Jack’s Old & Busted Blog

Reading about the last gasp of the Pioneer 10 space probe (NZ Herald) led me to think of a cool SF movie plot: A two-person crew is sent on a one-way exploratory mission into Deep Space, sending back reports sporadically. Due to the psychological stress of the mission, each researcher keeps a daily log, which is read by the other. The Space Journal serves two purposes: It is useful for research purposes; and, it keeps the crew apprised of each other’s mental state. The crisis occurs when one of them goes mad and plots to murder the other. The sane researcher has to make the decision to pre-emptively incapacitate his partner, thus eliminating his only companion, or risk Death in Space. Maybe they could be heading off an asteroid on a collision course for Earth, too. Yeah, that’s the ticket. Killer asteroids on a 500-year collision path.

Oh, well. The Pioneer 10 story is cool, anyway.They don’t build ‘em like they used to.

My Kung-Fu Movie name is “Shadowless Death Fist.” What is yours? (name generator).

OK, the snow can stop now. Really. I bet ebay gets a lot more bids during inclement weather. Bids, fo example, on nifty little cold war cameras with names like ’80s New Wave bands

Doing a bit of air travel tomorrow, and, in preparation, I have at least four different electronic thingys charging up. Hard to believe so much depends on batteries and microchips. That’s why I like my old F2 (deep F2 page) so much. It’s totally mechanical, and uses watch-maker wizardry to accomplish some pretty amazing things, like stepless mechanical shutter speeds. Some people, including me, regard it as the finest 35mm camera ever produced. To mass produce it today would be akin to building the pyramids.

Hm. Does my admiration for its workings make me anti-technology, or techno-geek? I work in digital every day, but it still seems a bit souless, no matter how many megapixels you throw at it. Film, chromes have a personality, they are traveled; they were there. A pixel is dubious from the get-go.

Went on a great hike Sunday at Devil’s Den (arkansas.com). The temp was in the lower-mid 20s all day, and it was spitting snow the entire time, which means the trails were all but vacant. There are some amazing vistas around this popular state park. The elevation isn’t much to speak of at around 1700 ft., but it can surprise you with beautiful bluffs and plenty of critters. I took a few pictures, but it was overcast and I still had Velvia (50 ASA) in my camera (and no tripod); I’ll link some pics soon.
I did get to see an unusual weather-y phenomenon: On one bluff, moist red clay had been “whipped” by the wind into hundreds of little frozen needles. Each needle was “topped” with little frosty Q-tip.

I also enjoyed some tasty hot chocolate via my great little alcohol stove (REI.com) (hey, any excuse for testing gear, right?). For only $30, it works well and is virtually silent, so it doesn’t sound like you’re warming up the Batmobile just to boil water.

All-in-all, it was a fine day to be in the woods. With all of the buzzing and whiring things in my life, it’s nice to experience real quiet.

Searching for bootleg ebooks of my favorite sci-fi novels (and there are plenty!), I keep seeing links for “fan fiction” of various TeeVee shows, serial novels, movies, etc. Who reads this stuff? Who writes it? Is there anything geekier? I mean, besides searching the ‘Net for bootleg ebooks. . .

Finally, Little Big Man is coming out on DVD (Amazon). This is one of my all-time favorite movies. I hope the DVD is good. I’ve read that The Graduate DVD (another favorite) has some problems with sound.