THE MT VOID
09/08/23 -- Vol. 42, No. 10, Whole Number 2292

Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
Sending Address: evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
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Topics:
New York Times Article about the Holmdel Horn [unlocked]
Mini Reviews, Part 5 (TRAVELLING SALESMAN, PARADISE,
CRYPTID) (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper
and Evelyn C. Leeper)
This Week's Reading (AXIOMATIC) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: New York Times Article about the Holmdel Horn [unlocked]

The article includes *lots* of photos.

<https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/04/science/astronomy-holmdel-
antenna-microwaves.html>

or unlocked:

<https://tinyurl.com/holmdel-horn>

Where the Universe Began

A half-century ago, a radio telescope in Holmdel, N.J., sent two
astronomers 13.8 billion years back in time--and opened a cosmic
window that scientists have been peering through ever since.

Published Sept. 4, 2023
Updated Sept. 5, 2023

On a field just below the summit of Crawford Hill, the highest
point in Monmouth County, N.J., almost within sight of the
skyscrapers of Manhattan, sits a cluster of shacks and sheds. Next
to them is the Holmdel Horn Antenna, a radio telescope somewhat
resembling the scoop of a giant steam shovel: an aluminum box 20
feet square at the mouth and tapering to an eight-inch opening,
through which the radio waves are funneled into the "cab," a wooden
hut on stilts. From a distance, the whole site could be mistaken
for an old mining camp you might come across in Montana or Idaho.

....

===================================================================

TOPIC: Mini Reviews, Part 5 (film reviews by Mark R. Leeper and
Evelyn C. Leeper)

This is the fifth batch of mini-reviews for this season, more films
of the fantastic:

TRAVELLING SALESMAN (2012): TRAVELLING SALESMAN(*) has four
mathematicians and a government representative sitting in a room
and discussing what should be done with their proof that P=nP (and
the underlying algorithm). Should it be publicly realized? Should
it be given to the government? Should it be licensed to
corporations? The mathematics is not always valid (they had no
consultants in making the film), but the underlying ideas would
apply to many discoveries. (Explicit reference is made to Los
Alamos.) And a lot of the discussion is trying to make the
government guy (and the audience) understand the implications,
rather than a discussion of the morality of various possible
decisions. This is not a film that requires a big screen (we
streamed it on Vimeo). The ending is a let-down, though, because
it does not appear that the filmmakers have thought through the
implications. (The same problem occurs at the end of EMERGENCE.)

* Yes, a double 'l' and no definite article.

Released theatrically 16 June 2012. Rating: +2 (-4 to +4), or 7/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1801123/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/travelling_salesman>

PARADISE (2023): PARADISE is a German science fiction film whose
premise is basically a variant on IN TIME (which was in turn
"inspired" by the 1987 short "The Price of Life") All seem to be
based on the proverb "Time is money." In IN TIME there seems to
just be some sort of chip that keeps track of how much time you
have left and works like a debit card, where you can add or
subtract time. In PARADISE, there is some hand-waving about DNA
matching and an operation to transfer the years from one person to
another, as if they were just another organ. (Which in turn
reminds us of NEVER LET ME GO, although that has a bit more
scientific plausibility than PARADISE.)

The plot is fairly predictable: the main character is an
enthusiastic supporter of this process until ... surprise, he finds
himself (or rather, his wife) on the short end of it. And of
course there are twists and turns in the plot--people who aren't
who they seem, people who change during the film, etc.

(There's also a hint of the "Twilight Zone" episode "The Long
Morrow".) [-ecl]

Released streaming 27 June 2023. Rating: +1 (-4 to +4), or 6/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21308888/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/paradise_2023>

CRYPTID (2022): CRYPTID is a run-of-the-mill monster film; the
monster is from a reptilian species that has survived since ...
well, they don't exactly say, but it seems to be from millions of
years ago. Then again, so are crocodiles. The attacks all take
place at night in the rain and when we do see the monster, it's a
bit of a let-down. [-mrl/ecl]

Released streaming 3 January 2023. Rating: 0 (-4 to +4), or 4/10.

Film Credits:
<https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4974812/reference>

What others are saying:
<https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/cryptid_2022>

===================================================================

TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

Back in the day, when we used to travel, we would take only
carry-on luggage, even for four-week trips. This meant that in
general we did not buy large souvenirs, or large books. But in
1995 I made an exception for Greg Egan's AXIOMATIC (current ISBN
978-1-59780-540-7, Night Shade Books), which had just been
published, only in the UK, and as a "format C" book--well, actually
*larger* than a format C, because a format C is 135mmx216mm, and
AXIOMATIC is 150mmx235mm. (I'm sure a Brit will send either a
correction or a lengthier explanation to me.) But in spite of the
size, I schelpped this book all over Glasgow and Wales, and it was
worth it.

Greg Egan and Ted Chiang are different in many ways (*), but in one
way they are similar: neither one has ever turned out a bad story,
or at least ever had a bad story published.

(*) They certainly vary in the volume of their outputs. The
eighteen stories in AXIOMATIC were produced in a seven-year period,
with four in 1991 and another four in 1992. Chiang has written
twenty stories in twenty-two years.

Rather than a review per se, here are my various comments on the
stories:

The Infinite Assassin (1991): Our narrator is an assassin trying to
kill drug dealers. But the catch is that there are an infinite
number of copies of him in an infinite number of universes, and the
question is whether killing one dealer in one universe is
meaningful.

The Hundred Light-Year Diary (1992): This has not time travel, but
the passing of information back in time, and what it does for the
perception of free will.

Eugene (1990): This one combines genetic engineering, time travel,
and free will (three of Egan's favorite themes).

The Caress (1990): This murder mystery involving a chimera and a
painting didn't do much for me.

Blood Sisters (1991): This is about twins and medical ethics, and
seems more current (or at least nearer future) than a lot of the
other stories.

Axiomatic (1990): Neural mods offer not only psychedelic
experiences, but changes in personality and beliefs.

The Safe-Deposit Box (1990): A man wakes up every day in a
different body (and different location, etc.). This has been
happening since he was born. How does he cope?

Seeing (1995): This is a somewhat different take on the idea of an
out-of-body experience.

A Kidnapping (1995): This uses the now familiar idea of a mind
being uploaded to a computer.

Learning to Be Me (1990): One of two stories about an immortal
brain replacement.

The Moat (1991): This is a genetic engineering story similar to
"The Moat" but with a different goal in the engineering--which does
not make it less disturbing.

The Walk (1992): Similar to "Axiomatic" in that neural mods offer
changes in personality and beliefs, but here used in a different
way.

The Cutie (1989): The protagonist buys a "Cutie"--genetically
engineered, it looks just like a baby, but is not legally human,
and dies after three years without ever being able to speak.
Echoes of stories of cloning, but also of slavery and colonialism.

Into Darkness (1992): This one really stuck with me for some
reason: a temporal and gravitational anomaly that keeps appearing
and disappearing at random. When it appears, if you are in it, you
can only move towards the center (or apparently around it), but
never away from the center. If you reach the center before the
anomaly disappears, you escape (somehow), The trick is not to be
trapped in a corner, or by a curved wall. There's more to it, but
this is the aspect that stuck in my brain.

In article <edbfd92e-a312-413b-9abd-60727453cf3bn@googlegroups.com>,
evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com () wrote:

> * Yes, a double 'l' and no definite article.

Well, that's the correct way to spell "travelling" according to my
dictionary. :-)