#Galactic Antiquities and Objects of Interest

[hegodamask]

ANDOR Set Details - Galactic Antiquities and Objects of Interest

[ask-attendant-heert]

There’s a collection of bonsais for sale at a good price at a place called Galactic Antiquities and Objects of Interest. However, I haven’t heard of this store and they only have 3/5 stars on the Imperial Ratings Hub. I’ve been asked to make use of the polling feature to honor the Emperor’s love for democracy.

[spacebookettes]

The Boy with No Witch

The boy had found another. Another who also had a book of old wife recipes.

Herbs and their combinations were the recipes of this other book. The boy’s book and his companion's book made an interesting bleu. On the menu, was not always to the new companions taste. The rats who hung out around the bins, in the back garden, were getting big and dark; some with redeyes.

The companions decided the old recipes could do with updating. They hoped the bins would have less to eat. The boy learned about wild roots, yummy barks and how to prepare flower buds. His companion learned about Spotted Dick and a proper Shepherd Pie. The cats who hung around with the rats got bigger and darker; some had orange eyes.

In the back of the companion’s old wife recipes was a list of herb growing tips. The strangest herbs they were growing in their back garden, grew large and darkened the light in the back room. Little orange flowers and a strong fragrance the companions loved to inhale.

The yellow caterpillars in the back garden had red eyes. Little chuckles of caterpillar jokes, could be heard, getting bigger and darker.

Butterflies of the most technicoloured hues. News of unusual butterflies brought officials to the neighbourhood.

A parrot fell from it’s perch. It’s last words. “Hello Hello"

The End

By Peter Stringer

The Other Fair Lady

Another Lady of the cyber fair ground. The fair mistress. An ancient Lady. An ancient droid Lady. Droid Lady hovered around the cyber fair. Her cyber fair. This Droid Lady had glittering thinking, no longer grey. Droid Lady kept an eye sensor on the fair people; She had eight of them. Droid Lady had a secret. Droid Lady was an expert thief. Little gadgets and gizmos. Charms and shiny objects. Personal items and bits of clothing. Seed tools and micro spaceships. She owned a dark void chest. Millions of objects over billions of years. She kept an account of every one of them. Ancient relics. Distant antiques. Alien war items. In fact aliens went to war over some of the items. All through history an expert Droid Lady had been.

Some called her steal mouse and void fly, little people, gnome angel, secret eel, couch hog, galactic weasel, air git, snapping atom, sneak nut, cyber sampler, fairy, amoral ink-ling.

Droid Lady had a twin sister, also a void thief.

The End

By Peter Stringer

Artist Terror

An alien artist of the Terroracts movement. Created dark brooding emotions. They kept them in a crystal holo sphere. A deep black ball with little neon flashes of moments. You could peruse the holosphere gallery... and when the flashes of neon met your subconscious’ approval; gaze into the dark ball and feel the thoughts of some other people. Multiple thoughts, different people. Momentarily take on their personalities. Fleetingly understand the mind of some stranger, an alien stranger: your neighbour... and sometimes laser queens of the quantum armies. Mixed emotions. Space contradictions. Cyber death thoughts. Happy memories also. Ice cream favourites. First time dragon riding. Event horizon love.

The End

By Peter Stringer

20s Cat

 

His first morning in the new place and they hear a scratching. It had taken the best part of their early twenties to scrimp and save for their perfect home. A small Victorian out building at the edges of some large town house’s land. It has a driveway of it’s own, still cobble stones. It’s  actually a collection of old disused red bricked buildings, with just enough room for some glazed high tech extension at the back: but for now it’s a dusty summery leaky emptiness, that will do.

The first morning and the large industrial doors can be opened to let in the sunlight and in walks a healthy looking black cat. It sits next to them. They try to reach for a petting, the cat has none of it.

Over the years as the high tech extension is built and the dust is evacuated from the corners, the old collection of workers buildings has become a very tasteful bright ex-industrial space. The cat stayed.

Over the years they had bought all manner of fun objects, cats scratching posts, boxes and perching places: but the cat had still not allowed the human to pet it. She always sat out of reach. She played with the feathery jingling distractions, ate only the slightly posher cat food and lounged around in the sunny spots of the modernised old world.

They were doting on the cat. She turned into an extreme vandal when they went out. So they stayed in.

On his thirtieth birthday the cat died in a lightly whitewashed corner, peacefully.

 They finally got to pet the cat.

The end

By Peter Stringer

Robot Law

No robot can be stronger than the most normal of humans. Well not the dumb ones. The dumb robots must be kept dumb... they can be strong. But the smart one’s, the ones with grey human intelligence must be kept normal. Of course the flying one’s will need to be intelligent. But the delivery ones dumbos.

All robots must have a circuit breaking off switch.

The other usual robot laws about never hurting humans and never letting humans be hurt through inaction.

What about the security droids. They need to be intelligent obviously. And they can’t have an off switch, hmmmmm

Medical robots. Must be kept from the mainframe, un-hackable. But what about the remotely actionable ones.

A.i. must have intelligence. What comes with intact intelligence, sensory equipment; touch, sight, smell, balance, sound, independence... schadenfreude.

Robot law on threat of disintegration.

Robot rights?

The End

By Peter Stringer

That 70s Universe

 

Sci-fi isn’t quite haunted like it was in the 70s. The 1970s. It also hasn’t the brightly coloured spaceships. The clashing colored spaceships with extrovert protrusions. The spaceships don’t psychedelically burst out/forth like they once did. Sci-fi is nasty sometimes now.

Sleazy characters not so much though.

I have a memory of some 70s or perhaps 60s retro futurist car being driven by a woman. She looked so cool and the movie felt haunted. I have no idea of its plot or name. I only remember the cool car and cool woman.

In the future people will live to 300 and babies will be grown for them, selected by genetic advantage... I hope they mix some randomness into this: to make it less haunted.

 

By Peter Stringer

[hermanwatts]

Science Fiction New Releases: 30 November, 2019

Recover from the Black Friday madness with a science fiction new release or two, filled with vast space operas, alien invasions, and even an interstellar caveman.

A. I. Rescue (The A. I. Series #7) – Vaughn Heppner

Despite being all alone—the only one of his kind—Bast Banbeck has generously helped humanity time and again against the death machines, saving us from extinction. Years ago, Jon Hawkins promised Bast that he would hunt for and save the Sacerdotes in return.

But the homesick Bast is losing hope, drowning his sorrows in extended drinking bouts. Now, Intelligence learns there are Sacerdote prisoners 162 light-years away.

Jon leads the rescue operation, using the void to slip undetected into enemy territory.

But this is an AI trap to capture and study Hawkins—the puny creature that has done more harm to the great AI Dominion than any other parasitical life form.

What no one knows is that Hawkins’ passage through the void has awakened an ancient evil, and it’s eager to reenter time and space.

The battle for life has just become more intense.

Hell’s Reach (Galactic Liberation #6) – B. V. Larson and David VanDyke

USA Today bestseller B.V. Larson and Dragon award finalist David VanDyke have released book six in their epic military space opera!

The Breakers find a new home among the stars: Utopia. An engineered planet that is vast beyond comprehension with plenty of room to grow. They set up trade routes and work as mercenaries for their supplies… but trouble lurks.

Pirates strike their merchant lanes. Key personnel are captured and enslaved. Straker is called upon to do something, and thus a new conflict is set in motion.

Don’t miss HELL’S REACH, a wild thrill ride of combat and intrigue among the stars. This new novel of military science fiction is the sixth book in the Galactic Liberation series. Look for book #1, STARSHIP LIBERATOR if you’re new to this expanding universe.

Interstellar Caveman – Karl Beecher

You think you’re struggling to find your place in the universe?

Consider poor old Colin Douglass, a terminally ill insurance agent who awakens from centuries in cryogenic freeze to find Earth is a devastated wasteland. Now, he’s being pursued by a homicidal interstellar tourist board, and calculating insurance dividends is as outdated as making stone axes.

Sci-fi-hating technophobe Colin embarks on a desperate struggle to find a cure for his illness, as well as a place for himself in this strange new galaxy where toilets talk back, and door handles are a long-forgotten relic. Only by teaming up with his rescuer, hard-boiled, space-traveling archaeologist Tyresa Jak (that’s Doctor Jak to you), can Colin hope to succeed before time runs out.

Along the way, this galactic odd-couple must evade the Erd Tourist Board – a powerful mega-corporation which will do anything to ensure the mythical Earth stays mythical – and deal with a crackpot religious cult who not only possess a cure for Colin’s illness, but who also believe there is more to this caveman from Earth than meets the eye….

Jim Cartwright: Raknar Quest (Four Horsemen Tales #14) – Mark Wandrey

Having successfully saved Cartwright’s Cavaliers from bankruptcy, Jim Cartwright has a new quest—he wants to know more about Raknar. Unfortunately for him, the secrets of the giant machines appear to have been lost to antiquity. Still…he has to try.

After returning from a lucrative contact, he secures a base of operation for his Cavaliers in the Karma system, then he sets off toward the galactic core. It’s something he feels he needs to do by himself, so he leaves his over-protective mentor Hargrave behind.

Can Jim and Splunk find the answers to their questions on their own? They need to know how to maintain the massive Raknar, and where they can find more—and they need the info now! The towering 20,000-year-old war machines could give humanity an edge against the contentious Mercenary Guild…but only if he can get the information he needs.

Jim’s heading for more trouble than he bargained for, though, and there are many people who want to stop him and see his quest fail. Few answers await, and there are many new adversaries in his path. At the end of his journey, war looms, as well as a long-lost mystery from his past. Come along on Jim Cartwright’s Raknar Quest.

Komenagen: Slog – Rolf Nelson

What separates boys from men? How can you prove you are worthy of rights and respect of adulthood?

Skaffington White is a sixteen-year-old nobody in New Philly as far as the rest of his high school class-mates are concerned. Bright and honest enough to be a discipline problem at school, under-appreciated by his accountant father and mousy mother, he was just putting in seat-time at school until he could graduate. At least until a drug raid gone wrong left him an orphan with three younger siblings. None of his extended family was willing to take in what the government described as an entirely too independent problem child…. How could he get a new start in life that didn’t go through Enlightenment Foster Care Facility Number Four, with level two treatment?

Could a wilderness trek for the pitiless Plateans offer a way out, or will it lead only to a cold, lonely death on a barely terraformed planet? How much worse can the wild of a new world be than the impersonal bureaucracy of “civilization”?

Every great character has a back-story. Here is how one of the characters central to the award-nominated novel “The Stars Came Back” got his career started.

Point of Honor (The Exiled Fleet #4) – Richard Fox

Gage and his allies learn dark secrets of the Daegon invasion…

When the Exiled Fleet enters the Cathay Empire, Commodore Gage must confront an awful truth. Albion ships have joined the enemy invasion. With an alliance to liberate the home world in doubt, Gage leads a mission to bring the renegades to account.

But will Gage lose everything to protect Albion’s honor?

Meanwhile, the spy Tolan sneaks back to Daegon territory and witnesses just how the Daegon rule conquered worlds. There, he finds information that can win the war for Albion…or plunge the free galaxy into darkness.

Stryker’s War (Galaxy’s Edge: Order of the Centurion #3) – Josh Hayes, Nick Cole, and Jason Anspach

Feel the thunder!

Stryker Company always brings the fight, but when they relieve embittered and embattled Republic marines, they find an enemy unwilling to stand up and face them. Tasked with protecting the Republic’s interests on a mining world, the legionnaires face roadside ambushes, double-dealing locals, and constant sabotage.

And the mission isn’t as straightforward as they thought it would be.

As skirmishes escalate into coordinated ambushes and assaults, two squad leaders, Talon and Lankin, are forced to chase after the sparks threatening to ignite the entire populace into a full-blown insurgency. Denied the legionnaires and resources they need to contain the situation, a single platoon fights to complete a mission requiring all of Stryker Company. The outnumbered platoon must work their way from glittering coastal ports, through steamy jungles and dust-covered mines, to find an enemy hidden seamlessly among the indigenous populace.

The cost is high; the sacrifice great…but nothing short of death itself will stop the legionnaires of Stryker Company from completing its objective. In this stand-alone tale of combat, brotherhood, and sacrifice, these legionnaires will learn what it truly means to make the ultimate sacrifices for their friends.

Sunset (Legend of the Galactic Heroes #10) – Yoshiki Tanaka

Having taken his devoted confidant Hildegard von Lohengramm as his empress, Kaiser Reinhard awaits the birth of his heir. Much remains to trouble him, from the ongoing campaign of terror by Church of Terra diehards to the machinations of an erstwhile landesherr, and there are ominous signs that his own condition may be graver than anyone suspects. Nevertheless, it seems that peace has finally come to the New Galactic Empire.

Meanwhile, in the Iserlohn Republic, Julian Mintz, successor to Yang the Magician, resolves to begin the first and final battle fought on the republic’s terms—the world-shaking conclusion to the Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

Science Fiction New Releases: 30 November, 2019 published first on https://sixchexus.weebly.com/

[astrogeoguy]

– Venus after Sunset, and the Old Moon Hangs Out at Dawn – Leaving Dark Sky Delights for April Evenings!

(Above: Galaxies exhibit a wide range of shapes and structures. This is a sampling of them - many of which are visible in binoculars and telescopes during April evenings, under dark sky conditions.)

Astronomy Skylights for this week (from April 8th, 2018) by Chris Vaughan. (Feel free to pass this along to friends and send me your comments, questions, and suggested topics.) I post these with photos at http://astrogeoguy.tumblr.com/ where the old editions are archived. You can also follow me on Twitter as @astrogeoguy! Unless otherwise noted, all times are Eastern Time. Please click this MailChimp link to subscribe to these emails. If you are a teacher or group leader interested joining me on a guided field trip to York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory, or another in your area, visit www.astrogeo.ca.

If you’d like me to bring my Digital Starlab inflatable planetarium to your school or other daytime or evening event, visit DiscoveryPlantarium.com and request me. We’ll tour the Universe together!

Public Events

On Monday evenings, York University’s Allan I. Carswell Observatory runs an online star party - broadcasting views from four telescopes/cameras, answering viewer questions, and taking requests! Details are here. On Wednesday evenings after dark, they offer free public viewing through their telescopes. If it’s cloudy, the astronomers give tours and presentations. Details are here. 

At 7:30 pm on Wednesday evening, April 11 the public are invited to attend a free RASC Toronto Centre Speaker’s Night Meeting at the Ontario Science Centre (Room TBD, just follow the signs). The speaker is Jake Kloos, PhD Candidate, Earth and Space Science and Engineering, York University, presenting The Search for Water in the Solar System. Details are on the RASC website here. 

On Friday, April 13 at 7:30 pm in the Hamilton spectator building, the Hamilton Amateur Astronomers will present a free public talk entitled The Astronomy of Civilizations Past. Details are here. 

On Friday, April 13, starting at 7 pm, the U of T AstroTour will present their planetarium show entitled The Life and Death of Stars. Tickets and details are here. 

On Friday, April 13, starting at 7 pm in Sydney Smith Hall, U of T, the Society for the Study of Egyptian Antiquities (SSEA) ~ Toronto Chapter will present a talk by Professor Sarah Symons entitled Shadows and Droplets: Timekeeping Instruments in Ancient Egypt. Details are here. 

Next week is Astronomy Week. Stay tuned for events. 

Seeing Stars

If you missed last week’s discussion about easy-to-see stars in the April evening sky, it’s here. 

The Moon and Planets

The moon starts this week as an elderly crescent that rises in the wee hours and lingers into the morning sky. By mid-week, it will appear as a very slim crescent hovering over the eastern horizon before dawn. And, on Sunday night, the moon will reach its new moon phase, when it is hidden from our view beside the sun’s glare, and illuminated only on the hemisphere we never see. The moon’s absence this week will provide us with night skies dark enough for viewing dim, deep sky objects. 

(Above: This week, Venus climbs the western evening sky, shown here at 9 pm local time.)

Meanwhile, our views of Venus continue to get better and better as it swings away from the sun and climbs higher in the western sky. Look for the extremely bright planet in the western sky for about two hours after sunset. It sets just before 10 pm local time. 

About 30 minutes after Venus sets, mighty Jupiter will rise in the east. The extremely bright planet is dominating the southern overnight sky now. It reaches its highest elevation (about three fist diameters) above the southern horizon around 3:30 am local time, and then descends into the southwestern sky as the sun rises. 

Reddish Mars and yellowish Saturn will still be relatively close to one another this week in the pre-dawn eastern sky. Saturn rises first shortly after 2 am. Mars, sitting about three finger widths to its lower left, rises soon afterwards. Mars will continue to draw away eastward from Saturn this week.

(Above: The eastern pre-dawn sky,  shown here for 5:30 am local time, features many of the bright planets. )

Spring Galaxy Week

Every spring in the Northern Hemisphere, the obscuring stars, gas and dust of our own Milky Way galaxy vacate the night sky, leaving a literal window of opportunity for observers to see distant galaxies. This week’s new moon will provide us with especially dark skies for hunting these faint but majestic objects.

(Above: The green ovals and the red labels identify the many galaxies located in the eastern evening sky this spring, shown for 9:30 pm local time. The constellation of Coma Berenices, near the centre of the chart, hosts the north galactic pole - the point in the sky that is directly out of our Milky Way galaxy’s plane of rotation.) 

On the next clear evening this week, head outside and find a spot away from city lights and look east. About halfway up the sky, to the upper right of the bright star Arcturus, is the constellation of Coma Berenices, or "Bernice's Hair." This patch of sky contains the north galactic pole and therefore far fewer stars than the rest of the sky. It's more or less overhead during late evening in April (and mid-evening in May) – perfect for viewing distant galaxies through the least amount of Earth’s distorting atmosphere. Coma Berenices and the constellations around it — Virgo, Leo, Ursa Major (The Big Dipper's home) and Canes Venatici — all host a great many galaxies. 

Space.com has posted a column I’ve written about classifying and viewing spring galaxies. You can find it here.

Keep looking up to enjoy the sky! I love getting questions so, if you have any, send me a note.

[ask-attendant-heert]

Imperial Consumer Review for Galactic Antiquities and Objects of Interest: 1/5 Star Destroyers

If I Could Give This Place 0 Star Destroyers I Would

Posted by TookaLove44

Today, I went to pick up a bonsai I purchased online from Galactic Antiquities and Objects of Interest as a gift for my Supervisor after our old bonsai, Josephine, was murdered by Rebel Scum. The pictures they posted on the Holonet were doctored and the only bonsai they had available were withered and dead. Nonetheless, the business refused to refund my money. I have reported them to the Imperial Office of Finances and the Imperial Society for the Protection of Plants.

In summary: Do not go to this shop! It is a scam!