Today is Friday the 13th, so we’ll play it safe and host our October MonSFFA Halloween Meeting Tomorrow!
We’ll gather, then, on Saturday afternoon, October 14, at about 12:30PM; programming will get underway at 1:00PM.
The meeting will take place both live and in-person at the Lachine Legion, as well as online via ZOOM at: www.MonSFFA.ca
Please Note:
Any MonSFFen choosing to attend in costume are advised that their get-up must not include a hat, mask, or headgear of any kind. As a general guideline, if you’re not sure, don’t!
This restriction is necessary in order to remain in compliance with the traditions of our hosts, the Lachine branch of the Royal Canadian Legion.
Note that headgear is not to be worn within any Legion hall as a sign of respect for those servicemen and -women who have made the ultimate sacrifice.
MonSFFA honours this tradition; please keep that in mind when selecting your costume.
Our agenda includes, of course, Halloween fare, and more; here’s a few words about each of our two principal presentations:
Horror 101
Offering examples and advice from genre professionals, we will explore Stephen King’s “Three Levels of Horror, ” and augment his list with a few entries of our own, as we learn how horror writers and filmmakers manufacture the scares!
The Solar System Ain’t What it Used To Be!
From the earliest days of science fiction, space travellers went to the Moon, to Mars, to Venus, and to the other planets of the solar system as they were discovered. Early science fiction—prior to the late 19th century—treated the planets simply as different versions of Earth.
Science fictional tropes from the late 19th century right up until the Space Age declared Mercury to be an oven on the sun-facing side and a freezer on the other. Venus was a planet of swamps, jungles, and dinosaurs. And Mars was a cool desert planet, with all its water contained in the canals.
Then, science had its say. Starting in the early 1960s, the first interplanetary probes knocked down those tropes. Or, as T.H. Huxley (1825-1895) put it, “The great tragedy of science is the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.”
But there were plenty of other ways to look at the planets, and more planets to look at!
So We’ll See You Tomorrow, Saturday, October 14th!
Safely the day after Friday the 13th, MonSFFA celebrates Halloween at its October 2023 meeting! Scheduled for Saturday, October 14, the meeting will take place both live and in-person at the Lachine Legion, as well as online via ZOOM at: www.MonSFFA.ca
Our agenda includes, of course, Halloween fare, and more; here’s a few words about each of our two principal presentations:
The Solar System Ain’t What it Used To Be!
From the earliest days of science fiction, space travellers went to the Moon, to Mars, to Venus, and to the other planets of the solar system as they were discovered. Early science fiction—prior to the late 19th century—treated the planets simply as different versions of Earth.
Science fictional tropes from the late 19th century right up until the Space Age declared Mercury to be an oven on the sun-facing side and a freezer on the other. Venus was a planet of swamps, jungles, and dinosaurs. And Mars was a cool desert planet, with all its water contained in the canals.
Then, science had its say. Starting in the early 1960s, the first interplanetary probes knocked down those tropes. Or, as T.H. Huxley (1825-1895) put it, “The great tragedy of science is the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.”
But there were plenty of other ways to look at the planets, and more planets to look at!
Horror 101
Offering examples and advice from genre professionals, we will explore Stephen King’s “Three Levels of Horror, ” and augment his list with a few entries of our own, as we learn how horror writers and filmmakers manufacture the scares!
Plus…
Help us decorate for the occasion by crafting a Halloween-themed table centrepiece! Be creative, and bring your spooky creation in to the meeting for all to admire!
Folk participating online will be able to showcase their centerpieces via ZOOM.
The fossil’s black tint is believed to be caused by large amounts of manganese present in surrounding groundwater during fossilization, similar to the Royal Tyrrell Museum’s ‘Black Beauty,’ a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil found in the same region. (Royal Tyrrell Museum of Paleontology)After seven years of work, the best preserved and most complete triceratops skull coming from Canada — also known as the “Calli” specimen — is on display for the first time since being found in 2014 at the Royal Tyrrell Museum in Drumheller, Alta.
A museum new release calls the specimen “unique” because of where it was discovered, the age of the rock around it, and how well it was preserved.
Join us for our October 14 meeting! The first of two presentations is by Joe Aspler:
The Solar System Ain’t What it Used To Be
From the earliest days of science fiction, space travellers travelled to the Moon, to Mars, to Venus, and to other planets as they were discovered. Early science fiction – before the late 199th century – treated the planets as just different earths. Science fictional tropes from the late 19th century right to the Space Age declared Mercury to be an oven on the side facing the sun and a freezer on the other. Venus was a planet of swamps, jungles, and dinosaurs. Mars was a cool desert planet, with all the water in the canals.
Then, science had its little say. Starting in the early 1960s, the first interplanetary probes knocked down the tropes of science fiction. Or as T.H. Huxley (1825 – 1895) put it: “The great tragedy of Science is the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.”
But have no fear, there were plenty of other ways to look at the planets … and more planets to look at.
Pictures and short video of MonSFFA’s visit to the Montreal Aviation Museum in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue have been uploaded to our website and can be accessed by clicking the field trips menu item under activities. Or go directly to http://www.monsffa.ca/?page_id=28425
Bennu is an asteroid that could threaten the Earth, though the possibility is a narrow one. Still, a wise move to find out what it is made of, just in case we need to eliminate it sometime in the future. Besides that, the always important question: what are WE made of, what are the prime building blocks of our solar system? Asteroids are untouched remnants of the solar system’s formation.
But this isn’t the end of the story! OSIRIS-REx is now headed back out toward another asteroid. The spacecraft will arrive at Apophis in April 2029, around when the asteroid is expected to encounter Earth. A few years ago, Apophis was discovered to be on an actual collision course, which was the cause of a lot of excitement, but follow-up studies have it narrowly missing us. Whew! Good idea to learn about its composition. —Cathy
After a seven-year mission to the asteroid Bennu, seen here, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is set to drop off its samples on Sunday. (NASA/Goddard/University of Arizona/CSA/York/MDA/The Associated Press)
A spacecraft that has travelled more than 950 million kilometres is dropping off a care package on Sunday: samples from an asteroid that lies more than 100 million kilometres from Earth.
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer) launched in 2016 destined for an asteroid named Bennu. Its main mission: to stick an arm out, “high-five” the asteroid and then vacuum up some of the debris, referred to as “touch and go.”
It successfully did so in 2020. Now, the rocky samples — roughly 250 grams in total, the largest ever to return to Earth — are on their way to be studied by science teams, including those from Canada.
Today is Friday the 13th, so we’ll play it safe and host our October MonSFFA Halloween Meeting Tomorrow!
The meeting will take place both live and in-person at the Lachine Legion, as well as online via ZOOM at: www.MonSFFA.ca
