In conversation with ..... Steaphany Waelder

[Donald]

©Image, Steve (Wirefox)



Name:Steaphany Waelder
Location: Loving Texas ( 98º 28' 35"W 33º 13' 32" N 386m )
Website: My Photohraphy

CiC: Thanks for taking the time to talk to CiC.

Thank you for this honor. To be honest, I was actually surprised that I was invited to participate in the interview project.

Perhaps we can start by you telling us about your back-ground. Your childhood. What about your work history?

I was born and grew up on Long Island which is part of New York. I have always had a life long passion for learning, science, and technology. I was told by my parents that when I was a toddler and asked the proverbial question of what I wanted to be when grown up that my answer was always Scientist and when queried as to which particular field, that was what I was not sure of. My drive to learn science and then technology as a means to play with it solely came from within myself. I was playing with high school level chemistry by 2nd grade, electricity by 3rd, electronics by 4th, and college graduate level atomic particle physics by 6th. This was then followed by additional interest in astronomy, model rocketry, and what ever caught my eye as being something fun to learn and play with. When I graduated high school, I was able to secure a job in the field of Semiconductor Engineering performing microchip circuit topology design.

At present, I have my own high tech engineering services business that I run from my home and ranch where I have a data center comprising 6 Sun Microsystems Solaris/UNIX servers and two Windows based workstations. I also have my own electronics lab for conducting electronic design, simulation, analysis, prototype and small run thru-hole and SMT electronic assembly. For any curious about my business, just check out: http://www.kitsune-eng.com/

And what about your family life?

I own and live on my 67 acre, 27 hectare, ranch in rural Texas. I moved out here back in 1991 because I wanted land both to have space for my techi activities and to also have animals. At present, I have 8 Horses ( Paints, a Quarter Horse, and an Arab), 2 Donkeys, 3 miniature Horses, 5 Parrots, 10 Tammar Wallabies, and my living room has a 400 gallon, 1500 liter, pond with fish. I was married, that's over, and I'm not about to try that again, besides, my animals are better companions than the dumb monkey I ended up stuck with.

Editor's Pick

If you were in tonight, what would you choose as one of your favourite books and/or films to keep you entertained, and what you be having as a favourite meal?

I'm usually in for the evenings, apart from something astronomical going on that I want to photograph, weather permitting. Most of my books are extremely technical ranging from electronics and software to photography, and of course quantum physics and cosmology are just for something lite and fun to play with. Here are just a few titles that I have handy on my book shelf: Dreams of a Final Theory by Weinberg, Gravitation by Misner Thorne and Wheeler, Introduction to Superstrings and M-Theory by Kaku, Lagrangian Interaction by Doughty, Noncommutative Geometry by Connes, OSofA Handbook of Optics I & II by Bass, Principles of Physical Cosmology by Peebles, Quantum Chromodynamics by Greiner and Schafer.

This doesn't count anything near what I have else where in boxes and my pdf book collection comprises nearly 30,000 technical and engineering titles.

As for television and films, I tend to watch educational subjects, University of California's channel, the History channel, and the Discovery channel, followed by science fiction. I do watch BBCAmercia and have been a long time fan of Dr Who.

As for favorite foods, I lean towards Chinese and Japanese cuisines as well as German since that's my ancestry and it's what I consider home style cooking.

What other things fire your interest, apart from photography?

Science, learning of the Universe, and then actually putting that knowledge to use or just playing with it. It's my view that:

• Knowledge is Power
• Infinite Knowledge is Infinite Power
• The Application of Knowledge is Wisdom
• You can never have too much Knowledge

How long have you been a photographer, and what got you interested?

The first camera that I was given was a Kodak Instamatic 100 that I received sometime in the 1960's and I still have it. It shows signs of it's age, but it still fully functional.

Later a neighbor into photography gave me several cameras and my favorite was a Yashica MAT. This camera was destroyed when my Dog took the leg out from under a table the camera was sitting on. I have been watching ebay to one day find a replacement and I have my eye on several other antique medium format cameras that I want to have since I love the image quality, ease of ground glass focusing, and potential 500 Mega Pixel plus files when scanned.

I also have my father's Voigtländer Bessa that he found when in Germany during World War II. This was the camera used for family snaps when I was a child and apart from the original leather case showing signs of wear, the camera is fully functional.

My father was a fan of the publications put out by the US government printing office and he got me the Photographer's Mate 3 & 2 Naval training manual published in 1971. I still have this 680 page book on my book shelf. So, where most starting out photographers turned to Kodak for instructional materials, I had something that went into far greater detail.

The real draw of photography to me was it combined so many sciences into one - optics, spectra and the properties of light, chemistry, crystallography, mathematics. Plus, it allowed me to document and preserve phenomena that I enjoyed in the fields of astronomy, photographing meteor showers and comets, meteorology with photographs of storms and lightning, and documenting my other technical activities.

While in high school, I had a permanently set up dark room in my parents home where I did B&W film, print, and E6 color film processing. Plus, the cameras available to me were all manual and I purchased a low cost light meter to get exposure right. Even today, I feel that these "old" methods provide a better level of control when capturing an image.

What type of photography are you interested in, and why?

Simple put, Illustrative. I enjoy photographing an interesting subject that I find in an appropriate and aesthetic setting. Sometimes, I know what is there before the exposure is made, and at other times I don't, especially when I do time lapse, infrared, astronomical. I'll know what the possibilities are, but the final result can be just as much a surprise to me as it is to anyone who views the photograph. In some cases, I'll know what I want to photograph years in advance and plan out the right conditions to wait for before taking a particular shot.

Despite my references to enjoying shooting with film, digital does excel particularly well when shooting images that capture light beyond the visible spectrum and when hundreds to thousands of frames are needed as in the case of shooting time lapse.

Even my choice of dSLR was based upon my film experience and I took the plunge for real when I got my Sigma SD14. From the dawn of digital photography, I always saw the Bayer mask with it's software overhead as the wrong technological direction and only when I realized that Sigma announced their DP1 did I find their SD14 with the Foveon imager. Remember, my background includes semiconductor engineering, so where all the reviews and evaluations of the SD14 targeted image quality and features, I searched out the Foveon patents to read how the technology operated within the internal structure of the chip. That's what sold me ! I knew right from the start that the SD14 would be a challenging camera, but that's just a part of photography.

Successful photography is choosing a technology that provides what you need and transcending the headaches bundled with it. This is why I use both digital and film.

I also want to expand my equipment to permit me to shoot interactive spherical panorama photography. I love how this technique allows the viewer to see what was behind the camera or out of view.

Any particular photographic influences?

I already mentioned my father and neighbor who got me started and I need to add my uncle who had a film SLR when I was a child and his collection of Kodak books provided some every day tips that my Naval Pro text skipped over.

What do you hope to achieve through your photography - or what have you achieved already?

To show others how I see.

With my understanding of science, particularly in the fields of light spectra, time, quantum physics, and astronomy, I view the world with a perspective and understanding that most don't have.

How often have you seen space themed paintings when the painter depicts an alien planet with a wondrous sky filled with huge expanses of bright nebula and newly formed stars ? Well, those very images are in our sky here on Earth, but the reason why reality does not match those paintings is our eyes do not have the spectral range and sensitivity.

What you think of CiC? Any way it could be improved? Where should it go from here, in your opinion?

The best part of CiC is the diversity of the membership, though primarily digital photographers, nothing is specifically off limits. No one has to worry about asking dumb questions. ( It's my view that dumb questions are the questions that don't get voiced. ) Members can follow any photographic path they desire and when seeking assistance, there is always someone with related or on target experience to help out.

As for improvements or where to go from here, I'd say take a look at the CiC google map and see where in the world we don't have members. The last I saw, I was the only one from Texas. I find it odd that the greatest US membership concentration seems to follow the Mississippi river.

What keeps you awake at night, apart from Photoshop?

Astrophotography, apart from that I have no worries. This economy has me a bit concerned, but I'm able to maintain my infrastructure and not drown into the global depression, so far.

Editor's Pick

What photographic gear do you own, and what software do you use for editing?

As I mentioned else where, I have a Sigma SD14 dSLR that I chose specifically because of it's imager technology and architecture. Additionally, the camera can be used with the internal hot mirror removed to permit broad spectrum, infrared, and ultraviolet photography.

To utilize the same lens collection that I have with the SD14, I picked up a Sigma SA-9 35mm fSLR to permit me the option to shoot film.

For lenses, I have a collection consisting of:

• A Sigma 28mm f/1.8 EX DG Aspherical Macro
• An Orion 1250mm f/13.9 ( 90mm Ø ) Maksutov Cassegrain
• A Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8 EX DC Macro Zoom
• A Sigma 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 Aspherical Macro Zoom
• A Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 Macro Zoom
• A DIY 53mm f/176 Pin Hole

The other camera's in my collection include my father's Voigtländer Bessa, My original Kodak Instamatic 100, and a Konica Big-Mini BM302 film point and shoot. Digital wise, I have my Sony FD88 digital camera that cost me over $800US when I originally purchased it, so I'm not about to let it go. ( This was my wait and see where the technology goes camera ) and I also have a Voigtländer Vitoret RM6.0 point and shoot.

Cameras on my wish list that I want to have include an Yashica Mat to replace my original lost years ago, a Hasselblad fSLR, and a 4x5 View Camera, plus I'm moving along to slowly re-establish my wet darkroom.

Software wise, I have, what I feel is, quite a bit:

• Sigma's Photo Pro
• Photoshop
• NIK's Silver Efex Pro
• NIK's Vivesa
• Qimage
• AutoPano Pro
• Deep Sky Stacker
• AIP 4 Win
• Registax

How would you rate your photographic skills and ability?

Conservatively average. No one seems to buy up my images as if I was some famous photographer, and there are far more who are more prolific than I am, but I have a diversity of experience and technical understanding to contribute to assisting others.

What will the digital camera be like in 2020? And will you still own one?

With the 3D Movie fad currently under way, I expect that we'll be seeing Stereo TLR cameras for shooting 3D stills and video. I hope film would still be around.

I'll probably stay with what I have, augmented with additional film cameras so that I can sit back and watch the technology show evolve.

Are you in a position to help or encourage others in their photography?

This is precisely how I view my participation here on CiC. When I have a question, I ask and I respond to others when I can.

Do you consider photography to be art?

Anything can be art. Even the layout of components on a circuit board. It's not the creator of a piece who determines if the work is art, even if it's the creator's intention, but those who view the work. Art is something that possesses an aesthetic that a viewer connects with, appreciates, and values.

How do you feel about having your own shot taken?

I'm Ok with it, though since I'm usually the one with the camera, I'm rarely in front of the lens. Besides, none of my Horses or 'Roos ever expressed a desire or interest in getting into photography, so rarely is anyone around to take my photograph.

What piece of advice do you think is most useful to someone starting out with photography?

Learn the basics and history of where photography came from. Many of the obscure concepts can be better understood when someone new to photography understands where those every day matters came from.

Can we see a shot that means something special to you.

Here is a photo that I shot, saved, and haven't taken a look at for years. This photo taught me something very special - Never discard or delete any photograph, Keep them all no matter how poor the exposure, composition, or how anything else for that matter turned out.

This photo is one of a few that I shot of a new born foal. Her parents were both Overo Paints and she was born pure white with beautiful blue eyes. Her personality was wonderful, open to everyone she met, friendly, very out going and extremely confident. I got my camera, just a Sony Mavica FD88 that I purchased years before when it "was" a decent camera, and tried to get some photos of the new born baby. As you can see, this is a shot that most would discard immediately.

Within 12 hours of this photo, the baby was displaying symptoms of severe colic. The veterinarian came out and this baby was immediately rushed into emergency surgery by 3AM. I had to operate the anesthesia under guidance of the veterinarian and my spouse at the time served as surgical nurse as the normal staff were all off at home in bed and we did not have the time to wait for them to be called in. The following day, the baby was fairing well from the ordeal and I brought out her mother to the veterinarian's facilities to allow her to attend to her baby. The mother showed an out right surprise when she saw her baby.

After another 12 hours, I gained an extensive knowledge of genetics and learned that the baby had "Lethal White Syndrome" a genetic condition that can be passed from parents to offspring where the DNA coding of a messenger protein responsible for guiding nerve development into the intestine is defective. The disease also has a parallel in humans called Hirschsprung's disease and is the result of single bit errors on the protein's DNA coding. In some cases, the human baby also has the pure white hair and blue eyes regardless of the parents characteristics.

I realized that the Mother's surprise, and why I was able to get the mother in the first place, was that she must have had prior babies with Lethal White who passed away and this must have been the first time where her baby was still alive the following day.

This photo and a couple others are all I have and this taught me to NEVER destroy or discard any image.

My Advice: If your out with friends, goofing about and taking snaps, remember to save them all. You will never know if that one you just deleted may be the last photo that was ever taken while your friend was alive.

Finally, can you give us one interesting/weird/silly thing about you that we don’t know?

How weird is weird ? I'm sure that my everyday normal would be beyond belief for most. Here, I'll touch upon just a few and you'll see what I mean. I have a young miniHorse, Rose, whose mother is emotionally scarred from prior owners. Rose needed a real parent rather than someone who would have taught her to be freaky frightened by everything. So, mommy Foxy provided the milk and a friend and I were parents to Rose and she been raised with expectations rarely put upon any Horse.

Well, Rose is strange, she is now 22 months old and has a mix of behaviors typical of a Horse and also typical of a 5 years old human child. She obviously has a full grasp of English, she does try to talk but is only capable of modulated nickers. She was disappointed to realize that her hooves don't have fingers and her ability to manipulate objects is limited. She loves coming upstairs to my computer room to get pretzels and just as I push my computer's buttons, she too loves to push buttons. ( I'm like mommy, buttons, buttons, gotta push the buttons ! ) When she doesn't want to listen, she can be a terror and have you ever seen a miniHorse at full gallop go up and down a flight of stairs that has a 90 degree turn half way ? Rose has done that many times.( Imagine a 5 year old with a top running speed near 30 MPH, 48 KPH ! )

I know, this is all too far fetched to believe that I have a miniHorse as my adopted child, well, for contrast, all my Horses have been taught proper manners to come into the house for treats, Rose is the only one who, apart from play time, lives in the house full time.

I'll include one here to show that this weirdness is real.

Thanks, Steaphany, for taking the time to talk to us. It’s been a real pleasure.
It's been fun and I'm sure this will help other CiC members understand why my posts tend to be so techie, or just plain weird, at times.

[Donald]

You can read previous interviews in the series by clicking here.

[Peter Ryan]

Thanks for opening up to us all Steaphany and giving an insight to your world. I too have and love hores but at this stage they do live in the paddock but they are great companions. In a previous post I did say I failed basic arithmetic at school and would have loved to have had your background in some of the sciences.

[MiniChris]

Very interesting interview...she used words about things I've only wondered about, but never actually knew in the tech world. I love the horse laid out like a puppy on the sofa. As always, it is fun to learn about the other members of this forum and like Steaphany said, it is the diversity of this group which makes it both so interesting and knowledgeable. Thank you for the insight into a very interesting household.

[mythlady]

Most interesting to get to know you, Steaphany -- as a bird person, I am of course drawn to the bit of information that says you have five parrots -- what kinds? I've had a conure, two parrotlets, and a Moluccan cockatoo (whom I sadly lost in the divorce -- a magnificent and gentle and loving creature, she is).

It must be quite a scene around dinner time at your house!

[jeeperman]

What a great read, thank you Steaphany for sharing. It is always interesting to get a sense of who everyone is and what their background might be.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Steaphany,

Thanks for partaking in this series, this has added considerably to my knowledge gleaned from past posts, etc.

Having designed and etched a few a PCBs (printed circuit boards) in my dim distant youth, I'm glad you agree it is an artform, I was always proud of mine even if they were just a handful of 74 series or 4000 series logic chips - ooops, showing my age there. and here's another; "any colour LED you want, as long as it's red"

I was touched by the sad story of the poor white foal, it does make you think.

Thinking back, I recall it was your timelapse vimeo movies that I first saw here, have you done any recently?

[Colin Southern]

Hi Steaphany,

Congratulations on all of your (considerable) lifetime achievements ... I must admit to feeling like I'm somewhat of an under-achiever after reading all that you've accomplished!

[Camellia]

Hi Steaphany,

Congratulations on all of your (considerable) lifetime achievements ... I must admit to feeling like I'm somewhat of an under-achiever after reading all that you've accomplished!

I have to agree with you Colin.

Steaphany - you should be very proud of yourself. I like hearing about animal lovers. I laughed when I saw your minihorse on the couch. I'm sure you can teach us all a thing or two! Any photos of the fish pond in the loungeroom?

R

[Steaphany]

...as a bird person, I am of course drawn to the bit of information that says you have five parrots -- what kinds?

I have two Magna Double Yellowhead Amazons, a mother and her daughter, and three Quakers. At one point I had a huge collection here that included Macaws, Love Birds, a Senegal, several species of Conure. The down fall was partly due to my career at that time had me traveling to client locations every week for about 7 years. I ended up being home less than 30 hours per weekend. This left the bird care in the hands of my ex who provided an inadequate diet causing numerous losses including my Magna Double Yellowhead male. With the divorce that followed, many of the surviving birds went to my ex for continued neglect that was beyond my influence or control.

In the future, I'm planning on rebuilding the Parrot breeding facilities as well as expanding my Kangaroo collection and breeding to raise companions for people who share a love for these guys. As a child I watched "Skippy, The Bush Kangaroo" and ever since had a love for Aussie wildlife. I know very well that raising exotics will not provide a great income, but I hope that it can grow to a level where I could gain back my investment and allow for them paying for their own expenses as well as contributing to species preservation.

I hadn't gone into much detailed regarding raising Horses, but this turned out to be something that I could not continue with. To me and from my rapport with them, I view my Horses as family, the idea of selling a Horse became abhorrent and akin to selling a loved family member into slavery. I know that many do love their Horses, but the majority of locals here in rural Texas view a Horse as an ATV/quad bike that is powered by grass instead of gas/petrol. Many Horses lost the care and protection I provided in the divorce.

I've had a conure, two parrotlets, and a Moluccan cockatoo (whom I sadly lost in the divorce -- a magnificent and gentle and loving creature, she is).

Sounds like you too suffered losses beyond measure. It's sad that non-human companions are only viewed as material property assets and not granted any say in their fate. I certainly know they are very capable of expressing their preferences and desires.

It must be quite a scene around dinner time at your house!

If you think of Rose as a child, then many aspects are pretty much normal. She is impatient, she loves treats, she very clearly conveys the concepts of "More", "Please", and "I want some of that". Rose does have her own bowl to eat from and earlier this evening she was so excited about getting her sweet feed dinner that she still talking ( nickers ) as she began to eat. The odd part is that Rose has developed a taste for foods that Horses are rarely even exposed to. Where Rose's daddy Ranger and mommy Foxy say "Yuk", Rose says "Yum, I want more". This past Summer when my back yard apricot tree was producing a nice crop of fruit, Rose became the "Apricot Horse". Rose would pick up the fallen fruit, carefully extract and spit out the seed, and then enjoy the treat. It did not take her long to realize that if she rubbed against the tree trunk that she could get more apricots to fall. Of course I limit what she gets to tastes due to the potential of digestive issues and colic. Given the chance, Rose loves the taste of chicken, beef, and chocolate. Menu items that Rose gets excited over include home made spatzel, pizza, ice cream, and I'll often get Rose's opinion on how a meal turned out. You know it has to be good if it's "Horse Approved".

[Steaphany]

Having designed and etched a few a PCBs (printed circuit boards) in my dim distant youth, I'm glad you agree it is an artform, I was always proud of mine even if they were just a handful of 74 series or 4000 series logic chips - ooops, showing my age there. and here's another; "any colour LED you want, as long as it's red"

I still have you beat, I have used and occasionally still use 7400 and 4000 series logic, but my first PCB was a circuit which modulated a signal picked up from a television's horizontal sweep oscillator by an input signal to use the television as an oscilloscope. The circuit was based on 12AX7 tubes. I still have that device and it still works, plus it was what demonstrated my skill potential when I interviewed for my first job doing semiconductor topology design right out of high school.

Thinking back, I recall it was your timelapse vimeo movies that I first saw here, have you done any recently?

Lately my time has been at a premium and I just haven't been able to do as much as I'd like to with photography. I'm hoping with the Spring storm season coming that I can shoot a nice time lapse of a thunder storm's life cycle.

[Steaphany]

I must admit to feeling like I'm somewhat of an under-achiever after reading all that you've accomplished!

Many years ago, I submitted my resume to a company to change jobs and the hiring manager gave me a phone call. I have no idea why he bothered, but the whole point of the call was to express his opinion that my resume was nothing but a fabrication. I assured him that every position could be corroborated by contacting the listed employers. He responded with "What would be the point ? No one in an entire life time could achieve what my resume claimed." Well I let it go since arguing would have been pointless, from that day to now I've done a whole lot more, and because this is my idea of entertainment, I see no reason to ever stop. ( I do hope I can achieve my goal of complete economic control of 20 light years surrounding the Sun within the next thousand years. )

If you, or anyone else is curious, I have my complete 35 year career history listed here:

My LinkedIn Profile

[Steaphany]

Any photos of the fish pond in the loungeroom?

I have a few snaps, but nothing that I would class as quality photography. I'll try to shoot and post some this week end.

[PaulMiller]

Having designed and etched a few a PCBs (printed circuit boards) in my dim distant youth, I'm glad you agree it is an artform, I was always proud of mine even if they were just a handful of 74 series or 4000 series logic chips - ooops, showing my age there. and here's another; "any colour LED you want, as long as it's red"

I remember when green LEDs came out... Were those TTLs the original 74 series, or the new fangled LS ones? There is definitely an art to PCB layout beyond just getting the electrical characteristics right - a well designed (composed?) board is a thing of beauty. I was never into film photography, so I got my wet chemistry fix from Ferric Chloride rather than developer.

Steaphany,
You mention science fiction in your interests - Have you ever read anything by Greg Egan? If you read about quantum physics and cosmology for fun, I'm sure you would find his stuff entertaining.

- Paul

[Steaphany]

Have you ever read anything by Greg Egan? If you read about quantum physics and cosmology for fun, I'm sure you would find his stuff entertaining.

Thanks Paul, no, not being familiar with Greg Egan, I looked him up on Wikipedia. Sounds like he may be an interesting read, as long as he doesn't contradict known laws of physics. I'll look up some of his online works.

One area of science fiction that ruins stories for me is when the author extrapolates on "new" physics or invents technologies that contradicts or negates known physics. They will often base the theme of the story so heavily on the technology that the whole house of cards collapses upon it's own weight. To many who aren't science or technology oriented, they see science as being dynamic and forever changing when in reality the evolution of scientific advancement is of constant refinement. Newton explained gravity and the laws of motion, Kepler developed the understanding of planetary orbits, and Einstein did not replace the prior theories, he augmented them in a novel perspective that provided a far more refined, and there by a more accurate, theory. For example the orbital perturbations which cause elliptical orbit procession is not explained by Kepler, but is by Einstein.

One science fiction author that I enjoy is Osamu Tezuka who was a very prolific manga author who delved into a wide variety of themes. To those out side of Japan, he's best known for the "Astroboy" and "Kimba, The White Lion" animated television series. Watching these as a child shaped my world view to later view Isaac Asimov's revered "three laws of robotics" as a justification for slavery of synthetic intelligence and synthetic life. It should be quite evident that my perspective on non-human life and how I treat the animals in my life has also been shaped by Tezuka's writings.

Another favorite author for me is Douglas Adams, of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" fame. Does any here remember the lines "Things are people too" or "Brain the size of a planet" ?

[rob marshall]

Steaphany

Since I started these interviews, and now that Donald has (very ably) taken them over, I have kept thinking with each one "Well, there can't be many more interesting ones left". How wrong I was to think that. Nasseem's the other week was excellent, and now yours - very different from all the others. But it shows up the fascinating range of the membership that exists on CiC.

One thing that strikes me with yours is that although you are obviously very busy, you do have a lot of time available to spend on your various interests and projects. I think that's good. I'm in a similar position myself, due to having retired early, and it is good to have the time to pursue ones interests. So many people these days seem to have all their time tied up with family and work commitments.

A very interesting read. Thanks for doing it.

[jiro]

...Another favorite author for me is Douglas Adams, of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" fame. Does any here remember the lines "Things are people too" or "Brain the size of a planet" ?

Wow, your interview was mind-boggling to me. I like science, too but totally not in the same intensity and comprehension as you do. No wonder some of your posted replies here at CiC are really heavy science stuff. Great to know something about you my fellow CiC. Your last statement caught my attention a lot, Steaphany. I have been collecting these kind of movies for quite some time now. I, too have "The hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". Not to mention the also provocative "What the Bleep Do We Know" Movie. The recent satirical alien movie "Paul" has a lot of hidden stuff in there (though that would depend on how open a person's mind is). I am also deep into the manga anime specially "Ghost in the Shell", "Akira", and "Naruto". I draw manga once in a while but what really interested me to them are the very subtle way that they inject esoteric ideas to the story. It always amazes me to find that the some people of science has very open ideas about such matters (the manga I mean).

[PaulMiller]

Another favorite author for me is Douglas Adams, of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" fame. Does any here remember the lines "Things are people too" or "Brain the size of a planet" ?

And "In relativity, matter tells space how to curve, and space tells matter how to move. The Heart of Gold told space to get knotted..."
Douglas Adams' non-fiction writing was every bit as good as his fiction - intelligent, funny and insightful. One of my favourites is Last Chance to See. Such a pity that there will be no more...

[Colin Southern]

Many years ago, I submitted my resume to a company to change jobs and the hiring manager gave me a phone call. I have no idea why he bothered, but the whole point of the call was to express his opinion that my resume was nothing but a fabrication. I assured him that every position could be corroborated by contacting the listed employers. He responded with "What would be the point ? No one in an entire life time could achieve what my resume claimed."

Probably for the best - I have a feeling you don't suffer fools lightly!

One area of science fiction that ruins stories for me is when the author extrapolates on "new" physics or invents technologies that contradicts or negates known physics.

I often think back to Star Trek ... in it's time crew had "communicators" to let them talk to the Enterprise whilst on a planet surface -- Phasers (weapons), and of course the "Transporter". Of course these days we have sat phones that would be more than capable of talking directly with a space vehicle -- probably even a limited version of a Phaser wouldn't be too much of a stretch (thinking of things like IR Lasers). But what do you think of the "Transporter" -- do you think that could ever be a reality, with reqards to the laws of physics?

[arith]

I like the last picture 'The Final Theorem' It always amazes me what people can come up with, of course there would be nothing left to do if it was discovered; it is implied that it is discovered or is it possible that we can invent no more.

Quantum theory is a complete mystery to me; but it just seems right. Information at the outer edges of the universe, associated with objects existing closer. I don't understand that, but it is fun nevertheless.

I value your contribution to CiC, and have learned a lot from you. cheers

Of course I forgot, you might be interested in this:
http://groups.google.com/group/h2g2communityconsortium

which is related to this:http://hitchhikers-guide-to-everything.co.uk

Which is a TLD I bought for them.