The Cambias Digression

Notes and thoughts on everything from what I had for breakfast to the fate of the Universe.

  • Notes on Worldbuilding Part 14: Low-Temperature Biologies

    Most of the Universe is really dark and cold, so life which might exist in such conditions is worth thinking about. For every world with oceans of liquid water there are dozens of planets and moons with only ice. There's an upper temperature limit for As-We-Know-It life: above about 333 Kelvin (60 C, or 140…

    jamescambias

  • Notes on Worldbuilding Part 13: Weird Life at Liquid-Water Temperatures

    The last entry discussed possible biochemistries for planets hotter than Earth, ranging from "hot" to "incomprehensibly hot." Such life forms may actually exist in the Universe, but for fictional purposes they're a little inconvenient. When either the aliens or the humans have to make brief visits to the other civilization wearing heavy protective gear, it…

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  • Notes on Worldbuilding Revived!

    I know, it's been more than six months, but now I really really am getting back to the worldbuilding series. I promise. Pinky-swear.  As proof of my sincerity, I've updated the entry on hot planet life forms. You can find the revised version here. Next time I'll look at variant life for Earthlike worlds, and…

    jamescambias

  • Chatbots and Gamemasters

    The author of one of my favorite roleplaying game blogs — he uses the handle "Noisms" and the blog is called Monsters & Manuals — recently tried an interesting experiment to see how well ChatGPT could run a solo roleplaying session using his own published game setting "Yoon-Suin." Short answer: not well.  It's worth reading…

    jamescambias

  • In Memoriam

    There is sorrow enough in the natural wayFrom men and women to fill our day;And when we are certain of sorrow in store,Why do we always arrange for more?Brothers and Sisters, I bid you bewareOf giving your heart to a dog to tear. Buy a pup and your money will buyLove unflinching that cannot lie…

    jamescambias

  • Scarab Mission NOW Available

    I have eyewitness confirmation from a friend that my new novel The Scarab Mission has reached bookstores. Or a bookstore, anyway. I'm assuming the distributor isn't just shipping to one retailer. So to everyone who has been waiting for a copy, go forth and buy! And if your local store doesn't have The Scarab Mission,…

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  • Radio Active

    My media presence continues to spread. In addition to podcasts, blogs, and social media, now I'm on AM radio! I was a guest on WHMP in Northampton, talking about (what else?) The Scarab Mission. You can listen to that episode here (my segment starts at the 31 minute mark).  Megan Zinn, the interviewer, had a…

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  • Boskone 60

    This coming Friday I'll be at Boskone, the longest-running SF convention in New England, at the dear old Westin Seaport hotel in Boston. If you want to stop in and see me in person, my convention schedule is here: FRIDAY, February 17 4:00 p.m.: Serving Up a Tasty World — There's more to fictional dining than…

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  • Unexpectedly Serious Musings

    The economist Robin Hanson has a wonderful wide-ranging curiosity. He developed the "Great Filter" concept for SETI, and wrote a paper about expanding alien civilizations and what it means if we haven't detected them. Now he's tackling the ideological divide in our society, the so-called "culture war" by examining how it derives from what people…

    jamescambias

  • Howard Hughes Vindicated!

    DARPA, the Defense Department's official mad-scientist branch, has signed contracts with two companies to develop a super-heavy-lift flying boat for military transport. Here's the article from the US Naval Institute Web site. Why resurrect a technology which has been sidelined for seventy years? Since the end of World War II flying boats have hung on…

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