Subdeacon Joe
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Posts posted by Subdeacon Joe
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2 hours ago, John Kloehr said:
While Starship Troopers was written for a young audience, it has an adult theme about citizenship, duty, and freedom.
Along with that is "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress." A lot of interest stuff about government and human behavior.
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1 hour ago, Alpo said:
One day I was reading the Labor Law poster that was in the LGS my wife worked at. At the bottom of it was a bit, I don't recall the exact words or if it was federal or state, going on about violence in the workplace, and if you see someone with a firearm you should report them immediately.
Yeah.
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Dispatch: Before dispatching rescue crews, please verify the vessel is actually sinking......
A-10 coast guard pilot: BRRRRRRRRRRRRT
Affirmative. The Vessel is actually sinking.
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35 minutes ago, Alpo said:
Many people consider that one of them but I've read that Heinlein didn't think it was.
Also, the hero of the other 12 is a guy. Podkayne is a girl. That is a big switch - going from 12 male heroes to a female.
If my memory is correct, always iffy now, he had been asked by one of the pulps to write something in the juvenile/young adult genera with a female protagonist. So he took a stab at it. 15 Earth year old Podkayne and her 11 Earth year old terror of a brother, Clark. The publisher didn't care for the original ending in which Podkayne was killed and demanded a rewrite with a happier ending. RAH strongly objected to it, comparing it to doing a rewrite of "Romeo and Juliet" to allow the young, lust besotted teens to live and marry.
I just found this:1963’s Podkayne of Mars was, if Heinlein’s comments in Grumbles from the Grave can be believed, not intended as a juvenile:
March 10, 1962: Robert A. Heinlein to Lurton Blassingame
Is Poddy a juvenile? I didn’t think of it as such and I suggest that it violates numerous taboos for the juvenile market. It seems to me that it is what the Swedes call a “cadet” book — upper teenage, plus such adults and juveniles as may enjoy it — and the American trade book market does not recognize such a category.
as I was making sure of how old Podkayne was in the book. So he didn't think of it as "juvenile science fiction" not so much because of the age, but because it didn't fit the established "rules" for the category. I'd never heard of a "cadet" category before. Seems as if a lot of "juvenile" books in the US would more neatly fit that than true juvenile books. Almost all of his male protagonists seem to me to be late teens or young adults.
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19 hours ago, John Kloehr said:
Can't have the Constitution getting in the way of legislation.
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1 hour ago, Gateway Kid SASS# 70038 Life said:
this was the exact conversation between two women as they were picking apart the APD for excessive force against a child! My goodness what is wrong with people,
1.) Everything they know they learned from Hollywood.
2.) They form all their opinions on pathos rather than logos and ethos.
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2 hours ago, Alpo said:
First - the store is(STORIES) on that list are all adult sci-fi. Starship Troopers is a juvenile. He wrote a dozen books under contract, one a year, for this publishing house "young adult"line.
Rocket Ship Galileo (1947)
Space Cadet (1948)
Red Planet (1949)
Farmer in the Sky (1950)
Between Planets (1951)
The Rolling Stones (1952)
Starman Jones (1953)
The Star Beast (1954)
Tunnel in the Sky (1955)
Time for the Stars (1956)
Citizen of the Galaxy (1957)
Have Space Suit—Will Travel (1958)
Starship Troopers (1959)Also, most of the stories on that time-line are short stories for the pulps rather than novels or even novellas.
Odd that you left "Podkayne of Mars" off your list of juvenile science fiction.
"Starship Troopers" is an excellent novel, and got turned into a movie even worse than "Dune."
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25 minutes ago, Trailrider #896 said:
What about bat guano? Contains guanadine nitrate. Might the knowledge have been imported from China by then?
I think knowledge of gunpowder got to Europe in the late 12th or early 13th century. In either case after the 1145 date.
Of course, that doesn't really matter because the question is what WE would invent. I know the theory of how to extract extract the nitrates from guano. As mentioned above, reasonably simple in concept, but labor and time intensive.
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Geez.....it was ONLY a KNIFE!!!! That was so unFAIR!!!! What kind of coward uses a gun against a knife? Especially a GROWN MAN against a CHILD!!!!!
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20 hours ago, Alpo said:
AAAALLLLLL RIGHT! LISTEN UP!!!
Thanks to Carl, this weeks safety meeting will cover Use Of Ladders!
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As found on FB:
The day after the Hindenburg disaster in Lakehurst, New Jersey.
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53 minutes ago, Dantankerous said:
No one here has mentioned the beauty of mayonnaise on French fries yet? 🙃
Only if homemade with lemon and garlic.
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The Feast of the Annunciation .... from which the date of Christmas is determined.
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It's INDEPENDENCE DAY!
https://www.goarch.org/-/white-house-celebrates-204th-anniversary-of-march-25-greek-independence-day
QuoteAddressing the President and the hundreds of Greek Americans attending the event, Archbishop Elpidophoros remarked, “Today, Mr. President, you bestow extraordinary honor upon the Greek-American People with the Annual Greek Independence Day celebration here at the White House. As ever, we are humbled by the prestige of this celebration, and on behalf of all, I thank you for continuing this wonderful tradition that recognizes the Greek roots of Democracy. We are here to celebrate the world’s first Democracy, Greece, and the world’s greatest Democracy, the United States of America. We acclaim and remember the Immortal Heroes of 1821, who like those of 1776, gave their all to attain liberty for their land.
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1 hour ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:
In "Starship Troopers" he mentions "Back in the XXth century. And in "The Number of the Beast" when they are looking at a American History book from an alternate reality, Zeb is startled to see that many years ago there was a President Carter. But I don't remember it getting any more specific than that.
https://minerva.fandom.com/wiki/Future_History_Timeline
There is a copy of the chart that Heinlein made, and which was published in 1941.
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3 hours ago, Buckshot Bear said:
Charcol tick, but finding salt petre and sulphur may not have been the easiest and if you did manage to make BP, what would you do with it? What metallurgy would you employ to make a barrel?
Bellfounding was known in Europe fairly early. The Venerable Bede mentions large bronze bells in the early 8th century.
Sulphur was known and used for various things, e g. medicaments, bleaching cotton, fumigation, and incidiary devices since antiquity.
The hang up would have been the salt petre. I vaguely recall that deposits were mined in Spain in the 12th century, but just when I'm not sure. I don't recall what it was used for.
So, bronze casting, sulphur charcoal are no problem. Niteries are simple in concept, low tech, and used minimal equipment. Just labor intensive and time consuming.
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1 minute ago, Buckshot Bear said:
You haven't invented anything unless you've made a working prototype.
I think the basis of the original question was pretty obvious, otherwise you could just say "I'd invent a Columbia Class Nuclear Submarine and rule the World".Who would want the headache ruling the world?
I was taking the question from the view of a fan of pulp science fiction, just as you were magically transported back in time, you magically have the ability to build anything of reasonable size (small enough for one person to work on and operate).
I did, years ago, help a guy rebuild a small platten press, so that knowledge is floating around the little Grey Cells, but the state of metallurgy wouldn't be advanced enough to make building one feasible.
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1 minute ago, Buckshot Bear said:
Again....how?
3 hours ago, Buckshot Bear said:You wake up and its the year 1145 A.D, what would you invent for the folks?
I'll go with my original answer. Your original question, "What WOULD you invent..." supposes the knowledge and ability to make the things. Now, what I COULD invent or build is a completely different question. To that my answer would be, "Not a thing." I could try to introduce the concepts of sanitary personal habits and cooking, but that's about it.
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16 minutes ago, Buckshot Bear said:
How?
The same way I woke up in the year of our Lord 1145. From your original question I assumed that I would have the knowledge and means to invent anything.
Now that you jostled me, I think I'll add the steam engine to the list.
17 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:Techno (and social belief) gaps at the time would make most of those near impossible.
Only two as far as social beliefs would be problematic: antibiotics and insecticides. And possibly not even the insecticides. People were using arsenic and other poisons to kill rodents long before A.D. 1145. And pennyroyal had long been known to somewhat keep fleas at bay.
Mechanical devices were known and new ones being developed.
Platten press could be water powered. Biggest problems would be a thick enough ink and ready supply of paper.
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7 hours ago, Buckshot Bob said:
Compare to Heinlein's stories:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_History_(Heinlein)#List_of_stories
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Platten Printing Press.
Antibiotics.
Insecticides.
ADDED:
Electric generator.
Electric Motor.
Refrigeration.
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Who knew?
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43 minutes ago, Pat Riot said:
Wow! That should be posted on school bulletin boards everywhere. Thank you, Joe.
Handed out to the kids a week before the end of the school year. At least around here, every year there are 4 or 5 multiple injury or fatality crashes involving teens not long after school lets out for the year.
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Ba-Dump Tissssh - Memes
in SASS Wire Saloon
Posted
https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/podkayne-of-mars_robert-a-heinlein/433675/#idiq=2503115&edition=2176202
7 bucks plus 2 bucks shipping.
They also have "Space Suit" for 20 bucks.
Also check Amazon.