On Saturday - September 29, 2001 - our guest was author Catherine Asaro who'll be chatted with us about her books as well as the art and craft of writing.
		Catherine Asaro has the prototypical background for a science fiction writer. She grew up reading SF and became a scientist. {Though before going to UCLA to study physics and chemistry she studied ballet and almost became a ballerina.} And like so many readers of SF, she eventually wrote her own stories. These feature a combination of hard SF and adventure, along with a unique

twist. Her stories all include romance. Now that's something you don't find in most SF stories. And in a way that's kinda strange, since the search for love is one of the driving elements in all our lives. And yet most SF stories don't go near that subject.

But Catherine does. The characters in her stories are searching for romantic relationships, along with doing all the other things characters in SF stories usually do. Her stories offer a blend of authentic scientific speculations and human interactions that are quite special.

We sat down with Catherine when she was in town a couple of months ago for the Nebula Award ceremony and had a great time chatting with her. I think you'll enjoy her stories. {Especially the one about her mother-in-law's reaction to her books.}

Listen to this show
	Click here to listen to the entire show. {1:11:24} or Click here for the show's intro music.{0:41} Click here for the show's opening and news. {12:57} Click here for the Catherine Asaro interview.{55:51} 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

Catherine Asaro You can find information about Catherine and her books at this web page for her books and you can learn more about the scientific issues that interest her here. Click here for a bibliography of Catherine's work. Catherine says some interesting things about science fiction, feminism and romance here. You can read a transcript of an on-line conversation with Catherine and Vonda McIntyre here or read this Locus On-Line interview with Catherine or this other interview with her from Crescent Blues. Science and Space News Information about the DS-1 spacecraft and its encounter with comet Borrelly on September 22, along with pictures from that encounter, can be found at the project's official web site. Information about comet Borrelly can be found here. Click here to go to the home page for the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission. It is filled with background information about the project and contains reports of the mission's most recent discoveries along with many pictures and movies of 433 Eros. The NEODyS web site contains information about all Near Earth Objects in a searchable database along with web pages for each individual object. Click here to see their page for object 433 Eros. 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. Concerning Ways of Responding to the September 11 Terrorist Attacks First, be careful. Vultures have already established scams to bilk people of their money under the guise of helping those harmed by this terrorist attack. Make sure you are giving money to real causes and not scams. That said... Govenor George Pataki of New York has announced the launch of an official state fund to help the victims of this attack. The New York State World Trade Center Relief Fund was accepting donations three ways: at P.O. Box 5028, Albany, N.Y., 12205; through the state web site or via phone at 1-800-801-8092. Amazon.com has set up a web page for making donations to the American Red Cross. Check with your local Red Cross for information about when and where you can donate blood or call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543). It is needed. For more information call 1-800-HELP-NOW (1-800-4357-669). You can also go to the Red Cross web site to find more information. {If that Red Cross site is busy you can find much of its information at this site. Check with the web sites for America's Second Harvest and the Salvation Army to find more ways you can help. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has an online list of organizations to contact to help the victims and their families. The FBI has established a toll-free telephone number for anyone with information regarding the incidents on September 11 in New York City and the Washington, D.C.. Please call (866) 483-5137 if you have any information. Click here for an FBI form to use when providing information about these crimes. 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.
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Carl Meade

On Sunday - September 23, 2001 - our guest was former astronaut Carl Meade who chatted with us about what it is like to fly in space on-board the Space Shuttle.			Click on Carl's picture to view his official NASA biography.
STS-38	STS-50	STS-64
Click on any of the mission patches above to go to NASA sites with more information about each of the missions Carl flew on.

Launch of STS-50

Traveling into space is a dream that many people share. Carl Meade has done that three times, having flown on STS 38, 50 and 64. Prior to becoming an astronaut he was a test pilot at Edwards AFB where he got to fly America's newest aircraft. {If being an astronaut is the world's coolest job, then testing experimental aircraft has to be a close second.} Following his tenure as an astronaut Carl went on to become the Program Manager for the Lockheed-Martin X-33.

Carl's last flight included an untethered EVA during which he test flew a new maneuvering device that space station astronauts would use to fly back to the station if they accidentally became separated from it. And in the course of this activity Carl suffered a complete systems failure that left him testing a maneuvering unit that could no longer maneuver. Like they say, there's no silence like the silence of a critical system that stops working when you're in space.

Carl and I sat down a few months ago to talk about what it's like to fly in space on the Shuttle. Carl did a great job of sharing that experience. His stories make you feel like you're riding along with him in the Orbiter as he talks about many of the day to day details that don't normally get covered in the press. {I thought his comparison between flying on the Shuttle and going camping was particularly fascinating.}

After listening to Carl you'll have a much better understanding about what goes on during a Shuttle mission and you'll have a greater appreciation about just how much work is needed to fly in space.

Carl reading checklists on the flight deck. Click here for a NASA site with more pictures from this mission.

Reading checklists. Note how Carl's face is puffy due to the redistribution of his bodily fluids under the influence of microgravity.

Suited Up for Training	Pre-Breathing before STS-64 EVA	Carl's Untethered EVA
All pictures above are copyright NASA. Click on any image for more information or additional pictures.

Listen to this show
	Click here to listen to the entire show. {1:43:36} or Click here for the show's intro music.{0:41} Click here for the show's opening and news. {14:58} Click here for the Carl Meade interview.{1:25:57} Click here for the show's closing.{2:00} or Click here for an index of all Shows on our site.

Links for more information relating to this week's show

Computer Security You can find information about the Nimda worm by checking this page put out by CERT, by viewing this page from SARC or by viewing this page. {All of these sites have information about defeating the Nimda worm and have links to more information and anti-viral software.} Additional information about worms, viruses and other computer issues can be found at the CERT homepage, the SARC homepage or the NIPC homepage. This web page has a very good discussion about ways of making MS Outlook more secure from the various attacks that have been coming in over the internet. Jerry Pournelle's web site is filled with an on-going discussion about many computer topics, including security problems such as the Nimda worm, and is a good place to watch for information about late breaking news. Science and Space News Information about the DS-1 spacecraft and its encounter with comet Borrelly on September 22 can be found at the project's official web site. Information about comet Borrelly can be found here. 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. For More Information Concerning the Terrorist Attacks on September 11 For on-going information about this event you can go to this BBC web site, the CNN web site or the the New York Times web site. Actor and Activist George Takei has made some very interesting comments at his web site. His words give hope and something to think about in the days ahead. For on-going discussions of this event and an exploration of possible responses to it, you should check out Jerry Pournelle's web site. His was one of the first, if not the first, sources telling us that the passengers on United Flight 93 overpowered their hijackers. His View section offers daily comments about this and other events and his Mail section offers responses from his readers. The September 11 attack on America will have many repercussions across our society. The aviation industry will be particularly hard hit. More information about matters pertaining to that part of our economy can be found at the Aviation Week web site. Pictures from space showing the destruction caused by the attack on America can be seen at the Space Imaging web site. Concerning Ways of Responding to the September 11 Terrorist Attacks First, be careful. Vultures have already established scams to bilk people of their money under the guise of helping those harmed by this terrorist attack. Make sure you are giving money to real causes and not scams. That said... Govenor George Pataki of New York has announced the launch of an official state fund to help the victims of this attack. The New York State World Trade Center Relief Fund was accepting donations three ways: at P.O. Box 5028, Albany, N.Y., 12205; through the state web site or via phone at 1-800-801-8092. Amazon.com has set up a web page for making donations to the American Red Cross. Check with your local Red Cross for information about when and where you can donate blood or call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543). It is needed. For more information call 1-800-HELP-NOW (1-800-4357-669). You can also go to the Red Cross web site to find more information. {If that Red Cross site is busy you can find much of its information at this site. Check with the web sites for America's Second Harvest and the Salvation Army to find more ways you can help. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has an online list of organizations to contact to help the victims and their families. The FBI has established a toll-free telephone number for anyone with information regarding the incidents on September 11 in New York City and the Washington, D.C.. Please call (866) 483-5137 if you have any information. Click here for an FBI form to use when providing information about these crimes. 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

A Silent Pause to Remember a Terrible Crime

September 14, 2001

Today has been declared a National day of prayer and remembrance following the barbaric attack on the United States on September 11.

In honor of the memory of those killed we ask you to join us in spending some time in contemplation of what was done and, if you're religious, to say a prayer for the souls of those who died this week.

But also to remember the heroism shown by so many people in the aftermath of this tragedy.

Remember the firemen, policemen and rescue workers who went into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon after the attack. They were rushing in, while those inside were rushing out. They put themselves in harm's way because they had dedicated themselves to helping others.

Remember those passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 who attacked and killed their hijackers, even though they knew this could lead to their death. They chose death so that others might live.

Remember especially those policemen, fire fighters and rescue workers who went into the North Tower of the World Trade Center to help the injured after they had seen the South Tower collapse. Those men and women were the finest heroes this country can produce.

And remember all those other people who have thrown themselves in on the side of civilization and who are working to help the injured and to rebuilt what a few barbarians thought they could destroy.

And so in honor of the memory of those hurt or killed, Hour 25 will be silent tonight while we all contemplate what happened this week. But life goes on and we will rebuild our cities and continue living.

We will upload a new edition of Hour 25 in a few days.

The following was written on the day of the attack and distributed via the Hour 25 Newsletter.

September 11, 2001

It can be shocking when the world changes live on TV before your very eyes. As I write these words we are still hearing about the carnage inflicted on America by faceless cowards who chose to kill innocent civilians because they think that will somehow affect world views or American national policy.

Well, they are right about one thing. Their actions have changed world views and will affect American national policy. But not in any way they desire.

It is certain that our government will spare no expense or effort to find the people who performed this act of terrorism. And it is equally certain that once the organization that perpetrated this act of cowardice is found, this country will respond in a way that makes it clear that such acts are unacceptable.

But I fear that we are in for some dark days while the repercussions of this act echo though our society. Many of these repercussions will not make our world a better place to live in. And that is the biggest crime of the people who performed this attack on tens of thousands of persons who were doing nothing more than working and trying to take care of their families. Those criminals will force us to take actions that no people in a free society should ever have to do.

We do not yet know who committed this crime, but we will someday. And no punishment can be considered to severe once the guilty parties have been found.

But in the days and weeks ahead we must remember that these acts were performed by individuals, not an entire ethnic or religious group. And remembering that, we must make sure that our righteous anger is directed at the guilty parties and not at other individuals who have the misfortune to share a religion or ethnicity with those who did these heinous deeds.

I counsel calm in the coming days as the guilty parties are pursued. We live in a diverse society and we should glory in our diversity and not let the action of a few crazy individuals blind us to the bond that people of all religions and ethnicities share as part of our common humanity.

Go to your loved ones. Cherish them and love them. They are the true wealth of our world. And hold the souls of those people killed today, and their surviving families, in your hearts.

Peace

Links for more information

For more information on this Terrorist Attack For on-going information about this event you can go to this BBC web site or to the CNN web site. For on-going discussions of this event and an exploration of possible responses to it, you should check out Jerry Pournelle's web site. His was one of the first, if not the first, sources telling us that the passengers on United Flight 93 overpowered their hijackers. His View section offers daily comments about this and other events and his Mail section offers responses from his readers. Pictures from space showing the destruction caused by the attack on America can be seen at the Space Imaging web site. Concerning ways of helping First, be careful. Vultures have already established scams to bilk people of their money under the guise of helping those harmed by this terrorist attack. Make sure you are giving money to real causes and not scams. That said... Govenor George Pataki of New York has announced the launch of an official state fund to help the victims of this attack. The New York State World Trade Center Relief Fund was accepting donations three ways: at P.O. Box 5028, Albany, N.Y., 12205; through the state web site or via phone at 1-800-801-8092. Amazon.com has set up a web page for making donations to the American Red Cross. Check with your local Red Cross for information about when and where you can donate blood or call 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (1-800-448-3543). It is needed. For more information call 1-800-HELP-NOW (1-800-4357-669). You can also go to the Red Cross web site to find more information. {If that Red Cross site is busy you can find much of its information at this site. Check with the web sites for America's Second Harvest and the Salvation Army to find more ways you can help. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has an online list of organizations to contact to help the victims and their families. The FBI has established a toll-free telephone number for anyone with information regarding the incidents on September 11 in New York City and the Washington, D.C.. Please call (866) 483-5137 if you have any information. Click here for an FBI form to use when providing information about these crimes. 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

Gary Huber and Jamie Krutz from 3D Nature

On Friday - September 7, 2001 - our guests were Gary Huber and Jamie Krutz, the CEO and Creative Director respectively, of 3D Nature, a company that makes a really fine tool for creating 3D landscapes for use in CGI, World Construction Set.

Conventional 3D modeling and rendering programs, such as NewTek's Lightwave, are very good general purpose tools, but they require lots of work when creating CGI animations of natural landscapes. {It can be done, but takes intricate models that consume large anounts of RAM and lots of time, i.e. money.} That's where the World Construction Set comes into play. It specializes in modeling and rendering natural landscapes and does so quickly and with reduced RAM requirements.

And man, what a great job it does. If you didn't know better you'd think the pictures on this page were taken with a camera, not created within a computer.

Chattanooga River Bend WCS Rendering. Copyright 1999 by Richard Brown, Melvin Fuhrman, and Conrad Johnson, Gatorworks. Click here to see more images from 3D Nature.

Chattanooga area on the Tennessee river
{Copyright 1999 Richard Brown, Melvin Fuhrman, and Conrad Johnson, Gatorworks, South Mississippi.}
Click on this image for more images created using WCS.

Mountain Lake (cropped) Copyright Copyright 1997 Jamie Krutz and 3D Nature, LLC. Click on this image to see more examples of Jamie's work at the 3D Nature web site.

Gary and Jamie were here in LA a few weeks ago for the SIGGRAPH computer graphics conference and we took some time there to chat about World Construction Set and the things that it could do.

I'm really impressed by the World Construction Set, not just because it does such a great job of modeling and rendering landscapes, but because it can easily be used in conjunction with other 3D programs. This software provides unlimited opportunities for imaginative people to do amazing things. World Construction Set is most highly recommended for anyone who is serious about 3D graphics and animation.

Foggy Bay Copyright 1997 Gary Huber and 3D Nature. Click on this image to go to a page at 3D Nature's web site where you can see more of Gary's work.
WCS backgrounds were used for this scene for The Cider House Rules. {Copyright 1999 MiraMax Films} This is the image that made Jay Leno compliment that movie for not depending upon special effects. Matte separation and compositing were done by Al Magliochetti at Eye Candy. Artist Dwayne Jensen also worked on the World Construction Set scenes. Click on this image to go to a page at 3D Nature's web site where you can see more examples of WCS at work.
Important Note : All of the WCS pictures displayed on this page are shown reduced in size and/or JPEG quality level from their original versions. {This was done to reduce the time required for you to load the Hour 25 web page.} The original versions of these images look much better. Be sure to go to the 3D Nature web site to see these pictures in all their glory.

Listen to this show
	Click here to listen to the entire show. {1:19:48} or Click here for the show's intro music.{0:41} Click here for the show's opening and news. {27:06} Click here for the interview with Gary Huber and Jamie Krutz.{49:48} Click here for the show's closing.{2:13} or Click here for an index of all Shows on our site.

Links for more information relating to this week's show

3D Nature & CGI Click here to go to the 3D Nature web site. There you will find information about the World Construction Set and Visual Nature Studio. You can download a demo version of WCS from the web site or order it on CD-ROM. {It's a huge download and so you might find it easiest to get the demo version if you buy the CD. Its price will be applied against the purchase price of the full version if you subsequently buy WCS directly from 3D Nature.} You can find more links about CGI in general, and Lightwave in particular, by going to our previous interview with Brad Peebler from NewTek. Hugo Award Winners A number of the current Hugo winners and nominees have been guests on Hour 25. Listed below are links to our currently available on-line interviews with those persons as well as links for more information about the Hugo awards. Poul Anderson : Here's an interview that we did with Poul last year. You can hear my remembrance of Poul Anderson on our show with Pat Murphy and Michaela Roessner that aired just after his death. Poul Anderson had very kindly given us permission to do readings of several of his stories. You can hear two of them now, Call Me Joe and Kyrie, the others will be uploaded in the coming months. Catherine Asaro : We have an interview with her but haven't had the chance to air it yet. Don't worry though, she'll be our guest on Hour 25 next week. Bob Eggleton : Here's an interview with Bob at LosCon 2000 and here's another one with him that aired on January 22, 2001. Mike Glyer : We spoke with him last November, during our show featuring Chelsea Quinn Yarbro, about the then upcoming LosCon 2000 and his Hugo winning fanzine File 770. George R. R. Martin : Here's our interview with George discussing A Storm of Swords. You can read the complete list of nominees and winners for this year's Hugo awards at the Hour 25 SF Awards page. More information about this year's Hugos, as well as links to much more information about past Hugos, can be found at this web page from the 2001 World Science Fiction Convention. Science and Space News More information about the new Russian space station that MirCorp plans to finance can be found at their web site. Additional information about this and other Russian projects can be found at the Russian Space Web. Data about the Japanese HIIA launch vehicle that was just successfully tested can be found at this web site or at this NASDA web site. {Our Japanese listeners might enjoy reading the Japanese version of that NASDA page.} Information about the DS-1 spacecraft and its upcoming encounter with comet Borrelly on September 22 can be found at the project's official web site. More information about the Galileo mission to Jupiter can be found at the Project's web site. Here is some additional information about Galileo's Probe that entered Jupiter's atmosphere. Scientific American has published a great on-line article about Galileo. 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. 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

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Previous ShowsSeptember 2001

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Catherine Asaro

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Carl Meade

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A Silent Pause to Remember a Terrible Crime

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Gary Huber and Jamie Krutz from 3D Nature

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September 2001

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