LZ-129 The Flames Are Shooting 500 Feet Into the Air May 6, 2012
Posted by bobv451 in death, history, sense of wonder, zeppelin.add a comment
Victories seem more difficult to celebrate in the USA than disasters. Today in 1937 the Hindenburg caught fire and burned, with the loss of 36 lives, including one ground crewman. One reason this is so spectacular goes to how difficult it was to film news events then. Having the necessary equipment on hand required some time to set up the camera and an experienced camera operator. It wasn’t until 1978 that videocameras became common enough that another actual air disaster (this one killing 144) was captured on film/tape.
Now, of course, try to find someone who doesn’t have a smartphone with video capabilities to record air atrocities.
As you know, I am a fan of dirigibles and have been aloft in both a blimp and a zeppelin. On occasion I check out stories of flying. A marvelous fictional account is Max Allan Collins’ The Hindenburg Murders, complete with schematics.
In the movies there is always the Michael York/Elke Sommer thriller Zeppelin and Hindenburg, starring one of my favorite actors, Geogre C. Scott.
I never saw the made for TV movie with the hyperbolic title Hindenburg:Titanic of the Skies and might count myself lucky for having missed it.
Want more about the Hindenburg? Here’s a nice place to read up.
I leave you with some of the most stirring unscripted news commentary of the past century.
Not Just Another Dead Teenager Movie April 17, 2012
Posted by bobv451 in death, fantasy, movies, movies & TV, sci-fi, science fiction, sense of wonder.1 comment so far
Cabin in the Woods is certainly more than that. I saw the trailer and thought it had some small, itty-bitty twist. Wrongo. I’m not going to spoil anything here, so read on, stalwart souls.
Joss Whedon has taken a lot of ideas from his other series and mixed them together here. There’s some Dollhouse and definitely some Buffy tossed in with Cube and any number of dead teenager movies. By that I mean the predictable cast of characters being knocked off one by one. “We’re safer if we stay together, so let’s split up so the machete-wielding maniac in the hockey mask can kill us one by one.” That plot has been used repeatedly. Only Whedon tells us why in this movie, and it makes sense.
Other than the nifty ending which is not the one you’d expect anywhere along the way (and the scene where a guy is impaled by a unicorn–or maybe the flesh eating merman who has a blood blowhole in the middle of his back), Whedon makes use of every trope imaginable. But he explains them so they are reasonable and makes fun of them and has some nifty characters.
What impressed me was the technique in the movie. Every time you are sure the characters are out of danger or know what’s going on, Whedon ups the ante. More death, more blood, unexpected twists. But I sorta wish, along with a character in the movie, there’d been more of the flesh eating merman. That’s a critter not seen before. Whedon is a master of pacing and playing on the “shock factor” (which means you jump, even if you know the scare scene is coming up–for me, that was the way I went through Jaws. Predictable scare scenes and they were still enough to make me yelp.). What makes Cabin different is the mixing of genres. It’s a dead teenager movie with the blonde slut, jock, geek, stoner and virgin, but they fight back. They are meant to be pawns and rise above the chessboard. But it is also an sf movie. And a horror movie. And the final scene is something else entirely.
The movie was caught up in the MGM bankruptcy so spent two years on the shelf. Glad it escaped.
I am still leery about The Avengers. Too many heroes spoil the broth. After seeing this one, though, Whedon might surprise me pleasantly there, too.
The Death Calculus March 25, 2012
Posted by bobv451 in death, gummint, ideas, writing.5 comments
Pay no attention to gummint projections. Check what is being done by people with money on the line. I came across an interesting article that is just filled with stfnal ideas, yet was about the life insurance business.
Life insurance has always been a curious proposition to me. You buy the policy, betting you are going to die. The company takes the bet that you’re not going to die. In a crazy way, this seems backwards to me, but that’s the way it works (and is why Social Security is doomed–it is set up the way I’d do it–giving benefits until death rather than paying on death). Insurance companies make a lot of money if they don’t have to pay off, so their actuaries are state-of-the-art down with determining life expectancies. If we were immortal, the only death insurance would be for accidental death (sort of like insuring a 20 yr old). How much money could an insurance company make off a vampire? Over centuries?
But the older you get the less likely an insurance company ought to want to issue a life policy. Makes sense. They are more likely to pay out on an 80 yr old, hence lose money. But the business is changing to reflect increased life spans. And this isn’t chump change on the line. It is a $27 trillion business.
There are 53,000 Americans age 100 (or older!) compared with only 2,300 in 1950. That’s a 2200% increase vs only a doubling of the general population. This is why companies are willing to give a 78-yr-old woman a $20million life insurance policy (The Hartford, 2010–premium $1m a year). They figure she will live another 14.5 years because she has already outlived the “danger marker” of heart disease.
Even with stuff like coronary disease, it’s possible to get life insurance. In 1995 no company would touch you. Now they figure such things are repairable. In a way this is comforting to know that insurance companies are willing to bet you’re going to live even with serious health problems (so they can take your premium). These are better numbers than the gummint issues–those are for political consumption, not hard cash decisions but ones based on fairy gold and garnering votes.
How many ways will this inching toward immortality affect our society? Therein lies a lot of sf stories.
This Is The End, My Only Friend… February 29, 2012
Posted by bobv451 in death, e-books, ideas, movies & TV, VIPub, writing.add a comment
So sang Jim Morrison. For him it was pretty close, but in fiction you, as writer, should have *lots* of ends. One for each story you write. I addressed the need for a strong hook a couple days ago.
Now we get to the nether region of your writing. The end. You’ve wowed the reader with your title, put such a powerful hook in that first sentence/paragraph everyone reading it has to find out what’s going on, then you have the huge middle of the book, and finally, the end. The conclusion. The part that will keep readers thinking about your story for a long time.
I have pretty much come to hate Steven Spielberg’s endings because he doesn’t have confidence enough in his story to put *one* conclusion. He keeps tacking them on, one after another until you collapse from outrage, fatigue or laughing at such indecision. (Take a look at what might have been a classic tale in Kubrick’s hands, AI, and see what Spielberg did to it with the endless endings).
After all, you’ve invested the time to write a book, and a considerable outlay of effort it is, too. You wanted to say something. You want the reader to come away with some memory, some feeling, some call to action. You owe it to yourself to have that slambang end. Even better, the reader wants it, too, after surviving 80k or 100k words of all the harrowing perils your protagonist had gone through.
When you are initially plotting the book, you often jump around, pick a wonderful character, have a scene that has to be put in…and usually you come up with the end before anything else. From here, you can backward construct the book to reach this point.
Ending with a zinger line is hard (“here is the race that shall rule the sevagram”) Leaving with an emotional conclusion is easier. “Barker stepped into the saddle and turned his mare’s face toward the edge of town where Ruth waited for him. He hoped to hell he would know what to tell her before he got home.” Or one I like from Mask of the Sun: It didn’t pay to reach too fast for gold.
What is harder when it comes to endings are novels in a series. The book has to have a satisfactory ending but leave a cliffhanger for the next book. More on this later. I leave you by coming full circle with the title
A Simple Change In History February 15, 2012
Posted by bobv451 in death, history, ideas, science.6 comments
It’s great to have friends who come up with nifty ideas. Scott & Pat have actually done research on this and it sounds plausible. Pat goes to garage sales and managed to get a lead crystal decanter worth several hundred bucks for only a few, but should she use it since it is lead crystal (from the turn of the last century)?
Turns out it might be pretty bad if she did. The lead leaches out of the glass fairly rapidly when the decanter is filled with something mildly acidic. Like wine. Which is what you would likely put in a wine decanter. But how much? Scott found that concentrations would be 50,000 micrograms in a few weeks (and the edge of oops for lead in drink is around 50 micrograms). So you could get quite an overdose…from just one glass of wine from that decanter.
As Scott pointed out, the aristocracy most likely to use such a fine piece of artwork would fill it, possibly close the house for a few months, then return. And drink highly contaminated wine.
Worse, the Romans used lead to “sweeten” sour wine, a practice later vintners followed.
What are the symptoms of lead poisoning? When you think about British aristocracy, well, it’s like a checklist.
High blood pressure
Declines in mental functioning
Pain, numbness or tingling of the extremities
Muscular weakness
Headache
Abdominal pain
Memory loss
Mood disorders
Reduced sperm count, abnormal sperm
Miscarriage or premature birth in pregnant women
In addition, it can cause a condition very similar to gout.
The aristocracy methodically poisoned itself over the years, likely drinking more wine to cure their hangover symptoms which could well have been due to lead poisoning.
If the aristocracy had not been susceptible to lead poisoning, they might still be top dogs. How’s that for an alt history idea?
If Nature Abhors a Vacuum Why is It So Hard to Send Manned Ships Into Space? February 12, 2012
Posted by bobv451 in death, gummint, New Mexico, science, sense of wonder, space.4 comments
It was with real sorrow I saw that NASA is forsaking the Mars exploration. In the words of this article, Mars lost.
No, we lost. If the race is to the stars, that is. If it is to become a third-world, second-rate country then we are certainly crossing the finish line.
The conjecture is that NASA figures Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and other private companies will do it. Fine, I’d say, but there is an incredible impediment skyward for that, at least in New Mexico. The trial lawyers have spent a reported $200k lobbying to kill a bill limiting liability at Spaceport America. IOW, they want to sue the place into oblivion at the first accident.
If you are smart enough to accumulate $200,000 for the ride and smart enough to go through the release form where it states in *three* places “you may die if…” and the form must be signed at least 24 hours prior to launch to give time to think it over, then I’d say you are well on your way to understanding the danger. Everyone dies. I’d love to go up in the Virgin Galactic launch vehicle to space, and if I had to die, there’s no way I’d prefer more. But that’s just me. If I had $200k, I’d pay for the privilege of maybe dying on my way to space. Color me DD Harriman. And if I didn’t augur in, then I’d have one hell of a story to tell for the rest of my life.
Word is that Virgin Galactic is pulling back a bit because of the lawyers. VG has sunk more money into offices and the like in Las Cruces but they haven’t yet ponied up a dime to the state for use of the spaceport. It might well be they pull out and go to the Mojave site or Wisconsin or wherever. The loss to them would be negligible at this point. To space tourism in NM, it would be a crushing blow if not a fatal one.
This isn’t to say Spaceport America would close. 90% of the facility schedule would still be A-OK to go as unmanned launches are lined up and waiting to blast off. But space tourism is, excuse the expression, the boost NM needs. Thanks for trying to kill it, ambulance chasers. And thanks, NASA, for killing our entire space program.
Bone-eating Snot Flower December 28, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in death, education, history, ideas, science, writing.add a comment
Isn’t that the greatest title, ever? I came across this as I was surfing and thought it made an eye-catching (so to speak) lead into weird news and the like. Bone-eating snot flower. Sort of rolls off the tongue, doesn’t it?
This is up there with the corpse flower. See the time lapse below. No Smell-o-Vision included. Thankfully. (And no, I realize this Smell-o-Vision predates it.
A moment of silence, please. Cheetah the chimp from the Tarzan movies has died at the age of 80.
Now, in tribute please fling some feces (your own or others).
Or howabout the croc named Elvis that ate the lawn mower? Utterly crazy is the bloke who retrieved the mower (and 2 of the croc’s teeth).
Starlings show why we are susceptible to advertising.
Local news story that is outrageous. A guy in a mask and Santa hat tried to kill his brother-in-law with a crossbow. And in a separate case, a woman ran her bf through with a sword.
And still people wonder where those ideas come from.
Outlaw to Hero December 11, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in death, history, New Mexico, outlaws, westerns, Wild West, writing.add a comment
PBS on its American Experience series, is doing a documentary on Billy the Kid. From the link it appears the take is that he was some kind of Robin Hood character. I suppose this is true in the sense that he robbed from the rich because the poor didn’t have anything worth stealing. I’m not sure what the fascination with vicious murderers and criminals is, especially if they come to a violent end.
Dillinger is another case in point. “I wasn’t such a bad guy as some people said…” I suspect the only reason he wasn’t convicted of killing a police officer was that he tried to shoot it out with the FBI. Or maybe robbing banks during the Depression was a good thing? Real Robin Hood stuff. At least nine movies have been made about him (and for Billy? More than 15.) [How many about Alexander Fleming? Uh, don’t know. Jonas Salk? A couple? It is obviously easier to be known as a killer and bank robber and horse thief than for saving untold millions.]
One of my favorite Charles Bronson movies is From Noon til Three. Part of the attraction for me is how the insignificant can be blown up into legend, how petty crimes become marvelous deeds–through the power of advertising and PR. The rest of the attraction is how much fun the movie is.
Readers/viewers want a look at something other than what they have in their own lives, so it is obvious criminals fits that bill. But why morph the psychotic killer into something lovable? You got me on that.
Dillinger death photo
Not Just (Billy the) Kid(ding) December 4, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in awards, contest, death, ghost towns, gummint, ideas, New Mexico, westerns, Wild West.add a comment
A few months back I mentioned New Mexico’s Billy the Kid hunt. Items or clues placed at historic spots around the state–sort of a collect the entire set kind of quest. NM Tourism spent about $600k on the project and says it has netted over $2m. I assume this means that $2m was spent that wouldn’t otherwise as a result of the promotion. That’s fine and dandy, and I’m happy to see someone in Santa Fe doing something other than ignoring their jobs.
Since the state is stymied in developing its extraction industries and more than 70% of the land is owned by the feds (and therefore off the tax roles) NM scrapes the bottom of the barrel when it comes to generating revenue. “Catch the Kid” resulted in a $10k reward being split between two teams, one of which notably called itself “The Regulators.” Other prizes were significant.
Our history is about all we can use to generate new money. Spaceport America is a good start on continuing revenue coming in from outside the state (and US) and now is the time to push tourism since Jan 6, 2012 marks NM’s 100th anniversary as a state.
Why not a tour of outlaw hot spots? Blackjack Ketchum is a gruesome ending to a New Mexico outlaw is notable. (pictures at the link might be sorta, well, gruesome for you) Elfego Baca is on the other side of the badge–he wore one. His shootout is nothing less than astounding.
Shakespeare, NM is a veritable time capsule of outlawry. You might want to check my fictionalized version of deadly happenings there in the story “Silver Noose.”
So much history. I’m glad “Catch the Kid” was successful. May the tourism dept think of something even more successful for NM’s centennial year.
Ponderosa-ty October 9, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in death, gummint, history, New Mexico, nostalgia, weather.add a comment
The morning paper had a front page (with a significant jump) article on how the Las Conchas fire west of Los Alamos has destroyed not only hundreds of square miles of forest but also the ponderosa pine. More than thirty years ago the same area had a massive fire but the ponderosas escaped the worst of that one. Not so this time. From the article, there is no chance for the ponderosa to grow back.
Replacing it will be the oak tree, a scrubby replacement for the soaring pine. And shrubbery, undoubtedly the product of Roger the Shrubber. I won’t live to see the ponderosa grow to any significant height, even if it weren’t extinct in this region, but it is a shame that no one will, either.
Poor forest upkeep (or rather that dictated by law, which is the same thing) kept the fire burning, fed by undergrowth that had never been cleared and the lack of roads and firebreaks. The fire was something that undoubtedly occurred many times in the past and is something we have to expect if we fail to maintain the forests (which is unnatural). So the decision was made: let it be destroyed naturally or be preserved unnaturally.
I wish it were still there.
The ponderosa farther north is crowding out another lovely tree, the aspen. There is nothing quite so lovely as the quaking aspen in autumn, its leaves looking like a turbulent sea of gold and silver in even the lightest breeze.
I didn’t catch all the thought-provoking Life After People. I wonder if they dealt with the effect of massive forest fires on the wildlife. Probably. And it was probably a good show. What will the vegetation look like in 100, 500, 1000 years?
The rain Friday night turned to snow, some of which still remains above the 10k ft level on the mountains to the east. It is cold and I need soup for lunch.
http://www.tree-facts.com/aspen_tree/aspen_tree.html
