THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
03/01/13 -- Vol. 31, No. 35, Whole Number 1743
Antony: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Cleopatra: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups, Lectures,
etc. (NJ)
Nebula Award Nominees
Costa Rica Logs
Worldcon Prospects (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Case Closed At Last (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
The Olympics and Wrestling (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
QUARTET (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
COIN TOSS (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
INESCAPABLE (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
Futurism and Nuclear Disarmament (letters of comment
by Jim Susky and Dale L. Skran, Jr.)
SIDE EFFECTS and QUARTET (letter of comment
by Sherry Glotzer)
This Week's Reading (THE STRANGER and alternate history)
(book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups, Lectures,
etc. (NJ)
March 7: SHATTERED GLASS (film), Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library,
6:30PM
March 14: SLEEP DEALER (film) and "Waldo" by Robert A. Heinlein,
Middletown (NJ) Public Library, 5:30PM; discussion after
the film (postponed from February)
March 28: THE RAPTURE OF THE NERDS by Cory Doctorow and Charles
Stross, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
April 18: FANCIES AND GOODNIGHTS by John Collier (some subset TBD),
Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
May 23: THE STARS MY DESTINATION by Alfred Bester, Old Bridge (NJ)
Public Library, 7PM
June 20: FLOATING OPERA by John Barth, Old Bridge (NJ) Public
Library, 7PM
July 25: TRSF by the MIT Technology Review, Old Bridge (NJ) Public
Library, 7PM
August 15: [canceled]
September 26: THE TIME SHIPS by Stephen Baxter, Old Bridge (NJ)
Public Library, 7PM
October 17: THE LANGUAGE INSTINCT by Steven Pinker (tentative),
Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
November 21: DO ANDROIDS DREAM OF ELECTRIC SHEEP? By Philip
K. Dick, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
December 19: THE MOON AND SIXPENCE by W. Somerset Maugham,
Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
Speculative Fiction Lectures:
March 2: Ginjer Buchanan (Editor-in-Chief, Ace and Roc Books),
Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 12N
Northern New Jersey events are listed at:
http://www.sfsnnj.com/news.html
===================================================================
TOPIC: Nebula Award Nominees
Novel:
THRONE OF THE CRESCENT MOON, Saladin Ahmed (DAW; Gollancz '13)
IRONSKIN, Tina Connolly (Tor)
THE KILLING MOON, N. K. Jemisin (Orbit US; Orbit UK)
THE DROWNING GIRL, Caitl¡n R. Kiernan (Roc)
GLAMOUR IN GLASS, Mary Robinette Kowal (Tor)
2312, Kim Stanley Robinson (OrbitUS; OrbitUK)
Novella:
"On a Red Station, Drifting," Aliette de Bodard (Immersion Press)
"After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall," Nancy Kress
(Tachyon)
"The Stars Do Not Lie", Jay Lake (Asimov's 10-11/12)
"All the Flavors", Ken Liu (GigaNotoSaurus 2/1/12)
"Katabasis", Robert Reed (F&SF 11-12/12)
"Barry's Tale", Lawrence M. Schoen (Buffalito Buffet)
Novelette:
"The Pyre of New Day", Catherine Asaro (The Mammoth Books of
SF Wars)
"Close Encounters", Andy Duncan (The Pottawatomie Giant &
Other Stories)
"The Waves", Ken Liu (Asimov's 12/12)
"The Finite Canvas", Brit Mandelo (Tor.com 12/5/12)
"Swift, Brutal Retaliation", Meghan McCarron (Tor.com 1/4/12)
"Portrait of Lisane da Patagnia", Rachel Swirsky (Tor.com 8/22/12)
"Fade to White", Catherynne M. Valente (Clarkesworld 8/12)
Short Story:
"Robot", Helena Bell (Clarkesworld 9/12)
"Immersion", Aliette de Bodard (Clarkesworld 6/12)
"Fragmentation, or Ten Thousand Goodbyes", Tom Crosshill
(Clarkesworld 4/12)
"Nanny's Day", Leah Cypess (Asimov's 3/12)
"Give Her Honey When You Hear Her Scream", Maria Dahvana Headley
(Lightspeed 7/12)
"The Bookmaking Habits of Select Species", Ken Liu
(Lightspeed 8/12)
"Five Ways to Fall in Love on Planet Porcelain", Cat Rambo
(Near + Far)
Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation:
THE AVENGERS
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
THE CABIN IN THE WOODS
THE HUNGER GAMES
JOHN CARTER
LOOPER
Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy:
Iron Hearted Violet, Kelly Barnhill (Little, Brown)
Black Heart, Holly Black (S&S/McElderry; Gollancz)
Above, Leah Bobet (Levine)
The Diviners, Libba Bray (Little, Brown; Atom)
Vessel, Sarah Beth Durst (S&S/McElderry)
Seraphina, Rachel Hartman (Random House; Doubleday UK)
Enchanted, Alethea Kontis (Harcourt)
Every Day, David Levithan (Alice A. Knopf Books for Young Readers)
Summer of the Mariposas, Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Tu Books)
Railsea, China Mieville (Del Rey; Macmillan)
Fair Coin, E.C. Myers (Pyr)
Above World, Jenn Reese (Candlewick)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Costa Rica Logs
The logs of our recent trip to Costa Rica are available at:
Mark's: http://leepers.us/CostaRicaLog.htm
Evelyn's: http://leepers.us/Evelyn/trips/costa.htm
===================================================================
TOPIC: Worldcon Prospects (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
There probably will not be World Science Fiction convention in
Japan for a long while. The reason is the Fukushima radiation, but
not because of the health implications. The problem is just fan
jealousy. It seems the radiation has a half-life but most fans
don't have even that much. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Case Closed At Last (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
We finally have an answer, people. I know that a lot of you have
been waiting with bated breath to find out what actually happened
to King Rameses III of Egypt. If you are like me you probably have
been waiting since the 20th Dynasty to get the last chapter of the
tale. We left our story on a cliffhanger back in April of 1155
B.C.E. The question was whatever did happen to Rameses III?
I will remind you in case you have forgotten or came in late that
Rameses was in that unfortunate marriage to Tiye. Tiye was one of
Rameses lesser wives. Actually I think it was not really love at
all--more what you might call "flapdoodle." She did that dance if
you remember, the one with the palm leaves. Boy, that was really
something! I mean his number 1 wife Iset warned him that Tiye just
did not have what it took to make her a loyal consort. She had
attitude. Of course Iset had some attitude of her own. But
Rameses had his eyes full of palm leaves and more to the point on
gaps between palm leaves. And ... well, it was a mess. Rameses
thought that Iset was just jealous. And, well, she probably was.
But we all knew from the beginning that Tiye just did not have that
proper consort material. She was kind of common. But that dance
made her uncommon. What she did have was that son of hers she had
with Rameses, Pentawer. Not one of Rameses' favorite sons. Gad,
he was a piece of work. Pharaoh's son or not, he just didn't have
the brains to run a shadoof. Back in the good times he would have
lived in a leaky mud hut instead of the palace. But that was the
way kids were. It wasn't like 1185 B.C.E. any more, more is the
pity. Kids had no sense of responsibility any more. Things had
gone just straight to the Underworld of late.
So there was Pentawer, just hanging around the palace, and, well
you know, fooling around and getting into mischief. Tiye just did
not see Pentawer the way any of us did. She was his mother, and
somewhere along the line she got the idea that Pentawer could and
even should be El Queso Grande of the Two Kingdoms. Well, there
was her sort-of husband, Rameses, and there was her son Pentawer.
They could not both be Pharaoh. And anyway Rameses had already
picked a son of Iset to succeed him. And Rameses was getting just
a little bored of the palm-leaf routine anyway. I don't know why.
Well, Tiye had a brain to go with that bod. But it wasn't a nice
brain, if you know what I mean. She decides that the Two Kingdoms
would be better off without Rameses and she could take power.
Well, Rameses found out about it, if that is how you put it.
Actually what happened was he was spending the evening in the harem
admiring the artwork. You know just enjoying all the ... the
artwork. And suddenly there were blades and swords and pains from
poison. It was a mess. Rameses was hurt but he lived and there
was that trial. It was not a big trial in the sense that most of
the public never even heard about it. Back in those days most of
the public never heard about anything. For them the only news was
the Nile had inundated or it hadn't. And that news wasn't told to
them in a news flash, they sort of just looked at the Nile. If it
was up it was up. If it was down it was down. Egypt had very few
news junkies and the people never found out something had happened
until it was carved into a stone monument. Even then they couldn't
read it. And that news was sort of filtered for accuracy by the
royal court, which meant you couldn't believe half of it.
Anyway Tiye and Pentawer were found guilty, which was about as
unexpected as that the Nile would go down in summer. Pentawer was
left in a chamber with lethal stuff and a generous offer of
assistance if he was unsure what to do with it or even if it just
turned out to be one of those tasks you keep putting off and
putting off. You know the sort. "Expeditious." That's the word.
They promised to give him help if he were not EXPEDITIOUS in the
task.
Rameses actually lived and took the whole affair as a sort of life
lesson--the sort of life lesson in which a whole bunch of people
get put to death. We left the story 3167 years ago. (You add 1155
and 2013, but then you have to subtract one because there was no
year zero, you know.) And we never found out what happened to
Rameses. We can be pretty sure he died because we have his mummy
and that tana leaf thing only works in the movies. But we do not
hear a lot of Rameses after that. The papyruses fell dumb.
Anyway, we have a final chapter to all this. Just last December
Rameses, or what is left of him, has been given a CT scan as part
of a really delayed autopsy. Also another mummy was found with him
and has proven by DNA test to be a son of Rameses and that son was
strangled. That body did not get the most respectful mummyization
treatment. So they think that is Pentawer and apparently mummy
bandages weren't the only things wrapped around his neck. And the
next Pharaoh was the son that Rameses had chosen and who became
Rameses IV.
So case closed. Well ... not entirely. They also just discovered
Rameses III died of an acute case of having his throat slashed. So
they got him after all.
See:
http://www.world-science.net/othernews/121218_ramesses.htm
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: The Olympics and Wrestling (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
[You are probably wondering why I am getting into a discussion of
wrestling. In part, it is because after having read the Iliad and
the Odyssey several times, as well as various Greek dramas, I have
some sense of what the original Olympics were about, and how the
modern Olympics are really moving away from it. But read on.]
The International Olympic Committee has announced their intention
to remove wrestling from the Olympics starting with the 2020
Olympics. This is apparently being done so they can limit their
events to 25 "core sports", including such critically important
ones as synchronized swimming, canoeing, and taekwondo. This is
the same committee that so fanatically protects the Olympic name
that it goes after Greek restaurants named "Olympic Restaurant".
But their devotion to the Olympic tradition seems shallow indeed,
when they discard a sport that dates back to the original Olympics
in favor of ... basketball?
To my mind, there are four reasons why wrestling should remain: it
is traditional, it is popular, it is egalitarian, and it is
individual.
Traditional: Wrestling has been part of the Olympics almost since
the very beginning (the games started in 776 B.C.E., and wrestling
was introduced in 708 B.C.E.).
Popular: In 2012, wrestling events had *medalists* from 29
different countries. The "modern pentathalon" (pistol shooting,
fencing, 200-meter freestyle swimming, show jumping, and a 3-
kilometer cross-country run) had *entrants* from only 26
countries. (The original pentathlon had a stadion foot race,
wrestling, the long jump, the javelin, and the discus.)
Egalitarian: As with most of the original ancient events, the cost
for a participant to train is quite low for wrestling. No special
equipment is needed (other than a mat). The result is that someone
from a very poor country (or a poor background in a rich country)
can compete in this sport on a relatively equal basis with someone
who is rich. Yes, travel and trainers cost money. But for the
modern pentathalon, the competitors need pistols (and ammunition),
swords (and protective gear), access to a swimming pool, and a
horse. If the IOC wants the Olympics to reach into all corners of
the world, this should matter.
Individual: The ancient games celebrated the individual. Okay, in
the chariot race, there was a horse *and* the winner was considered
to be the sponsor, not the horse or the driver. But there were no
team sports--no relay races and certainly no sports like
basketball, baseball, or synchronized swimming. The ideals of
ancient Greece were the ideals of the individual: bravery,
strength, leadership (in a monarchical sense). Teamwork was
important only in the sense of loyalty to your family or your city-
state, and even then not over personal honor. (When Achilles sulks
in his tent over being "dissed" by Agamemnon, the Greeks saw this
as perfectly justifiable. What brings him out was not any claim
that his comrades needed him, but his need to avenge his lover's
death.) Our cultures respect teamwork more, but the Olympic Games
are the wrong venue to promote this. It would be like a ribs place
deciding it was going to promote healthy eating.
And this "25 core sports rule"? The IOC has self-imposed this
limit, and could just as easily un-impose it. But if it is that
important, the IOC should be dropping things like synchronized
swimming, basketball, table tennis, or badminton (all of which are
team sports), or the modern pentathalon (with what has to be the
highest "entry cost" of any event).
Meanwhile, Greece should sue the IOC for abuse of the name of their
highest mountain and get enough in damages to bail out their
economy.
[By the way, if you want to see a great movie which has a fair
amount about wrestling, and specifically Graeco-Roman wrestling,
watch NIGHT OF THE CITY.]
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: QUARTET (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: At a home for retired musicians many of the residents are
some of the former greats of the operatic stage. To save the home
they are putting on an opera gala and would like something smashing
to perform. The home has three of the singers from an opera
history classic performance of the quartet from RIGOLETTO. When
the fourth singer moves to the home it seems like the repeat
performance is a real possibility, but newly arrived Jean (Maggie
Smith) is not at all happy with the home and its residents. Ronald
Harwood adapts his play to the screen. At age 75 Dustin Hoffman
directs a film for the first time, a film with comedy and grace.
Rating: +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
There is a rarely recognized genre of film I would call
"octogenarian films." Most films seem to concentrate on people
considerably younger, say from age seventeen to thirty. Fewer
films seem to have main characters in the forty to sixty range.
But then there is a genre of films for and about people roughly in
their eighties. You have films like THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD
HOTEL, MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS, and MRS. PALFREY AT THE CLAREMONT.
They seem to play in art houses largely to audiences of retirees.
This is a viewership that has time and money but very little
interest in Wolverine or Iron Man. So some films are being made
for them.
Beecham House for Retired Musicians is having financial problems.
Generally the way they handle such problems is staging a gala
performance once a year. They do have some of the great names in
20th century musical talent. A real coup would be if they could
restage one of the great legendary performances of opera, four
great stars singing the quartet from Verdi's RIGOLETTO. They
actually have three of those great singers living at the home.
They have Reginald Paget (played by Tom Courtenay), Wilf Bond
(Billy Connolly), and Cissy Robson (Pauline Collins). But it will
not be a great performance if they cannot their fourth star Jean
Horton (Maggie Smith). The repeat performance is just a pipedream
until Jean Horton actually also comes to live at the home. But all
their problems are not over. Jean is having a very hard time
adjusting to the new surroundings. In addition, Reginald will not
work with Jean under any circumstances. There is history between
Reginald and Jean. Reginald has had a grudge against Jean for many
decades now and he refuses to have anything to do with her.
The star of the film is, of course, Maggie Smith. Smith is almost
a female equivalent of Morgan Freeman. We see a lot of her playing
with a sly wit, but it is nearly always the same character with no
more than minor variations. Jean is little different from Muriel
Donnelly from THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL or Violet Crawley from
TV's "Downton Abbey". Here, however, Smith has some first-class
competition from a very funny Billy Connolly who plays at being a
perpetually randy, occasionally vulgar, dirty old man. He flirts
with every woman within range and a few that are not. Connolly is
as funny as John Cleese to whom he bears no small physical
resemblance. (At least one person from our party came away
thinking she had seen John Cleese.) The plot is simple, and the
acting is quiet. Dustin Hoffman, directing a film for the first
time, gives us a film as comfortable as an old stuffed chair. And
in one touch unusual for a film about old people, nobody even comes
close to dying. Another touch is that a very large number of the
home residents really are well-known music makers. If you know
classical music be sure to stick around for the credits as well as
enjoying the music throughout. I rate QUARTET a +2 on the -4 to +4
scale or 7/10.
Film Credits: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1441951/combined
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/quartet_2012/
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: COIN TOSS (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: COIN TOSS is set in a world of light fantasy or magical
realism; we have a gentle story of chance, luck, romance, lottery
tickets, and financial chicanery. Newcomer Satya Kharkar co-
writes, directs, produces, and films this story of a magic coin, a
Powerball lottery ticket, and of course romance. As Kharkar's
first feature film outing shot on video the film has a few rough
edges including some flat performances, but is also has charm and
promises more from the new filmmaker. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4) or
6/10
The main character of our story is a poor but honest and nice guy
Tom Bennett (Joe Mastrino). Bennett wins the audience by taking
care of his dying mother, and he tries to be certain he treats
everybody he knows fairly. The mother gives him his father's lucky
silver dollar. The coin turns out to be really genuinely lucky and
it goes to purchase a winning Powerball lottery ticket. The film
then becomes a race to steal the ticket, which lots of people
possess but nobody ever bothers to sign and turn in. COIN TOSS
begins with a few too many characters for its own good, but they
all fit into the plot sooner or later. It helps a little that the
characters are somewhat sorted out by a resonant-voice narrator.
But there are several threads of action going on at the same time,
and they are a little hard to keep straight.
As with many low-budget films, there are problems in the casting.
The film calls for Tom's scheming fiancee to be drop-dead gorgeous.
Linda (Shirin Caiola) is about as attractive as the film's finances
would allow, but we have to take on faith that everybody in the
film is attracted to her. Performances by most of the peripheral
characters should not be met with high expectations. Acting for
most of the cast is about on the level of a high school play with
several of the actors apparently concentrating on mostly making
sure what they say can be understood. Perhaps the most engaging
actor is Shalaka Kulkami as Meera, a bag lady who ironically has
considerable smarts and whom the viewer knows immediately is a cut
above most of the homeless. It somewhat confuses the film that
Meera has the dramatic potential to become a romantic lead herself.
We know that she ends up all right at the end of the film, but
somehow that does not seem to be enough. Her story is just a bit
short of being a loose end.
This is a very low budget, direct to video film by first-time
feature by director Kharkar. Not surprisingly it still has a few
rough edges. Kharkar himself takes a small role as someone with
the unlikely name Agent Polecat. Actually several different
Kharkars show up in the titles and credits, making the film a
family affair. Music by Nik Phoeniks sets the tone of the film
handily. It uses its Chicago locations to add some visual
interest. I would rate COIN TOSS a +1 on the -4 to +4 scale or
6/10.
Special kudos for working into the plot references to the great
(and tragic) Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. There is
also some discussion of Chaos Theory, but it is rare to find a
scientifically literate comedy.
Film Credits: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2345503/combined
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: INESCAPABLE (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: In a Canadian South-African coproduction is a thriller set
against a backdrop of Syrian politics. A father fled to Toronto
years before, but he now returns to his native Syria to look for
his missing journalist daughter. The film is sparing in its car
chases and gun fights and instead is a serious thriller with the
main character raking up the past to try and save his daughter from
falling victim in one of the world's most dangerous countries. The
film is entertaining enough, but could have more dramatic impact.
Writer/director Ruba Nadda directs a good performance from
Alexander Siddig (of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) and Marisa Tomai.
But how can a film be set in 2011 Syria without any mention of the
civil war? Rating: low +1 (-4 to +4) or 5/10
INESCAPABLE is the latest in a long line of films with one-word
titles about family men in foreign countries looking for a missing
female loved ones. Finding he has to defend his family he is
forced to fight like a tiger. Previously there was FRANTIC,
TARGET, TAKEN (1 and 2), and others that don't immediately come to
mind. INESCAPABLE is more believable than most since it trades
away popcorn-crunchers' thrills for a little much-needed realism.
There is gunplay and there are one or two chases, but that is held
off mostly for the final act. Instead there is just a serious
investigation of what could have happened to the missing woman. On
the other hand some of that credibility is lost in one or two
unlikely coincidences without which the investigation might have
been too long to show in the film's spare 93 minutes.
Many years ago Adib (played by Alexander Siddiq) left his native
Syria and immigrated to Toronto to raise a family there. Now he
has a daughter who is in her early twenties. She is supposedly
visiting Greece, but without telling her father who would never
allow it, she makes a side trip to Damascus to see where her father
lived and in the sincere hope that her father would not find out
she did it. Then that trip went very wrong. As the film opens
Adib finds out that his daughter had gone to Damascus and then very
suddenly went missing. Adib decides if his daughter is going to
get out of Syria safely, he has to go there and find her himself.
He flies to Jordan and with forged papers he crosses the border
into Syria where he can get help from Fatima (Marisa Tomei).
Before Adib left Syria he and Fatima were engaged to be married.
When Adib left he felt it was not safe to tell Fatima or to later
even send her an explanation. Now he has come back into her life
needing her help and the help of an old friend from before he left.
Then the plot gets complex.
Alexander Siddiq acts with a facial expressiveness honed over years
on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine". But the amazing performance is
from a Marisa Tomei totally believable as a Syrian. I cannot claim
to be an expert, but if I did not know who it would under the
makeup and the accent, I would have assumed she really was Syrian.
Joshua Jackson as the third lead is a little bland, though not
unrealistically so. Surprisingly the film is set in 2011 in Syria.
That country fell into civil war in March of 2011. I kept waiting
for references to the war that was coming in at most a month or two
or was already happening. Part of the suspense is expecting to see
how the Syrian Civil War was going to affect the action. Minor
spoiler: it never happens. There is no mention at all of the
unrest or the war that is going on. To me that indicated at the
very least a lost opportunity.
INESCAPABLE is entertaining as a mystery, perhaps a little reserved
for modern audiences, but that is actually a virtue. It should
have been a little more of an education in how Syrian politics
works besides having accounts of corruptions and ever-present giant
portraits of Assads painted on buildings. The film certainly has
some missed opportunities. I rate it a low +1 on the -4 to +4
scale or 5/10.
Film Credits: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1844203/combined
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/inescapable_2012/
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Futurism and Nuclear Disarmament (letters of comment by Jim
Susky and Dale L. Skran, Jr.)
In response to Dale Skran's comments on predictions in the 02/01/13
issue of the MT VOID, Jim Susky writes:
You (and I) may thank Gregory Benford for linking your
website/newsletter to his blog. I saw an item by Dale L. Skran--
wherein he commented on a number of 25-yr-old predictions by
Benford and other luminaries in SF and Science-in-general. Perhaps
you would be kind enough to forward this to Mr. Skran.
SHELDON GLASHOW predicted: "Mutual nuclear disarmament of the major
powers." To which Mr. Skran commented: "--a big zero here."
This rung a bell since I have read a number of accounts describing
reductions in warheads by the US, Russia, and perhaps other former
Soviet "republics" since the USSR dissolved. I offer links below
for an Wikipedia entry, "Nuclear disarmament", and a related
graphic which address the topic in general and "total stockpiles"
of warheads in particular. It appears that the USSR and USA had
about 70,000 combined warheads (not all "actively deployed") ca.
1987. This figure has declined to under 30,000 ca. 2005. While
30,000 warheads is undesirable the > 40,000 reduction thereby is
not "zero" nor "a big zero". It looks to me to be slightly over
half-right--a glass I will regard as half-full.
http://tinyurl.com/void-stockpiles
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_disarmament
http://leepers.us/mtvoid/back_issues.htm#2013
[-js]
Dale responds:
With regard to Mr. Susky's comment and Mr. Glashow's prediction:
Jim Susky is correct to point out that there has been a substantial
reduction in the nuclear arsenal of both the USA and Russia.
Whether this constitutes "mutual nuclear disarmament of the major
powers" is indeed a glass half full/half empty situation. It
should be viewed in the context of China not participating in this
mutual disarmament and the growing nuclear might of smaller powers.
I note that North Korea tested a nuclear bomb within the last week.
Overall, Mr. Glashow deserves more than a "a big zero"--perhaps a
grade of 25% instead. Glashow correctly predicted significant
nuclear disarmament. However, given that the spread of nuclear
weapons and concern about their possible usage is one of the most
important foreign policy issues of our time, I think that Mr.
Glashow missed the mark if he thought nuclear weapons would no
longer play much role in the events of 2012. [-dls]
Jim replies:
I never regarded "nuclear disarmament" to mean *all* "swords would
be beaten into plowshares"--this cannot happen so long as the
dominant primate remains dominant.
I clearly remember, as the USSR was fragmenting, Henry Kissinger
cautioning that operable nuclear missiles were then within new
sovereign borders. I trust (hope) that we and Russia took
successful steps to correct that sort of proliferation.
I am ignorant of the details, but I suppose that fewer warheads
leads to fewer missiles leads to less expense on nuclear war
machinery--so your 25% estimate may well be reasonable measured in
on-going relevant DOD [Department of Defense] dollars.
My main objection was to your rhetorical "zero"--placed in a
journal that discusses matters scientific (if science-fictional)--
sounded too much like what passes for journalism these days.
(Plus, too many in the "Twitter-Age" will see "zero" as literal
rather than rhetorical)
And you are indeed correct that the current nuclear weaponry
situation is complex--much more so than the Good Old (Cold War)
Days. I clearly remember when there was a one-for-one
correspondence between the Nuclear Club and the UN Security
Council...
(cheating now--checking on Wikipedia again--Confirmed)
... this was before India and then Pakistan openly developed nukes
and Israel secretly got them.
I somehow think China will put its thumb on North Korea before the
Onion's "Sexiest Man Alive for 2012" gets truly effective nuclear
sabres to rattle. Perhaps we can eventually send John Kerry on the
Israeli sortie that cripples Iran's nuke capability. [-js]
===================================================================
TOPIC: SIDE EFFECTS and QUARTET (letter of comment by Sherry
Glotzer)
In response to Mark's review of SIDE EFFECTS in the 02/22/13 issue
of the MT VOID, Sherry Glotzer writes:
We saw SIDE EFFECTS last week. Not expecting much, as Newsday gave
it only two stars; we were "pleasantly" surprised to find the
performances quite good. And we were kept guessing as the plot
unfolded. The same was true of QUARTET. Again, only two stars,
but very pleasing. Maybe we are just getting older than the
reviewers????? [-sg]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Our reading group did THE STRANGER by Albert Camus (ISBN 978-0-679-
72020-1) this month. Reading it with today's perceptions, I found
myself convinced that today we would diagnose Meursault as at least
somewhat affected by Asperger Syndrome. He seems disconnected from
emotions, or at least from the outward manifestations of them, both
in how he interprets what others are doing, and in what actions of
his own he finds appropriate. This is similar to the way that
those with Asperger's describe themselves.
As far as the general feeling of the book, I found it similar to
Franz Kafka's THE TRIAL. There is a certain level of coldness and
remoteness. Whether this is from the existentialism, or from the
characterization of Meursault, or from the writing style, I cannot
say. One person proposed that it was the whole absurdity of the
situation in general and of the trial specifically, where whether
Meursault drank coffee near his mother's corpse seemed to be very
important.
I see things that seem to reflect more a Stoic philosophy than
something specifically existential (for which I cannot even find a
good definition). For example, Muersault says, "Deep down I knew
perfectly well that it doesn't much matter whether you die at
thirty or at seventy, since in either case other men and women will
naturally go on living." And later he says, "Since we're all going
to die, it's obvious that when and how don't matter."
One can argue that there is some existentialism in the sentence,
"He [the priest] wasn't even sure he was alive, because he was
living like a dead man." If I were to try to define existentialism
based on this sentence, it would be that only by accepting that
life is meaningless and that there is no afterlife can one truly
live in this one.
I have been doing a lot of reading for the Sidewise Award these
last few weeks. For some reason, a lot of publishers wait until
the end of the year to send out books they think are eligible. In
addition, I have trouble getting inter-library loans of "new"
books, which are defined as books published in the current year.
So come January I can start requesting a lot of them. You would
think this would give me a lot to write about, but it doesn't.
For example, many of the books are book N of a series, and often
one needs to have read all (or at least some) of the preceding
books for the new one to make sense. (This is, of course, not
specific to alternate history.) Talking about even the second book
in a series without covering the first as well seems pointless.
There are two kinds of series. One is composed of books or stories
that can be read in any order, and do not require knowledge of what
came before, except possibly for the basic premise. Examples of
this would be the "Sherlock Holmes" stories and the "Discworld"
novels. The other has each book building on the previous one, and
reading a later one without reading what came before will leave the
reader confused. An example of this would be Isaac Asimov's
"Foundation" series. And the extreme of the latter is the multi-
volume single novel, such as the three-volume "Lord of the Rings"
or (I believe) Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time".
In addition, there seems to be much that people *think* is
alternate history that isn't. There are books set in superhero
universes that call their city "New York" but have no real
alternate history aspect. There are books in which there is some
vast conspiracy we don't know about (these are secret histories,
not alternate histories). There are books that postulate some
different military technology, and then devolve into a typical
action espionage scenario with only the country names modified.
There are books that have parallel universes which could just as
easily be alien worlds in our universe. What there do not seem to
be are a lot of books whose authors carefully think out the
consequences of a change in history and then write about them.
There are some, but most of what I have been reading lately does
not fall into this category. [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more
than you love yourself.
--Josh Billings