[Diaspora] Blue collar space

[Kenneth Coble]

On Wed, Sep 2, 2009 at 1:36 PM, Brad Murray<bjmurray.halfjack at gmail.com> wrote:
> That's us, humans, in space. Picture taken by an amateur astronomer
> with a 10-inch 'scope, tracking manually. So that's what space
> stations look like for real, manned by regular folks and imaged by
> regular folks. And that arm is Canadian, made by people I work with
> every day.

Wow... that's really, really amazing and inspiring.  I like the way
you've framed this notion as well, as 'blue collar space.'  I know
Traveller was a specific influence on Diaspora, and I've never
understood the people who refer to it disparagingly as 'truckers in
space' or whatever - for me, that is a huge part of the draw for
Traveller, and it's one of the possible directions for Diaspora that
is really compelling as well.

(I suppose at this point I should mention that my copy has finally
arrived, but I've been too sick/tired to do more than just sort of
leaf through it.  But now that I'm on the mend I'm going to be giving
it a real look-through.  I can say that like everyone else who's
gotten a copy, the book as a physical artifact is quite lovely -
cleanly printed, and the binding/hardcover is really quite nice.
Kudos again to all the creators!)