Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
07/24/20 -- Vol. 39, No. 4, Whole Number 2129
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, *mleeper@optonline.net *
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, *eleeper@optonline.net *
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Topics:
Say What? Mark Leeper's Journal, June 24, 1994 (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
THE ACCURSED TOWER by Roger Crowley (book review
by Gregory Frederick)
LA TRAVIATA and Other Operas (letters of comment
by Paul Dormer, Gary McGath, Dorothy J. Heydt,
Scott Dorsey, and Keith F. Lynch)
Fanac Fan History Project, LA TRAVIATA and Other Operas,
QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, and THE DECAMERON (letter
of comment by John Purcell)
This Week's Reading (THE DECAAMERON, BRIGHT IDEAS: THE
BRILLIANT IDEAS OF NIKOLA TESLA and WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
MACHINES THAT THINK) (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Say What? Mark Leeper's Journal, June 24, 1994 (comments by
Mark R. Leeper)
[Note Bene: This column was originally written in earlier days.
These days nobody has a fighting chance to understand and keep up
with the tech on things like 5G (or is it 7W?) -mrl]
It is time to at least talk about the last great taboo of our
society. The words that everybody thinks but that few people have
the courage to say. I must think these words thirty times a day
and yet dare not speak them aloud. I hear what you are saying.
"He must be going to talk about something sexual. I better hide
this from the kids." Well, first of all, no it is nothing like
that. (Besides, these days the kids could probably teach you a
thing or two.) But even today I am talking about the words that
nobody dares say, but that everybody thinks. Even kids in school
think it but dare not say it. And experts say that people will be
thinking this more and more in the future and may be all the more
terrified to say it aloud. What are the dreaded words that we all
think but only few have the courage to say out loud. The words are
"I don't know what you are talking about. I don't understand."
Certainly in school you are taught from the first that you should
study very hard and always be sure you will understand every pearl
of wisdom the teacher utters. Your parents expect that when your
math teacher says the hyperbolic tangent asymptotically approaches
zero you will think to yourself "Of course it does." When your
history teacher talks about the Diet of Worms you are expected to
know what he is talking about and not stop to ask yourself, "What
do worms eat, anyway?" (Actually, I wonder if anybody even teaches
about the Diet of Worms anymore.)
As you get older it gets even worse with contractors asking you
about rabbiting joists, and car ads talking about dual cam engines.
Here at AT&T (this is 1994 remember) we take it a step further with
the liberal use of acronyms. "Shall we connect the TSGs to the
smart hubs via NFS or TCP/IP?" People who teach clarity of writing
usually say to keep acronyms to a minimum, but have your read a
Bell Labs Technical Journal lately. It looks like alphabet soup.
Even when people talk about TV these days everything is going
technical. When I was growing up I used to talk to my friends
about the latest episode of THE OUTER LIMITS. I knew what they
were talking about and they knew what I was talking about. These
days people talk about STAR TREK or BABYLON 5 you have to keep
straight the names of seven or eight different alien races and
forty or so different character and actor names. Conversation gets
more and more technical and harder and harder to follow, even
talking about TV shows. These days talking about science fiction
TV shows comes down to conversations like "Didn't the Traggleump
have hyperwarp drive in their war against the Plargut?" It is the
hardest thing in the world to admit you don't understand. But deep
down most of you are like that, going through life afraid to admit
that you don't understand something. Now me, I am not like that.
I have admitted it the few times I didn't follow a conversation.
And you can believe that today I understand everything I hear.
Please. [-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE ACCURSED TOWER: THE FALL OF ACRE AND THE END OF THE
CRUSADES by Roger Crowley (book review by Gregory Frederick)
This history book chronicles the events leading up to and the
actual battle for the last major crusader castle in the Middle East
in 1291. Acre was a well-fortified and fully manned castle on the
East Coast of the Mediterranean Sea. For years before 1291 the
Muslims from Egypt were capturing and destroying other crusader
castles along the coast near the present day country of Israel.
But what lead to the demise of Acre was a belief common to people
which has occurred many times in history. They did not think that
they would become a target. They thought their location made them
valuable as a trading center between the Europeans and the
Egyptians. And there was no unified command leading the defense of
this castle. These factors and others meant that Arce would fall
in a matter of days. The latest in siege methods also helped to
bring about a quick end to the battle. Huge trebuchets and many
smaller catapults were built by the attackers and transported to
the siege site and additionally mining operations were undertaken
to undermine towers along the castle wall. There was a double wall
of towers around the castle at Arce. When a tower would collapse
the attackers could advance to the next wall of towers. But the
failings of the defenders would bring about the eventual loss of
this castle. Roger Crowley is a great author and this book like
many others he has written is a very good read. You feel like you
are there during the events he writes about. [-gf]
===================================================================
TOPIC: LA TRAVIATA and Other Operas (letters of comment by Paul
Dormer, Gary McGath, Dorothy J. Heydt, Scott Dorsey, and Keith
F. Lynch)
In response to Mark's comments on LA TRAVIATA in the 07/17/20 issue
of the MT VOID, Paul Dormer writes:
[Mark wrote,] "... when Alfredo's father visits Violetta and says
that she has to call the affair off because Alfredo's sister's
fiance's family objects to the name Violetta is giving the family.
Violetta agrees to leave her lover and return to her life of
partying. She writes him a note and leaves." [-mrl]
Alfredo's father's big aria in that act is one of my all-time
favourites.
Incidentally, I'm reminded of the opera house's sudden request for
a replacement singer:
"Our Mimi's sick."
"Well, she's supposed to be." [-pd]
Gary McGath replies:
One of the strangest opera deaths is Desdemona's in Verdi's OTELLO.
The title character suffocates her. Then Emilia comes in and
explains that Otello's accusations were unfounded. Desdemona
declares her innocence, and only then does she die. I thought that
if someone stopped choking you and you were still able to speak (or
sing), you weren't very likely to die. [-gmg]
Dorothy J. Heydt responds:
Well, in Shakespeare's play, somebody comes in and asks Desdemona
who killed her, and she says, IIRC:
"Nobody, I myself, farewell."
I don't think it's physiologically accurate either, but maybe both
Shakespeare and Verdi's librettist [Arrigo Boito] wanted to
emphasize that Desdemona forgave her husband for being violent and
credulous, a terrible combination. [djh]
Paul adds:
Conversely, UN BALLO IN MASCHERA is based on the real-life
assassination of Gustav III of Sweden, who really was assassinated
at a masked ball in 1792. (Italian censors forbade the depiction
of a monarch being assassinated so for early productions, the
action was transposed to colonial Boston and the king becomes the
governor.)
In the opera, if you think the king is taking a long time to die,
in real life it took two weeks. [-pd]
Scott Dorsey observes:
Sure, but in real life he didn't sing F two octaves above middle C
while doing it. [-sd]
Gary notes:
In real life, Gustav III was shot, and in the opera he (or the
governor) is stabbed. Either way, taking a long time to die is
plausible. What strains credulity for me is a masked ball in
Puritan Boston. [-gmg]
Keith F. Lynch provides the following:
"Several balls took place at the hall in the 1770s. For instance,
'the fourth Subscription Ball will be held at Concert Hall on
Thursday, the 29th instant [of January], 1776.' Also: 'on Monday,
the 11th of March, will be given at Concert Hall, a Subscription
Masked Ball. By the fifth of March, a number of different masks
will be prepared & sold by almost all the milliners and mantua
makers in Town.'"
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_Hall_(Boston,_Massachusetts
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_Hall_(Boston,_Massachusetts*)
[-kfl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Fanac Fan History Project, LA TRAVIATA and Other Operas,
QUATERMASS AND THE PIT, and THE DECAMERON (letter of comment
by John Purcell)
In response to the comments on LAN'S LANTERN in the 07/17/20 issue
of the MT VOID, John Purcell writes:
Another week, another VOID. Life goes on, tra-la! Well, such as it
does in this day and age. We are still here, and that's a good
thing; at least, that is how I am going to look at things.
The Fanac Fan History project is a splendid and wonderful service.
Mark Olson scanned in a raft of old fanzines during Corflu Heatwave
this past March, and the site is truly a treasure trove of old
zines and photos of SF fandom's history, people, events, and
publications. I remember LAN'S LANTERN from back in the day--
George Laskowski, Jr., was a fun person to hang out with at
conventions, and I remember a lot of good times at Minicons,
Windycons, and elsewhere from those years--and the zine always
contained fine articles and artwork. His many tribute issues to
writers were huge and fun reading; the Clifford D. Simak issue
featured cover art by Minneapolis fan Kathy Marschall, if I recall
correctly. Sadly, George ('Lan') died of cancer in July 1999 at
the age of 50. [-jp]
In response to Mark's comments on LA TRAVIATA in the same issue,
John writes:
I find it interesting that you saw LA TRAVIATA and LA BOHEME in
Estonia in 1994. Am I correct in assuming they were in their
original languages? While I do enjoy listening to the music and
appreciate the skill of the vocalists, I am a non-fan of operas.
The same goes for watching ballets. Just can't do it. I would
much rather just listen and enjoy the music. This does not
disparage the skills and performances of opera singers and ballet
dancers, nor the extravagant stage settings and performances, it is
simply that I don't like "watching" either medium. Chalk it up to
personal preference.
Mark responds:
I did not see LA BOHEME in Estonia, but I have seen it numerous
times. TRAVIATA was probably done in Italian, but I think the
producer decides the language of the production. I am not a
particular fan of opera but a lot of the most beautiful music I
know comes from operas. [-mrl]
Evelyn responds:
LA TRAVIATA (in Estonia) was sung in Italian (though with a strong
Estonian accent, making it difficult to understand even the words
we knew). We did not see LA BOHEME; I presume it would have been
the same. We also saw RIGOLETTO in Lithuania, of which I wrote,
"For one litas [about 25 cents] they have a program that explains
the action in three languages: English, Lithuanian, and Russian.
There were three reasons this was useful: 1) Mark wasn't sure he
remembered the plot, 2) there were no super-titles, and 3) it was
sung in Lithuanian, not Italian. We suppose if it were sung in
Italian, any super-titles would have been in Lithuanian, but at
least Italian has some cognates with English and we would have had
some chance of picking up the plot from the words."
This all reminds me of seeing MALEVIL at the Worldcon in The Hague,
of which I wrote, "This was a post-holocaust film none of us had
seen, so Mark, Dale, Kate, Kate's friend, and I all went to see it.
Unluckily, it was in French. Luckily, it was subtitled.
Unluckily, it was subtitled in Dutch. Luckily, it had very little
dialogue. Only Dale and I stayed for the whole film. He could
pick up some of the Dutch because it was like German, which he
knew, and I could recognize some of the French and some of the
Dutch, and he remembered the story from the book fairly well, so
between us I think we pieced together what was going on. But we
did agree that we didn't remember a train in a tunnel from the book
and suspect that was added for dramatic effect." [-ecl]
On the comments on QUATERMASS AND THE PIT and other BBC
series/serials, John writes:
QUATERMASS AND THE PIT is one of my personal favorite all-time SF
movies. Fred Hoyle's A FOR ANDROMEDA is on my bookshelves
somewhere, so it's interesting to note that there was BBC
serialization of it. The email exchange between Paul Dormer, Scott
Dorsey, Keith F. Lynch, Kevin R, Peter Trei, DorothyJ. Heydt, and
Tim Merrigan is interesting reading. Thank you for sharing it in
this week's VOID. [-jp]
And finally, John writes:
Any comments I could make on THE DECAMERON will have to wait until
I have read it. In the meantime, I once again thank you for
pubbing your ish. This was fun reading, and is greatly
appreciated. [-jp]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Addendum on THE DECAMERON (Day 3): I discovered that Florio's
translation of THE DECAMERON has a completely different story for
the tenth story of the third day. I guess "putting the Devil in
Hell" was too racy even for him, and so he made another one up.
The original Italian has the story that I had described last week.
BRIGHT IDEAS: THE BRILLIANT IDEAS OF NIKOLA TESLA by Tracy Dockray
(Capstone, ISBN 978-1-684-46141-7) is described as being at a
reading level for 8- to 11-year-olds. It is possible that 8- to
11-year-olds are more knowledgeable than when I was growing up, but
words like "imbalance" and "incandescent" seem a bit too advanced,
particularly for the low end of that range. What I do find
interesting is that Dockray emphasizes how Thomas Edison and others
cheated Tesla of the rewards for his work. Most authors have
concentrated more on Tesla's achievements and glossed over this
aspect. (She does soften it a bit with the information that even
when he had money, Tesla spent it all on experiments, so he might
have ended up broke anyway.)
Okay, this is not exactly what 8- to 11-year-olds want to read, and
most of the book is more about Tesla's technical achievements. So
it is of interest to the scientifically-minded tween.
I first commented on WHAT TO THINK ABOUT MACHINES THAT THINK edited
by John Brockman (Harper Perennial, ISBN 978-0-06-242565-2) in the
02/14/20 issue of the MT VOID, and at the time said I was reading
it one or two essays at a time. There being a couple of hundred
essays, this is a long-term project, and I have a comments on a
couple of essays I have just read.
In "AI/AL", Esther Dyson writes, "If you're alive, you must face
the possibility of being dead. But if you're AI/AL [artificial
intelligence/artificial life] in a machine, perhaps not." Later,
she refers to AI/AL being immortal, alive forever, and apparently
aware of this. There are a couple of problems with this. First of
all, if an AI/AL has no concept of its own possible death, how
would that be any different that thinking itself immortal. One
could claim that current AI thinks it is immortal in that it does
not think it could die. But more importantly, the AI/AL is not
immortal. The sun will eventually go dark, and even if it escapes,
the heat death of the universe will overtake it (Isaac Asimov's
"The Last Question" to the contrary notwithstanding). Or is Dyson
saying that the AI/AL will *falsely* believe in its immortality?
In "Brains and Other Thinking Machines", Tom Griffith makes a
dichotomy in learning I don't recall seeing explicated before
between structure and flexibility. Structure attempts to fit new
data in an existing framework; flexibility attempts to build a
constantly evolving structure from new data. Both have their
place, but both can lead to problems. Structure, for example, is
what leads to errors from false cognates--as we had to be told in
Spanish class, "Sopa isn't soap, and ropa isn't ropa." Flexibility
leads to finding patterns in what is actually pure chance (or
misinterpreted data). [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
*mleeper@optonline.net *
One dog barks at something, the rest bark at him.
--Chinese Proverb