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arts / rec.arts.sf.written / Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

SubjectAuthor
* (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltJames Nicoll
+- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltLynn McGuire
+* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltLynn McGuire
|+- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltRobert Carnegie
|`* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltRobert Woodward
| `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltLynn McGuire
|  +* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltDimensional Traveler
|  |`- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltLynn McGuire
|  `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltRobert Woodward
|   +- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltScott Lurndal
|   +- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltJack Bohn
|   +* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltLynn McGuire
|   |`* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltRobert Carnegie
|   | `- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltJames Nicoll
|   `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltAndrew McDowell
|    +- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltJames Nicoll
|    +* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltRobert Woodward
|    |`* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltAndrew McDowell
|    | `- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltTitus G
|    +- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltDimensional Traveler
|    `- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltLynn McGuire
+* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltQuadibloc
|+* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Beltpete...@gmail.com
||`* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltTitus G
|| +* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
|| |+* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltJack Bohn
|| ||`- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
|| |`* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltTitus G
|| | +- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltChristian Weisgerber
|| | `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
|| |  `- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltScott Lurndal
|| `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltJaimie Vandenbergh
||  +* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltRobert Carnegie
||  |`* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
||  | `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltRobert Carnegie
||  |  `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltDimensional Traveler
||  |   +* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
||  |   |`* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltScott Lurndal
||  |   | `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
||  |   |  +* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Beltted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan
||  |   |  |`- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltChristian Weisgerber
||  |   |  +* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltDimensional Traveler
||  |   |  |`- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
||  |   |  `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltDorothy J Heydt
||  |   |   +- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltDimensional Traveler
||  |   |   `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
||  |   |    `- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Beltpete...@gmail.com
||  |   `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltThe Horny Goat
||  |    `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
||  |     +- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltChristian Weisgerber
||  |     `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltThe Horny Goat
||  |      `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
||  |       `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltJohn Halpenny
||  |        +* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltDimensional Traveler
||  |        |`* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
||  |        | `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltDimensional Traveler
||  |        |  `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
||  |        |   `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Beltpete...@gmail.com
||  |        |    +- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltScott Lurndal
||  |        |    `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
||  |        |     +* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltJack Bohn
||  |        |     |`- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
||  |        |     `- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
||  |        `- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
||  `- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltTitus G
|`* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
| +- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Beltted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan
| +* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltJames Nicoll
| |+- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
| |`* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltChristian Weisgerber
| | `- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
| `* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltScott Lurndal
|  +* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltJames Nicoll
|  |`* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Beltpete...@gmail.com
|  | `- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Beltted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan
|  `- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltPaul S Person
+- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltButch Malahide
`* Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid BeltJohnny1A
 `- Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Beltted@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan

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Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

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Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
From: fred.gal...@gmail.com (Butch Malahide)
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 by: Butch Malahide - Sat, 25 Mar 2023 05:34 UTC

On Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 9:07:09 AM UTC-5, James Nicoll wrote:
> Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
>
> Five old time SF stories suitable for fans of the Expanse.
>
> https://www.tor.com/2023/03/22/five-vintage-sf-stories-from-the-asteroid-belt/
> --
> My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
> My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
> My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
> My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll
Donald Wollheim's "Ajax of Ajax" is set in the Fore-Trojan Asteroids.
https://archive.org/details/Future_v02n06_1942-08/page/n37/mode/2up

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

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Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
From: rja.carn...@excite.com (Robert Carnegie)
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 by: Robert Carnegie - Sat, 25 Mar 2023 11:40 UTC

On Friday, 24 March 2023 at 23:38:06 UTC, Lynn McGuire wrote:
> On 3/24/2023 12:11 AM, Robert Woodward wrote:
> > In article <tviksm$1b61k$1...@dont-email.me>,
> > Lynn McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> On 3/22/2023 11:50 PM, Robert Woodward wrote:
> >>> In article <tvfk04$oaa5$5...@dont-email.me>,
> >>> Lynn McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> On 3/22/2023 9:07 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> >>>>> Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
> >>>>>
> >>>>> Five old time SF stories suitable for fans of the Expanse.
> >>>>>
> >>>>> https://www.tor.com/2023/03/22/five-vintage-sf-stories-from-the-asteroid-b
> >>>>> el
> >>>>> t/
> >>>>
> >>>> A good new asteroid book is "On to the Asteroid" by Travis Taylor and
> >>>> Les Johnson.
> >>>> https://www.amazon.com/Asteroid-Travis-S-Taylor/dp/148148267X/
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>> Really? Let's see now:
> >>>
> >>> 1) the spin of an asteroid is stopped and it ejects lots of loose rocks
> >>> into space. Then the drive to move the asteroid elsewhere is activated.
> >>>
> >>> 2) at some point, the drive that was maneuvering this asteroid into
> >>> Earth orbit stops working, with the asteroid on a collision course with
> >>> Earth
> >>>
> >>> 3) the loose rocks (from step 1), arrive at Earth first, causing
> >>> significant damage.
> >>>
> >>> The first is ridiculous. The second is merely highly improbable. The
> >>> third aspires to a level of beyond ridiculous.
> >>
> >> Are you a rocket scientist ? Both Les Johnson and Travis Taylor are for
> >> NASA.
> >>
> >
> > I was tempted when this was published to post a hostile review when this
> > book was published. Newtonian Physics was violated right and left (at
> > the velocities in question, Relativity isn't significantly different).
> >
> > 1) Rocks could only leave the asteroid when the asteroid's rotation was
> > stopped if their relative velocity was greater than the escape velocity
> > for the asteroid. If it was, they would had been flung off the asteroid
> > already.
> >
> > 2) Aside from the minor detail that the course changes of the asteroid
> > should had, by design, avoided a possible collision with Earth, no
> > matter when the process would abort; the potential region that the
> > asteroid would end up if the course changes were prematurely aborted is
> > very large, Earth is very small.
> >
> > 3) Any rocks (which wouldn't had been ejected anyway) that had been
> > ejected, would end up in a large region around where the asteroid would
> > had been if the course changes hadn't take place. Again very large
> > region (which might not include Earth anyway), small Earth.
> So, you are saying that if the asteroid rotation is stopped using a
> rocket engine, that the rocks flying along with the asteroid will
> continue flying with the asteroid ? Um, not going to agree to that as
> the rocket engine will change the asteroid absolute velocity in some
> way. The rocks will continue with their original velocity as they will
> not be affected by the rocket engine.
>
> Yes, space is large, Earth is small. And bad things happen with the
> best of good intentions. And, this is an adventure book. Most scifi
> authors write with the maxim, "what is the worst thing that I can do to
> my actors ?". After all, the Earth is struck daily by meteorites, most
> of them are small and inconsequential. And then there is Chicxulub.
> https://www.planetary.org/notable-asteroid-impacts-in-earths-history

OK, let's say (1) the asteroid is stopped rotating AND
is accelerated to a new trajectory by the same rocket.
The rocket is nailed onto the asteroid, and it fires only
when it's facing the right way for the desired course
change, and it leaves behind gravel that was on the
backside of the asteroid.

(2) The asteroid already was on collision course for Earth.
The lowest bidder for the contract to stop it was to place
it in orbit around Earth and then to have the mining rights.

I probably also require (3) the original great plan is to slow
the asteroid down, so that it reaches Earth in time to be
captured, instead of being the new dinosaur killer.
I haven't done the orbit work, but this allows the gravel
to be on collision course with Earth and to arrive first
anyway... but not by much.

In real life, regular meteor showers are understood
to be a stream of comet gravel. Thinking about it,
this stream is long and broad, and it's while Earth
passes through that stream that we get the meteors.
It does not mean that the comet hits us next. It's the
timing that I'm thinking of.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perseids>

(This comet may eventually get us. But not for a while.)

It does build tension if little space rocks start hitting
Earth in act two or three of the show. And you may recall
a thing happening to Jupiter.
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comet_Shoemaker–Levy_9>

That broke up in a previous encounter - mostly and as
inferred, but I haven't re-read the whole page - and then
a series of big rocks perforated Jupiter's atmosphere
in various places, over six days, but they all hit somewhere.
Unlike the asteroid and debris in the book as far as I can
tell, they didn't have anywhere else to be.

So I think some of the book physics may need several
years and near passes between the ill judged navigation
of the asteroid, and the start of the impacts.

And probably the original asteroid company is bankrupt.
And one of its assets, no one wants to be responsible for.

See also
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hammer_of_God_%28Clarke_novel%29>
Which I will spoil: Kali is described as a "contact binary"
asteroid. It seems to me that the attempt to blow it up with
a nuke would just mean a radioactive gravel apocalypse
which is about what happened, minus radioactive,
at Chicxulub anyway. What actually happens is that
Kali 1 flies past and Kali 2 just dips into the atmosphere
and escapes, unlike the people under the atmosphere
that it traverses.

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

<tvmuev$4h9$1@reader2.panix.com>

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From: jdnic...@panix.com (James Nicoll)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2023 13:54:39 -0000 (UTC)
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 by: James Nicoll - Sat, 25 Mar 2023 13:54 UTC

In article <92fad3d4-c495-4b97-ae19-242fb7c9c9e0n@googlegroups.com>,
Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> wrote:
>
>See also
><https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hammer_of_God_%28Clarke_novel%29>
>Which I will spoil: Kali is described as a "contact binary"
>asteroid. It seems to me that the attempt to blow it up with
>a nuke would just mean a radioactive gravel apocalypse
>which is about what happened, minus radioactive,
>at Chicxulub anyway. What actually happens is that
>Kali 1 flies past and Kali 2 just dips into the atmosphere
>and escapes, unlike the people under the atmosphere
>that it traverses.

There's a cool trick one can do with binary bodies where during
a flyby of a planet one of them ends up in orbit and the other
ejected. I believe this is one of the explanations as to how
Triton ended up orbiting Neptune. I can see why someone might
not want to try it if they lived on the planet in question.
--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

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Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
From: mcdowell...@sky.com (Andrew McDowell)
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 by: Andrew McDowell - Sat, 25 Mar 2023 14:01 UTC

On Friday, March 24, 2023 at 5:11:25 AM UTC, Robert Woodward wrote:
> In article <tviksm$1b61k$1...@dont-email.me>,
> Lynn McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On 3/22/2023 11:50 PM, Robert Woodward wrote:
> > > In article <tvfk04$oaa5$5...@dont-email.me>,
> > > Lynn McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >> On 3/22/2023 9:07 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> > >>> Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
> > >>>
> > >>> Five old time SF stories suitable for fans of the Expanse.
> > >>>
> > >>> https://www.tor.com/2023/03/22/five-vintage-sf-stories-from-the-asteroid-b
> > >>> el
> > >>> t/
> > >>
> > >> A good new asteroid book is "On to the Asteroid" by Travis Taylor and
> > >> Les Johnson.
> > >> https://www.amazon.com/Asteroid-Travis-S-Taylor/dp/148148267X/
> > >>
> > >
> > > Really? Let's see now:
> > >
> > > 1) the spin of an asteroid is stopped and it ejects lots of loose rocks
> > > into space. Then the drive to move the asteroid elsewhere is activated.
> > >
> > > 2) at some point, the drive that was maneuvering this asteroid into
> > > Earth orbit stops working, with the asteroid on a collision course with
> > > Earth
> > >
> > > 3) the loose rocks (from step 1), arrive at Earth first, causing
> > > significant damage.
> > >
> > > The first is ridiculous. The second is merely highly improbable. The
> > > third aspires to a level of beyond ridiculous.
> >
> > Are you a rocket scientist ? Both Les Johnson and Travis Taylor are for
> > NASA.
> >
> I was tempted when this was published to post a hostile review when this
> book was published. Newtonian Physics was violated right and left (at
> the velocities in question, Relativity isn't significantly different).
>
> 1) Rocks could only leave the asteroid when the asteroid's rotation was
> stopped if their relative velocity was greater than the escape velocity
> for the asteroid. If it was, they would had been flung off the asteroid
> already.
>
> 2) Aside from the minor detail that the course changes of the asteroid
> should had, by design, avoided a possible collision with Earth, no
> matter when the process would abort; the potential region that the
> asteroid would end up if the course changes were prematurely aborted is
> very large, Earth is very small.
>
> 3) Any rocks (which wouldn't had been ejected anyway) that had been
> ejected, would end up in a large region around where the asteroid would
> had been if the course changes hadn't take place. Again very large
> region (which might not include Earth anyway), small Earth.
> --
> "We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
> Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
> —-----------------------------------------------------
> Robert Woodward robe...@drizzle.com
I have bought books by both Les Johnson and Travis S. Taylor in the hopes of finding a modern E.E.Smith - enthusiasm about science backed up by enough knowledge of it to show an (admittedly glamourised) version of research and ideally some interesting reflections on organisation and society (which will be an easier sell to me if they are not too far out on the left wing). Rather than posting a hostile review, can you, or anybody else, suggest an alternative modern author in this style?

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

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From: jdnic...@panix.com (James Nicoll)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2023 14:18:52 -0000 (UTC)
Organization: Public Access Networks Corp.
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 by: James Nicoll - Sat, 25 Mar 2023 14:18 UTC

In article <d29e7cfa-3624-4376-86b0-9de049a95606n@googlegroups.com>,
Andrew McDowell <mcdowell_ag@sky.com> wrote:

>I have bought books by both Les Johnson and Travis S. Taylor in
>the hopes of finding a modern E.E.Smith - enthusiasm about
>science backed up by enough knowledge of it to show an
>(admittedly glamourised) version of research and ideally some
>interesting reflections on organisation and society (which will
>be an easier sell to me if they are not too far out on the left
>wing). Rather than posting a hostile review, can you, or anybody
>else, suggest an alternative modern author in this style?

Some of these are not super recent but at least they are more
recent than Doc Smith:

Issui Ogawa, The Next Continent: the effort to build a facility
on the Moon, despite technological and financial challenges.

Planetes by Makoto Yukimura (Translated by Yuki Johnson)

A manga about orbital debris management IN SPACE!

Der-shing Helmer's Mare Internem, a web comic about the
exploration of a subsurface sea on Mars.

Adam Oyebanji's Braking Day: deadly conflict between
generation ships.

Usurper of the Sun by Housuke Nojiri (trans. John Wunderly):
humans deal with some very inconsiderate aliens.

Rocket Girls 1 & 2 by Housuke Nojiri (Trans. Alexander O. Smith):
zany hijinks in low Earth orbit, as petite schoolgirls are
strong-armed into becoming astronauts. The company did have
an adult male astronaut but he was unwilling to let the company
trim off legs so he'd fit in the working rocket.

--
My reviews can be found at http://jamesdavisnicoll.com/
My tor pieces at https://www.tor.com/author/james-davis-nicoll/
My Dreamwidth at https://james-davis-nicoll.dreamwidth.org/
My patreon is at https://www.patreon.com/jamesdnicoll

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From: psper...@old.netcom.invalid (Paul S Person)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2023 08:49:47 -0700
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 by: Paul S Person - Sat, 25 Mar 2023 15:49 UTC

On Fri, 24 Mar 2023 18:37:44 -0000 (UTC), Christian Weisgerber
<naddy@mips.inka.de> wrote:

>On 2023-03-23, James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
>
>> (Wasn't there a late episode of Game of Thrones where many viewers
>> complained their screens were entirely black?)
>
>When I watched _Buffy the Vampire Slayer_, the TV show, many cemetery
>scenes were black on black. That changed greatly once I switched
>from a poor CRT to a poor flat screen. I learned a lesson from
>that, which Paul S Person steadfastly refuses.

My new TV did that for a while -- then it died. I took it in for
service under the warranty, and found that the unit I had been sold
"as new" since it had been returned by the prior owner had been
tampered with. It took some time, but Toshiba finally popped for the
repair. Yours, of course, died of old age, no doubt.

And I guess I didn't mention that the films I stream -- including the
one or ones I complained about the darkness of -- were displayed on my
Kindle HD 6, which is a "flat screen" in the sense you mean -- that
is, not a CRT. And this is in a darkened room. And only /some/
streamers are affected, just those by /some/ directors.

And my CRT has a flat screen. That is, it does not bulge out (or in,
as some theater screens do) but is flat straight across and top to
bottom. That is one of the reasons I still use it. And it is not dark
unless the movie is. Even in a lighted room. Flat screens were, it
appears, popular in the early 00's.

The one it replaced had a screen that bulged out (most CRT TVs did,
after all), but I didn't get rid of it because of darkening, for there
was no darkening. I got rid of it because it starting taking 15
minutes after the switch was thrown to actually turn on. The cause was
probably something like "a resistor died", but it was 14 or so years
old, so replacing it made more sense.

But I am happy to hear that you solved your problem!
--
"In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant
development was the disintegration, under Christian
influence, of classical conceptions of the family and
of family right."

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From: psper...@old.netcom.invalid (Paul S Person)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2023 09:11:32 -0700
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 by: Paul S Person - Sat, 25 Mar 2023 16:11 UTC

On Fri, 24 Mar 2023 17:08:26 +1300, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:

>On 24/03/23 02:31, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
>> On Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 7:04:32?PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
>>> On Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 8:07:09?AM UTC-6, James Nicoll wrote:
>>>> Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
>>>>
>>>> Five old time SF stories suitable for fans of the Expanse.
>>>>
>>>> https://www.tor.com/2023/03/22/five-vintage-sf-stories-from-the-asteroid-belt/
>>> I was watching recently a YouTube video which tried to explain why so many
>>> recent movies are hard to watch or hard to hear on home TV sets these days.
>>>
>>> It has to do with them being filmed for the experience in movie theatres, where
>>> the room is dark, and the sound system is THX-certified...
>>
>> https://variety.com/2022/film/news/why-movies-so-dark-hard-to-see-batman-1235195535/
>>
>> https://www.slashfilm.com/673162/heres-why-movie-dialogue-has-gotten-more-difficult-to-understand-and-three-ways-to-fix-it
>
>Damn. I thought that the "ways to fix it" referred to how I could fix it
>at home where I watch all films and series. One of my favourite TV
>series was "The Wire" but the dialogue was often impossible to hear.

I didn't respond yesterday because I didn't feel like being snarky.

But last night it occurred to me that there are things you can try --
if you are willing to live with them. Some people are not.

1. SDH/closed-captioning/subtitles -- some find this annoying and, of
course, your visual acuity has to be such that you can actually read
the text. Also, they have to be available in a language you know well
enough.

2. Headphones. Apparently, there are ways to hook up your sound system
to headphones and it occurs to me that, if hearing aids can use
technology that emphasizes voices over other sounds (as some,
IIRC, claim to do), something using that tech might be available here.

Depending on what is available, an analog-cabled solution might be
better, as the devices would not have to be preprogrammed to
communicate with each other, but could focus on processing the sound.
This could include digitizing the input, doing its thing, and then
converting it back to analog for the output, of course.

But it all depends on what you are willing to put up with.

>> also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2M-Yt4RpO90
>
>Does this have any practical suggestions for me as a consumer?
--
"In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant
development was the disintegration, under Christian
influence, of classical conceptions of the family and
of family right."

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From: rober...@drizzle.com (Robert Woodward)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2023 09:56:28 -0700
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 by: Robert Woodward - Sat, 25 Mar 2023 16:56 UTC

In article <d29e7cfa-3624-4376-86b0-9de049a95606n@googlegroups.com>,
Andrew McDowell <mcdowell_ag@sky.com> wrote:

> On Friday, March 24, 2023 at 5:11:25?AM UTC, Robert Woodward wrote:
> > In article <tviksm$1b61k$1...@dont-email.me>,
> > Lynn McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > > On 3/22/2023 11:50 PM, Robert Woodward wrote:
> > > > In article <tvfk04$oaa5$5...@dont-email.me>,
> > > > Lynn McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> On 3/22/2023 9:07 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> > > >>> Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
> > > >>>
> > > >>> Five old time SF stories suitable for fans of the Expanse.
> > > >>>
> > > >>> https://www.tor.com/2023/03/22/five-vintage-sf-stories-from-the-astero
> > > >>> id-b
> > > >>> el
> > > >>> t/
> > > >>
> > > >> A good new asteroid book is "On to the Asteroid" by Travis Taylor and
> > > >> Les Johnson.
> > > >> https://www.amazon.com/Asteroid-Travis-S-Taylor/dp/148148267X/
> > > >>
> > > >
> > > > Really? Let's see now:
> > > >
> > > > 1) the spin of an asteroid is stopped and it ejects lots of loose rocks
> > > > into space. Then the drive to move the asteroid elsewhere is activated.
> > > >
> > > > 2) at some point, the drive that was maneuvering this asteroid into
> > > > Earth orbit stops working, with the asteroid on a collision course with
> > > > Earth
> > > >
> > > > 3) the loose rocks (from step 1), arrive at Earth first, causing
> > > > significant damage.
> > > >
> > > > The first is ridiculous. The second is merely highly improbable. The
> > > > third aspires to a level of beyond ridiculous.
> > >
> > > Are you a rocket scientist ? Both Les Johnson and Travis Taylor are for
> > > NASA.
> > >
> > I was tempted when this was published to post a hostile review when this
> > book was published. Newtonian Physics was violated right and left (at
> > the velocities in question, Relativity isn't significantly different).
> >
> > 1) Rocks could only leave the asteroid when the asteroid's rotation was
> > stopped if their relative velocity was greater than the escape velocity
> > for the asteroid. If it was, they would had been flung off the asteroid
> > already.
> >
> > 2) Aside from the minor detail that the course changes of the asteroid
> > should had, by design, avoided a possible collision with Earth, no
> > matter when the process would abort; the potential region that the
> > asteroid would end up if the course changes were prematurely aborted is
> > very large, Earth is very small.
> >
> > 3) Any rocks (which wouldn't had been ejected anyway) that had been
> > ejected, would end up in a large region around where the asteroid would
> > had been if the course changes hadn't take place. Again very large
> > region (which might not include Earth anyway), small Earth.
> > --
> > "We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
> > Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
> > —-----------------------------------------------------
> > Robert Woodward robe...@drizzle.com
> I have bought books by both Les Johnson and Travis S. Taylor in the hopes of
> finding a modern E.E.Smith - enthusiasm about science backed up by enough
> knowledge of it to show an (admittedly glamourised) version of research and
> ideally some interesting reflections on organisation and society (which will
> be an easier sell to me if they are not too far out on the left wing). Rather
> than posting a hostile review, can you, or anybody else, suggest an
> alternative modern author in this style?

My unwritten hostile review would have included more objections than the
three listed above. I would have had a few comments about the plot and
characters as well. As for suggestions ... what about Michael Flynn's
Firestar series (_Firestar_, _Rogue Star_, _Lodestar_, and _Falling
Stars_*).

*His Spiral Arm series (starting with _The January Dancer_) is in the
far future of this series as is the Journeyman short fiction series that
has appeared in _Analog_ since 2012.

--
"We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
—-----------------------------------------------------
Robert Woodward robertaw@drizzle.com

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From: dtra...@sonic.net (Dimensional Traveler)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
Date: Sat, 25 Mar 2023 10:01:51 -0700
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 by: Dimensional Traveler - Sat, 25 Mar 2023 17:01 UTC

On 3/25/2023 7:01 AM, Andrew McDowell wrote:
> On Friday, March 24, 2023 at 5:11:25 AM UTC, Robert Woodward wrote:
>> In article <tviksm$1b61k$1...@dont-email.me>,
>> Lynn McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On 3/22/2023 11:50 PM, Robert Woodward wrote:
>>>> In article <tvfk04$oaa5$5...@dont-email.me>,
>>>> Lynn McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> On 3/22/2023 9:07 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
>>>>>> Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Five old time SF stories suitable for fans of the Expanse.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://www.tor.com/2023/03/22/five-vintage-sf-stories-from-the-asteroid-b
>>>>>> el
>>>>>> t/
>>>>>
>>>>> A good new asteroid book is "On to the Asteroid" by Travis Taylor and
>>>>> Les Johnson.
>>>>> https://www.amazon.com/Asteroid-Travis-S-Taylor/dp/148148267X/
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Really? Let's see now:
>>>>
>>>> 1) the spin of an asteroid is stopped and it ejects lots of loose rocks
>>>> into space. Then the drive to move the asteroid elsewhere is activated.
>>>>
>>>> 2) at some point, the drive that was maneuvering this asteroid into
>>>> Earth orbit stops working, with the asteroid on a collision course with
>>>> Earth
>>>>
>>>> 3) the loose rocks (from step 1), arrive at Earth first, causing
>>>> significant damage.
>>>>
>>>> The first is ridiculous. The second is merely highly improbable. The
>>>> third aspires to a level of beyond ridiculous.
>>>
>>> Are you a rocket scientist ? Both Les Johnson and Travis Taylor are for
>>> NASA.
>>>
>> I was tempted when this was published to post a hostile review when this
>> book was published. Newtonian Physics was violated right and left (at
>> the velocities in question, Relativity isn't significantly different).
>>
>> 1) Rocks could only leave the asteroid when the asteroid's rotation was
>> stopped if their relative velocity was greater than the escape velocity
>> for the asteroid. If it was, they would had been flung off the asteroid
>> already.
>>
>> 2) Aside from the minor detail that the course changes of the asteroid
>> should had, by design, avoided a possible collision with Earth, no
>> matter when the process would abort; the potential region that the
>> asteroid would end up if the course changes were prematurely aborted is
>> very large, Earth is very small.
>>
>> 3) Any rocks (which wouldn't had been ejected anyway) that had been
>> ejected, would end up in a large region around where the asteroid would
>> had been if the course changes hadn't take place. Again very large
>> region (which might not include Earth anyway), small Earth.
>> --
>> "We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
>> Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
>> —-----------------------------------------------------
>> Robert Woodward robe...@drizzle.com
> I have bought books by both Les Johnson and Travis S. Taylor in the hopes of finding a modern E.E.Smith - enthusiasm about science backed up by enough knowledge of it to show an (admittedly glamourised) version of research and ideally some interesting reflections on organisation and society (which will be an easier sell to me if they are not too far out on the left wing). Rather than posting a hostile review, can you, or anybody else, suggest an alternative modern author in this style?

I would say that some of Taylor's books are like that.

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

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From: jai...@usually.sessile.org (Jaimie Vandenbergh)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
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 by: Jaimie Vandenbergh - Sat, 25 Mar 2023 17:25 UTC

On 24 Mar 2023 at 04:08:26 GMT, "Titus G" <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:

> Damn. I thought that the "ways to fix it" referred to how I could fix it
> at home where I watch all films and series. One of my favourite TV
> series was "The Wire" but the dialogue was often impossible to hear.

First thing to try is make sure all your devices in the chain are set to
whatever number of speakers you have, or all the way down to stereo.

Mixes for TV often come as 5.1 which includes a centre channel - if you
don't have one, tough luck on hearing dialogue. Setting your source
device to force stereo will help a *lot* as the centre then gets mixed
into the L/R stereo pair.

But also (as per those links) mumbleTV was a stylistic choice that is
thankfully no longer in vogue. Those films and series may not be easily
fixable.

Cheers - Jaimie

--
"Even to think wrongly is better than not to think at all"
-- Hypatia of Alexandria

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

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Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
From: mcdowell...@sky.com (Andrew McDowell)
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 by: Andrew McDowell - Sat, 25 Mar 2023 19:19 UTC

On Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 4:56:37 PM UTC, Robert Woodward wrote:
> In article <d29e7cfa-3624-4376...@googlegroups.com>,
> Andrew McDowell <mcdow...@sky.com> wrote:
> > On Friday, March 24, 2023 at 5:11:25?AM UTC, Robert Woodward wrote:
> > > In article <tviksm$1b61k$1...@dont-email.me>,
> > > Lynn McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > On 3/22/2023 11:50 PM, Robert Woodward wrote:
> > > > > In article <tvfk04$oaa5$5...@dont-email.me>,
> > > > > Lynn McGuire <lynnmc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > >> On 3/22/2023 9:07 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
> > > > >>> Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
> > > > >>>
> > > > >>> Five old time SF stories suitable for fans of the Expanse.
> > > > >>>
> > > > >>> https://www.tor.com/2023/03/22/five-vintage-sf-stories-from-the-astero
> > > > >>> id-b
> > > > >>> el
> > > > >>> t/
> > > > >>
> > > > >> A good new asteroid book is "On to the Asteroid" by Travis Taylor and
> > > > >> Les Johnson.
> > > > >> https://www.amazon.com/Asteroid-Travis-S-Taylor/dp/148148267X/
> > > > >>
> > > > >
> > > > > Really? Let's see now:
> > > > >
> > > > > 1) the spin of an asteroid is stopped and it ejects lots of loose rocks
> > > > > into space. Then the drive to move the asteroid elsewhere is activated.
> > > > >
> > > > > 2) at some point, the drive that was maneuvering this asteroid into
> > > > > Earth orbit stops working, with the asteroid on a collision course with
> > > > > Earth
> > > > >
> > > > > 3) the loose rocks (from step 1), arrive at Earth first, causing
> > > > > significant damage.
> > > > >
> > > > > The first is ridiculous. The second is merely highly improbable. The
> > > > > third aspires to a level of beyond ridiculous.
> > > >
> > > > Are you a rocket scientist ? Both Les Johnson and Travis Taylor are for
> > > > NASA.
> > > >
> > > I was tempted when this was published to post a hostile review when this
> > > book was published. Newtonian Physics was violated right and left (at
> > > the velocities in question, Relativity isn't significantly different)..
> > >
> > > 1) Rocks could only leave the asteroid when the asteroid's rotation was
> > > stopped if their relative velocity was greater than the escape velocity
> > > for the asteroid. If it was, they would had been flung off the asteroid
> > > already.
> > >
> > > 2) Aside from the minor detail that the course changes of the asteroid
> > > should had, by design, avoided a possible collision with Earth, no
> > > matter when the process would abort; the potential region that the
> > > asteroid would end up if the course changes were prematurely aborted is
> > > very large, Earth is very small.
> > >
> > > 3) Any rocks (which wouldn't had been ejected anyway) that had been
> > > ejected, would end up in a large region around where the asteroid would
> > > had been if the course changes hadn't take place. Again very large
> > > region (which might not include Earth anyway), small Earth.
> > > --
> > > "We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
> > > Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
> > > —-----------------------------------------------------
> > > Robert Woodward robe...@drizzle.com
> > I have bought books by both Les Johnson and Travis S. Taylor in the hopes of
> > finding a modern E.E.Smith - enthusiasm about science backed up by enough
> > knowledge of it to show an (admittedly glamourised) version of research and
> > ideally some interesting reflections on organisation and society (which will
> > be an easier sell to me if they are not too far out on the left wing). Rather
> > than posting a hostile review, can you, or anybody else, suggest an
> > alternative modern author in this style?
> My unwritten hostile review would have included more objections than the
> three listed above. I would have had a few comments about the plot and
> characters as well. As for suggestions ... what about Michael Flynn's
> Firestar series (_Firestar_, _Rogue Star_, _Lodestar_, and _Falling
> Stars_*).
>
> *His Spiral Arm series (starting with _The January Dancer_) is in the
> far future of this series as is the Journeyman short fiction series that
> has appeared in _Analog_ since 2012.
> --
> "We have advanced to new and surprising levels of bafflement."
> Imperial Auditor Miles Vorkosigan describes progress in _Komarr_.
> —-----------------------------------------------------
> Robert Woodward robe...@drizzle.com
You were absolutely right to recommend Flynn's Firestar series - I very much enjoyed that series, which I think is much under-appreciated. I had assumed after reading "The Wreck Of The River Of Stars" that Flynn had turned to writing much more literary fiction which I found less entertaining, but looking at Isfdb and seeing you write about the Spiral Arm series, I have noted that down on my "to buy" list. (In the meantime I had wandered around Amazon Kindle, ending up with "Preparing for the future" by Jeremy Eaton, which at least an entertaining idea - I wonder if it is taken from David Drake's books staring the computer "Central", or independent of them - the treatment seems otherwise different).

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

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Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
From: jack.boh...@gmail.com (Jack Bohn)
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 by: Jack Bohn - Sat, 25 Mar 2023 20:38 UTC

Paul S Person wrote:

> >Damn. I thought that the "ways to fix it" referred to how I could fix it
> >at home where I watch all films and series. One of my favourite TV
> >series was "The Wire" but the dialogue was often impossible to hear.
> I didn't respond yesterday because I didn't feel like being snarky.
>
> But last night it occurred to me that there are things you can try --
> if you are willing to live with them. Some people are not.
>
> 1. SDH/closed-captioning/subtitles -- some find this annoying and, of
> course, your visual acuity has to be such that you can actually read
> the text. Also, they have to be available in a language you know well
> enough.

I hadn't thought of closed captions until one time when we had to keep the house quiet, but I *had* to watch Doctor Who. In addition, to helping with the mile-a-minute Tennant, they also indicated when the Murray Gold music pieces "Next Stop Everywhere" and "I Am the Doctor" played. It's hit and miss, but I've been rewinding and turning on CC whenever I see someone starting to play an instrument. Recently watched "A Song to Remember"(1945) (the adventures of Frederic Chopin) that didn't identify the pieces in captioning, but the film to pains to identify in the storytelling, "Song of Love"(1947) (the adventures of Clara Schumann) and "Song With End"(1960) (the adventures of Franz Lizst) which identify most, leaving me wondering if there were some the captioners didn't know.

--
-Jack

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

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Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
From: rja.carn...@excite.com (Robert Carnegie)
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 by: Robert Carnegie - Sat, 25 Mar 2023 23:34 UTC

On Saturday, 25 March 2023 at 17:25:52 UTC, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
> On 24 Mar 2023 at 04:08:26 GMT, "Titus G" <no...@nowhere.com> wrote:
>
> > Damn. I thought that the "ways to fix it" referred to how I could fix it
> > at home where I watch all films and series. One of my favourite TV
> > series was "The Wire" but the dialogue was often impossible to hear.
> First thing to try is make sure all your devices in the chain are set to
> whatever number of speakers you have, or all the way down to stereo.
>
> Mixes for TV often come as 5.1 which includes a centre channel - if you
> don't have one, tough luck on hearing dialogue. Setting your source
> device to force stereo will help a *lot* as the centre then gets mixed
> into the L/R stereo pair.
>
> But also (as per those links) mumbleTV was a stylistic choice that is
> thankfully no longer in vogue. Those films and series may not be easily
> fixable.
>
> Cheers - Jaimie

I don't remember if I asked already - is it likely
that TV on DVB-T, "Freeview", has monophonic sound
when a show (obSF "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine",
"3rd Rock from the Sun") was made with better than
stereo sound, but Freeview or my individual device(s)
only does mono and stereo?

Some episodes come stereo, some don't. "3rd Rock"
was made in 4:3 screen shape, and a different TV channel
managed to show it stereo and 16:9, which I think means
they just blew the picture up larger then cut off the top
and the bottom.

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

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Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
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 by: Lynn McGuire - Sun, 26 Mar 2023 01:15 UTC

On 3/25/2023 9:01 AM, Andrew McDowell wrote:
....
> I have bought books by both Les Johnson and Travis S. Taylor in the hopes of finding a modern E.E.Smith - enthusiasm about science backed up by enough knowledge of it to show an (admittedly glamourised) version of research and ideally some interesting reflections on organisation and society (which will be an easier sell to me if they are not too far out on the left wing). Rather than posting a hostile review, can you, or anybody else, suggest an alternative modern author in this style?

How about Ben Bova's Grand Tour of the Solar System ?
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07WCNZQD7

Starts with Ben Bova's 2006 Powersat book:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765348179

Lynn

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 by: Paul S Person - Sun, 26 Mar 2023 15:33 UTC

On Sat, 25 Mar 2023 13:38:24 -0700 (PDT), Jack Bohn
<jack.bohn64@gmail.com> wrote:

>Paul S Person wrote:
>
>> >Damn. I thought that the "ways to fix it" referred to how I could fix it
>> >at home where I watch all films and series. One of my favourite TV
>> >series was "The Wire" but the dialogue was often impossible to hear.
>> I didn't respond yesterday because I didn't feel like being snarky.
>>
>> But last night it occurred to me that there are things you can try --
>> if you are willing to live with them. Some people are not.
>>
>> 1. SDH/closed-captioning/subtitles -- some find this annoying and, of
>> course, your visual acuity has to be such that you can actually read
>> the text. Also, they have to be available in a language you know well
>> enough.
>
>I hadn't thought of closed captions until one time when we had to keep the house quiet, but I *had* to watch Doctor Who. In addition, to helping with the mile-a-minute Tennant, they also indicated when the Murray Gold music pieces "Next Stop Everywhere" and "I Am the Doctor" played. It's hit and miss, but I've been rewinding and turning on CC whenever I see someone starting to play an instrument. Recently watched "A Song to Remember"(1945) (the adventures of Frederic Chopin) that didn't identify the pieces in captioning, but the film to pains to identify in the storytelling, "Song of Love"(1947) (the adventures of Clara Schumann) and "Song With End"(1960) (the adventures of Franz Lizst) which identify most, leaving me wondering if there were some the captioners didn't know.

A lot of the movies I stream are in languages I am not particularly
familiar with, so I have subtitles on quite often (if they aren't on
automatically). Some of these are labled as [CC] but only have the
dialog; others have various sound-effects notes (which I can do
without). /The Five Days of Milan/ subtitles designated the /dialect/
of Italian each character was using.

They have their problems. Some are too wordy (of course, so is the
dialog); some go by really fast. And some are just plain wrong, such
as "Greek navy" for "Kriegsmarine" (German military navy) in /Soldier
of Orange/.

Still, they are a solution to films which were mixed so as to make the
dialog unhearable.
--
"In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant
development was the disintegration, under Christian
influence, of classical conceptions of the family and
of family right."

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Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
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 by: Paul S Person - Sun, 26 Mar 2023 15:35 UTC

On Sat, 25 Mar 2023 16:34:01 -0700 (PDT), Robert Carnegie
<rja.carnegie@excite.com> wrote:

>On Saturday, 25 March 2023 at 17:25:52 UTC, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
>> On 24 Mar 2023 at 04:08:26 GMT, "Titus G" <no...@nowhere.com> wrote:
>>
>> > Damn. I thought that the "ways to fix it" referred to how I could fix it
>> > at home where I watch all films and series. One of my favourite TV
>> > series was "The Wire" but the dialogue was often impossible to hear.
>> First thing to try is make sure all your devices in the chain are set to
>> whatever number of speakers you have, or all the way down to stereo.
>>
>> Mixes for TV often come as 5.1 which includes a centre channel - if you
>> don't have one, tough luck on hearing dialogue. Setting your source
>> device to force stereo will help a *lot* as the centre then gets mixed
>> into the L/R stereo pair.
>>
>> But also (as per those links) mumbleTV was a stylistic choice that is
>> thankfully no longer in vogue. Those films and series may not be easily
>> fixable.
>>
>> Cheers - Jaimie
>
>I don't remember if I asked already - is it likely
>that TV on DVB-T, "Freeview", has monophonic sound
>when a show (obSF "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine",
>"3rd Rock from the Sun") was made with better than
>stereo sound, but Freeview or my individual device(s)
>only does mono and stereo?
>
>Some episodes come stereo, some don't. "3rd Rock"
>was made in 4:3 screen shape, and a different TV channel
>managed to show it stereo and 16:9, which I think means
>they just blew the picture up larger then cut off the top
>and the bottom.

The alternative is to stretch the picture out.

Did the characters look ... wider than usual?
--
"In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant
development was the disintegration, under Christian
influence, of classical conceptions of the family and
of family right."

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

<tvq4uc$2qlno$1@dont-email.me>

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From: noo...@nowhere.com (Titus G)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2023 07:53:10 +1300
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 by: Titus G - Sun, 26 Mar 2023 18:53 UTC

On 26/03/23 05:11, Paul S Person wrote:
> On Fri, 24 Mar 2023 17:08:26 +1300, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:
>
>> On 24/03/23 02:31, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
>>> On Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 7:04:32?PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
>>>> On Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 8:07:09?AM UTC-6, James Nicoll wrote:
>>>>> Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
>>>>>
>>>>> Five old time SF stories suitable for fans of the Expanse.
>>>>>
>>>>> https://www.tor.com/2023/03/22/five-vintage-sf-stories-from-the-asteroid-belt/
>>>> I was watching recently a YouTube video which tried to explain why so many
>>>> recent movies are hard to watch or hard to hear on home TV sets these days.
>>>>
>>>> It has to do with them being filmed for the experience in movie theatres, where
>>>> the room is dark, and the sound system is THX-certified...
>>>
>>> https://variety.com/2022/film/news/why-movies-so-dark-hard-to-see-batman-1235195535/
>>>
>>> https://www.slashfilm.com/673162/heres-why-movie-dialogue-has-gotten-more-difficult-to-understand-and-three-ways-to-fix-it
>>
>> Damn. I thought that the "ways to fix it" referred to how I could fix it
>> at home where I watch all films and series. One of my favourite TV
>> series was "The Wire" but the dialogue was often impossible to hear.
>
> I didn't respond yesterday because I didn't feel like being snarky.
>
> But last night it occurred to me that there are things you can try --
> if you are willing to live with them. Some people are not.
>
> 1. SDH/closed-captioning/subtitles -- some find this annoying and, of
> course, your visual acuity has to be such that you can actually read
> the text. Also, they have to be available in a language you know well
> enough.

Yes. I am happy to use sub titles if they exist.
>
> 2. Headphones. Apparently, there are ways to hook up your sound system
> to headphones and it occurs to me that, if hearing aids can use
> technology that emphasizes voices over other sounds (as some,
> IIRC, claim to do), something using that tech might be available here.

Something I hadn't considered as I have never used headphones.

> Depending on what is available, an analog-cabled solution might be
> better, as the devices would not have to be preprogrammed to
> communicate with each other, but could focus on processing the sound.
> This could include digitizing the input, doing its thing, and then
> converting it back to analog for the output, of course.

This sounds complicated. My computer and TV are heard through my NAD
Hybrid Digital amplifier C 368 (2018 Vintage) which outputs stereo.

> But it all depends on what you are willing to put up with.

Thank you for your suggestions. I think I will investigate headphones,
perhaps bluetooth, though I am quite ignorant about these matters.

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

<tvq4ue$2qlno$3@dont-email.me>

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From: noo...@nowhere.com (Titus G)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2023 07:58:33 +1300
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 by: Titus G - Sun, 26 Mar 2023 18:58 UTC

On 26/03/23 08:19, Andrew McDowell wrote:
> On Saturday, March 25, 2023 at 4:56:37 PM UTC, Robert Woodward wrote:
snip

>> characters as well. As for suggestions ... what about Michael Flynn's
>> Firestar series (_Firestar_, _Rogue Star_, _Lodestar_, and _Falling
>> Stars_*).
>>
>> *His Spiral Arm series (starting with _The January Dancer_) is in the
>> far future of this series as is the Journeyman short fiction series that
>> has appeared in _Analog_ since 2012.
>> --

Perhaps more than a decade ago but I also enjoyed The January Dancer. I
have not yet opened Up Jim River.

> You [ Robert Woodward ] were absolutely right to recommend Flynn's Firestar series - I very much enjoyed that series, which I think is much under-appreciated. I had assumed after reading "The Wreck Of The River Of Stars" that Flynn had turned to writing much more literary fiction which I found less entertaining, but looking at Isfdb and seeing you write about the Spiral Arm series, I have noted that down on my "to buy" list.
snip

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

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From: noo...@nowhere.com (Titus G)
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Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2023 08:00:38 +1300
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 by: Titus G - Sun, 26 Mar 2023 19:00 UTC

On 26/03/23 06:25, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
> On 24 Mar 2023 at 04:08:26 GMT, "Titus G" <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:
>
>> Damn. I thought that the "ways to fix it" referred to how I could fix it
>> at home where I watch all films and series. One of my favourite TV
>> series was "The Wire" but the dialogue was often impossible to hear.
>
> First thing to try is make sure all your devices in the chain are set to
> whatever number of speakers you have, or all the way down to stereo.

My computer and TV are heard through my NAD Hybrid Digital amplifier C
368 (2018 Vintage) which outputs stereo.

> Mixes for TV often come as 5.1 which includes a centre channel - if you
> don't have one,

I don't think I do.

tough luck on hearing dialogue. Setting your source
> device to force stereo will help a *lot* as the centre then gets mixed
> into the L/R stereo pair.

> But also (as per those links) mumbleTV was a stylistic choice that is
> thankfully no longer in vogue. Those films and series may not be easily
> fixable.

Thank you for the advice.

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

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From: nad...@mips.inka.de (Christian Weisgerber)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
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 by: Christian Weisgerber - Sun, 26 Mar 2023 20:35 UTC

On 2023-03-26, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:

>> 2. Headphones. Apparently, there are ways to hook up your sound system
>> to headphones and it occurs to me that, if hearing aids can use
>> technology that emphasizes voices over other sounds (as some,
>> IIRC, claim to do), something using that tech might be available here.
>
> Something I hadn't considered as I have never used headphones.

I watch almost all movies/TV shows at home with headphones. You
would think this would make for optimal listening. Well...

I think we are dealing with a complex, multi-dimensional problem.

For starters, while movie mixes might be created for an umpteen-channel
theater sound system, dialogue comprehensibility varies a lot even
there. Christopher Nolan's movies are routinely criticized for
their audio and I have to agree. By contrast, _Avatar: The Way of Water_
had excellent sound with very crisp dialogue.

I am also getting around to the idea that some surround mixes just
coalesce poorly when downmixed to stereo. For some TV shows, dialog
comprehensibility is simply poor, and no, it's neither due to
mumbling, nor do I think people intentionally created a bad surround
mix. This is where headphones come into play, because with these
you are certainly listening to a stereo downmix... and that may
become part of the problem. Comments on the Internet habitually
blame the actors, "why is everybody mumbling all the time?", but I
think that misidentifies the problem.

A third and separate issue is dynamic range. Too many movie mixes
in particular have the dialogue at the lowest volume, music is
louder, and BOOM! sound effects are loudest. For movie theaters
the solution is simple: Crank up the volume until everbody can make
out the dialogue. Too bad if the music is painfully loud and if
the BOOM! makes you fear for your hearing. At home, and even more
so with headphones, this is a problem if you don't want to destroy
your hearing. I suspect home media mixes already have a somewhat
reduced dynamic range, but it depends. You may be forced into a
compromise where the dialogue is barely comprehensible and the BOOM!
is still too loud. The worst offender I can name is my copy of
_Sucker Punch_, which I rewatched around Christmas, and everytime
the music came on I had to dial down the volume, and when it stopped
and people started talking I had to dial it up again. From time
to time, I get the vague idea of investigating technological means
to enforce dynamic range compression, but so far I haven't followed
up on it.

This video "Why we all need subtitles now" addresses some of
those issues, but is all too brief and superficial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYJtb2YXae8
The professional dialogue editor there is clearly very knowledgeable,
if only she hadn't been reduced to providing mere sound bites.

> This sounds complicated. My computer and TV are heard through my NAD
> Hybrid Digital amplifier C 368 (2018 Vintage) which outputs stereo.

Yeah, I have a similar setup.

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

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

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Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
From: rja.carn...@excite.com (Robert Carnegie)
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 by: Robert Carnegie - Sun, 26 Mar 2023 22:18 UTC

On Sunday, 26 March 2023 at 16:35:21 UTC+1, Paul S Person wrote:
> On Sat, 25 Mar 2023 16:34:01 -0700 (PDT), Robert Carnegie
> <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote:
>
> >On Saturday, 25 March 2023 at 17:25:52 UTC, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
> >> On 24 Mar 2023 at 04:08:26 GMT, "Titus G" <no...@nowhere.com> wrote:
> >>
> >> > Damn. I thought that the "ways to fix it" referred to how I could fix it
> >> > at home where I watch all films and series. One of my favourite TV
> >> > series was "The Wire" but the dialogue was often impossible to hear.
> >> First thing to try is make sure all your devices in the chain are set to
> >> whatever number of speakers you have, or all the way down to stereo.
> >>
> >> Mixes for TV often come as 5.1 which includes a centre channel - if you
> >> don't have one, tough luck on hearing dialogue. Setting your source
> >> device to force stereo will help a *lot* as the centre then gets mixed
> >> into the L/R stereo pair.
> >>
> >> But also (as per those links) mumbleTV was a stylistic choice that is
> >> thankfully no longer in vogue. Those films and series may not be easily
> >> fixable.
> >>
> >> Cheers - Jaimie
> >
> >I don't remember if I asked already - is it likely
> >that TV on DVB-T, "Freeview", has monophonic sound
> >when a show (obSF "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine",
> >"3rd Rock from the Sun") was made with better than
> >stereo sound, but Freeview or my individual device(s)
> >only does mono and stereo?
> >
> >Some episodes come stereo, some don't. "3rd Rock"
> >was made in 4:3 screen shape, and a different TV channel
> >managed to show it stereo and 16:9, which I think means
> >they just blew the picture up larger then cut off the top
> >and the bottom.
> The alternative is to stretch the picture out.
>
> Did the characters look ... wider than usual?

Just blurred, I think. The other other alternative is to
create a version for 16:9 by broadcasting the 4:3 picture
in the middle of the 16:9 space.

I think I shouldn't describe how it bothers me when
TV broadcasts shows as plain 4:3 while the commercials
are 16:9, as I wasn't dissatisfied until I noticed what
I noticed. So when you don't know, it isn't a problem.

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

<tvqgr6$2sk6h$1@dont-email.me>

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Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
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 by: Dimensional Traveler - Sun, 26 Mar 2023 22:26 UTC

On 3/26/2023 3:18 PM, Robert Carnegie wrote:
> On Sunday, 26 March 2023 at 16:35:21 UTC+1, Paul S Person wrote:
>> On Sat, 25 Mar 2023 16:34:01 -0700 (PDT), Robert Carnegie
>> <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On Saturday, 25 March 2023 at 17:25:52 UTC, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
>>>> On 24 Mar 2023 at 04:08:26 GMT, "Titus G" <no...@nowhere.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Damn. I thought that the "ways to fix it" referred to how I could fix it
>>>>> at home where I watch all films and series. One of my favourite TV
>>>>> series was "The Wire" but the dialogue was often impossible to hear.
>>>> First thing to try is make sure all your devices in the chain are set to
>>>> whatever number of speakers you have, or all the way down to stereo.
>>>>
>>>> Mixes for TV often come as 5.1 which includes a centre channel - if you
>>>> don't have one, tough luck on hearing dialogue. Setting your source
>>>> device to force stereo will help a *lot* as the centre then gets mixed
>>>> into the L/R stereo pair.
>>>>
>>>> But also (as per those links) mumbleTV was a stylistic choice that is
>>>> thankfully no longer in vogue. Those films and series may not be easily
>>>> fixable.
>>>>
>>>> Cheers - Jaimie
>>>
>>> I don't remember if I asked already - is it likely
>>> that TV on DVB-T, "Freeview", has monophonic sound
>>> when a show (obSF "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine",
>>> "3rd Rock from the Sun") was made with better than
>>> stereo sound, but Freeview or my individual device(s)
>>> only does mono and stereo?
>>>
>>> Some episodes come stereo, some don't. "3rd Rock"
>>> was made in 4:3 screen shape, and a different TV channel
>>> managed to show it stereo and 16:9, which I think means
>>> they just blew the picture up larger then cut off the top
>>> and the bottom.
>> The alternative is to stretch the picture out.
>>
>> Did the characters look ... wider than usual?
>
> Just blurred, I think. The other other alternative is to
> create a version for 16:9 by broadcasting the 4:3 picture
> in the middle of the 16:9 space.
>
> I think I shouldn't describe how it bothers me when
> TV broadcasts shows as plain 4:3 while the commercials
> are 16:9, as I wasn't dissatisfied until I noticed what
> I noticed. So when you don't know, it isn't a problem.

You should really go to rec.arts.tv. This get discussed there
regularly. As for the showing a 4:3 image in a 16:9 space, when that is
done people complain about how "the left and right sides are cut off!
Where's the rest of my picture?!" Seriously, any black space around the
edges gets complaints. Far too many people don't understand the basic
concept of differing picture size ratios, so broadcasters feel they have
to somehow fill the entire screen even if what they are showing isn't
the same size as the audience's screens.

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

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

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From: psper...@old.netcom.invalid (Paul S Person)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2023 08:59:48 -0700
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
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 by: Paul S Person - Mon, 27 Mar 2023 15:59 UTC

On Mon, 27 Mar 2023 07:53:10 +1300, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:

>On 26/03/23 05:11, Paul S Person wrote:
>> On Fri, 24 Mar 2023 17:08:26 +1300, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:
>>
>>> On 24/03/23 02:31, pete...@gmail.com wrote:
>>>> On Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 7:04:32?PM UTC-4, Quadibloc wrote:
>>>>> On Wednesday, March 22, 2023 at 8:07:09?AM UTC-6, James Nicoll wrote:
>>>>>> Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Five old time SF stories suitable for fans of the Expanse.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> https://www.tor.com/2023/03/22/five-vintage-sf-stories-from-the-asteroid-belt/
>>>>> I was watching recently a YouTube video which tried to explain why so many
>>>>> recent movies are hard to watch or hard to hear on home TV sets these days.
>>>>>
>>>>> It has to do with them being filmed for the experience in movie theatres, where
>>>>> the room is dark, and the sound system is THX-certified...
>>>>
>>>> https://variety.com/2022/film/news/why-movies-so-dark-hard-to-see-batman-1235195535/
>>>>
>>>> https://www.slashfilm.com/673162/heres-why-movie-dialogue-has-gotten-more-difficult-to-understand-and-three-ways-to-fix-it
>>>
>>> Damn. I thought that the "ways to fix it" referred to how I could fix it
>>> at home where I watch all films and series. One of my favourite TV
>>> series was "The Wire" but the dialogue was often impossible to hear.
>>
>> I didn't respond yesterday because I didn't feel like being snarky.
>>
>> But last night it occurred to me that there are things you can try --
>> if you are willing to live with them. Some people are not.
>>
>> 1. SDH/closed-captioning/subtitles -- some find this annoying and, of
>> course, your visual acuity has to be such that you can actually read
>> the text. Also, they have to be available in a language you know well
>> enough.
>
>Yes. I am happy to use sub titles if they exist.
>>
>> 2. Headphones. Apparently, there are ways to hook up your sound system
>> to headphones and it occurs to me that, if hearing aids can use
>> technology that emphasizes voices over other sounds (as some,
>> IIRC, claim to do), something using that tech might be available here.
>
>Something I hadn't considered as I have never used headphones.
>
>> Depending on what is available, an analog-cabled solution might be
>> better, as the devices would not have to be preprogrammed to
>> communicate with each other, but could focus on processing the sound.
>> This could include digitizing the input, doing its thing, and then
>> converting it back to analog for the output, of course.
>
>This sounds complicated. My computer and TV are heard through my NAD
>Hybrid Digital amplifier C 368 (2018 Vintage) which outputs stereo.

And it still appears to be available on Amazon:
[https://www.amazon.com/NAD-Stereo-Integrated-Amplifier-Bluetooth/dp/B01LYHN2B5/ref=sr_1_4?crid=24BJ9QXI8XR4F&keywords=nad+hybrid+digital+amplifier+c368&qid=1679932166&sprefix=nad+hybrid+digital+amplifier+c368%2Caps%2C141&sr=8-4&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.765d4786-5719-48b9-b588-eab9385652d5]

>> But it all depends on what you are willing to put up with.
>
>Thank you for your suggestions. I think I will investigate headphones,
>perhaps bluetooth, though I am quite ignorant about these matters.

Frankly, if you amp doesn't do it with speakers it won't through
headphones. As others have pointed out, headphones can be irritating.
In my case, those that cover the ear promote ear wax, which makes
hearing difficult, so I stopped using them when they weren't required
for the job.

You might want to start by investigating whether hearing aids are, in
actual fact, able to emphasize voice over background or whether I
misunderstood what I was reading or what I was reading was advertising
bumf. If you can get the technical terms for it, you could then see if
it is available in something you could plug in between speakers and
amp, say, using a good old RCA plug stereo cable.
--
"In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant
development was the disintegration, under Christian
influence, of classical conceptions of the family and
of family right."

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

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From: psper...@old.netcom.invalid (Paul S Person)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
Date: Mon, 27 Mar 2023 09:19:07 -0700
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
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 by: Paul S Person - Mon, 27 Mar 2023 16:19 UTC

On Sun, 26 Mar 2023 15:26:48 -0700, Dimensional Traveler
<dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:

>On 3/26/2023 3:18 PM, Robert Carnegie wrote:
>> On Sunday, 26 March 2023 at 16:35:21 UTC+1, Paul S Person wrote:
>>> On Sat, 25 Mar 2023 16:34:01 -0700 (PDT), Robert Carnegie
>>> <rja.ca...@excite.com> wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Saturday, 25 March 2023 at 17:25:52 UTC, Jaimie Vandenbergh wrote:
>>>>> On 24 Mar 2023 at 04:08:26 GMT, "Titus G" <no...@nowhere.com> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> Damn. I thought that the "ways to fix it" referred to how I could fix it
>>>>>> at home where I watch all films and series. One of my favourite TV
>>>>>> series was "The Wire" but the dialogue was often impossible to hear.
>>>>> First thing to try is make sure all your devices in the chain are set to
>>>>> whatever number of speakers you have, or all the way down to stereo.
>>>>>
>>>>> Mixes for TV often come as 5.1 which includes a centre channel - if you
>>>>> don't have one, tough luck on hearing dialogue. Setting your source
>>>>> device to force stereo will help a *lot* as the centre then gets mixed
>>>>> into the L/R stereo pair.
>>>>>
>>>>> But also (as per those links) mumbleTV was a stylistic choice that is
>>>>> thankfully no longer in vogue. Those films and series may not be easily
>>>>> fixable.
>>>>>
>>>>> Cheers - Jaimie
>>>>
>>>> I don't remember if I asked already - is it likely
>>>> that TV on DVB-T, "Freeview", has monophonic sound
>>>> when a show (obSF "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine",
>>>> "3rd Rock from the Sun") was made with better than
>>>> stereo sound, but Freeview or my individual device(s)
>>>> only does mono and stereo?
>>>>
>>>> Some episodes come stereo, some don't. "3rd Rock"
>>>> was made in 4:3 screen shape, and a different TV channel
>>>> managed to show it stereo and 16:9, which I think means
>>>> they just blew the picture up larger then cut off the top
>>>> and the bottom.
>>> The alternative is to stretch the picture out.
>>>
>>> Did the characters look ... wider than usual?
>>
>> Just blurred, I think. The other other alternative is to
>> create a version for 16:9 by broadcasting the 4:3 picture
>> in the middle of the 16:9 space.
>>
>> I think I shouldn't describe how it bothers me when
>> TV broadcasts shows as plain 4:3 while the commercials
>> are 16:9, as I wasn't dissatisfied until I noticed what
>> I noticed. So when you don't know, it isn't a problem.
>
>You should really go to rec.arts.tv. This get discussed there
>regularly. As for the showing a 4:3 image in a 16:9 space, when that is
>done people complain about how "the left and right sides are cut off!
>Where's the rest of my picture?!" Seriously, any black space around the
>edges gets complaints. Far too many people don't understand the basic
>concept of differing picture size ratios, so broadcasters feel they have
>to somehow fill the entire screen even if what they are showing isn't
>the same size as the audience's screens.

And I thought the Forces of Reason had won /that/ war when VHS tapes
started being Letterboxed -- which leaves black bands at the top and
bottom of the picture. Silly me.

I ended up buying some /very/ well-liked movies three times: once in
pan-and-scan VHS, once in Letterboxed VHS, and then on DVD. Such is
the price of progress.

Back in the late 90s, one of the early articles on DVDs (including
remarks on widescreen TVs) in /Consumer Reports/ revealed such utter
ignorance on the topic [1] that I actually wrote them a letter trying
to correct their understanding of the issues.

[1] I would need the article to be sure, but my memory and my letter
suggest that the author asserted that 4:3 TVs were only for films that
would fill that screen, and 16:9 TVs were only for films that were
wider.
--
"In this connexion, unquestionably the most significant
development was the disintegration, under Christian
influence, of classical conceptions of the family and
of family right."

Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt

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Subject: Re: (tor dot com) Five Vintage SF Stories From the Asteroid Belt
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 by: Scott Lurndal - Mon, 27 Mar 2023 16:19 UTC

Paul S Person <psperson@old.netcom.invalid> writes:
>On Mon, 27 Mar 2023 07:53:10 +1300, Titus G <noone@nowhere.com> wrote:
>

>You might want to start by investigating whether hearing aids are, in
>actual fact, able to emphasize voice over background or whether I

Yes, they are. There are also hearing aids that support bluetooth
and can feed the audio directly from a bluetooth source (such as
an amplifier).

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