Talo Segura

Did you know penguins can fly?

You have to place the book and the author in their time. Stranger in a Strange Land was published in 1961, it won the 1962 Hugo Award for Best Novel and became the first science fiction novel to enter The New York Times Book Review's best-seller list. In 2012, the Library of Congress named it one of 88 "Books that Shaped America". (Wikipedia) Heinlein was born in 1907 and died in 1988, he served in the US navy, was a registered Republican, but according to Isaac Asimov, a flaming liberal. (Wikipedia) I guess you can say he was a man of his time, perhaps with the prejudices of the era, but also an envy to fight free although maybe he didn't get too far.

I come from a generation where old people at gigs were viewed with high suspicion. Now they’re on the stage as well as in the audiences. People may think I like what I do, but that’s not necessarily the case. I do what I do. My networking is not really networking. If I network and say what I feel about things, it has the total polar opposite effect. I don’t want to be anything and so I live a wonderful life of freedom. I’ve earned the right to be me by sheer bloody-minded persistence. I don’t waste my time idolising other things. I recommend it. It’s a spiritual path. You’re meant to love yourself, despite your inadequacies. Billy Childish (born Steven John Hamper; 1 December 1959) is an English painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist. Since the late 1970s, Childish has been prolific in creating music, writing and visual art. He has led and played in bands including the Thee Milkshakes, Thee Headcoats, and the Musicians of the British Empire, primarily working in the genres of garage rock, punk and surf and releasing more than 100 albums. He is a consistent advocate for amateurism and free emotional expression. (Wikipedia)

You got me interested. Looking up the book and author I was struck by the prejudice with this suggestion from Hinton's publisher: Hinton's publisher suggested she use her initials instead of her feminine given names so that the first male book reviewers would not dismiss the novel because its author was female.

"Carlos Sanchez, a pawn in a power struggle, had become a victim of its ruthless machinations." I'm not sure I would consider Carlos Sanchez a victim?

I find the beta reader concept difficult to comprehend here. I looked it up in Wiki: Typically, a beta reader reviews a draft that has gone through at least one revision. An alpha reader reviews a draft that is still without an ending or is completely unrevised. A proofreader usually only looks at grammar and spelling and is a paid professional, while a beta reader is more holistic in their scope. A critique partner is a trained writer who test reads from the perspective of an author, while a beta reader is a trained reader, test reading from the perspective of a typical reader. A sensitivity reader is a specific type of beta reader who is from a culture that the author is not familiar with. If this is about accurate definition of roles, then where are the alpha readers? It would be that role which inputs to the ending and storyline, plot, in general, reading a first rough draft. The proof reader would be the editor role here. The order would obviously be alpha reader, beta reader, proof reader/ editor. It seems to me the primary role is alpha reader, the beta reader is not going to have too much influence, a tweak here and there to the story. The alpha reader could change a lot. The proof reader/editor is the valuable final step before publication. I recently helped a friend and new writer taking on the role of alpha reader. As there's no such creditation on the site he credited me with co-author status. I'm not entirely happy with that, but I suppose it fits, because beta reader doesn't.

...time emerges through quantum entanglement between one object and another acting as a clock. In an unentangled system, time does not exist, and the universe appears frozen and unchanging. Time may be an illusion, new study finds https://www.thebrighterside.news/discoveries/time-may-be-an-illusion-new-study-finds/ Scientists discover why time appears to move faster as we age Psychologists and neuroscientists have studied for years how our perception of time changes and evolves throughout our lives... For many, the last year might have felt like it flashed by in an instant. It’s as if January was just here. However, for children, last year’s holiday season can seem like a distant memory from ages ago. This difference in perception isn't just anecdotal; there's a scientific basis for why time seems to speed up as we get older. https://www.thebrighterside.news/health/scientists-discover-why-time-appears-to-move-faster-as-we-age/

To reach any conclusion about time travel you would first need to understand time. It is easy to say that time is constant, the minutes, hours, days, years, tick away, at a regular pace. But that is not true. You know yourself how much longer a year was when you were young and how much quicker it passes when you are older. Your younger years were possibly marked on the wall as you grew taller, but it took forever for time to pass. Time is perhaps a necessary concept for order, however it doesn't necessarily exist. And if it doesn't exist, or it doesn't neatly mark out our passage through life in an ordered, measurable way, then what would be time travel. You would go back to somewhere before, when there is no before, except in your memories which are like dreams, hard to make solid, distorted, and not real. How about an ever changing now? No past, no future, it only seems like there is when actually there is only a huge now! Time makes sense because we physically grow old, if we didn't age it would make no sense at all to have time. You can't travel to a place that doesn't exist, so you cannot travel back to a past that never was. It is perhaps possible to cut through the now, but cutting through now is simply making connections and there are a huge number of those and they might influence the future, but not if they were there all along. Not if there is no future only a changing now, which seems like a future, but isn't. Time travel does not exist because time does not exist, you can't travel on a concept! And yes, to a certain extent destiny and fate are real enough, but you don't properly know your destiny, you might recognise it when it arrives, let's hope so!

Well, I guess being a sex club it's what you might expect! 🤣

This seems like a puzzle, little cameos of story from maybe before and then the present, kind of reflects Joel's memory and recollection, I'm waiting to see what happens and like @drsawzall how it all comes together?

All the best guys lived in Muswell Hill, including me of course 🤣

What was the worst climate disaster you or your family lived through? Britain froze solid in the winter of 1962 - 63 and sixty years on, it's still the worst winter ever...

Legal age in France for beer and wine is 16,(18 for spirits) but if you're with your parents, it's up to their discretion. Pretty liberal 🍷🍻

You maybe onto something there?

Maybe they (the border control) are not so competent or not too interested?