Category Archives: Con Reports

Hanseatic Steampunk: Cora’s Adventures at the 2025 Aethercircus Festival in Buxtehude

Posted on May 26, 2025 by Cora

The first May weekend was another long holiday weekend, because May 1 is a public holiday in Germany, the schools were closed on Friday May 2 and many had taken the day off work, so much of Germany had a … Continue reading →

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Robot Hallucinations Revisited

Posted on May 20, 2025 by Cora

Rather than overload my previous post (which got a lot of attention) with ETAs, I decided to write a follow-up post with a round-up of new developments, insights and reactions on the Seattle Worldcon ChatGPT controversy. For starters, Kathy Bond, … Continue reading →

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Robot Hallucinations

Posted on May 8, 2025 by Cora

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will be aware that the 2025 Worldcon in Seattle, Washington, is embroiled in a massive scandal. Turns out the programming team used ChatGPT to vet people who’d applied to be on programming … Continue reading →

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Journey to the Edge of the Ruhrgebiet: Cora’s Adventures at the Marché Noir Retro Fair in Dorsten, Part 3: The Road Home and Greven

Posted on February 25, 2025 by Cora

Two weekends ago, I attended the the Marché Noir retro toy/comic/games/cool stuff con in Dorsten on the northern edge of the Ruhrgebiet. For the trip to get there, see part 1 and for my impressions of the con itself and … Continue reading →

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Journey to the Edge of the Ruhrgebiet: Cora’s Adventures at the Marché Noir Retro Fair in Dorsten, Part 2: The Con and the Mine

Posted on February 23, 2025 by Cora

Here is part 2 of my adventures at the Marché Noir Retro Fair in Dorsten. Part 1 about the trip to get there may be found here. Coalmine Fürst Leopold As mentioned before, the 2025 Marché Noir retro toy/comic/cool stuff … Continue reading →

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Journey to the Edge of the Ruhrgebiet: Cora’s Adventures at the Marché Noir Retro Fair in Dorsten, Part 1: It’s Roadtrip Time Again

Posted on February 18, 2025 by Cora

I first heard about Marché Noir, a retro toy/comic/games/cool stuff fair in the Ruhrgebiet region, sometime last year. It sounded like exactly my sort of thing. However, Marché Noir is traditionally in February and last year I couldn’t go for … Continue reading →

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Cora’s Adventures at the Church of Eternia Masters of the Universe Holiday Event in Hanau, Part 3: The Road Home… and Offensen

Posted on January 14, 2025 by Cora

On the third advent weekend in 2024, I attended the the Church of Eternia Masters of the Universe holiday event in Hanau. For the long trip to get there, see part 1 and for my impressions of the con itself … Continue reading →

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Cora’s Adventures at the Church of Eternia Masters of the Universe Holiday Event in Hanau, Part 2: The Con as well as Hanau and Langenselbold

Posted on January 13, 2025 by Cora

Following some holiday interruptions, I return to my adventure at the Church of Eternia Masters of the Universe holiday event in Hanau, which I attended on the third advent weekend. For the long trip to get there, see this post. … Continue reading →

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Cora’s Adventures at the Church of Eternia Masters of the Universe Holiday Event in Hanau, Part 1: It’s Roadtrip Time

Posted on December 19, 2024 by Cora

In November, a German Masters of the Universe collector told me that there would be a Masters of the Universe themed holiday event on December 14, which sounded like a lot of geeky holiday fun. The only problem was that … Continue reading →

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Into the Heart of the Ruhrgebiet: Cora’s Adventures at the 2024 Toyplosion in Castrop-Rauxel, Part 3: The Trip Home with Bonus Mineshaft Elevator Tower

Posted on September 29, 2024 by Cora

Last Sunday, I attended the 2024 Toyplosion vintage toy con in Castrop-Rauxel. For the roadtrip to get there and some views of the city, see part 1 and for the con itself as well as my haul, see part 2. … Continue reading →

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