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The following are some events that you might be interested in checking out if you’re in the area or putting in your tickler file for next year:

December 1, 2005
The National Humanities Center Lecture Series
“Historical Counterfactuals and Alternate History Novels”

Catherine Gallagher from the University of California, Berkeley will discuss the alternate history sub-genre of science fiction at the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

The lecture will begin at 5 p.m. and will be followed by a reception. Supported by the North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Educational and Cultural Outreach Endowment Fund, the lecture is free and open to the public.

In addition to being an Eggers Professor of English Literature at UCB, Ms. Gallagher is also an Archie K. Davis Senior Fellow at the National Humanities Center. The National Humanities Center is the only major independent American institute for advanced study in all fields of the humanities. Beginning operation in 1978, it was planned under the auspices of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

The National Humanities Center is located at 7 Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709. For more information, call (919) 549-0661.

Now Through January 8, 2006
Strange Matter … It's Strange and It's Science!

This exhibit at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C., focuses on the materials science of every day stuff -- from the shoes we wear to the CDs we hear to the bikes we ride. “Understanding how that stuff is put together, how it can be used, how it can be changed and made better to do more amazing things--even creating completely new kinds of stuff: that's what materials science is all about,” says the museum’s website.

Strange Matter investigates the structure of exotic and ordinary materials, revealing what gives them their remarkable properties. Visitors can learn about magnetic liquids, liquids that can respond to magnets; amorphous metals, such as Liquidmetal® alloy, one of the world’s hardest materials, that can improve your golf game or help a patient in the operating room; and the importance of material structures and defects. There is a Touch Table where younger children can discover materials through hands-on experimentation and “zoom” area where visitors can look at materials from the macro (or naked-eye) scale down to the nanoscale.

Strange Matter is presented by the Materials Research Society. The exhibit and its tour are supported by the National Science Foundation, Alcan, Dow, Ford Motor Company Fund, Intel® Innovation in Education and the 3M Foundation.

For more information, go to www.strangematterexhibit.com.

This Saturday, Nov. 19, Andrew Lowe will present a free web-based seminar titled "Using the Internet to discover Asteroids." The seminar, which is a public service of RAS (Remote Astronomical Society) Observatory, will start at noon MST.

To participate and learn more, you will need to join a Yahoo! group specifically setup for this meeting, which should be a snap if you are already a member of Yahoo! Groups to subscribe to The Genre Traveler. The link to this group is at www.ras-observatory.org/ras/Web_Seminars/web_seminars.html.

Space is limited, so the RAS Observatory urges interested parties to sign-up quickly to guarantee their seat.

This is the second web seminar offered by RAS Observatory. "Along with this series of seminars," says Martin Nicholson, director of the RAS Observatory, "the RAS Observatory is also offering additional programs to provide amateur astronomers with similar remote observing facilities currently only enjoyed by professional astronomers."

The seminar is presented in conjunction with Ivocalize.com, (www.ivocalize.com) a web conference hosting service and will last approximately 1 hour.

Next Saturday, Nov. 19, 2005, the Bishop Museum’s Science Adventure Center in Hawai‘i will open its doors for the very first time. This 16,500 square-foot facility focuses on “the natural wonders of Hawai‘i and the world through science exploration,” and it does this in a very immersive and interactive way.

There’s

• an interactive volcanic vent, where visitors can control the spray of lava fountains;
• a 160-foot tunnel lit with black light that helps illustrate the origins of the island;
• an exhibit where visitors can control the lights and camera of the same underwater remote camera robots used for oceanography and shipwreck exploration;

and so much more.

For a sneak peak at the center, visit www.bishopmuseum.org and click on "Virtual Preview of the Science Adventure Center!"

The center was designed by Gyroscope, Inc., a California-based exhibit design firm. The museum is located at 1525 Bernice Street, Honolulu, HI 96817.

And, if you’re a dino-buff, you’ll want to check out the “Baby Dinosaurs: Prehistoric Playground” exhibit, which will be there until Dec. 11, 2005.

The following are some events that you might be interested in checking out if you’re in the area, or putting in your tickler file for next year:

November 25-27, 2005
ChamBanaCon 35
Billed as the "singing, eating, reading, so you can relax convention," ChamBanaCon is held in Springfiled, Ill., each year. This year, guests of honor will include author Timothy Zahn, fans Frank and Millie Kalisz, and toastmaster PJ Beese.

Activities includes author readings, gaming and world building, an art show, a filk room, and more. Registration is $35 until Nov. 15, then $40 at the door.

For more information: http://chambanacon.org/

December 7-12, 2005
Goldeneye Film Festival & Retreat
More that 350 reels of feature films, documentaries and shorts form around the globe will be showcased at the second annual Goldeneye Film Festival & Retreat held at James Bond’s birthplace. Goldeneye, in Oracabessa Bay, Jamaica, where Ian Fleming wrote all 13 James Bond novels, is now an Island Outpost resort.

David Koh, head of Acquisitions and Productions for Palm Pictures, and Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, Island Pictures, Palm Pictures and Island Outpost, announced the dates for this year’s festival at Cannes Film Festival.

"The event will feature a conference, retreat, film festival, live music and tours to key spots," promise Koh and Blackwell. "In short, it’s your quickest way to experience the best of Jamaica and the Caribbean."

The line-up includes retrospectives about surfing, French noir and Bob Marley (whom Blackwell helped launch). Screenings also explore the history of Hong Kong cinema, James Bond movies, westerns, midnight specials and Jamaican films.

For more information: http://www.islandoutpost.com/lifestyle/

December 9-11
Philcon 2005
David Weber, science fiction writer and author of the Honor Harrinton series, will be the principal speaker at this year’s Philcon, in the City of Brotherly Love. Artist David Mattingly will also be there.

Activities will include a masquerade, film room, anime room, art show, gaming room and more. This year, it will be at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown.

For more information: http://philcon.org/2005/

November is a big month for space buffs. Five years ago this month, Bill Shepherd and his crew, flight engineers Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko, first arrived at the International Space Station. 39 years ago this month, Gemini XII made its only trip into space with Jim Lovell and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin aboard. And, on Saturday, Nov. 12, Captain Wally Schirra, one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, and Ed Buckbee, author and NASA consultant, will be at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson, Kan., for a free public book signing.

Since 1961, more than 400 humans have ventured into space. And since Nov. 2, 2000, the International Space Station has grown and evolved into a unique, state-of-the-art laboratory complex -- as well as held a continuous human presence -- thanks to a partnership between NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency, the Canadian Space Agency, the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. Its microgravity environment -- something that cannot be duplicated on Earth -- helps scientists further humankind’s knowledge of how the human body functions for long periods of time in space. This is vital information if we are going to have long-duration missions to Mars or establish a base on the moon.

“The shape of our future space exploration is still to be formed," says Shepherd. “We may have adequate technologies, but exploration is more about purpose.”

We -- all humankind -- started out small, a little satellite called Sputnik. But now, says Shepherd, "We are at a crossroads, deciding whether we are bound to inhabit only the Earth, or if humans are to live and work far from the home planet.”

In the U.S., the space program started with the Mercury program, which is the primary subject of Schirra’s and Buckbee’s book, “The Real Space Cowboys.” Released in paperback with a DVD on May 1 of this year, it covers the early years of the American space program, through the moon landings, with an emphasis on the Mercury Seven, the elite fighter pilots who were selected to be America's first astronauts. The signing will take place in the Cosmosphere’s lobby from noon to 2 p.m.

Following Mercury was Gemini. Whereas the Mercury capsules proved we could get a person into space and into orbit, the Gemini program demonstrated the flight duration, teamwork and rendezvous methods that would be necessary to go to the moon. This month, the specialists at the Cosmosphere will take in the Gemini XII craft and spend the next three months restoring it, just as they did with the Gemini VI and Gemini X.

After Gemini, came Apollo, the program and landed humans on the moon. If you’d like a taste of what that experience was like, go no further than your local IMAX theater. “Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D,” directed by Mark Cowen and produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, claims to “transport you to the lunar surface to walk alongside the 12 extraordinary astronauts who have been there to experience what they saw, heard, felt, thought and did.” Presented and narrated by Tom Hanks, “Magnificent Desolation” is sponsored by Lockheed Martin Corporation and filmed with the cooperation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. For a listing of theatres playing this movie in the U.S. and Canada, go to the IMAX website.

SUMMARY OF EVENTS DISCUSSED

Free Public Book Signing
The Real Space Cowboys
By Wally Schirra and Ed Buckbee
Saturday, Nov. 12
Noon to 2 p.m.
Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center
Hutchinson, Kansas
www.cosmo.org

Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D
IMAX Theaters
Now Playing Listing of Theatres