March Pieces Of My Mind #2

"The Killing Machine"
Ah. yes, Kokor Hekkus. Actually, he was one of the less scary demon princes. Lens Larque was much more of a freak.

I caught myself spelling it "Rundquist" a couple of times. I must have Google Translate installed in my brain.

Google translator change rund kvist to round twig!

You English experts. How do You express the Swedish municipality 'Bjuv' phonetically?

Bee-oov.

My Norman surname translates in Chinese as "horse shit".

Near where I live there is an island, the Chinese name of which translates literally as "horse shit island". It turns out, when the British first invaded and occupied Hong Kong, they asked the local Chinese for their names for various places, and with totally straight faces, the Chinese people told them some very imaginative stuff - so lots of places in Hong Kong have absolutely outrageous and satirical Chinese names.

Now we know where Pratchett got the idea!

The first editor of Analog -then named Astounding- was certainly a bit anal, not to say nuts. Campbell cleaned up the "purple" aspect of the genre, but was quite eccentric. “SF writer Alfred Bester recounted at some length his "one demented meeting" with Campbell…(snip) … Bester commented: "It reinforced my private opinion that a majority of the science-fiction crowd, despite their brilliance, were missing their marbles."

In his memoirs Isaac Asimov noted that by the late 1940s Campbell had taken up Dianetics, which Asimov described as "an odd bit of pseudo-science". Asimov didn't mention that Dianetics later formed a key part of the Church of Scientology's philosophy (if you can call it that). Asimov didn't say whether Campbell was already crazy when he took up Dianetics, but after that his relationship with Asimov was never quite the same.

But Campbell's influence on science fiction was tremendous. Campbell discovered not only Asimov, but IIRC Bradbury and Heinlein as well.

Or did they discover him, because he was who you went to if you wanted to publish sf?

There were other SF pulp magazines, but as Birger said, the stories they published (as did Analog before Campbell became its editor) tended to have a higher degree of sexual content than was considered acceptable at the time. (One of Asimov's stories, the title of which escapes me, was specifically intended as a parody of this kind of science fiction--the plot involves an alien kidnapping a male and a female human and trying to get them to demonstrate sex to the other aliens on the ship.) Campbell brought his magazine more into line with the prevailing standards. Other editors followed suit toward the end of the 1940s.

Of course, standards have changed since then. Some of Asimov's later work, and even more so Heinlein's, would probably have been too sexually explicit even for the SF pulp magazines of the 1930s.

Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land" is pretty interesting. (-;

Yes, I recall being interested.

Brian Aldisss remarks that Science Fiction appears to be oriented between a "Thinking Pole" (like Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Harrison) and a "Dreaming Pole" (Jack Vance, P J Farmer, Zelazny). Campbell belonged to the former, and demanded writers would stick by science, while he also championed various forms pf pseudoscience.
Farmer revolted to the paternalistic and puritan straightjacket, and was one of the first to systematically push the envelope for "adult" themes (his novel "A Feast Unknown" was published by Playboy Press). "The Lovers" both opposed religion and had a protagonist in a sexual relationship with an alien human-mimic.

(OT) Haha, maker-upper sued for making things up. http://freethoughtblogs.com/dispatches/2014/04/03/beck-sued-for-boston-…

(OT) This is the kind of claim I would have rejected without video proof: "Norwegian skydiver almost struck by meteorite" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzYJaQ0h4Dg Clearly the sky god has something against Norwegians.

This must be the power of speech: "shouted bar conversions".

Did anyone say "Vertibird"?
"Video: A 500 mph Helicopter" -a hybrid, simpler than a true helicopter. http://www.flyingmag.com/aircraft/helicopters/video-500-mph-helicopter
I first read an article about this concept in a 1994 article in New Scientist –they have had great problems with funding since, and had to progress at a snail’s pace but they have finally proven their second prototype workable.

(OT) Skywatching for everyone
At dusk, during April 5-7 the full moon will pass near Jupiter, which itself is underneath Pollux and Castor.
Around14-15 the thin moon crescent will be visible before dawn near Mars, Venus will be close to the horizon but bright enough to be visible.

Urban/rural archaeology? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3IsNyg8Xtw&feature=player_embedded
-It reminds me of the Tarkovsky film based on Strugatsky’s SF novel “Wayside Picnic”

Further to the above, for an insight into mid-19th Century Cantonese sense of humour:

http://hongwrong.com/hong-kong-offensive-names/

The Geographical Place Names Board just have no respect for history or traditional culture :-(

(OT) "Faster eye responses in Chinese people not down to culture" http://medicalxpress.com/news/2014-04-faster-eye-responses-chinese-peop…
Obvious cause of selection: When there are bloody dragons flying around those who notice movement in the periphery of their vision quickly will survive longer.

The original paper:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0094…

Thank you, John.
Warning: A troll named “Arnold Ruge” is really Dennis Markuze/David M*bus.
On the subject of authors: William Gibson is praising the urban gothic novel "Devil Said Bang"

Kipling also had a lot of sympathy for the enlisted man soldier and lower ranking officers that were the backbone of the British army. He was a weird character.