The Proclaimers
I had to check and see who they were.
I had heard the ‘500 Miles’ song before, but I always thought it was a musical gag from ‘The Simpsons,’ like ‘Baby On Board’ or ‘Dr. Zaius.’
The Proclaimers
I had to check and see who they were.
I had heard the ‘500 Miles’ song before, but I always thought it was a musical gag from ‘The Simpsons,’ like ‘Baby On Board’ or ‘Dr. Zaius.’
Auchtermuchty
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auchtermuchty
I was surprised to find out that it wasn’t something you came up with by random keystrokes.
St. Louis everything bagel. With a schmear.
There’s an easy way to make everything sound dirty.
Just add a place name to any noun. Wheelbarrow isn’t much, but an Arkansas wheelbarrow? Sounds filthy.
[off topic]
I like to read old science fiction and check out the things the authors got wrong.
Maybe my favorite is the ‘mini VHS recorders’ from Neuromancer.
I gave a simple example.
Here’s a complex one.
You want to put up a log cabin in the woods.
Locates the perfect site on the property. Shows you which tree to cut and how to situate it. Shows you which tree to cut next.
Someone came up with a great idea.
Say you have to change a tire, but have no idea how to do it.
You type in the job and put on the glasses. Heads up display shows you every step, from opening the trunk to taking out the tire to removing the old one.
Anyone can be an instant expert
https://www.gerrold.com/book/the-world-of-star-trek/
Written by the author of ‘The Trouble With Tribbles,’ it came out before the first movie. Has a lot of insights into the problems with creating a science fiction show when all effects were practical or insanely expensive.
One of the best stories is the fan letter the show got from a company working on making automatic doors. The real life engineers wanted to know how the show got their doors to work so well. The producers ahd to admit it was because they had a crew of union guys doing the actual opening
I remember a line from an English mystery series. The Chief Inspector asks the Sergeant ‘What’s going on that I don’t want to know about?’
Both were ‘security.’ Makes sense for the cop to have their eyes on the room and not a screen.
I was today years old when I realized that the bridge crew all had chairs and the transporter operator was expected to stand.
Greed. A sane person will walk away from working once they have enough saved to comfortably retire.
$100 million can let you live comfortably forever, but there are plenty of people who want that much every year.
Those are the folks who become ‘leaders.’
He just casually invented cryptocurrency as a plot device.
I had a long flight so I took along Reamde.
I’d read it twice before, but damned if it didn’t hook me up again. I got to the first airport around 10 am and didn’t get home until 3 am. Saved my sanity.
For the uninitiated, Reamde involves the kidnapped niece of a billionaire game maker; the game is really fun and also a money laundering operation. There are terrorists, Right Wing militias, undercover spies, demented science fiction authors, and a bear skin rug.
[off topic]
I’ve been telling people to read ‘Cryptonomicon’ for decades.
It tells two interwoven stories. Back in WW2 the grandfather is involved in proactive missions to keep the Nazis from learning the Allies had broken their codes, and in the late 1990’s the grandson is trying to start an online bank
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poul_Anderson
Poul Anderson was an old school science fiction writer of the Heinlein/Asimov era.
He specialized in world building, often starting with a sun and then figuring out what the planets would look like. Once he had a good plaent he’d create the inhabitants.
The same way you had ‘The Addams Family’ and ‘The Munsters’…
I want a series that drops all of Trek’s history and starts fresh with a new ship. No five fingered aliens. Truly strange creatures. No Vulcans or Klingons, 100% new.
That’s one beef I have with the Trek universe; everyone has warp drive and similar ships.
I want a version where there are plant people who use no metal; or aquatic people who never found fire.
No more five fingered aliens!
I believe you are correct.
Charles Napier is one of my all time favorite ‘unknown’ actors.
https://youtu.be/1PcOW0icrjc