I have two nit-picking questions about this novel.

1. The first time that I encountered the term "Brabbage Engine", I
assumed that it was a typo for "Babbage Engine". Since the book is
full of typos, this was a reasonable assumption. However, this spelling
was used exclusively and consistently. Would Harrison have done this
to emphasize that it's a different Earth than ours, or is it some
obscure reference that flew over my head?

2. In Chapter IV of "Book the Third", we meet:

[...] the author of a number of popular scientific romances
under the _nom de plume_ of Argentmount Brown.

Is it my imagination, or is "Argentmount" another way of saying
"Silverberg"? This seems at least possible, because earlier in the
same paragraph, there's mention of "Reverend Aldiss".

--
Michael F. Stemper
If you take cranberries and stew them like applesauce they taste much
more like prunes than rhubarb does.

On 2022-10-12, Michael F. Stemper <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:

> 2. In Chapter IV of "Book the Third", we meet:
>
> [...] the author of a number of popular scientific romances
> under the _nom de plume_ of Argentmount Brown.
>
> Is it my imagination, or is "Argentmount" another way of saying
> "Silverberg"?

Yes, I immediately thought so before I even got to your question.

--
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber naddy@mips.inka.de

On Wednesday, October 12, 2022 at 9:56:02 AM UTC-4, Michael
F. Stemper wrote:
[snip-snip]
> is "Argentmount" another way of saying "Silverberg"? [snip]

Indeed, it is.

"Michael F. Stemper" <michael.stemper@gmail.com> on Wed, 12 Oct 2022
08:55:55 -0500 typed in rec.arts.sf.written the following:
>I have two nit-picking questions about this novel.
>
>1. The first time that I encountered the term "Brabbage Engine", I
>assumed that it was a typo for "Babbage Engine". Since the book is
>full of typos, this was a reasonable assumption. However, this spelling
>was used exclusively and consistently. Would Harrison have done this
>to emphasize that it's a different Earth than ours, or is it some
>obscure reference that flew over my head?

I suspect that sometimes in "Alternative Historical Fiction",
names, places and dates get change (for the needs of the plot) and to
emphasis that "This isn't your history / world".
E.G., in _the rise and fall of the D.O.D.O._ the main character
time travels to the sack of Constantinople in 1203.

So might it be with "Brabbage". Or it could be an alternative
spelling, "pronounced 'Marmalade'."

--
pyotr filipivich
This Week's Panel: Us & Them - Eliminating Them.
Next Month's Panel: Having eliminated the old Them(tm)
Selecting who insufficiently Woke(tm) as to serve as the new Them(tm)

On 12/10/2022 09.25, Christian Weisgerber wrote:
> On 2022-10-12, Michael F. Stemper <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> 2. In Chapter IV of "Book the Third", we meet:
>>
>> [...] the author of a number of popular scientific romances
>> under the _nom de plume_ of Argentmount Brown.
>>
>> Is it my imagination, or is "Argentmount" another way of saying
>> "Silverberg"?
>
> Yes, I immediately thought so before I even got to your question.

Is there a term for this type of name-mangling?

I first encountered it as a wee sprat reading _Around the World with
Auntie Mame_, in which one of the social mavens of an ex-pat community
hides her Jewishness by using the family name "Mont d'Or" rather than
her real name of "Goldberg". (Probably why I recognized Mont==Berg)

--
Michael F. Stemper
Economists have correctly predicted seven of the last three recessions.

In article <tic596$26fld$1@dont-email.me>,
Michael F. Stemper <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:
>On 12/10/2022 09.25, Christian Weisgerber wrote:
>> On 2022-10-12, Michael F. Stemper <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> 2. In Chapter IV of "Book the Third", we meet:
>>>
>>> [...] the author of a number of popular scientific romances
>>> under the _nom de plume_ of Argentmount Brown.
>>>
>>> Is it my imagination, or is "Argentmount" another way of saying
>>> "Silverberg"?
>>
>> Yes, I immediately thought so before I even got to your question.
>
>Is there a term for this type of name-mangling?
>
>I first encountered it as a wee sprat reading _Around the World with
>Auntie Mame_, in which one of the social mavens of an ex-pat community
>hides her Jewishness by using the family name "Mont d'Or" rather than
>her real name of "Goldberg". (Probably why I recognized Mont==Berg)
>

Isn't it "Tuckerizing"?
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..

On Wednesday, 12 October 2022 at 14:56:02 UTC+1, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
> I have two nit-picking questions about this novel.
>
> 1. The first time that I encountered the term "Brabbage Engine", I
> assumed that it was a typo for "Babbage Engine". Since the book is
> full of typos, this was a reasonable assumption. However, this spelling
> was used exclusively and consistently. Would Harrison have done this
> to emphasize that it's a different Earth than ours, or is it some
> obscure reference that flew over my head?

I haven't read this Harrison, and I can't assess the
author's motive, but it might be as you say, "almost
but not quite the Earth that you live on" - if a mechanical
calculating and computing machine is referred to.

Or it could be that he misremembered or was misinformed
about the name of Charles Babbage.

On Wed, 12 Oct 2022 08:55:55 -0500, "Michael F. Stemper"
<michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:

> However, this spelling
> was used exclusively and consistently.
> Would Harrison have done this
> to emphasize that it's a different Earth
> than ours, or is it some
> obscure reference that flew over my head?

Or it could be brain-dead copy editing. I once read a knitting book
in which every single instance of "bobble" had been changed to
"bauble".

(A "bobble" is a particular sort of lump made by knitting back and
forth on a single stitch.)

--
Joy Beeson
joy beeson at centurylink dot net
http://wlweather.net/PAGEJOY/

In article <7l7kkh9ki0qps9l67llban5bg4o5moapvb@4ax.com>,
Joy Beeson <jbeeson@invalid.net.invalid> wrote:
>On Wed, 12 Oct 2022 08:55:55 -0500, "Michael F. Stemper"
><michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> However, this spelling
>> was used exclusively and consistently.
>> Would Harrison have done this
>> to emphasize that it's a different Earth
>> than ours, or is it some
>> obscure reference that flew over my head?
>
>Or it could be brain-dead copy editing. I once read a knitting book
>in which every single instance of "bobble" had been changed to
>"bauble".
>
>(A "bobble" is a particular sort of lump made by knitting back and
>forth on a single stitch.)

(Hal Heydt)
In Dorothy's novel _A Point of Honor_ she made reference to a
dispute and one character described it as a "big or little endian"
issue. When she got the proofs, it had been changed to "big or
little Indian". She changed it back and wrote a marginal note
saying "See J. Swift".

What she didn't know when she wrote the line, but which I told
her about when she corrected the proofs is that there are actual
debates over data storage of using big endian or little endian
formats. So...since it concerned computers (in the book), her
usage was better than she knew.

On 14/10/2022 12.42, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> In article <tic596$26fld$1@dont-email.me>,
> Michael F. Stemper <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On 12/10/2022 09.25, Christian Weisgerber wrote:
>>> On 2022-10-12, Michael F. Stemper <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> 2. In Chapter IV of "Book the Third", we meet:
>>>>
>>>> [...] the author of a number of popular scientific romances
>>>> under the _nom de plume_ of Argentmount Brown.
>>>>
>>>> Is it my imagination, or is "Argentmount" another way of saying
>>>> "Silverberg"?
>>>
>>> Yes, I immediately thought so before I even got to your question.
>>
>> Is there a term for this type of name-mangling?
>>
>> I first encountered it as a wee sprat reading _Around the World with
>> Auntie Mame_, in which one of the social mavens of an ex-pat community
>> hides her Jewishness by using the family name "Mont d'Or" rather than
>> her real name of "Goldberg". (Probably why I recognized Mont==Berg)
>
> Isn't it "Tuckerizing"?

I was asking about the name-mangling, not insertion of a friend
into the narrative.

--
Michael F. Stemper
There's no "me" in "team". There's no "us" in "team", either.

On 10/15/2022 8:44 AM, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
> On 14/10/2022 12.42, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
>> In article <tic596$26fld$1@dont-email.me>,
>> Michael F. Stemper <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On 12/10/2022 09.25, Christian Weisgerber wrote:
>>>> On 2022-10-12, Michael F. Stemper <michael.stemper@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> 2. In Chapter IV of "Book the Third", we meet:
>>>>>
>>>>>        [...] the author of a number of popular scientific romances
>>>>>        under the _nom de plume_ of Argentmount Brown.
>>>>>
>>>>> Is it my imagination, or is "Argentmount" another way of saying
>>>>> "Silverberg"?
>>>>
>>>> Yes, I immediately thought so before I even got to your question.
>>>
>>> Is there a term for this type of name-mangling?
>>>
>>> I first encountered it as a wee sprat reading _Around the World with
>>> Auntie Mame_, in which one of the social mavens of an ex-pat community
>>> hides her Jewishness by using the family name "Mont d'Or" rather than
>>> her real name of "Goldberg". (Probably why I recognized Mont==Berg)
>>
>> Isn't it "Tuckerizing"?
>
> I was asking about the name-mangling, not insertion of a friend
> into the narrative.
>
Though such insertions usually involve some name-mangling.

--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.

On Saturday, October 15, 2022 at 11:44:28 AM UTC-4, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
[snip-snip]
> There's no "me" in "team". There's no "us" in "team", either.

OTOH, "Te" and "Am" are a nifty mix of toxicity and radioactivity.

On Saturday, October 15, 2022 at 7:09:47 PM UTC+1, Ahasuerus wrote:
> On Saturday, October 15, 2022 at 11:44:28 AM UTC-4, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
> [snip-snip]
> > There's no "me" in "team". There's no "us" in "team", either.
> OTOH, "Te" and "Am" are a nifty mix of toxicity and radioactivity.

There is a nicely cynical account of failing projects at https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3561798 - "The Four Horsemen of an Ailing Software Project" - these four horsemen are War (arguments triggered by failure) Famine (project starved of resources by management) Pestilence (bugs due to the combination of pressure and lack of resources) and Death (final cancellation)..

My own exposure to a failed project saw another case - management claiming all was well right up until the customer pulled the plug. This reminds me strikingly of https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-advance-retreating-war-lyman-conflict-latest-update-andrey-gurulyov-lyman-1748297 in particular the practice not in fact restricted to Russia of "The problem we have is the constant delivery of good reports, or you can call it constant lying. This system does not go from bottom to the top, but top to bottom."

In article <3cbee746-4da2-4668-b32d-729749713ef7n@googlegroups.com>,
Andrew McDowell <mcdowell_ag@sky.com> wrote:
>On Saturday, October 15, 2022 at 7:09:47 PM UTC+1, Ahasuerus wrote:
>> On Saturday, October 15, 2022 at 11:44:28 AM UTC-4, Michael F. Stemper wrote:
>> [snip-snip]
>> > There's no "me" in "team". There's no "us" in "team", either.
>> OTOH, "Te" and "Am" are a nifty mix of toxicity and radioactivity.
>
>There is a nicely cynical account of failing projects at
>https://queue.acm.org/detail.cfm?id=3561798 - "The Four Horsemen of an
>Ailing Software Project" - these four horsemen are War (arguments
>triggered by failure) Famine (project starved of resources by
>management) Pestilence (bugs due to the combination of pressure and lack
>of resources) and Death (final cancellation).
>
>My own exposure to a failed project saw another case - management
>claiming all was well right up until the customer pulled the plug. This
>reminds me strikingly of
>https://www.newsweek.com/russia-ukraine-advance-retreating-war-lyman-conflict-latest-update-andrey-gurulyov-lyman-1748297 in particular the practice not
>in fact restricted to Russia of "The problem we have is the constant
>delivery of good reports, or you can call it constant lying. This system
>does not go from bottom to the top, but top to bottom."

(Hal Heydt)
I was hired to work on a project that was cancelled, after spending
about $3 million on it in the late 1970s. It was to store health
data on employees at a (then) reasonably large chemical company.
The intent was to collect the data for term of employment plus 50
years in order to do epidemiological studies.

I did, at one point, ask what media they were going to store all
this data on. My grounds were that the timeframe they were
planning to hold data was around 3 to 4 times as long as
commerical computers had been in existence at that time and there
had already been multiple generations of storage media.

That was also the project on which I used a particular feature of
the then fairly new VASM KSDS access method and it failed to work
for no obvious reason. (That is, the VSAM manuals said it was
valid, the compiler didn't object, but it failed in practice.)
Eventually, after getting IBM involved and it went all the way to
the group in the Netherlands that *wrote* the access method code,
the reply was that IBM was going to change the COBOL manual to
say that the feature wasn't supported in COBOL.