Weekly Notes: April 21-27, 2025: A week in the life of…. Thoughts, photos, links, and miscellany from the past week. https://michaelhans.com/eclecticism/2025/04/27/weekly-notes-april-21-27-2025

#CascadiaCon #DSSC #Norwescon #OryCon #WAPED #WeeklyNotes #Westercon #WorldFantasyConvention #Worldcon #Conventions #Personal

No, really! Chaos is part of the set up process.
Orycon downtown portland
#convention #portland #orycon

I left Oregon 24 years ago. One of the things I miss most is going to #Orycon, being on @jstevenyork toy panel and firing these sons of bitches around the panel room. Steve had one too and we put a hurting on some ceiling tiles.

I am bequeathing mine to my kid to run around this big yard getting it stuck in trees and on the roof.

#galoob #DragonFlyz

Pleased to say that #orycon continues to take masking seriously (we’ve got close to 100% compliance).

My wife's guide to getting dressed for #orycon. Boots first, then corset. Badge first, then dragon.

Congratulations to Sara A. Mueller for winning the Endeavor Award. The Bone Orchard was my pick this year. #Orycon

I'm at #orycon. I'll be reading about Do-Ye0n and his bad choices as it appeared in #crooked

4:30 at Flanders. They hide these things in the basement to avoid too many people showing up and getting in trouble with the fire chief. Best to arrive early so you get a good seat!

Truggster and friends encourage me to keep working on my #NaNoWriMo novel even though I’m at #Orycon this weekend…

I've been asked to participate in the #orycon panel titled "Beyond One World and One Species." Here are my preliminary thoughts...

"Bad science fiction shows us a future where nothing changes and everyone looks like us. "

https://niemannross.com/2023/11/02/beyond-one-world-and-one-species/

I'll be participating in "AI for Business, Internet, and Theft" at #orycon

"Major players in the software and hardware world are pumping industry 4.0, IoT, AI for business and many other aspects of connectivity and computing. What real world benefits do these have and how can we use them? What can be done about AI generated plagiarism software and other nefarious uses of AI?"

https://sched.co/1Tqfr

I'll be participating in "Beyond One World and One Species" at #orycon

"Millennia of diaspora from Old Home Terra would almost certainly produce any number of subvariants of humanity including genetically engineered transhumans and cyborgs. Consider not "the" future of humanity but "the futures" of humanity. Save for a common heritage distant in time, they might be alien species. What might that be like?"

https://sched.co/1Tqfx

I'll be participating in "Post Chatbot GPT" at #orycon

"AI Chat bots can write your high school paper and you might not get caught. In a few years, maybe less, you won't get caught. What happens when academics can's tell? How do we ensure research doesn't get undermined?"

https://sched.co/1Tqgs

#orycon posted their schedule! I'll be participating in three sessions - link: https://orycon43.sched.com/speaker/mark_niemann_ross.25ut4434

I'm speaking at #Orycon November 10 & 11. One panel session is titled "AI for Business, Internet, and Theft." Here are my preliminary thoughts...

https://niemannross.com/2023/10/21/ai-for-business-internet-and-theft/

@kite

FYI, I found this on the Venue page of the PRGE webpage.

"COVID-19 Mask and Vaccination Requirements

Portland Retro Gaming Expo will be following current Oregon State Department of Health Guidelines. Currently their guidance is masks and vaccination status will not be required. For more information please click here"

BTW, local #SF #convention #OryCon (this November) doesn't have a flashy website but masks are required.

https://orycon.org/policies/conduct.php#masking

--one of the #PDX mask wearers

The Endeavour Award, sponsored by OSFCI, is looking for more preliminary readers to read & score #SFF books published in 2022 by #PNW authors. Readers are not limited geographically.

More readers who can read & rate a book quickly & fairly using the provided guidelines will increase the chance that we will be ready to announce the 2022 award winner at #OryCon in Nov..

Award winners get a trophy & a $1,000 award.

Contact Award Coordinator Jim Kling at jkling at gmail dot com for more info.

More tweet memories as I delete them. The time at #Orycon 1999 when one person asked for my autograph and it was Larry Niven.

Just finished an amazing set of panels at #Orycon about #furry fiction and why we need lots more of it. :)

Thoughts on the OryCon Hiatus

In 2021, after OryCon 42, the event is planning to go on hiatus until - minimum 2023 - after announcing an indefinite hiatus. This means, for at least next year, possibly longer if they don't get volunteers, Oregon will be without a Lit-SF convention. As OryCon is the first lit-SF convention I went to, the convention that caused me

https://countzeroor.com/2021/11/18/thoughts-on-the-orycon-hiatus/

#Miscellanous #conventions #OryCon #ScienceFictionFandom