THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
08/03/12 -- Vol. 31, No. 5, Whole Number 1713
Robin Hood: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Maid Marian: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups (NJ)
France in the Year 2000: The Future That Never Happened
(comments by Mark R. Leeper)
PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Hammer Horror & SF Films (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Some Annotations to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Red-Headed
League" (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
EMP (letter of comment by Frank J. Nagy)
Saturn Award Winners
This Week's Reading (THE FRANKENSTEIN ARCHIVE and
LITTLE AMERICA) (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
==================================================================
TOPIC: Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups (NJ)
August 16: THE ASTONISHING HYPOTHESIS by Francis Crick, Old Bridge
(NJ) Public Library, 7PM
September 13: WYRD SISTERS (1999), novel by Terry Pratchett,
Middletown (NJ) Public Library, discussion after
September 27: CYBERIAD by Stanislaw Lem, Old Bridge (NJ) Public
Library, 7PM
October 11: GATTACA (1997), Middletown (NJ) Public Library,
discussion after
October 18: THE KALAHARI TYPING SCHOOL FOR MEN by Alexander McCall
Smith, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
November 15: TRIGGERS by Robert J. Sawyer (tentative), Old Bridge
(NJ) Public Library, 7PM (note this is the *third* Thursday)
December 20: DEATH OF A SALESMAN by Arthur Miller, Old Bridge (NJ)
Public Library, 7PM
Northern New Jersey events are listed at:
http://www.sfsnnj.com/news.html
==================================================================
TOPIC: France in the Year 2000: The Future That Never Happened
(comments by Mark R. Leeper)
This site has a collection of imaginings of artists from around the
1900 of what would the year 2000 be like. Not all of the
predictions came true.
http://tinyurl.com/void-France-2000
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: PORTRAIT OF JENNIE (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I was watching that great old fantasy film PORTRAIT OF JENNIE.
What a film! I think it is time for a remake. You just cannot get
enough films of pretty young girls meeting and instantly falling in
love with middle-aged men whom they meet in parks. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Hammer Horror & SF Films (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Someone I knew told me that he had found on Blu-Ray a Hammer film.
The film he found was THE REPTILE. He knows I have a special
interest in movies produced by Hammer Films of Britain. I hated to
cool his enthusiasm, but not all Hammer films are of the same
quality. This is not one I tend to recommend. I thought that this
particular film was a little too close in plotting to that of THE
GORGON, a film the same production company had made two years
earlier. Hammer made THE GORGON in 1964 and THE REPTILE in 1966.
The REPTILE was better than some later Hammer films, but it
certainly was not one of Hammer's better efforts.
So who was Hammer Films? Hammer was a relatively minor film
production company in Britain founded in 1934 but which came to
prominence in the 1950s. In the early part of the decade they
thought that there was money to be made taking popular radio and TV
dramas and remaking them as feature films. They also would rent
country estates to film in rather than a studio, which gave the
films a more credible feel. They would be remakes of TV comedies
and occasionally science fiction plays. Once they were doing that
they discovered that their more successful films were the films
based on science fiction plays. They decided to give horror a try
by making a Frankenstein movie.
The film they made was THE CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN, which they
modestly claimed was based on the Mary Shelley novel though
it was more their creation than that of Shelley. For
the part of the scientist they chose an actor already somewhat
known for science fiction. Peter Cushing had played Winston Smith
in the very controversial BBC adaptation of George Orwell's 1984.
So he was familiar to the audience even if he was not yet a
household name. To play the monster they picked an actor mostly
because he was tall. This actor was Christopher Lee. CURSE OF
FRANKENSTEIN was two color firsts. It was the first Hammer film
ever made in color and it was the first Frankenstein feature film
ever released in color. (The 1939 SON OF FRANKENSTEIN was intended
to be in color but was released in monochrome.) Hammer's
Frankenstein movie was released through Warner Brothers who to
their own amazement found it to be a hit.
They finally had a big success so they wanted to do something
similar and see if lightning would strike twice. The film they
made was DRACULA (known in the US as HORROR OF DRACULA). It was
actually a bigger success than CURSE OF FRANKENSTEIN had been.
Christopher Lee says that a Warner executive said that those two
films actually saved Warner Brothers at a time it was foundering.
Hammer had found a formula that worked, at least for two decades.
Their brand of horror film became the standard on both sides of the
Atlantic. There films were more visceral and sexy than horror was
before their time. At the time some of the critics and some of the
public found their style too graphic and gory. They probably were
graphic for that day, though they would be reserved by today's
standards--standards they helped bring about.
Hammer's reign at the top lasted until more visceral films came
along. Arguably the film that knocked them off their perch was THE
EXORCIST with its course dialog, stomach churning visuals, and the
immediacy of its urban American setting. Eventually Hammer bred
their competition and had mined out the field of gothic horror even
after their infusion of sex and violence.
Next week I will list what I consider my choice for the best Hammer
films in the category they were best known for, their horror,
science fiction, and fantasy. These will be films to look for
rather than THE REPTILE.
Hammer did dabble in other genres. I do want to mention two films
that are not in the fantasy film category.
THE SNORKEL (1958)
Directed by Guy Green. Starring Peter van Eyck, Betta St. John.
Hammer did some suspense crime stories and most are momentary
throwaway films. THE SNORKEL is several steps above the others.
It is about a man who gets away with murder (literally) simply
because he knows how to use a swimming snorkel. His stepdaughter
is convinced he murdered her mother, but he covers his tracks so
well with the use of his snorkel that nobody will believe the
stepdaughter. The result is a battle of wits with the girl (played
by Betta St. John) against strong odds. This is a killer (Peter
Van Eyck) that the audience really wants to see meet his end in
some really nasty way. The screenplay is by Peter Myers and Jimmy
Sangster. It is based on a story by Anthony Dawson, who as an
actor was featured in Hammer's CURSE OF THE WEREWOLF and in Alfred
Hitchcock's DIAL M FOR MURDER.
THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY (1959)
Directed by Terence Fisher. Starring Guy Rolfe, Allan Cuthbertson.
This is something of a historical diversion here, but it is
important to understand what THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY is about.
This film is strongly inspired by John Masters' novel THE
DECEIVERS, though Hammer never credited Masters. There have been
only two films that have any sort of an accurate representation of
the Cult of the Thugee. This is an intriguing and not well-known
chapter of history. The Thugee or Thugs believed that to obey
Kali, they were supposed to strangle non-believers (and
incidentally they were allowed to steal their possessions).
The name "Thugee" really means "Deceiver". The Thugee would find a
party of merchants on the road and say that the roads were unsafe
and beg the protection of the caravan. They would then ingratiate
themselves with their hosts and be rather charming, all the while
watching for special signs in nature that they would take as good
or bad omens for the upcoming event. When the time was right, they
would whip out rumals (like scarves in which they would knot coins
in one end so that with a quick whipping they could wrap it around
their victims' necks). In seconds and silently every non-Thug
would be strangled or attacked with a ceremonial pickaxe. The
caravan would not know anything was wrong and one minute later they
would all be dead. When all were dead, they would be buried and
the proceeds of the caravan would be split up.
There might also be ceremonies in which sugar called "gur" would be
ritually eaten. The victims were almost never foreigners. I have
heard it said that while the British were exploiting India--as they
themselves freely admit they did--they did do two positive things
for India. They build the railroads and they suppressed the
Thugee. The British were distressed at the amount of crime on the
roads but assumed it was random. If I remember correctly, the fact
that there was a strangler cult was revealed in a single complaint
by an Indian to a British missionary. The missionary was
incredulous but was able to confirm that there was something to the
story, and he passed the word on to Major General William Sleeman.
This would have been about 1825. Sleeman started his own
investigation and found out not only was it true, but it was a
genuine holocaust. Estimates are that millions had already been
killed without anybody guessing it was one single conspiracy.
Modern Indians tend to downplay the importance of a cult that
murdered millions of their own numbers. Why is a mystery to me.
First of all, most of the Thugs were Muslims, not even true
believers in Kali. Secondly, the Indians were the victims. It may
be because it was the British who did the most to suppress the
cult. THE STRANGLERS OF BOMBAY was really about the British
discovery of the cult, so it makes good swashbuckler material for a
Hammer film.
But Hammer was best known for a sort of gothic horror. I will list
some good films to look for next week. [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Some Annotations to Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's "The Red-Headed
League" (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Not all of these are original, although I have tried to add enough
that I am not just repeating other people's previous observations.
[Spoilers ahead.]
1) Watson writes, "I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock
Holmes, one day in the autumn of last year ..." Later he says of
Jabez Wilson's newspaper, "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27,
1890. Just two months ago," and Wilson himself says, "Spaulding ...
came down into the office just this day eight weeks, with this very
paper in his hand." This is impossible, for two reasons. First,
April 27 was a Sunday and papers were not published on Sundays in
London in 1890. But also, two months from April is not autumn.
The sign Wilson found before coming to Holmes said, "THE RED-HEADED
LEAGUE IS DISSOLVED. October 9, 1890." (A Thursday, by the way.)
This definitely places the story in autumn, but eight weeks earlier
would be August 14. Yes, both April and August start with "A", but
the numeric dates are completely different.
Since Holmes says, "To-day is Saturday," it must be October 11,
1890, and based on what Wilson says, the advertisement would have
appeared on August 16. The problem with this is two-fold. First,
though Wilson says Spaulding came to him on a Saturday, the ad said
to apply on Monday, yet they "put up the shutters for the day" and
headed for Pope's Court. Second, it must have been nine weeks
between the two dates; see below.
2) Wilson is paid four pounds a week, and paid once a week ("on
Saturday the manager came in and planked down four golden
sovereigns for my week's work. It was the same next week, and the
same the week after."). Wilson also later says, "... it cost them
two and thirty pounds." Yet Holmes says, "[You] are, as I
understand, richer by some 30 pounds." (It could be argued that
Holmes was rounding off the number, but that would be unlike him.
It could also be, I suppose, that he is deducting the cost of the
materials Wilson had to provide.)
But a bigger problem is that if the advertisement appeared eight
weeks earlier, and the League was dissolved on Thursday, then
Wilson got paid for only *seven* weeks of work, or twenty-eight
pounds. Surely Wilson would not make such a mistake.
3) Wilson brings seven sheets of paper with him for the first day
("I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a quill-pen, and seven
sheets of foolscap paper"). Even given the slowness of writing
with a dip pen, wouldn't he run out of paper before his four hours
were up? Maybe not, because foolscap paper is about twice the size
of our current standard paper size, or of the A4 size in Britain.
4) Is it really likely that the conspirators would dissolve the
League too days before the robbery? Nothing was scheduled to
happen until late Saturday, so it was not as though they would be
busy. As Holmes said, "The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must
draw him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands?"
Given the result was the total collapse of their plans, would
saving four pounds really have seemed worth it?
For that matter, isn't making Wilson bring his own paper, pens, and
ink a bit stingy?
5) After eight weeks (48 days, since apparently Saturday counted as
a work day as well, or 192 hours), is it likely Wilson would be at
the end of the A's (which included "Abbots and Archery and Armour
and Architecture and Attica")? Even if he is working from the
first edition, he has 511 pages to copy for the As--and by the way,
it has no entries for Archery or Attica, and only five lines for
Armour. (The 511 pages each have about nine words per column-line,
sixty lines per column, and two columns per page, or roughly a
thousand words per page. 511,000 words in 192 hours is 2662 words
per hour, or 44 words per minute. This assumes no pauses, and
doing this with a dip pen is pretty unlikely.) All later editions
would be longer.
(The first edition was in three volumes, stacked rather heavily
towards the beginning of the alphabet. Volume I was "A-B", Volume
II was "C-L", and Volume III was "M-Z".)
And does Wilson have to copy the illustrations as well?
Baring-Gould argues it was seven days a week, because Wilson says
he went "every day," but I do not find this convincing, as I have
seen many stores say they are open "every day" or "daily" 9 to 5,
when it turns out they really mean "every day except Sunday" or
even "every weekday." In Victorian London, it is most unlikely
that Spaulding/Clay would expect Wilson to come on Sundays.
6) Holmes says, "For you, Mr. Merryweather, the stake will be some
30,000 pounds," but Merryweather says, "We ... borrowed for that
purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of France." A pound is
0.235420 troy ounces (7.322381g) of 100% gold; a napoleon is 0.1867
troy ounces (5.801g) of gold, but because the coin is only 90%
gold, it weights 6.45g total.
So based on gold content, a napoleon is worth only about 0.80
pounds, or 16 shillings. (This is close to what I have found on at
least one site as the official exchange rate.) 30,000 napoleons
would be only 24,000 pounds; 30,000 pounds would be 37,500
napoleons. If they are in crates, and "each crate has 2,000 packed
in lead foil," 30,000 is probably a more accurate number, and there
are fifteen crates.
So each crate weighs 2000 * 6.45g, or roughly thirty pounds (not
counting the lead foil, or the crate itself). Even adding those,
the crates are definitely individually manageable, and there are
only fifteen of them, with a total weight of only maybe 750 pounds.
This means that, unlike a lot of heist films, the amount of gold to
be transported is an amount that *could* be transported.
Some commentators think this is more than they could transport, but
a pulley system would let them haul each box up into Wilson's
basement and the total weight is about that of four or five men.
Surely there were wagons or other conveyances that could carry that
weight.
A bigger problem is how they thought they would remove the boxes
from Wilson's basement without being heard. Maybe there was a coal
chute that they would use with a pulley-and-wheel system to haul
them up to the street.
7) If Jones had an inspector and two officers waiting at the front
door of Wilson's establishment, and there was no other retreat from
the bank vault, how did Holmes expect Clay and his conspirator(s)
to get in?
8) Holmes says, "I have been at some small expense over this
matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund"--but what expenses
could he have had?
9) Holmes says, "Then I made inquiries as to this mysterious
assistant and found that I had to deal with one of the coolest and
most daring criminals in London." Where was he making these
inquiries, and on what basis--especially since he apparently knew
at the very beginning who "Vincent Spaulding" was: after Wilson's
description of him, Holmes replies, "I thought as much. Have you
ever observed that his ears are pierced for earrings?" This can
hardly be a random question.
10) Holmes says, "Saturday would suit them better than any other
day, as it would give them two days for their escape." This, and
other references firmly fixes the case as taking place on a
Saturday. But if the conspirators wait until almost midnight to
start, how does that give them two days (unless Monday is a bank
holiday, of which there are none in the autumn)?
11) And as Baring-Gould and others ask, where did all the dirt from
the tunnel go, and if Watson could smell the hot metal from the
lamp, wouldn't Clay have been able to also?
12) Saxe-Coburg Square does not exist, nor does Pope's Court
(neither number 7 nor number 4, both of which are given as the
address of the Red-Headed League), but there is a 17 King Edward
Street, near St. Paul's.
[-ecl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: EMP (letter of comment by Frank J. Nagy)
In response to Mark's comments on EMP in his review of THE DARK
KNIGHT RISES in the 07/27/12 issue of the NT VOID, Frank Nagy
writes:
I haven't seen the movie as yet but have, I think, some
clarifications on the Gotham nuclear detonation.
EMP is typically produced by high-altitude nuclear explosions where
there are lots of free electrons that the explosion (probably the
radiated energy is the cause) can accelerate. The acceleration and
deceleration of these electrons causes the EMP. This is not a very
large factor in denser atmosphere.
The mushroom cloud is caused by surface debris carried aloft by the
fireball. This will occur at any near surface detonation whether
over land or over water. In the case of over water, the cloud is
formed from vaporized water and water droplets. [-fjn]
Mark responds:
I knew that EMP is much diminished near the ground and what the
mushroom cloud is. My question is if you have a nuclear blast near
enough to a city (well, it is actually Manhattan under a different
name) such that the cloud can be easily seen from the ground in the
city, is the EMP then negligible? While bomb was far from being
detonated ideally for creating EMP, would the pulse not still be
effective considering the proximity? Also, as I said in the
review, I don't believe a detonation over water would create a
mushroom cloud rather than something more spherical. [-mrl]
Frank replies:
I think so since the phenomenon would have been discovered much
earlier in the cycle of atmospheric testing as the EMP would have
affected the monitoring equipment--or so I would have assumed. As
is, it wasn't until the space test over Johnson Island (altitude of
a couple of hundred miles I believe) that EMP was discovered when
electronics and the power grid on Hawaii were fried.
As for mushroom clouds over water, I seem to remember photos of
tests at sea that showed mushroom clouds (at least forming).
[-fjn]
And later, Frank adds:
I found a few minutes to do some Google searches on these topics.
Here are a pair of links on
EMP:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse
http://www.fas.org/nuke/intro/nuke/emp.htm
The Wikipedia article suggests that EMP was observed with the
earlies atomic tests. I wonder if these effects on the observation
equipment were due to the proximity to the blast. The Federation
of American Scientists is somewhat more technically inclined (as to
how the effect comes about) and seems to suggest that it is mostly
an effect of high-altitude detonations. So I guess the issue is up
for doubt. I just hope we don't see any experimental verification
any time soon.
I did find a YouTube video of a 1946 explosion in water that
clearly seems to be forming a mushroom cloud:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-585716941089093304
and an interesting explanation of the formation of the mushroom
cloud and color changes:
http://www.atomicarchive.com/Effects/effects9.shtml
[-fjn]
Mark responds:
We see a tall mushroom cloud from Gotham, if I remember correctly.
I guess the conclusion I would draw is that the mushroom clouds of
an atomic detonation over water might be mushroom shaped, but more
like a squat mushroom than a taller one. It is harder to push dry
land aside than it is to push water. Electromagnetic pulse really
needs line of sight (or what would be under cloudless conditions)
to electronics. Batman would have had to have gotten the device
far enough from Gotham that the horizon would get in the way of the
pulse, but still near enough that so much of the mushroom cloud
would have been seen from Gotham. I suppose that is possible, but
I am a bit skeptical.
Also, Wikipedia says a detonation over water is shaped like a
cauliflower:
http://tinyurl.com/void-mushroom-cloud
(It sounds like with enough bombs you can make a really nasty
salad.) [-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: Saturn Award Winners
The Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films [hey, is
this academy a school someplace that just has courses in and
studies genre films?] presents annually awards for fantasy films.
The Academy was founded in 1972. These awards recognize
accomplishment in the making of science fiction film.
The Saturn Awards for science fiction and film were presented on
July 26 by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
Films. I will say that I am pleased to see that they so little
emphasize superhero films.
Film Awards
- Best Science Fiction Film: Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
- Best Fantasy Film: Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, Part 2
- Best Horror/Thriller Film: The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
- Best Action/Adventure Film: Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol
- Best Actor: Michael Shannon for Take Shelter
- Best Actress: Kirsten Dunst for Melancholia
- Best Supporting Actor: Andy Serkis for Rise Of The Planet Of The
Apes
- Best Supporting Actress: Emily Blunt for The Adjustment Bureau
- Best Performance by a Younger Actor: Joel Courtney for Super 8
- Best Director: J.J. Abrams for Super 8
- Best Writing: Jeff Nichols for Take Shelter
- Best Music: Michael Giacchino for Super 8
- Best Editor: Paul Hirsch for Mission: Impossible--Ghost Protocol
- Best Production Design: Dante Ferretti for Hugo
- Best Costume: Alexandra Byrne for Thor
- Best Make-Up: Dave Elsey, Fran Needham, Conor O'Sullivan for
X-Men: First Class
- Best Special Effects: Dan Lemmon, Joe Letteri, R. Christopher
White, and Daniel Barrett for Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
- Best International Film: The Skin I Live In
- Best Animated Film: Puss in Boots
Television Awards
- Best Network Television Series: Fringe
- Best Syndicated/Cable Television Series: Breaking Bad
- Best Television Presentation: The Walking Dead
- Best Youth-Oriented Television Series: Teen Wolf
- Best Actor on Television: Bryan Cranston for Breaking Bad
- Best Actress on Television: Anna Torv for Fringe
- Best Supporting Actor on Television: Aaron Paul for Breaking Bad
- Best Supporting Actress on Television: Michelle Forbes for The
Killing
- Best Guest Star on Television: Tom Skerritt for Leverage
Home Entertainment Awards
- Best DVD/BD Release: (tie) Atlas Shrugged, Part One and The
Perfect Host
- Best DVD/BD Special Edition Release: Giorgio Moroder Presents
Metropolis
- Best DVD/BD Collection Release: Stanley Kubrick: The Essential
Collection
- Best DVD/BD Television Series Release: Spartacus: Gods Of The
Arena
Special Achievement Awards from the Academy of Science Fiction,
Fantasy, and Horror Films
- The Life Career Award: Frank Oz
- The Life Career Award: James Remar
- The Filmmakers Showcase Award: Drew Goddard
- The Milestone Award: The Simpsons
- The Innovator Award: Robert Kirkman
- The Appreciation Award: Jeffrey Ross (for hosting the Saturn
Awards)
There is more information about the awards at:
http://www.saturnawards.org/.
[-mrl]
==================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
McFarland & Company is known for publishing narrowly focused
"academic" books for niche markets. Examples are WHAT EVERY ROSE
GROWER SHOULD KNOW and WOMEN AT WAR: GENDER ISSUES OF AMERICANS IN
COMBAT. In the area of popular culture, and more specifically
science fiction and horror film, they have published such books as
JAPANESE SCIENCE FICTION, FANTASY, AND HORROR FILMS and FANTASTIC
FILM SUBJECT GUIDE.
THE FRANKENSTEIN ARCHIVE by Donald F. Glut (ISBN 978-0-7864-1353-0)
is yet another example, consisting of fifteen previously published
essays on the Frankenstein myth in popular culture. The first one,
for example, tries to reconcile all the apparent contradictions in
the Universal Frankenstein series, another talks about the various
stunt men who have doubled as the Frankenstein monster, and a third
analyzes who played the monster in HELLZAPOPPIN'. Glut is a real
fan and the essays are certainly of interest to other fans.
However, the negative side of McFarland is that they do not spend a
lot of time editing the books they publish, or in particular
proofreading them. So this volume is full of errors. Some are
ordinary typos: "aka" instead of "a.k.a." (page 18), THE CIRCUS OF
DR. LOA instead of THE CIRCUS OF DR. LAO (page 70), "Jekyl" (page
111). Others are incorrect word choices: "Henry Frankenstein's two
adult siblings, Wolf and Ludwig" (page 11--they are siblings to
each other, but are Henry's *children*), "Turn of the (18th-19th)
Century" (should have been "19th-20th"--page 12), "titled middle-
American bigot in JOE" (when "eponymous" is the correct word--page
71). And there is the occasional flat-out error, as when Glut says
that the monster is chained up in the police station in BRIDE OF
FRANKENSTEIN (it was actually chained up in THE GHOST OF
FRANKENSTEIN) (page 79).
LITTLE AMERICA by Richard E. Byrd (1931, no ISBN) is Byrd's account
of his polar exploration expedition involving the establishment of
"Little America" and the first flight over the South Pole. One
interesting historical note: Byrd spends a lot of time talking
about who got to which parts of Antarctica first, and in particular
which countries can claim which part. The subsequent Antarctic
Treaty of 1961 prohibited all new claims except by the United
States or the USSR (now Russia, though one has to wonder if all the
"breakaway republics" also have the right to new claims as well).
The status of the previous claims is not entirely clear.
Byrd writes about the beauty of Antarctica, and the emptiness, and
the harshness. At one point during the winter it gets so cold that
the kerosene lamps do not work--because the kerosene freezes! He
also describes the phenomenon where the heat rising in the huts
means that while at shoulder height the temperature might be 70
degrees Fahrenheit, at foot level the temperature is literally at
the freezing point.
Byrd frequently contrasts his "modern" expedition (which of course
seems terribly primitive to what one sees today, such as in John
Carpenter's film THE THING) with the earlier Scott and Shackleton
expeditions, and how the modern miracle of aviation makes things so
much easier. But the difficulties of Byrd getting his supply ships
to the actual continent contrast with today's cruise ships that
take tourists to spend a few hours or days there. [-ecl]
==================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Death is only a larger kind of going abroad.
--Samuel Butler