Bristles, Bristled, Bristling... F*ck it.

[Kojiro]

Note that the repetition of set epithets ("rosy-fingered Dawn", "many-wiled Odysseus") is one characteristic of oral narratives. It served as a mnemonic tool, like metered verse, for (real) ancient storytellers. For modern hacks, it's just another way of padding out them long outlines into a full book.

Careful, KJA might consider it flattering that he was mentioned in one paragraph with (and implicitly compared to, albeit not positively) Homer (no, not Simpson). After all, his style of writing could be called "oral storytelling"...

Spanky wouldn't even know who the non-Simpson Homer was.

[SandChigger]

HEY! That just gave me an idea...

We should designate June 30 as Pray For KJA to be Struck by a Bear-Shaped Meteor Day!

Can anyone figure out why?

[Sev]

"Vermilion Hells" comes up only 22 times. Adding another L gets you another 12.

that's the funniest thing I've ever read on this forum ...

I'm not kidding .... Post of the Year doesn't seem honor enough ....

Agreed - proof, as if it was really needed, that these bloody things are not checked, edited, proofed, test read, re-checked, re-edited worth a damn. Funniest thing, as well as the saddest thing.

[aethereon]

"Vermilion Hells" comes up only 22 times. Adding another L gets you another 12.

HEY! That just gave me an idea...

We should designate June 30 as Pray For KJA to be Struck by a Bear-Shaped Meteor Day!

Can anyone figure out why?

Is that a common release date of his books? (google)

[Eyes High]

HEY! That just gave me an idea...

We should designate June 30 as Pray For KJA to be Struck by a Bear-Shaped Meteor Day!

Can anyone figure out why?

Is that a common release date of his books? (google)[/quote]


That's the day after brian's birthday

[SandChigger]

Is that a common release date of his books? (google)

Mmm...nope.

That's the day after brian's birthday

True... but again, nope.

Hint: when I google the date and one more relevant keyword, it's the first hit.

[Nekhrun]

C'mon people, get yer Googles workin'

[Sev]

Tunguska

[SandChigger]

Tunguska

BINGO!!!

Of course, we don't want the Universe to take out whatever city or national park he happens to be in at the time. We're just asking for a smallish, very hard metallic meteor capable of taking out one hack with as little collateral damage as possible. You know, the kind you sometimes hear about falling out of the sky and smashing up the trunk of someone's car, or crashing through a roof somewhere.

[Kojiro]

But didn't the Tunguska object explode in the air? I seem to recall that it never actually reached the ground.

[SandChigger]

Exactly. And it was the shockwave that did the real damage, not an actual impact.

Hence the desire for a small, compact metallic body.

[SandChigger]

There was a post or two about Star Challengers in this thread, so I thought I'd give the Twitter Wars thread a rest for a change!

This just came in this morning; better late than never, huh?

Subject: Challenger Center combines hands-on learning and new science fiction adventures to continue its mission of inspiring young people
Date: August 19, 2010 12:36:54 AM JST

News Release
For immediate release
Carol Pfau
Administrative Assistant
info@challenger.org
Challenger Center for Space Science Education
300 N. Lee Street, Suite 301, Alexandria, VA 22314
1.888.682.9740
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Challenger
Center combines hands-on learning and new science fiction adventures to
continue its mission of inspiring young people as it enters its 25th
School Year
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The
Challenger Center for Space Science Education and international bestselling
authors Rebecca Moesta and Kevin J. Anderson have teamed up to offer the Star
Challengers series of science fiction adventures for young readers, with the
goal of sparking interest in the space program and careers in science and
technology.

The
book in the series will feature Challenger Centers taking young readers to a
moon base, an asteroid probe and a space station. These stories are based on
actual simulations students experience at Challenger Centers worldwide. The
first shipment of books arrived today in St. Louis and were handed out to
Challenger Center board members and directors during the group's international
conference.

"We know that young people want hands-on learning experiences and that
those experiences get them excited about the possibility of a career in
science, technology, engineering and math," said June Scobee Rodgers,
Challenger Center founding chairman. "The combination of active learning at
Challenger Centers and the great stories of the Star Challengers series will be
powerful inspiration to young people all over the country."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

About The Challenger Center for Space Science Education

Using
space exploration as a theme and simulations as a vehicle, Challenger Center
and its international network of 50 Challenger Learning Centers create positive
educational experiences that raise students' expectations of success, fosters a
long-term interest in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and
inspires students to pursue studies and careers in these areas. To learn more,
visit www.challenger.org.
- end -

(I added a blank line between paragraphs, but otherwise the weird line breaks are as in the original. Looks like somebody needs to hire a proofreader. )

[lotek]

I am a proofreader!

but they might get more proofreading than they bargained for as far as I'm concerned...

[D Pope]

If that teaser chapter they put out is any indication, they've got bigger problems than proof reading.

ALL the scientist types I know would've found that crap as offencive as we did, is this place just another profitable 'nonprofit?'

(if you can't guess, one of my pet peeves is charities like the Liberty Fund. Set up to give financial assistance to 9/11 victims, a year after the tragety they couldn't figure out how to get rid of over 600 million but kept taking money till who knows when. and they're just one of many)

[SandChigger]

The problem here is that the Challenger Center has noble, worthwhile goals. It's a shame KJA & Moesta managed to worm their way into the deal.

I'm REALLY curious now about their relationship with the woman in charge of it all.

[Unfront]

What *Bristle* (and various forms thereof) is to the Legends series, Wan Smile is to the House series. The cardboard cutouts in the House series just walked around giving Wan Smiles to each other for three whole books.

I tried reading the Prequels a second time. I thought it would be funny to pick up on some more lame bits and pieces, but I just could not do it. I decided to jump into the latter day saga of Dune and started off with Heretics. I am enjoying the f*ck out of it! Every time I pick that book up (or any other FH book) I just keep finding more and more things in it that I did not pick up on before.


I can enjoy the thought proviking prose of Frank Herbert or I can read stories that basically go like this:"The independent robot boarded a razor sharp ship that bristled with weapons as it sliced through space - spinning around like a carrion bird as it opened fire with its lazer pulse bombs completely obliterating the robot dragon, all while the twisted mentat looks on in sheer delight. A wan smile crossed his face as he sniffed the stench emanating from the broken stink ball...." or whatever the f*ck goes on in those stories.

[SandChigger]

Especially enjoyed the "broken stink ball".

[merkin muffley]

"Wan smile" is a good one.

[SandChigger]

13 hits in 8 books. (It's also used to describe light a lot, too: add about 10 more hits.)

[Unfront]

Yes - each idea from my little rant had appeared in one of the prequel/sequel/inbetwinkle's somewhere. It is like they developed their [his] list of favorite adjgectives. I do not have electronic copies of the material, but I do think I read the phrase "completely obliterated" or some version of it in the books. (Legends or Dune 7)...which is a redundant phrase. To be obliterated is a binary condition, it either is or is not. There is no partialy obliterated, somwhate obliterated, completely obliertated...it is just obliterated.

I do not recal Frank Herberts work using the term "bristle" that much, if at all. It appears that the dynamic duo like lots of guns, lots of un-immaginative destructive fire-power. Dune (the real Dune) is not about spaceships *slicing* through space with epic fighter battles and such. All combate took place in the heart and mind, and if there was actually a shooting engagement, it took place on the land or with air support. Space was used to get from one planet to another - and even then, there was not a lot of planet hopping. Especially not with ships, bristling with weapons all over it.

And yes, stinkballs..... just thought I'd bring that one up. I cannot beleive that lame ass construct found its way into Dune, but it did. Same with the gross out war between the Tleilaxu-whats-his-face and the young ghola baron in Hunters. Did we have to bring these childish irrelevant side stories int THE story? Oh wait, yes, the whole Legends, House, Heroes and Dune 7 series' is one huge completely obliteratable useless side story.....what was I thinking?

[D Pope]

It's not even that Frank didn't think about what 'modern war' would be, he knew people would know violence and atrocity.
Isn't there a list of spacefaring war machines in one of the later books? Teg is thinking about how silly the defences are somewhere and recounts among other things a big sturdy box that's simply dropped on some building, smashing it, then becoming the new HQ. No need to belabor the obvious, all the bullcrap 'action' is implied.
I had an art class once, the instructor was painting a barn and on its solid red wall she made two small black lines. Those two lines made the whole thing look real! They implied boards, vertical siding! Absolutely amazing how that worked, works in art and literature.

[Freakzilla]

It's not even that Frank didn't think about what 'modern war' would be, he knew people would know violence and atrocity.
Isn't there a list of spacefaring war machines in one of the later books? Teg is thinking about how silly the defences are somewhere and recounts among other things a big sturdy box that's simply dropped on some building, smashing it, then becoming the new HQ. No need to belabor the obvious, all the bullcrap 'action' is implied.
I had an art class once, the instructor was painting a barn and on its solid red wall she made two small black lines. Those two lines made the whole thing look real! They implied boards, vertical siding! Absolutely amazing how that worked, works in art and literature.

He had always expected their enemy to hire an occasional lighter from the
Guild for probing raids. That was an ordinary enough gambit in this kind of
House-to-House warfare. Lighters landed and took off on Arrakis regularly to
transport the spice for House Atreides. Hawat had taken precautions against
random raids by false spice lighters. For a full attack they'd expected no more
than ten brigades.
But there were more than two thousand ships down on Arrakis at the last
count--not just lighters, but frigates, scouts, monitors, crushers, troopcarriers,
dump-boxes . . .
~Dune