Mike Brotherton, astronomer/educator/author, Timothy Slater, astronomer/educator, and Stephanie Slater, astronomer/cognitive scientist captivated an eager group of science fiction writers and enthusiasts drawn to all things lunar, solar, and stellar. The Launch Pad Astronomy Workshop for Writers made its Dragon*Con debut Saturday and crammed topics ranging from our solar system to the observable universe into a mere seven hours.
The speaker on the Science Track panel “Chemical Warfare—An Introduction” (Saturday 4PM) Erica Borgers Klonkowski, a biochemist at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, took the audience on a whirlwind tour of the history, development, and modern use of chemical weapons. A chemical agent, she said, is a chemical compound used in tactical warfare. Some people consider anthrax a chemical weapon,… Read more →
A lot of us have no idea how to prepare for a special moment in front of the camera with a celebrity guest at Dragon*Con. So, what does it take? A massive amount of work, that’s what. Craig Damon, of Craig Damon: Photographer, arrived in Atlanta on Wednesday just to get the layout of his room and to check his… Read more →
“A Wizard, a Dwarf, a Hobbit, and an Elf, Oh My!” started ten minutes late as the Saturday afternoon capacity crowd packed into Centennial II-III at the Hyatt. When, Billy Boyd, Sylvester McCoy, Craig Parker, and John Rhys-Davies came onstage, the cheers were nearly deafening. Boyd opened the discussion by talking about his band, Bee Cake, and how they chose… Read more →
Randal Schwartz and Johnny X were the hosts of this informative and funny panel on Saturday, 7PM, at the Marriott. This presentation was not about how to hack, but how to be private with your information while out in public. On the screen was a display he called the Wall of Sheep, showing recent users who had logged into the… Read more →
Friday afternoon, Mike Capps, president of Epic Games, Inc., led the panel on the Infinity Blade game franchise, joined by lead designer Ian Frazier and author Brandon Winn Sanderson. After beginning the panel with a video teaser of the upcoming Infinity Blade: Dungeons, the third installment of this popular iOS game, Capps started a discussion of Sanderson’s involvement in the… Read more →
Every year, hospitals and ER’s require hundreds of thousands of units of blood. Natural disasters like Hurricane Isaac have a double impact; they raise the need for blood, and at the same time, make it impossible for people in the areas affected to donate themselves. Without donations from blood drives, lives are directly put at risk. Ten minutes of your… Read more →
Matthew Prince Lowry, a physics teacher at both the high school and college levels, was the moderator of this interesting, four-person panel held on Saturday, 5:30PM, 202 (Hilton). The first theory addressed was the Grey Goo Theory. The term was first used by molecular nanotechnology pioneer Eric Drexler in his book, Engines of Creation (1986). In chapter four of Engines… Read more →
