THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
03/05/10 -- Vol. 28, No. 36, Whole Number 1587
C3PO: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
R2D2: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Enigma Within a Mystery Within a Shopping Mall (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
Pi and Powers of 10 (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Mythology (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
This Week's Reading (EL AMOR Y EL ESPANTO) (film and book
comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
==================================================================
TOPIC: Enigma Within a Mystery Within a Shopping Mall (comments by
Mark R. Leeper)
I just came back from wandering all over my local shopping mall.
Year after year the people who manage these malls stubborningly
refuse to put the stores in alphabetical order. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Pi and Powers of 10 (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I have more thoughts about the BBC's news story I mentioned last
week that a computer scientist had worked out the digits of pi to
2.7 trillion decimal places.
The first question I ask is how big is a trillion to the BBC? A
lot of people think a trillion is a trillion is a trillion. Au
contraire.
We may not be talking about the same number when we say "trillion".
Traditionally in Britain they have used the "long scale". In the
United States we use the "short scale". We think of large numbers
going up as million, billion, trillion, quadrillion, quintillion,
etc. They seems to be saying one-illion, two-illions, three-
illions, four-illions, five-illions,etc. if there really was such a
thing as an illion. But how much is an "illion?" Well the two
systems agree on what a million is but not what a billion is.
In the United States--indeed, anyplace that uses the short scale--a
thousand million is too much to say each time. I guess as Evlyn
points out, it is a milliard. A thousand million is a billion. A
thousand billion is a trillion.
In Europe they use the long scale for naming large numbers. This
way they don't have to name so many new numbers. You ask a
Frenchman how much a thousand million is and he will say "Je ne
comprends pas," which is a really easy way out. But if you ask an
English-speaking Frenchman he still won't understand. A thousand
million is a thousand million to a Frenchman. A million million is
a billion. In the long system it takes a million of the last
illion to make the next illion. A thousand billion is just a
thousand billion. I don't think there are billiards that are
numbers. There is the game, of course. It takes a million billion
to make a trillion. So the French hear a number from the United
States and think of a much larger number. This explains why the
French thought our huge economic bailouts were totally insane when
they were merely extremely crazy.
Most of Europe uses the long scale. We, in the US use the sort
scale. Both sides of the pond we agree that a million is 10^6.
But what we call a billion, 10^9, on the long scale is called a
thousand million. On the long scale a billion is 10^12. That is
what we call a "trillion," but on the long scale a trillion is
10^18. But news of how many digits were computed from pi on both
sides of the Atlantic seem to say it was a 2.7 trillion digits so
you hope they mean that that somebody checked and everybody is
agreed that it is 2.7x10^12 digits.
But seriously I think that people who are looking at the decimal
places of pi to try to find something interesting are making a
serious mistake. As I pointed out in our November 20th issue there
does seem to be an interesting pattern in that starting with
242422nd decimal place, the next eight decimal places of pi are
42424242.
http://www.leepers.us/mtvoid/VOID1120.htm
But that is probably a coincidence. Looking at the decimal places
of pi at all is extremely anthropic and pompous. The universe has
shown that pi really is a special number to the universe. It is
ratio of a circumference of a circle to its diameter. And it shows
up in all sorts of wonderful places like that exp(i*pi) + 1 = 0.
That is true from an objective and not human-centered view of the
universe. But the decimal expansion of pi assumes that ten is a
really important number to the universe. Ten is important the way
we do mathematics, but that is because we have been using ten since
early on in mathematics. It came from the fact we have ten
fingers. That was a biological accident. Pi, e, and 1 would be
important numbers in mathematics no matter how many fingers we had.
But ten came along merely because of our physical makeup. If an
alien race came along that happened to have twelve fingers our work
on the decimal expansion of pi would be of much less interest to
them. It is arbitrary to look for information about pi tied in to
the number 10 or any other number suggested by our biology. If
there is going to be anything interesting in pi, we would want to
look in a less anthropocentric manner.
So do I have something better to look at? Sure. It comes from
something called continued fractions. Start with pi. It is a
little more than 3. Record 3 and subtract it from pi. Then take
its reciprocal. Now you have something at little more than 7.
Record 7 and subtract it from the number you had. Then take its
reciprocal. Continue and you get a sequence of natural numbers
that begins: 3, 7, 15, 1, 292, 1, 1, 1, ... That is the sequence
you might better be studying. It is much less arbitrary. You can
show that
Pi = 3 + 1/(7 + 1/(15 + 1/(1 + 1/(292 + 1/(...)))))
There is more at stake here than just political correctness or
multi-culturalism for aliens. It just seems unlikely that we will
find something universally interesting if we keep looking at pi and
seeing what we get when we multiply it by the number of fingers on
our hands. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: AFGHAN STAR (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Just as Americans have their television program "American
Idol," since 2005 Afghanistan has had its own popular music program
"Afghan Star." It is the same and not the same. The difference is
that religious fanatics like the Taliban can at any time decide
singing a song is a capital crime. This is a country torn apart by
those who want to bring in modern international ways and those who
want to seal off the country with a fundamentalist fascism. This
documentary follows four contestants on "Afghan Star" and what they
experience risking their lives for a singing competition and for
freedom. Havana Marking directs. AFGHAN STAR will be shown on HBO
on March 18, 2010. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
It is hard to imagine an image more incongruous than "American
Idol" together with the strife-ridden country of Afghanistan. Yet
Afghanistan does have television and they have their own program
inspired by "American Idol" (itself inspired by an early television
program, "The Ted Mack Amateur Hour"). In 2005 the Tolo Television
network premiered the TV show "Afghan Star". On the face of it
that might not seem like such a courageous action, but everything
that happens in Afghanistan is overshadowed by the extremism of
Islamic fundamentalists who freely murder to enforce obedience to
their fanatical interpretation of Sharia law. A television show is
particularly dangerous. In 1996 it became a crime to listen to
music, to dance, or to watch television. These restrictions were
removed in 2004, but the three actions are still dangerous. The
Taliban tentatively allows the singing, but any sign of dancing
can--and in the course this documentary does--lead to more serious
repercussions. Countering the fundamentalists is the overwhelming
attraction of Music.
Popular music is a very strong force in the emerging Afghanistan.
There are some people obsessively loyal to songs. Where else in
the world would you find people explaining that music brings
happiness and that it is worth fighting for? Mobs of people try to
get to be the audience for the program's broadcasts. In addition,
the viewing audience votes for who should win. For many in
Afghanistan this is their first experience with democracy, the
first time they ever could vote for anything. Some Afghanis are
also being surprised to find that they are actually supporting
people from other ethnic groups. People make the point that the
lessons learned with the program could bring deep changes--social
and political--to the country. They say they want to take the
country "from the gun to the song."
Marking's cameras follow four contestants. Rafi is a handsome
nineteen-year-old who says his goal is to help his people to awaken
and find a little joy in life. Setara is two years older. She
wants to adopt Western and Indian ways. Hameed trained to be a
singer of Afghan classical music but easily made the transition to
popular. He is from the persecuted Hazara minority and hopes that
his popularity will help his people. Finally there is Lima. She
had taken secret music lessons, which in itself could have had her
killed by the Taliban. Now she also likes Western ways, but is a
little more cautious than Setara.
The film is both optimistic and depressing. Afghanistan is in a
state of constant change, and the viewer can only hope that it will
be change for the better. This film is about a real war with real
deaths that is going on in Afghanistan and one of the battlefields
of that war is a pop music contest on television. I rate AFGHAN
STAR a high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 8/10. This film is in
Pashtu, Dari, and some English, and it is entirely subtitled in
English.
Film Credits: http://us.imdb.com/title/tt1334510/
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/afghan_star/
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Mythology (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
[Someone asked what the mythology book was that Mark had mentioned
In his review of PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING
THIEF.]
You surprise me on the mythology. I would have thought that you
would be interested in fantasy that is also an important part of
the culture. My parents could not complain if I was spending my
time reading mythology. The book I suggested was fairly good, but
it was chosen by convenience. It was GODS AND MORTALS IN CLASSICAL
MYTHOLOGY: A DICTIONARY by Michael Grant. However, if you are
getting into mythology I am not sure a dictionary of names is what
you want. It makes little sense to read it name by name and if you
want to know about a particular god or demigod, I would think
Wikipedia would be sufficient.
I grew up with Edith Hamilton's MYTHOLOGY for reading the myths as
stories, but I think that Bulfinch's GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY: THE
AGE OF FABLE is respected. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (film and book comments by Evelyn
C. Leeper)
As proof that my interest in Jorge Luis Borges knows ... well, not
no bounds, but certainly fairly wide-ranging ones, I watched EL
AMOR Y EL ESPANTO ("Love and Fear"). This is an Argentinean film
directed by Juan Carlos Desanzo and based on part of Borges's life
which was available in a Region 1 DVD (Argentina is Region 5).
This was not as much a slam-dunk as it might seem--hence the "no-
bounds" comment"--because the film is in Spanish, and there are no
English subtitles (or even Spanish ones, which would have helped).
So if I'm a bit unclear about some things, that is why.
It begins with the coming to power of Juan Peron in 1946. Borges
was actively opposed to Peron, so the first "episode" is of his
being transferred from his position in the National Library to one
as an inspector of birds and rabbits in the Central Market.
Several things are worth noting here.
First, like Borges's writing in A UNIVERSAL HISTORY OF INFAMY and
elsewhere, EL AMOR Y EL ESPANTO is a combination of fact and
fiction. But in this story it is impossible to say how accurate
the film is to the actual facts, because there is apparently much
dispute over the facts. Borges claimed that Peron was personally
involved (and biographer Emir Rodriguez Monegal seems to believe
this), but this seems very unlikely given the vast number of civil
servants and the demands upon Peron's time right after his
election. It was in fact explicitly denied by Perón's Secretary of
State for Culture for Buenos Aires Raul Salinas (according to Edwin
Williamson). Salinas said that originally Borges was to be
transferred to a position in "apicultura" (bees), but Borges and
his friends tried to cause trouble by distorting "apicultura" to
"avicultura". One problem with this distortion is that there was
no such thing as "Direcci¢n de Avicultura", according to Arturo
L¢pez Pe¤a. However, the fact that the Peronist newspapers
referred to Borges as an inspector of chickens makes Salinas's
claim a bit suspicious as well.
At any rate, the story as told in the film is very striking. It
begins in Borges's parlor, where Borges and his mother are
listening to the crowds cheering Per¢n's triumph. Borges then goes
to his job in the Library, with its enormous high ceilings. In
some the "funcionario"--the sort of anonymous government official
that Kafka wrote of. This official has the appearance--and
bearing--of a gangster. (If this were to be remade in English, Bob
Hoskins would be perfect for the role.) The use of the gangster
image is in keeping with Borges's interests; he wrote of gangsters
in his writings about Argentinean low-life, in THE UNIVERSAL
HISTORY OF INFAMY, and even in an introduction to the book THE
GANGS OF NEW YORK.
This functionary informs Borges of his new position, and Borges
then meets his girlfriend, who (I think) breaks off their
relationship. That night, Borges walks through dark streets past
painted graffiti that says "LA PRIMERA SE¥AL HA SIDO ARTICULADA"
("The first sign has been given"). This echoes "La primera letra
del Nombre ha sido articulada" ("The first letter of the name [of
God] has been spoken") from "Death and the Compass".
The next day Borges goes to his new job, but is repulsed by the
filth of the pigsty he has to walk through and flees. He passes
another graffiti that says "LA SEGUNDA SE¥AL HA SIDO ARTICULADA."
He then goes into a bar where he watches some toughs playing cards.
Something in his demeanor offends them and one challenges him with
a knife. The bartended points out that Borges is unarmed, and
suddenly someone throws a knife so that it lands in the table in
front of Borges. He takes the knife, goes outside, is stabbed in
the fight ... and wakes up. (Well, you knew he wasn't going to die
this soon.) This, of course, is the basic plot of Borges's story
"The South".
The next day Borges leaves his home and takes a room under the
pseudonym Alejandro Visari. When the landlady asks for his
occupation, he says that he is a "funcionario", taking on the same
role as his oppressor. His mother comes to visit and Borges finds
out that his girlfriend (named Beatriz Irena Viterbo here--the name
of the woman in "The Aleph") is going to marry the new director of
the Library, Carlos Argentino Daneri (also from "The Aleph"). His
mother says that he needs the help of a detective (if there was an
explanation why, I missed it), and suggests that he call on
Detective Erik L"nnrot. L"nnrot, of course, is the detective in
"Death and the Compass".
When he arrives at L"nnrot's office, he finds the clerk in the
outer office writing. What is he writing? DON QUIXOTE. Yes, it's
Pierre Menard. To explain why he is writing a book that Borges
tells him was written in the 16th century, Menard recites a
sentence first as Cervantes wrote it and then, with completely
different emphasis and interpretation, as he is writing it.
Borges tells L"nnrot that there is an assassin after him, and that
this assassin is the state. L"nnrot dismisses this idea--after
all, Borges is not a man of action who poses some threat.
On Borges's way out, Menard tells him that he is writing a novel
even better than DON QUIXOTE, and also that he has the key to the
mystery. Later, Borges goes to Menard's apartment, an attic full
of books, where Menard shows him the other book he is writing: EN
BUSCA DEL TIEMPO PERDIDO (REMEMBRANCE OF THINGS PAST). Before he
can tell Borges the key, though, he is stabbed in the back somehow
(even though there is nothing behind him but a blank wall).
Borges dreams Beatriz is being poisoned with a glass of milk (as in
Alfred Hitchock's NOTORIOUS). He visits her, manages to force
Daneri to spill the milk, and gets thrown out. Returning to
L"nnrot, he passes graffiti saying "LA ULTIMA SE¥AL HA SIDO
ARTICULADA."
After he has returned to L"nnrot, he goes through the process of
using the compass to "triangulate" the site of the fourth murder.
(As I have noted before, this is the magnetic compass, not the
geometric one, though in the film he does use a set of dividers
which resembles that sort of compass. He determines that the
fourth point is his pensione, and he is the target. On his way
there, he sees a student attacked by thugs in the street and
L"nnrot intervenes--apparently L"nnrot has connections to the
police. L"nnrott takes Borges to the police records department.
This is a Kafka-esque labyrinth of records, also resembling an
enormous library. Borges seeks out his own files. At first I
thought that his records covered the entire table and were as
complete as Funes's memory, but I am not sure that is the case,
since he finally picks up one folder with a sense of triumph. That
is definitely at least one of his folder, if not the entire set,
and it turns out to have blank pages, because he is not guilty of
anything. L"nnrot concludes that he himself is the intended
victim, at the address given in the story "Death and the Compass",
and goes off to meet his fate.
(Actually, I may not be far off on the Funes reference, since one
review says that there is a character name Funes who manages a
"library", and that probably refers to this sequence.)
Borges is met again by the functionary and told that his job--his
actual future job--is as a man of letters. Borges goes to
Beatriz's house and finds her dead. She is holding a pink rose; he
cups his hand around it and it turns red (a reference to his poem
"The Rose"?). He accuses Daneri of killing her, and then returns
to pensione, where admits his true identity when his landlady
starts to question him about his job. He packs to return home, but
then his mother walks through the door, and ...
He is back standing in his parlor with his mother, while we hear
the crowd outside cheering Peron's triumph.
For those of you not paying attention, I will point out that this
film therefore contains a dream sequence within a dream sequence.
Gustavo Camps criticizes the film for a dependence on dialogue
rather than visual images, which he thinks particularly bad for a
thriller. He also describes it as being more a collection of
independent scenes than a single narrative, and certainly it has
this aspect. Then again, Borges's writing is a collection of short
pieces, with nothing longer than "Tl"n, Uqbar, Orbis Tertius", so
perhaps this is appropriate. (For reasons passing understanding,
there are many pages on the Internet that claim the fifteen-page
"The Congress" is longer.) Camps also points out that the
screenwriter, Jos‚ Pablo Feinman, is a Peronista and so is perhaps
not entirely sympathetic to the anti-Peronist historical Borges.
[-ecl]
==================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
The more a man lies to others the more
he lies to himself.
-- Anonymous
------------------------------------