, saw the Iron Maidens in Carlsbad last night. I'd missed them three times before and finally found out about this one, literally an hour before it started. Dayum was that a fun show.  They're in San Diego again on Saturday November 10th at Pure Platinum in Kearny Mesa.

And finally, see if you can spot the Ride the Lightning reference in this article.

San Diego Transhumanists

Just went to my first one of these this past Friday.  I liked it a lot because it was structured, kind of like a nano-TED.  Check out the next one here.

Why Would Natural Selection Not Work the Same Over Interstellar Distances

"The late Czech astronomer Zdeněk Kopal summarized the pessimist outlook succinctly decades ago, in conversation with his British colleague David Whitehouse. As they were talking about contact with alien civilizations, Kopal grabbed Whitehouse by the arm and coldly said, 'Should we ever hear the space-phone ringing, for God’s sake let us not answer. We must avoid attracting attention to ourselves.'"

- From a review of/interview about the new book about the search for intelligent alien life Five Billion Years of Solitude

The Most Metal Puss Ever

He seems very over it. FYI Bill Murray is the cat's name. This confused me greatly at first.

Darth Vader Rises

Turns out that respirator is putting out heated air. This comes courtesy Dorothy, who was at the big annual New Mexico balloon launch. Dumbo, Elvis and an Angry Bird were also in attendance.

Metal and Will Wheaton

Reader Greg kindly passes along a link which delivers exactly what the title of this post promises.  The union of metal and sf is great, but Wheaton is a pop culture vortex and we shouldn't be surprised he has achieved this union.

Nerdcore Night at the Ruby Room, 8pm Thurs 4 Oct

I just ran across the San Diego Speculative Fiction Society, Inc. which among other things is the sponsor of the San Diego Sci-Fi/Fantasy Meetup Group. They're even having a con this weekend, but I'll just be going to Nerdcore Night this Thursday 4 Oct 2012, 8pm at the Ruby Room in Hillcrest.

MSL - Metal Sign Language