While waiting for Dune Part 2 I’ve been catching up on Josh Brolin movies. This is a don’t blink movie. There are enough jigsaw pieces to the plot that it takes almost till the end of the movie to put all the pieces back together and it is likely that a few pieces will remain hidden under the table, because well, you blinked.
Plot synopsis: Chinatown meets Big Lebowski. Inherent Vice comes in third.
Definition of Inherent Vice for the curious:
Inherent vice, aka a latent defect, refers to a natural characteristic of goods or property that can cause them to deteriorate, become damaged, or spoil. Insurance companies typically exclude coverage for losses resulting from this inherent quality or defect. Here are some examples where an inherent vice exclusion would apply:
Books: If books deteriorate due to acid in the paper from the manufacturing process.
Film: When film deteriorates over time due to instability of the chemicals it contains.
Food: If food deteriorates due to improper storage temperatures.
Grain: Spontaneous fermentation or combustion of improperly dried grain.
In essence, inherent vice is a hidden flaw or characteristic that makes the item an unacceptable risk for carriers or insurers. It is usually an insurance exclusion for marine policies.
Leonardo, dreamer, artist, and scientist; Cesare Borgia, Cardinal, murderer, duplicitous tyrant; and likely subject of Niccolo Machiavelli’s book: The Prince, were holed up together for three months during the Renaissance winter of 1502-1503 in the five blocks by eight blocks Italian walled garrison town of Imola.
According to Walter Isaacson in his 2017 “Leonardo da Vinci” biography he states that, “While he was in Imola with Machiavelli and Borgia, Leonardo made what may be his greatest contribution to the art of war. It is a map of Imola… It is a work of beauty, innovative style, and military utility…Drawn in ink with colored washes and black chalk… The aerial view is from directly overhead, unlike most maps of the time. On the edges he specified the distances to nearby towns, useful information for military campaigns…”
Cesare Borgia (1475-1507), backed by his father Pope Alexander VI, was on a military campaign to carve out his own personal princedom, by hook, crook or force. He had moved his court to Imola to further plans for his conquest of the area. Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was there because he had signed on as Borgia’s chief military engineer. Leonardo’s task was to reinforce castles and defenses in the region and construct new military machines based on his notebook designs such as his rapid-fire projectile weapon, armored car, helicopter, and giant crossbows; none of which were ever built in his lifetime. Niccolo Machiavelli (1469-1527), was dispatched by the Florentine authorities as a diplomat to discern Borgia’s intentions towards the city and dissuade him, if possible, from attacking Florence.
As an aside, Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900), German philosopher and critic, introduced the concept of Ubermensch: an idealized individual who transcends conventional morality and societal norms. Nietzsche elevated Borgia to this lofty status. Borgia’s daring, ruthlessness, and strategic cunning seemed to align with the philosopher’s ideals of a powerful individual who creates his own fate. Many have split hairs with Nietzsche’s concept of Ubermensch but when one creates his own morality it is hard to distinguish the end result from that of a psychopath.
Shown above is Leonardo’s map of Imola drawn in 1502-03. Public domain.
Shown above right is a Friedrich Nietzsche, circa 1975. Photo by Friedrich Hartmann. Public domain.
“I’ll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition’s flames before I give him up.” – From Chapter 36-The Quarter-Deck of Melville’s Moby Dick. Published 1851.
FootNoteA
“Some know him by his peg leg…Others by the white scar that runs head to toe, the result of an unfortunate encounter witha lightning bolt. Still others by his entourage of harpooner henchmen with names like Fedallah, Daggoo, Tashtego, and Queequeq.
Mostly, readers know him because he’s shorthand for any intense, self-destructive fixation…
He, of course, is Captain Ahab…”
Excerpt from “The 100 Greatest Literary Characters”. By Plath, Sinclair, and Curnutt. 2019.
FootNoteB:
The book also has one of the great opening lines in all of literature: “Call me Ishmael.” The narrator introduces himself to the reader in three words. How simple and straightforward can one get? In a few more lines he sets the stage for how he will tell his story. “With a philosophical flourish Cato throws himself upon his sword: I quietly take to the ship.”
FootNoteA: Illustration of the final chase of Moby-Dick. By I.W. Taber. 1902. In Moby-Dick. Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York. Public Domain.
FootNoteB: Illustration below from an early edition of Moby Dick – 1892. C.H. Simonds Co. Public Domain.
Weather and climate are often confused as being the same, but they are definitely not the same. Weather is what you worry about when you’re planning a trip to the beach or a hike in the mountains. Weather patterns occur for a few days, a few weeks, maybe even for a few years then those patterns dissipate, and everything reverts to the mean. The 1930s, in the plain states of North America, experienced a prolonged drought, hot temperatures, and high winds, putting dirt into everything everywhere. These conditions lasted about a decade then the weather returned to what most would call normal conditions. Exceptionally cold winters show up every 20-40 years, lasting until you finally decide to move to Florida and then they’re over.
The point is that weather events can set temperature and precipitation records for that day or that year but then it all settles down with a retreat from the extremes back to normal conditions. This is not a change in climate, just a change in the weather.
Climate is a long-term event that has a period of at least 30 years and usually a lot longer and the changes tend to last for 100s of years. Climate is something you shouldn’t worry about. It may impact your grandchildren or great grandchildren, but you are going to live out your life in blissful happiness of carping about the rainstorm ruining your tennis game and succulents, but it will not be an end of life as you know it or your life, or your neighbor’s life, just another day riding out the storm. Then it’s gone.
When the climate does change volcanoes seem to have an overwhelming part to play in initiating the change. To cause climate change really big explosive volcanos are needed, not the run of the mill Mt. St. Helens or Mt. Pinatubo variety. They were spectacular for sure, and they did drop the temperatures for a year or two, but they were not climate changing volcanoes. On the Volcanic Explosive Index scaled from 1-8, 8 being an absolute monster, Mt. St. Helen and Mt. Pinatubo were mere kiddies throwing tantrums, only VEI 5 and 6s, respectively. Big but the grownups just smile at their antics.
Climate changing volcanoes need to be rated in the 7 and 8 categories. These VEI 7 and 8 volcanoes eject 100-1000s of cubic kilometers of material into the troposphere and stratosphere affecting climate for 100s or years. One VEI 8 volcano can likely initiate global cooling by itself, but VEI 7 volcanic eruptions will likely need an assist from several smaller volcanic eruptions to affect climate change. There have been no VEI 8 volcanoes in the Holocene and only 4 VEI 7 volcanoes have erupted in the last 10,000 years: Mazama 5700 BC, Kikai 4300 BC, Samala 1257 AD, and Tambora 1815 AD.
Tambora cooled the Earth by about 5.5 degrees Fahrenheit and led to a year without summer in 1816. This year was also referred to as “Eighteen Hundred and Froze to Death” and the “Poverty Year” because of the extreme weather conditions. In New England, for instance, six inches of snow fell in June and every month of the year had a hard frost. These conditions led to hoarding and significant price increases for agricultural commodities, causing many people to go hungry. It is estimated that tens of millions of lives were lost to the volcano, either directly from the explosion or indirectly from starvation due to crop failures and disease. Tambora was a massive volcano but even it by itself was insufficient to cause any lasting climate change. A few years after Tambora or for that matter, Mazama and Kikai, the weather returned to normal. Samala is a different matter and it’s discussed below.
Be happy, don’t worry. Below are some examples of when the climate really did change and luckily for us, we are not due for anything life changing for a few hundred more years.
Pre-Holocene andHolocene Climate Changes:
FootNoteA
The Wisconsin glaciation, North America’s last occurrence of continental glaciers, began between about 100,000 and 75,000 years ago and ended about 11,000 years ago. At its peak, the ice sheets, in places almost 2 miles thick, covered most of Canada, the Upper Midwest, and New England, as well as parts of Idaho, Montana, and Washington. The Cordilleran Ice Sheet, which covered the area between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific coast, had expanded south as far as the state of Washington. The Laurentide Ice Sheet, which covered the eastern four-fifths of the continent, had advanced as far as southeastern South Dakota, northern Iowa, central Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and northern Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The Earth’s tilt is one of the likely contenders for the formation of Wisconsinian glaciers although some speculate it may have been due to a decrease in CO2.
The Last Glacial Maximum, LGM, the greatest extent of the Wisconsinan ice sheets, occurred approximately from 26,000-20,000 years ago. The beginning of the end of the LGM in the northern hemisphere commenced around 20,000-19,000 years ago with the West Antarctica ice sheet starting to decline in size around 15,000-14,000 years ago. The West Antarctica melting of the glaciers led to a rise in the sea levels of approximately fifty feet in three hundred years. The current rate of sea level rise is approximately 14 inches per 100 years. The seas from 14,000-6500 years ago rose 360 feet due to world-wide melting of the Wisconsinian aged glaciers. The melting of glaciers from the LGM is attributed to changes in the Earth’s orbit or more solar energy hitting the northern hemisphere, along with the rise in CO2 which came from the overturning of the deep waters in the Southern Ocean.
FootNoteB
The Younger Dryas period saw a return to glacial conditions approximately 12,900-11,700 years ago. During this time, temperatures fell 7-18 degrees Fahrenheit, with this drop occurring within one hundred years; overnight in geological time. There is no consensus on the cause of this return to glacial conditions but two of the leading contenders are enormous amounts of fresh water from melting glaciers mixing with the sea water causing the ocean currents to slow down, leading to a cooler Europe and North America along with increased Arctic Sea ice. It is also believed that increased fresh water into the seas can also cause warming, so scratch your head and buyer beware. The other possibility is increased volcanic activity.
FootNoteC
The Neoglacial Period occurred about five thousand years ago, around the time of the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period in Egypt and continued until the medieval warm period. During this period glaciers advanced globally. Temperatures were thought to be about 0.5-degree Fahrenheit cooler than today. The 26,000-year Milankovitch cycle is thought to be the cause of cooling. This cycle affects the tilt of the Earth and thus the amount of sunlight reaching the planet’s poles.
The Medieval Warm Period (MWP) or the Medieval Climate Optimum or the Medieval Climatic Anomaly, occurred from approximately 950-1250 AD. It is predominately a Northern Hemispheric event that raised temperatures 3- or 4-degrees Fahrenheit. Europe during this period reported alpine tree lines rising in elevation and increased crop yields. Why MWP occurred is poorly understood and potential causes include increased solar activity and or reduced volcanic activity. This period was followed almost immediately by the Little Ice Age.
The Little Ice Age was a time of regional cooling beginning in the 14th century and continuing into the mid-19th century or 1300-1850. Evidence from glacial advances throughout the world suggests that the cooling did not occur at the same time everywhere. The cooling is estimated to have been 2-3.5 degrees Fahrenheit lower than present temperatures. Various theories have been brought forward for why the temperatures dropped during this period but heightened volcanic activity is the favored cause. On the island of Lombok in Indonesia in 1257 the volcano Samalas erupted with a VEI of 7, making it one of the largest volcanic explosions in the last 10,000 years. Before and after Samala erupted another three smaller volcanic eruptions in 1230, 1276, and 1286 followed suit which likely led to increased cooling due to excessive volcanic material in the troposphere and stratosphere. These smaller eruptions are inferred from other data, but the exact volcanoes are unknown.
The Modern Warm Period followed the Little Ice Age, and the Earth is still in the midst of this climate period.
The United States Air Force commissioned the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory to design and build a series of satellites, known as Lincoln Experimental Satellite (LES), that would test both devices and techniques for satellite communication. The stated goal was to increase the downlink transmission capabilities of small satellites. The development phase of the program ran from 1965 to 1976 but the last satellite developed, LES-9, continued to transmit data for 44 years until it was decommissioned in the year 2020.
FootnoteA
The first satellite the Lincoln Laboratory developed was the LES-1. It was designed to test a solid-state X-band transmitter while in orbit above the Earth. A ground-based mobile receiver was also part of the test package.
The LES-1 was a 26-sided polyhedron, with eighteen square faces and eight triangular faces. Also known as a rhombicuboctahedron, a small rhombicuboctahedron, or an Archimedean solid, if you really must know. It had a diameter of 61 cm (24 inches) and a mass of 31 kg (68 lbs.). The square faces were covered with 2,376 solar cells generating a minimum of 26 W in sunlight. The eight triangular faces held Earth and Sun sensors and eight semi-directional horn antennas.
FootNoteB
The satellite was launched on a Titan 3A rocket which was a modified two-stage Titan 2 ICBM with a third stage added. The rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on 11 February 1965 and the first two stages performed their mission successfully. The third stage after its first burn placed the satellite into its planned 185-kilometer (115 mile) orbit. The second burn of the third stage moved the satellite into a 2,777 by 2806 kilometer (1726 by 1744 miles) slightly elliptical orbit. At this point, the satellite was deployed with a destination of 18,500-kilometer (11495 mile) apogee orbit. Because of a malfunction the smaller attached satellite rocket didn’t fire, and the satellite remained in its 2,777-kilometer orbit. Despite this failure, the project was still able to collect some useful data, but the satellite was spinning out of control making continued operations difficult. The LES 1 was shut down in 1967.
On 18 December 2012, the satellite woke up after 46 years of silence. A signal from LES 1 was detected in North Cornwall, England by an amateur radio operator. It is believed that a short developed in the satellite which allowed its power system to reach the transmitter directly. The signal being transmitted is believed to be a test tone but because the satellite is tumbling it sounds ghostly and garbled.
As of 2022 the satellite is still transmitting. It is now referred to as a zombie satellite.
“At the end of the day, I’m fighting for the things I said I’d fight for.” – Ron DeSantis
Courage to Be Free is the Florida governor’s biography with a good measure of politics, vision and American government thrown in. It’s a simple read from someone selling himself as an authentic American and an honest and ethical broker who supports the citizens through good government.
Ron Desantis was born in Jacksonville, Florida in 1978, married Casey Black in 2009, and has three children, two girls and a boy. He attended Yale and graduated in 2001 with a B.A. A year later he entered Harvard and graduated with a law degree in 2005. During law school he was commissioned as an officer in the U.S. Navy. In 2007 he was assigned as a legal advisor to SEAL Team One in Fallujah, Iraq where he was awarded the Bronze Star.
In 2012 he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and was re-elected in 2014 and 2016. DeSantis decided not to run for re-election to the House for the 2018 term but instead competed for the Florida governorship which he won. He won re-election in 2022 and as he is term limited by Florida law will not seek that office in 2024. Since he has dropped out of the Presidential race what he does next is an open question.
The first half of Desantis’ book is dedicated to his biography followed by his vision of government and national policy. He draws heavily on the expository essays and articles within the Federalist Papers and their vision for a constitutional republic. The authors of the Federalist Papers, Madison, Hamilton, and Jay argue strenuously for a republican form of government and against direct democracy which one could paraphrase in slang terms as mob rule. DeSantis agrees.
His political philosophy is simple in principle, excoriatingly difficult in execution. Encapsulating his thoughts he states, “The right path forward is not difficult to identify; it just requires using basic common sense and applying core American values…” He follows this up with his blueprint for Florida and America: “Be willing to lead, have the courage of your convictions, deliver for your constituents, and reap the political rewards.” Reaping the political rewards sounds like every politician that has ever walked the face of this Earth and I don’t recognize that as a positive trait.
Literary Criticism:
Courage to Be Free was a number one bestseller in the New York Times, Wallstreet Journal, Amazon, and Publisher’s Weekly shortly after it was released in 2023. Although sales figures are almost impossible to find, for free, the book had an initial print run of 250,000. There hasn’t been a second printing.
Hagiographies are one sided affairs with nary a discouraging word to be found, with sainthood lurking right around the corner. DeSantis autobiography is a hagiography but in fairness one doesn’t provide his opposition with free negative research when your goal is to introduce yourself to the public.
This book had only one purpose, to launch DeSantis into the 2024 presidential Republican primary in the best possible light and as a bonus, get your targeted audience to pay for it by purchasing the book. It admirably accomplishes the task, but it certainly is not a literary masterpiece, rather it reads like a college term paper completed under duress. Simple, direct, with no flowery prose or memorable lines. If you want to learn something about this man, give it perusal, a quick read is all it needs and watch one or two of his Republican primary debates for additional elucidation.
The only reason I read this book was because of the title: The Courage to Be Free. It reminded me of the title of John F. Kennedy’s Profiles in Courage. Kennedy’s book employs a better writing style but that is because Kennedy didn’t author his book. In a previous post I stated who did and I’ll leave it to you to look it up if you are curious. In the end both are about embellishing their respective reputations. Mission accomplished.
The northern great plains of the U.S. experienced an exceptionally mild 2023-2024 winter, about 10 degrees Fahrenheit above normal, due to the onset of a strong El Nino event, now called a Super El Nino by some. As is shown below, this categorization as super is overstated. Hyperbole by the press is a bad habit they just can’t seem to break.
National Geographic defines an El Nino, along with its sister event, La Nina as, “…a climate pattern that describes the unusual warming of surface waters in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. El Nino is the “warm phase” of a larger phenomenon called the El Nino-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). La Nina, the “cool phase” of ENSO, is a pattern that describes the unusual cooling of the region’s surface waters. El Nino and La Nina (EN) are considered the ocean part of ENSO, while the Southern Oscillation (SO) is its atmospheric changes.”
El Nino events last from 9-12 months on average with a rare occurrence lasting up to 18 months. La Nina events can endure for longer periods than El Ninos with some lasting up to 24 months. Both weather events reoccur every 2-7 years for reasons unknown but may be, and this is stretch on my part, related to polar and core wobbles. Earth’s axis experiences two discrete periodic oscillations; the 14 month Chandler Wobble and a 12 month wobble. These two wobbles cause the poles to trace a spiral path over about 6.5 years. Earth’s inner core mysteriously wobbles with a periodicity of approximately 8.5 years. The combination of these wobbles may help explain the peridicity of ENSO weather events.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration states: “El Nino usually causes increased rainfall and sometimes destructive flooding. La Nina, however, usually causes drier weather in the South, but the Northwest tends to be colder and wetter than average. Even though El Nino occurs in the Pacific Ocean, it often reduces the number of hurricanes that form in the Atlantic Ocean. Conversely, La Nina events tend to be related to an increase in the number of Atlantic hurricanes.”
Hurricanes in the Atlantic Basin occur less often, supposedly, during El Nino than La Nina. This is because there is less vertical wind shear in the troposphere during a La Nina than an El Nino. Wind shear tears hurricanes apart while the lack of wind shear allows hurricanes to form and intensify. Wind shear in the troposphere develops due to pressure gradients which in turn are caused by temperature contrasts between the ocean surface and high-altitude tropospheric air. During El Nino warm ocean surface waters create a greater contrast with the high-altitude cool troposphere air than the cooler La Nina ocean surface waters do. Wind shear lessens when the temperature contrast decreases between the ocean surface and higher altitudes. When ocean temperatures are higher, wind shear is greater resulting in fewer hurricanes. With lower ocean temperatures, wind shear is less resulting in more hurricanes.
This is the theory, whereas actual hurricanes making landfall appear to increase in numbers after weak to moderate El Ninos rather than strong ones. There doesn’t appear to be any correlation between strong El Ninos and increases in hurricanes making landfall during the subsequent La Nina events.
This year’s El Nino was driven by a larger than normal spike in Pacific Ocean temperatures that were about 0.5-degree Fahrenheit above 2022 temperatures. This is considered an exceptionally large increase. This has led to warmer, dryer winters in the upper mid-western states of the U.S. along with greater precipitation in the western U.S.
The graph below, from NOAA Climate.gov, shows the change in average winter temperatures during strong El Ninos since 1950. In northeastern North Dakota during the 2023-2024 winter, from the months December to February, temperatures are about 10 degrees warmer on average than the previous year’s winter temperatures. This increase is similar to what was experienced in the 1997-1998 El Nino.
The graph below, again from NOAA Climate.gov, shows winter precipitation during strong El Ninos since 1950. In Long Beach, California the 1997-1998 winter brought 17.77 inches of rain whereas the winter of 2023-2024 has already brought 13.88 inches of rain with 19 days left in the month of February to add to that total. This year’s winter precipitation in Long Beach should be similar to what occurred in the 1997-1998 winter season.
The winter that is occurring in northeastern North Dakota is like what happened temperature-wise 26 years ago during the 1997-1998 winter. Similarly, in Long Beach California the El Nino induced precipitation is likely to be about the same as the totals for this same El Nino event.
In conclusion the strong El Nino of 2022-2023 is a carbon copy of the strong El Nino that occurred 26 years ago during the winter of 1997-1998. The end of 1997-1998 El Nino was followed by seven hurricanes making landfall during the 1999 season suggesting the 2024 season should see about the same number of hurricanes making landfall.
“Marjosse is my secret garden. It gives me energy. It is important for me to have this place and share it.” – Pierre Lurton.
This is a medium-bodied, deep-reddish purple Bordeaux with scents of plums and blackberries. It is a merlot heavy blend with secondary amounts of cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc and malbec. This is a outstanding wine at a good price.
Chateau Marjosse is a right bank Bordeaux vineyard in the Entre Deux Mers appellation, owned and operated by Pierre Lurton. The vineyard is just under 124 acres, planted mostly in merlot. Smaller portions of cabernet franc, cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc, semillon, chardonnay, old vine malbec and muscadelle. For the red wine, the planted varieties of grape are 80% merlot, 10% cabernet sauvignon, 10% cabernet franc, and a smidgen of malbec. There are three main soil types: sand and red clay, sand and white clay, and limestone. The vines are planted on sloping hillsides, rising almost one thousand feet above sea level. (The above quote is from The Wine Independent article published in February 2023.)
Vincent Di Fate, born 1945 in Yonkers, is a New Yorker and American artist known for his depictions of science fiction, fantasy, and realistic space art. He has an MA from Syracuse University.
People Magazine noted the Di Fate is, “one of the top illustrators of science fiction…” His specialty is imaging technologies and environments in the nether regions of space and the universe. His clients include NASA, IBM, Scientific American, and The National Geographic Society. James Lizowski, Omni Magazine critic, noted that Di Fate, “combines the skills of a masterful painter with the fierce demand of an uncompromising artist to create visions of the future that are precise, powerful, and dazzling to the eye“.
His numerous awards include the: Hugo, Sklark, Lensman, Chesley, and Rondo Awards, among others for illustration of science fiction and fantasy subjects. He was inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 2011 and the Illustrator’s Hall of Fame in 2019. He has consulted for MCA/Universal, 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, MGM/United Artists.
Di Fate has also written three books and is currently working on his fourth. His second book Infinite Worlds was the first comprehensive history of science fiction art in America. Listed below are some of the books of fiction he has illustrated. Additionally, he has illustrated hundreds of sci-fi and fantasy book covers in his four decades as an artist.
Di Fate Book Illustrations (Partial):
2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke
Prelude to Foundation by Isaac Asimov
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester
The Fabulous Riverboat by Philip José Farmer
The Dark Design by Philip José Farmer
The Magic Labyrinth by Philip José Farmer
The World of Null-A by A.E. van Vogt
Rules of Engagement by Elizabeth Moon
The Time Traders by Andre Norton
The Godmakers by Frank Herbert
Di Fate Bibliography:
Di Fate’s Catalog of Science Fiction Hardware 1980
Infinite Worlds: The Fantastic Visions of Science Fiction Art 1997
The Science Fiction Art of Vincent Di Fate 2002
Clement Biography:
“Human beings are prone to believe the things they wish were true.” – Hal Clement
Hal Clement, born in 1922, in Massachusetts, passing away in 2003, was an American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre. Hard science, as it was defined in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller, is characterized by scientific accuracy and logic. Hard science fiction is strongly rooted to known physical laws in the natural universe. In an interview with “The Science Fiction Radio Show” in the early 1980s Clement said that he had “…trouble writing something unless, I can, more or less convince myself it might happen.” In the old days before computers, he was known to whip out his slide rule and run through the calculations to make sure his stories passed the law of physics test.
FootNoteB
Clement received a degree in astronomy from Harvard University in 1943, an M.Ed. from Boston University in 1946, and eventually an M.S. in chemistry from Simmons College in 1963. He was a B-24 Liberator, a heavy bomber, pilot during WWII, flying combat missions over Europe, finishing his Air Force career after the war in the Air Force Reserve, retiring as a colonel. He taught astronomy and chemistry at the high school level in Massachusetts.
Clement while working towards his B.S. at Harvard wrote and published his first piece of science fiction, a short story called “Proof“. The story first appeared in a 1942 issue of Astounding Science edited by his mentor John W. Campbell. Campbell was known as the leader of the hard science wing of the science fiction genre which Clement admits affected his writing standards. Clement’s first three novels were Astounding Science serials under Campbell: Needle in 1950, Iceworld in 1953, and Mission of Gravity, his best-known novel, in 1954. Clement followed up Needle and Mission of Gravity with the sequels: Through the Eye of a Needle in 1978 and Star Light in 1971, respectively. He also wrote two additional short story sequels for Mission of Gravity: Lecture Demonstration in 1973 and Under in 2000.
In addition to his writing, Clement also painted astronomically oriented artworks under the name George Richard. In 1998, he was inducted into the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame and was named the 17th SFWA Grand Master by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 1999.
Hal Clement wrote over 120 novels, novellas, short stories, and collections. Below is a listing of just his novels.
Clement Bibliography (Novels Only, Shorter Fiction not Listed):
Needle 1950
Iceworld 1953
Mission of Gravity 1954
The Ranger Boys in Space 1956
Cycle of Fire 1957
Close to Critical 1958
Natives of Space 1965
Star Light 1971
Left of Africa 1976
Through the Eye of a Needle 1978
The Nitrogen Fix 1980
Intuit 1987
Still River 1987
Fossil 1993
Half Life 1999
The Essential Hal Clement, Volume 1: Trio for Slide Rule and Typewriter 2007
The Essential Hal Clement, Volume 3: Variations on a Theme by Sir Isaac Newton 2007
Heavy Planet 2002
Noise 2003
Hal Clement SF Gateway Omnibus 2014
Mission of Gravity:
Mission of Gravity was first published in serialized form in The Astounding Science Fiction Anthology of 1953 with the hardcover coming out in 1954 followed by the paperback in 1958.
The story takes place on the planet Mesklin, an object thought to be in the 61 Cygni system, eleven light years from Earth. Mesklin is a super-giant bowl-shaped planet, flattened at the poles, an oblate spheroid, with an extreme rotation that allows for 18-minute days or approximately 9 minutes of daylight. The high spin rate creates gravity that equals about 3g at the equator and 700g at the poles. Clement eventually re-calculated the gravity over the planet and changed the polar regions to 200g. For comparison purposes the Sun has a gravity of 28g or 28 times that of Earth.
Earth has sent a probe to Mesklin to study its extreme gravity and other matters of value, but it became stranded in the high gravity areas of a pole ruling out a rescue by a human team. Earth wants to recover the probe at all costs to learn what secrets it contains.
The planet is populated by an intelligent species of centipedes that come in assorted sizes, but the ones be-friended by the Earth visitors are about three feet long. An Earth spacemen, Charles Lackland travels to the equator of the planet where he can just manage the 3g environment and meets Barlennan a captain of a sailing raft named the Bree. The Bree and its crew are on a trading voyage in the equatorial areas making a profit by bartering goods from isolated populations all over the planet. After Barlennan learns English, a deal is arranged for him and his crew to retrieve the probe at the poles and return it to the equator where the humans can pick it up. So begins the centipedes’ journey to the pole.
Literary Criticism:
As with all science fiction, Mission of Gravity suffers from futuristic technology that outdates itself in a few years. A quaint process in mapping the surface of Mesklin involves taking a series of high altitude photographs, displaying them of photo paper and trying to put them all together like a giant jig-saw puzzle. No GPS coordinates, no digital, just 1950 Earth tech and methodology. Leaving that aside though, the story is well worth reading. The science as presented is sound, mostly, the story telling and plot is a page turner, and the characterization of the alien’s life-forms is plausible and interesting. It will be worth your time and at 223 pages a quick read.
Lime and limpid green, a second scene A fight between the blue you once knew Floating down, the sound resounds Around the icy waters underground
Pink Floyd – Astronomy Domine: Written by Syd Barrett – Piper at the Gates of Dawn – 1967
“Astronomy Domine“, a Latin phrase meaning “An Astral Chant to the Lord” leads off Pink Floyd’s debut album: “Piper at the Gates of Dawn” containing the rhyming cadence of nonsense some of which are noted above. Many have attributed these lyrics to a psychedelic experience induced by LSD, but others say nay–you decide. Leaving that aside, Syd Barrett in 1968 was thrown out of the band that he helped create, reportedly due to his excessive use of psychedelics and mental illness, cause, and effect some would say. Barrett’s family denied that he was mentally ill only that he was occupying a point on the autism spectrum. Roger Waters, Floyd bassist, the world’s best-known antisemite and Red Chinese apologist, said Barrett was schizophrenic. David Gilmour, the band’s guitarist, believed that LSD may not have been the root cause of Barrett’s aberrant behavior but it likely was the catalyst. Barrett died in 2006 at the age of sixty, a painter, a gardener, a recluse.
MKUltra, as I discussed in a previous post concerning Ken Kesey’s novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest“, was a covert CIA designed, funded, and operated psy-op to brainwash and mentally torture subjects with the aim of controlling human behavior. The CIA used drugs, such as LSD, electroshocks, hypnosis, sensory deprivation, isolation, verbal abuse, sexual abuse, radiation, and other sadistic depravities to achieve their objectives. The operation officially ran from 1953 to 1963 or 1973 depending on source, but there is speculation that it continued well beyond the previously mentioned dates. Allegedly, all CIA documents related to MKUltra were destroyed in 1973 by the order of CIA Director Richard Helms. The operation was revealed to the public by the U.S. Senate Church Committee in 1975 with additional information coming from the Rockerfeller and Pike Committees run from the Senate and House of Representatives, respectively. The program consisted of 162 projects at 86 institutions including colleges, mental hospitals, prisons, and drug companies and employed at least 185 “researchers”. MKUltra was unethical and illegal, causing widespread human destruction and death among the thousands of unknowing subjects with little or no known repercussions or consequences for the instigators or managers of the program.
It is estimated that at least a thousand, likely more, a lot more, prostitutes’ and their clients, enlisted military, CIA and other government employees, drug company employees, terminal cancer patients, prisoners, college and university students, and the vulnerable were selected, some voluntarily, some not, for the experiments which frequently did not end well. Over 1100 soldiers in the U.S. Army alone were administered LSD; with some of their stories discussed below.
Using government-employed prostitutes, read that opening phrase again, unsuspecting men were lured to CIA safe houses where they were drugged with LSD and observed. George Hunter White, the federal agent in charge of this sub-program of MKUltra, known as Midnight Climax, is quoted as saying in a letter to the head of the program, Sidney Gottlieb, that his work was, “…fun, fun, fun…Where else could a red-blooded American boy lie, kill, cheat, steal, rape, and pillage with the sanction and blessing of the All-Highest? High morals and ethics were not a requirement for employment at the CIA.
The agency also targeted individuals who were considered enemies of or threats to the government, including foreign agents and dissidents. The subjects were detained and coerced into participating in the experiments. Robert Kennedy’s assassin Sirhan Sirhan’s lawyer discussed in open court that his client may have been the subject of a MKUltra experiment but offered no evidence as proof.
The CIA experimented on their own employees, military personnel, and other government workers without their consent or knowledge. Frank Olson, a CIA scientist, was murdered because of his concerns over the program.
Some individuals were aware that they were participating in MKUltra experiments and consented to be part of the research such as Ken Kelsey mentioned above. These volunteers often included military personnel, government employees, and civilians who were recruited for specific studies. The late 50s early 60s crowd of bohemians and hippies were full of willing participants to experiment with LSD. No coercion needed.
As a outgrowth of Nazi war crimes during WWII, the Nuremberg Code was established in 1947 and is still considered a fundamental document in the ethics of medical research. The Nuremberg Code was only six years before the onset of the MKUltra experiments.
Below is a compilation of some of the more notorious, famous, and not-so-famous subjects of MKUltra that are in the public records.
Harold Blauer, a minor talent in the professional tennis circuit during the 1930s, managed to reach the “Round of 16” in the U.S. Professional Tennis Tournament at Forest Hills in 1935 but lost to the eventual winner, Bill Tilden. Later in life, due to symptoms of depression, Blauer checked into the New York State Psychiatric Institute in 1952, where he was diagnosed as a “pseudo-neurotic schizophrenic” which in modern terms is called “borderline personality disorder”. The doctors believed his condition was improving and scheduled him for release from the institute. Inexplicably the doctors began injecting Blauer with a derivative of mescaline, MDA, a psychedelic compound like LSD and psilocybin and a close cousin of MDMA, better known in the night clubs as Ecstasy. The drug was developed by the German company Merck in 1912. One month after checking into the Institute Blauer was dead. The treating doctors were treating him under a classified agreement with the U.S. Army Chemical Corps, a front for the CIA’s MKUltra project. The doctors have stated that they did not know what they were injecting into Blauer. The CIA’s front man at the Institute was Dr. Paul Hoch. Hoch later became head of mental hygiene in New York and a professor at Columbia University. In 1975 the government admitted to Blauer’s family that the mescaline derivative injections caused his death. In 1987, the government, after being sued for Blauer’s death paid out $700,000 to his family.
Whitey Bulger was a crime boss heading up the Winter Hill Gang in Somerville, Massachusetts, a suburb of Boston and an FBI informant snitching on the Patriarca crime family. Prior to his criminal career in Boston, he was arrested for robbing a bank in Rhode Island. He was incarcerated in an Atlanta Federal prison for this crime in 1956, becoming an inmate participant of MKUltra in return for a lighter sentence. He was told the experiment was focused on finding a cure for schizophrenia. While in prison he was given large doses of LSD almost every day for 15 months. He claims that his violent tendencies in later life were due to the drug. Even though he was a protected informant for the FBI he was finally apprehended in California in 2011 and sentenced to two consecutive life terms in 2013. He was premeditatively murdered within 7 minutes of arrival at the high security Hazelton Prison in West Virgina in 2018. Who ordered his murder remains unknown.
Allen Ginsberg, who died in 1997, was an American poet, writer, and core member of the Beat Generation best known for his 1956 poem of lament “Howl“, a literary reaction to a bad peyote trip. Ginsberg became a volunteer in the MKUltra in the 1950s, but it is not exactly clear whether he was fully informed of the nature or purpose of the LSD experiments. After discovering that the experiments were a CIA operation he wrote, “Am I, Allen Ginsberg, the product of one the CIA’s lamentable, ill-advised, or triumphantly successful experiments in mind control?” A dual head scratcher of a question framed by a poet.
FootnoteC
Robert Hunter was the lyricist for the Grateful Dead, joining the band in 1967 but never playing on stage, who went on to write many of the band’s most memorable songs including: “Ripple“, “Truckin“, and “Terrapin Station“. He also participated, and was paid, in MKUltra experiments with LSD, psilocybin, and mescaline at Stanford University. He reported that his experiences were creatively formative for him. He went to sing the praises of LSD throughout the land. “Black Peter“, “Dark Star“, and “China Cat Sunflower” were all songs that he wrote while under the influence of LSD. He died in 2019 at the age of 78 in California.
Dr. Robert Hyde is credited with being the first American to take LSD. The doctor was a psychiatrist at Boston Psychopathic Hospital, where he was persuaded by the Viennese doctor, Otto Kauders, to try and prescribe LSD to treat schizophrenia in his patients. In 1949 Hyde obtained LSD from Sandoz Chemicals, the company where LSD was discovered in 1938. After taking the drug he didn’t experience any psychosis, but his colleagues found his behavior strange. Hyde went on to accept CIA funding to test LSD on one hundred patients. This was the first of many LSD experiment in the U.S. Robert Hyde continued his experiments on unwitting patients at the CIA’s center in Rhode Island and later at the Vermont State Hospital. It was never clear whether Dr. Hyde fully understood the purposes of MKUltra.
Candy Jones, an American model, and radio host claimed that she was hypnotized and brainwashed by an MKUltra agent in 1960 who later employed her as a courier and spy. She claimed the experiments on her resulted in her having a split personality. Jones also claimed that Dr. Gilbert Jensen was her CIA handler who hypnotized her and drugged her to bring forward a secondary personality named Arlene. This secondary personality was supposedly used for various covert missions. She claimed that the CIA trained her in every aspect of covert action, including explosives, close combat with improvised weaponry, disguise, and communications. Her experience is speculative and has never been proven but it is a great plot which was used in the 2010 movie Salt. Angelina Jolie as Evelyn Salt plays a double-agent who is mind-controlled by remnants of the former USSR secret service.
Ted Kaczynski was an American mathematician and domestic terrorist better known as the Unabomber. While earning his undergraduate degree at Harvard he volunteered, in 1959, for a psychological study run by Dr. Henry Murray, a CIA employee working on the MKUltra project. Kaczynski, in the study was subjected to intense interrogation that were, in his own words, “vehement, sweeping, and personally abusive.” The aim was to psychologically break the subject and explore the effects of severe stress on the human psyche. He later became a recluse, living in the backwoods of Montana, and a long-distance murderer, mailing bombs to people who advocated for modern technology, injuring twenty-three and killing three. From his cabin in Montana, he developed a nihilistic, anti-capitalist, anti-technology political philosophy, writing a manifesto that opposed industrialization and rejected modern left-wing politics. After an intense manhunt he was captured in 1996 and died in prison in 2023. As a post-script, Timothy Leary began his research, in 1960, on psychedelics while at Harvard. While there is no evidence that Leary knew or ever met Kaczynski at Harvard, it has been said that Dr. Murray supervised Leary’s research into psychedelics.
Ruth Kelly a singer and waitress at the Black Sheep Bar in San Francisco, was unknowingly given LSD before performing on stage by George H. White, a veteran of the US Bureau of Narcotics or one of his men. White found Kelley attractive but uninterested and resistant to his advances. She was able to finish her set but rushed off to the hospital immediately afterward and wasn’t released until the effects of the LSD wore off. White headed up a part of the MKULTRA program called Operation Midnight Climax, a program that used prostitutes who gave their clients LSD, all the while agents behind one-way mirrors observed the effects of the drug. A CIA investigator later wrote that “The LSD definitely took some effect during her act.” White claimed he was trying to recruit Kelly for Operation Midnight Climax, which may have been true, but he may have had other motives. What became of Ms. Kelly after her run in with White is lost to the streets of San Francisco.
Ken Kesey was an American novelist who wrote “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest“. After finishing college at the University of Oregon he moved to California and enrolled in Stanford to study creative writing from 1958 to 1961 while simultaneously settling into the counterculture lifestyle gripping the area and the nation. In 1959 he volunteered for the CIA’s LSD mind experiments being run under the code name MKUltra. These experiments were conducted at a VA hospital in Menlo Park, just northwest of Stanford. At the same time in 1959 he accepted a position as an attendant in the hospital’s psych ward, working there while tripping on LSD. He began writing “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” in 1959 or 60 (various sources give different dates).
FootnoteD
Charles Manson was a pimp, arsonist, thief, rapist, murder, and leader of the San Francisco Manson Family religious cult. He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1934 to Kathleen Maddox, a 15- or 16-year-old prostitute and alcoholic. Manson took the last name of his mother’s first husband. Manson spent much of his teen years in juvenile reformatories and prison for theft and robbery. He was first sent to juvenile detention in 1947 which he promptly ran away from. From 1947 till 1967 Manson was sent to various prisons on various charges, eventually, at the age of thirty-two he was given his freedom. He had by that time spent sixteen years of his life behind bars. In prison he studied Scientology and continued with the practice for a brief period while he was in Los Angles after his release from prison. In 1967 he moved to San Francisco, collected a group of followers from the local street bohemians, and proclaimed himself a god. This group, known as Manson’s Family, was a communal religious cult who worshiped Manson and his teachings. In 1969, the Family carried out several notorious murders on Manson’s orders, including that of actress Sharon Tate, Roman Polanski’s wife. Manson was convicted of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in 1971. Manson died in prison in 2017 at the age of eighty-three, spending 62 years of his life locked up. If you discount his first 13 years of life, Manson was only a free man for 8 years in which he spent his non-incarcerated time almost entirely as a criminal and a con man. Whether Manson was part of the MKUltra experiments has always been highly controversial with little corroborating evidence to link him to the CIA experiments. Author Tom O’Neill explored the possibility but concluded that the theory was “far-out”, but he authored a book about it anyway. Some also insist that Manson and his followers were heavily into LSD which they obtained from the San Francisco Free Clinic, reportedly sourced through CIA connections. Manson was a troubled kid and thoroughly wacked-out street smart adult who had the ability to connect and schmooze with anyone. It is unlikely that the CIA could have made Manson any crazier than he already was.
Linda McDonald, a 25-year-old mother, was admitted to the Allan Memorial Institute in Montreal, Canada in 1963 for fatigue and depression, known today as post-natal depression, after the birth of her fifth child in five years. After 3 weeks of uneventful and normal evaluations, Ewen Cameron, a famous doctor with impecable credentials diagnosed Linda as a paranoid schizophrenic or possible manic depressive, better known today as bipolar disorder. Her husband was told that she would be institutionalized for the rest of her life if he didn’t agree to his “deep sleep” treatment, but Linda was not informed of the treatment plan, nor did she give her consent. Within a month she was comatose and subsequently spent 73 or 86 days in a barbiturate infused sleep. She was also subjected to 102 or 109 high doses of electroconvulsive treatments along with repetitious “depatterning” phrases continually playing under her pillow as she slept. At the end of the treatment her mind had been totally wiped clean, and to this day she remembers nothing of her life before leaving the clinic. She had been turned into an infant to the point her husband had to potty train her. When considering her yearly age, she starts from the day she left the clinic, her first 26 years do not exist to her. She tried to commit suicide twice the first two years away from the clinic. Ewen Cameron was a friend of Allen Dulles, head of the CIA, and his “Sleep Room” experiments were part of MKUltra. Fifty-five Canadian families are suing the government and the hospitals involved in MKUltra for monetary damages. The lawsuit was first filed in 2019 and continues to this day.
Frank Olson was an American bacteriologist and a biological warfare scientist who worked for the United States Army Biological Warfare Laboratories, and was an employee of the CIA. Olson was one of the few who knew the true nature of MKUltra and was against the project’s human experiment protocols. In a 1953 meeting in rural Maryland, during the early days of MKUltra, Olson was secretly dosed with LSD by his colleague and superior Sidney Gottlieb, head of the MKUltra program. Olson had a severe and traumatic reaction to the drug which continued for days. Nine days after being dosed, Olson plunged to his death from the window of the Hotel Statler in New York. The U.S. government first described his death as a suicide, and then as misadventure, while others alleged murder. In 1975 it was learned from the Rockefeller Commission that Olson was dosed with LSD without his knowledge. His family threatened to sue, and the government eventually agreed to a $750,000 settlement and an apology from President Gerald Ford. In 1994 Olson’s son had his father’s body exhumed to be buried next to his mother. The family after exhumation had a second autopsy performed. The team that examined the body concluded that Frank Olson was murdered before being thrown out of the hotel window. The CIA’s manual of assassination says the most efficient “accident”, in a simple assassination is a fall from seventy-five feet or more onto a solid surface. Frank Olson stayed on the 13th floor of the Hotel staler, approximately 130 feet above the surface. It is believed that Allen Dulles and Richard Helms were directly involved in Frank Olson’s death.
Wayne Ritchie, deputy US marshal, veteran of the Marine Corps, claims that he was unknowingly dosed while at a holiday party with other federal officers in December 1957. In a sworn deposition given as part of the lawsuit Ritchie later filed, Ira Feldman, a CIA agent involved in the MKUltra program, nonchalantly explained the manner in which he observed the people he had secretly drugged with LSD: “You just sit back away and let them worry, like this nitwit, Ritchie,” he said, acknowledging that Ritchie’s dosage was “a full head”. He said Ritchie was dosed because he “deserved to suffer.” Shortly after being exposed to LSD, Ritchie armed himself with his government-issued service revolvers and attempted to rob a bar in the Fillmore District. During the robbery attempt, he was knocked out by another customer, and arrested by police a brief time later. He pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery and was sentenced to five years of probation and a fine of $500. 40 years after the incident, Ritchie learned of the CIA’s MKULtra program that covertly drugged people in the San Francisco area with LSD. He filed suit, which was dismissed, but the court acknowledged that it was quite possible that the CIA drugged Ritchie.
Jimmy Shaver, an airman at the Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, with no previous criminal record, was accused of the rape and murder of a 3-year-old girl, Chere Jo Horton on the night of 4 July 1954. When Shaver was found he was shirtless, covered in blood, and in a “trance-like” state. He was arrested and interrogated, during which he didn’t recognize his wife and insisted that another man was responsible, claiming to have lost all memory of the incident. Eventually, Shaver signed a statement taking full responsibility, saying the evidence was overwhelming and that he must have committed the heinous crime. Shaver 4 years later was executed on his 33rd birthday for the rape and murder of Chere Jo Horton. In 2019 it was revealed that Shaver was unknowingly used by MKUltra as one of its subjects in mind control.
James Stanley joined the U.S. Army when he was 15 years old and by the time he was twenty he had been promoted to master sergeant which in these modern times takes about 20 years for a private to get promoted to MSG. To say he had a promising career in the Army ahead of him would be an understatement. Then he volunteered to test gas masks in 1958 at Edgewood Arsenal, a chemical weapons facility. While testing the masks the drinking water provided to him was secretly laced with LSD. It has been speculated that the testing of gas masks was a ruse while observing his reaction to LSD the real purpose of the experiment. Stanley began experiencing significant negative effects after being given the LSD. He suffered from hallucinations, memory loss, incoherence, and a personality change. He had spells of uncontrolled violence that destroyed his family and likely impacted his career as a soldier. He left the Army in 1969 and his marriage was dissolved one year later. The testing he was subjected to was done under the MKUltra project. He did not learn that he was exposed to LSD until 1975, when the Army followed up on the experiment by contacting him. He then realized that his odd behavior and feelings of confusion were the result of chemical testing that he had not agreed to. He sued the Army for the testing but lost his case. According to the Supreme Court, it didn’t matter whether his allegations were true. He lacked standing to sue because military personnel can’t sue the government or their superiors for damages, no matter how severe or even unconstitutional they may be. Dissenting Justices Brennan and Marshall write, “…it is important to place the Government’s conduct in historical context. The medical trials at Nuremberg in 1947 deeply impressed upon the world that experimentation with unknowing human subjects is morally and legally unacceptable. The United States Military Tribunal established the Nuremberg Code as a standard against which to judge German scientists who experimented with human subjects. Its first principle was: “The voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential.” In 1994, Congress passed a private claims bill to remedy the CIA’s wrongful treatment of Stanley. In 1996, an arbitration panel awarded Stanley $400,577, which was the maximum amount allowed under the bill, after a 2-1 vote. There is no public record of who the people on the arbitration panel were.
On 22 January 2024 the FDA (the Food and Drug Agency) finalized new rules relaxing the need for informed consent when experimenting on human subjects with drugs.
Church Report. By Church Committee. US Congress. 1976
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