Pixel Scroll 11/24/16 And He Pixeled A Crooked Scroll

Posted on by

thanksgiving-meal-astro

(1) AS GOD IS MY WITNESS, I THOUGHT TURKEYS COULD FLY. The astronauts aboard the International Space Station tucked into another technically perfect holiday meal today. Motherboard explains — “Happy Space Thanksgiving: How the Food-Stuffed Holiday Went Orbital”.

Naturally, these hermetically packaged, shelf-stable Thanksgiving edibles lack much of the flavor and flair of the dishes that Earthbound feasters will be piling up on their plates. But these meal packs are still leaps and bounds beyond the humble dinners shared by the crew of Skylab over four decades ago, when manned spaceflight was still in its early years.

(2) SMALL BUSINESS MODELING. Kristine Kathryn Rusch explains why the election was not a Black Swan event, but was one of the reasonably possible scenarios she considered in developing her current business plans — “Business Musings: Running A (Writing) Business In Uncertain Times”.

The first two items in her ten-point plan are —

To do modeling for the next year of your business, you need to be as clear-eyed as possible. You should research trends for your business for similar economic times, if you can.

Then you figure out as best you can what your future will be.

Here’s how you do it.

First, you figure out what the possible futures could be. By July, ours were pretty simple. Clinton victory—then what? Trump victory—then what? Markets react well—then what? Markets react poorly—then what? Civil unrest—then what? Governmental gridlock—then what? Governmental ease—then what? Possible impeachment (either candidate)—then what? And so on.

Second, figure out the impact those scenarios will have on your business. Dean and I were modeling for different businesses. Our retail businesses have a local component that our publishing and writing businesses do not have. Therefore, our models for the retail business were different than our models for publishing and writing.

Some scenarios will have no impact at all on what you’re doing. Others might have a huge impact. Be as clear-eyed and honest with yourself as possible as you set out these scenarios.

(3) ROCKS AND SHOALS. Jules Verne’s status as a hard science fiction writer received an unexpected boost from the latest research reported by New Scientist.

JULES VERNE’s idea of an ocean deep below the surface in Journey to the Centre of the Earth may not have been too far off. Earth’s mantle may contain many oceans’ worth of water – with the deepest 1000 kilometres down.

“If it wasn’t down there, we would all be submerged,” says Steve Jacobsen at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois, whose team made the discovery. “This implies a bigger reservoir of water on the planet than previously thought.”

This water is much deeper than any seen before, at a third of the way to the edge of Earth’s core. Its presence was indicated by a diamond spat out 90 million years ago by a volcano near the São Luíz river in Juina, Brazil.

The diamond has an imperfection – a sealed-off inclusion – that contains minerals that became trapped during the diamond’s formation. When the researchers took a closer look at it with infrared microscopy, they saw unmistakable evidence of the presence of hydroxyl ions, which normally come from water. They were everywhere, says Jacobsen.

(4) CAST OF THE RINGS. Empire magazine came up with a cute gimmick: “The Lord of the Rings at 15: the Fellowship interview each other”.

One anniversary to rule them all… To celebrate the 15th anniversary of The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring, the latest issue of Empire gathered the nine members of the Fellowship, and asked each of them to pose nine questions to one another.

One does not simply walk into a Lord Of The Rings interview. So here, as a little Middle-earth aperitif, we can reveal one answer from each actor. For the full interviews, be sure to pick up a copy of the January issue of Empire, on sale from Thursday 24 November….

Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee)

Where do you keep the sword you were given when you completed Lord Of The Rings? Question set by Ian McKellen

The garage, or maybe a cupboard, or in storage with a ton of fan art. I cried heavily through my send-off. I remember being presented with my costume, including Sam’s backpack (pots, pans, sausages, elven rope, lembas bread, box of salt) and sword. But the most moving trophy was the wee dress [my daughter] Ali wore as she portrayed Elanor in the last moments of Return Of The King.

(5) ALIEN POSTER CHILD. By sharing this image, does CinemaBlend aim to upset turkey-filled tummies? “Alien: Covenant’s First Poster Is Simple And Absolutely Terrifying”.

Following the lukewarm response to Prometheus in 2012, the Alien franchise is aiming to win back hearts with the next entry in the series, Alien: Covenant. As an early Thanksgiving treat, 20th Century Fox just released the first poster for the blockbuster, and it’s making sure fans know that like previous installments, it will be a terrifying ordeal.

(6) UNCLE 4E TALK AT ALIEN CON. A panel discussion about the Ackermonster:

Alien Con marked the 100th birthday of Forrest J Ackerman — writer, literary agent, and professional Sci-Fi geek who not only founded Famous Monsters, but invented cosplay and encouraged the pursuits of monster fanatics everywhere! Hear Forry memories and learn about TALES FROM THE ACKER-MANSION, American Gothic Press’s massive tribute to the man who created the term “Sci-Fi”.  Guests on Panel: Kevin Burns, Joe Moe, William F Nolan, Jason V. Brock

Part I

Part II

(7) SOMEWHERE OVER THE WORMHOLE. Scifinow has it right – “Emerald City trailer is definitely not in Kansas anymore”.

(8) CHIZINE GROWS ANNUAL ANTHOLOGY. ChiZine Publications will expand Imaginarium, its Annual ‘Best-Of’ short story,  and poetry volume, to include more content in an anthology that will be released every two years.

The latest edition,  Imaginarium 5, will be released in Summer 2017 and encompass the best short stories and poetry from 2015 and 2016. It will include an introduction from bestselling Canadian author Andrew Pyper.

There will be a call for submissions for both short stories and poetry published in 2016 for Imaginarium 5 announced via Facebook and the CZP Website in December 2016.

(9) TODAY IN HISTORY

Fifty years ago Thursday, Lunar Orbiter II took a picture of a moon crater. When it was beamed back to Earth, the photo’s then-unique view made the moon real in a way it hadn’t been before — as an actual place, another world that might be a second home for humanity. Seeing the Copernicus crater close up mustered Space Age feelings of wonder. Such wonder is harder to provoke now, but the image reminds us: The moon still waits for us

(10) TODAY’S BIRTHDAY MONSTER KID

  • Born November 24, 1916 – Forrest J Ackerman

Learn more about him on the Ray Harryhausen Podcast.

November 24th 2016 marks the 100th birthday of sci-fi legend Forrest J Ackerman, founder of ‘Famous Monsters of Filmland’ magazine. Forry was also one of Ray Harryhausen’s oldest friends, the two having met in the late 1930’s after discovering a shared interest in ‘King Kong’.

We caught up with former ‘Famous Monsters’ editor David Weiner to discuss the friendship between Ray, Forry and Ray Bradbury. We also heard a clip of the three legends in discussion, taken from an interview which can be found on the ‘Ray Harryhausen- the early years collection’ DVD.

And in the November issue of Aeromexico’s Aire magazine, Guillermo Del Toro tells how important Ackerman was to his artistic development. (You’ll need to click on the second image and zoom in to make the text readable.)

front

back

(11) TODAY’S ROSWELL BIRTHDAYS

  • Born November 24, 1977 — Colin Hanks
  • Born November 24, 1978 — Katherine Heigl

(12) NEWEST K9 IN THE CULTURE WARS. Sarah A. Hoyt, in yesterday’s Sad Puppies 5 announcement, said: “….One of the things the — for lack of a better term — other side has is bully pulpits…. BUT still, they have magazines that publish recommended lists, and interviews with authors, and turn the spotlight on work they think should be read. We have nothing like that.”

However, as someone pointed out, she had overlooked the brand new review site Puppy of the Month Book Club – where the motto is Hugo delenda est.

Jon Mollison and Nathan Housley explained what they’ll be covering:

So what makes a book a viable candidate for Puppy Of the Month?  Easy:

  • Any novel nominated by the Sad Puppies for a Hugo nomination
  • Any novel nominated by the Rabid Puppies for a Hugo nomination
  • Any work listed in Appendix N of Gary Gygax’s D&D Dungeon Master’s Guide
  • Any work published by Castalia House
  • Any work selected by a Contributor that isn’t shouted down by the rest of the contributors as an inappropriate selection

Their latest post is an interview with Schuyler Hernstrom, a fellow who knows on which side his bread is buttered:

Editor: Rabid or Sad?

SH: Ya know, this is corny but I am actually going to pull a quote from my own work to answer. It is a bit early in the career to pull a stunt like this but it is so apropos I can’t resist:

He took a knife from his belt and cut away the flag and a length of cloth from the sleeve and turned to Tyur. He tied the thing to the hunter’s thick arm. Tyur looked down in awe.

“But I am not of your blood…”

“All who fight tyranny are of my tribe.”

The young man grasped his host’s shoulders and the old man returned the gesture.

(13) REJECTS ZERO SUM GAMES. Kevin Standlee tells how he feels about the latest Sad Puppies announcement in “Perhaps we should be grateful”.

Why don’t these people who are so completely certain (or so they say) that the Hugo Awards are washed up, finished, dead, pushing up daisies, etc. concentrate on the awards that they so confidently insisted would overwhelm the entire field and be the One True Awards That Real Fans Give for Real Good Stuff So There Will Be No Need For Any Other Awards Ever Again? They seem pretty unhappy that the members of WSFS continue to hold their convention and present their awards just like they have been doing for many years, including arguing over the rules (which, for those who have been paying attention, was a running theme long before the Puppies showed up). “Sad” is a good description for people for whom, as far as I can tell, think that the amount of happiness is a finite quantity, so that the only way they can be happy is to make other people unhappy.

(14) WELLS STORY DISCOVERED. The Guardian brings word of an “Unseen HG Wells ghost story published for the first time”.

Here’s a gothic tale for a stormy night: a man called Meredith converts a room in his house into a cluttered and untidy study, and one day asks a visiting friend if he can see anything strange on the ceiling.

“Don’t you see it?” he said. “
See what?”
“The – thing. The woman.”
I shook my head and looked at him.
“All right then,” he said abruptly. “Don’t see it!”

This is the beginning of a newly discovered HG Wells ghost story, called The Haunted Ceiling, a macabre tale found in an archive that Wells scholars say they have never seen before. It will be published for the first time this week, in the Strand magazine.

(15) TRUE GRIT. An unplanned furrow plowed when the Spirit rover suffered a broken wheel may have reaped a harvest of evidence for life on the Red Planet — “Scientists Think They Finally Found Evidence of Ancient Life on Mars”.

What the researchers found was that El Tatio produces silica deposits that appear nearly identical to those found by Spirit in Gusev Crater on Mars. The discovery of these deposits in similar environments on both planets suggests life because it implies they were formed by a similar process—specifically, microbial organisms.

“We went to El Tatio looking for comparisons with the features found by Spirit at Home Plate,” Ruff said in a statement. “Our results show that the conditions at El Tatio produce silica deposits with characteristics that are among the most Mars-like of any silica deposits on Earth.”

Exploration by the Spirit rover was discontinued in 2010 when the front wheel broke, causing the rover to get stuck and plow across the ground. This mishap is actually what caused the digging that uncovered the rich deposit of pure silica, and now the discovery of the silica deposits in Chile may be enough to send a rover back to that same site on Mars.

(16) ASK NOT FOR WHOM THE CHURRO TRUCK BELL TOLLS. You’ve got mail!

[Thanksgiving every day for John King Tarpinian and everyone else who contributes to this site, which today includes JJ, and Martin Morse Wooster. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor on Turkey Day, Paul Weimer.]

Discover more from File 770

Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.

142 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 11/24/16 And He Pixeled A Crooked Scroll”

  1. I appreciate several of the suggestions.

    I downloaded samples of:
    Vicious (Villains)
    Garrett PI

    Those I was unaware of.
    I have most of the Butcher Harry Dresden books. Did not enjoy Nightside books for whatever reason.

  2. I appreciate the book suggestions. I downloaded several samples and one full novel. Hopefully I can find another series or two of wonderful escapist super-hero fun.

    I also discovered that the 6th Wearing the Cape book has been released slightly less than a month ago and I missed it.

  3. @Cat Eldridge

    Simon R. Green’s Nightside series, a magical city at the center of London, is a lot of fun and pretty much devoid of left or right politics what-so-ever. It ran twelve novels in all which and was wrapped up nicely.

    I’m a big fan of Simon R. Green’s work, but he’s definitely leftwing. It’s not as notable in the Nightside series as e.g. in the Deathstalker or Hawk and Fisher series, but even the Nightside series had its moments such as John Taylor finding the time in the middle of trying to avert the apocalypse to liberate some elves who have been enslaved and forced to work in a sweatshop.

    Vicious by V.E. Schwab is excellent BTW.

  4. @airboy

    Thank you, a political polemic is just what my evening was missing. I’m stuck in a noisy room without even a single piece of leftist propaganda to read!

  5. John Taylor finding the time in the middle of trying to avert the apocalypse to liberate some elves who have been enslaved and forced to work in a sweatshop.

    No particular comment on Green, but freeing slaves is not purely a leftist value.

  6. Not necessarily, but Green framed the scene very much as liberating the downtrodden workers from an exploitative employer.

  7. Airboy, you’re saying you’re OK with Joe McCarthy?

    Good to know.

    You saw it as leftist. I saw it as nuance.

  8. Cora says I’m a big fan of Simon R. Green’s work, but he’s definitely leftwing. It’s not as notable in the Nightside series as e.g. in the Deathstalker or Hawk and Fisher series, but even the Nightside series had its moments such as John Taylor finding the time in the middle of trying to avert the apocalypse to liberate some elves who have been enslaved and forced to work in a sweatshop.

    I beg to defer. I see John as more an anti-authoritarian persona who loves to give whoever he perceives as being in power a hard elbow in the nuts if at possible, hence the irony of his new position at the end of the final novel.

    He certainly never espouses anything that would indicate he himself has political views, just what might be called a strong social justice bent.

  9. Most of the 770s are so leftist that they would not notice the politics in the first Wild Cards book.

    This File 770er votes Tory and has a subscription to The Spectator. Hotbed of radical leftism around here, isn’t it?

  11. @airboy: …okay. I’m going to tilt at windmills a bit and explain to you why the political climate of the 1930s made the Red Scare of the 1950s a bad thing, even though it was framed as being in opposition to Communism, which was also a bad thing.

    What you have to realize about the truly terrible and oppressive Communist governments you mentioned is that a) their worst excesses didn’t happen right away, and b) they weren’t well-publicized at the time, because one of the things about being a foreign government with state-controlled media is that it takes quite a while for the real truth behind your narrative to get out. Most American Communists (card-carrying capital-C Communists) of the 1930s were joining the Communist Party because Communism was seen as an antidote to fascism, and fascism was quite rightly seen as very dangerous. In Germany, in Italy, and in Spain, most of the active political resistance to the rising fascist movements were carried out by Communists, and at the time, being a Communist was seen by many as just a way to signal your opposition to Hitler and Mussolini.

    (It was also seen as a way of signaling your frustration with the poverty caused by the Great Depression, which was very much seen at the time as a symbol of the failures of capitalism.)

    In the aftermath of WWII, of course, a lot of information about the repressive regimes of Stalin and Mao began to circulate, and most Communists cut ties with them. But the HUAC investigated people for their past Communist associations, rather than current support for the brutal oppression of Stalin’s reign. Most of the people whose livelihoods were destroyed by the Red Scare had never done anything more harmful than advocate for workers’ rights, or express opposition to Franco, Hitler and Mussolini. But nonetheless, they were treated as dangerous subversives. The closest analogy would be to say that the Beach Boys were members of the Manson Family, because they knew him when he was a struggling songwriter.

    Basically, the Red Scare was an attempt to tar a lot of people who were anti-Hitler back when that was seen as an extremist stance with the brush of being supporters of the gulags, in order to gain political power (McCarthy was halfway through his first term and had done nothing of note prior to his anti-Communism). It should also be mentioned that a lot of those targeted were people who were homosexual, and while they were overtly persecuted for previous support of Communist philosophy, they were covertly pressured into testifying on their friends or family by using evidence of their gay relationships as leverage on them.

    In other words, you can be anti-Communist and still think that the Red Scare was a pretty shameful episode in our nation’s history. It’s not an either-or.

  12. “Communists killed more people and suppressed human liberty more than any form of government.”

    Not more than colonialism and feodalism, no.

  13. Rob_matic says This File 770er votes Tory and has a subscription to The Spectator. Hotbed of radical leftism around here, isn’t it?

    Though Leftist, I’m read The Spectator as well. In general, I find British political magazines far better than the American counterparts.

  14. So, I went to see the movie “Fantastic Beasts And Where to Find Them” yesterday (capsule review: fun romp, not deep, I figured out many but not all of the plot twists before they happened, good special effects; perfectly fine “popcorn” action flick) and there was a trailer for a movie called “Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets” — which the trailer said was adapted from a graphic novel. The trailer looked interesting. Anyone here read the graphic novel? Should I look for it?

  15. @Bravo Lima Poppa – McCarthy made mistakes. But once the KGB archives were (briefly) made available it was clear that many of the darlings of the left who claim they were “wrongly persecuted” were on the KGB payroll or were active sympathizers.

    Were some people hurt in the 1950s – sure. Was Communism a brutal form of government trying to subvert and enslave humanity – absolutely. Were many in the left apologizers for Communism up to the point where the USSR fell and the archives were made public – absolutely.

    @John Seavey – Yes I’m very well aware of the political situation in the 1940s, 30s, 20s, 10s and before. I read a ton of history. I hang out with a bunch of war and strategy gamers who know even more history. And I understand that some people were dupes in the 1920s through 1939. But the communists who continued to be duped after the Spanish Civil War, after the USSR went and split Poland with the Nazis, and especially after Prague Spring and other obvious nightmares were either too dumb to comprehend reality or just loved evil because it allowed them to control their fellow man.

    There are casualties in every war, including the war against Communism. Those who focus on the tiny problems in the West fighting communism instead of the true horror of communism are IMHO largely ignorant of history.

  17. @Hampus
    Not more than colonialism and feodalism, no.

    I disagree.
    Colonialism killed many through exposure to disease. Intentional starving of people and other horrors of communism were not the intent of most colonialism. One of the most shocking things I learned in a history class in college was that every country that had colonies which gave them up in the 1950s and 1960s had an economic boon – with the exception of the Belgians. The Belgians were ruthless in extracting wealth from their colonies.

    Feudalism – Was not geared towards killing people wholesale for ideology for the most part.

    Feudalism was before the enlightenment period of Western thought.

  18. There was at least as much intentional starvation during colonialism as during communism. Do check the Bengal famine of 1943. Do check out the policies of King Leopold. There was also intentional spread of diseases, germ warfare, in Australia. And there is actually a good case to be made that anti-communist policies has killed more people than communism. Hitler, Sukarno, Papa Doc, US wars in Asia…

  19. Personally I just oppose causes of death and misery wherever and whenever I find them. Do I really have to grandstand around declaring which cause I oppose the most-est?

  21. @Bill, thanks; missed that. The question stands, however; anyone seen a graphic novel of “Valerian and Laureline”? (Has it been translated into English?)

  22. Today’s Meredith Moment:

    Bella Books (home of our Heather Rose Jones’ Alpennia novels)
    is having a Thanksgiving sale:
    Save 15% off your order of $19 or more.
    Save 20% off your order of $59 or more.
    Enter Coupon Code thanks2u at checkout.

  23. Bonus Meredith Moment:

    Hugo-winning The Fifth Season is on sale for Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iBooks, Google, and other formats for $2.99 today only.

  25. @Cassy B.

    The question stands, however; anyone seen a graphic novel of “Valerian and Laureline”? (Has it been translated into English?)

    No idea if the series has ever been translated into English, but I read it years ago and enjoyed it. Will probably check out the movie just to see how they handled it.

  26. Brief comment from Thanksgiving-land: We saw “Arrival” last night! Is there a dedicated spoilery discussion post up hereabouts?

    Tomorrow: “Moana”.

    I’ve finished the 4th of Emma Newman’s “Split Worlds” books, only to discover myself more or less hanging on a cliff. aieee! Definitely worh reading, as I will describe when I have easier access to rot-13.

  27. Doctor Science: If a second person speaks up about wanting a spoiler discussion of Arrival, I will set up a post. I haven’t done it yet.

  32. @Hampus
    Leopold & the Belgians were brutal to the very end. As I noted earlier, Belgium was the only country in Europe who gave up colonies and their home economy went down.

    Lenin & Stalin caused more deaths than Hitler, Sukarno, Papa Doc, US wars in Asia (including going back to the Spanish-American War).

    But I agree with Mark that I really hate dictators who cause death and destruction. I hate all of them. I hate the Communists the most because they were the most effective at it. That is why I recoil from the anti-anti-Communist line.

    If you have never read it, Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell is a horrifying insight into the Spanish Civil War. I’ve read several other books on this war, but that one is the most gripping. The roots of 1984 and Animal Farm can be found there. Orwell was very lucky to survive the purges after he got shot through his neck during the Spanish Civil War.

  33. I was rewatching the ST:TOS episode “I, Mudd” on BBC America and suddenly it became obvious that the episode was a retread of Williamson’s “With Folded Hands.” Go figure!

  35. Science Fiction Book Club was having a BOGO sale for Black Friday, so I ordered four books: Crosstalk, The Wall of Storms, The Gate To Futures Past, and The Lost and The Found.

    I think this is the first order I’ve made from them since they switched to a “credits” system a few years ago. If you buy frequently from SFBC, the credits can be used to save money. But if, like me, you don’t, remembering to click a “Skip” button every month and avoid an automatic purchase of the monthly offerings is a pain. I elected to stay on the old “positive purchase” method (which I’d been on for over forty years), even though purchases tend to be more expensive that way. (There are extra discounts and sales for members on the credits plan.) So I’ve been waiting for their once-or-twice a year BOGO sales.

    I used to buy quite a few books from SFBC, but since Ellen Asher retired, SFBC’s selections haven’t been as compelling as they used to be, and seem to be even less so since the credits plan went into place. I’ve thought about cancelling my membership, but there’s a lot of inertia built up after nearly fifty years.

  36. @airboy

    I don’t think you’ll find anyone who wants to defend communism. As you say, it was an unmitigated disaster for all parties involved. Likewise, it’s difficult to find anyone to defend Joseph McCarthy’s witch hunts, although, of course, he didn’t do nearly as much damage. I don’t think it’s a political statement these days to call both of them evil.

    Whenever Good faces off against Evil, there is always the temptation for Good to use some of Evil’s tactics. This amounts to a victory for Evil, though. This is a popular theme in SFF, actually, going all the way back to Galadriel refusing to the the One Ring from Frodo. If you fight for Good, you must play by Good’s rules, and the hardest fights you’ll ever have are with Good turned Evil. Or, as someone else said, Evil is still evil, even when it tries to wear a halo.

    Regarding the Wild Cards books, I didn’t care for them personally because I don’t care for superhero stories, but I do think I know the section you’re talking about. As I remember it, there was nothing remotely pro-Communist in it. (Correct me if I missed something.) Instead, it has something analogous to the McCarthy hearings, and that’s portrayed as evil. As I said above, I don’t see that as making a political statement, since all but a tiny minority would agree that the McCarthy hearings were objectively evil.

  37. @Rob Thornton

    I was rewatching the ST:TOS episode “I, Mudd” on BBC America and suddenly it became obvious that the episode was a retread of Williamson’s “With Folded Hands.” Go figure!

    That theme seems to be turning up a lot lately. A really good take on it that just came out is “They Have All One Breath,” by Karl Bunker (Asimov’s, December 2016). For details on why I liked it, read my reivew, but it’s essentially about a sculptor who’s trying to decide if his work still has meaning in utopia.

  39. @Doctor Science: I too zoomed through the four Split Worlds books and had the same horrified realization (OMG, they are fantastic! and why isn’t the fifth one published SOBS).

  41. @ airboy: And I lived through the anti-anti-communism period of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

    This explains much. I had been under the impression that you were of the generation that never got taught any history; instead, it turns out that you’re one of those Old Phart Phans who always make me think, “I’m way too young for this crowd,” even though they’re my own age cohort. Just another geezer who never stopped loving living the Cold War.

    Just out of curiosity, do you notice the liberal messaging in the Honor Harrington series? Because I sure as hell do.

    Re wild turkeys: I laughed so hard reading this that I nearly fell out of my chair.

  42. General Grumble: I was reading The Invisible Library and enjoying it quite a lot, when I left it at the Urgent care centre at the hospital after my son’s visit there. So now I’m halfway through a book I’d very much like to finish, and into the time when I usually don’t do much shopping-for-self. Augh.

    I suppose there’s a good chance the library still has it…

    (Urgent care = too serious for a walk-in clinic, not serious enough for emergency. Boy’s issue was a hip in pain enough he wasn’t walking, but was otherwise fine. Is better now, too.)

  43. @airboy: Lenin & Stalin caused more deaths than Hitler, Sukarno, Papa Doc, US wars in Asia (including going back to the Spanish-American War). I suspect that arithmetic works only if you count the 24 million dead in the USSR in WWII against Stalin rather than Hitler.

  44. @airboy: You have trouble with the politics of Wild Cards but like Zot!? I am a bit croggled. Nonetheless, it’s always good to hear from a fellow Scott McCloud fan. I strongly second the recommendation of Astro City – Comixology has a free sample story called “The Nearness of You”.

  45. If you want to count atrocities the go-to resource is Matthew White “The Great Big Book of Horrible Things”. (Warning: needs a strong stomach.) He ran a very thorough statistical analysis of history’s worst multicides.

    Feudalism & Older: 275 million dead.
    Whenever a Chinese dynasty fell, there were 20 million civilian victims. Genghis Khan decimated most of Europe. The rise and fall of the Roman Empire.

    Capitalism & Colonialism: 140 million dead.
    Includes the conquest of the Americas, the Atlantic slave trade, famines in British India, the Belgian Congo and several others.

    Communism: 100 million dead.
    Mostly Stalin and Mao. Also includes events like the Korean and Vietnam Wars where blame may be disputed.

    Fascism: 70 million dead.
    World War II.

    Recent events: 15 million dead.
    Congo. Iraq. Somalia. Sudan. Syria.

    Now I need something cleansing.

  46. Are we playing which government/ideology is going to kill you?

    I’m a loudmouth democratic socialist.
    When communist take over they tend to kill or imprison people like me.
    On the other hand fascist and/or nazis, extreme nationalist or extreme theocrats offer violence even before they take over.

    Looking at it the other way round: which kind of ideology is LEAST likely to try and kill you when it is in government? Why democratic socialist/social democrats. Not a perfect track record of course but if we are going off “are they going to kill me?” as a criteria…

  48. @Airboy

    once the KGB archives were (briefly) made available it was clear that many of the darlings of the left who claim they were “wrongly persecuted” were on the KGB payroll or were active sympathizers

    Can you cite a source? I don’t have books handy but my recollection is the two main sources available are the Venona archive, based on US communications intercepts, and the Mitrokhin archive which may or may not be disinformation. Venona’s interpretation is not a settled matter even among academics on the right. Mitrokhin on the other hand, again as I recall without copies close, shows HUAC, for the most part, going after everyone but actual Soviet agents

  49. If my s grandfather could be here, he’d tell you that Communism is just a front for the giant Zionist conspiracy, which runs all the others. He would tell us about it whenever we visited. He also wrote about it as a ghostwriter for a radio rabble rouser (whose name I hesitate to say outright for fear of attracting people who still go for his ideology, but the first was the same as one Sinclair, and the last was the opposite of distant) and as a published author and pamphleteer whose thoughts are still apparently retailed and available online for the benefit of budding racists. Reagan was too pink for him, and I’m sure he’d have choice words for Trump, though I expect he’d at least see some ‘good’ in some of his choices.

    Dad’s 91 now, and for the first time I’m aware of, he didn’t vote. Wouldn’t bring himself to vote for Clinton, couldn’t bring himself to vote for Trump. Considering how much of his father’s worldview he still has, that’s almost a triumph for reason and good taste.

    edited to add: FY,WP

  50. Are we really keping score on who killed more people?
    Do you know who killed the most? Extremists. All ideologies that rely on killing people (or even only locking them up if they disagree) are extremists in my opionion. Freedom lies in the middle ground.

Comments are closed.