Mike Hodel's Hour 25

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July 2001


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Index to our previous shows

  • Shows from April, 2002
  • Shows from March, 2002
  • Shows from February, 2002
  • Shows from January, 2002
  • Shows from December, 2001
  • Shows from November, 2001
  • Shows from October, 2001
  • Shows from September, 2001
  • Shows from August, 2001
  • July 27, 2001 - David Brin
  • July 17, 2001 - Lois McMaster Bujold
  • July 7, 2001 - Gavin Scott
  • Shows from June, 2001
  • Shows from May, 2001
  • Shows from April, 2001
  • Shows from March, 2001
  • Shows from February, 2001
  • Shows from January, 2001
  • Shows from November - December, 2000
  • Shows from September - October, 2000
  • Shows from July - August, 2000

  • This Week - David Brin

    On Friday - July 27, 2001 - our guest was David Brin. He was in town a while back for the LA Times Festival of Books and the 2001 Nebula Awards ceremony, so while he was here we took a few minutes to chat about writing and sundry other topics. Like always, it was great fun chatting with David because he is bursting with ideas and insights that he freely shares.

    David has been an active author since the early 1980's and has always been known for combining interesting ideas with well told stories. His skill as a writer has been acknowledged by SF fans and other writers by his growing collection of Nebulas, Hugos and other awards. His books are great reading for anyone who enjoys recreational thinking. Keep 'em coming David.

    Books by David Brin
    Sundiver 1980
    Startide Rising 1983 {Hugo Award, Nebula Award, Locus Award}
    The Practice Effect 1984
    The Postman 1985 {Locus Award, John W. Campbell Award, Hugo Nominee, Nebula Nominee}
    The River of Time (Anthology) 1986
    Heart of the Comet (with Gregory Benford) 1986
    The Uplift War 1987 {Hugo Award, Locus Award, Nebula Nominee}
    Earth 1990 {Hugo Nominee}
    Glory Season 1993 {Hugo Nominee}
    Otherness (Anthology) 1994 {Locus Award}
    Brightness Reef 1995 {Hugo Nominee}
    Infinity's Shore 1996
    The Transparant Society (non-fiction) 1998
    Heaven's Reach 1998
    Foundation's Triumph 1999

    The Kiln People expected in 2002
       David Brin picture copyright ©2001
    by Suzanne Gibson

    During this interview I mentioned an episode of the original Outer Limits that had a thematic similarity to Blade Runner but couldn't at the time remember the episode's title. It was The Duplicate Man, which first aired on December 19, 1964.

    Please note that we did this interview in a room that had some real issues concerning echoes. {We recorded this interview while at the LA Times Festival of Books and that was the only place available, all the others had tons of background noise. So the audio for this interview might sound a bit 'strange', but that's just an unavoidable side effect of getting interviews in the field.

    Listen to this week's show

    webcasting
    • Click here to listen to the entire show. {48:30}
      or
    • Click here for the show's introduction.{0:41}
    • Click here for the show's opening and news.{15:02}
    • Click here for the David Brin interview. {31:49}
    • Click here for the show's closing.{1:55}
      or
    • Click here for an index of all Shows on our site.

    Links for more information relating to this week's show

    David Brin
  • To learn more about David Brin and his books you should visit his Official Web Site.
  • A great deal of information about Dave's writing, including detailed lists of characters and locations, can be found at the aptly named The Works of David Brin web site.
  • More information about David Brin can be found joining the Brin-L mailing list. Information about that organization and a compendium of other useful information can be found here.
  • Biographical information about David Brin and a listing of his publications can be found here or here. More information about David, including links to a number of his on-line essays, can be found at this web site.
  • There are quite a few interviews with David Brin available on-line. You might start you reading with this interview from Locus On-Line and then view this interview which has a good bit of information about his Uplift series of books. This Networker interview has a lot of good information about Dave and his writing, as does this interview from the Planetary Society. This Interview starts with a discussions of The Transparent Society and moves on from there to cover other fascinating topics.

    Science and Space News
  • More information about the Genesis mission can be found at this NASA web site, at this CalTech web site or at this JPL web site. Information about the Discovery Project and its other missions can be found here.
  • The NASA Press Release concerning the shape of Altair can be found here and more information about Altair - including pictures - can be found at this web site. Additional information about the Palomar Testbed Interferometer is available here.

    Solar Sailing
  • Be sure to go to the Planetary Society's web page for the solar sail project they are conducting with Cosmos Studios. There you will learn about the design of this solar sail spacecraft and its upcoming mission. You can also get on their email distribution list for project updates.
  • You might also want to look at this Solar Sail web page which has information and links concerning solar sailing.
  • For more information about Solar Sail you should visit the web site operated by the Union pour la Promotion de la Propulsion Photonique. They have news and information about solar sails - including a comic based on the Arthur C. Clarke story "The Wind from the Sun". {This site is available in many languages including English, French, German, Italian and others.}
  • Information about the Planetary Society and their various activities can be found at their home page

    Pluto Kuiper Express
  • Information about the science behind a mission to Pluto and reasons for why delaying a Pluto mission means science lost, not science delayed can be found in the interview I did with astronomers Dave Tholen and Bill Bottke last year. Click here to listen to that interview.
  • The Planetary Society has been working to get the Pluto mission reinstated with a timely mission profile. Click here to learn more about the Planetary Society or here to learn more about their work to save the Pluto mission.
  • The plutomission.com web site was responsible for getting thousands of people to write to their congresspersons in support of a mission to Pluto. This web site now serves as a focal point for interest and activities associated with this mission.

    Life on Mars and Missions to Mars
  • This web page contains a very good article about life on Mars by Barry E. DiGregorio and includes information about the discovery of circadian rhythms in the data from the Labled Release experiment that was performed by the Viking Spacecraft in 1976.
  • Click here to view a NASA press release about recent research concerning ancient life on Mars or go here to view a web page at JPL discussing Martian meteorites and containing many links to related pages.
  • The Lunar and Planetary Institute has a web page designed to answer some basic questions about Mars and encourage further discussions and research on this topic.
  • Dr. Gilbert V. Levin, one of the bioscience investigators on the 1976 Viking Mission to Mars, has a web page about the question of Life on Mars in which he asserts that the data from the Viking Mission indicates that there is currently life on Mars.
  • For an alternate view about the Viking results you can checkout this page about Life on Mars at Malin Space Science Systems.
  • For the latest in news from Mars be sure to visit MarsNews.com.
  • For all you addicts of the "Weather Channel", be sure to check out this web site - The Daily Martian Weather Report
  • The official web site for the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission contains a lot of information about that project and has on-going status reports about the mission.
  • Click here to visit the official site for the Beagle 2 mission to Mars. Additional information about the Mars Express mission that will carry the Beagle 2 lander to Mars can be found at the ESA web site for that project.
  • Two great web sites about Mars and Mars Missions are the Mars Exploration web site at JPL and the Center for Mars Exploration at NASA Ames Research Center.
  • You can find collections of Mars images at the Malin Space Systems Gallery of Images from Mars Global Surveyor or at the National Space Science Data Center Mars Photo Gallery.
  • The Views of the Solar System web site contains a wealth of information about all the planets in our Solar System. Be sure to check out their page about Mars that is filled with information about that planet and the various spacecraft that have explored it.
  • The NASA Human Spaceflight Exploring Mars and Beyond web site has information about various missions to Mars and even has a gallery of images showing various concepts for a manned mission to Mars. {Even if, as they say, "NASA currently has no formal plans for a human expedition to Mars or the Moon. The images displayed may not reflect the hardware and overall concept of possible visits to either of those celestial bodies."}
  • The Romance to Reality web site contains information about 270 {!} Mars mission studies dating back to the 1950's. Looking at this site reminds me of what might have been, but it also makes me dream of what yet may be. Highly recommended.
  • To get in touch with other persons interested in the human exploration of Mars you should checkout the homepage of The Mars Society
  • Percival Lowell spent his life observing Mars and popularizing the idea that Mars was covered by canals built by a dying civilization. An illustrated HTML edition of his book Mars, published in 1895, is available on-line and makes fascinating reading. The picture he painted of Mars colored much of our thinking about that planet during the last century and influenced many science fiction stories.

    ISS News
  • The Florida Today web site has a very interesting report about the causes of the ISS budget problems and their impact on the space program. It makes very interesting reading.
  • Click here to view the press kits for various ISS missions.
  • Check out the NASA International Space Station web page or the Boeing web page to learn more about this project.
  • A great source of news about Russian space activities, including their work on the ISS, can be found at the Russian Space Web.
  • Do you wonder where the Space Station is right now? You can use your browser to view real time maps showing the location of the ISS by going to this link at the NASA Space Link web site or here at the Johnson Spacecraft Center. Please note that your browser must support Java to make use of this satellite tracking software.
  • You can find out when the ISS - or many other spacecraft - can be seen from your location by going to this NASA web page. Please note; your browser must support Java for this application to work.

    For On-Going Updates on Space News
  • The Space Today web site is a great place to find space news from all over the 'net.
  • The Spaceflight Now web site carries real time information about current space missions and presents a lot of space and astronomy news. This is the place I go to when I want up to the minute information about current space missions. Do I need to say more?
  • The NASA Watch web site is another great place for getting information about current space missions. Check there also for news about other 'goings on' within NASA. Highly recommended.

    Science Fiction Modeling
  • Click here to learn more about the 2001: The Future That Should Have Been contest that is currently running at the Starship Modeler web site. Please note, that as expected the deadline for this contest has been extended - for the last time, and so you now have until August 1 to submit your contest entries.
  • You can find more information about science fiction modeling - including links to sites with numerous free paper models of SF subjects - by visiting the web sites found on the Hour 25 Science Fiction Modeling Links page.

    MP3Pro Links
  • To learn more about the new MP3Pro format you can check out this press release from Thomson multimedia and can download an MP3Pro encoder/decoder from their main web site.
  • You can download an encoder/decoder for MP3Pro audio files at the RCA web site.
  • You can learn more about the technology behind MP3 files by going to the web site for the Fraunhofer Institute where much of the work behind the MP3 file format originated.
  • Note: I have not had the chance to try the new MP3Pro encoder/decoder and so I can offer no opinions about how well the software works. But I will be paying close attention to it. Anything that will let us cut the storage requirements for the Hour 25 audio files in half sounds like a good thing to me. I'll let you know more as things get sorted out with this new audio format.

  • Click here for information about the audio files used for Hour 25 and for information about configuring your browser and downloading audio players.

    Please note web pages from external sites will open in a separate browser window and that Hour 25 Productions are not responsible for the content of any external Web Sites.

  • Return to the Index for this month's shows


    Lois McMaster Bujold

    On Tuesday - July 17, 2001 - our guest was Lois McMaster Bujold talking about her new book The Curse of Chalion as well as the art and craft of writing.

    Lois is quite a popular author and her books have won Hugos, Nebulas and various other awards. She is perhaps best known for her series of novels that follow the life and times of the uncharacteristic hero Miles Vorkosigan. But my personal favorite is her novel Falling Free, a hard-SF examination of what it means to be human and an exploration of the ways that genetic engineering will challenge the ideas that underlie our society. {I'm not alone in my appreciation of this novel since it won the Nebula award the year it was published.}

    Her most recent book, The Curse of Chalion, takes Lois into the realms of fantasy. In this story we follow the story of Cazaril, a former soldier and courtier, who has been broken in body and spirit and who now returns home seeking nothing more than a menial job in the noble household where he had served as a page in his youth. But the fates - or at least Lois - have other plans for him and he must face his enemies using whatever powers he can summon. No matter what the cost.

    Curse of Chalion Cover cover copyright ©2001
    by HarperCollins Publishers
       Lois McMaster Bujold picture copyright ©2001
    by Beth Gwinn
       Falling Free - Audio Book Cover
    cover copyright ©1996
    by The Reader's Chair.

    Listen to this show

    webcasting
    • Click here to listen to the entire show. {1:26:42}
      or
    • Click here for the show's introduction.{0:41}
    • Click here for the show's opening and news.{22:25}
    • Click here for the Lois McMaster Bujold interview. {1:01:38}
    • Click here for the show's closing.{1:58}
      or
    • Click here for an index of all Shows on our site.

    Links for more information relating to this show

    Lois McMaster Bujold
  • To learn more about Lois McMaster Bujold and her books, visit her Official Web Site.
  • Checkout the Hour 25 Authors on Tour page to see Lois's schedule for her upcoming tour.
  • For another interview with Lois, check out this web page from the "A Girls World Web Site".
  • More information about Lois and The Curse of Chalion - including sample chapters you can read on-line - can be found at the EOS Books page at the HarperCollins web site.
  • You can go here to find out more about Baen's WebScription service. This link will take you to a discussion area operated by Baen Books where you can chat with people who are interested in the books of Lois McMaster Bujold and other authors. And this link will take you to the home page for Baen Books.
  • Information about The Reader's Chair audiobooks can be found at their web site. {These folks are doing unabridged versions of all of the Miles Vorkosigan books and they have a most excellent adaptaion of Falling Free. Highly recommended.}

    Science and Space News
  • More information about the Genesis mission can be found at this NASA web site, at this CalTech web site or at this JPL web site. Information about the Discovery Project and its other missions can be found here.
  • Information about the Triana mission can be found at the Project's NASA web site.
  • You can learn more about Gamma Ray Bursts by going to this web page at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center or by reading this article from Scientific American or this other, somewhat more technical, article.

    Solar Sailing
  • Be sure to go to the Planetary Society's web page for the solar sail project they are conducting with Cosmos Studios. There you will learn about the design of this solar sail spacecraft and its upcoming mission. You can also get on their email distribution list for project updates and get a Solar Sail decal. There's lots more information there so check it out. Way to go Planetary Society and Cosmos Studios! And another hearty 'way to go' to the engineers, scientists and technicians at the Babakin Space Center and the Makeev Rocket Design Bureau where the hardware is being designed and built.
  • You might also want to look at this Solar Sail web page which has information and links concerning solar sailing.
  • For more information about Solar Sail you should visit the web site operated by the Union pour la Promotion de la Propulsion Photonique. They have news and information about solar sails - including a comic based on the Arthur C. Clarke story "The Wind from the Sun". {This site is available in many languages including English, French, German, Italian and others.}
  • Information about the Planetary Society and their various activities can be found at their home page

    News from Mars
  • For all you addicts of the "Weather Channel", be sure to check out this web site - The Daily Martian Weather Report
  • For the latest in news from Mars be sure to visit MarsNews.com.
  • The official web site for the 2001 Mars Odyssey mission contains a lot of information about that project and has on-going status reports about the mission.
  • Click here to visit the official site for the Beagle 2 mission to Mars. Additional information about the Mars Express mission that will carry the Beagle 2 lander to Mars can be found at the ESA web site for that project.
  • Two great web sites about Mars and Mars Missions are the Mars Exploration web site at JPL and the Center for Mars Exploration at NASA Ames Research Center.
  • You can find collections of Mars images at the Malin Space Systems Gallery of Images from Mars Global Surveyor or at the National Space Science Data Center Mars Photo Gallery.
  • The Views of the Solar System web site contains a wealth of information about all the planets in our Solar System. Be sure to check out their page about Mars that is filled with information about that planet and the various spacecraft that have explored it.
  • The NASA Human Spaceflight Exploring Mars and Beyond web site has information about various missions to Mars and even has a gallery of images showing various concepts for a manned mission to Mars. {Even if, as they say, "NASA currently has no formal plans for a human expedition to Mars or the Moon. The images displayed may not reflect the hardware and overall concept of possible visits to either of those celestial bodies.}
  • The Romance to Reality web site contains information about 270 {!} Mars mission studies dating back to the 1950's. Looking at this site reminds me of what might have been, but it also makes me dream of what yet may be. Highly recommended.
  • To get in touch with other persons interested in the human exploration of Mars you should checkout the homepage of The Mars Society
  • Percival Lowell spent his life observing Mars and popularizing the idea that Mars was covered by canals built by a dying civilization. An illustrated HTML edition of his book Mars, published in 1895, is available on-line and makes fascinating reading. The picture he painted of Mars colored much of our thinking about that planet during the last century and influenced many science fiction stories.

    ISS News
  • The Florida Today web site has a very interesting report about the causes of the ISS budget problems and their impact on the space program. It makes very interesting reading.
  • Click here to view the press kits for various ISS missions.
  • Check out the NASA International Space Station web page or the Boeing web page to learn more about this project.
  • A great source of news about Russian space activities, including their work on the ISS, can be found at the Russian Space Web.
  • Do you wonder where the Space Station is right now? You can use your browser to view real time maps showing the location of the ISS by going to this link at the NASA Space Link web site or here at the Johnson Spacecraft Center. Please note that your browser must support Java to make use of this satellite tracking software.
  • You can find out when the ISS - or many other spacecraft - can be seen from your location by going to this NASA web page. Please note; your browser must support Java for this application to work.

    For On-Going Updates on Space News
  • The Space Today web site is a great place to find space news from all over the 'net.
  • The Spaceflight Now web site carries real time information about current space missions and presents a lot of space and astronomy news. This is the place I go to when I want up to the minute information about current space missions. Do I need to say more?
  • The NASA Watch web site is another great place for getting information about current space missions. Check there also for news about other 'goings on' within NASA. Highly recommended.

    Science Fiction Modeling
  • Click here to learn more about the 2001: The Future That Should Have Been contest that is currently running at the Starship Modeler web site. Please note, that as expected the deadline for this contest has been extended - for the last time, and so you now have until August 1 to submit your contest entries.
  • You can find more information about science fiction modeling - including links to sites with numerous free paper models of SF subjects - by visiting the web sites found on the Hour 25 Science Fiction Modeling Links page.

    MP3Pro Links
  • To learn more about the new MP3Pro format you can check out this press release from Thomson multimedia and can download an MP3Pro encoder/decoder from their main web site.
  • You can download an encoder/decoder for MP3Pro audio files at the RCA web site.
  • You can learn more about the technology behind MP3 files by going to the web site for the Fraunhofer Institute where much of the work behind the MP3 file format originated.
  • Note: I have not had the chance to try the new MP3Pro encoder/decoder and so I can offer no opinions about how well the software works. But I will be paying close attention to it. Anything that will let us cut the storage requirements for the Hour 25 audio files in half sounds like a good thing to me. I'll let you know more as things get sorted out with this new audio format.

  • Click here for information about the audio files used for Hour 25 and for information about configuring your browser and downloading audio players.

    Please note web pages from external sites will open in a separate browser window and that Hour 25 Productions are not responsible for the content of any external Web Sites.

  • Return to the Index for this month's shows


    Gavin Scott

    The Mists of AvalonOn Saturday - July 7, 2001 - our guest was Gavin Scott, screenwriter for the mini-series based on The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley and who also created the TV series The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne.
    Gavin Scott picture
    Gavin Scott picture copyright ©2001 by Gavin Scott
    Translating a book into a movie is a very hard task. Partially because books can easily deal with what people are thinking and feeling, whereas movies have a hard time showing anything other than action. {There's a limit to how much you can do with voice-overs before they become intrusive. And having people explain what they're thinking can become boring fast.} But more than that, the big problem is that movies are much shorter than books.

    A movie script will have a word count that is something like 20% that of a novel. And even if you allow for the novel having to describe stuff you can see in the movie, that still means the movie will have a lot less content than the book. All too often, books that have been made into films feel like a badly done "Readers Digest" version of the story and they leave you thinking that you should better go read the book if you want to learn what the story was about. Or worse, books get adapted into movies and the only thing that gets used is the title and some character names.

    However, in recent years, we've seen a trend wherein books are translated into a mini-series rather than a movie. {Some of the Stephen King novels and Dune come to mind.} Doing this means the author doesn't get the prestige - for whatever that's worth - of having their book get a theatrical release, but on the up side, the screenwriter dosen't have to do a 'hack and slash' to sweat the book down to a size that fits into a 90 minute movie.

    But the writer who sets out to adapt a 900 page book into a four hour mini-series will still be facing a big problem. How does one write a script that maintains the heart and soul of such a story and still live within the existing time limits, meet the dramatic requirements for action and maintain 'understandability'? I mean, in a book you can flip back a few pages if you aren't clear about who a character is and how they relate to the other characters.

       The Mists of Avalon cover cover copyright ©2000 by Ballantine Publishing Group.
    Characters from Mists of Avalon The Characters from The Mists of Avalon
    Click to view a larger image. copyright ©2001 by TNT.
      Gavin Scott did a fine job - in my opinion - of adapting Marion Zimmer Bradley's classic book The Mists of Avalon for its presentation as a TNT mini-series. Now, this does not mean that he didn't have to eliminate some parts of the book, or that he didn't have to simplify some of the character relationships or modify the cast of characters. Because he did have to do all of those things to meet the requirements of the mini-series format. None the less, he managed to find the heart and soul of this story and presented for us all to enjoy in a visual feast for our imaginations.


    Gavin Scott's screenwriting credits fall solidly within the realm of science fiction, including The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Space Rangers, The Borrowers and Small Soldiers. He was also the creator of The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne.

    This last credit is a wonderful series, currently airing on the SciFi Channel, that has the young Jules Verne livng out adventures that become the inspirations for the books that he later writes. Although some of the stories have stretched verisimilitude beyond science fiction and into the realms of fantasy, they have a charm and wit that makes them good entertainment. To date 22 episodes have been produced, with another season awaiting production depending on what happens once the show has gone into syndicated distribution.

      The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne
    This week's show has several items that may reveal more about upcoming productions than you might want to know when seeing them. Our discussion of A.I. had to include the ending of the film so we could explain our reactions to it and the Mists of Avalon discussion includes comments about what things were left out of the mini-series adaption and why that was done. So we have split the show into tracks that will allow you to skip any items that might constitute spoilers for your viewing experience. If you want to skip the spoilers, then just select the specific tracks you want to listen to from the list below. You can always come back and listen to the items you skipped by looking for this show on the "Previous Shows" page for July 2001.

    Listen to this show

    webcasting
    • Click here to listen to the entire show. {This includes 'spoilers' about A.I. and Mists of Avalon.} {1:39:10}
      or
    • Click here for the show's introduction.{0:41}
    • Click here for the show's opening and news.{17:50}
    • Click here for my discussion with Suzanne concerning the film A.I. and The Mists of Avalon.{18:13}
    • Click here for the Mists of Avalon portion of the Gavin Scott interview. {45:19}
    • Click here for the Secret Adventures of Jules Verne portion of the Gavin Scott interview. {15:51}
    • Click here for the show's closing.{1:57}
      or
    • Click here for an index of all Shows on our site.

    Links for more information relating to this show

    The Mists of Avalon and Related Subjects
  • To learn more about the other projects Gavin Scott has worked on you might wish to consult this entry on him from the Internet Movie Database and then read this interview with Gavin.
  • To learn more about Marion Zimmer Bradley and her works you should first consult her Official Web Site. Be sure to read her articles about writing that can be found there. They are some of the most concise and useful commentaries on how to write publishable material that I have ever seen.
  • You can learn more about Marion Zimmer Bradley's works by checking this bibliography or this biography of her.
  • More information about The Mists of Avalon is available at the Del Rey Books web site or at this TNT web site .
  • You might also want to check out this other Mists of Avalon web site or this summary of the characters from the book. This site has a wealth of information about the Arthurian legend.

    The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne
  • For more information about The Secret Adventures of Jules Verne you can view this web site from the SCiFi Channel or this site from Flashpoint or this fan site. A Summary of the show's episodes can be found here.
  • To learn about the real Jules Verne you can consult this bibliography of his work or this one.
  • The Garmt De Vries' Jules Verne Collection contains many wonderful things relating to Jules Verne, including photographs and movies of an 18 foot model of the Nautilus that can submerge to a depth of 100 feet.
  • Scientific American has an interesting article about Jules Verne and his ideas about the influence of technology on society.

    Science and Space News
  • A video of the launch - and landing - of the Japanese Reusable Rocket Vehicle Test can be seen in this article from the NASA watch web site.
  • For more information about the on-orbit problems with the latest TDRSS spacecraft consult this Aviation Week article.
  • You can view an article from Nature about the Kuiper-belt object Varuna here or find other science news from Nature at their web site.
  • You can learn more about discovers being made in the Kuiper-belt by visiting the web site for Dr. David C. Jewitt, one of the astronomers who is doing research in this field of study.
  • More information about how astronomers can probe the interiors of other stars by using helioseismology can be found on this web page or by reading the reports from the La Silla Obervatory.

    ISS News
  • The Florida Today web site has a very interesting report about the causes of the ISS budget problems and their impact on the space program. It makes very interesting reading.
  • Click here to view the press kits for various ISS missions.
  • Check out the NASA International Space Station web page or the Boeing web page to learn more about this project.
  • A great source of news about Russian space activities, including their work on the ISS, can be found at the Russian Space Web.
  • Do you wonder where the Space Station is right now? You can use your browser to view real time maps showing the location of the ISS by going to this link at the NASA Space Link web site or here at the Johnson Spacecraft Center. Please note that your browser must support Java to make use of this satellite tracking software.
  • You can find out when the ISS - or many other spacecraft - can be seen from your location by going to this NASA web page. Please note; your browser must support Java for this application to work.

    For On-Going Updates on Space News
  • The Space Today web site is a great place to find space news from all over the 'net.
  • The Spaceflight Now web site carries real time information about current space missions and presents a lot of space and astronomy news. This is the place I go to when I want up to the minute information about current space missions. Do I need to say more?
  • The NASA Watch web site is another great place for getting information about current space missions. Check there also for news about other 'goings on' within NASA. Highly recommended.

    Science Fiction Modeling
  • Click here to learn more about the 2001: The Future That Should Have Been contest that is currently running at the Starship Modeler web site. Please note, that as expected the deadline for this contest has been extended - for the last time, and so you now have until August 1 to submit your contest entries.
  • You can find more information about science fiction modeling - including links to sites with numerous free paper models of SF subjects - by visiting the web sites found on the Hour 25 Science Fiction Modeling Links page.

    MP3Pro Links
  • To learn more about the new MP3Pro format you can check out this press release from Thomson multimedia and can download an MP3Pro encoder/decoder from their main web site.
  • You can download an encoder/decoder for MP3Pro audio files at the RCA web site.
  • You can learn more about the technology behind MP3 files by going to the web site for the Fraunhofer Institute where much of the work behind the MP3 file format originated.
  • Note: I have not had the chance to try the new MP3Pro encoder/decoder and so I can offer no opinions about how well the software works. But I will be paying close attention to it. Anything that will let us cut the storage requirements for the Hour 25 audio files in half sounds like a good thing to me. I'll let you know more as things get sorted out with this new audio format.

  • Click here for information about the audio files used for Hour 25 and for information about configuring your browser and downloading audio players.

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