links

* Stewart Brand of Whole Earth Whatever fame discovers the feminist and environmentalist joys of cities. James is reading through Whole Earth Discipline with comments.

Ever wonder what a rehabilitation-oriented prison system would look like? Norway gives a small clue.
* Visit to a high security prison, which includes Internet access.
* Photos of a low-security prison
* Eco-prison, actually modifications to an existing open prison
* More on what open prison means. It looks luxurious, but it's actually rehab for prisoners nearing the end of their sentence; they start in a more traditional closed prison. (With Internet.) They retain the vote, even in prison, and there was a teleconferenced political debate between politicians and prisoners. 21 years is the maximum sentence. More
* Stats on who ends up in prison. Unsurprisingly: low education, unemployment, mental problems.

* For Fanw: a secular German coming of age rite.

* the missing Republican women legislators

* Anonymous whistleblower says IEA has been lying about oil production, peak oil is nigh.

* Pro-choice Democrats voting for the Stupak amendment
* Failure breeds failure, success breeds success

* Long essay on US high-speed rail. China's pulling well ahead of us. Amtrak's Acela is "high-speed" only by our primitive standards.

* Dangers of the paranoid takeover of the GOP.

hard SF watch: Earthlight

I just checked out and read the first two volumes of Earthlight, a manga-format comic by Stuart Moore. I liked it... one reviewer called it a mix of teen drama and space action SF, which seems right, and thought it was too fast and heavy on the action, which I can see. The year is 2068, the place is the Earthlight colony on the Moon, whose main function is supporting (and presumably building) power satellites. Panels on the Moon collect power, beam it to satellites, which focus it for beaming to Earth -- which needs 25 terawatts of electricity (today: 1.5 TW) but still has lots of social divisions: "7 billion in poverty", England decaying, Russia and China not places to be. Launch costs aren't mentioned, hopefully much lower. Politics are big: the colony is supported by a 54-country coalition, with many countries being happy to sneak out of paying. "Enburton Corporation" gets mentioned briefly, as a source of new funding. I got a faint whiff of libertarianism early on but it seems to have dispersed; right now I'd call the politics on the grim side of realistic, with no perceivable authorial bias. Well, maybe liberal, given Enburton and what it'll do.

Fridge logic: I just wondered why solar panels would be on the Moon, where they'd get 14-day nights.

There's a mass driver, presumably for launching stuff for satellites.

The characterization seems good, esp. most of the teens. Oh, right! The protagonist, male, has a black father -- who is administrator of the colony, and not a "bull Negro" aesthetic and a white mother. Though come to think of it, the 15 year old protag himself has a shaved head.

So, imperfect but intriguing, and I know some people (James) are desperate for near-future space SF that doesn't totally suck. Lack of libertarianism and He3 should be a plus.

Positive review.
Mixed review.
TOKYOPOP page for the book, with Flash-delivered preview pages. Illegible as is, but you can zoom in.

Interview, which tells me that it's a 3 volume thing but the 3rd hasn't been in print and will be online free in January. Also claims there are mecha, though there haven't been so far, just utility bots. Huh, the artist is involved with Barack the Barbarian.