SMOF News, volume 2, issue 40

A ventilation target at last, and news in brief.

5 ACH

Along with the realization that COVID-19 is spread primairly through particles that can hang in the air for hours has come a new focus on indoor air quality. Good filters, UV light systems, and increased air circulation from outside are all things that can help reduce the risk of being infected indoors.

For air circulation, guidance has been vague until now. But the CDC, in conjunction with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), has finally picked a number to aim for: 5 air changes per hour (ACH).

Venues are not 100% safe above this number, not 100% deadly below it, and the science on how to scale it up when you have a big crowd is still in progress. But it is a guideline that everyone can check their venues against, something to inform the ongoing conversation about COVID-19 policies, and the beginning of a shift away from having to police individual actions to keep attendees healthy in the middle of a pandemic (a particularly urgent matter in parts of the US where events are banned from requiring masks).

What are the odds that your favorite convention’s venue already meets this requirement in its public spaces? Data on the open internet is sparse and contradictory. Modern convention centers probably are managing it already, while older hotels and other venues probably have good odds of failing it.

In Brief

• Kazokukon (Toledo, Ohio) will be skipping 2023 due to financial pressures and hopes to return in 2024.

• Featured guests at Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (Columbus, Ohio, September 27-October 1) will be Daniel Clowes, Raina Telgemeier, Keito Gaku, Brenda Chapman, Shelley Bond, and John Jennings.

• Guests of Honor at Arisia 2024 (Boston, January 12-15) will be Ryka Aoki (Author GoH), Winona Nelson (Artist GoH), and Tanya DePass (Fan GoH).

• Guests of Honor at COSine (Colorado Springs, Colorado, January 19-21) will be Catherine Asaro (Author GoH), Steve Leininger (Science GoH), and Theresa Mather (Artist GoH).

• Tampa Bay Comic Convention (Tampa, Florida, July 28-30) has added Carlos Valdes, Bob Eubanks, and George Newbern as guests.

• The Labyrinth Experience & Masked Ball (West Wycombe, UK, September 9-10) has added Brian Froud as a guest.

• FanX Salt Lake (Salt Lake City, Utah, September 21-23) has added Tress Macneille, Jess Harnell, Jim Cummings, Marty Grabstein, Rob Paulsen, and Maurice LeMarche as guests.

• Cincinnati Comic Expo (Cincinnati, Ohio, September 22-24) has added Wolf Kahler, Julian Glover, Floyd Norman, Johnny Yong Bosch, Anthony Marques, and K. Lynn Smith as guests.

• Seattle in 2025 is the only bid to hold the 2025 World Science Fiction Convention to have filed papers by the deadline to do so. (Write-in bids are still possible.) Voting on the 2025 site will take place before and at Chengdu Worldcon (Chengdu, China, October 18-22).

Event Calendar

Weekend of June 9-11

• Konflikt, the 2023 European Science Fiction Convention (and Swedish national sf convention), Uppsala, Sweden

• 2023 Metropolis Superman Celebration, Metropolis, Illinois, USA

• Heroes, Villains, and Blerds (art), Winter Park, Florida, USA

• áyA Con (indigenous comics and art), Denver, Colorado, USA

• Airikas Traum XVII (music), Erbach, Germany

• Bayou Wars 2023 31 (miniatures gaming), D’Iberville, Mississippi, USA

• AnimeCon 2023, Rijswijk, Netherlands

• Wie.MAI.KAI (anime), Flörsheim am Main, Germany

• Rocket City Anime Convention, Huntsville, Alabama, USA

• JAFAX 2023 (anime), Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA

• OMG!con 2023: Magical Girls (anime), Owensboro, Kentucky, USA

• Space Coast Comic Con, Cocoa, Florida, USA

• Oz Comic-Con: Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

• SWFL SpaceCon (media), Cape Coral, Florida, USA

• Sci-Fi Valley Con (media), Altoona, Pennsylvania, USA

• Fan Expo Dallas (media), Dallas, Texas, USA

• Comic Con Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia

• The Bride of FrankenCon (horror media), Alcoa, Tennessee, USA

Weekend of June 16-18

• YetiCon, The Blue Mountains, Ontario, Canada

• Pyrkon, Poznań, Poland

• 4th Street Fantasy, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• StokerCon 2023 (horror), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

• International Steampunk Symposium: Steampunk Under the Big Top, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

• CastleCon 12 (anthropomorphic), Horb, Germany

• StratosFur (anthropomorphic), Houston, Texas, USA

• Argentina FurFiesta (anthropomorphic), Buenos Aires, Argentina

• Arcon 39: Drager og Demoner (gaming), Oslo, Norway

• Congress of Gamers Summer Session, Rockville, Maryland, USA

• Q-Con 2023 (gaming), Belfast, UK

• Board Game Fest, Chavdar, Bulgaria

• Gaming Istanbul (video games), Istanbul, Turkey

• AnimeCon UK, Birmingham, UK

• Anime Onsen, Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA

• Cosplacon 2023: Onward to Battle (anime), Jefferson City, Missouri, USA

• Desucon 2023 (anime), Lahti, Finland

• AnimeNEXT 2023, Atlantic City, NJ

• Anime Festival Orlando 2023, Orlando, Florida, USA

• ExpOtaku Zaragoza 2023 (anime), Zaragoza, Spain

• Heroes Convention (comics), Charlotte, North Carolina, USA

• Rail City Fan Fest (media), Saint Albans, Vermont, USA

• Contropolis Massachusetts (media), Marlborough, Massachusetts, USA

• Awesome Con (media), Washington, DC, USA

Weekend of June 23-25

• LibertyCon 35 / DeepSouthCon 61, Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA

• PortConMaine: Year of the Yokai, Portland, Maine, USA

• Narrativity 2023 (storytelling in literary sf), Plymouth, Minnesota, USA

• Cosplay America, Cary, North Carolina, USA

• The Town That Never Was (steampunk), Telford, UK

• Aurawra (anthropomorphic), Sydney, Australia

• Origins Game Fair 2023, Columbus, Ohio, USA

• Nexus Game Fair, Brookfield, Wisconsin, USA

• Magic City Con (gaming), Birmingham, Alabama, USA

• Game Con Canada, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

• GeeklyCon 2023 (gaming), Rochester, New York, USA

• Too Many Games (video gaming), Oaks, Pennsylvania, USA

• Neo Anime Oasis:02, Boise, Idaho, USA

• SunnyCon Anime Expo, St. James Park, UK

• Black Hills Con (anime), Rapid City, South Dakota, USA

• Anime Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

• Bold Matsuri (anime), Jacksonville, Florida, USA

• Anime Sekai, Abilene, Texas, USA

• Finn-Con@MDC (anime), Miami, Florida, USA

• Anime Festival Wichita, Wichita, Kansas, USA

• Kyokai Con (anime), Mission, Texas, USA

• AnimeSHOW 2023, Bratislava, Slovakia

• Forest City Comicon, London, Ontario, Canada

• Mississippi Comic Convention, Jackson, Mississippi, USA

• Smallville Comic Con, Smallville, Kansas, USA

• Lewisburg Comic-Con, Lewisburg, Ohio, USA

• Greater Austin Comic Convention, Cedar Park, Texas, USA

• TrekFest 38: Quark's Bar (Star Trek), Riverside, Iowa, USA

Weekend of June 30-July 2

• SoonerCon 31, Norman, Oklahoma, USA

• Festival Fantazie, Chotěboř, Czech Republic

• BayCon 2023: A Night at the Space Opera, Santa Clara, California, USA

• Anthrocon 2023: Anthropolis: Our Furry City (anthropomorphic), Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

• Paris est Ludique! (gaming), Paris, France

• DexLite (gaming), Morristown, New Jersey, USA

• RAGECON 2023 (gaming), Sparks, Nevada, USA

• ShepparCon ‘23 (gaming), Shepperton, UK

• Delta H Con (anime), Houston, Texas, USA

• DoKomi (anime), Düsseldorf , Germany

• Sydney Manga & Anime Show, Sydney, Australia

• Anime Expo 2023, Los Angeles, California, USA

• BA-CON 2023 (anime), Pasadena, Texas, USA

• Kowai Con (anime horror), Pflugerville, Texas, USA

• Fan Expo Denver (media), Denver, Colorado, USA

• Avalon Expo 10/X (media), St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada

• Nickel City Comic Con, Buffalo, New York, USA

• Hershey Comic Con, Grantville, Pennsylvania, USA

• Florida Supercon (media), Miami Beach, Florida, USA

Weekend of July 7-9

• Finncon 2023 (Finnish national sf convention), Tampere, Finland

• InConJunction 42: Space is Big, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

• XXXVI Semana Negra, Gijón, Spain

• Festival Fantazie, Chotěboř, Czech Republic

• Play On Con, Columbiana, Alabama, USA

• Edge-Lit, Derby, UK

• CONvergence 2023: All Dressed Up..., Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

• Tremendicon 2023, Springfield, Missouri, USA

• Blerdcon Fae'd to Black (Black geekdom), Arlington, Virginia, USA

• Fur-Eh! 2023: Broadway Tails (anthropomorphic), Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

• East Coast Gaming Expo, Cherry Hill, New Jersey, USA

• Dice Tower East (gaming), Orlando, Florida, USA

• Gem State Gaming Convention, Boise, Idaho, USA

• Okashicon (anime), Pflugerville, Texas, USA

• OokiiSoraCon (anime), Helena, Montana, USA

• Anime Blues Con, Memphis, Tennessee, USA

• Anime Midwest, Rosemont, Illinois, USA

• Anime Texas, Houston, Texas, USA

• Atsusacon 2023: Into Another World - Isekai Edition (anime), Ghent, Belgium

• KuroNekoCon 2023 (anime), Spokane, Washington, USA

• ExpOtaku Torremolinos 2023 (anime), Torremolinos, Mexico

• Shore Leave 43 (media), Hunt Valley, Maryland, USA

• Fanboy Expo Knoxville (media), Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

• London Film & Comic Con, London, UK

• Eternal Con (media), Hampstead, New York, USA

• TrotCon 2023 (My Little Pony), Dayton, Ohio, USA

• CybFest NW (Transformers), Kent, Washington, USA

• 30th Anniversary X-Files Fan Fest, Saratoga Springs, New York, USA

Coda

• ChatGPT has yet to master Tic-Tac-Toe (AI Weirdness, hat tip: Money Stuff)

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