23:00 - Yuri's Day, Bay Area...
I'm writing this post from the Yuri's Day celebration at Moffett Field, just outside Palo Alto. It celebrates the first space flight of Yuri Gegarin.
The Yuri's Day celebration is, emphatically, a rave. I thought that raves were supposed to be vaguely anti-authoritarian, "temporary autonomous zones". Therefore, Yuri's Day is a rave in the, by definition, least likely location.
Moffett Field is still a Federal research facility with military groups. It is surrounded by barbed wire; it advertises military homes on site; and police roam the site.
On the other hand, researchers rarely fit nicely into categories. And the Yuri's Day celebration broke categories.
The celebration itself is two parts cyberpunk, one part science fair, one part computer demo -- oh, hell. It's all cyberpunk. Whatever the 1980's thought was the future -- is here. Purely mind-controlled video games (no joystick; just use your mind) are here. Futuristic electric cars, promising 0 to 60 mph in three seconds, are here. Decayed, once-proud buildings -- they're here, too. Electronic music determined by gum balls? Well they weren't part of my cyberpunk plans, but they're here, too. Weird green foods -- spirulina -- for a post-apocalyptic feast are here, too. (Some kids didn't believe that I've willingly eaten spirulina, many many times.)
On the control-by-mind video games: My concentration was literally off the charts. When I was asked to move things by concentrating, my new-found psychokinetic powers moved the items at a shocking speed. On the other hand, my meditation was... not. I was not able to blank my mind enough to be a Jedi master.
On the decayed buildings: The Moffett Center has seen much better days. One of the hangars, though still usable, is missing windows and has not been kept up.
I just saw a video of the first American in space: not Alan Shepard, but Ham. Ham was a chimp, about three years old, who went into space for about sixteen minutes.
I spent time in a chill area, beneath the wings of a small Boeing airplane, listening to electronic trance music being programmed, shifted, and mangled by a group named "Perphony Systems". Relaxing. Wunnerful. Purrrrr.
The festival had dozens of things to see. Hydrogen bubbles that burst into flame. Robots that burst into flame. Thirty-foot tall robots with searchlights. 1980s-style electronic punk music. 1960s-style vegan food. Hand-built airplanes. Large airplanes for high-atmosphere research. Discussions about the origin of life. (The scientist strongly believed in the panspermia -- spores from spaaaaaaace! -- model.) Bicycle-powered carnival games. Lots and lots of electronica music. World-electronica music.
Acrobats in the air doing tricks. Bicyclists with lit spokes doing tricks. More fluorescent and glowing things than I've seen in any rave. A hangar filled with artificial smoke. Three-dimensional dancers. Slightly less marijuana smoke than most raves. Lasers. Huge screens with 1960s-era space shots. People wearing 1960s-era space suit-style costumes. Deelyboppers. NASA engineers wearing orange jumpsuits.
I got slightly fewer hugs here than I do at conventions -- I've only recognized four groups so far. But they're all wonderful folk.
Next year, I'll be here again.
Take care, all.
Woohoo!
[...] It celebrates the first space flight of Yuri Gegarin.
Oh. Not as exciting as I had initially thought, but cool nonetheless.
(Pity I don't have the equipment to take part in that!)
We aren't all owned by corporations yet! Oh.. wait.. we are...
I still want my Virtual Glasses, though. The technology should have existed for years. All you need is a headsup display connected to a device with wifi, gps, and a compass, and use existing online maps to name off restaurants or list some content about buildings as you look at them. The people part isn't there yet, but just wait until HSA's databases get hacked and distributed...
I've been to the top of hangar 1, on the catwalks inside, with P-3 Orions far below me. Creepy! O_O