Now that the Blackhawks' worst losing streak since before the Toews era is over, the organization has sent Andrew Shaw back down to the AHL and has recalled Jimmy Hayes to take his place. Some people have a problem with this. Those people are idiots.
Andrew Shaw became something of a sensation when he scored 5 goals in his first 8 NHL games. #shawfacts trended on Twitter, people who wear pink or green Hawks jerseys claimed him as one of their favorite players, and still others who luckily don't have a voice on the internet talked about him in the same breath as Hossa and Toews.
Perhaps because of all of this, when Marcus Kruger came back from injury, the Hawks kept Shaw on the roster and sent Jimmy Hayes back down to the minors. In the next 11 games, Shaw scored 0G, 3A, and is a -8. And no one who knows anything about hockey is the least bit surprised.
Because of the Shaw hype, Hayes' first NHL experience went largely unnoticed. People who don't watch or understand hockey get really excited about goals, and so Shaw scoring 5 in 8 games was very exciting. But Hayes was, is, and will be a better player. Hayes had 3G 8A, and -1 in 13 games, which is two points better than Shaw in six fewer games. He's eight inches taller and 60lb heavier than Shaw, had a better junior career, and actually displays some hockey sense. Hayes still needs to grow into his monster body, but for a giant he displays some good hands. Hayes can obviously work the boards a lot better than Shaw, who usually flails around hopelessly until someone knocks him over.
I wouldn't be surprised to see Andrew Shaw return to the lineup later in the season, maybe when the Q realizes how useless Michael Frolik is. But expect Hayes to play more games this year, and to secure a roster spot next year. Shaw is this year's Ben Smith; useful in bursts, but not good enough to have a lasting presence unless he develops more.
Friday, February 17, 2012
Monday, February 6, 2012
In which I review a book about crazy people
Driving Me Nuts! by PJ Jones is a funny little book. You can get through it in a night, and you'll smile while you read it, but there's a lot of depth here. Ruckus and Fred sneak out of the Shady Grove mental institution every Friday, steal the orderly's car, and take a trip into town to buy ice cream and romance novels. Apple, another inmate, has bigger plans when she tricks her way onto their traditional expedition, and takes them on a road trip they'll never forget.
Right? OK, here's the deal, Driving Me Nuts! has some of the best characters I've met in a long, long time. The book has all of the things that great books have, gunfights, a love story, snappy dialogue, intense scenes, creepy bad guys, all of that. But the characters really drive this story, and they do it so well I've been thinking about them for a week. I'd liken it to the Portal video game. Yes, it's short, but it does what it does so well that part of what makes it so good is that it's so tightly crafted that there isn't any need for something longer.
In the right eye (mine), Jones teaches a class in character development in this book, and I'm a better writer for having read it. Look at it another way and you'll be hard pressed to like someone who'll piss on your mail as much as you like Ruckus. Even the weakest link of this cast of characters, the hobo, Garth Vader, is more an embodiment of magical realism than anything else, and I ain't one to knock a book over a bit of style.
Jones has deservedly gotten a fair amount of praise for her parody work, but I suspect I won't be the last fan she wins with Driving Me Nuts! instead.
5/5
Right? OK, here's the deal, Driving Me Nuts! has some of the best characters I've met in a long, long time. The book has all of the things that great books have, gunfights, a love story, snappy dialogue, intense scenes, creepy bad guys, all of that. But the characters really drive this story, and they do it so well I've been thinking about them for a week. I'd liken it to the Portal video game. Yes, it's short, but it does what it does so well that part of what makes it so good is that it's so tightly crafted that there isn't any need for something longer.
In the right eye (mine), Jones teaches a class in character development in this book, and I'm a better writer for having read it. Look at it another way and you'll be hard pressed to like someone who'll piss on your mail as much as you like Ruckus. Even the weakest link of this cast of characters, the hobo, Garth Vader, is more an embodiment of magical realism than anything else, and I ain't one to knock a book over a bit of style.
Jones has deservedly gotten a fair amount of praise for her parody work, but I suspect I won't be the last fan she wins with Driving Me Nuts! instead.
5/5
Friday, February 3, 2012
The problem with aliens
I had an interesting conversation on Fark today. This sort of thing comes up every now and then, and I love the discussions that ensue. I'd like to say that I love science fiction in general, but really, I love the idea of science fiction more than I love the genre itself.
It comes down to this: if you want to make a traditional spaceships and lasers science fiction story interesting, you have to make it into a fantasy. Since I was talking about aliens today, we'll start there.
The problem with aliens, whether in a science fiction story or UFO fantasies or doomsday prediction is simple:
Any civilization that has achieved interstellar travel has no use or need for Earth or anything on it.
Interstellar travel by biological organisms requires a container that can survive years in deep space without any energy or material input. Because of the energy requirements for moving mass, it's exceptionally unlikely this closed system is stocked with enough supplies to sustain the organisms for the duration of their journey. After all, with enough energy and efficient recycling, you can create a self-sustaining closed system using far less mass.
In fact, since aliens have to obey the same laws of physics we do, any craft capable of interstellar travel would have fuel make up 95%+ of its mass. The remaining mass has to include all of the spaces, systems, and supplies that biological organisms need to survive a few decades in transit. And therin lies the problem.
Because if a civilization can create an interstellar spaceship, it can also create self-sustaining artificial habitats in a fraction of the time for a fraction of the cost.
An artificial habitat in close orbit around the civilization's home star can fabricate anything it could ever need using the star's incredible energy output and by harvesting mass ejected by stellar eruptions and stellar wind. In fact, the only difference between an artificial habitat and an interstellar spacecraft are engines and fuel. The habitat needs neither. Instead, the habitat can have more useful, practical things, like an expanded self-sustaining ecosystem to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants, or solar collectors so anything the inhabitants want or need can be manufactured in short order, or even simply more internal volume so the inhabitants don't have to spend decades hot bunking with each other.
In fact, if a civilization can create an interstellar spacecraft, there is no necessary reason it to leave the orbit of own star until their total energy consumption matches their star's output, or the star itself goes extinct. And when and if either of those things happen, their destination would be the nearest star. It takes mindboggling amounts of energy and time to travel from star to star. The fastest proposed propulsion humans have come up with would take more than 40,000 years to reach the nearest exoplanet. The same method could reach Proxima Centauri in a decade or so (assuming it actually works, and assuming it ever gets built).
And when your civilization can create anything it could ever need on an artificial habitat in close stellar orbit, why would you have any use for the rocky planets around an adopted star? Why would you travel to a star with rocky planets in orbit when there are hundreds others that are closer and give you everything you need? That's not to say that aliens would never leave their home star, just that the only reasons for doing so are curiosity and leisure.
Therefore, there is no necessary reason for aliens with access to interstellar travel to come into conflict with another civilization.
There is no competition for stars, which are the only physical resource worth mentioning. Information, the only other resource that matters, can be gathered in countless ways that are faster, cheaper, safer, and more effective than sending biological explorers into the void.
Now, yes, it's possible that an interstellar civilization would be interested in establishing trade with humanity, although anything traded would have to exceed the cost of shipping, which is unbelievably high. It's also possible some aliens would want to visit or study humans in person, even though sending a probe would be exponentially more efficient.
But it's not necessary. An interstellar civilization needs nothing from planet-bound civilizations. It cannot be threatened by them, it cannot be infringed upon by them, and it cannot be bothered with them.
Interstellar civilizations have every reason to ignore planet-bound civilizations, and no reasons to be hostile with other interstellar civilizations.
If interstellar civilizations ever come in contact with each other, it will likely be via radio, so they can trade ideas and information without ever leaving the bounty of their home and/or local star(s). Sure beats farting around in the interstellar dark for a few decades so you can look at some apes that your probes can get better pictures of anyway.
It comes down to this: if you want to make a traditional spaceships and lasers science fiction story interesting, you have to make it into a fantasy. Since I was talking about aliens today, we'll start there.
The problem with aliens, whether in a science fiction story or UFO fantasies or doomsday prediction is simple:
Any civilization that has achieved interstellar travel has no use or need for Earth or anything on it.
Interstellar travel by biological organisms requires a container that can survive years in deep space without any energy or material input. Because of the energy requirements for moving mass, it's exceptionally unlikely this closed system is stocked with enough supplies to sustain the organisms for the duration of their journey. After all, with enough energy and efficient recycling, you can create a self-sustaining closed system using far less mass.
In fact, since aliens have to obey the same laws of physics we do, any craft capable of interstellar travel would have fuel make up 95%+ of its mass. The remaining mass has to include all of the spaces, systems, and supplies that biological organisms need to survive a few decades in transit. And therin lies the problem.
Because if a civilization can create an interstellar spaceship, it can also create self-sustaining artificial habitats in a fraction of the time for a fraction of the cost.
An artificial habitat in close orbit around the civilization's home star can fabricate anything it could ever need using the star's incredible energy output and by harvesting mass ejected by stellar eruptions and stellar wind. In fact, the only difference between an artificial habitat and an interstellar spacecraft are engines and fuel. The habitat needs neither. Instead, the habitat can have more useful, practical things, like an expanded self-sustaining ecosystem to improve the quality of life of its inhabitants, or solar collectors so anything the inhabitants want or need can be manufactured in short order, or even simply more internal volume so the inhabitants don't have to spend decades hot bunking with each other.
In fact, if a civilization can create an interstellar spacecraft, there is no necessary reason it to leave the orbit of own star until their total energy consumption matches their star's output, or the star itself goes extinct. And when and if either of those things happen, their destination would be the nearest star. It takes mindboggling amounts of energy and time to travel from star to star. The fastest proposed propulsion humans have come up with would take more than 40,000 years to reach the nearest exoplanet. The same method could reach Proxima Centauri in a decade or so (assuming it actually works, and assuming it ever gets built).
And when your civilization can create anything it could ever need on an artificial habitat in close stellar orbit, why would you have any use for the rocky planets around an adopted star? Why would you travel to a star with rocky planets in orbit when there are hundreds others that are closer and give you everything you need? That's not to say that aliens would never leave their home star, just that the only reasons for doing so are curiosity and leisure.
Therefore, there is no necessary reason for aliens with access to interstellar travel to come into conflict with another civilization.
There is no competition for stars, which are the only physical resource worth mentioning. Information, the only other resource that matters, can be gathered in countless ways that are faster, cheaper, safer, and more effective than sending biological explorers into the void.
Now, yes, it's possible that an interstellar civilization would be interested in establishing trade with humanity, although anything traded would have to exceed the cost of shipping, which is unbelievably high. It's also possible some aliens would want to visit or study humans in person, even though sending a probe would be exponentially more efficient.
But it's not necessary. An interstellar civilization needs nothing from planet-bound civilizations. It cannot be threatened by them, it cannot be infringed upon by them, and it cannot be bothered with them.
Interstellar civilizations have every reason to ignore planet-bound civilizations, and no reasons to be hostile with other interstellar civilizations.
If interstellar civilizations ever come in contact with each other, it will likely be via radio, so they can trade ideas and information without ever leaving the bounty of their home and/or local star(s). Sure beats farting around in the interstellar dark for a few decades so you can look at some apes that your probes can get better pictures of anyway.
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