Looking Into the Future From the Past April 21, 2012
Posted by bobv451 in conventions, history, inventions, nostalgia, science, space.add a comment
It’s hard for me to believe the Seattle World’s Fair opened on this day in 1962. My dad was a big fan of such fairs, for some reason, and one of the few family vacations that didn’t also touch on visiting relatives got us moving northward from El Paso.
For my part, I was in hog heaven. LBJ opened the NASA exhibit but who cared about petty politicians? Wernher von Braun was there, too. A real superstar in my eyes, but we couldn’t get in to see the talks. Doubt my dad would have been all that interested, since he didn’t share my enthusiasm for things outer spacial.
According to this article, JFK wasn’t at the closing ceremony because of the Cuban Missile Crisis. Who knew?
The article also goes on at great length about how the fair theme was overpopulation and how we were going to nuke ourselves into oblivion. I don’t remember a bit of that, though considering that JFK was trying to keep the Russkies from doing that very thing, perhaps I should have paid more attention.
I remember the weird vending machines that kicked out hamburgers in cellophane wrappers (gee, just like the ones I buy at Costco, only they come in big boxes and not from vending machines). Never a big one of trinkets, I still got a glass sculpture of the Space Needle. Alas, I have no idea where the 6″ glass structure is. Too many moves since then doomed it, I fear.
This is the first time I ever saw color TV. KOMO had a live broadcast, their afternoon guy and a basset hound. Comparing the TV picture with the real thing was a revelation. The basset hound really wasn’t purple. That was a little disappointing. Riding the monorail was fun but not the transportation system of the future they made it out to be. Last time I was in Seattle was 1989 and rode the monorail for old time’s sake. Wasn’t the future of transportation then, either.
I remember the cube buildings and, of course, the Space Needle. In ’62 didn’t eat there because of the cost, though we did ride to the observation deck and look around. In ’89 did eat there and the view was great and the food mediocre (unlike the Calgary Tower where both view and food were superb). And nowhere was there a hint of Jessica Alba sitting on the outside.
The AT&T/Bell Labs display. I got shunted aside when I was chosen to show how much faster touchtone phone dialing was compared to rotary. And yes, I was the perfect choice and was *much* faster on the buttons. But the guy pushing this innovation didn’t appreciate my comment that the central switching system still took the same length of time to put the call through since it was mechanical, especially since he shoved a microphone in my face when he asked what I thought and hundreds of people heard.
An excursion around town to the Archway Bookstore was a revelation. El Paso didn’t have bookstores, per se. Newsstands and department stores, but an entire store of nothing but books? In the basement of the Archway was about every Ace Double ever. Or so I thought. I must have spent close to $3 on books! (A princely sum for me then) Apparently this store is long gone.
The fairgrounds is undoubtedly far different from 1989 and vastly so from 1962, but memory of seeing von Braun, the bold architecture (which style burned itself by 1970) and the idea of the future all appealed. (Another World’s Fair I went to, this one in New Orleans, had the most depressing exhibits of massive water valves and pictures of hydro plants ever–their theme was “water.” That trip was fun for reasons other than the fair.)
Barsoom! March 7, 2012
Posted by bobv451 in business, e-books, fantasy, movies, movies & TV, nostalgia, science fiction, sense of wonder, space, Texas, Wild West.2 comments
Saw the 3D version of John Carter last night and enjoyed it a lot. There are few movies that need 3D, but ones with huge vistas and gaggles of cgi attacking armies nudge into that category. I’m not sure it’s exactly necessary, though, and if you saw only the 2D version you wouldn’t be disappointed. (I won’t even mention the truly deplorable Princess of Mars since John Carter is light years better)
The tharks are incredible. Wonderful thought behind how a 4-armed goober would act and move. They seemed skinnier than I pictured them but Barsoom, after all, has a lighter gravity and that’s why John Carter can leap tall buildings, etc. But, perish the thought, Dejah Thoris was well endowed and not the least bit undernourished looking. (The actress, Lynn Collins, had a weird accent, but IMDB said she was born in Texas, classically trained in NYC and lives in London). My one complaint about her role was that, unlike ERB’s description in the books, she didn’t go around nearly nekkid enough.
The voice talent for the tharks was a known quantity in Thomas Hayden Church and Willem Defoe while the onscreen live action actors were, to me at least since I don’t watch Friday Night Lights, unknown. Oddly, Taylor Kitsch (what an unfortunate name) who played John Carter is a Canadian who plays a Marfa high school football player on tv?
The dog critter Woola was fun and the airships definitely unusual, though Roy Krenkel sorta formed my images of them in the Ace editions back in the ’60s. The white apes are nothing like I envisioned them, but in a way this was a throwaway scene.
The plot is pure pulp but one great improvement over the books was how the Therns were pictured. The writers worked them into the story, indeed made them the driving evil force, and gave us something better than astral projection for John Carter to get to Barsoom. Very clever, very well done, especially for the payoff at the end.
A lot of interest in Barsoom-esque stuff out there now. Stephen D Sullivan has his Elf Princess of Mars and a book I did a cover blurb for is Nathan Long’s Jane Carver of Waar, a most enjoyable book..
If only we could read our pulp stories under the light from Barsoom’s twin moons…
Out With the Old December 31, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in End of the World, nostalgia.add a comment
And tomorrow it will be in with the new. Pessimist that I am, I don’t think it will be better, but it will be interesting.
In grad school my adviser never gave tests. He presented “opportunity sessions.” He thought they gave us the chance to show what we knew (and I suspect he learned what I didn’t). It might all be in the nomenclature. Control the language and you control the debate. So, consider 2011 one giant opportunity session.
I leave you with this wonderful Lio cartoon. Happy new year.
Lio cartoon by Mark Tatulli
Twas the Day Before Christmas December 24, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in food, iPad, nostalgia, Tom Swift.1 comment so far
And not even the cats are stirring. I should emulate them. But no, am going to a Christmas eve dinner prior to dinner tomorrow afternoon out of town. Such food! Such friends! Best of all, my son’s back in town until tomorrow evening.
My memories of Christmas are strange since my dad worked the midwatch as an air controller and wouldn’t get off until 8am on Christmas day. So we usually had present opening and the like on Christmas eve. Amazing how Santa knew that. We’d go out to dinner and come back, and sure enough, Santa had started his rounds early, too. I can’t say what presents impressed me the most over the years. I got a miniature printing press (with movable rubber type) one year. A robot that ran and steered with a crank handle fastened to a flexible metal cable. Always Tom Swift books and other titles. I was not impressed with the obligatory chemistry set (which might be why chemistry never appealed to me–nothing ever worked, and this was back in the day when chemistry sets had real chemicals). My #1 present was probably the Erector set. It was a hand-me-down from a distant cousin, lacked a lot of important parts and I spent hours putting together weird projects. Nothing in the instruction book looked cool. I built spaceports and rocket ships and a roller coaster and all manner of things that ran off an electric motor with exposed gears. Just getting within 10 ft of that motor today is probably a felony.
Somehow, though the years, it has never seemed like Christmas to me until I hear Silver Bells. Patty’s favorite was Carol of the Bells, but that wasn’t ever quite enough for me. This year I’m listening to Pandora but didn’t go the route of setting up a Christmas carol channel. And the radio is no help so I turned to YouTube. I considered posting the Twisted Sister version, but that’s not right. Johnny Mathias comes closer. Andy Williams? This isn’t the most inspired video but Anne Murray has the best voice.
Enjoy. Seasons greetings, merry Christmas, bah humbug. Whatever oils your sprockets.
Stepping Over the Digital Divide December 20, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in business, e-books, iPad, iPhone, movies, New Mexico, nostalgia, science, web & computers.1 comment so far
I love this set of 5 predictions from IBM
The one that they kinda answer that I wonder about most is the biometric password. In spite of being a semi-comic movie, the scene with Wesley Snipes plucking out the warden’s eyeball in Demolition Man (1993) shows this was thought of a long time back. Problem there, of course, is maintaining the vitreous humor so the retina won’t be rippled. But how hard would it be to take a 3D picture and use that to break into biometric locks?
But the IBM prediction most fascinating to me is that within 5 years 80% of the entire world’s population will have a smartphone. The market! For my ebooks! 
But this would seem to me to mean that audio will be more important than ever since such a large proportion of the new users won’t be able to read.
One unanswered question on this is bandwidth. The idea of going faster isn’t to improve the user experience, it’s to cram more signal into the existing frequencies. The ATT/T-Mobile failed merger was more about bandwidth than anything else. ATT wanted it, T-Mobile wanted out of the US. Likely T-Mobile will look to the Russians for a sale. The possibility of a Sprint/T-Mobile merger might happen but that’s doubtful since the Germans want out entirely. So where is ATT going to get the bandwidth to deal with growth in iPhone, iPad and other tablet devices sucking up 3G? That’s a good question.
Is it possible for a smartphone to be put on a party line? Remember the old days when you shared your phone line with 2 or 4 (or more) people? No? I do. You had to listen to the phone ring to know if it was for you or the others on the party line.
But packet switching worked to speed up data transmission. Is there something that will buy us another yr or two of keeping the frequencies flowing? Or will we end up suing each other because the EM waves are irritating our “electromagnetic allergies?” (I wish this kind of idiocy was limited to NM, but alas, it isn’t.)
http://www.disclose.tv/action/viewphoto/20305/tin_foil_hat/
Day of Infamy, Day of Remembrance December 7, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in history, nostalgia.2 comments
This is the last year the Pearl Harbor survivors in Albuquerque will meet. 70 years has seen great attrition of numbers and those left are infirm and mostly unable to convene. How long will it be until PHD is entirely forgotten? In ten years it’ll be, huh? The number right now, in spite of our forever wars, is that less than 1% of the population has served in the military. The exact number of WWII vets dying will soon decelerate since there will be ever fewer left. And there won’t be vets to carry on those traditions.
My dad had been in the Navy 4 years on PHD and was stationed on an air scout as a radioman out of Pensacola. He never talked much about the war (like 2 of my other uncles who served in WWII–the third was too young. He became a Cold War spook and worked for the CIA and sadly was the first of my uncles to die) One thing my dad did mention once was being shot at by German subs surfacing just off the coast of Florida. His plane wasn’t armed so it got dicey most of the time, I suppose. And this was before war was declared.
During the war, he was stationed in the Aleutians on a picket ship (don’t know the name–but he was at Kiska, Attu and other spots, so the picture below is likely one he at least was familiar with). His ship was the only one with radar since he waded out into very icy water to rescue a radar unit off a sunken destroyer. He received a medical discharge at Treasure Island, lived in San Francisco for a while, then after the war started an electronics/radio repair shop with his next younger brother in Texas. While he never officially saw combat, he saw a bit of the aftermath (and, apparently not too odd for a sailor, he got violently seasick in heavy seas).
It’s been 20 yrs since he died. He would have been 91 this year. Every now and then something pops up, like an iPad or a cellphone or nifty digital camera or computer or satellite radio, and I find myself thinking, “Dad would get a kick out of this.” And he would have. He died just before the Internet became a part of our lives, and I can’t help but wonder where that would have taken him.
USS Rhodes picket ship at Attu and Kiska
Alms November 19, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in business, Chain story, e-books, movies & TV, nostalgia, science fiction, sense of wonder, serial fiction, VIPub, westerns, Wild West, writing.3 comments
Every now and then I put in this plea. I make my living as a writer, selling my work. To you, dear friends, and others who don’t know me at all. This past week has been hectic since I have been unable to work regularly because of jury duty (and I thought the plots on CSI were far-fetched!). This will run another couple weeks, taking me away from my most productive time at lithe keyboard.
So, humor me. Keep the cats from considering me as food since I couldn’t afford to feed them. Buy something from my store, from Kindle
or Nook or from the other fine venues peddling my stuff. It won’t cost you much and you will get lots of enjoyment in return. More than paying an exorbitant ticket price for a 3D movie.
If you can’t part with a buck or two right now, there is someone you can do to help out. It’ll take just a moment. Go to Amazon or B&N and leave a review. Goodreads is a fine place to mention my work, too. Others see reviews and rely on them. A Career Guide To Your Job in Hell has some fine reviews on it. Toss in a few more if you like the collection. Even put reviews up on my website. I might be inclined to run a contest offering a few dollars off coupons for the top reviews. Doesn’t have to be hyperbolic or even good, but give me a review. But if it is bad, I might turn lachrymose or even suicidal. And then the cats would starve after they finished picking the flesh from my bones.
Your call.
Hot Rail to Hell
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
A Day in the (Medieval) Sun September 20, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in conventions, dinosaurs, history, music, nostalgia, steampunk, Wild West.add a comment
Scott D asked if I wanted to tag along to the Santa Fe Renaissance Faire at Las Golondrinas (look it up–it can mean either swallow or buboes, though I suspect they intended the former meaning because this is along an acequia in a bosque where birds would gather, although this is NM, land of the flea, home of the plague). I’d been a few years back and enjoyed it. This is a miniature version of, say, the AZ Ren Faire, but it suits NM and the setting is much nicer, being in wooded areas and meadows.
The theme is more Spanish than the AZ Ren Faire and the king and queen are always Fernando and Isabella. They had pikesmen and dragons wandered about. The usual entertainment, Clan Tynker from Santa Fe, the Pomegranate troupe of belly dancers, celtic singers with electric lutes, fire jugglers and the like. Food was more local (Roque’s carnitas were, indeed, superior) with more Ren Faire-ish stuff like turkey legs available. Pati Nagel and Chris Krohn were serving up mead and a falconer with several birds held forth on the meadowlands.
I didn’t bother getting dressed in period but Scott asked a question that made me think a while. Which costume event appealed most? Took me a while to come up with an answer. I enjoy the ren faire and even getting gussied up in the clothing, but there are the purists who sneer and tell you it’s “not period.” Spoilsports. I want to have fun without them having fun telling me I suck. The SASS is another one where I feel comfortable in western garb. For some reason, a duster makes me feel bigger than life. But I finally decided steampunk might be best of all because there is no canon, no prescribed (or proscribed) dress and imagination can run wild. The other two center on real eras, steampunk is imaginary. Guess where I live mostly.
Quite a bit of steampunk stuff at this ren faire (also a Marilyn Manson wannabe) and pirates. Arrr, matey.
A day spent wandering about in the sun and enjoying the show. I got no writing done and didn’t even feel guilty about it. Much. Not too much. Well, some.
Santa Fe Ren Faire
Santa Fe Ren Faire Dragon
Brand New Ghost Town To Be Built September 9, 2011
Posted by bobv451 in ghost towns, history, inventions, nostalgia, westerns, Wild West.add a comment
I am long fascinated with ghost towns, especially in New Mexico, and dying towns trying to avoid ectoplasmic entropy. Building a brand new ghost town for the purpose of high-tech investigation is a dandy idea. I’m not sure exactly how it will work, or if it will ever be done–it would ironic to start construction of a ghost town, run out of money and then leave it partially completed.
They want a test ground for traffic control devices, urban planning and other things that would be gummed up if, you know, people were around. The location hasn’t been selected yet (and the picture accompanying the above link is White Sands Natl Monument, unlikely to be the site since people can visit there–and should. I have yet to see White Sands during a full moon. Put that on the bucket list. And then tap out some of the white sand (gypsum, really) from the shoes)
New Mexico Tech is famous for blowing up stuff and has a town devoted to just that in Playas, NM. This makes a lot of sense to me, more than the mega millions building an empty town for urban planning. But I am willing to be convinced the Pegasus town is a good idea. It will certainly bring much needed money to NM and maybe stir some interest in ghost towns and their resurrection. And the company also works on Spaceport America.
Speaking of ghost towns, Pat and Scott went to Ft Bayard
near Silver City this past weekend. She regaled me of tales of the Victorian buildings and how well preserved they were on the outside but rotting inside. If you want to take a tour of an important part of NM’s past (let us not forget the Buffalo Soldiers stationed here during the Indian Wars with Victorio and Geronimo). Ft Bayard Days are coming up the 16th and 17th of this month.
Fort Bayard, NM
