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Tag Archives: Apollo 13
More Bradbury Literary Dividends
Posted on June 17, 2020 by Mike Glyer
(1) IN VINO VERITAS. How's your Finnish? Tähtivaeltajablogi has put up a post about the translation of Bradbury's Dandleion Wine, "Kirjat – Ray Bradbury: Voikukkaviiniä". The beautiful cover speaks for itself!
(2) LASFL DAZE. "Ray Bradbury's Clubhouse" chronicles Ray's earliest contact with fandom at First Fandom Experience.
…In Surround Yourself With Your Loves and Live Forever, edited by John L. Coker III, Bradbury's friend Ray Harryhausen later recalled:
"In the mid-1930s when I was still in high school, Forry told me about the little brown room in Clifton's Cafeteria, where the Los Angeles chapter of the Science Fiction League would meet every Thursday. Robert Heinlein used to come around, and a guy named Ray Bradbury. We were a group who liked the unusual.
"Ray would arrive wearing roller skates. After selling newspapers on the street corner he would skate to the meetings because he had no money. He used to go meet the stars at the Hollywood Theater where they did weekly radio broadcasts."
(3) RAY & RAY. Eyes on Cinema presents an undated video of these two friends and creators in dialog: "The importance of curiosity with Ray Bradbury and Ray Harryhausen."
(4) CALLING. This is from an interview with Tobias S. Buckell in the June Locus. Buckell grew up biracial in the Caribbean Islands.
"Ray Bradbury has a story in The Martian Chronicles about a couple with a kid that dies. The Martians can adopt whatever form people around them want, so one of them goes to their parents and looks just like the kid. Their son is back from the dead, and they don't care why–they fold him into their routine. He starts disappearing a lot, so they follow him, and realize he's also being a lot kid for another family along the way. The two families call him back and forth like a dog until he just rips apart and dies. I read that in high school in the US Virgin Islands and broke into tears. That story literalizes a metaphor about the question you asked earlier, about being pulled to one side or the other. That story is not about being biracial–but for me it was."
(5) DESPARACION DE LOS LIBROS. Ray Bradbury was interviewed by Cristina Mucci on the Argentine TV show Los siete locos in 1997. The program is "dedicated to the dissemination of books and culture." Bradbury's answers were broadcast with Spanish subtitles. Early on, he was asked about Fahrenheit 451.
(6) A VISIT ON CABLE TV. The Planetary Society has posted this 1982 interview with Bradbury on their YouTube channel.
Mat Kaplan crossed paths with author, poet, and visionary Ray Bradbury many times across three decades. UK Planetary Radio fan and Bradbury expert Dr. Philip Nichols recently revealed that he had a VHS copy of Mat's first interview with Ray, conducted in 1982. The author of The Martian Chronicles was a frequent visitor to Long Beach, California where Mat managed a cable television channel. Here's that interview.
(7) SCREEN PASS. Christine Novell considers "Modern Plagues and the Prescience of Ray Bradbury" at The Imaginative Conservative.
…In the world of pandemia in 2020, Bradbury's stories resonate with a different irony. For those who can afford the technology, screen life has become more critical than ever, critical to education, business, government, and ministry. It has become a way of connecting, a method of community. It keeps us close, yet as Bradbury thought, isolated from our neighbors and family. But that's the nature of the current virus, a destroyer of community. Bradbury did not predict a plague-inspired isolation, at least not this type of plague.
Instead I think he saw technology as the plague that isolates, a relentless social force. He would ask us, "What are we dependent on? What can we not live without?" As if Bradbury was thinking aloud, he offers several "solutions." We could destroy technology, especially if we realize it controls us too much. In "The Murderer" (1953) Albert Brock is arrested for shooting a television set, murdering a telephone, a wall radio, a wrist radio, intercom system, and other things. Brock is happily committed to an institution for six months in a quiet cell. This is the stance of a rebel, not a conformist….
(8) THE TAKEAWAY. Sam Weller, the Bradbury biographer, has assembled an online course for Columbia College Chicago, "Creative Storytelling Featuring Ray Bradbury".
Experience the transformative power of creative writing through the life and works of famed fantasy writer, Ray Bradbury. As the author of Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury remains one of the 20th century's most visionary and celebrated writers. This course explores practical creative writing strategies through a deep dive into the "dark fantasy" of Ray Bradbury.
(9) APOLLO 11 NIGHT. Ray Bradbury is interviewed on the night of the first moon landing by Mike Wallace. From Comic-con 2009, Ray's own DVD. Part 1 of 2
Ray Bradbury Moon Landing Interview part 2
Marc Scott Zicree ("Mr. Sci-Fi") tells where he was when the Moon landing happened. And he also relates Ray Bradbury's anecdote about why he skipped out on David Frost's show that night to find someone who would interview him about this great event.
(10) WICKED GOOD. [Item by Martin Morse Wooster.] In the Washington Post, Angela Haupt asked 13 novelists "which books they like best when they need to get away." Pierce Brown recommended Something Wicked This Way Comes. Diana Gabaldon is the only sf or fantasy novelist whose name I recognize (I don't know current YA novelists) and she recommended Shogun. "Salman Rushdie, Diana Gabaldon and other authors reflect on the books they find most transporting".
(11) NO THANKS. It's a 1980 rejection letter from Ray Bradbury to Stan Lee. Makes you wonder what Stan submitted to Ray…
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, and Martin Morse Wooster, for these stories.]
Posted in Heard Online	| Tagged Apollo 13, Marc Scott Zicree, Mat Kaplan, Planetary Society, Ray Bradbury, Ray Harryhausen, Sam Weller, Stan Lee, Tobias Buckell	| 4 Replies
Pixel Scroll 4/13/20 Pixels, Get Ready, There's A Scroll A'comin'
Posted on April 13, 2020 by Mike Glyer
(1) PRESSING IN. Cat Rambo's video "Why Small Press Books Don't Almost Always Suck" challenges negativity about small presses with examples from her own career.
Cat talks about some of the small press books she's appeared in or worked with, and what she likes about them
So far as I can tell she doesn't identify any particular person as holding this opinion. But it might be more than a coincidence that a few weeks back Nick Mamatas wrote a column for LitReactor titled "Why Are Small Presses Almost Always So Awful?"
(2) IN CASE OF EMERGENCY. [Item by Dann.] Regarding Archive.org, Brian Keene has gone through the process of figuring out how to get his works removed from the National Emergency Library. To make it easier for other authors, he supplied the process in The Horror Show with Brian Keene – episode 259.
Authors need to send an email to info@archive.org.
The subject line should read "National Emergency Library Removal Request"
Authors need to include the URL(s) from within the National Emergency Library so they will know which work(s) they need to remove.
It's kind of crappy to force authors to jump through hoops to prevent copyright infringement, but I guess it's better to have hoops available than to just ignore the infringement and drive on as if nothing is wrong.
(3) IMPROVING SHORT FICTION. The Odyssey Writing Workshop interviews guest lecturer Sheila Williams, editor of Asimov's.
…You've read quite a number of short stories over the years as an editor. For writers looking to improve their understanding of how short stories work, how would you suggest critically reading stories with an eye to improvement and understanding? Are there particular elements critical readers should look for?
This is a great question. Years ago I heard of an author who retyped a famous story to figure out what the author was doing. I don't think the writer has to go that far, but critical reading is essential. Pick a favorite story that wowed you and read it a few times. Take notes. Look for the foreshadowing. Look for the metaphors and the similes. Pay attention to the arc. Pay attention to every clue. A professional author rarely wastes a word in a work of short fiction. It takes practice to pick up on most of the details the first time through a tale, but it's a lot easier to see these details once you know what's coming.
(4) NOT A DESIRABLE CHAPTER. Publishers Weekly reports on the troubles of a major book printer: "LSC Files Chapter 11"
LSC Communications announced this morning that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. The filing has been expected for several months as the country's largest book printer—and one of its largest printers overall—has struggled under the weight of its failed merger with Quad Graphics and the outbreak of the new coronavirus. LSC's subsidiaries in Mexico and Canada are not included in the filing, and will continue to operate normally.
LSC said it has received commitments for $100 million in debtor-in-possession financing from certain of its revolving lenders, subject to the satisfaction of certain closing conditions. If approved by the bankruptcy court, LSC said, the new financing, combined with cash on hand and generated through its ongoing operations, "is expected to be sufficient to support the company's operational and restructuring needs."
Since LSC's deal with Quad was called off last summer following objections from the Justice Department, the company has worked to streamline its business, a process that has included closing eight facilities and signing new contracts, noted Thomas Quinlan III, LSC chairman, president, and CEO. Quinlan added that a review of its operations determined that the best way forward was to pursue a restructuring of its financial structure.
And Quad, LSC's would-be merger partner, hit the wall two weeks ago: "Quad Closes Book Printing Operations".
Publishers were dealt an unhappy surprise last week when Quad unexpectedly closed its book printing facilities, sending publishers scrambling to find a replacement. Quad did not respond to requests for comment from PW on whether it had plans to re-open the book plants.
The closure comes at a time when the loss of printing capacity is one of the many concerns publishers are facing because of the new coronavirus outbreak. Overall, most printers are printing, although on different schedules as they adjust to state policies, staffing, and types of books.
Quad put its book printing business up for sale last fall following the collapse of its proposed merger with the country's largest book printer, LSC Communications, after the U.S. Department of Justice filed an antitrust suit. Quad has yet to respond to requests for comment from PW on whether it has found a buyer, but to date, none has been announced.
LSC, meanwhile, is continuing to operate, though it is dealing with its own financial challenges.
(5) WORLD FANTASY AWARD NOMINATIONS OPEN. The World Fantasy Convention chairs still plan to hold their con in Salt Lake City from October 29-November 1.
WFC 2020 is still six months away. Every day brings new developments and, we sincerely hope, progress toward controlling and conquering the virus. We have every hope that the current crisis will be over long before 29 October. Besides our own continuing discussions and plans, we're monitoring the efforts of other conferences and similar gatherings, and will adapt all measures that make sense to keep our membership safe. We know this is a difficult time, and everyone's plans are in a state of flux. Be assured we have no plans to raise membership rates during this worldwide emergency.
Download Progress Report #2 from the website.
Members of the 2018, 2019, or 2020 World Fantasy Conventions may nominate books, stories, and individuals for the 2020 World Fantasy Award between how and May 31. Voting instructions here.
(6) THE LOOK OF DUNE. Vanity Fair posted on Instagram the first photos of Timothee Chalamet as Paul Atreides in Denis Villeneuve's production of Dune.
#DUNE FIRST LOOK: It's time to return to Arrakis. In part one of our preview of Denis Villeneuve's adaptation of the epic sci-fi novel, get an exclusive look at Timothée Chalamet as protagonist Paul Atreides. Full story at the link in bio.
A post shared by Vanity Fair (@vanityfair) on Apr 13, 2020 at 4:01am PDT
(7) FERRELL OBIT. Former OMNI editor Henry Keith Ferrell (1953-2020) died of an apparent heart attack while fixing his roof, before the storm currently sweeping up the East Coast. He is survived by his wife, Martha, and son, Alec, who made the announcement on Ferrell's website.
…Graduating from Raleigh's Sanderson High in 1971, he attended the Residential College of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he met Martha Sparrow — a woman of equal beauty and intellect — at a Halloween party in the basement of Guilford dormitory. His face covered in wax, she overheard him mentioning the name "Lawrence Talbot" and she got the reference, having no idea what Keith looked like. On their first date, they ditched a French play to go see King Kong instead. They fell in love, moved off campus, and started their lives together. They were married on July 20, 1974, and would remain together for almost 47 years.
…Now a family man, Keith set out on his career in publishing, first at Walnut Circle Press as a print salesman, then as editor of trade magazine The Professional Upholsterer, onward to feature writer of COMPUTE! Magazine, where he was at the forefront of reporting on the burgeoning home computing industry throughout its emergence as a household staple. All the while, he raised his son and loved his wife, planted many gardens, and wrote and wrote and wrote.
From 1983 through 1987, Keith published four critically-acclaimed biographies of legendary writers for young adults through M. Evans and Company: H.G. Wells: First Citizen of the Future; Ernest Hemingway: The Search for Courage; George Orwell: The Political Pen; and John Steinbeck: The Voice of the Land. These were the first of many printed works to bear his name in the byline.
In 1990, COMPUTE! was acquired by General Media out of New York City, and Keith was recruited and ultimately served as Editor-in-Chief of OMNI Magazine, the preeminent science and technology publication of the day — a career-defining accomplishment. During his tenure at OMNI, Keith worked with (and edited) many of the heroes of his youth and forged friendships across the fields of anthropology, gaming, evolutionary studies, telecommunications, and writers of all stripes. Keith stewarded OMNI as a vehicle for the vanguard of cutting-edge technology and futurism until its final issue…
He wrote until his dying day, which turned out to be April 11, 2020, at 2:32pm. His heart gave out after fixing a hole in his roof, but finished the job before doing so….
(8) TODAY IN HISTORY.
April 13, 2012 — Lockout premiered. Also known as MS One: Maximum Security, It directed by James Mather and Stephen Saint Leger, and written by Mather, Saint Leger, and Luc Besson. It was both Mather's and Saint Leger's feature directorial debuts. The film stars Guy Pearce, Maggie Grace, Vincent Regan, Joseph Gilgun, Lennie James, and Peter Stormare. It did poorly at the box and critics were not fond of it either; it holds a 46% rating among audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes. So why write up here? Because John Carpenter successfully sued the film's makers in the French courts for the film having plagiarized both Escape from New York and Escape from L.A.., a verdict held upon appeal.
(9) TODAY'S BIRTHDAYS.
Born April 13, 1923 — Mari Blanchard. Remembered best as B-movie femme fatale, she did a number of genre films including Abbott and Costello Go to Mars where she was Queen Allura, She Devil where she had the lead role of Kyra Zelas and Twice-Told Tales, a Vincent Price horror film where she had a not major role as Sylvia Ward. (Died 1970.)
Born April 13, 1931 — Beverley Cross. English screenwriter responsible for an amazing trio of films, to wit namely Jason And The Argonauts, Sinbad And The Eye Of The Tiger and Clash Of The Titans. He also wrote the screenplay for The Long Ships which is at genre adjacent. (Died 1998.)
Born April 13, 1949 — Teddy Harvia, 71. Winner of the Hugo for Fan Artist an amazing four times starting in 1991 at Chicon IV, then in 1995 at Intersection, next in 2001 at the Millennium Philcon and last at in 2002 at ConJosé. He was honored with the Rebel Award by the Southern Fandom Confederation in 1997 at that year's DeepSouthCon
Born April 13, 1951 — Peter Davison, 69. The Fifth Doctor and one that I came to be very fond of unlike the one that followed him. And he put a lot of gravitas into the voice of Mole he did for The Wind in the Willows animated special Mole's Christmas. For twenty years now, he has reprised his role as the Fifth Doctor in myriad Doctor Who audio dramas for Big Finish.
Born April 13, 1954 — Michael Cassutt, 66. Producer, screenwriter, and author. His TV resume includes notable work for the animated Dungeons & Dragons, Max Headroom, The Outer Limits, Beauty and The Beast, SeaQuest, Farscape and The Twilight Zone. He's also written a number of genre works including the Heaven's Shadow series that was co-written with David S. Goyer.
Born April 13, 1959 — Brian Thomsen. He was an American science fiction editor, author and anthologist. Founding editor of the Questar Science Fiction line for which he was a Nolacon II Hugo finalist in the Best Professional Editor category. I've read and will recommend The American Fantasy Tradition which he did, and likewise Masters of Fantasy which was co-edited with Bill Fawcett. I see he helped Julius Schwartz put together his autobiography, Man of Two Worlds. (Died 2008.)
Born April 13, 1950 — Ron Perlman, 70. Hellboy in a total of five films including three animated films (Hellboy: Sword of Storms, Hellboy: Blood and Iron and the Redcap short). Still by far the best Hellboy. He's got a long association with the genre as his very first film was Quest for Fire in which he was Amoukar. The Ice Pirates as Zeno was followed quickly by the role of Captain Soames in Sleepwalkers and Angel De La Guardia in the Mexican horror film Cronos. Several years later, I see he's Boltar in Prince Valiant, Johnher in Alien Resurrection and Reman Viceroy in Star Trek: Nemesis. And I should note he was in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them as Gnarlack, a goblin gangster if I read the Cliff notes to that correctly. No, I'm not forgetting about his most amazing role of all, Vincent in Beauty and The Beast. (Having not rewatched for fear of the Suck Fairy having come down hard on it.) At the time, I thought it was the the most awesome practical makeup I'd ever seen. And the costume just made look him even still more amazing.
Born April 13, 1960 — Michel Faber, 60. Dutch born author of three genre novels, Under the Skin, The Book of Strange New Things and D: A Tale of Two Worlds. He was a finalist for the 2015 Arthur C. Clarke Award for The Book of Strange New Things.
The Argyle Sweater shows a well-known sf character having trouble with a hospital gown.
(11) THERE'S NOTHING HALFWAY ABOUT THE IOWA WAY. Shaenon K. Garrity tweeted, "The Iowa Digital Library has a collection of sci-fi fanzines from the 1930s and 1940s, and my entertainment needs through the rest of the pandemic are taken care of." Thread starts here.
Dag, I haven't read a single title in this eighteen-year-old's meticulously assembled listicle. pic.twitter.com/Rdo9Lin8Lm
— Shaenon K. Garrity (@shaenongarrity) April 12, 2020
(12) SECOND THOUGHTS. Cora Buhlert continues her assessment of this year's finalists in "Some Thoughts on the Hugo Award Finalists, Part II: The 2020 Hugo Awards".
…This year, however, I'm largely happy with the Best Related Work finalists. Joanna Russ by Gwyneth Jones, The Lady from the Black Lagoon: Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick by Mallory O'Meara and The Pleasant Profession of Robert A. Heinlein, by Farah Mendlesohn are exactly the sort of finalists I want to see in this category. All three were also on my longlist, two of them were on my ballot.
Becoming Superman: My Journey from Poverty to Hollywood by J. Michael Straczynski was not on my ballot, but is a highly deserving finalist, since autobiographies of people of genre relevance have always been a part of Best Related Work – see also the recent nominations for Carrie Fisher's and Zoe Quinn's respective autobiographies….
(13) LOOKING FOR A JOB IN WASHINGTON. If Lou Antonelli doesn't get voted in as SFWA director-at-large, he's got a fallback position. Lou has declared himself a Libertarian candidate for Congress in Texas' 4th District. Ballotpedia shows he's up against a Republican incumbent.
Brianna Wu is running for Congress as a Democrat in a Boston-area district once again. It would be an interesting coincidence if they were both on the floor of the House to start the 2021 term.
(14) SCARED STRAIGHT. "Indonesian village uses 'ghosts' for distancing patrols" according to the BBC.
A village in Indonesia has reportedly taken to using volunteers dressed as ghosts to try to scare people into social distancing over the coronavirus.
Kepuh village, on Java Island, started deploying the patrols at night last month.
In Indonesian folklore, ghostly figures known as "pocong" are said to represent the trapped souls of the dead.
Indonesia so far has about 4,500 cases and 400 confirmed virus deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
But there are fears, according to experts, that the true scale of the infection across the country is much worse.
According to Reuters news agency staff who travelled to see the pocong in action, the unusual tactic initially had the opposite effect to that intended – with people coming out to try to spot the volunteers.
But locals say matters have improved since the team began deploying unexpectedly.
"Since the pocong appeared, parents and children have not left their homes," resident Karno Supadmo told Reuters. "And people will not gather or stay on the streets after evening prayers."
(15) FLAT NOTES. Today's thing to worry about — "Coronavirus: What's happening to the beer left in pubs?"
Pubs, like other public venues, look set to stay shut for the foreseeable future. But what's going to happen to the contents of their cellars?
Fifty million pints – give or take.
That's the amount of beer expected to go unused in barrels if pubs remain closed into the summer because of coronavirus. Publicans are currently unable to sell their lagers, ales and ciders – save for takeaways and home deliveries.
"It's a very sad waste of all the work and talent that goes into producing great beer," says Tom Stainer, chief executive of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra). "People won't get to drink it and all those resources have been used up for nothing."
Mr Stainer estimates the UK's 39,000 pubs have, on average, 15 barrels in their cellar at any given time. Most are kegs containing 11 gallons (88 pints) each – although many real ales come in nine-gallon (72-pint) casks. The best-before dates on pasteurised beer – including most lagers – are usually three to four months after delivery.
Those for real ales and other unpasteurised beer are usually set at six to nine weeks.
So most stock could go to waste if social distancing measures remain in place for several months.
(16) PLAYING POLITICS. My daughter used to play this game by the hour: "Animal Crossing removed from sale in China amid Hong Kong protests".
The Nintendo Switch's current best-selling game has been removed from Chinese online stores after activists used it to criticise the state.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons lets players customise their own island and invite others to visit.
Some players in Hong Kong have used the platform to stage protests.
Players in mainland China had previously been able to buy foreign editions of the title from online marketplaces.
The country's censors strictly regulate video games and had yet to approve the title's formal release in the country.
Now, even local sites which had advertised imported copies have removed the listings.
It is not clear, however, whether this is because there has been an intervention by the authorities or whether the stores are proactively removing the product.
(17) GROUNDHOG DAY. Bill Murray in another Jeep commercial.
Wake up. Wash hands. Miss groundhog. Repeat. Every day is probably starting to seem the same, but the more we all remember to stay inside, the sooner we can get back outside.
(18) HOUSTON, WE USED TO HAVE A PROBLEM. "Apollo 13: Enhanced images reveal life on stricken spacecraft" — many pictures at link.
Image enhancement techniques have been used to reveal life aboard Nasa's stricken Apollo 13 spacecraft in unprecedented detail.
Fifty years ago, the craft suffered an explosion that jeopardised the lives of the three astronauts aboard.
Unsurprisingly, given they were locked in a fight for survival, relatively few onboard images were taken.
But imaging specialist Andy Saunders created sharp stills from low-quality 16mm film shot by the crew.
One of the techniques used by Mr Saunders is known as "stacking", in which many frames are assembled on top of each other to improve the image's detail.
(19) IT'S A GAS. In "'Pinocchio' at 80: 5 things you never knew about the Walt Disney classic" on Yahoo! Entertainment, Ethan Alter reports that if Disney followed Carlo Collodi's story, Jiminy Cricket would have died in the film, and that Mel Blanc was originally cast as Gideon the cat but his lines were cut and replaced by burping.
Eighty years ago, moviegoers discovered exactly what happens when you wish upon a star when Walt Disney's second animated feature, Pinocchio, premiered in theaters on Feb. 23, 1940. Flush with cash from the enormous success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Disney gambled his studio's future on an adaptation of Italian author Corlo Collodi's 19th century story of a walking, talking marionette who longs to be a real boy. At the time, the gamble didn't entirely succeed: While Pinocchio received instant critical acclaim, it didn't attract the same crowds that turned out in droves to see Snow White….
(20) VIDEO OF THE DAY. "Wong Ping's Fables 2" on Vimeo tells the story of the cow who became rich and the rabbit who wanted to be a judge.
[Thanks to JJ, Chip Hitchcock, Mike Kennedy, Martin Morse Wooster, John King Tarpinian, Cat Eldridge, Michael Toman, Dann, Samuel Montgomery-Blinn, and Andrew Porter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Xtifr.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll	| Tagged Apollo 13, beer, Bill Murray, Brian Keene, Brianna Wu, Cat Rambo, Cora Buhlert, Disney, Dune, Henry Keith Ferrell, Lou Antonelli, Nick Mamatas, Odyssey Writing Workshops, Omni, Pinocchio, Shaenon K. Garrity, Sheila Williams, video games, World Fantasy Convention	| 30 Replies
Pixel Scroll 4/9/20 I Had Too Much To Stream Last Night
Posted on April 9, 2020 by Mike Glyer
(1) UNDERESTIMATED CRISIS. Kristine Kathryn Rusch sounds overwhelmed in "Business Musings: A Crisis Like No Other (A Process Blog)" where she discusses her daily challenges and struggles as a writer.
Well, I was wrong. A month or so ago, I warned that what we're going through is a black swan event, that it would have an economic impact, and we as business owners needed to be braced. Then, as things got even worse, I decided this was a double black swan—a crisis without good leadership to carry us through to the other side.
And it seems that, in both cases, I underestimated this thing. On April 3, Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the International Monetary Fund, called this "a crisis like no other."
In a speech before the World Health Organization, she added, "Never in the history of the IMF have we witnessed the world economy coming to a standstill. It is way worse than the global financial crisis."
A crisis like no other. Yeah, that was my sense as well over these past two weeks as I tried over and over again to find some kind of historic precedent to guide us forward. I couldn't find one—not an analogous one, on that hit the global economy all at once, and forced people around the world to behave in the same way.
It's breathtaking and shocking and hard to fathom. As you can tell from my many blog posts, I'm wrestling with this change. I know we'll come out the other side, but for the first time—maybe in my adult life—I have no idea what kind of world we will emerge into. Usually I can predict both worst case and best case scenarios….
(2) SETTING THE TONE. Connie Willis' Doomsday Book is where I first read John Clyn's famous quote, written in 1349 at the height of the Black Plague:
"So that notable deeds should not perish with time, and be lost from the memory of future generations, I, seeing these many ills, and that the whole world encompassed by evil, waiting among the dead for death to come, have committed to writing what I have truly heard and examined; and so that the writing does not perish with the writer, or the work fail with the workman, I leave parchment for continuing the work, in case anyone should still be alive in the future and any son of Adam can escape this pestilence and continue the work thus begun."
(3) APOLLO 13. At least the astronauts came out the other side of this disaster all right — "'Houston, we've had a problem': Remembering Apollo 13 at 50".
…A half-century later, Apollo 13 is still considered Mission Control's finest hour.
Lovell calls it "a miraculous recovery."
Haise, like so many others, regards it as NASA's most successful failure.
"It was a great mission," Haise, 86, said. It showed "what can be done if people use their minds and a little ingenuity."
As the lunar module pilot, Haise would have become the sixth man to walk on the moon, following Lovell onto the dusty gray surface. The oxygen tank explosion robbed them of the moon landing, which would have been NASA's third, nine months after Apollo 11's Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took humanity's first footsteps on the moon.
Now the coronavirus pandemic has robbed them of their anniversary celebrations. Festivities are on hold, including at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the mission began on April 11, 1970, a Saturday just like this year.
(4) WHO TWO. ScreenRant offers their opinion — "Doctor Who: Every Doctor's TRUE Companion". For example:
Fourth Doctor: Sarah Jane Smith
Often considered the best companion of Doctor Who's classic run, Elizabeth Sladen made a lasting impression as Sarah Jane Smith, evolving the template set by Jo Grant previously. More so than her predecessors, Sarah Jane naturally grew into a second main character and although she debuted alongside the Third Doctor, her wits were slightly better suited to the eccentric ramblings of Tom Baker's Time Lord. The Fourth Doctor would struggle to find an equally fitting companion, treating Leela with occasional contempt and burning through several regenerations of Romana.
(5) IMPOSSIBLE TIME. The Arthur C. Clarke Center for the Human Imagination's podcast Into the Impossible has posted Episode 38: "Giving the Devil His Due: a conversation with Michael Shermer & Brian Keating".
Dr. Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, the host of the Science Salon Podcast, and a Presidential Fellow at Chapman University where he teaches Skepticism 101. For 18 years he was a monthly columnist for Scientific American. He is the author of New York Times bestsellers Why People Believe Weird Things and The Believing Brain, Why Darwin Matters, The Science of Good and Evil, The Moral Arc, and Heavens on Earth. His new book is Giving the Devil His Due: Reflections of a Scientific Humanist.
(6) HOW'S YOUR EYESIGHT? "Smithsonian seeks public's help with Sally Ride's astronaut training notes".
Before she became the first American woman to fly into space, Sally Ride needed to learn how to be an astronaut. Now, 30 years later, the public can help expand access to Ride's training experience by volunteering to transcribe her extensive handwritten notes.
The National Air and Space Museum has begun the process of converting the 23 cubic feet of material it obtained from Ride's estate in 2015 to be available for research and study. Archivists have scanned and indexed the entire collection, but more can be done to make the papers fully searchable.
(7) DRUCKER OBIT. MAD Magazine artist Mort Drucker died April 8 at the age of 91. Mark Evanier paid tribute at News From Me: "Mort Drucker, R.I.P."
He found his way to MAD magazine in 1956 at a precarious moment in that publication's history. Founding editor Harvey Kurtzman had departed and taken most of the art crew with him. Replacement editor Al Feldstein was assembling a new team and with no idea how valuable the new applicant would be to MAD, he took a shot with Drucker.
Mort had never thought of himself as a caricaturist but when called upon to draw the comedy team of Bob & Ray for some pieces, he displayed a flair that surprised even him. Before long, Mort was the illustrator of movie and TV parodies in every issue of MAD…an association that lasted some 55 years. Big stars would say that you didn't feel you'd made it in Hollywood until Mort Drucker had drawn you in MAD.
The New York Times obituary is here.
…"No one saw Drucker's talent," Mr. Hendrix wrote, until he illustrated "The Night That Perry Masonmint Lost a Case," a takeoff on the television courtroom drama "Perry Mason," in 1959. It was then, Mr. Hendrix maintained, that "the basic movie parody format for the next 44 years was born."
From the early 1960s on, nearly every issue of Mad included a movie parody, and before Mr. Ducker retired he had illustrated 238, more than half of them. The last one, "The Chronic-Ills of Yawnia: Prince Thespian," appeared in 2008.
Mr. Drucker compared his method to creating a movie storyboard: "I become the 'camera,'" he once said, "and look for angles, lighting, close-ups, wide angles, long shots — just as a director does to tell the story in the most visually interesting way he can."
Mr. Hendrix called Mr. Drucker "the cartoonist's equivalent of an actor's director" and "a master of drawing hands, faces and body language." Mr. Friedman praised Mr. Drucker's restraint: "He wasn't really hung up on exaggerating. He was far more subtle and nuanced — interested in how people stood and so on."
(8) WILLNER OBIT. Most recently known as Saturday Night Live's sketch music producer. Hal Willner died April 7. The LA Times tribute is here. He had a long career in film, and produced several record albums, including these genre-adjacent projects –
…Most striking was Willner's ode to the music of Walt Disney's animated films. Called "Stay Awake: Various Interpretations of Music from Vintage Disney Films," he enlisted artists including cosmic jazz traveler Sun Ra, experimental vocalist Yma Sumac, Los Angeles group Los Lobos and rock band the Replacements to re-imagine such songs as "Cruella De Ville," "Whistle While You Work" and "Someday My Prince Will Come." Tom Waits turned "Heigh Ho (The Dwarves Marching Song)" into a forced-labor dirge.
As the compiler of "The Carl Stalling Project: Music From Warner Bros. Cartoons 1936-1958," Willner resurrected the reputation of the frantic, inventive composer Stalling and his scores for "Bugs Bunny" and "Road Runner" cartoons….
April 9, 1953 — Invaders From Mars premiered. It was produced by Edward L. Alperson Jr. and directed by William Cameron Menzies. It starred a large cast of Jimmy Hunt, Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Morris Ankrum, Leif Erickson, and Hillary Brooke. Made a shoestring budget of three hundred thousand, it got amazingly good reviews though a few critics thought it it was too frightening for younger children, did a great box office and currently has a rating of fifty six percent among audience reviewers at Rotten Tomatoes. You can see it here.
April 9, 1955 — Science Fiction Theatre first aired in syndication. It was produced by Ivan Tors and Maurice Ziv. It ran for seventy-eight episodes over two years and was hosted by Truman Bradley who was the announcer for Red Skelton's program. The first episode "Beyond" had the story of a test pilot travelling at much faster than the speed of sound who bails out and tells his superiors that another craft was about to collide with his. It starred William Lundigan, Ellen Drew and Bruce Bennett. You can watch it here.
Born April 9, 1911 — George O. Smith. His early prolific writings on Astounding Science Fiction in the 1940s which ended when Campbell's wife left him for Smith Whom she married. Later stories were on Thrilling Wonder Stories, Galaxy, Super Science Stories and Fantastic To name but four such outlets. He was given First Fandom Hall of Fame Award just before he passed on. Interestingly his novels are available from the usual digital sources but his short stories are not. (Died 1981.)
Born April 9, 1913 — George F. Lowther. He was writer, producer, director in the earliest days of radio and television. He wrote scripts for both Captain Video and His Video Rangers and Tom Corbett, Space Cadet. You can see the first show "The Birth of The Galaxy" which he scripted here. (Died 1975.)
Born April 9, 1921 — Frankie Thomas. He was best remembered for his starring role in Tom Corbett, Space Cadet which ran from 1950 to 1955. Though definitely not genre or genre adjacent, he was in the Nancy Drew film franchise that ran in the late Thirties. (Died 2006.)
Born April 9, 1935 — Avery Schreiber. He's had a long history with genre fiction starting with Get Smart! and going from there to include More Wild Wild West!, Fantasy Island, Faerie Tale Theatre: Pinocchio, Shadow Chasers, Caveman, Galaxina, Dracula: Dead and Loving It, Animainiacs in which he voiced Beanie the Brain-Dead Bisonand, of course, The Muppet Show. (Died 2002.)
Born April 9, 1937 — Marty Krofft, 83. Along with with Sid, a Canadian sibling team of television creators and puppeteers. Through Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures, they have made numerous series including the superb H.R. Pufnstuf which I still remember fondly all these years later not to forget Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Land of the Lost and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl.
Born April 9,1949 — Stephen Hickman, 71. Illustrator who has done over three hundred and fifty genre covers such as Manly Wade Wellman's John the Balladeer and Nancy Springer's Rowan Hood, Outlaw Girl of Sherwood Forest. His most widely known effort is his space fantasy postage stamps done for the U.S. Postal Service which won a Hugo for Best Original Artwork at ConAndian in 1994.
Born April 9, 1954 — Dennis Quaid, 66. I'm reasonably sure that he first genre role was in Dreamscape as Alex Gardner followed immediately by the superb role of Willis Davidge in Enemy Mine followed by completing a trifecta with Innerspace and the character of Lt. Tuck Pendleton. And then there's the sweet film of Dragonheart and him as Bowen. Anyone hear of The Day After Tomorrow in which he was Jack Hall? I hadn't a clue about it.
Born April 9, 1955 — Earl Terry Kemp, 65. Author of The Anthem Series: A Guide to the Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Weird Specialty Publishers of the Golden Age and The Anthem Series Companion: A Companion to The Guide to the Science Fiction, Fantasy, Horror and Weird Specialty Publishers of the Golden Age. He also maintains several databases devoted to the same including The Golden Age of Pulps: SF Magazine Database: Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror (1890-2009).
Born April 9, 1972 — Neve McIntosh, 48. During time of the Eleventh Doctor, she played Alaya and Restac, two Silurian reptilian sisters who have been disturbed under the earth, one captured by humans and the other demanding vengeance. Her second appearance on Doctor Who is Madame Vastra, in "A Good Man Goes to War". Also a Silurian, she's a Victorian crime fighter. She's back in the 2012 Christmas special, and in the episodes "The Crimson Horror" and "The Name of the Doctor". She reprises her role as Madame Vastra, who along with her wife, Jenny Flint, and Strax, a former Sontaran warrior, form a private investigator team.
Born April 9, 1998 — Elle Fanning, 22. Yes she's from that acting family. And she's certainly been busy with roles in over forty films! Her first genre film is The Curious Case of Benjamin Button followed by Astro Boy, Super 8, Maleficent, The Boxtrolls, The Neon Demon, the upcoming Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and a recurring role on The Lost Room, a Cursed Objects miniseries that aired on Syfy.
Candorville encounters a social media slipup.
Free Range shows why even superheroes must keep in mind "the right tool for the right job."
(12) TEMPORARILY FREE COMICS. Dark Horse Comics is releasing the first issue of more than 80 comics series for free, as well as a few volumes of graphics novels, available to read via DARK HORSE DIGITAL from now until April 30. The series include such titles as Umbrella Academy, American Gods, & Disney's Frozen, as well as graphic novels such as Empowered Vol. 1, and Hellboy Vol. 1.
(13) CAN COMICS RESUSCITATE THE CASH REGISTER? CBR.com investigates "DC vs Marvel: Possible Storylines for a New Big Two Crossover".
As the effects of the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continue to reverberate around the world, one of the many industries severely impacted by the global health crisis is the American comic book market. With major publishers refraining from distributing new comics either digitally or in print and comic retailers shuttering normal operations to prevent the virus' spread, the future of the industry is currently in a state of limbo. Led by acclaimed writer Gail Simone, comic creators have since suggested the possibility of an intercompany crossover between DC and Marvel Comics' respective superhero universes as a means to revitalize the industry.
(14) PICARD SPECIAL ISSUE. Titan Comics has Star Trek: Picard – The Official Collector's Edition on sale now.
A behind-the-scenes guide to the smash hit new Star Trek TV Show, showcasing the further adventures of fan-favorite captain of the Enterprise-D, Jean Luc Picard!
A deluxe collector's edition offering a behind-the-scenes guide to the brand new Star Trek: Picard TV show, featuring interviews with Star Trek legends Sir Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner (Data), Jonathan Frakes (Riker), Martin Sirtis (Troi), plus the new cast members Isa Briones (Dahj/Soji), Michelle Herd (Raffi), Harry Treadaway (Narke) and many more. Plus, Showrunners Alex Kurtzman and Michael Chabon, and Director Hanelle Culpepper reveal behind-the-scenes secrets.
(15) OLAF SCENES. "Fun With Snow" | At Home With Olaf on YouTube is the first of 20 micro-sized Olaf stories coming from Disney. Find others as they post on the Walt Disney Animation Studios YouTube channel.
(16) MAD AS HELL. In "Suing Hollywood" at CrimeReads, Tess Gerritsen looks at her long series of lawsuits about whether Gravity was stolen from her 1999 space thriller Gravity.
…Most writers who work in the industry understand that suing a studio, no matter how justified their lawsuit, is a losing proposition—and it's the writer who almost always loses. Knowing this, why would any writer risk everything to charge into battle as David against Goliath?
I'll tell you why: because we're angry and refuse to let them get away with it. I know, because I've been there and done that. I've seen the dark side of Hollywood.
(17) STATION BREAK. And making a smooth segue between topics, did you know NASA has available a virtual "International Space Station Tour"?
(18) NEXT SPACE STATION SHIFT ARRIVES. And for a news trifecta — "ISS crew blast off after long quarantine".
Three new crew members have arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) after a launch carried out under tight restrictions due to the coronavirus.
The Russian Soyuz rocket carrying cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner and Nasa astronaut Chris Cassidy took off from Kazakhstan on Thursday.
Pre-launch protocols were changed to prevent the virus being taken to the ISS.
Only essential personnel were allowed at the launch site for the blast-off.
Support workers wore masks and kept their distance as the crew walked to the bus to take them to the spacecraft.
Earlier, Chris Cassidy said not having their families in Baikonur to cheer them on for the launch had affected the crew, but he added: "We understand that the whole world is also impacted by the same crisis.
(19) WAVE BYE-BYE. "BepiColombo: Mercury mission set to wave goodbye to Earth" – BBC supplies lots of details on the instruments being sent.
The joint European-Japanese mission to Mercury reaches a key milestone on Friday when it swings past the Earth.
The two-in-one BepiColombo space probe is using the gravity of its home world to bend a path towards the inner Solar System.
It will also bleed off some speed.
The mission needs to make sure it isn't travelling too fast when it arrives at Mercury in 2025 or it won't be able to go into orbit around the diminutive world.
(20) POTTERING ABOUT. "Harry Potter hospital rooms get JK Rowling approval".
Doctors dealing with coronavirus said they were "uplifted" to have a message of support from JK Rowling when they named areas of their hospital after Harry Potter school houses.
Meeting rooms at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital were named Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff and Ravensclaw.
The hospital said the idea was "a bit of fun amongst all the significant issues".
The author tweeted to say she had "rarely felt prouder".
The hospital's medical team decided to name meeting rooms after the Hogwarts houses when redesigning systems to be better prepared for the coronavirus outbreak.
Senior house officer Alex Maslen said: "The house names are familiar to many junior doctors who grew up with the Harry Potter stories, and the awareness has provided some reassurance during these difficult times."
(21) YOUNG MAN MULLIGAN ATE HERE. BBC tells us "Crops were cultivated in regions of the Amazon '10,000 years ago'".
Far from being a pristine wilderness, some regions of the Amazon have been profoundly altered by humans dating back 10,000 years, say researchers.
An international team found that during this period, crops were being cultivated in a remote location in what is now northern Bolivia.
The scientists believe that the humans who lived here were planting squash, cassava and maize.
The inhabitants also created thousands of artificial islands in the forest.
FYI, "Young Man Mulligan" is the filk answer to "The Great Historical Bum" song ("Bum" lyrics here). It opens "I was born about ten thousand years from now."
(22) BEFORE FABERGÉ. "Mysteries of decorated ostrich eggs in British Museum revealed".
If you wanted to give an extravagant gift 5,000 years ago, you might have chosen an ostrich egg.
Now some of these beautiful Easter egg-sized objects are in London's British Museum.
The eggs were found in Italy but their origins have long been a mystery – ostriches are not indigenous to Europe.
Now, research into the museum's collection by an international team of archaeologists reveals new insights into their history.
People across Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa traded ostrich eggs up to 5,000 years ago, in the Bronze and Iron Ages.
Eggs were decorated in many ways – painted, adorned with ivory or precious metals, or covered in small glazed stones or other materials.
The five eggs in the British Museum's collection are embellished with animals, flowers, geometric patterns, soldiers and chariots.
(23) DON'T STOP. Rebooted – on YouTube.
It's not easy for a movie-star to age – especially when you're a stop motion animated skeleton monster. Phil, once a terrifying villain of the silver-screen, struggles to find work in modern Hollywood due to being an out-of-date special effect.
[Thanks to Andrew Porter, Martin Morse Wooster, Cat Eldridge, Mike Kennedy, JJ, Chip Hitchcock, Michael Toman, Daniel Dern, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit belongs to File 770 contributing editor of the day Daniel Dern.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll	| Tagged Apollo 13, Arthur C. Clarke Center for Human Imagination, Connie Willis, Dark Horse, Doctor Who, Harry Potter, International Space Station, Into the Impossible, J. K. Rowling, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, MAD Magazine, Mark Evanier, Sally Ride, Sarah Jane Smith, Star Trek: Picard, Titan Comics	| 51 Replies
Pixel Scroll 4/22/17 Get Out Of There At Once! The Pixels Are Coming From Inside The Scroll!
(1) CON REPORT. Outer Places went to Steve Wozniak's comic con — "The SVCC Tech Showcase Was Filled With Robots and Supercars".
Second only to the Woz himself, the night's biggest show-stealer was SoftBank Robotics' Pepper the Robot. The machine is designed to be able to accurately perceive emotions, and is currently being marketed as a personal assistant in Japan. Tonight, Pepper mostly just rolled up to people and requested they take a selfie with them – that may sound like a waste of Pepper's talents, but any robot who can perceive emotions would eventually realize that humans enjoy doing really silly things. So before the robots take over, we'll take selfies with them.
(2) CAPTAIN KIRK. Of course, that may be underestimating William Shatner who was at SVCC yesterday, too — "William Shatner delights fans at Silicon Valley Comic Con" . Watch the KGO news video at the link.
From "Star Wars" to "Star Trek" and everything in between, the second annual Silicon Valley Comic Con did not disappoint on its opening night. In addition to costumes and cosplay fans were treated to an evening with Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner.
(3) SOMEBODY'S WRONG ON THE INTERNET! The Fargo/Hugo Award identification continues to outrun the correction – as per usual in social media. But I'm impressed how many people know what a Hugo is. By comparison, it'll be a cold day in Fargo Hell before the masses think they recognize a Dragon Award being used as a murder weapon on TV – take that, Puppies!
Watched ep1 of #fargoseason3 – does the police chief pick up a #Hugo award as a weapon while checking her stepdad's house for that intruder?
— Dread Sinister (@DreadSinister) April 21, 2017
That Hugo award in the Fargo premiere, ah jeez! #Fargo
— Kevin Lever (@kevinlever) April 22, 2017
Finally watched the new #Fargo episode. What were those books in the safe? And was that a Hugo award she picked up to use as a weapon?
— Farbrook (@dutchindian) April 22, 2017
Series of tweets here:
File 770 is all on this Fargo-Hugo story. I guess it's not actually a Hugo. https://t.co/fVF65eHPFd
— Marc Laidlaw (@marc_laidlaw) April 22, 2017
(4) SCIENCE'S SIBLING RIVALRY. Star Trek, Arrival, linguistics, and "soft" science versus "hard" science: "Uhura Was a Comms Officer: Why Linguistics Matter".
In Arrival, Louise Banks melds xenolinguistics, language documentation and underlying pattern recognition—even within the film, however, her specialty is derided as "not real" science by her male (theoretical physicist) counterpart Ian Donnelly. After quoting from a book on linguistics Banks wrote, Ian says flatly that she's wrong:
"Well, the cornerstone of civilization isn't language. It's science."
This is a succinct rendition of how language study tends to be viewed by those outside of it: that the scientific study of language isn't science. This also, of course, ties into other things (such as sexism and whatnot, plus trying to use dialogue as characterization in media) but detailing such factors is beyond the scope of this article; suffice it to say, Arrival tries to detail the work of documenting and recognizing patterns of a completely unfamiliar system.
(5) WELCOME TO MARS, NOW DROP DEAD. Daily Mail, which enjoys such a reputation around here, warns "Visitors to Mars Will Die in Under 68 Days"..
…One of the most important conclusions of the research is that neither crops nor oxygen generated for the inhabitants will be sufficient to support life for long. A fatal fire is also a major risk.
The Daily Mail summarized the very long MIT paper:
Mars One is an ambitious plan by a Dutch entrepreneur to send people to Mars next decade and start building a colony there. The proposal has received fierce criticism for its lack of realistic goals, and now one study has dealt the team a crushing blow – by saying the colonists will begin dying in 68 days. Low air pressure, habitats at risk of explosion and a lack of spare parts are among the potentially fatal dangers that apparently await anyone who makes the inaugural trip.
(6) LEND A RESEARCHER A HAND. Zack Weinberg asks for your help. I ran this past a friend whose computer and network knowledge I respect and he agreed it looked bona fide – but as always, exercise your own wisdom about participating. This demo is part of a research study conducted by Zachary Weinberg, Nicolas Christin, and Vyas Sekar of Carnegie Mellon University. And as he says at the end, "'I particularly want Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and South America."
I'm doing a research project related to online censorship, which you can help with, by visiting https://research.owlfolio.org/active-geo/ in any reasonably recent version of Firefox, Chrome, or IE. (You must have JavaScript enabled. It doesn't work in Safari, which unfortunately means you cannot use an iDevice.) Press the Start button on the map, wait for it to finish, and then click the "Tell me more" button (which appears when it's done) and read the text and follow the instructions. It is especially helpful if you do this on a computer physically located somewhere other than Europe and North America.
The experiment is testing "active geolocation", which is when you try to figure out where a computer physically is by measuring how long it takes a packet of information to go round-trip between one computer and other computers in known locations. This has been studied carefully within Europe and the continental USA, but much less so elsewhere.
This is relevant to Internet censorship because, in order to measure Internet censorship, you need access to a computer within the sub-network run by a censorious country or organization. Commercial VPN services are one way to do this. Unfortunately, the countries that are most aggressive about censoring the Internet are also countries where it is difficult and expensive to host servers. I suspect that several commercial VPN providers' claims of widespread server hosting are false: they are placing servers in countries where it is easy to do business, and then adding false entries to commonly-used geolocation databases. If whatsmyip and the like tell their users that the VPN server is in the right country, that's good enough to make a sale…
I have run these measurements myself on many VPN servers, but I don't know how accurate they are, and the accuracy varies depending on the true location. By visiting this page, running all the way through a measurement, and then telling me honestly where your computer really is, you provide me with data that I can use to calibrate the VPN measurements. Again, data from places other than Europe and North America is especially helpful: I particularly want Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and South America.
(7) CHARLES VESS. Coming this fall, an art book by the master — "Charles Vess Has An Original Art Edition of The Book of Ballads".
From Neil Gaiman's retelling of "The False Knight on the Road", to Jeff Smith's "The Galtee Farmer", and Jane Yolen's "King Henry" – Charles Vess' The Book of Ballads brought new visions of the classic folktales from the brightest New York Times bestsellers, award winners, and masters of science fiction and fantasy together with stunning art from Charles Vess. With this new The Boo of Ballads Art Edition, get ready to experience the stories anew!
Hits comic stores September 13, 2017 and bookstores on November 10, 2017.
(8) SQUEE DOWN UNDER Ryan K. Lindsay is an excited Aurealis Award winner.
Told a mate I won this award and he went crazy.
"That's like an Australian Hugo award!"
I leapt up all excited, "I know, right?!"
— ???? ? ??????? ??? (@ryanklindsay) April 21, 2017
(9) TODAY'S DAYS
Two choices for April 22 —
The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement. The passage of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and many other groundbreaking environmental laws soon followed. Twenty years later, Earth Day went global, mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting environmental issues onto the world stage.
The March for Science is the first step of a global movement to defend the vital role science plays in our health, safety, economies, and governments.
(10) MARCHER FOR SCIENCE. Given what a lot of you think about the Daily Mail, why wouldn't most their coverage of the March for Science in London revolve around Doctor Who's Peter Capaldi? Except that you think it's a good thing, don't you. Fess up!
Doctor Who star Peter Capaldi joined physicists, astronomers and biologists at the March for Science as protesters paraded past London's most celebrated research institutions.
Leading figures used the occasion to warn Britain's impending divorce from the continent could compromise their work by stifling collaboration with overseas colleagues.
Organisers claimed 12,000 people joined the London event, as hundreds of similar protests took place around the globe, from Australia to the US.
Somebody needs to say it: What's Doctor Who but a show that glorifies fake science and boasts a stunning lack of internal consistency? Yes, I love it, too, but let's not get confused about what happens every episode….
(11) TODAY IN HISTORY
April 22, 1953 – Sci-fi horror movie Invaders From Mars was released on this date.
April 22, 1978 — The Blues Brothers make their world premiere on Saturday Night Live.
(12) TODAY'S BIRTHDAY BOY
April 22, 1894: Legendary film heavy Rondo Hatton is born in Hagerstown, MD. (Which makes me wonder, did he ever meet Harry Warner, Jr.?)
(13) SEE THE AUTHORS. Here are Ellen Datlow's photos from the April 19's Fantastic Readings at KGB with Laura Anne Gilman and Seth Dickinson.
(14) HEAR THE AUTHORS. At the next Fantastic Fiction at KGB on May 17, hosts Ellen Datlow and Matthew Kressel present E.C. Myers and Sam J. Miller.
E.C. Myers was assembled in the U.S. from Korean and German parts and raised by a single mother and a public library in Yonkers, New York. He has published four novels, and short stories in various magazines and anthologies, including Space & Time Magazine, Hidden Youth: Speculative Stories of Marginalized Children, and Kaleidoscope: Diverse YA Science Fiction and Fantasy. His first novel, Fair Coin, won the 2012 Andre Norton Award for Young Adult SF and Fantasy, and YALSA selected The Silence of Six as one of its "Top Ten Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers" in 2016. His next book will be DoubleThink, a collection of stories related to The Silence of Six from and he continues to write for ReMade, a science fiction series from Serial Box Publishing.
Sam J. Miller's short stories have appeared in publications such as Asimov's, Clarkesworld, and Lightspeed, along with multiple "year's best" anthologies. His debut novel The Art of Starving, forthcoming from HarperTeen, was called "Funny, haunting, beautiful, relentless and powerful… a classic in the making" by Book Riot. His second novel, The Breaks, will be published by Ecco Press in 2018. He graduated from the Clarion UCSD Science Fiction & Fantasy Workshop in 2012. A finalist for multiple Nebula Awards along with the World Fantasy and Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Awards, he won the 2013 Shirley Jackson Award for his short story "57 Reasons for the Slate Quarry Suicides."
May 17th, 7 p.m. at KGB Bar, 85 East 4th Street (just off 2nd Ave, upstairs.)
(15) GO AROUND AGAIN. The … individual … pushing circular runways backs up his ideas: "Circular runways: Engineer defends his proposal"
Last month we published a video arguing the case for circular runways at airports, as part of a series called World Hacks. It took off and went viral.
The video has had more than 36 million views on Facebook and generated heated debate on social media – including within the aviation community. Many people are sceptical about the concept.
So we decided to hand-pick some of the top concerns and put them straight to the man proposing the idea: Dutch engineer Henk Hesselink.
This is what he had to say….
Chip Hitchcock remarks, "I like how he casually dismisses increased landing speeds (ignoring their effects on tires) and doesn't even discuss how difficult it would be to build several miles of surface with a uniform concavity or to refit several thousand airplanes with an autopilot sophisticated enough to handle such a landing — or how much harder aborting safely would be if the autopilot failed."
(16) GET YOUR TISSUES READY. Nerdist has photos — "Little Jyn Erso Cosplayer Delivers Death Star Plans to Leia at STAR WARS Celebration".
Harley and her dad made the data cards as a fun activity for the convention. Harley loves interacting with other people, and they thought this was a fitting tribute to their love of Star Wars and Fisher. As Harley ran into Leia cosplayers of all variety of ensemble, she handed over the Death Star plans. I don't know how many Leia cosplayers were moved to tears by this act, but I'd wager it wasn't a small number.
(17) KAMIKASSINI. Cassini sets up for final plunge: "Cassini probe heads towards Saturn 'grand finale'".
In the years that it has been studying the Saturnian system, the probe has flown by the haze-shrouded world on 126 occasions – each time getting a kick that bends it towards a new region of interest.
And on Saturday, Cassini pulled on the gravitational "elastic band" one last time, to shift from an orbit that grazes the outer edge of Saturn's main ring system to a flight path that skims the inner edge and puts it less than 3,000km above the planet's cloud tops.
The probe will make the first of these gap runs next Wednesday, repeating the dive every six and a half days through to its death plunge, scheduled to occur at about 10:45 GMT on 15 September.
The probe is scheduled for deliberate destruction to avoid any risk of it hitting and contaminating a Saturnian moon.
(18) APOLLO 13. Now there's a documentary about "The unsung heroes who prevented the Apollo 13 disaster".
Two days into what should have been a mission to the Moon, disaster struck Apollo 13. A new film explores the drama – and astronaut Jim Lovell recounts the incredible efforts to bring the crew back….
These tanks, in the spacecraft service module, were Liebergot's responsibility. They held oxygen and hydrogen, which was converted to electricity and water in three fuel cells – powering the capsule and providing the astronauts with drinking water. The routine instruction to turn on stirring fans was to make sure the liquid in the fuel vessels was properly mixed, to ensure the gauges gave accurate readings.
Swigert flicks the switches for the fans. Two minutes later, there is a bang and the master alarm sounds.
On the ground, Liebergot is beginning the last hour of his eight-hour shift and is the first to see something has gone wrong. "The data went crazy, there was a lot of commotion in the room," he says. "We didn't know what we were seeing."
That eight-hour shift would eventually end three days later.
"Houston, we've had a problem here," Lovell tells mission control. "It looks to me, looking out the hatch, that we are venting something. We are venting something out into space."
Chip Hitchcock opines, "To go with a documentary about the rescue, which I can see starting another round of does-this-qualify-for-the-DP-Hugo — provided it gets enough attention. (Released 5 weeks ago, but I don't recall it showing in Boston at all; did anyone else see it before it went to Amazon video?)
(19) BACK IN THE STEM. "Why Russia is so good at encouraging women into tech" — Chip Hitchcock introduces this with a lemony comment: "Makes an interesting contrast to the recent proposal to decriminalize wifebeating; I wonder whether their rightward political shift will affect this."
According to Unesco, 29% of people in scientific research worldwide are women, compared with 41% in Russia. In the UK, about 4% of inventors are women, whereas the figure is 15% in Russia.
Russian girls view Stem far more positively, with their interest starting earlier and lasting longer, says Julian Lambertin, managing director at KRC Research, the firm that oversaw the Microsoft interviews.
(20) PUB SIGN. Catching up on the news from 2011 — "Sizewell: Unique pub sign scoops top award" in the East Anglian Daily Times.
His unique creation features three variations on the vulcan theme – the Roman god, the delta-winged jet aircraft and the TV character Mr Spock.
Mr Fisk, who has been at the pub since 1997, decided to create a new sign after the old one was hit by a lorry around 18 months ago.
(21) HOLD EVERYTHING. In "Love in Public" on Vimeo, Noah Malone explains what happens to relationships when talking club sandwiches give gratuitous advice.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian, JJ, Chip Hitchcock, Zack Weinberg, Martin Morse Wooster, Cat Eldridge, and Carl Slaughter for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Kip W.]
Posted in Pixel Scroll	| Tagged Apollo 13, Arrival, Cassini, Chip Hitchcock, Doctor Who, E. C. Myers, Ellen Datlow, Fantastic Fiction at KGB, Hugo Awards, Mars, Matthew Kressel, Peter Capaldi, Sam J. Miller, Steve Wozniak, William Shatner
Today In History 12/19
Posted on December 19, 2014 by Mike Glyer
December 19, 1972: The splashdown of Apollo 17 marks the end of the United States' manned moon exploration program.
The Apollo 17 spacecraft landed in the Pacific Ocean at 2:25 p.m. and soon after Commander Eugene Cernan, Command Module Pilot Ronald Evans, and Lunar Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt were picked up and flown by helicopter to the recovery ship U.S.S. Ticonderoga.
Although that closed the first chapter in the history of manned space exploration, it is not the most famous fact about the mission.
As Apollo 17 was en route to the Moon, the crew took a photo of the Earth from space that became known as "The Blue Marble" photo. NASA archivist Mike Gentry has speculated that may be the most widely distributed image in human history.
Ironically, the photo is such an icon that it was even used in the 1995 Tom Hanks film Apollo 13 — every time the crew looked out the window that was the view, a photograph taken by Apollo 17. (This, despite there being photos of Earth actually taken by Apollo 13.)
The "Big Blue Marble" should not be confused with the famous "Earthrise" image taken by Apollo 8, and used in a 1969 stamp commemorating the mission.
Apollo 17 is also notable for furnishing pop culture with a couple of fictional characters. One-time astronaut Steve Austin of The Six Million Dollar Man (based on the 1972 novel Cyborg) is described in the book as watching the Earth "fall away during Apollo XVII" – indicating he was aboard the spacecraft. Likewise, in Deep Impact (1998), the President calls Spurgeon "Fish" Tanner, portrayed by Robert Duvall, the "last man to walk on the moon," implying he was a crew member.
[Thanks to John King Tarpinian for the story.]
Posted in Deep Space 770	| Tagged Apollo 13, Apollo 17, Apollo 8
Apollo 13 Anniversary Coming
Fans will make a pilgrimage to the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in 2010 to mark the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 13 mission. Roger Tener and readers of Chronicles of the Dawn Patrol have circled the April 16-17 weekend on their calendars when Astronauts Jim Lovell and Fred Haise, Flight Director Gene Kranz and other Mission Control and NASA personnel are expected to join the celebration.
The Cosmosphere did the Apollo 13 command module restoration and keeps it on display along with Jim Lovell's flown spacesuit.
The 40th anniversary weekend will include panel discussions, screenings of the Apollo 13 movie and other documentaries, a gala dinner, a chance for photos with the Apollo 13 Command Module, and autograph opportunities.
[Via Chronicles of the Dawn Patrol.]
Posted in Deep Space 770	| Tagged Apollo 13
Mike Glyer on Pixel Scroll 1/9/21 Magnetic Monopology: Do Not Exceed C, Do Not Collect 200 Zorkmids
Jeanne (Sourdough) Jackson on Fozard Guest Post About Resigning as Worldcon Co-Chair


CIMB Securities 2015-08-05: Riverstone Holdings Ltd - Riverstone Holdings Ltd - 2Q15 Results. Another spectacular quarter. Maintain HOLD.
RHB Securities 2015-08-05: Riverstone Holdings Limited - Riverstone Holdings Limited - Strong Momentum To Sustain. Maintain BUY.


vSphere Web Client extensions run at the same privilege level as the user who is logged in. A malicious extension can masquerade as a useful plug-in and perform harmful operations such as stealing credentials or changing the system configuration. To increase security, use a vSphere Web Client installation that includes only authorized extensions from trusted sources.
A vCenter installation includes the vSphere Web Client extensibility framework, which provides the ability to extend the vSphere Web Client with menu selections or toolbar icons that provide access to vCenter add-on components or external, Web-based functionality. This flexibility results in a risk of introducing unintended capabilities. For example, if an administrator installs a plug-in in an instance of the vSphere Web Client, the plug-in can then execute arbitrary commands with the privilege level of that administrator.
To protect against potential compromise of your vSphere Web Client you can periodically examine all installed plug-ins and make sure that all plug-ins come from a trusted source.
You must have privileges to access the vCenter Single Sign-On server. These privileges differ from vCenter Server privileges.
Log in to the vSphere Web Client as administrator@vsphere.local or a user with vCenter Single Sign-On privileges.
Examine the list of client plug-ins.


This day-to-night knit features eye-catching stud embellishment throughout. It has a V-neckline and flattering 3/4 length sleeves. Wear with wide leg culottes by day, and add heels and a tailored trouser for the evening.


The two day Conference on Food Security Kicked off today at 8.00am. It was officially opened by Cabinet Secretary for Devolution and Planning, Ms Anne Waiguru.
It is with great pleasure that I join you here today at this very important National Conference on Women and Food Security. I wish to thank the African Women's Studies Centre and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics for this joint venture, which has brought greater attention to the state of food security in this country through the study undertaken in the 20 counties.
The issue of food security is critical to Kenya, the National Food and Security Policy assessment of 2011 revealed that out of Kenya's estimated population of 38.5 million, over 10 million people suffered from chronic food insecurity and poor nutrition with estimates indicating that at any one time about two million people require assistance to access food.
Interventions to ensure food security for all Kenyans remain a priority of the Government. To address this situation, the Government has prioritized agriculture, livestock and food security in the Medium Term Plan 2 for the period 2013 – 2017. The MTP gives top priority to increased acreage under irrigation aimed at reducing the country's dependence on rain fed agriculture by committing to put a total of over1 million acres of land under irrigation.The Galana 1 million acre project launched by H.E the President and Deputy President in January this year, is just but the beginning of this. Other initiatives include the building of small dams and water pans in the ASAL areas, to improve rain water harvesting that can be used during the dry spells.
Efforts are also being focused on providing subsidized farm inputs in the short term, while building the national capacity to produce cheap fertilizer in the medium and long term to lower the cost of food production and in the same breath, to raise productivity.Measures will also be taken to mechanize agricultural production, revive cooperatives and farmers unions. These measures are expected to result in lower cost of food and other basic needs, hence lowering the overall cost of living.
Food production must be coupled with efficient distributions systems that ensure that food moves in the most efficient way from food surplus areas to food scarce areas. The government is therefore investing in logistics infrastructure that will enable this to happen in the most cost effective way. Further the government is maintaining the Strategic Grain Reserve to ensure that food supply is stabilized throughout the year, as such managing the cost of food.
These initiatives are in line with the global commitments and declarations which include the World Food Summit of 1996, the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), and the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programmeof the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) of 2002, to end hunger and extreme poverty.
This conference is focusing on a major issue in Kenya especially the critical role of women in food security. In Kenya, it is estimated that 80 per cent of the population lives in the rural areas majority whom are women. The overall access to food is dependent on the work of rural women who contribute 75 per cent of the agricultural labour and are the majority of the smallholder farmers.
As a Government, we appreciate the critical role of women in providing and producing food for the country. Women are responsible for making sure that their families' basic needs including food are met. The Government is cognizant of the fact that ensuring women's access to and control of productive resources such as land, access to credit, labor saving technologies, agricultural and nutrition extension services is the key to assuring food security for all.
The National Food Policy recognizes that cultural, social and political factors play an important role in the ability of individuals, households and communities to produce and access food. That the choice of which commodities to produce whether they are produced for home consumption or commercially, may be influenced by cultural and social practices. It observes that gender roles and biases play a strong part in the distribution of labour for various agricultural activities. Production of many traditional crops such as millet, sorghum, cassava and other tubers has given way to modern crops and changing diets thus affecting the balance between food security and changing tastes is critical over time.
Further, the question of food security is compounded by the reality of poverty. The Government recognizes that even as we put long-term measures towards addressing this issues, there is need for a social safety net to cushion the vulnerable in the short term. It is for this reason that we have put in place certain measure to livelihoods at the household level in Kenya.This includes the National Social Protection Policy which provides a framework of coordinating planning and implementation of effective and efficient social protection strategies. The Cash Transfer Programme for oprhans and vulnerable children; elderly persons; the disabled; the Urban Food Subsidy Programme;and the Hunger and Safety Net Programme. Other programmes worth noting are the Food Relief Distribution programme, that is a humanitarian response programme in my Ministry during periods of drought; and the School Based Feeding Programmes, for ASALs and poor areas. All these programmesareaimed at reducing poverty and vulnerability at the household level as well as improving food security of the most vulnerable persons in our society.
Sustainably addressing food security therefore, is more than just an agricultural strategy, it is an economic strategy. We need to enhance our capacity for producing food, but we also need to couple this with investment in value addition and industrial production, that will enhance incomes of farmers and provide jobs for our young people. Agribusiness holds great potential to sustainable food security as it provides a model to simultaneously address income generation and food security. Toward this end, the government has provided women and youth with avenues for credit to engage in agribusiness through the Uwezo Fund, Women Enterprise Fund and Youth Enterprise and Development Fund.
Additionally, the implementation of the preference regulations for 30% minimum reservations of all tenders for women, youth and persons with disability to enable them access government tenders will go a long way to improve and contribute to food security at the household level.
Going forward, it is expected that these initiatives aimed at supporting women entrepreneurship will catalyze growth of agri-based value addition enterprises run by women across the country.
Finally, I commend the African Women's Studies Centre and the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics for contributing, through this study to the much needed evidence based data necessary for policy formulation and planning in the area of food security with a special focus on women.


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Browse the Bibliography, Filmography and Webography
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Ziemann, Benjamin. Gewalt im Ersten Weltkrieg: Töten - Überleben - Verweigern. Essen: Klartext, 2013.
Münkler, Herfried. "Mythic Sacrifices and Read Corpses: Le Sacre du Printemps and the Great War." In Avatar of Modernity: The Rite of Spring Reconsidered, edited by Hermann Danuser and Heidy Zimmermann, 336-355. London ; Basel: Boosey & Hawkes ; Paul Sacher Foundation, 2013.
Tallett, Frank, and Erik-Jan Zürcher. "Soldiers in Western Europe, c. 1500–1790." In Fighting for a Living: A Comparative History of Military Labour, 1500–2000, 135-167. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2013.
Eglitis, Daina, and Vita Zelce. "Unruly Actors: Latvian Women of the Red Army in Post-war Historical Memory." Nationalities Papers 41, no. 6 (2013): 987-1007.
Eglitis, D., and V. Zelce. "Unruly Actors: Latvian Women of the Red Army in Post-War Historical Memory." Nationalities Papers 41, no. 6 (2013): 987-1007.
Ziolkowska-Boehm, Aleksandra. Kaia, Heroine of the 1944 Warsaw Rising. Lanham: Lexington Books, 2012.
Zelče, Vita. "Latvian Women after World War II." In Women and Men at War: A Gender Perspective on World War II and its Aftermath in Central and Eastern Europe, edited by Maren Röger and Ruth Leiserowitz, 307-328. Osnabrück: Fibre, 2012.
Zipfel, Gaby. "'Let Us Have a Little Fun': The Relationship between Gender, Violence and Sexuality in Armed Conflict Situations." Revista Crítica de Ciências Sociais (RCCS) Annual Review, no. 5 (2012): n.p.
Zimba, Benigna de Jesus L., and Organização da Mulher Moçambicana. A Mulher Moçambicana na Luta de Libertação Nacional. Maputo: Centro de Pesquisa da História da Luta de Libertação Nacional, 2012.
Zauberman, Yolande. Would you have sex with an Arab?., 2012.
Gorter, Jessica. 900 Days: Myth and Reality of the Siege of Leningrad. Netherlands: Amstelfilm, 2011.
Ziade, Lamia. Bye Bye Babylon: Beirut 1975-1979. Northampton MA: Interlink Pub Group, 2011.
Zabin, Serena R. Dangerous Economies: Status and Commerce in Imperial New York. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.
Žarkov, Dubravka. "Exposures and Invisibilities: Media, Masculinities and the Narratives of War in an Intersectional Perspective." In Framing Intersectionality: Debates on a Multi-Faceted Concept in Gender Studies, edited by Helma Lutz, Teresa Herrera Vivar and Linda Supik, 105-120. Farnham, UK ; Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2011.
Zhang, Yimou. The Flowers of War. China: EDKO Film , 2011.
German Colonialism and National Identity, Edited by Michael Perraudin and Juergen Zimmerer. New York: Routledge (for the Taylor & Francis Group), 2011.
Reid, Susan E. "'Our Kitchen Is Just as Good': Soviet Responses to the American Kitchen." In Cold War Kitchen: Americanization, Technology and European Users, edited by Ruth Oldenziel and Karin Zachmann, 83-112. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011.
Zehfuss, Maja. Wounds of Memory: The Politics of War in Germany . Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Zurbriggen, Eileen L. "Rape, War, and the Socialization of Masculinity: Why Our Refusal to Give up War Ensures That Rape Cannot Be Eradicated." Psychology of Women Quarterly 34, no. 4 (2010): 538-549.
Castillo, Greg. "The American 'Fat Kitchen' in Europe: Postwar Domestic Modernity and Marshall Plan Strategies of Enchantment." In Cold War Kitchen: Americanization, Technology, and European Users, edited by Ruth Oldenziel and Karin Zachmann, 33-67. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009.
Beyond the Latino World War II Hero: The Social and Political Legacy of a Generation, Edited by Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez and Emilio Zamora. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2009.
Cold War Kitchen: Americanization, Technology, and European Users, Edited by Oldenziel Ruth and Karin Zachmann. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2009.
Zwick, Edward. Defiance. United States: Paramount Vantage, 2009.
Tinsman, Heidi, Joan Wallach Scott, Eric D. Weitz, Gail Hershatter, Wang Zheng, Maria Bucur-Deckard, Dylan Elliot, and Joanne Meyerowitz. "AHR Forum: Revisiting 'Gender: A Useful Category of Historical Analysis'." American Historical Review 113, no. 5 (2008): 1344-1429.
Zipfel, Gaby. "Ausnahmezustand Krieg? Anmerkungen zu soldatischer Männlichkeit, sexueller Gewalt und militärischer Einhegung." In Krieg und Geschlecht. Sexuelle Gewalt im Krieg und Sex-Zwangsarbeit in NS-Konzentrationslagern, 55-74. Berlin: Metropol, 2008.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl