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Welcome to The Genre Traveler! Please sign up using the form to the right so that you'll get all the latest updates to the site. You also might want to sign up for the RSS feed, which you can do via email or your favorite RSS Reader. I read this commentary the other day on what makes a blog a blog. The key is the commenting feature, and yet most blogs don't receive many comments, if at all.

The writer gave some reason as to why he thought comments were few and far between. "First, there's the frenetic pace of the postings. Many of these bloggers are posting every day, or every other day. People don't have time to comment on one item before they're assaulted with another one."

I try to post two to three times a week. If you think this is too often, please let me know. You can do so by posting a comment or sending an email to editor@thegenretraveler.com.

"Another reason we think many blogs don't draw comments: links."

One of the purposes of this blog is to keep you informed on events I discover that can't wait until the next issue of The Genre Traveler. If I don't provide links for more information, the post really isn't useful to you. So, I guess, this is a valid reason for not posting comments on this blog.

Of course, there's always the reason that you have nothing to say. And that's OK. I just want to know that you find this service useful. I'm working on better ways to provide you with this information and hope to have everything in place by January, maybe sooner. But until then, you'll just have to get this information here.

Oh, another thing mentioned in the article was what syndicated columnist Joel Stein once wrote in a column of his regarding the blog trend in the newspaper industry:

"Here's what my Internet-fearing editors have failed to understand: I don't want to talk to you; I want to talk at you. A column is not my attempt to engage in a conversation with you. I have more than enough people to converse with. And I don't listen to them either."

Rest assured, I do want to talk to you. I want to build a community of like-minded individuals. My dreams for The Genre Traveler are for it to be a liaison between science fiction, fantasy and horror fans and the travel opportunities that cater to them. We're not quite there yet, but its building. Thank you for being a part of this voyage.

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If you'd like to read the original story,you can find it here:
When is a blog not a blog?

This weekend I received an interesting newsletter in the mail called Artificial Retina News. It says its "the first issue of a newsletter about the Artificial Retina Project of the U.S. Department of Energy."

One sidebar discusses the engineering of "The Bionic Eye." The plan is to create a devise that "consists of a tiny camera and microprocessor mounted in eyeglasses, a receiver implanted behind the ear, and an electrode-studded array that is tacked to the retina. A wireless battery pack worn on the belt powers the entire devise."

Sounds pretty cool, huh?

Now what does this have to do with genre travel? Well, for one a prototype has enabled "patients to distinguish light from dark and localize large objects." They even showed a pateint shaking hands with Mickey Mouse at Disneyland.

Also, once such devices are perfected and many of the blind are able to see, they'll be able to more fully enjoy genre travel while using a device once only possible in fiction!

Now that's really cool.

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For More Information:
Artificial Retina News, Vol. 1, Issue 1: Fall 2006
Jeepers Creepers, Bionic Peepers, Wired, May, 05, 2005
Sandia researchers to model nano-size battery to be implanted in eye to power artificial retina, Sandia Corporation News Release, January 12, 2006

I don't know about you, but I didn't even know that Princeton had an ESP lab. And now, after three decades of research, it is closing its doors, according to a New York Times Article from Saturday.

At the end of the month, the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research laboratory, or PEAR, will pack up its equipment and put them in storage. Since 1979, this small lab has studied extrasensory perception and telekinesis using random-motion machines, from a pendulum to a giant, wall-mounted machine harboring a cascade of bouncing balls.

"For 28 years, we've done what we wanted to do," the laboratory's founder, Robert G. Jahn, told the New York Times. "If people don't believe us after all the results we've produced, then they never will."

Apparently, data from PEAR's experiments indicate that people can alter the behavior of machines very slightly, changing about 2 or 3 flips out of 10,000. But their research was ignored by mainstream science. They could not get their work published in scientific journals.

"We submitted our data for review to very good journals," Brenda Dunne, a developmental psychologist who has managed the laboratory since it opened told the New York Times, "but no one would review it. We have been very open with our data. But how do you get peer review when you don't have peers?"

In addition to the snub, several times expert panels have examined PEAR's research methods in an effort to find flaws or irregularities. The were unable to find sufficient reason to stop the work.

An underpinning belief in science is the freedom to explore ideas, regardless of how far-fetched they may seem. Without this, we'd still believe the Earth revolved around the sun and that it was flat.

But, PEAR's equipment is aging and "It's time for a new era," Dr. Jahn said. It is time to move beyond proving the human mind can change the world around it and "figure out what the implications of our results are for human culture, for future study, and — if the findings are correct — what they say about our basic scientific attitude."

I tell you this little story, because I think there are analogies for the science fiction, fantasy and horror community. We are a microcosm of the greater human experience. Whether or not you believe ESP exists, I'm betting you still think it would cool (or frightening) if it did. So, what do you have to say?

One of my favorite amusement parks when I was young was Marine World Africa USA. I remember when it was in Redwood City in the South Bay and when it moved to its current location in Vallejo.

A few years ago, I was there with my husband, an college friend and her (then) boyfriend (now husband). The fact that the park seemed to be moving away from its animal center base and was becoming a more "action ride" based park wit animals came up. We weren't too happy about the idea.

I still have reservations. I'm not sure it is all that good for the animals to be around all that whooshing, clinking, clanging and screaming.

I bring this up, because the transformation has come so far that the park is changing its name. On Jan. 17, the park announced it was changing its name to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom with "thrills by land, sea and sky."

Marine World Africa USA was, according to the press release, "America's original combination wildlife park, oceanarium and theme park."

The park will open for the season on March 24, 2007, with areas organized into three areas: Land, Sea and Sky. "Each area will offer something special for every guest, as the new Six Flags Discovery Kingdom is designed to foster both physical and emotional discovery in a dynamic, family-friendly environment," according to the release.

"The name Six Flags Discovery Kingdom now reflects every aspect of what makes the park so unique," said Six Flags President and CEO Mark Shapiro. "Throughout its history, Marine World offered guests a truly distinctive theme park environment, and Six Flags Discovery Kingdom will build and improve on that great tradition. Only at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom can guests ride world-class coasters, feed giraffes, interact with dolphins and watch a killer whale glide through the water, all in one location."

For more information, visit www.sixflags.com/parks/discoverykingdom/index.asp.

I just heard on the radio this morning that the Baltimore Comic-Con was this weekend. I mention it for two reasons.

First, many genre fans are comic fans, too. So, some of my readers may find this of interest. If this is you, you can find out all you need to know at www.comicon.com/baltimore.

Second, I’m not a big comic fan – I find the pictures too distracting. I’m more of a word person. And that’s O.K. In fact, I think this is what makes genre fandom so wonderful. We’re all a little weird in our own unique way and through fandom we can find others who are weird in similar ways, make friends and have a good time.

Which brings me back to conventions. What I really enjoy about going to cons is the intellectual stimulation. I love sitting in on the panels and listening to intelligent people discuss all sorts of ideas from how to write a good story to what natural disasters are plausible to what would aliens really look and act like.

Others go to cons to show off their costuming skills. Still others, to collect autographs. Cons have something for all of us and together we have created a community that thrives on diversity. Isn’t that just so cool?