The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion
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Daily Chit Chat
Merry Xmas, all. We've got a cold, white one. Not too much snow thankfully, but it's only 17 degrees out. Brrr...The kids, Josh & Erin, are going to come up for breakfast about 9am & we expect the boys & Mom will call us then. We'll probably have a Zoom call with the grandmonsters at some point. Otherwise it should be a lazy day.
Shortly after my last post, we lost Internet service until about 5pm today, Sunday, due to the Nashville bombing. It proves how intricate our infrastructure is. I live almost 5 hours north of Nashville, TN in Kentucky.
I've read more than a few heartbreaking stories about hospitals separating loved ones. I thought it kind of made sense, but was a shame. Now I'm not so sure about the former.I had to go to the ER since a reaction to medication ruined my breathing (bad bronchial spasms) & they wouldn't let my wife in. I'm gasping for breath & they're asking me all these silly questions she could have answered. Really ticked me off.
I hope you are home and feeling better, Jim. And I hope it had nothing to do with this awful scourge.
I've finished up my 2020 on Goodreads & it was another great year of reading even though I read fewer books. Most were nonfiction, amazingly good with some stranger than fiction; mostly those on parasites, but some history makes the mark, too.https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
My reading was off 60% this year. I only made it to 20 when I usually read well over 50 books. This COVID stresses knocked me flat, just exhausted everyday after work.
Jim wrote: "Shortly after my last post, we lost Internet service until about 5pm today, Sunday, due to the Nashville bombing. It proves how intricate our infrastructure is. I live almost 5 hours north of Nashv..."Huh. My eldest sister's son lives near Nashville, in a pleasant suburb a bit east (ims): Franklin, maybe? She was visiting him, and on our family Zoom the day after Xmas, she said they really only knew about the blast from the news!
Strange incident. Suicide by blowing up his RV! At least he only killed himself. And he did warn the neighbors....
Jim wrote: "I've finished up my 2020 on Goodreads & it was another great year of reading even though I read fewer books. Most were nonfiction, amazingly good with some stranger than fiction; mo..."I'll return to this. Thanks!
Sorry to read of your shabby treatment at the hospital. I suppose everyone is on edge there with the Corona. Life and death! Still....
Hope you are recovering and feeling better! Are you back at home?
Thanks, Peter. Yes, I'm back home, although it was close. The hospital is caught by the lockdown regulations that didn't make much sense in this case.One of the deciding factors was my refusal to stay due to the lack of my wife. After almost 40 years together, we find it practically impossible to function alone for long. She knows me far better than I know myself. I've never paid much attention to my body. It's just always worked, but now I have to do all sorts of things to regulate it. She's really good at knowing what to do & getting me to do it. I'm stupid about it.
When I started this new drug, they told me I'd get worse for the first 6 weeks or so & then get better. I'm on week 5, so pretty much at the low point. I'm really looking forward to feeling better. I'm used to being active & have never been sick this long before. The only hospitalizations I've had before were just broken bones & stitches, nothing this bad. As it stands now, walking out to the mailbox & back is a major accomplishment. It sucks!
Sorry about the whining. I still feel awful & am foggy. I haven't even been able to listen to an audiobook for days & reading is tough. Thankfully, I have a lot of movies & TV shows to watch. I'm really enjoying some of the old B SF movies.
Jim wrote: "After almost 40 years together, we find it practically impossible to function alone for long. She knows me far better than I know myself. "Glad you made it home! We're at 42+ years together. Not only does she know me better -- she doesn't hesitate to take control! Or try to....
Megan McCardle, a sharp, funny, good-looking writer, wrote this @ Bloomberg AWB:
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles...
"Every married couple quickly discovers the irreconcilable differences that will provide many lively hours of conflict well into their golden years."
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles...
Paywalled, but even the spl is VERY entertaining.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Megan_M...
Congrats on 42 years! It's 39 for us. We got separated for 6 weeks on our 25th wedding anniversary while moving to this place. We talked every evening for over an hour & found out just how much we depend on each other. I didn't know what groceries to buy or even what size clothes I wear. She found out that all those little things that break around the house don't fix themselves. It was one of the best things to happen to our marriage. The tendency to take each other for granted is strong.Interesting woman from the Wikipedia article. I'll keep an eye out for anything of hers that isn't paywalled.
We do make good partners. And still fight a LOT. Irishwoman! Stubborn old fool! [me]The bickering gets old. The cats run and hide... 🙀
We are getting well into the "til Death does us Part" zone. Not a happy prospect. It's no wonder that, for old married couples, the death of one often leads to the death of the other not long after.
We rarely bicker cause she's The Boss. ;)
Us, too. Several in my family barely lasted a very unhappy year after the loss of their spouse. I can understand that now.
I have 37 in with mine. Whenever I watch the news and you hear about a family getting murdered over the turkey, I tell her I am really glad to be married to her. We bicker like all long term married people, but lost without each other. Although, I suspect she would be far better at moving on than I would.
Papaphilly wrote: "I have 37 in with mine. ... I suspect she would be far better at moving one than I would. "I presume that's intended to be "moving on" ?
Peter wrote: "Papaphilly wrote: "I have 37 in with mine. ... I suspect she would be far better at moving one than I would. "I presume that's intended to be "moving on" ?"
Yes...Sheesh....Somebody is a grammar Nazi....8^)
On a totally new topic... I have been trying to get into Leviathan Wakes byJames S.A. CoreyWhile I loved the teaser at the beginning with Julie Mao I am struggling to immerse in the narrative when it reaches Canterbury did anyone else have this problem? Should I just put it down, read something else, then come back to it maybe...
Deborah wrote: "On a totally new topic... I have been trying to get into Leviathan Wakes byJames S.A. CoreyWhile I loved the teaser at the beginning with Julie Mao I am struggling ..."
If I were you... I'd skip all the way up to Book #5, Nemesis Games, as that's the first one that really clicked for me (4 stars). They only hit it out of the park at #7, Persepolis Rising -- but you maybe want a little backgrounding first? https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
YMMV!
Deborah wrote: "On a totally new topic... I have been trying to get into Leviathan Wakes byJames S.A. Corey..."I flew through the book & wound up giving it 5 stars, rare for a fiction book. I never wanted to read further in the series, though.
Mod
I gave up at 100 pages. I tried the TV show and gave up at 30 minutes. Can't really explain why, but it was a total snooze-fest for me. Popular, though.
I like the series, hasn't watched TV show and for me its strong point - it doesn't slide downward in quality as most series do. Yes the first one get a bit of hard-to-read pieces but I still enjoyed it (read 2 times)
Peter wrote: "Deborah wrote: "On a totally new topic... I have been trying to get into Leviathan Wakes byJames S.A. CoreyWhile I loved the teaser at the beginning with Julie Mao ..."
oh no... that bad? And I had heard such good things.
Oleksandr wrote: "I like the series, hasn't watched TV show and for me its strong point - it doesn't slide downward in quality as most series do. Yes the first one get a bit of hard-to-read pieces but I still enjoye..."I did love the series. Ok, I will persevere.
My wife & I really liked the TV series, too. It's gotten a bit weird, but still good.
William D, a UK fan, archived this wonderful clip from the taking of the LDS Nauvoo: http://www.wdonelson.com/The.Expanse....I keep meaning to look for that show. Amazing stuff.
Deborah wrote: "On a totally new topic... I have been trying to get into Leviathan Wakes byJames S.A. CoreyWhile I loved the teaser at the beginning with Julie Mao I am struggling ..."
I hated it. And like you I also enjoyed the prologue. After that it quickly devolved into mindless action with enormous plot holes acted out by flimsy stereotypes. I enjoyed the "special engines" the ship had, that took the main characters wherever in the solar system the next plot point was about to occur.
RJ from the LBC wrote: "After that it quickly devolved into mindless action with enormous plot holes acted out by flimsy stereotypes"I agree on plot holes and the mc - Holden is maybe weakest as a character in the book, but others are still good
I loved the series, that was one reason why, when so many people seemed to love the book, that I thought I would try it. There is a lot of sci-fi out there though, and this is a big book, which once again I failed to get into yesterday. I might move on to another, at least for a while.If I have just read some really fluffy books I might appreciate it more.
Deborah wrote: "this is a bog book, which once again I failed to get into yesterday."Does "bog" mean the same in OZ as in the UK?
UK slang: I never got "taking the piss" either! 😳
Or is that Scottish?
Regional accents: We lived in Ireland for a year for my Senior year in HS. I had no trouble with most Dublin accents -- but rural Eire, especially in the West, could be tough!
And my two youngest sisters both went home with Oklahoma-Irish accents. Which was just as odd as it sounds. Twang + brogue!
Peter wrote: "Deborah wrote: "this is a bog book, which once again I failed to get into yesterday."Does "bog" mean the same in OZ as in the UK?
UK slang: I never got "taking the piss" either! 😳
Or is that Scot..."
Well, it was actually a typo... a big book. I assume in the UK it means 'marsh/swamp' because of the Irish connection; peat bogs?
With possible slang of bog=toilet?
Nasty pub urinal, I think. I've never actually used one of those in the UK. But they can get pretty boggy over here, too.One of the few benefits of the Pandemic! But I quit going to bars long before that. And never much liked them. Can't imagine trying to pick up girls in a bar! What if you liked her? And was a rummie? 🥴
Peter wrote: "Nasty pub urinal, I think. I've never actually used one of those in the UK. But they can get pretty boggy over here, too.One of the few benefits of the Pandemic! But I quit going to bars long befo..."
I agree, I would never pick up a girl in a pub, of course I don't pick up girls.
Bog is used by certain people in Aus as toilet, it is not common though. I'm not sure if it is a Bogun thing, an armed forces thing or a Canberra one... I only know a couple of people who use it and most Aussies would not know what it meant.
I am flabbergasted by how bad the fence estimates were. I'm not talking about cost, but the information & how it's presented. Getting a badly handwritten document is ludicrous, but both were. Measurements on one weren't mentioned for one section, were in fence panels (8' sections) for others, & linear feet for others. The other was just in linear feet, but I had 6 different sections numbered on a map so there would be no confusion. One doesn't number them at all while the other uses letters that don't correspond to the numbers. Worse, their measurements aren't even close for what I think are the same areas!If I could afford to do all 6 sections, it's a $10,000 project. That's my entire budget & I still have buy gravel which will likely be about $1500, so I can't do them all which means I really need to pick & choose, but I can't glean the information from the estimates well enough to do that. I explained that to them while we were going around measuring.
My brilliant daughter mentioned that the rolling measuring wheels could be way off if they weren't used properly. Usually that's because they're run too fast over hard ground so they're either bumping up & spinning in the air or not spinning, depending on how old & free the wheel is. She suggested using Google maps, so I did. A few of those I can estimate by eye & Google looks right. I'm going to go out & use our rolling measuring wheel (Marg's Xmas present this year) & count paces for a couple of sections just to double check. I guess I'll make up my own estimate. Sigh.
Deborah wrote: "Well, it was actually a typo... a big book. I assume in the UK it means 'marsh/swamp' because of the Irish connection; peat bogs?With possible slang of bog=toilet?"
Yeah, both meanings are generally accepted in the UK. Asking someone to use their bogs while visiting their home might raise an eyebrow, although if you said it with an obvious non-British accent it would probably raise a laugh instead.
There's also the phrase "bog-standard", which means basic/common. Not sure how that one came about!
Peter wrote: "I had no trouble with most Dublin accents -- but rural Eire, especially in the West, could be tough!"This is my go-to video for an incomprehensibly strong Irish accent: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jsUvc...
Deborah wrote: "I agree, I would never pick up a girl in a pub, of course I don't pick up girls."
😇
Well, in this modern age, you could! And raise no (well, fewer) eye-brows. Here's my writer friend Nicola Griffith & her then-GF. If this doesn't make you go Aww, what will?
https://nicolagriffith.com/2018/06/26...
Aww... ❤️
Jim wrote: "I am flabbergasted by how bad the fence estimates were. I'm not talking about cost, but the information & how it's presented. Getting a badly handwritten document is ludicrous, but both were. Measu..."Buy yourself an laser tape measure. there are deadly accurate and you can it by yourself. If an estimate is unreadable, that is a company you do not want.
Sabri wrote: "Peter wrote: "I had no trouble with most Dublin accents -- but rural Eire, especially in the West, could be tough!"This is my go-to video for an incomprehensibly strong Irish accent: https://www...."
Indeed. From deepest County Kerry! Ring of Kerry! Lakes of Killarney! People who (allegedly) speak English!
It is awfully pretty out there. WHen the sun shines. Sadly, we were there in Winter....
Extra points: county seat is Tralee! Trala, traloo... Haloo?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/County_...
Peter wrote: "Deborah wrote: "I agree, I would never pick up a girl in a pub, of course I don't pick up girls."
😇
Well, in this modern age, you could! And raise no (well, fewer) eye-brows. Here's my writer frie..."
Oh wow - I realised halfway through that is the author of Ammonite...
Deborah wrote: "Oh wow - I realised halfway through that is the author of Ammonite..."Ayup. Hell of a writer. I visited her once, in Seattle. Sadly her other half was gone for the day.
It's been many years since I read Ammonite, and she doesn't do much SF/F these days. If you haven't seen it, and would like to try a Really Good, edgy thriller/power-fantasy: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I don't think I knew when I read it, what she was looking at with the MS. So this was by way of fantasy-compensation, I think. Doubly a pity, as NG was VERY athletic as a young woman.
Papaphilly wrote: "Buy yourself an laser tape measure. there are deadly accurate and you can it by yourself. If an estimate is unreadable, that is a company you do not want."It's fencing measurements, hundreds of feet with nothing to bounce a beam off of. Google maps was perfect for the job, but Google Earth online was even better. It allowed me to get accurate area measurements for the fields, even oddly shaped ones.
Typically, I'd agree with you about using a company that can't give me a decent estimate, but stock fencing works differently than something like remodeling. Subcontractors do the actual work & any estimate can be thrown off by rocks or roots. A roll of wire is $250 & partially used rolls are left on site, so I pay for them, too.
Anyway, the estimates were really disappointing because it's obvious these guys are Luddites. I mostly got the measurement to check price since $0.50/foot will make a difference of $400. The subcontractor that did our fencing 13 years ago is still working for one of the companies, so I'll probably get that one to do it again. The guy wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, but he did a good job once I got the basics beat into his head & I'm sure he'll still remember me since we've run into each other a few times over the years. He's the cousin or something of our postman, too. Small town & my pickiness is memorable.
He kept wanting to make the fence look pretty rather than work for stock. For instance, he wanted the boards to face the house rather than the stock which is typical around here, but really stupid. Our horses are constantly pushing on the fence wanting to eat the bushes they can reach, scratching, playing with the dogs, &/or to get our attention so we'll feed them. If the boards didn't face them, they'd push them right off the nails. I had to make him turn all the posts. While it delayed the project, it didn't cost me any extra since the job is priced by the foot of fence actually installed.
Jim wrote: "Papaphilly wrote: "Buy yourself an laser tape measure. there are deadly accurate and you can it by yourself. If an estimate is unreadable, that is a company you do not want."It's fencing measurem..."
I figured it had to be something like that. I once had a handyman install my bathroom window and could not get him to understand why the glass had to be frosted. I live in an urban area. As much as I once had the body of a Greek Adonis, I am closer to Rubens nudes now. I don't want to scare the neighbors. Yet it almost came to a classic beating for him.
Oy! It's really tough when they're oblivious to something so obvious. Marg found some stick on lacy stuff that can be put on windows for privacy for my bathroom windows even though we live in the country. They face our main parking area & are just low enough that a person outside would get a crotch shot of anyone inside at eye level. We just put the stuff on the lower section & have to be careful when the weather is nice & the windows are open.
The stimulus check let me get Marg a new laptop without touching the fence fund. (Yes, the fencing comes first.) I got her a nice one from Dell, an Inspiron 15 5000 Win 10 with an i7 cpu, 12 gb RAM & a 500gb SSD. Hopefully it will last her another 5 years.I'm definitely getting better. I made it into work on Thursday despite the snow & cold. It was tough, but I was able to get through the morning & didn't pass out as soon as I got home. Probably sounds pretty minor, but a few weeks ago I couldn't walk out to get the mail. I'll be really happy when I can get out into the shop again. It's been over a month.
It's good to hear that you are getting more mobile, Jim.
Jim wrote: "Oy! It's really tough when they're oblivious to something so obvious. Marg found some stick on lacy stuff that can be put on windows for privacy for my bathroom windows even though we live in the c..."People are funny about privacy. Our 2nd-floor bath (actually 3rd-level: hillside house) faces the neighbors garage. No curtain, but she's always careful to turn off the light when she uses it. I won't give her age, but....
Personally, I could care less, and never lower the blinds on the downstairs bath, the one I use. Which only faces a string of vacant lots , up a hillside, and a far-off dirt rd anyway.
11.5 inches of rain in the last 36 hours! As much as we got in the 1st year we lived here! Cambria, Calif. Classic Pacific "atmospheric river" aka Pineapple Express! Glad our house was built on the upslope! Guy below us was out frantically filling sandbags and shoveling out the drainage ditch by his house. He had about 3 in of freeboard at the flood crest, I think. Better than the former tenant did, before it was remodeled & sold.
For $550K!!! 1100 ft-2, 4000 sq ft lot, and a drainage problem! 'Bargain' for coastal Calif. Worth more now, I'm sure (if it didn't flood!) Hope he bought flood insurance.
Despite 10 or 12 hours without power, frozen food was fine. House got pretty cold! Mess outside, but no trees down (here). Elsewhere: many!
Good luck in the flood, Peter. Glad your house seems to be sticking to the slope & isn't getting flooded.
Jim wrote: "The stimulus check let me get Marg a new laptop without touching the fence fund. (Yes, the fencing comes first.) I got her a nice one from Dell, an Inspiron 15 5000 Win 10 with an i7 cpu, 12 gb RAM..."Exactly the same laptop I just got, by tht sound of it!
Jim wrote: "Good luck in the flood, Peter. Glad your house seems to be sticking to the slope & isn't getting flooded."We're good. Just a box of old newspapers that got wet under the house! Maybe a couple other KD boxes I was saving 'for a rainy day'!
The Evolution of Science Fiction
Books mentioned in this topic
A History of the English Speaking Peoples, 4 Vols (other topics)Charmian Kittredge London: Trailblazer, Author, Adventurer (other topics)
A City on Mars: Can We Settle Space, Should We Settle Space, and Have We Really Thought This Through? (other topics)
Bleak House (other topics)
A Night in the Lonesome October (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Winston Churchill (other topics)Roger Zelazny (other topics)
Felix Salten (other topics)
Sam Kean (other topics)
Chuck Tingle (other topics)
More...
Mo’ fas’er an’ fas’er de’ gator dey came
He whistle an’ holler an’ call dem by name:
“Ha, Gaston! Ha, Tiboy! Ha, Pi..."
Heh. Another Coon-ass here....
I sure do miss grandma's gumbo!
Not to mention, the muffulettas at Camelia Grill!