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It's still raining

By ad hoc (Tue May 16, 2006 at 03:25:55 PM EST) (all tags)

What are the dimensions for an ark again?

I was at the library yesterday and was looking around for something else to read. I ran across a "Best Science Fiction" collection book of somewhere around 1960 or so. In it was a story by Alfred Bester. I admit, I'm not up on these things, and am usually out of the loop. But now I'm keen to read some of his stuff to see what the connection is between this Alfred Bester and the other Alfred Bester, the "psi cop" in Babylon 5 (played by Walter "Checkov" Koenig).

An 18-year-old New Hampshire kid cycling coast-to-coast, the hard way (east to west). Sounds like he's having fun (except for the first day.) This is one of the things I regret never doing. I'm not sure I could have at that age, though. Still... I'm not dead yet.

Re: floods. I've lived here about 25 years and I've never seen anything like this. I've seen rivers very, very high, but this is astounding. In 1984 (I think?) the Merrimac was dangerously high, and in 1996 most of the rivers around here flooded (as did one of the subway stations). Check out some of the videos, particularly in Methuen and Haverhill. I do a lot of cycling around Essex County and in the Merrimac vally generally and I know where most of these bridges and dams are. In fact, the ride I'm supposed to be doing on Sunday is, basically, a tour of the Shawsheen and Merrimac rivers. I wouldn't be surprised if the ride is either cancelled or modified in some way because of all the washouts.

If the weather clears up at all, I'd like to take a little spin out along the Charles and see what things are like in Charles River Village and Dover.

< Wild blue yonder | BBC White season: 'Rivers of Blood' >

It's still raining | 18 comments (18 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

Was it The Stars My Destination? by georgeha (4.00 / 1) #1 Tue May 16, 2006 at 03:36:47 PM EST

That's the only Bester I've read that sticks with me, even haunts me. A top ten in my canon, though I didn't grab my name from there, not like some people.

I'm glad you're not dead yet.

Off to the hole!

: I'd just never heard of him at all by ad hoc (2.00 / 0) #4 Tue May 16, 2006 at 04:17:24 PM EST

I don't remember which story was in the book. I was just surprised to see the name.
Top ten, eh? I'll have to check it out.
--
Close friendships and a private room can offer most of the things love does.
[ Parent ]

Coast-to-coast by miker2 (4.00 / 1) #2 Tue May 16, 2006 at 03:48:45 PM EST

That's one thing I'd love to do. Go east->west then back again. Maybe ride west then RAAM on the way back, that'd be fun.

My brother's gone from Santa Cruz, CA to New Mexico via Seattle by bike. He's also done a large part of the midwest and California by bike too.

Ah, sociopathy. How warm, how comforting, thy sweet embrace. - MNS

Me too by ad hoc (2.00 / 0) #5 Tue May 16, 2006 at 04:18:47 PM EST

east to west on the north route, west to east on the south route. Or maybe through Canadiana.

North to south along the Mississippi would be fun, too.

I wouldn't be too interested in RAAM though. That does not look like fun at all.
--
Close friendships and a private room can offer most of the things love does.
[ Parent ]

: RAAM Solo isn't fun by miker2 (4.00 / 1) #7 Tue May 16, 2006 at 04:31:28 PM EST

I'd want to do it as a 6-person team, which I think is something new this year, with 5 others that have no allusions of winning it, just a little motivation to go faster.
Ah, sociopathy. How warm, how comforting, thy sweet embrace. - MNS
[ Parent ]

You're not going to find much Bester. by ObviousTroll (4.00 / 2) #3 Tue May 16, 2006 at 03:59:47 PM EST

I thought that Bester only wrote 2 science fiction novels, though both are classics: The Stars, My Destination and The Demolished Man .

and, yeah, the Bab5 character was named after t3h author.

All the other stuff Amazon has listed is re-collections of the same shorts and other fluff - stuff completed after his death and like that.

--
You're no good to me dead. Even half-alive would be socially awkward. - Hugh MacLeod

Bester by ad hoc (2.00 / 0) #6 Tue May 16, 2006 at 04:19:30 PM EST

so why did B5 pick his name? Is there something in his books or about him that made them pick that name for the psi cop?
--
Close friendships and a private room can offer most of the things love does.
[ Parent ]

Harlan Ellison by jayhawk88 (4.00 / 1) #8 Tue May 16, 2006 at 05:41:22 PM EST

Was like a "creative consultant" or something of that nature on the show (and maybe a writer as well, I don't recall). JMS also had some sci-fi interest/background IIRC. Likely they had something to do with it.

[ Parent ]

Because the books he did write were amazing by ObviousTroll (4.00 / 1) #10 Tue May 16, 2006 at 11:23:53 PM EST

It might not be obvious now, when he wrote those novels, compared to most Sci Fi of the time they were like Moby Dick compared to Finding Nemo .

The Stars My Destination was - is - an incredible book written at a time when most SciFi was on the order of Flash Gordon . Note that we have no members on this site who use the name of a Asimov or Heinlein character as their handle...

--
You're no good to me dead. Even half-alive would be socially awkward. - Hugh MacLeod
[ Parent ]

: I'll pick it up by ad hoc (2.00 / 0) #17 Wed May 17, 2006 at 09:22:40 AM EST

next time I'm at the IP repository.
--
Close friendships and a private room can offer most of the things love does.
[ Parent ]

Oh - and.... by ObviousTroll (4.00 / 1) #11 Tue May 16, 2006 at 11:28:21 PM EST

If you want to look for direct hooks, The Demolished Man is about a telepathic cop.

--
You're no good to me dead. Even half-alive would be socially awkward. - Hugh MacLeod
[ Parent ]

There's something resembling the B5 Psi Corps by gpig (4.00 / 1) #13 Wed May 17, 2006 at 05:23:48 AM EST

in The Demolished Man.
---
(, ,') -- eep
"This option is deprecated, as it is conceptually flawed." -- man psql
[ Parent ]

Typecasting by Vulch (4.00 / 1) #14 Wed May 17, 2006 at 06:56:56 AM EST

A while ago I was watching Star Trek N on the TV and suddenly wondered "Why have they got Bester on the bridge of the Enterprise? Oh, wait...."

[ Parent ]

THE SUN IS OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! by MillMan (4.00 / 1) #9 Tue May 16, 2006 at 07:11:44 PM EST

(^&#^%)(&#^%)(#(&$%(#@&$%@($&^#)($&#@)%(@&#(@^$&@^$)(@&$^(#&%^(#@&$^@)($&@)%(#&%)(#^%)#@&^

Everybody still hates me in this city and I hate everybody.

cycling by 256 (4.00 / 1) #12 Wed May 17, 2006 at 01:38:39 AM EST

coast to coast is one of those rides that i have always been tempted by. though i've never yet even managed to make the toronto->halifax ride that i keep talking about materialise, so perhaps i should scale down my ambitions.

still, i have done some multi-day rides and camped along the way and would never even consider a trailer. it just seems like masochism. everything you need for touring should fit easily into a set of pannier bags.
---
_{I don't think anyone's ever really died from smoking. --ni}

: Handling by ad hoc (2.00 / 0) #16 Wed May 17, 2006 at 09:19:38 AM EST

I think it's a matter of preference. I have a friend who does a lot of touring who swears by panniers. Then again, I have a neighbor who did a coast-to-coast tour with a trailer. They disagree about which is easier to handle, esp. downhill.
--
Close friendships and a private room can offer most of the things love does.
[ Parent ]

Ark dimensions by Cloaked User (4.00 / 1) #15 Wed May 17, 2006 at 07:50:32 AM EST

2.5 cubits by 1.5 cubits by 1.5 cubits, or 45 inches by 27 inches by 27 inches to you.

--
This is not a psychotic episode. It is a cleansing moment of clarity.

we had rain in Austria by LilFlightTest (4.00 / 1) #18 Fri May 26, 2006 at 06:25:47 PM EST

we didnt get to see Hitler's Eagle's Nest because it poured the night before and the road was kind of missing.
Send me to Austria!

It's still raining | 18 comments (18 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback