ASE in the hole

The Planetary Congress -- a meeting of the Association of Space Explorers -- is being held in Seattle this year, 15 - 20 September. The Association of Space Explorers is a professional organization of astronauts and cosmonauts. Says the article:

As part of the weeklong meeting the [University of Washington] will host two public events on Tuesday, Sept. 16. In the morning astronauts and cosmonauts from Europe, Russia, Canada, Japan and the U.S. will discuss their countries' space programs. The panel discussion takes place in Meany Hall from 9 to 11:45 a.m.

In the afternoon, speakers will discuss the effects of space travel on human health. That seminar, "Human Health for Long Duration Exploration," takes place in Meany Hall from 1:15 to 4 p.m.

Both presentations are free and open to the public.

The full schedule for the Planetary Congress lists events all over the area.

ZAPP reopens

Paul Constant reports on Slog on the reopening of the Hugo House zine library. (I had already heard this was upcoming from wrdnrd.) What I found interesting was Constant's comment on modern zines: "On the whole, zines have become a little more sophisticated in the time since the Internet: as objects, many are beautiful, and the content is often reliant on the format, making it the sort of thing that can’t be duplicated in a blog." This echoes various comments I've heard over the years, such as maryread saying that paper zines were becoming platforms for artwork, and John Hertz's remark in a conversation at the last LA Worldcon that the internet has absorbed the crudzine.