Sidney 2040.

The small community of Sidney on Vancouver Island has offered an opportunity for countless sight gags over the years since I've moved to British Columbia, and our current visit is no exception.  However, as a science fiction fan, I found the latest photo op to be particularly interesting - how often do you get to ask for input on the future you?  

Admittedly, in 2040 I'll be one year away from 80, so sensible input would probably involve watching my step on icy sidewalks and keeping an eye on my cholesterol levels, but who knows what 2040 will bring? It could just as easily be advice on picking the best bionics for seniors, or who offers the most complete brain transfer into clone bodies, a lot can happen in 20 years.

- Sid

Losing my religion.

Yesterday I started my vacation on Vancouver Island by purchasing a hundred dollars worth of used books and felt a solid sense of satisfaction that I had done well in finding replacements for some of the more battered novels in my collection.  

Today we visited Munro’s Books in downtown Victoria. Munro's is an excellent independent bookstore, and offers a well-chosen selection of the best in current fantasy and science fiction. In spite of which, I left the store empty handed, enough of a departure from tradition that my wife commented on it with mild surprise. I just couldn't buy anything. After years of book shopping, it suddenly all seemed so unaffordably and unreasonably expensive - it broke me a little.

The problem has nothing to do with inventory as such.  Munro's science fiction section had some excellent options: N. K. Jemisin’s latest, The City We Became; the surprising paper publication of Martha Well's Murderbot Diaries novellas; the award-winning 2019 novel This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone; Andy Weir's third novel, Hail Mary, currently their top selling science fiction novel - which I confess to just having finished in bootleg ePub format rather than spending $38.99 CAD for a hardcover copy (or waiting until August 23rd for the release of the paperback version at $25.95, which hardly seems a saving).

All the shelves seemed to be just packed with expensive hardcovers and pricey trade paperbacks in lieu of cheaper mass market editions. I was particularly unimpressed by the impractical absurdity of a four inch thick collection of Ursula K. Leguin’s Earthsea series, an unwieldy sixty* dollar tome that would defy actual handheld readership.

I recently read somewhere that the end of the mass market paperback is upon us, and if that's the case, I'm sort of checked out as far as new book stores go.  I may well recover, there may be a gradual return to retail book purchasing, but for now, it would appear that for me new books have become the province of birthdays, Geekmas gift list postings and secret Santa suggestions - a sad truth, but a truth nonetheless. 

- Sid

* Actually $59.99, but I don't think that fools anyone anymore, does it?

Hunting for Books, Fit the Fourth and a Bit: Cancon.

As I mentioned in my post regarding Cavity's Curiosity Shop, when I finished shopping I was unable to immediately pay for my books, and as a result wandered around the store for a few minutes while I waited for the owners to finish their conversation. 

My brief tour resulted in the addition of a couple of graphic novels to my purchases: Jaka's Tale and We Stand On Guard. Strictly speaking, neither one is a graphic novel - they're both omnibus collections of previously published comic books.

We Stand On Guard, originally published as a six-issue mini-series by Image Comics* in 2015, is a grimly nihilistic tale of a future invasion of Canada by the United States. Whereas Steve Skroce, the artist on the series, is Canadian, story creator and writer Brian K. Vaughan** is American.  Vaughan, whose wife is Canadian, has explained in interviews that the concept for the story was partially prompted by "friendly arguments with my in-laws during Canadian Thanksgiving." 

The story paints a brutal picture of the US destroying Canada as a nation in order to gain control over its vast reserves of water, a future which seems far too plausible in the era of climate change and frequent drought conditions south of the border.

Jaka’s Tale…where to begin?
 
Okay.
 
In December of 1977, an artist named Dave Sim from Kitchener, Ontario decided to do an independent black and white Conan the Barbarian parody comic book featuring an aardvark named Cerebus.

As bizarre as that sounds for an elevator pitch, Cerebus was an unexpected and incredible success.  It was Sim’s plan to take his earth-pig protagonist through the course of their entire life over 300 issues of the comic, and end the series with his death in the final issue – an astonishing plan, given that there are lots of comics produced by the major publishers that only last a year or two before being cancelled.  

Amazingly, he succeeded – 6000 pages and 27 years later, Cerebus passed away in a final moment of barbarian anger, falling out of bed and breaking his neck.

The entire series has been collected*** in ten volumes, commonly known as "phone books", based on their size.  Jaka's Story is the fourth phonebook in the series, and is distinguished by the fact that Cerebus himself only makes a marginal appearance in the events of the story.

The character of Jaka the tavern dancer was originally introduced in Issue 6 of the original run - a thief drugs Cerebus with a love potion**** so that he will fall in love with Jaka, allowing her to then extract the secret location of a treasure trove from him.  Cerebus eventually recovers from the potion and abandons his pursuit of Jaka, but the story ends with a twist - Jaka announces her love for him after he leaves and says that she will wait forever if need be for him to remember his love for her. 

Jaka proceeded to become one of many recurring characters in the series, and was later revealed to be the niece of Lord Julius, ruler of the city-state of Palnu.  Issues 114 to 136 dealt almost entirely with Jaka’s life – a bold decision, given that Sim only had 300 issues planned for the comic.  

Whatever prompted this digression on Sim's part, Jaka's Story is an astonishing creation, combining a unique artistic style and brilliant storytelling to create an illustrated tour de force.  It's almost a novelistic experience - literally, given that the story contains extended prose passages from a book describing Jaka’s childhood - the Jaka's Story of the title. It's an anguished, uncomfortable tale of betrayal, anger and repression, and could easily stand on its own without any of the rest of the issues of Cerebus.

I was pleased to find We Stand On Guard, but I consider Jaka's Story to be a bit of a score at ten bucks.  I'm a bit tempted to buy the other nine volumes now, but I don't think they're still in print, and Amazon pricing for each seems to be in the $50-$70 range - I don't think I'm $600 worth of tempted. 

- Sid

*This is a weregeek moment waiting to happen. Image Comics was founded in 1992 by a group of comic book artists looking to take control over their own properties.  They're still around, in third place as comics publishers after the giants of DC and Marvel.

** Vaughan is probably best know for his 2002 comic book series Y: The Last Man - there's a television adaptation coming out in September.

*** Sim originally created six four-issue collections of the early Cerebus comics under the name Swords of Cerebus - I have the first five of those collections, no idea why I never bought the sixth one to finish the set.  Birthdays or Christmas, anyone?  I don't need the first print run or anything that would drive the price up.

**** Always keep an eye on your drink, kids.

Hunting for Books, Fit the Fourth: The Old Curiosity Shop

The hunt for replacement books has not gone well for the last year or so. Admittedly, there have been fewer opportunities for shopping, but the times that I have had a chance to search store shelves have not been fruitful, to the point where I’ve begun to wonder why I’m finding so few of the books that I’m looking for - I refuse to believe that my collection is THAT unique. Perhaps the real problem is the relative lack of quality in the printing process, as per the comment made by the counter person at Victoria's Bastion Books on the last day of 2019.

My one apparently successful foray into Pulp Fiction’s Point Grey store initially appeared to have gone well, but it turned out that I was using an old version of my shopping list, and almost all of my purchases were duplicates of texts that I’d already bought. (Dorothy, I'll be shipping those off to you shortly.)

At long last, buffered by double vaccination, Karli and I made a return to Victoria for a one-week vacation for the first week of August, accommodations courtesy of Karli's mother and stepfather, who were kind enough to let us use their oceanside condo while they were away.  As is often the case when we travel, I only had one personal request: to do some book shopping, in this case at the Cavity Curiosity Shop, the store that I hadn't been able to visit during our New Year's 2020 trip to the Island.

As their name suggests, and as the helpful counter person at Bastion Books commented when they suggested that I pay them a visit, Cavity is not a book store as such. It’s a collection of cultural ephemera: toys, stereo equipment, VHS tapes, DVDs, books, magazines, comic books, posters, t-shirts, buttons, patches, pins - curiosities, as it were.

My initial reaction to their inventory is mild disappointment - generally I like a bookstore to have at least half as many books as I do in their science fiction and fantasy section, and Cavity seems to barely have a quarter of my library.

However, as I’ve seen at other stores, quantity does not necessarily indicate quality, and Cavity’s single bookcase turns out to be a bit of a gold mine, albeit a slightly disorderly one. I’ve been trying to restrain my shopping to books on my actual list rather than books that I think will need replacing, but I’ve only catalogued to the end of L, and a few of the books on display are too good to pass up. (And my gamble paid off: I was particularly pleased to find the Ace publications of two Andre Norton novels that were in fabulous shape for 60 year old paperbacks*, and certainly in better shape than the battered editions that I currently own.

Normally when I shop for books while travelling, I’m constrained by the limitations of luggage weight, but we’ve come over by ferry in our car, so in theory I can buy as many books as I want, but after selecting sixteen I decide to cash out, in the interests of fiscal responsibility. 

However, the owners are deeply engaged in conversation with another couple standing at the till, and I’m reluctant to interrupt. (Context of the discussion suggests ownership - it’s a small shop and a loud conversation, so it’s not like I’m eavesdropping.). I wander about with my stack of shopping, and discover a couple of comic book collections that I decide to add to the pile, fiscal responsibility be damned, as they say.  Just for fun I also add a 2006 concert DVD of the Dresden Dolls, Amanda Palmer’s punk cabaret partnership with Brian Viglione - man does not live by bread alone, as the proverb says.

I finally take the initiative and apologetically interrupt. The visiting couple immediately leaves, and I once again apologize.  The male half of the partnership shrugs cheerfully and begins to total up my purchases.  

As he's doing math, I mention that I'd tried to visit them on New Year's Eve a couple of years back, but I'd missed them, and that I'm shopping for replacement books for my collection.  I add that I'm pleased with the results of my trip, and he thanks me and apologizes in turn for the lack of order in the shelving, apparently they’d taken their books to an off-site event and hadn’t had a chance to re-shelf them properly.

He takes a look at the total, and says, “Let’s say one hundred even.”  I haven’t spent that much time checking prices, but it certainly sounds reasonable, so I thank him and we finish up our business.

Overall, I have nothing but good things to say about my experience with Cavity, and I plan repeat visits as opportunity allows - after I update my shopping list with my latest purchases, I'd like to think that I've at least learned that lesson.

- Sid

* 1956 and 1963, respectively.

"I'm...the Chickenman."

Everyone is familiar with the pivotal moment in Bruce Wayne's life when he chooses the name and the costume which will set the template for his entire crime fighting career, and all of the tools that he uses in that fight:  the Batcar, the Batcopter, the Batcave, batarangs, and so on.  

But what if he had a different opinion of the criminal world?  What if a bat had failed to fly in and inspire him?  In an alternate reality, things could have turned out quite differently...

And, logically, following this new epiphany his array of crime fighting technology would have been completely different:

Photo by Colin - or Cloin - Campbell,  of the infamous Campbell Brothers

Evil doers, beware!

- Sid

P.S. I'd like to express, as a designer, how incredibly happy I was to actually use Comic Sans for the purpose it was intended for.

"Virtually Everywhere and Free To All!"

I've been following Explore Mars for a couple of years now - like The Planetary Society, they're a non-profit organization dedicated to advocacy in the area of space exploration - specifically, sending sustainable human missions to Mars beginning in the 2030s.

One of the things that initially attracted my attention was their Humans To Mars Summit, held annually in Washington, DC. The conference has always been ridiculously affordable at something like $75 USD a day, and I’ve seriously considered attending in person – in fact, I had gone as far as looking at AirBnB options in Washington – but the pandemic put that idea to rest, along with a lot of other travel plans. 

This year's conference will be held virtually, and, in keeping with the organization's non-profit mandate, it's free to attend.  It's taking place on September 13th through 15th - if anyone out there is interested in attending, you can sign up here.  I booked a ticket, but to be honest, I can't really attend, not even virtually.  I'll try to keep a window open both while working at home and at the office, but it's not the kind of thing that I can really justify taking three days off work for.*

The event features an impressive array of speakers from the scientific and aerospace communities, and will explore (no pun intended) a wide range of topics, including how space exploration improves life on earth, designing living space on Mars,** building a sustainable path to Mars using the Moon as a stepping stone, and, perhaps most importantly, how to maintain momentum for the next decade in order to ensure that the manned Mars missions actual take place. 

I'm hoping that my virtual booking will give me access to recordings of the sessions, although somehow it's not quite the same as hearing people speaking in the moment.  But, at least I should be able to catch some of the meetings live, and it's certainly an improvement on not being to go at all.  And, as we’ve all learned during the last couple of years, attending in person is not necessarily better than being a virtual audience member - after all, on Zoom™, every seat is in the front row.

- Sid

* Please pardon my dangling participle.

** I've already weighed in on this one.

"The retina of the mind's eye."

“That's why I never appear on television, except when I'm on television.” 

Professor Brian O'Blivion, Videodrome

At this week’s departmental Zoom ™ meeting, I paid deliberate tribute to the character of Brian O’Blivion from David Cronenberg’s 1983 cult classic Videodrome, a movie far before its time in terms of existence in media versus real life.

Professor O’Blivion, inspired by Marshall McLuhan, is never seen in public, only in video appearances and on cassette – as above, his only physical presence is as a talking head on a television monitor. It’s eventually revealed during the course of the film that he has been dead for quite some time, but his apparent ongoing existence is maintained through a carefully curated library of pre-recorded video clips – although he may also have a new life inside the television broadcasts themselves, within the videodrome of the title. 

In a similar spirit, at today's virtual session I informed my manager that I haven’t actually attended the meetings in weeks, I just record a random description of what I did on the weekend, followed by a five minute loop of nodding and blinking that runs during the entire session.

My announcement was greeted with laughter from the manager and the other members of the department, but to be honest, I’m not completely sure that everyone thought I was joking…

- Sid

Little Conversations: "I just want better stories."

The little conversations
On me are very rough.
They leave me all in pieces
You know there's never time enough.

Concrete Blonde, Little Conversations

 It DOES seem like a small thing to ask, though, doesn't it.

- Sid

"Captain Branson, commanding."

The crew of the VSS* Unity, just returned from its inaugural space voyage.  And honestly, could these people look any more like the bridge crew from a Star Trek spinoff?

- Sid

*Virgin Space Ship, I assume.  No, seriously, I didn't make that up, I'm quoting an article on the Guardian web site.

"Space has given us all the chance to dream."

Space has given us all the chance to dream: Of beauty and wonder. Of great adventures. Of being part of something bigger than ourselves. And now…

You’ll be one of the first people to live that dream on a Virgin Galactic spaceflight! 

Let that soak in for a minute. You’re. Going. To. Space.

You and your guest will board a Virgin Galactic spaceship where you’ll take off smoothly, just like an airplane, and watch as the colors outside your window change from blue to indigo to midnight black...

Hovering above Earth, nothing can prepare you for the breathtaking views of our bright planet and surrounding galaxy. Or hearing “you are now free to float about the cabin.” 

Cameras throughout the cabin will record every moment in HD. With 17 circular windows for viewing, every seat is a window seat. And there’s even a mirror to watch yourself floating through space.

Following a smooth glide descent, you’ll return back to Earth safely, but forever transformed. You’re an astronaut now.

Sir Richard Branson*, Omaze Contest Page

Today I purchased 250 chances at space for a mere $32 CAD on the Omaze contest site - I could easily have bought more than that, but I'm a bit of a believer in fate: if I'm meant to win, all I really need is one.

I have no real expectation of winning – unfortunately, I have a terrible track record for anything involving luck – but it’s certainly an awe-inspiring opportunity. Whatever my misgivings about the substance of Virgin Galactic’s successful first flight, if I won I would eagerly take my seat aboard Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo in anticipation of experiencing zero gravity and seeing the Earth from orbit. 

The prize draw will take place at the end of September, just a few days after my birthday.  If any of the Fates are listening, it would certainly be one hell of a 60th birthday gift. 

- Sid

*  More likely Sir Richard's PR department, but let's give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

Small steps.

Today at 8:40 AM, Virgin Galactic finally conducted its first fully crewed suborbital space mission.  Sir Richard Branson, three other passengers, and two flight crew successfully ascended to 86 kilometers above the Earth's surface, and safely returned to the Virgin Galactic spaceport.

Whether or not this was prompted by the possibility of Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos beating him to the punch with his own flight on July 20th, Branson has undeniably accomplished his goal of launching the first passenger spaceship, and plans to restart ticket sales, which have been on hold since 2014's fatal test flight incident, which took the life of co-pilot Michael Alsbury.

How do we feel about Virgin Galactic's long-awaited first flight?

Logic says that there is no such thing as bad space travel – everything that broadens the boundaries of our ability to leave the planet is good.  Emotion says that Sir Richard is a dilettante, who has essentially created an expensive amusement park ride for his own entertainment and that of fellow billionaires. 

But, to be fair, the nature of exploration is such that for every Charlies Lindburgh who flies across the Atlantic solo, there will be countless people who desire to make the trip on less challenging terms.

Perhaps more appropriately, for every Commander Hadfield who endures a 5-G takeoff on their way to the International Space Station, there will be hundreds or perhaps thousands of people who want a more accessible opportunity to see Earth from orbit, to live their dream, to take one of the small steps that makes up the giant leap. 

To call those thousands of dreamers space tourists seems unfair, it somehow diminishes the experience, but that approach may well be the method through which commercial space travel actually becomes a practical prospect.  For all the talk about how exploitation of natural resources on other planets will be controlled, we’re a long way from mining the Moon or shipping minerals from Mars, whereas Virgin Galactic has actually demonstrated proof of concept for repeatable passenger travel to space.  

As of today, Sir Richard Branson has made space travel accessible to everyone - admittedly, right now to a very small definition of everyone, that being the number of people who can afford a $450,000 USD ticket, but that's how it starts, with a limited expensive service that eventually becomes affordable to the general public. It may be one small step, but it's a small step that everyone will eventually be able to take.

- Sid

The Tomorrow War: Never Have I Ever.

(Minor spoilers for The Tomorrow War follow.)

Over the course of the last two days I watched The Tomorrow War, starring Chris Pratt and a cast of thousands. I've often said that the two things I look for in a movie are aliens and explosions, and whatever other flaws this film may have, there's no denying that it delivers on those two criteria.

The plot is simplicity itself:  thirty years in the future, humanity is losing a war with alien invaders that are somewhere between the aliens from Alien and the monsters from A Quiet Place.*  In their desperation, they travel back in time to recruit soldiers from 2022, including ex-soldier, biologist and high school teacher Dan Forester, as played by Mr. Pratt.  

The recruits are essentially cannon fodder, warm bodies to throw into a losing war, shown how to pull the trigger and then dropped (literally) into apparently futile combat.  However, there's a chance that a biological agent designed to kill the aliens can turn the tide and save the world, and Forester finds himself part of the future team attempting to create an appropriate compound.  But the clock is ticking, in more ways than one...

The Tomorrow War paints with such a large brush that it's almost a roller, and I'm very curious as to how this movie would have performed at the box office in an alternate timeline where there was no pandemic.  (It was originally intended to debut in movie theatres last Christmas, but following the continued theatrical lockdown it was sold to Amazon™ for streaming on Prime instead.)  

It certainly rings the summer blockbuster bell in terms of shootouts and clever dialogue, but overall it feels a bit derivative, overly simplistic, and conveniently scripted**, and I'm sorry to say that I never completely accepted Chris Pratt as the right person to anchor this particular plotline.

But, all other considerations aside, I have to give The Tomorrow War full credit for two things.

First, the cast commits entirely.  Not since 1998's Armageddon have I seen a group of actors treat a dubious if not somewhat ridiculous premise with such utter and complete seriousness - not a wink, not a nod, not a smirk, everyone delivers their performances with a degree of gravitas suitable for Citizen Kane or Schindler's List.  (Well, okay, Chris Pratt maybe makes one joke too many, but you can make a case for it in context.)

Second, as a long time science fiction fan, never have I seen a group of people - or a script - so indifferent to the possible consequences of time travel.

All the soldiers from the future are under the age of 30 so as to avoid co-existence with their past selves, and the recruits from the past are being chosen for one grim qualification:  they've died sometime in the 30 years before the war begins.  Which is all well and good, but given that the recruits serve a week and then return to 2022***, WHY WOULD YOU TELL THEM THAT THEY'RE GOING TO BE DEAD?  AND HOW THEY DIE?

And if they die in combat instead - as some 70% do, apparently - wouldn't that have some kind of serious repercussions for the future timeline?  

Or why did they not jump back to six months before the aliens first appeared and bomb that first appearance into ash if they're willing to risk changes to the past for their effect on the future?

Nope, nothing, not a word about the space-time continuum, the Butterfly Effect, the Grandfather Paradox, or even wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff, no one seems to give it a moment's thought. 

Perhaps watching a few carefully chosen episodes of Doctor Who would have been useful research for the writers - or maybe just Looper, it's hard to think of a better example of how to use the past to change the future, and vice versa.

- Sid

* One reviewer commented that "these things would give Cthulhu nightmares".  Good to see Cthulhu getting some representation.

**  You know, convenient - like when they need to get to Russia in a hurry and the Department of Defense won't help, and it's already been established that Dan's estranged father has access to a C130 transport plane.

*** As explained:  "At the end of your tour of duty, if the jump band attached to your arm determines that you are still clinically alive, you will automatically be jumped back and your tour of duty will be over." 

Clinically alive - or, as my old office mate Bill used to say, able to fog a mirror.  One feels that the sets the bar a bit on the low side in terms of the degree of damage that someone could suffer and still be "clinically" acceptable.

"We can work it out, we can work it out."

And that was the expression that I was wearing this morning  - sans cigarette - when I randomly switched on the TV and discovered that, once again, CTV's Sci-Fi Channel was showing Jaws.

Based on blog postings, Space and its inheritor Sci-Fi have been sneaking Mr. Spielberg's masterpiece into the broadcasting lineup for a decade now, and I'm baffled as to the reason why.

And, to be honest, this time I almost want to give it to them:  the movie lineup for the day is Jaws, Deep Blue Sea (which is a legitimate science fiction shark), Deep Blue Sea 2, and The Meg, which may not be great science fiction, but at least it IS science fiction - broadly speaking.  It's a logical playlist and a reasonable concept for a different channel (or Channel) but still, in the words of Sesame Street, one of these things is not like the others.

Some very small part of me wonders if someone who has been working there for the last ten years actually reads this blog and is programming Jaws just to troll me, but my ego doesn't extend to an archenemy in the broadcasting profession.  However, if that is the case, however unlikely it may seem - hello.  If you're reading this, please, leave a comment, send me an e-mail, get in touch, do something, surely after all this time we can work this out before it ends badly.  Face it, sooner or later someone in charge is going to demand an explanation as to why you keep showing this damn shark movie - is this really worth your job?

- Sid

Eternal Starlight.

In the time since I've purchased my Quest 2, I've been very impressed by the degree to which Oculus works on maintaining and developing the customer connection for its VR headsets. Virtual reality is a relatively small part of the entertainment marketplace*, and whereas Oculus seems to have found a solid niche position, they obviously recognize the need to encourage their user base to invest - literally - in VR usage by sending out periodic discounts on games.  

Fortuitously, their most recent 30% discount perfectly coincided with my decision to buy Eternal Starlight, a real time tactical space combat game - the discount actually arrived in my e-mail as I was putting on my headset to log in and purchase the game. 

It's not a sophisticated game - at least not yet, there may well be upgrades in the game's future.  The narrative elements cry out for actual audio and more realistic character illustrations, and the in-game graphics rely on polygons rather than smoothly rendering the shapes.  None of this disappoints me, it's a $22 game** that screams indie developer, and any shortcomings pale in comparison to the game's outstanding interface, which is the first example I've experienced to date of anyone truly attempting to utilize the manipulative nature of the VR environment to its full capability. 

There's a strong Tony Stark/Minority Report feel to the interface, where the player's interaction with the ships in their fleet is almost completely controlled through hand movements and gestures.  Pulling your hands apart while holding down the HOLD buttons magnifies and rotates the map view, tapping on a ship with your hand reveals its stats, and grabbing a ship and dragging it to a new location sets in a course.

So far I've only done the tutorial, and I'll do it a few more times before I start the game in earnest, so that I can start to create some muscle memory for the game functions - the physical nature of the system makes it fairly intuitive, but when the survival of your fleet is on the line, you really don't want to be thinking to yourself, "Wait, is it the trigger button or the grip button to aim the beam cannon?"

- Sid

*Although, that being said, one of my co-workers also owns a Quest 2 - she's an outdoorsy 30-something training supervisor, which would indicate that Oculus has some horizontal spread in its appeal.

** Seventeen bucks and change after the discount.

1,000.

 Wow.  I was working on a posting on a VR game, and I just realized that The Child was my 1,000th post. Thanks to any and all who have taken a few minutes to look at The Infinite Revolution over the years!

- Sid

The Child.

This child is extremely gifted and has been blessed with rare properties that have the potential to bring order back to the galaxy.

Moff Gideon, The Mandalorian

Today I made one of my twice-weekly commutes to our company offices.  Some of my co-workers haven't been in since the first stay-home order last year, but the physical aspects of my job have made it necessary to actually go in and load paper into my printer, roll up posters, laminate signage, and so forth.

This morning's trip was much like any of the others, until the bus pulled up at the corner of Granville and West Georgia, and a small child boarded the bus with his mother. Beaming up at the driver, he chirped, "Do you want to see my Baby Yoda? Mom, can I show him my Baby Yoda?"  His mother shrugged and laughed, and said, "Okay, but hurry!"  

He dug into his little Star Wars backpack and pulled out a small stuffed Baby Yoda from The Mandalorian for the driver's approval. "Isn't it great!?" he asked, and the driver agreed.  Mother and child made their way to seats, and the bus continued on its route.

Normally I'm a bit obsessive about delays on my commute (too many years of constant professional deadline pressure have ruined me) but in this case, I did not begrudge a single second of the time lost to Baby Yoda and his joyful owner. Never lose that joy, my little fellow fan - and don't let them take it away from you, either. 

- Sid

"A dog is a Masan's best friend."

I was a bit surprised to see the above cartoon in my travels on the internet today - in an odd coincidence, I had randomly picked up a book* earlier today and read an optomistic little 1947 Murray Leinster short story called Propagandist, which is basically this cartoon spread over 24 pages.  

Obviously, the story is a bit more complex than the four panel cartoon.  Propagandist is a first contact story which takes place under the worst possibly circumstances: an unknown alien species has raided an Earth colony and slaughtered half a million human settlers, and a grimly determined Terran space fleet searches vengefully for the aliens responsible.  The light cruiser Kennessee finds inhabited planets in the Masa Gamma system, and sends a scout ship to one of the planets in hopes of confirming that these are the aliens responsible for the barbaric attack on the colony.

Meanwhile, the Masans are struggling with the same problem.  They've detected the Kennessee and are concerned that it heralds a new assault by raiders who devastated their civilization hundreds of years in the past.  If it is a raider ship that presages a new attack, there is only one option:  total war.

The unlikely diplomat who resolves the situation and leads to an alliance that defeats the actual raiders?  Buck the dog, who is captured by the Masans when Holden, his owner, is forced to leave him behind after the unsuccessful scouting mission to Masa Four.  As both sides prepare for battle, the Masans scan Buck's mind, and based on the results, decide to contact the Terran ship rather than destroying it outright - it's impossible that the beings in Buck's memories could be the monsters that they fear. The humans realize that the Masans have not killed Buck  - they can't possibly be the brutal species that destroyed the colony. 

After resolution of the war with the raiders, Holden and Buck visit Masan Four and the scientist who probed Buck's mind:

"Then we knew that men will always repay trust with loyalty." Then the Masan added, "That is, most men."

Holden said uncomfortably: 

"Well - that's something that has worried the skipper.  You people act as if all of us were as decent as our dogs think us.  We aren't.  You'll have to be...well...a little cagey, sometimes..."

"So," said the Masan, "we learned from Buck.  But also we learned that there will always be men to trust."

It's a pleasant little morality tale, although it's probably a good thing that Holden went against the tradition of cats on ships and took a dog instead.  Lord knows what would have happened if they'd read a cat's mind!

- Sid

P.S.  The selection of "boof" for the dog's bark is a bit reminiscent of Clarus, the infamous Apple dogcow - who of course goes moof.

* For any bibliophiles in the reading audience, it was the 1969 paperback edition of Great Stories of Space Travel, edited by Groff Conklin.