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heinleinblog has moved to http://heinleinblog.blogpeoria.com. Adjust your blogroll accordingly. Thank you.

Via the Heinlein Society:

The Heinlein Society (www.heinleinsociety.org) announced today that its panel of judges for the Robert A. Heinlein Award for outstanding published work in hard science fiction or technical writings inspiring the human exploration of space has chosen Mr. Larry Niven and Dr. Jerry Pournelle to be the 2005 recipients.

"Violence never solves anything." -- Virtually every peacenik and protestor who carries a sign in protest of the War on Terror.

"Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms." -- Robert A. Heinlein.

It is with these words that I announce the following: I am shutting down heinleinblog. As was the case with my involvement with the Heinlein Society, I simply do not have time to give this blog the attention it deserves. But these posts -- which have grown so infrequent as to classify this blog as defunct -- will be moved to my man blog, Peoria Pundit. Soon, I'll erase the posts from the server and leave up a static page noting the move. I plan to move the entire site to a new hosting company within the month, so it was time to make the move, anyway.

If the private SpaceShipOne project reminds you of one or more Heinlein novels, you are not alone:

Doug Roberts, 58, of Burien, was one of the first to arrive in his camper early yesterday morning. "I read 'Rocket Ship Galileo' when I was 10 years old, so I've been waiting for this for years," he said. The book by Robert Heinlein told of some high-school graduates who built a rocket ship in the desert. It's the book that got Allen hooked on science fiction. If today's flight is successful, SpaceShipOne is later expected to contend for the $10 million Ansari X Prize, a competition to launch three people into suborbital space, bring them back safely and do it again within two weeks using the same vehicle. Several private groups are in contention for the prize.

Oddly enough, Rocket Ship Galileo is the only Heinlein novel I haven't read. I haven't been able to find it, new or used.

Another newspaper invokes Heinlein

• Green Bay News-Chronicle: A pitch for 'rational anarchy' The author uses 'The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" to explain the concept of holding office holders persobnally responsibile for their own behavior. It's a radical concept, I admit:

Wyoming Knott, our heroine, challenges the concept: "Too much power in the hands of individuals - surely you would not want, well, H-missiles for example - to be controlled by one irresponsible person?" "My point is that one person is responsible. Always," de la Paz replies. "If H-bombs exist - and they do - some man controls them. In terms of morals there is no such thing as 'state.' Just men. Individuals. Each responsible for his own acts." Might sound like gobbledygook to many folks, but it sounds like common sense to me. Commit a misdeed, and the devil didn't make me do it, the company didn't make me do it, not even the government made me do it - and I certainly cannot fall back on the old standby "I was just following orders," because only I am responsible for my actions.

Paging D.D. Harriman ...

• BBC: Amateur rocket fired into space

An amateur unmanned rocket has been launched into space from the Nevada desert - the first time this has been achieved by a privately-built vehicle. The Civilian Space eXploration Team's 6.5m (21ft) GoFast rocket is understood to have exceeded an altitude of 100km. "It just roared off the pad and flew into space," said rocketeer and CSXT avionics manager Eric Knight. The GoFast vehicle and its payload sent back signals from space before falling down to Earth for recovery. --- The achievement comes at a time when it is widely expected that the first private astronaut will go into space in the next few weeks.

In the "The Man Who Sold The Moon" and "Requiem," millionaire D.D. Harriman finances the first manned mission to the Moon. It was a private, not public, endeavor done for commercial purposes. No human has stepped on the face of the Moon since the last NASA trip, financed by the U.S. government.

Sixteen years without Heinlein

Sixteen years ago today, Robert A. Heinlein died. He remains the greatest science fiction writer ever, even though he is not the household name as is Isaac Asimov or Ray Bradbury. RAH fandom is notoriously fervent in their admiration. Many, including myself. Consider him some sort of guru. I got most of my political beliefs from Heinlein. Heinlein's politics baffled many. And they baffled me, at first. He was a liberal who campaigned for socialist Upton Sinclair in the 1930s. He campaigned against a ban on nuclear testing in the 1950s and for Barry Goldwater in the 1960s. He advocated free love in "Stranger in a Strange Land." He seemed to advocate letting only veterans have the power to vote in "Starship Troopers." That book earned him an undeserved reputation as a "fascist," an opinion held by ignoramuses who don't understand the true meanign of the term. His novel "The Moon is a Harsh Mistress" is a primer in libertarian philosophy. He would have been disgusted by modern members of the Libertarian Party, who recently seem to blame America itself for the attacks against us. Heinlein would have enlisted on Sept. 11, had he been able. More than anyone else, Heinlein is responsible for my evolution from a liberal Democrat into a libertarian. It didn't happen all at once, of course. I read his books because I enjoyed them, but was disturbed by some of the radical ideas. I tried to not read any more, but doggone it, the first one was so much fun, I had to pick up another. Then another. I made a pact with myself: I would read every single thing the man wrote, but I would not let them change my mind about anything. Nosiree. I was a liberal and I knew that was the right position because anything not liberal was conservative, and conservatives were bigots, they wanted to keep the work class down and were pro war. So I read and enjoyed. After Heinlein died, I could only re-read his stuff. I began to admit to myself that a lot of what he was saying made sense. He certainly didn't seem like the hateful conservative monster my parents warned me about. I read an interview in which Heinlein described himself as essentially a libertarian. I was baffled. Wasn't the Libertarian Party those strange people who based their campaigns on legalizing drug use and prostitution? Oh, yeah, they want the government to stop interfering with people's lives. Heh. 'In a perfect world, sure,' I thought. 'But we need the government to help us.' The older I got, the more I realized that the government isn't helping. I think it was during Clinton's second term in office when I realized that the party for which I had been voting since I was able to do so was every bit as bad the Republicans, and that both parties were more concerned about staying in office than in living up to their principles. Besides, two decades of paying taxes so that others get rich or at least avoid their own responsibilities had taken their toll. I joined the LP. Of course, I quit two years later after 9/11 because the LP's position on the War on Terror is that it's all America's fault. Screw 'em. Heinlein would have punched Harry Browne in the nose if he could. Heinlein hated to be considered anyone's guru. His books were designed to make people think and to ask questions about what they really think about what is wrong or right. They were also about fun. But make no mistake: If more people read Heinlein's books and paid attention to what he was trying to say, then the world would be a better place. Heinlein set his stories on the Moon and Mars, in the future and in alternative universes. But, they were about politics, culture, society, family, religion and sex (lots of sex). In the end, readers come away with a simple philosophy: Assume responsibility for yourself, let other people do the same, and things just might work out for the better. It's certainly a small-"L" libertarian system of belief. It certainly had its effect on me. Don't take my word for it. Go down to your bookstore and see for yourself. You won't get brainwashed. But it might brush away some of those cobwebs in your brain. What's the matter? Afraid you might learn something? UPDATE: I cannot think of a better essay on why Heinlein is important that this article by J. Neil Schulman, posted on the Heinlein Society Website.

Great Scott! Heinlein invoked in editorial

The Scotsman newspaper doesn't like changes being planned for universities and invoked Robert Heinlein and other science fiction writers to explain why:

THE PRIME contractor for the first manned expedition to Mars was Edinburgh University - at least according to the renowned science fiction writer, Robert Heinlein, in his classic 1961 novel, Stranger in a Strange Land. Heinlein was not the first to set the future in Edinburgh. And Jules Verne has an Edinburgh University professor of geology, Oliver Lindenbrook, set out on a Journey to the Centre of the Earth. Along the way, he discovers the secrets of evolution and what happened to the dinosaurs. Of course, that discovery might be disputed by Arthur Conan Doyle?s Professor Challenger - he who discovered "The Lost World" - whom Doyle informs us was a famous graduate of Edinburgh University. Scotland?s universities are our local pride and joy, but they are much more than that: they have helped shape the entire western imagination, as well as created the modern scientific and technical world. From the pre-Reformation world when Scottish Latin scholars at Aberdeen and St Andrews universities dominated European thinking, through the 18th-century Enlightenment, which gave us Adam Smith and David Hume, to the age of science, which gave us Lord Kelvin, Clerk Maxwell and Darwin, Scottish higher education institutions have predominated. So it is not surprising that generations of science fiction writers, American and European, have seen our universities as blazing an intellectual trail into the future. Unfortunately, Robert Heinlein and Jules Verne did not imagine that the Scots themselves might one day deliberately sabotage the very institutions that have served humanity so well, never mind laid the foundations for the modern Scottish economy.

I also find that my arguments make more sense when I toss in a Heinlein quote or two. I only borrow from the best.

Mission accomplished

I just want to report another successful day perverting the minds of America's youth. I took a substitute teaching assignment today. Little did the school district know that I didn't take the job for the paltry $78.50 they pay for a day of babysitting kids while they watch educational videos. I took the job for the opportunity it gave me to distribute the Master's materials. I successfully handed out "Podkayne of Mars" and "Starman Jones" to two different students. I also convinced one of these students that if he was *really* into sword and sorcery, he should check out "Glory Road." Soon, all will be converted! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I suggest they just let astronauts take matters into their own hands ...

Valentine Michael Smith -- the hero of Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land" -- was the result of an extramarital affair during a long voyage to Mars. He ended up in the soup -- literally. NASA, according to this article anyway, is talking steps to make sure that doesn't happen:

In the First World War, frontline troops who were away from their loved ones for long periods famously had bromide put into their tea to reduce the distraction of their sexual drive. But yesterday it was suggested that such measures might be taken a lot further - to Mars, in fact. Dr Rachel Armstrong, speaking yesterday at a British Interplanetary Society symposium on the Human Future and Space, said the US space agency NASA was considering how to deal with the natural urges of astronauts travelling on long journeys such as a three-year trip to Mars, where the six-strong crew would be likely to include two women. "NASA is talking about the chemical sterilization of astronauts on longer journeys," Dr Armstrong said, in a talk discussing the problems humanity may face in trying to reach the planets and, eventually, the stars. NASA was nonplussed by the suggestion yesterday. "I haven't heard anything about that," said a spokesman at NASA's Johnson Space Centre, where the long-range trips announced by President George Bush in January are being planned. But that denial may hide a reluctance, in a nation where the showing of a nipple on national television provokes a religious outcry, to discuss the rather delicate subject of sex in space. Certainly, some scientists believe it is a topic that should be dealt with head on. Douglas Powell, a psychology professor at Harvard University who was recruited in 1999 by NASA to investigate the behavioral needs of long-term space trips, said: "Like anywhere, these are normal healthy people in their prime and they are sexually active so they are going to get involved with each other. So what's going to happen in space? It's a serious question and it needs to be confronted." --- Interestingly, there is no NASA ban on sex between crew members. "We depend and rely on the professionalism and good judgement of our astronauts," said a NASA spokesman in 2000. "There is nothing specifically or formally written down." And that may be part of the problem. A crew heading to Mars would potentially be away for three years: six months travelling out, two years on the Red Planet waiting for the Earth to come back into alignment for the six-month trip back. The psychological strains of such a trip would be huge, noted Dr Joanna Wood of NASA's National Space Biomedical Research Institute, who compares it with the isolation experienced by scientists in Antarctica. But they have the comparative luxury that they can be rescued if necessary. With a Mars trip, there comes a point of no return determined by fuel and the planets' positions. "Interpersonal relations is a big issue, but we leave sexual stuff to the discretion of the individuals," said Dr Wood.

Heh heh heh. Her name is "Dr. Wood." Sorry. I'm having a Beavis and Butthead moment here. Seriously, the article also discusses a rumor that two astronauts have already engaged in sex -- at the behest of NASA scientists wanting to study the prospects of long-term survival in outer space Boy, talk about taking one for the team.

Heinlein and 'Futurama'

"I've loved science fiction ever since I was a little kid, mainly from looking at the covers of science-fiction magazines and books, and I've read quite extensively as an adult. About three or four years ago, I decided to reacquaint myself with literary science-fiction and I went back and read everything from H.G. Wells to the new guys, Neal Stephenson and Rudy Rucker and those guys, and what I was surprised to find was that I'd read so much of it... "But a lot of my old favorites I thought really held up, I liked [Robert] Heinlein and [Philip K.] Dick and Cordwainer Smith and Theodore Sturgeon and Robert Sheckley -- the funny guys, the guys who have a sense of humor." --Matt Groening, interviewed by Brian Doherty in Mother Jones (March/April 1999)

That's the opening to this Locus review of Groening's hilarious, albeit canceled, show. It was too smart for it's target audience.

Unfortunately, I have to agree

The Star Online looks at what makes a successful movie based on a science fiction novel. The conclusion:

So it�s not surprising that the �better� sci-fi movies are only loosely based on their sources. Dutch director Paul Verhoeven�s 1997 Starship Troopers was a fun but forgettable, alien-busting special-effects romp based on Robert Heinlein�s book of the same name. The book was a satirical socio-political study of war and society; the movie was a shoot-�em-up with some witty, G.I. Joe gung-ho moments. Verhoeven knows his medium, and his audience. Folks don�t want sci-fi movies that provoke thought; they want to go for an SFX ride. If you can inject some thought-provoking moments or issues, then that�s just icing on the cake of visual sci-fi. Steal some of the ideas from the sci-fi book, but regurgitate it as an SFX-laden action-adventure. The latter keeps the audience glued to their seats, the former at least gives many talking points to the movie.

Because the writer tossed quotation marks around the word "successful," I can agree with this assessment. Verhoeven's movie was a financial, but not artistic, success. The average video-game-loving male geek in his late teens and early 20s loved that movie. Lots of blood, guns, special effects and naked boobs, with no troublesome messages -- other than Verhoeven's simplistic military-equals-fascism message.

Suggested reading

• Akron Beacon Journal: In long stretches, Marines get by with books Heinlein has always been a popular author among the military and veterans. That's no surprise, considering that Heinlein himself was an Annapolis grad and a veteran. Duty and honor were frequent themes of his books. So the following isn't surprising either.

Since 1989, the commandant of the Marine Corps has issued an annual reading list, with certain books suggested for certain ranks. The list is surprisingly pointed, even political. For privates, the U.S. Constitution and Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers are among the suggested titles. For colonels, The Peloponnesian War by Thucydides; and for generals, In Retrospect: The Tragedy and Lessons of Vietnam, by Robert McNamara.

'Harmless' Heinlein

From The Alien Online:

Fantasy author Juliet McKenna is always full of enthusiasm for these kind of events. "I'm a great fan of public libraries and think they deserve all the support we writers can give them," she said. "As a kid, I read everything I could get my hands on and my local branch library in Dorset was a god-send. My early inclination to SF&F was very well served since when the nice twin-set and pearls ladies had to agree I'd read absolutely everything in the kids section, they gave me permission to take SF&F books out of the adult section, despite the fact I was technically not old enough, because, obviously, if Robert Heinlein had books in the kids section, his adult stuff must be fairly harmless as well...

Harmless? How little they knew ;-)