Worldcon—Autographs and Kaffeeklatsch

One of the nice features of Worldcon is the opportunity for autographs and Kaffeeklatsches. It took a while to figure out where the autographs were being done—way in the far corner of the main floor, beyond all the booths selling books, necklaces, samurai swords, etc.

Carrie Vaughn was there. She autographed my copy of her young adult Martians Abroad, being careful to ask if my name ended with a c or a k.

I thanked her for a brief conversation some years ago that she probably doesn’t remember, when I asked her if there were many urban fantasies where the female protagonist starts out already married. She couldn’t think of any off the top of her head, but she encouraged me to try. I was already working on my vampire parody with the current working title Dust after Slaying, so that was encouraging.

Mary Robinnette Kowal was also there. She had given me a lot of advice several years before, and had made a point of talking to me at a Worldcon some years ago. I said I didn’t know if she still recognized me, and she said, “Of course!” What was embarrassing was that I had brought The Calculating Stars, and while waiting in line I discovered that she already autographed it.

I told her I have a Victorian fantasy manuscript, and the female protagonist is a fairy who only learned to read as an adult. I use that as a way of explaining some of the Victorianisms she sees around her for the benefit of the reader. I asked if that would be a problem for readers, to have the female protagonist being somewhat ignorant, though observant. Mary Robinnette Kowal said no, so long as her emotions on encountering some new thing are included. Ah. That was a key insight.

The Kaffeeklatsches are small meetings of up to ten people. Attendees are encouraged to bring coffee, tea, soda, etc. Signups are ahead of time, and one must inquire redundantly about where the signup sheets will be, and how far ahead of time one can sign up.

I attended one with Cass Morris, author of From Unseen Fire, an alternate history version of ancient Rome. She told us how laborious the process was for getting it published.

She also specializes in rhetoric, and she was throwing around terms like antanaclasis and anadiplosis quite easily. Her novel has multiple viewpoint characters—a scene in a chapter might be told from one character’s point of view, then after a brief line break the scene shifts to another character’s point of view. She said her publisher did not have a problem with that. That was a relief to me, since my recent science fiction manuscript Alpha Shift has multiple viewpoint characters.

There are good panel discussions at conventions like this, but try to find a way to get personal advice.

Worldcon—Embassies and Jefferson Memorial

I had some time in Washington, D.C. during Worldcon. Instead of taking a guided tour, I decided to go off the beaten path. I discovered this statue of Winston Churchill outside the British Embassy.

The rest of the embassy is so fenced off, any pictures of it would mainly be of black iron fences, so it wouldn’t have been worth it.  

Here is the very modern Embassy of Brazil, with the more traditional Embassy of Bolivia next to it.

To enter, one must walk underneath a great mass of the building.

D.C. was unseasonably warm when I was there. Surprisingly, no one else was there on this side of the Jefferson Memorial.

The flash wasn’t on for Jefferson’s statue, so this is what I call Dark Jefferson.

Here are the initial words of the Declaration of Independence, carved in large letters. 

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This is the front of the Jefferson Memorial, across the Tidal Basin. A couple of pedestrians are on the steps, which gives some idea of the scale of the Memorial.

Next time, I will give a few details of the convention.

Worldcon—Arrival

Worldcon—a large science fiction and fantasy convention that a lot of writers go to—was held in Washington, DC This year. I had never been there before. As we flew in for arrival, I realized we were passing what was obviously the Pentagon. I was astonished we could fly so close to it. Continuing on, I could see the Capitol, then the Washington Monument. It was all coming true.

I arrived in time to see the art show by Maurizio Manzieri, who is from Italy. One of his pieces, of a spaceship, was chosen for this year’s badges:

Please see his art at https://www.artstation.com/manzieri He does marvelous work with faces. 

The big treat for the evening was the showing of the restored 1927 movie Metropolis, directed by Fritz Lang. There have been several iterations of this combination of science fiction and social commentary. The 2010 version restored several minutes that were found in a copy in Latin America. More recently, some computer work has helped fill in the gaps, since some scenes were filmed as slowly as 12 frames per second.

This evening’s presentation featured new music by Ryako. She composed and performed all the music herself. She was there to take questions.

In my next post, I may show pics from my sightseeing.

Hey, Hey, We Miss Mike Nesmith

Mike Nesmith passed away yesterday. He was the de facto leader of the pop group The Monkees. Before anyone says anything else, yes, that really was them singing. Because of the group’s origin, and some bad lip-synching in “Daydream Believer,” for instance, the rumor goes around that the four of them weren’t real singers. But yes, Mike Nesmith, Peter Tork, Micky Dolenz, and Davy Jones really were singing.

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They burst onto the scene in 1966 with their TV show The Monkees. It was a show about a fictional musical group. But yes, that was them singing, see above. They went on tour after that first season. Massive crowds of screaming fans showed up. A phenomenon of that magnitude hadn’t been seen since the heyday of The Beatles. After that, they worked hard and became a real band.

Although Micky Dolenz had the voice that was most characteristic of The Monkees’ sound, my favorite singer was Mike Nesmith. My favorite song of theirs is “You Just May Be The One,” written by Nesmith with him as the lead singer. For copyright reasons I won’t put in a link to it, but try to find a version that just shows the band playing, and not goofy scenes with Peter Tork.

Now for a science fiction connection: Walter Koenig was hired to play Chekov in the old Star Trek because the producers wanted to get some of the female audience that liked Davy Jones. Koenig was mistaken for Jones once in a restaurant and asked to sing.

Omicron—Pronunciation

About half the newscasters I have heard pronounce omicron with a long o sound at the front, about half with a short o. Who is right?

Depending on which version of the alphabet is used, Omicron is the fifteenth letter of the ancient Greek alphabet. English speakers will be happy to know it looks like this:

O

But that doesn’t help much, does it? The inside information I can give you is that Greek has two letters that correspond to our o. The other is omega, the last letter of that alphabet.

Ω

 That should look familiar. I’m not talking about watches. A lot of science fiction novels and shows use that as a symbol, sometimes symbolizing an ultimate program or device.

Omicron corresponds to our short o. Omega corresponds to our long o. So omicron should be pronounced with a short o at the front. Otherwise, that just negates their having the two different letters.

But I’m not done. What about the letter i in the middle? That corresponds to the Greek letter iota, which looks a lot like our letter i. Sometimes it’s pronounced like short i, sometimes like a long e. (For that second one, think of someone singing Do Re Mi.)

I prefer that second pronunciation. That makes it om-ee-cron. I have only heard two female newscasters pronounce it that way—or perhaps it was the same one. Anyway, I’m pushing for people to pronounce it that way, and you can show off your new-found prowess in Greek by doing so.

(Those who really know the ancient Greek will point out that lower case omicron looks like our o, while lower case omega looks like a curly w, like this: ω. But that is a little complicated.)

Your 3G Will Be Dead as a …

I spent much of my Saturday morning trying to figure out if my current smartphone will work in 2022. As I hope you know already, 3G is going away in 2022. The exact date depends on your carrier. This is to make room for the exalted, brand new 5G, which will do everything except wash your feet for you. So your 3g phones and some of your 4G phones will be dead as a dodo.

public domain

There’s a reason we don’t have any photographs of them

I have an old Galaxy phone. Is it the S7, S8, or S9? No, those were top Galaxy phones for their time. I don’t need all the nice features, so I bought a bottom level J7. Never heard of it? Exactly.

So I assumed it was a 3G phone. I spent some time trying to find cheap 4G phones, but they tend to be used, or ever worse, refurbished. Then a very good article clued me in that if the phone has LTE in the upper right corner of the screen, it will be okay for 2022. Sure enough, my phone has those letters. After some triple checking of this, I found out my phone is 4G LTE. It’s safe.

All this did not leave me in the mood for writing. But as we find out in Dune, mood should not matter. For copyright reasons I won’t post a link here, but look up the words “dune shield practice” in some video sharing site, and see the lesson there.

Spice, the Final Frontier—Comment on Dune

This is not a negative blog, so all I’ll say about the new Dune movie is that I had a hard time liking the main character—Paul Atreides/ Muad'Dib/ the cuisinart-hat-and-coat-rack. Yes, that means I’m one of those people who liked the 1984 version better. I’ve been told to think of that one as opera—opera without singing.

If you have a chance, check out the Sci Fi Channel’s 2000 miniseries Frank Herbert’s Dune. It’s supposed to be more accurate to the novel than the 1984 movie, though it was woefully underfunded for the battle against House Atreides. It would be more informative to compare this miniseries with the current movie.

Y

You’re Good at Whole Foods

I know that some people didn’t like it when Amazon took over Whole Foods, but there is an advantage to it.

My internet connection was slowing down, which was more than inconvenient. I’m trying to send out letters to agents to find someone who will sign me on as a client for my historical fantasy, Temple Beyond the Sea. My connection became so slow, some agency websites showed up piecemeal. The ones that did show up okay took a long while to load, especially since one has to look at multiple pages to see which agents accepts which genres, their query letter requirements, etc. I suspected it was my modem.

I ordered a new one from Amazon. Guess what, I ordered the wrong kind.

It had come in one of those huge 11x17 padded envelopes. I had cut the top off, and I didn’t relish the idea of taping it up securely to haul to an Amazon locker.

This is the small part

While setting up my return, Amazon gave me the option of returning it to Whole Foods Market. That’s right, I had noticed the curiosity of the Amazon return area in the store. It’s close by, and I wouldn’t have to put it back in the envelope.

public domain

So I took the modem over there in its box and stood in line at that curious Amazon return area. After the guy there scanned the QR code Amazon had sent me, he put it on a cart and said, “You’re good.”

As an aside, I try to buy my books from Barnes & Noble to keep the local bookstores open. But if it’s going to be something cumbersome I might have to return, I’ll keep the Whole Foods option in mind.

Hot Greece

I’m preparing to send out my manuscript, Temple Beyond the Sea, set in ancient Greek civilization. The standard practice is to send a manuscript out to as many agents as possible in a “shotgun” approach and hope that one will accept it. (And if you are reading this post, dear agent, know that you are special.) What will hopefully work to my advantage is that reimaginings of Greek mythology is a hot trend now. You can walk into a Barnes & Noble and see a number of titles.

One of these novels is about Norse mythology
I’ll let you guess which one

If you follow my blog, you’ll know that I’ve written more than one novel manuscript. Do not leave this to chance. Have more than one way to strike while the iron is hot. For now, here in excerpt from Temple Beyond the Sea.

Book Review: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is actually a lengthy poem, written in Middle English. I read what was probably a standard translation in college, but when I found out that J.R.R. Tolkien had done a translation, I bought his version. Each translation preserves the alliteration in each line. For instance, Tolkien styled a line this way:

“Then he stayed his steed that on the steep bank halted

above the deep double ditch that was drawn round the place.”

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is an anti-romance. The typical romance of the time would describe in detail how the knight or other hero would go through great battles. Then he would save the damsel in distress. In contrast, there is no description of any battle in this poem. It is mentioned that Gawain has a number of battles in his travels, but none are described. And there is no damsel in the story. On the contrary, the owner of a castle shows Gawain great hospitality, but his wife on no less than three mornings comes into Gawain’s bedroom and offers him her body. Each time, Gawain has to refuse her using the most polite language, since his code of chivalry does not allow him to insult such a lady. This series of temptations and denials of temptations is the main part of the story.

The author had to be an expert in romances to cleverly write an anti-romance that was so fascinating.

Tolkien was an expert on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. His own work, The Lord of the Rings, is an anti-quest. The protagonists already have the great talisman of power—the ring. They have to get rid of it, because no one can wield it without becoming corrupted. A number of turning points in the story have to do with temptation and denying temptation.

It’s very nice to see the connections fall into place.

By the way, there is a movie out there called The Green Knight that is supposedly based on this story. It is awful. They take some parts of the story and reverse everything. Also some truly grotesque “art” scenes are thrown in. This is not a negative blog, but do not see that travesty.

TV Review: Moonlight

I recently rewatched the 2007 television series Moonlight. Mick St. John (Alex O'Loughlin) is a private investigator with a secret: He’s a vampire. He looks about thirty, but he’s actually eighty-five. He takes an interest in protecting Beth Turner (Sophia Myles), a reporter who really is about thirty. They work together, doing some mild breaking and entering for clues for their respective lines of work.

Beth keeps saying that Mick looks familiar, but he brushes that off. As a walking CSI lab, Mick can tell if a vampire was around a dead body, and he can smell blood from a crime scene and tell if it matches an individual’s blood sample. And he uses his incredible strength and speed to save Beth and others.

It turns out that when Beth was a child, Mick saved her after she was kidnapped by a vampire. They sure make a cute couple. I wonder if they will get together?

Mick is front and center, Beth is on the right

Moonlight is different from other television or movie series on the subject. Mick does not normally kill other vampires, nor is he an isolated individual. Instead, there is a thriving but secret vampire community in Los Angeles. Mick’s best friend is a four-hundred-year-old vampire who has lots of vampire contacts. Mick has a contact in the coroner’s office who supplies him with blood. If Mick meets another vampire, they pick up each other’s scent and say something like, “Oh, so you’re a …” This large, secret community is an interesting take.

Keep in mind this was written in the early 2000s. The characters have cell phones, but they aren’t smart. Research on the internet is by desktop computer, and it takes a while. Beth works for an internet news group, and though they have higher ratings than more established sources, it’s still viewed as a novelty.

Another interesting fact is that this was one of the last of the great American private investigator shows set in modern times, until a new batch came out fairly recently. Most crime investigation shows involve the police or CSI types, and all the government resources they have. Seeing how private enterprise does things differently is refreshing.

But what kept viewers coming back was the on-again, off-again relationship between Mick and Beth. Mick thinks he’s no good for her. Beth keeps getting more and more fascinated with him. What will happen? 

Aye vs. Yes

What’s the difference between “Aye” and “Yes” when watching a military program, especially a science fiction one that uses these terms? A friend of mine who used to fly Naval Air told me that in the Navy and Marines, “Yes” is used to respond to a question, but “Aye” is used to respond to an order.

Many science fiction novels, movies, and TV shows use naval ranks and terminology. John Hemry, who is my favorite author and an old Navy hand, said that was because the Navy has experience keeping crews on ships for extended periods, and the Navy has bases around the world. That may be why this is used for spaceships in science fiction.

My current science fiction story is Alpha Shift. I’ve finished doing a thorough re-edit of the manuscript. Here’s what it looks like printed out.

 

Reginald Barclay vs. the Scammers

I’ve used the name Reginald Barclay on social media. For those of you who don’t know, he was an occasional character on Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. He was played by Dwight Schultz, an excellent actor who was known for his role in the old TV show The A-Team, and extra points if you know he did voice acting for The Animatrix, an animated companion piece to The Matrix.

I liked him as Barclay in The Next Generation because he seemed more like a real person than the main cast. He often didn’t know what to do next, or where to go next. His uncertainties contrasted with characters who always knew what to do and who would stride away purposefully at the end of a conversation.

But the people who tried to scam me really were not familiar with the character.

photo by evil_cotton

The dingbats who texted me and sent me an email addressed me as Reginald Barclay, obviously just randomly grabbing names from social media. If I call their dedicated line, they can help me get relief from my student loans by the stimulus forgiveness program.

My name is not Reginald Barclay, I do not have student loans, and anyone foolish enough to call their number will have their phone number sold to countless lists for robocalls.

Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow

Theaters are displaying movie posters again. This is a different look for her, dressed in white. You can get an idea of the size of the poster from the field lights above it. The railing for the walkway below is about waist height.

Click to enlarge

I don’t know if I’ll see the movie, but this is quite the landmark.

Terry Brooks and Cliffhanger Endings

Several years ago, I attended a writers’ workshop by the great Terry Brooks. As an aside, do you know he pronounces Shannara with a short a at the start, instead of an a like in father? It shocked a lot of people. But I digress.

He stressed that every chapter should end with a cliffhanger ending. “No exceptions,” he said. As a young aspiring writer, I thought that sounded cliché. Now that I’m an older aspiring writer, I see the wisdom of it. Which brings me to the manuscript I’m about to send out.

This picture I took was from much later
Not perfectly focused, I know

So this is from my War of the Wars reimagined. It you’re reading this from a home computer, you can find links to excerpts in the column on the right, or if you’re reading this from a smartphone, you can scroll down to the tiny words that say “View web version” and see that column. My working title will be Fairy War. Here is the cliffhanger ending for a chapter:

 #

My senses were overwhelmed as I lay there, head lolling on hard wood, and I could not differentiate between the steam and smoke obscuring my vision when I blacked out.

#

How’d I do?

Book Review: Monster Hunter Guardian

Julie Shackleford is a member of Monster Hunters International. You can probably guess what they specialize in, and it requires a lot of guns. The other Monster Hunters are on a mission in another country, so all Julie has to do is care for her three-month-old baby, Ray, and hold down the compound.

But some monsters are not simply fierce things to be shot down by bullets. Some can infiltrate the mind of a person and suddenly control that person’s actions. And so Ray gets kidnapped by a trusted friend. Julie does what any monster hunting mother would do: She loads up for bear and chases after her child through a portal. She ends up in Germany, but her rifle doesn’t make it. Still, she proceeds to do an amazing amount of damage with a handgun, and even a sword. She takes down cult members and creatures of sheer evil in amazing numbers, trying to get Ray back. 

  

Click to enlarge 

Monster Hunter Guardian by Larry Correia and Sarah A. Hoyt is the eighth book in the Monster Hunter series, but it is a stand-alone novel, so the reader can understand it without having read the previous installments. Still, even though the book is action-packed, there are a few slow moments at the beginning where those familiar with the series get caught up with what is going on with her husband and grandfather.

The action really flows after that. Julie takes an enormous amount of damage as she takes down one cult member or evil thing after another. Obviously this is explained in terms of her toughness and her desire to rescue her baby, but it is somewhat hard to believe she can stay on her feet, let alone keep fighting. Then again, you should see the other guys.

The story does have its lighter moments. She arrives in Germany in the middle of their equivalent of Mardi Gras, so she blends right in with her tactical look, which I found quite funny.

Also, the cover is a treat. The artist, Alan Pollack, obviously studied a certain fight scene in the book. It is incredibly accurate. True, Julie doesn’t handle her gun and the sword at the same time, but still. And how many action heroines with glasses have we seen on book covers?

So if you like guns, or women with guns, or wonder how you would do if you had to rescue your baby, or just want a ripping good yarn, Monster Hunter Guardian is for you.

Whack-a-Gnome

So the latest crisis is a shortage of garden gnomes. Supply chains in general have been stressed for the little fellows, but then the Suez Canal was blocked for six, count ‘em, six days. Great Britain felt the shortage quite keenly. Where is gnome central—the Middle East? The Indian subcontinent? Some part of what used to be called the Orient, where factory workers beat those cute hats into shape? What must they think of Western civilization?

image from satellite ESA Copernicus Sentinel-2

This, of course, brings us to fantasy. Special Unit 2 was an early form of urban fantasy on television. Detective O’Malley was played by Michael Landes. Detective Benson was played by Alexondra Lee. Together, they fought creatures of legend, such as mermen, gorgons, werewolves, and even a dragon, who threatened the human race. Their street informant was a gnome named Carl, played by Danny Woodburn. The series was quite funny and full of action, so I highly recommend it.

But to the point, O’Malley and Carl did not get along. The relevant part starts at 5:45.  (Warning: some coarse language.)

Cherry Blossoms, Pale Sky

 

Easter Egg for Future Archaeologists

This egg was at a mall. It was about five feet tall. Future archaeologists may decide we worshiped a large egg at this time of year.

I remember the main character in Quark, an old science fiction show, said archaeologists found that his ancestors in California worshiped a five-foot tall mouse with white gloves.

Movie Review: Chaos Walking

Todd (Tom Holland) lives on a sparsely colonized planet. Some unique property of the planet allows the thoughts of men to be projected out loud, accompanied by misty tendrils that are visible from a distance. Memories can also be seen, and Todd is skillful enough to project images. All the women in his village were killed years ago.

Viola (Daisy Ridley) is part of a second-generation colony ship. When her scout ship crash lands, she is the only survivor. Todd has never seen a girl, so when he discovers Viola, he is immediately smitten with her. Unfortunately, the mayor of the village wants to attack the main ship when it lands while most of its people are still in cryogenic stasis. Viola overhears the plot and runs. Todd chases after her, trying to help her avoid the men of the village who pursue on horseback.

Chaos Walking is a serviceable film that kept my interest. Todd and Viola alternate between being frantically on the run and pausing to discover more of the remains of attempted civilization on the planet. All agree that the movie is completely dependent on the acting talents of Tom Holland and Daisy Ridley, who do a great job. Critics tend to bash it, saying it becomes predictable after the intriguing beginning. Also, there is rabbit-out-of-a-hat trick with the images that was problematic.  

Ordinary people (probably a lot of teenagers) enjoyed it. I might have enjoyed it more if I were an insecure teenager—more than once Todd visualizes being kissed by Viola, which outrages her. But as I said, it kept my interest.

So if a theater is open near you, you might consider Chaos Walking. Keep in mind the very different reactions to it, and that there is no accounting for taste. 

Writing at the Mall

I usually do a good amount of writing at malls. It doesn’t always work out (see my entry on Mallrats). But I write in malls because if I write at home I start thinking of other things I need to do, like cleaning.

Last Saturday, I was in Bellevue Square. (Bellevue is the largest suburb of Seattle.) It connects by a skybridge to Lincoln Square.

Here’s a view from it looking north:

Oddly enough, there is no glass on this side of the skybridge. They must have figured that having glass on the south was all that was needed to keep the wind from blowing through.

Here’s a view looking south:

Here is from a different angle. It’s a little hard to see, but there are three movie posters, each as tall as a floor—a very tall floor. They showcase A Quiet Place 2 and Bad Boys for Life. I’m not sure what the third movie is. Any guesses?

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It’ll be nice when the theatres are open again.

Charisma Carpenter Speaks out on Joss Whedon

I’m a fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and to a lesser extent, of Angel. (See my post “What if Buffy had Never Been?”) If you care about either series, please read the tweets by Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia, here:  

https://twitter.com/AllCharisma/status/1359537746843365381/photo/1

I’m not in favor of the cancel culture. But if someone gets the idea to cancel a certain someone, not my fault.  

Addendum: Sarah Michelle Geller posted on Instagram that she doesn’t want to be forever associated with Joss Whedon. Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Buffy’s sister Dawn, reposted that and added there was a rule that Joss Whedon would not be allowed in a room alone with her again.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CLH9ce-ByTV/?utm_source=ig_embed

Movie Review: Run Hide Fight

Zoe (Isabel May) is somewhat of an unusual high schooler, in that she’s comfortable handling guns because her father has taught her how to hunt. (Although, such teens who have been introduced into a healthy gun culture are more common than some think.)

But something’s gone wrong with Zoe emotionally. As one teacher flat-out tells her to her face, she used to be outgoing and cheerful. Now she’s withdrawn and become flippant with her teachers. She even tells the only friend she has left, “This is high school. Nothing that happens here matters in the real world.”

So on senior prank day, she’s not impressed by the hijinks that go on. But when a van crashes into the cafeteria and students dressed in black cold-bloodedly shoot a number of other students, everything changes.

Covered in blood, Zoe manages to escape the school. But then she slows to a stop. Will she turn around to warn other students to run? Will she fight? 

Run Hide Fight is quite the unusual movie. It shows in gritty detail what a prolonged school shooting looks like, without being exploitational. If you make a comment on this, please don’t mention politics. Some reviewers think they see partisan politics in this movie, but the politics is in their heads.

Everything rests on Isabel May’s shoulders, and she does carry the movie. It pretty much zips along from start to finish. She does not play Zoe (which means “life”) as an over-the-top action hero. She is actually terrified during much of the movie. And Zoe has to work out her emotional problems during the course of all the violence.

Isabel May is twenty, so she was nineteen or twenty when she played the seventeen-year-old. She mentioned in an interview that fear of a school shooting was a real part of her life.

Is Run Hide Fight a great movie? It has a few continuity problems, and a few of the scenes seem forced. But it is well worth watching, and I am not aware of any other movie like this out there.

(If you don’t want to see several students get shot to death, and if you can’t stand the sight of blood, this movie is not for you.)

As a little social commentary, I have been shown more than once the standard workplace video that shows the options of run, hide, or fight in an active shooter situation, and the pragmatic explanations of when to use which option. But schools are given only one option: hide. Schools lock down in an active shooter situation.

There was a situation at a school that won’t be mentioned here, in which students in a completely different building were locked down, instead of being allowed to flee. This makes no sense, especially since some shooters go from classroom to classroom. Certain administrators have decided this is the lowest-risk option in terms of insurance and public image and their own careers, but the students’ lives are not given the highest priority.

I feel sorry for teachers who are stuck in this system. If they go against administration policy and have their students flee, they could be sued if a student gets injured. It wouldn’t have to be something as dramatic as a student getting shot. If a student breaks an ankle while fleeing, the teacher could be in big trouble.

Those videos that businesses use to show their employees to run, hide, or fight should be remade featuring teenagers and shown to high schools. It gets trickier with ages younger than that, but the blind insistence on a one-size-fits-all policy is an act of cowardice that does not serve students well.

Phone Dies, Phone Lives

My cell phone seemed to die recently. It just wouldn’t power on. I knew I hadn’t run the battery down too much, and even if I had, it should power up enough to tell me the battery was low. So on a hunch, I replaced the battery.

Instead of the top-of-the-line S series of Samsungs, my phone is from the mid-level J series. I chose this particular phone because the battery could be replaced. There are too many reviews of the more expensive phones where a minority of buyers gave one-star reviews because the battery stopped working after a couple of months.

I think my phone is on the 3G network. At some point, when 5G phones become standard, I may pick up a cheap 4G.

Barbara Shelley Passed Away

Barbara Shelley, an actress known for her statuesque beauty, passed away. Some of you may know her as Sorasta in some 1984 episodes of Doctor Who.

I know her from the 1967 movie Quatermass and the Pit, which was shown in America as Five Millions Years to Earth. This had a stunning effect on me when I was young. Unlike most female leads of the time in such movies, she played a crucial role in terms of research. She showed a skeptical Dr. Quatermass that the pit being excavated had a history going back centuries of odd occurrences. She also pointed out that the older name “Hob” for Hobbs End was a name for the Devil.

This movie is still available on eBay. There is a mini-series with the same name, but the movie has this badly-lit cover.

Barbara (which was the character’s name) had a couple other crucial roles in the movie, which you’ll have to watch to find out. I won’t show the poster for that movie, because it is horribly exploitational. But here is part of the poster for Village of the Damned.

I cut out the weird top of the poster. This was the original 1960 British version, which was far more creepy than the much louder 1995 American version.