THE MT VOID
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
08/28/15 -- Vol. 34, No. 9, Whole Number 1873
Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Peter and the Wolf (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups, Films,
Lectures, etc. (NJ)
My Picks for Turner Classic Movies in September (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
Hugo Awards and Other Sasquan Stuff (comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
BLOOD PUNCH (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
DUSTY'S TRAIL: SUMMIT OF BORNEO (film review
by Mark R. Leeper)
FANTASTIC FOUR (letters of comment by Philip Chee, Kevin R,
and Peter Trei)
Cyberjudges (letters of comment by Kerr Mudd-John,
Keith F. Lynch, Kevin R, Gary McGath, and Scott Dorsey)
THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
(Volume III of VI) (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
This Week's Reading (DISCOVER magazine) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)
===================================================================
TOPIC: Peter and the Wolf (comments by Mark R. Leeper)
I was listening to Peter and the Wolf on the radio. As a kid I
identified with Peter, whose courage captured the wolf and put him
in the zoo. Now that I am aging a little I started identifying
with Grandfather. But he was rather as dork and by the end I was
identifying with the wolf who lost his freedom because he wanted to
eat. I spent a career in a cage because I wanted to eat. Don't we
all want to be cool little Peters but end up being big bad wolves?
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Science Fiction (and Other) Discussion Groups, Films,
Lectures, etc. (NJ)
September 10: PHASE IV (film) and "Leiningen Versus the Ants" by
Carl Stephenson (story), Middletown (NJ) Public Library,
5:30PM
September 24: "The Marching Morons" by C. M. Kornbluth, "Baby Is
Three" by Theodore Sturgeon, and "The Ballad of Lost C'Mell"
by Cordwainer Smith (all in SCIENCE FICTION HALL OF FAME
VOLUME 2A), Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
October 22: TBD, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
November 19: WORLD OF PTAVVS by Larry Niven, Old Bridge (NJ) Public
Library, 7PM
December 17: TBD, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
January 28, 2016: "The Machine Stops" by E. M. Forster and "The
Martian Way" by Isaac Asimov (both in SCIENCE FICTION HALL
OF FAME VOLUME 2B), Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
February 25: TBD, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
March 24: HARD LANDING by Algis Budrys, Old Bridge (NJ) Public
Library, 7PM
April 28: TBD
May 26: "E for Effort" by T. L. Sherred and "Earthman, Come Home"
by James Blish (both in SCIENCE FICTION HALL OF FAME VOLUME
2B), Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 7PM
Speculative Fiction Lectures (subject to change):
September 12: Carlotta Holton, Applying Local Myths & History into
Speculative Fiction, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 12N
October 3: Ellen Datlow, The State of Horror Fiction, Old Bridge
(NJ) Public Library, 12N
November 7: Jennifer Walkup, Finding Your Voice in YA Speculative
Fiction, Old Bridge (NJ) Public Library, 12N
December: no lecture
Northern New Jersey events are listed at:
http://www.sfsnnj.com/news.html
===================================================================
TOPIC: My Picks for Turner Classic Movies for September (comments
by Mark R. Leeper)
Another month starts, and it is time for me to look at the listings
for Turner Classic Movies and find a few good films to recommend.
In days gone by just about everyone got the same three networks.
If a good film was coming up on NBC's "Saturday Night at the
Movies" you might not find out until a week before it played, but
all your friends saw the same movie at the same time. Several of
my friends saw THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL in their own homes,
but at the same instant of time, so we could discuss it. Now some
people watch films on NetFlix, some on Amazon Plus, some on Hulu,
some on some obscure cable channel. The closest source we
currently have to a common denominator is Turner Classic Movies.
Through the web I can find out what films are going to be shown on
TCM and hopefully some people can get to see films they were not
familiar with that might be good. And they see them at nearly the
same time.
This month seemed particularly rich in recommendable films. For
one thing TCM is running a robot movie marathon.
Tuesday September 22: Electronic Intelligence
6:00 AM METROPOLIS (1926)
8:45 AM TIN MAN, THE (1935)
9:00 AM DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, THE (1951)
10:45 AM FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956)
12:30 PM INVISIBLE BOY, THE (1957)
2:15 PM ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY, THE (1965)
3:30 PM 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
6:15 PM WESTWORLD (1973)
That is something like 14 hours of movies involving intelligent
walking machines. They are showing them in chronological order so
you can see how the robot movie has evolved.
One film I would like to call your attention to is THE INVISIBLE
BOY (1957). This sequel to FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956) is a film full
of ideas of what computers would be like in the future. What is
impressive is how much they got right about computers in 2015.
They have a computer you can talk to vocally and you can get just
about any information you want from anywhere in the world. This
computer can plant Trojan Horses in other computers. There is
suspicion that the supercomputer has been taken over by a hacker.
The computer uses password security. There is more than that, but
this film makes some very intelligent guesses considering the movie
was made in 1957. This film was probably made to re-use Robbie the
Robot from FORBIDDEN PLANET, but it ended up surprisingly
prescient.
Two films on the list I cannot recommend are THE TIN MAN, because I
have not seen it, and THE ROBOT VS. THE AZTEC MUMMY, because I
have.
If you can get listings for TCM, it might do to keep an eye on what
is coming up. There are several stop-motion films, Kerwin Matthews
films, and at least two Val Lewton films. If you want still
another robot film there is THE TALES OF HOFFMAN, adapted from the
popular opera by Jacques Offenbach. You can find September's
listings at
http://tinyurl.com/mrl-tcm-sept.
Now if really want to see an off-the-wall and darn strange film
there is HAUSU (1977), which starts as a story of seven girls
visiting a haunted house. There are a few weird touches in style.
Then the ghost story becomes less and less important and the
outlandish touches eat the film. This is one of the strangest
films I know of. [Sunday, September 27, 3:00 AM]
Best of the Month. Hmmm. Tough choice. So as not to pick a film
I have praised very often let me pick the 1966 THE SAND PEBBLES, a
good film about international politics in China in the 1920s. It
has implications going right into the present. Robert Wise directs
and Steve McQueen top lines. [Thursday, September 10, 4:45 PM]
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Hugo Awards and Other Sasquan Stuff (comments by
Evelyn C. Leeper)
The Hugo Awards:
Best Novel: THE THREE BODY PROBLEM, Cixin Liu, Ken Liu Translator
Best Novelette: "The Day The World Turned Upside Down", Thomas Olde
Heuvelt, Lia Belt Translator (Lightspeed, 04-2014)
Best Graphic Story: Ms. Marvel Volume 1: No Normal
Best Dramatic Presentation, Long Form: GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
Best Dramatic Presentation, Short Form: ORPHAN BLACK: "By Means
Which Have Never Yet Been Tried"
Best Professional Artist: Julie Dillon
Best Semiprozine: Lightspeed Magazine
Best Fanzine: Journey Planet
Best Fancast: Galactic Suburbia Podcast
Best Fan Writer: Laura J. Mixon
Best Fan Artist: Elizabeth Leggett
John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer: Wesley Chu
No award was given for Best Novella, Short Story, Related Work,
Editor Short Form, or Editor Long Form.
This is the first (and possibly last) time that none of the fiction
winners were originally in English.
All the messy details are at
http://www.thehugoawards.org/content/pdf/2015HugoStatistics.pdf.
The video of the ceremony is at
http://livestream.com/worldcon/2015HugoAwards.
If you recall, there was a huge up-surge in the number of
(supporting) members of Sasquan after the finalists were announced.
There was a lot of speculation as to whether these were "Puppy"
voters who wanted to support the various "Puppy" slates, other fans
who wanted to oppose the "Puppy" slates, or people who had not
heard about how they could vote for the Hugos until the Hugo
nominations were covered in a whole lot of mainstream publication
(including even the Wall Street Journal!). The voting results made
it fairly clear: these new members were mostly fans who did not
like the nomination results and wanted to make sure that their
objections were known. In all the categories (except for Dramatic
Presentation Long Form) there was an overwhelming show of support
for those items on the ballot that had *not* been on the "Puppy"
slates, and an overwhelming vote for "No Award" rather than any of
the slate nominees. (Indeed, in the five categories in which all
five nominees were from the slates, "No Award" got a majority of
first-place votes and did not even need a run-off vote.)
In related news, three motions passed last year was given their
second vote this year. The motion to require popular ratification
of changes was defeated. "A Story by Any Other Name" (making
audiobook and ebooks as well as print books explicitly eligible for
Hugo Awards) passed and now takes effect. The motion to change the
term "Hugo Nominee" to "Hugo Finalist" also passed and takes
effect.
New motions, that passed and must be voted on a second time at
MidAmericon II (to take effect at Worldcon 74 in Helsinki) include
"4 in 6", "E Pluribus Hugo", "Five Percent Solution", and "Multiple
Nominations".
"4 in 6" limits the number of nominees to four, with six items
making the ballot in each category.
"E Pluribus Hugo" weights nominating votes. Both motions were made
in an attempt to limit the efficacy of slates in future years. A
fuller description of "E Pluribus Hugo" can be found at
http://sasquan.org/e-pluribus-hugo-faq/.
"Five Percent Solution" eliminates the rule requiring finalists to
have received nominations on at least 5% of the ballots nominating
in that category. (This requirement has resulted in several Short
Story ballots of three or four rather than five, due to the "long-
tail" effect.)
"Multiple Nominations" says that if a work gets nominations in
multiple categories (e.g., Related Work and Fancast), it will be
deemed to be eligible only in the category in which it got the most
nominations.
And a reminder to all who purchased a supporting membership in
Sasquan: you are also eligible to nominate works next year, for
presentation at MidAmericon II. (To vote on the final ballot, you
must join MidAmericon II itself, however.) It is hoped that a much
broader nominating base may avoid situations where a small but
organized group can dominate the ballot. Remember: you don't have
to have read/seen everything to nominate. If you have read only
one book, but think it is worthy of a Hugo, nominate it.
Regarding Sasquan in general, Torcon 3 was held August 28-September
1, 2003, in Toronto, Ontario. It was somewhat beset by problems
external to it, which included the general economic downturn for a
couple of years leading up to it, increased security hassles in
traveling, SARS, Mad Cow disease, the Artist Guest of Honor falling
and breaking his hip less than a month before the convention, the
biggest-ever black-out less than two weeks before the convention, .
. . . I think that is at least the high points.
Until now, it may have held the record for most ill-fated Worldcon.
Until now.
Sad Puppies. Rabid Puppies. A program participant writing the
Spokane Police Department warning them that one of the Guests of
Honor might be inciting violence. Air quality the third worst in
the country the first day of the convention. The two worse than it
were in Idaho and also have the same reason: wildfires. (Somehow
the assurance that the closest fire is at least *four* miles from
Spokane is not very comforting.) And the weather forecast on the
first day had conditions I had not seen before in forecasts, such
as "Smoke" and "Patchy Blowing Dust".
It's close, but I think we may have a new champion.
On the other hand, they also had the highest membership of any
Worldcon (11,635) with 5,181 warm bodies, and from what I heard was
quite a nice convention. [-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: BLOOD PUNCH (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: BREAKING BAD made the world of methamphetamine dealing
seem strange and fantastic. That is nothing compared to what BLOOD
PUNCH does with it. This is a crime, drug, dark-comedy, romance,
horror, and science fiction thriller. There are far too few of
those around. A failed chemical engineer is given an opportunity
to make himself very rich for one day of cooking meth. That day
proves to be the longest day of his life, one full of weird twists
of reality. This is really a cool little film with more new ideas
packed into its compact 104 minutes than any other film I've seen
this summer. Rating: high +2 (-4 to +4) or 8/10
If you thought BREAKING BAD made the world of meth cooking look
strange, you ain't seen nothing until you have seen BLOOD PUNCH.
The film starts with Milton seeing an impossible video in which he
maims himself. But Milton seems to be perfectly whole. Something
strange is going on, but Milton does not know how strange. Then we
see Milton's recent past in a flashback.
Milton (played by Milo Cawthorne) is almost a chemical engineer by
training but was caught running a methamphetamine lab just before
his expected graduation. Sentenced by the court to a
rehabilitation center, he figures his days of cooking meth are
over. But then he is recruited by an attractive inmate, Skyler
(New-Zealander Olivia Tennet), who smokes like a chimney, has a
penchant for wild sex, and who seems to know all about him. Skyler
wants him to show off his meth cooking skills on one night. Then
she wants to sell the meth and make Milton, her, and her boy friend
Russell (Ari Boyland) all extremely wealthy. Off they go to a
backwoods cabin to make them fabulously rich making meth. Milton
finds that just as Skyler told him, Russell is the devil. Russell
likes recklessly playing games that are dangerous to his and other
people's health and sanity. We have to wonder what hold does
Russell have over Skyler. To humor Russell, Skyler repeats
everything that Russell like the ultimate yes-man and she warns
Milton that Russell is crazy enough to kill anyone. But then the
next day things get more complicated.
The script by Eddie Guzelian and directed Madellaine Paxson does
some very weird things with our intrepid three think of as reality.
We spends a good deal of the first half of this film just trying to
figure out what is going on. When we finally work it out, we still
don't completely understand the explanation. While the story was
likely inspired at least a big by BREAKING BAD, it borrows more
from a certain fantasy film (that shall remain nameless).
BLOOD PUNCH is funny and imaginative. There is some bloodshed and
violence, but it is mostly done in a humorous context. For now
there are not too many films like it. Made on a small budget it is
one of the more refreshing films of the year. I rate BLOOD PUNCH a
high +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 8/10. BLOOD PUNCH opens August
28th at the Arena Cinema in Hollywood.
Film Credits:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2825230/combined
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blood_punch/
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: SHAUN THE SHEEP MOVIE (film review by Mark R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Claymation specialists Aardman Studios tries a silent,
feature-length animated film with Shaun leading his fellow sheep to
the big city, looking for their missing master. This is
essentially a silent film in the grand tradition of the 1920 screen
comedies. As a silent the film is almost entirely limited to
sight gags, and they come thick and fast. And most of the gags
work. Mark Burton and Richard Starzak co-directed and co-wrote.
Rating: +2 (-4 to +4) or 7/10
Aardman Studios was founded in 1972 to work primarily with clay
animation. These days like most other animation studios they are
taking forays into computer animation--aren't almost all animators?
My understanding is that SHAUN THE SHEEP is still done in clay.
Clay gives the animator a great deal of freedom of facial
expression and hence personality, at least at some level. In fact,
one drawback of their current SHAUN THE SHEEP is that one remembers
the animated sheep's facial expressions, but does not really
understand Shaun as a character. This lamb lacks acting chops. If
you want acting chops in animation you go to Pixar.
Side note: Aardman until recently did have a sort of trademark
style, but is getting away from it. Until recently their
characters would have wide mouths that made them look like they had
a popsicle stick lodged in their mouth cheek to cheek. See Wallace
of Wallace and Gromit. Aardman now seems to be getting away from
this style. Shaun's mouth is more normal-looking.
Shaun is already a TV star with a following in Britain. Now he
comes to screens internationally. Shaun's great adventure starts
with boredom. When you are a sheep, the days are pretty much the
same. Tuesday is just like Saturday. Shaun plans to put the
farmer to sleep and then the sheep can party for one whole day.
The day arrives and the sleeping farmer is put in a car trailer.
That is the high point of Shaun's day, but once the trailer starts
rolling on its own it is all downhill for Shaun. From there the
farmer is injected into the Big City. And thanks to a bump on the
noggin, the farmer has forgotten who he is. Shaun wants to bring
back that nice man who feeds the sheep so has to go to the Big
City.
The sheep do not speak in this animated film, so effectively this
is for the most part a silent film, albeit a silent film with sound
effects like some of the later films of the pre-sound era. This
actually speeds up the pace of the film as a visual gag requires
only an instant of time. Jokes can fly at the viewer in rapid-fire
succession. There are probably more gags in ten minutes of SHAUN
THE SHEEP than in ten minutes of classic comedies like AIRPLANE!
And what makes them even better is that the writer can make a
throwaway joke obscure and not risk so much. I try not to give
away jokes in my reviews, but to clarify my point there is an
animal pound and one of the cats behind bars is wearing a flea cone
and gives a Hannibal Lector snake hiss. Another dog has tattooed
on the knuckles of one hand "bark" and of the other hand "bite."
If you know the film reference, good. If you don't, you will get
the joke when you see the film Aardman was borrowing from. As
following the conventions of the great silent comedians, our
characters make excellent use of props.
This film is a cavalcade of jokes, with a high hit rate. I rate
SHAUN THE SHEEP a +2 on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10. Now my
question would be that in the closing credits they list sheep and
the people who played the part. Beyond a few mumbles what does it
mean to play the role of a mute Claymation sheep?
Film Credits:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2872750/combined
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/shaun_the_sheep_2015/
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: DUSTY'S TRAIL: SUMMIT OF BORNEO (film review by Mark
R. Leeper)
CAPSULE: Catherine Jayasuriya produces, writes, and directs and is
chief spokesman on camera in DUSTY'S TRAIL: SUMMIT OF BORNEO. This
film serves two purposes. It acts as a primer on Duchenne muscular
dystrophy and on the alliance of people working to bring this
little-known disease to the attention of the world, and is the
story of Catherine Jayasuriya's response to her son Dusty's life
under the shadow of Duchenne. It also is a chronicle of people
working to publicize this disease and their arduous climb of Mount
Kinabalu in the northern part of the island of Borneo as an effort
to raise public awareness of the disease. Rating: low +2 (-4 to
+4) or 7/10
At age six a death sentence was passed on Dusty Brandom by his own
body. All medicine could say was that Dusty was going to slowly
die of Duchenne's muscular dystrophy. Dusty still had time to see
a little of the world even as his muscles wasted away, but he would
not be likely to live into his thirties. Duchenne is a gender-
related disease that afflicts males almost exclusively. Dusty's
mother Catherine Jayasuriya chronicles her son's life and her own
life bringing the world awareness of this little-known disease that
afflicts one in 3500 boys worldwide.
Life will be a trial for Dusty Brandom. He is confined to a
wheelchair, but he is a source of boundless energy. He does not
let his condition drag on his emotions. Instead he is an energy
source for those around him. We see several photos of Dusty but
none without a smile on his face. He was happy from birth and
nearly perfect, except for his being a little physically slow and
his frequent tendency to fall down. Doctors said his muscles would
deteriorate including his breathing and his heart muscles. That
would eventually bring about his death.
Dusty's mother wanted the world to know and understand Duchenne.
She founded Coalition Duchenne, a non-profit raising awareness of
the disease. Jayasuriya had a dream of being on a mountaintop with
a crowd of people raising awareness of Duchenne. She decided to
make it happen. The mountain she chose was Kinabalu in Northern
Borneo near where she lived as a child. This is all shown in the
film.
Then at about the halfway point the film takes a right turn and
tells of the coalition members, people from all over the world,
coming together on Borneo and climbing 13,455-foot Mt. Kinabalu.
The film covers the coalition's first climb of Kinabalu. It is
seemingly a prepared if primitive and difficult trail. On the way
we meet the chief guide Sapinggi and his son Robbi Sapinggi.
Father and son entertain the visitors they will be guiding. The
climb is accomplished and we are treated to high altitude views of
the surrounding area. As a sad postscript to the story, there was
a magnitude-6.0 earthquake on June 5, 2015. Bobbi Sapinggi was
injured in the quake and later died of his injuries. So the film
now covers multiple natural tragedies. That is a tall order for a
short 65-minute documentary. The film was completed in 2013 so the
acknowledgment of Robbi's death is limited to a screen in the
closing credits.
Catherine Jayasuriya now organizes annual climbs of Mount Kinabalu
for the benefit of the Duchenne Coalition. She seems to be a woman
of boundless energy and broad accomplishment. For a first-time
effort and a film written, directed by, starring and produced by
the same person, this film is unintentionally but impressively a
tribute to her spirit. I rate DUSTY'S TRAIL: SUMMIT OF BORNEO a +2
on the -4 to +4 scale or 7/10. The film will be on DVD and on-
demand video on August 25, 2015.
Film Credits:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2637404/combined
What others are saying:
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/dustys_trail_summit_of_borneo/
[-mrl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: FANTASTIC FOUR (letters of comment by Philip Chee, Kevin R,
and Peter Trei)
In response to Dale Skran's review of FANTASTIC FOUR in the
08/21/15 issue of the MT VOID, Philip Chee writes:
I'm sure Kevrob knows this better than me but this "new" origin is
based on Marvel's Ultimates timeline as do much of the
Marvel/Disney MCU films. So this isn't particularly innovative nor
unexpected.
The original script, before Josh Trank got his hands on it had The
Mole Man! A giant Moloid! Dr Doom! Galactus! Herbie the Robot!
The FantastiCar[1]! Ben Grimm doing Hulk level damage to a
terrorist base! In other words the perfect summer popcorn movie.
But none of these made it to the final cut. I wonder why?
[1] Reed tries to sell his plans for the FantastiCar to Toyota.
They think the idea is good, but that running it on a nuclear
reactor shows no regard for safety--Reed's hallmark.
Kevin R (Kevrob) replies:
The disposable income I used to buy comics with evaporated from my
budget before the century turned. I have kept up with some
occasional borrowing of graphic novels and collections from
libraries, and other info from blogs and news groups. I knew
enough about the Avengers analogue, The Ultimates, to know I would
loathe some of the characters. I ODed on grimdark a long time ago.
Note that the 2005 film used a space station getting hit by a
cloud of cosmic energy, empowering the FF and Doom as well. They
keep making the same mistake.
I think I would have had Richards and Co riding in a probe in the
Negative Zone. That way you could have set up Blastaar in a
sequel, not to mention Mar-Vell of the Kree. [-kr]
And Peter Trei writes:
[re the FantastiCar] Hey--it's really low on greenhouse gas
emissions though! [-pt]
===================================================================
TOPIC: Cyberjudges (letters of comment by Kerr Mudd-John, Keith F.
Lynch, Kevin R, Gary McGath, and Scott Dorsey)
In response to Peter Trei's comments on the transition towards more
automation, and how it could go very well, or very badly, in the
08/21/15 issue of the MT VOID, Kerr Mudd-John writes:
I, for one, welcome our robot overlords. [-kmj]
Keith Lynch responds:
I'd very much like to see how a truly unbiased judge would conduct
a trial. If that would have to be a mechanical judge, so be it.
[-kfl]
Kevin R replies:
Then we'd be worrying about the biases any of the programmers of
the machine built into the its software, with intent or without.
[-kr]
Keith answers:
You don't think there's some way to test the system for objectivity
and lack of bias? Do you think those terms even mean anything, or
is it all relative, with different people having equally valid
claims as to which position is truly unbiased?
I think there is an objective truth, and that if the eJudge is
programmed only with low-level logic and information that everyone
agrees is unbiased, that no bias will slip in. Or if it does, that
it can be easily detected and corrected in alpha testing.
The exception is that there is bias built into the statute law,
which the judge is obliged to follow. This is a bug in the laws,
not in the judge.
I believe an unbiased judge would take judicial notice of the fact
that police routinely lie under oath, and would instruct the jury
that nothing a policeman testifies to should be relied on unless
there is strong independent evidence of it. Of course the
prosecutor would claim this was extremely biased, and the judge
would certainly be impeached within the week. [-kfl]
Gary McGath points out:
Many laws have ambiguity and discretion built into them. In
creating a cyberjudge, designers and programmers would have to
choose interpretations. [gmg]
Scott Dorsey adds:
Also, of course, judges do more than just determine guilt. Many
activities, like sentencing, are not necessarily just logical
operations. Past attempts to reduce sentencing to simple logical
operations (such as zero tolerance laws, minimum sentences) have
been less than beneficial. [-sd]
Keith responds to Gary:
Good point [on ambiguity built in]. For instance, very likely
Virginia's former governor, who was convicted of corruption, is
neither objectively guilty or innocent, as the relevant law is so
poorly written.
However, in most cases that's not an issue, and someone who knew
all the facts would know who, if anyone, was guilty.
Of course, usually nobody knows all the facts. And much of what
judges do is control what does and what doesn't count as evidence
in a trial.
[re designers and programmers choosing interpretations] They could
choose the basic principles upon which the eJudge would choose
interpretations on its own. [-kfl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
(Volume III of VI) (comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
[continuing my comments from last week]
"Ambrose considers the toleration, as the persecution of the
Christian, religion."
E: Here it is in a nutshell: As long as any other religion is
tolerated, this constitutes persecution of Christians. So says
Ambrose.
"The loss of armies, the destruction of cities, and the dishonour
of the Roman name, ineffectually solicited the successors of
Gratian to restore the helmets and the cuirasses of the infantry.
The enervated soldiers abandoned their own and the public defence,
and their pusillanimous indolence may be considered as the
immediate cause of the downfall of the empire."
E: Oddly, you would have thought restoring defensive armor would be
a sign of weakness, but I suppose that my the time this happened,
the legions had grown so cautious and fearful due to their
vulnerability than it was too late to restore their excellence as a
fighting force.
"... it must be ingenuously confessed, that the ministers of the
Catholic church imitated the profane model, which they were
impatient to destroy. The most respectable bishops had persuaded
themselves that the ignorant rustics. would more cheerfully
renounce the superstitions of Paganism, if they found some
compensation, in the bosom of Christianity. The religion of
Constantine achieved, in less than a century, the final conquest of
the Roman empire but the victors themselves were insensibly subdued
by the arts of their vanquished rivals."
E: In other words, the Catholic Church adopted a lot of the
customs, holidays, and so on of the pagans, and so although
Christianity became the dominant faith, it ended up full of the
very superstitions they had hoped to defeat. Icons, relics, and
shrines were not part of Christianity, but all got adopted as a way
of making conversion of the pagans easier.
"The court of Arcadius indulged the zeal, applauded the eloquence,
and ignored the advice, of Synesius."
E: Again, some things never change.
"The incapacity of a weak and distracted government may often
assume the appearance, and produce the effects, of a treasonable
correspondence with the public enemy."
E: I think this is just another version of Hanlon's Razor: "Never
attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by
stupidity."
"The Gothic prince would have subscribed with pleasure the edict
which the fanaticism of Olympius dictated to the simple and devout
emperor. Honorius excluded all persons, who were adverse to the
Catholic church, from holding any office in the state, obstinately
rejected the service of all those who dissented from his religion,
and rashly disqualified many of his bravest and most skilful
officers, who adhered to the Pagan worship, or who had imbibed the
opinions of Arianism."
E: This was not the first time, nor the last, that governments (and
other organizations) would apply irrelevant criteria for jobs. The
latest obvious version was the exclusion of gays from the United
States military, which resulted in 1) getting a large number of
Arabic interpreters dismissed just when they needed them, and 2)
being openly hypocritical in that if someone scheduled to be
deployed to Iraq revealed they were gay, they were deployed for
their full tour and *then* dismissed because "their presence would
be damaging to the cohesion of their unit"!!
"The ancients were destitute of many of the conveniences of life,
which have been invented or improved by the progress of industry,
and the plenty of glass and linen has diffused more real comforts
among the modern nations of Europe, than the senators of Rome could
derive from all the refinements of pompous or sensual luxury."
E: This is basically what Mark says when touring the great 18th and
19th century palaces of Europe--our small home in suburbia has
comforts and amenities the residents of those palaces could only
dream of, starting with central heating and indoor plumbing.
"The subjects, who had resigned their will to the absolute commands
of a master, were equally incapable of guarding their lives and
fortunes against the assaults of the Barbarians, or of defending
their reason from the terrors of superstition."
E: We have heard versions of this throughout the years, that
mindless obedience to authority does not produce people capable of
defending themselves against either physical or psychological
assault. Oddly, though, for most of that time, resigning one's
will to the absolute rule of a master was considered the sine qua
non of military service. It is only recently that "just following
orders" has fallen into disrepute as an excuse.
"The subjects of Rome, whose persons and fortunes were made unequal
and exorbitant tributes, retired from the oppression of the
Imperial government, and the pusillanimous youth preferred the
penance of a monastic, to the dangers of a military, life. The
affrighted provincials of every rank, who fled before the
Barbarians, found shelter and subsistence, whole legions were
buried in these religious sanctuaries, and the same cause, which
relieved the distress of individuals, impaired the strength and
fortitude of the empire."
E: In other words, people figured if the government was going to
tax them into penury, leading to starvation, one might as well
become a monk and get one's food and shelter provided, as well as
avoiding the dangers of conscription into the army.
"The freedom of the mind, the source of every generous and rational
sentiment, was destroyed by the habits of credulity and submission,
and the monk, contracting the vices of a slave, devoutly followed
the faith and passions of his ecclesiastical tyrant."
E: This is a slightly modified version of the complaint a couple of
quotations back. Basically, if one cannot, or does not, think for
oneself, one is basically a slave.
[to be continued next week]
[-ecl]
===================================================================
TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)
Our discussion group read several of the articles in the "year-end
round-up issue" of DISCOVERY magazine, but I have only now gotten
around to including them here.
"Ancient Genome Sequences Settle First American...": They have
apparently proved the s Asian ancestry for "Native Americans". The
famed Kennewick Man closest to Native American of all living
populations, though which tribe is impossible to determine.
"Climate in Crisis": This is a major topic, yes, but not exactly a
stand-out--there are so many articles about climate change that it
is hard to say something radically new.
"The Ebola Explosion": This is perhaps the major science story of
2014, but is there anything new in this article?
"The First Dinosaur to Menace Both Land and Water": There is not
much information here--there's a dinosaur that lived
partially/entirely in water. (The article is so sparse, one cannot
tell which.)
"Marijuana Goes Legit": Again, there is not much information here--
basically, Federal law still makes it hard to do any research, even
though it is probably needed more than ever.
"Quantum Photo Finish": I realize that quantum physics makes no
sense, but this description of an experiment makes even less sense
than one might expect.
"Rosetta": The big story was apparently after this was published:
Philae bounced rather than landed, but ended up in a more
interesting spot. Then because of not enough sunlight in the
actual landing area, it lost power and was out of touch for a long
time, but as the comet rotated it moved back into the sun and came
to life again, transmitting lots of data thought lost.
Expectations now are that it will be able to gather and transmit
much more data, and there are plans to extend Rosetta's mission by
nine months, possibly even landing it on the comet.
"What Made the Bang So Big": This was another article that is
impossible to understand.
"The Year in Science Fraud": Summary: "One of the reasons there
seems to be more fraud is simply that we're better at finding it."
Still, this is not much consolation to canvassers who spend
hundreds of hours thinking personal contact makes a difference,
only to be told it was all wasted. Or, more seriously, to people
who children become seriously ill or die because someone published
a fraudulent study on vaccinations. [-ecl]
===================================================================
Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net
Things are not as bad as they seem. They are worse.
--Bill Press