The Great Race

A motley collection of riders assembled for the start of the Great Race on Saturday, to benefit RFL. By land, sea, and air, they raced for bragging rights, to say they beat the best. (Why, that would be lag, of course.)

I decided that the safest spot would be in an airship, hovering above the start line in Eyre.

Mrs. Fogwoman Gray-Volare started the race.


Mr. Garth Goode considered racing on a pachyderm, though he later switched to a more traditional horse.

Miss Soliel Snook (below, center), Captains Wrath Constantine and Rachire Andel, Emperor SteelCobra Calamari, Mr. Denny Kozlov, Miss Stereo Nacht, Miss Kimika Ying, and Mr. Podruly Peccable all vied for the prizes as well. Miss Garnet Psaltery and Miss Aevalle Galicia were spectators at the start, and Mr. Vivito Volare assisted with the operation.

See Mr. Goode's photographs of the start of the event here .

I kept up as well as I could. Captain Andel took an early lead, and then a disruption in the space-time continuum must have occurred, for I lost the group...they were never seen again, though I heard some further reports via subspace radio, so I can only hope they survived.

Actually, Captain Andel was declared the winner with a time of 26.82 minutes; Miss Ying was a close second. Congratulations to the Captain, and to all the participants!

Gorey Ball for RFL (take 2)

(Note of explanation: I should learn not to try new things late at night. I had taken so many pictures that I thought it best to set up a Flickr account and upload the pictures there. So far, so good. Then I saw that Flickr allowed me to link to my Blogger account and actually post a Journal entry via Flickr. How wonderful! I thought, only to have my hopes dashed by discovering that I could link to one and only one picture that way. By then it was a little on the late side, so I thought I'd write a little text and fix it the next evening, only to find that the picture was the only thing displaying on the Difference Engine's screen. It was the lovely picture of the lovely Mrs. Fogwoman Gray-Volare below, but still, there was text accompanying it, and a link to Flickr. Ah well. Consequently, Take 2, the Old-Fashioned Way.)

On Sunday evening, Mrs. Volare held a ball to benefit RFL, choosing as a theme the American writer and illustrator Edward Gorey, whose black-and-white, vaguely Victorian illustrations made him famous. (Perhaps his most visible contribution was the drawings for the opening sequence of the PBS Mystery! series.)

The dance area was creatively decked out in Gorey fashion (courtesy, I am told, by the esteemed Mr. Vivito Volare who, alas, could not be in attendance Sunday night).




Mrs. Volare, our hostess:

Miss Garnet Psaltery, dressing the part to a T:

Caledon RFL co-captain Mr. Lucien Brentano, in a black-and-white striped suit:

Also daring white as well as black, your humble scribe:

Miss Martini Discovolante:

Miss Serra Weatherwax, scaring innocent partygoers enough to require the emergency bloomers (to steal a line from the Clockwork Cabaret):


These and still other daguerrotypes are available here.

Miss Magdalena Kamenev provided the music, offering a selection of jazz tunes from the 1930s or thereabouts.

Gorey Ball for RFL

Mrs. Fogwoman Gray-Volare

Sunday evening found me in a monochromatic state, attending Mrs. Fogwoman Gray-Volare's Edward Gorey-themed ball for RFL.

The setting, high above Tanglewood Forest, was created by Mr. Volare, and perfectly evoked Gorey's eerie drawings.

Miss Magdalena Kamenev provided the soundtrack for the evening, playing 1930s jazz standards, and many Linden dollars went to RFL.

For the entire set of daguerrotypes created that evening, see this Flickr stream.

Manifesto Contest

The Mad Scientist Convention continued on Sunday with the Manifesto Contest and Costume Contest.

Below, Miss Darlingmonster Ember's Tesla coil-powered apparatus. She must have strong shoulders indeed!


Miss Stereo Nacht. One imagines Paul Hogan saying: "Naw, that's not a wrench." He pulls out Miss Nacht's wrench. "Now that's a wrench."


Our Mistress of Ceremonies, Mrs. Volare, looking quite be-tentacled:


I stood back and observed the proceedings in a strictly journalistic capacity, though I did partake in an excellent glass of absinthe. I have no idea whatsoever as to why the later pictures exhibit some camera shake.


Miss Searra Weatherwax also seems content to observe:

Herr Baron Klaus Wulfenbach (shown below with Frau Anachen Lowey) delivered the shortest manifesto: "Don't make me come over there!"


Miss Magdalena Kamenev, looking lovely in a strapless gown, delivered a spirited rant.


Mr. Garth Goode, making the rest of us hungry for calamari, channelled his inner Cthulhu during his manifesto, combining an appeal to Science (with Mr. Goode, naturally, the sole arbiter of Science) with veiled threats to the Old Ones.


Miss CronoCloud Creeggan ascended the dais to deliver her platform, which started off well with a fiery call for more shoes. This brought the ladies in attendance to her side, until the Baron noted that she never suggested the shoes be shared with her subjects. Miss Creeggan's tirade then wandered into the realm of sparkles and ponies, and never quite recovered its earlier laser-like focus.


Mr. Leintati Innovia surely surpassed the rest of the field in the "mad" portion of Mad Science, delivering a lengthy, rambling manifesto that was quite divorced from reality. Lovely, really, in its own way.

Although I had other obligations and could stay only through the delivering of the manifestos, I understand that Baron Wulfenbach's precis carried the day in the manifesto contest and that Miss Nacht won with her outfit. Congratulations to the winners! To the others, I say, "Bwa ha ha! You may not have carried the day this time, cursed be to the corrupt judges, but beware next year!"

[N.B. Please don't take my comments about the participants seriously. Everyone who participated was a good sport about the thing, and a good time was had by all. I regret not having the foresight to copy each speech for your amusement; Mrs. Volare will be doing so in the Steamlander after she sobers up as soon as she recovers as time permits. My hat's off to the lady for another successful RFL fundraising event.]

Minion Build Competition

The Mac Scientist Convention continued on Saturday with a build competition. The theme: minions. After hours of hammering prims together, a dozen or so minions were ready for judging.

Caledon RFL Co-Captain Lucien Brentano judged the competition. Mr. Brentano had a unique mode of transportation on which to travel about the Oxbridge sandbox: the Noobmobile. He looks far too happy about his ride.

Mr. Brentano awarded three prizes. The first, for "Most Creative Use for a Used and Used-Up Henchman," went to Mr. Aeos Dragone for his Nooblood-Powered Clock":

Miss Martini Discovolante won the prize for "Most Likely to Make Mr. Lucien Wake Up Screaming" for her ArachnoBard:

Last, but certainly not least, Dead Vanessa Hamer won in the category of "Best Interpretation of a State Official" for Scary Des. Observe the unsettling details: two sets of arms and legs, the frightening tier meter, and, of course, the chicken:

Although all the contestants made something special, I particularly enjoyed Miss Cutea Benelli's bug-eyed creation (which also had a child monster wandering about):

I also was quite impressed with Mr. Garth Goode's Noob Minion (the Noob thing seemed to be a theme for the day):

Also notable was Miss Veleda Lorakeet's wonderfully Steampunk dress. As someone commented: "Any more gears on that and it would move under its own power."

Congratulations to the winners and to all the contestants!

Mad Scientist Convention in SSC

I find it difficult to keep track of all the events on the social calendar, but one I look forward to is the Steam Sky City Mad Scientist Convention, now in its third year.

Mrs. Fogwoman Volare hosted a "meet and greet" session wherein one could exchange information on world domination plans (a little coordination there goes a long way), the latest Mad Scientist fashions (one would hate to be wearing the same lab coat as the pipsqueak villain standing nearby), and minions. Good Lord, these people complain about their minions more than the aristocrats complain about their servants, and that's saying something!

I attended strictly in a journalistic capacity - no Scientist I, though I'm sometimes Mad. Well, quite often Irked, so I thought I would fit in.

Mr. Garth Goode with his famed Face Light. I stand on the right - I thought the skirt with the skulls would fit right in!


Miss Darlingmonster Ember, looking dressed to kill, or at least maim, and Miss Emilin Nakamori, looking deceptively harmless. One really can't judge a Mad Scientist by her appearance at these things.


Our Hostess, Mrs. Volare, standing next to Mr. Goode. The hat, he explained, was useful for meetings; it would take notes for him whilst he napped. I coveted the hat.


Mr. Denny Kozlov, in purple plaid.


Mr. Gray Pennell.


Miss Cutea Benelli and Miss Trilby Minotaur. Miss Benelli out-skulled me by a healthy margin. Miss Minotaur was wearing a darling lab outfit, complete with a syringe of scary-looking green liquid strapped to her arm. Just the thing to wear to a dissection!


I voted for my favorite Mad Science photo - in fact, I voted twice: it seemed like good preparation should I ever move to Chicago.

If time permits, I will drop by the building contest later and report on that.

Our Lady of Hope Returns to Caer Firnas

Just as last year, Our Lady of Hope Teaching Hospital made an appearance in Caer Firnas (though it seemed oddly shorter than I recalled). In addition, Mrs. Volare (Lady Caer Firnas), serving as co-chair of Caledon's RFL team, has placed the RFL vendors outside the hospital. A "two-fer," as they say: learn about cancer, donate to fund cancer research.

Through the entrance, on the right, is the library, with information about different types of cancer and links to the Aetherwebs for more information.

On the left side was the operating theater, and some sort of magic. Touching the pads around the operating table would send one into a reverie of sorts in which one would imagine one's self actually within a cancerous organ. Below, I visit a cancerous breast:

Back in the operating theater, I moved carefully around the jugs of ether and antiseptics...

...and around the scalpels.

Thank you, Mrs. Volare!