Nov 212023
 

Bruce Springsteen’s 1984 song “Born in the USA” is famous not only for having been incredibly popular, bit for being “misunderstood.” Springsteen’s intent, as is pretty clear by a straight reading of the lyrics, is to tell the tale not just of a Viet Nam vet (the US was barely a decade out from that expensive but successful war and incredibly unsuccessful peace), but of a nation in disrepair. But it was grabbed onto by the political right – such as President Ronald Reagan – as a a rah-rah USA USA USA song to rally around. Then as now, leftists explain this as Republicans & conservatives being “media illiterate” or simply dumb. But is that really the case? Consider my own experience.

When it came out I was a dumbass early teenager with no particular political leanings. Yet I also saw the song as pro-USA, and I loved the hell out of it. And, yes, I listened to and understood the lyrics, and saw the darkness therein. But I – and I suspect a whole lot of other people – simply interpreted them differently from the intention of Springsteen. Yes, the lyrics reference the dire economic situation faced by *many* people at the time, coming out of the OPEC oil embargoes and Carters economic flailings and the collapse of the Apollo program and all the rest. But here’s the thing: two people can look at the same thing and see very different results… same screen, different movies.

Everybody in the US in the early 80’s knew that things sucked. You could hardly experience Carter and inflation and stagflation and Iran and the Soviets and the collapse of the iron, auto, farming and a bunch of other industries and not notice it. But there are two ways to deal with “things suck:” despair and determination. And thus we had two different approaches to understanding the song:

Leftists: “Things suck in the USA, therefore the USA sucks.”

Rightists: “Things suck in the USA right now. But we’ll fix it.”

In 1984, things sucked. But they didn’t suck quite as bad as they had a few years before, and things were clearly improving. Those in the middle and on the right saw this, and interpreted “Born in the USA” in that light.

And we got this for the 1984 Presidential campaign:

Essentially, “Born in the USA” was a negative ad against the US that got turned into a positive ad for the US. And that irritated the hell out of a lot of lefties who wanted to wallow in despair… and wanted everyone else to do the same.  Turning it into a nationalistic anthem was a giant middle finger to the nattering nabobs of negativity.

Positivity and optimism can do wonders in an election, and in society. “I Like Ike,” JFK’s “Camelot,” “Morning in America,” “Make America Great Again,” etc. Turning a negative into a positive is a sign you’re on the right road.

 Posted by at 11:44 pm
Nov 202023
 

I recently re-watched the 1998 movie “Pleasantville.” For those unaware, this starred a pre-Spiderman Tobey McGuire as a kid who’s a fan of the fictional 1950’s black and white TV show “Pleasantville,” sort of a cliche of the bland, utopian family shows of the time. It turns into a fantasy when Don Knotts shows up as a TV repairman who gives Tobey’s character a magical remote that zaps Tobey and his sister, played by Reese Witherspoon, into an episode of “Pleasantville.” There everything is in black and white, the world is *extremely* limited, and the other people are devoid of curiosity or initiative, just fulfilling their roles. The two new people begin to add a note of chaos to things, and in the process the characters begin to have awakenings… and color seeps into the environment. A flower here, a tongue there, and soon signs, trees, cars and whole people are appearing in glorious technicolor as they realize that there’s more to life than their roles. It’s an amusing fantasy that I first saw in the late 90’s, and last saw probably more than 20 years ago.

But upon rewatching it… I’ve decided it’s not just some lighthearted fantasy. It’s a sequel to “Tron.”

The “TV show” is a simulation based on the old TV show. The characters are actual NPCs, nonsentient avatars just going through their programmed motions. The “magic remote” is a much more advanced version of the laser “scanner” from “Tron,” and it uploads the two new users into the Pleasantville grid. The simulation is capable of learning and growth, and the non-sentient NPC slowly, and sometimes quickly,  come to awareness. And when characters or objects get a resolution increase, they go from black and white to color. At the end, the simulation expands: previously, when you went to the end of Main Street, you found yourself at the beginning of Main Street: the simulated universe was at best a few miles across. but now there is a college in the town of Springfield, 12 miles away. The simulation is growing.

I assume Don Knotts is a former employee of Encom, likely a friend and co-worker of Kevin Flynn. In “Tron: Legacy” Flynn is stated to have disappeared in 1989, and we find out that he’d been stuck in a simulation of his own ever since. In 1982’s “Tron,” the laser scanner was the size of a building; by 1989 it was portable enough to be installed in a basement. I guess Knotts, who was clearly enough of a fan of the old “Pleasantville” show to have created a simulation based on it, had continued development to the point where the scanner was now hand-held. Throughout the course of the movie it’s shown that he stays in a “TV Repair” van outside the real-world house of the two experimental subjects; perhaps the scanner is connected to the actual simulation hardware contained within the van through a wifi system.

At the end of the movie, Tobey returns to the real world, while his mean-girl, vapid and slutty sister stays behind: she does so because she, too has come to an awakening, and is now going to the college that appears at the end of the movie. Since several days had passed within the simulation while less than and hour had passed in the real world, the sister should be able to get a fair education in relatively short real-world time; of course, the education will be uncredentialed. But it’s better to be educated than not, regardless of whether you can prove it with paperwork. On the other hand… at the end Knotts drives away, presumably taking the simulation with him. How will Tobey get back into it? How will his sister get out? How will they communicate? These are left unanswered

 Posted by at 1:27 pm
Nov 182023
 

A common trope in science fiction is the discovery of “an element that does not appear on the periodic table.” This is of course nonsense… if the element has three protons, it’s lithium, full stop. And we’ve discovered – or invented – every element up to Element 118, Oganesson. These higher elements are quite unstable, generally having half lives of microseconds to minutes… but there is a suspected “island of stability” with some of these heavier elements if you can nail the isotopes correctly. Which nobody has.

But even if you can reliably manufacture the stable versions of these heavy elements on an industrial scale, the likelihood of them being useful to make spaceships or battle armor is low… and they’d still appear on the periodic table. Their physical properties probably won’t be that terribly interesting. Oganesson, for example, melts at a boring 52 C/125 F, and has a density of only 7.2 gm/cubic cm.

But Amazing Materials are terribly useful in science fiction. Witness Star Trek’s “dilithium,” a crystal that somehow or other allows matter-antimatter reactions that are controllable and useful. In Babylon 5 there was Quantium 40, necessary for the construction of jumpgates.  So what the hell are these?

 

I kinda recall that “Quantium 4o” was just bog-standard potassium-40 that had been close enough to a supernova to be *somethinged,* and changed at the quantum level *somehow,* resulting in a material that does Amazing Things.  How about dilithium? Well, dilithium is a real substance…. just a molecule with two lithium atoms bonded together in the gas phase. It’s clearly not the same thing as Trek’s “dilithium crystals,” and certainly not the later “trilithium resin” which has the interesting property that a few grams of the stuff can cause all fusion to cease in a star moments after it’s dropped in.

So… what the hell are Trekkian “dilithium,” or “vibranium” or “adamantium” or “byzanium” or “naquadah?” A century or more ago, fabulous new elements like “cavorite” could be thrown in without issue, because the list of known elements was massively incomplete. We can’t do that today.

In general, unless it’s important to the story, there’s neither need nor benefit to explaining such details in a story… it just exists. But now we know that there are no slots in the periodic table for new elements, so introducing them raises questions. So how to create actual new elements?

Honestly… I don’t know. But I’ve got an ill-formed probably crappy idea.

 

Take “dilithium.” Clearly “lithium” has something to do with it. Presumably *two* lithiums, given the name. If you simply stick two lithium atoms together, you get the previously mentioned uninteresting real-world “dilithium.” If you mash the lithiums together hard enough that the nuclei bond together, you no linger have lithium, you have carbon. This is just the way it is.

 

But while we can’t really posit new elements, we *can* posit the discovery, creation, utilization of new particles. We’re not done discovering such things. So *perhaps* there is a particle that can, say, replace neutrons in a nuclei, fullfilling the same function of gluing the protons into place. But they have a different effect on the electron shells. Perhaps to the point where two lithium nuclei so modified will actually stick together, but not actually fuse into carbon. Sort of a contact binary nuclei. Or these mystery particles are simply added to the neutrons and protons; being the same mass as a proton, if you add six of these new particles to a lithium atom you double the mass… thus di-lithium. These modified atoms would undoubtedly have very different properties from the regular stuff… properties the writer can simply declare. Adamantium, for instance, is a modification of helium; this turns it into a metal that, apparently, melts at a low temperature *once*, but when it solidifies it becomes not only insanely hard and tough, its melting temperature shoots way up.

 

In recent years one of the more popular fictional elements is “unobtanium” from “Avatar,” a room temperature superconductor. This *has* to be a new pseudo-element, rather than an alloy or compound. Because if it was the latter, a technological species with the ability to create antimatter-powered relativistic starships could simply synthesize the stuff. There’d be no need to mine it light years away. But if it was a material made from exotic particles… shrug.

 Posted by at 11:50 pm
Nov 042023
 

Several models of the Starship Enterprise were built for the original “Star Trek” series. The most famous is the 11-foot model which was used for most of the effects shots, and *amazingly* managed to survive long enough to end up in the hands of the National Air and Space Museum. But before the 11-footer was a 3-footer. This was made early on, and was solid wood with no lighting; still, it was used in a number of shots. This model stayed in the hands of Gene Roddenberry, modified to rest on a mike stand bolted to a wooden base. This model was lent to the first special effects house during the production of the aborted “Star Trek Phase II” series in the mid-70’s… and then it vanished. Whether it was stolen, misplaced or lost has not been clear, but Roddenberry considered it to be stolen. Stuff like this that disappears stands a good chance of never being seen again. Witness many of the models made for “2001: A Space Odyssey.”

But then, the “Aries Ib” model for “2001” was found a few years ago. And as it turns out, that 3-foot Enterprise was recently found. It was in a storage unit, purchased by someone who buys such things at auction. The new owner then put it on ebay with a starting price of a mere $1000. And then Star Trek fandom found out about it and has been going nuts. The Roddenberry estate contacted the seller and the auction has been pulled.

News was revealed here:

https://www.therpf.com/forums/threads/red-alert-lost-3-ft-tos-enterprise-found.354596/

The current seller has broken no laws… it seems he just bought an abandoned storage unit. But the Enterprise remains stolen property and should be returned to the Roddenberry estate. Still… it sure seems like the seller aught to be compensated for finding this thing, even if he didn’t really know quite what he had. It’s in pretty rough shape, as can be expected. With luck it’ll receive some sort of restoration, though arguments can be made for exactly how far that should go. It should definitely be cleaned up. It’s drooping and cracked; that should be fixed. But fixing the paint and decals? I don’t know about that. Perhaps it, unlike the NASM Enterprise, should retain the appearance of years. There are some “errors” that were there from the beginning, those should stay.

It is very unlikely that this will ever see an auction. But if it does, it’ll doubtless go for Lotto-levels  of cash.

The photos from the ebay listing:

 Posted by at 10:13 pm
Oct 242023
 

I guess this is kinda cool, a dress – at least the front side of one – composed of “scales” that can change from mirror-chrome to dull metallic on command. But even though it’s made of individual scales, it does not appear to be terribly flexible, and seems likely to be uncomfortable.

Still, if it could do more than just “shiny/matte,” but actually change colors, it seems like it might have a future. Specifically… plate *actual* steel scales with this material and make practical lamellar armor that can change color. That seems like it might be an interesting fashion for the future as society continues to get “enriched.” Shiny, perhaps even golden, armor when you’re out and about, and at the flick of a switch it turns matte black when the time comes to throw down.

Sure, here it seems to be pitched at the female market. But I suggest culturally appropriating the tech and making it the Must Have Man Product of the 2030’s.

 

 Posted by at 11:51 pm
Oct 172023
 

All evidence points to the forthcoming “Snow White” live action movie from Disney being something of a train wreck. It is a remake of the 19430’s animated classic, but it’s getting rid of pretty much everything… Snow White was originally prettier than the Evil Queen, now she’s objectively “meh;” Snow White was originally a love story, now Prince Charming is wholly absent and the Snow White character seems to be devoid of any motive but personal ambition for power; Snow White had seven dwarves, now a Bennetton Ad of “magical creatures;” and originally the actress for Snow White wasn’t an insufferable doofus, now it’s Rachel Zegler. *Lots* of people have a serious problem with almost every decision Disney has made here.

But here’s the thing: “Snow White” is public domain. Anyone can make a Snow White movie.

So the conservative “Daily Wire” new outlet is doing just that. Is it going to be any good? I dunno. Honestly I’m dubious… “really high quality movies” is not something I normally associate with “politically driven media company.” And it is in a way something of a “mockbuster,” a movie made specifically to ride the coat tails of a much more expensive studio production. But it is the right way to counter Disney’s crap: do it yourself. Make an effort to show how it *should* be done.

 

The “Bent Key” production company seems to be going all-out on content creation:

I have hopes that this will work out. Not because I have any particular interest in Bent Key (first I heard of ’em was when I saw the Snow White trailer), but because if they succeed, *maybe* there’s a very slim chance of some stories getting told correctly. If they can get the rights, imagine a *proper* telling of, say, “Have Spacesuit Will Travel” or “Red Planet” or “Rocketship Galileo,” or – and this would be spectacular – “Tom Swift Jr.” I have no idea if they *want* to tell these classic SF yarns, but I do know that I don’t want legacy Hollywood to tackle them. Because they *would* (and have) screw them up to the point of mutilating them.

 Posted by at 1:36 am
Oct 122023
 

NOTE: The post below was originally from 2008. But for some reason, it seems like it might be worth a second look.


The basic issue comes down to this… the Israelies had the poor manners to occupy Muslim territory. Granted, it was Christian territory before the Muslims conquered it, and Roman Pagan territory before the Chistians conquered it, and Jewish territory before the Romans conquered it… but apparently Muslims are real twitchy about Muslim territory being made “not Muslim territory anymore.” The consequence of this is that the Israelies are forever going to be in a state of siege. It doesn’t help that both sides see that little scrap of land as their Rightful Gift From God. When people are convinced that their God wants them to be someplace, they’ll often enough make some effort to actually be there.

So, what to do? I have a suggestion. It would work. It only has one serious flaw.

It boils down to this: give up on the scrap of land currently known as “Israel.” Pull the Israeli people out, put them somewhere else. However, the entirety of land area on Earth, except for Antarctica, is owned by somebody. So, whereever New Israel might be, is currently already somebody else’s. At first blush, that means the problem has not been solved… same issue as with Israel/Palestine. But here’s the thing: most people on Earth are sane enough that they can be bought. This was not the case in the Middle East…. they’s crazy. But there are lots of scraps of land that can be had, if you just know how to bargain. And I have just the scrap of land: northern Mexico. Specifically, a strip along the US/Mexico border, 50 miles wide, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific.

A few questions:

1) How much would this cost? I have no friggen’ clue. Probably a trillion dollars or more.

2) Who would pay for this? I’d suggest a split between the US and Israel, both governmental and private donors. I’d suggest that the bulk of it come from the US, and be paid to Mexico over a period of, say, thirty years. Israel would be on the hook to repay the US over the following thirty years or so.

3) Why would the Israelies want this? They’d have their own spot of land for Nuevo Israel, with an ally on one side, and on the other… someone who at the very least doesn’t really give a rats ass.

4) Why would the US want this? Several reasons. For starters, we could finally tell the Middle East to go piss up a rope. The ME’s troubles are hardly going to go away if the Israelies bug out; the local Arab governments are simply going to have to scramble to find some other bullshit strawgoblin to rattle their populace with. Second, having Israel on the southern border would mean nothing but goodness for the US. Illegal immigration would slow to a crawl; the drug trade would be similarly stymied. Cross-border crime from Mexican drug gangs would be a thing of the past. Any drug gangs on the Mexico/Nuevo Israel border who to tried to cause a ruckus would find out that the IDF is not as hand-tied as the US border patrol. The costs involved in this land purchase would, in the long run, be a pittance compared to the savings to the American penal and health care systems, never mind the economy in general.

5) Why would the Mexican government want this? Buckets of money.

6) Why would the Mexican people want this? Many probably wouldn’t… but again, there’s that “buckets of money” thing. The deal could ladle out large sums to Mexican families currently living in the strip to move south. Mexicans who don’t want to leave could be incorporated into Nuevo Israel, much as many Arabs were integrated into Israel. Those who stay would find that their surroundings would get vastly better. Instead of corrupt Mexican cops and government, there’d be the NIDF forces. Criminals would very quickly find themselves deported to Old Mexico.

OK, here’s the big, HUGE stumbling block: God. Getting God’s Chosen People to clear off of God’s Chosen Real Estate could be trouble. Still, the majority of the Israelies seem like reasonably reasonable folk… just as reasonable religious folk see Genesis not as literal fact but as allegorical, so could the idea of “Israel is wherever the Israelies are” be spun.

Also, there are a whole lot of Christian and Jewish “holy sites” in the current land of Israel. Well… presumably they’ll still be there, even after the Palestinians sweep in and loot whatever the Israelies leave behind. And once the Israelies are gone, the Arab world (along with the rest of the world) will stop giving a damn about Palestine; after the famine and general pestilence passes through and burns out the whackadoodle element, the tourism trade will be all that’s left, and should do brisk business with Nuevo Israelies visiting the ancient homeland once or twice in their lives. Practically, this should be doable… after all, all Muslims with the means of doing so are supposed to visit Mecca at least once in their lives, but they seem to be fine with going back home to Indonesia or Canada or wherever once the visit’s over.

And hey… if as the Israelies are packing up and leaving they dig up the Temple Mount and ship it across the sea… who’d notice?

Below is a map showing the rough geometry of Nuevo Israel as a 50-mile-wide strip. There’d be some good seashore for ports, both east and west. Off in the Pacific is the current state of Israel for scale. Clearly, Nuevo Israel would be vastly larger. Lots of room to grow… and seeing what the Israelies did with the Negev desert, it would not be shocking if, a century or three down the line, the US/Mexico border is easily seen from the Moon as a verdant belt fifty miles wide.

neuvoisrael2a.jpg

 Posted by at 10:37 pm
Sep 302023
 

Is it proper to shoot a stranger who follows you around at close distance, behaves menacingly and has his buddies film you? This jury said “yes.” My main question: “Why did this even go to trial?”

Jury acquits man of main charge in Virginia mall shooting of YouTube prankster

This is a good precedent. Pranksters suck. They *pretend* to be an immanent threat, then when faced with physical force, claim “It’s just a prank, bro!” Naw. Acting like a threat makes you a valid target for responding to you as if you are a threat. Maybe instead of trying to terrify people for clicks, you do something productive.

Sadly, the victim was convicted of some firearms charge, which doesn’t make sense given that the jury recognized that this was a self defense situation. Never forget: even in the most obvious self defense situation, where everything is as clear as can be… we’re operating in a  system of anarcho-tyranny where the government *wants* you to live in fear of actual criminals. Defend yourself, your stuff, your friends or family, the government will do what it can to drop an anvil on you. Because you defending yourself offends the powers that be somehow.

Here’s one of the videos of the incident filmed by one of the villains co-conspirators:

 Posted by at 11:52 pm
Sep 282023
 

Astute blog readers will have noticed a slight dip in blogging activity of late. Why is this?

1: Some personal/family/veterinary issues.

2: Twitter, now that it’s no longer controlled by whackaloons, has become a more useful platform, and has taken a lot of the load.

3: I now have cyanotype blueprints regularly, commercially available. Check them out HERE.

4: Annnnd… I have a contract for Book Five, and I’ve been working on that. Book Five is similar in concept to “US Supersonic Bomber Projects Volumes 1 and 2;” it’s a stand-alone volume, but will, if it sells well, result in Book Six.

So, been a little busy.

 Posted by at 5:28 am
Sep 242023
 

Pennsylvania State Police trooper charged with strangulation, official oppression

According to a criminal complaint, Davis obtained an involuntary commitment under the Mental Health Procedure Act for a woman with whom he had a relationship.

There. Right there. That’s enough to go “Hold up, wait a minute, something ain’t right.” But even better, he found her out in the wild, tackled her and rolled her around on the rocks. Weird enough, but he’s substantially larger than her. In the video she *seems* reasonable enough under the circumstances. Of course the video starts with the action already in progress; perhaps she was going bugnuts prior to this. But what seems to be an ex boyfriend cop hunting down a woman out with another man, is a story that doesn’t sit right from the get-go

Some of the comentariat are complaining that the cameraman – possibly the new boyfriend – isn’t physically intervening. I get the impulse to do so… but I also understand that documenting the event is in all likelihood the best approach. Are you going to fight off the cop? Maybe, but then *other* cops will come hunt you down. Assuming the first guy doesn’t plug you or arrest you. Stand back, film, and see justice done in the end. Not as manly, not as satisfying… but a lot smarter.

Note that states that have laws against “high capacity” magazines and “assault” rifles typically have set-asides for off duty cops.

 Posted by at 8:34 pm