On the Passing Scene XI

Did you know that in Greek numerals, 11 is ιαʹ? Yeah. That and more random thoughts!

• So I realized, you know what sums up the 20th Century? "The Cure is Worse than the Disease". Sure, exploitative capitalism, colonialism, and apartheid were bad; but communism, decolonization, and the utter tragicomedic farce that is post-apartheid South Africa are worse. Hell, you can even interpret Nazism as an attempt at a modern German nationalism, absent the Hohenzollerns who'd stitched "Germany" together out of corpses in the first place.
  
  And yes, post-apartheid South Africa is worse. Or do you think 1 in 3 women having been raped, and a crackpot executive who made it illegal even to suggest that HIV causes AIDS, are preferable? Oh and rampant anti-Semitism, don't let's forget that. Apartheid was a very sub-optimal policy choice, but modern South Africa makes Slobodan Milosevic look downright progressive.


• So there's some Justice League comic or other where there's a funeral for a dead Leaguer, who, apparently, was Catholic, being officiated by one of the several angel superheroes. It's a nice gesture and all that, but, uh...Holy Orders is only valid for human beings. A priest acts in persona Christi, and Christ was a human. Angels, as must perennially be explained, are a different bunch of critters entirely.
  
  Incidentally, anyone who knows the significance of masks in the religions of southwestern Native American religions may find it intriguing that the more literal translation of "in persona Christi" is "in the mask of Christ".


• I've decided I really don't like Orson Scott Card, however case-hardened his balls must be to be a Mormon and have to deal with SF fans. His book about how to write SF and fantasy has this hilarious part about how warp drives are the one kind of FTL you can just never put in a science fiction book, because it just becomes laughable and proves you only know from Star Trek.
  
  Quick, which kind of FTL actually has some math worked out for it?
  
  The reason not to use warp drives is there is then no reason to ever have anything take place at sublight speeds. In my books I use a spacefold drive, but I specifically say Alcubierre was the first guy to theorize FTL in a meaningful way. Sure, his original idea's been proved wrong, but then, so has Copernicus'. Except Alcubierre wasn't just doing a slight streamlining of François Buridan and Nicole Oresme.


• Aside from that farcical remark, is the fact Card can't say enough nice things about Firefly. He did say Firefly was 1930s serial science-fiction—which is an insult to Messrs Gordon and Rogers—but he said it had, quote, "a compelling long-term story". "Compelling" in what sense? In the sense I feel "compelled" to hot-rivet Whedon's cheek to a railroad track, à la the scene in Bakemonogatari with the stapler, every time I see even a few minutes of it? I don't think that word is complimentary.
  
  Also, he said something to the effect of thinking Serenity is how he'd like movies of his work to be done. I mean, sure, he sucks, so if any works deserve it, his do, but even Browncoats think that movie was a slapdash translation to the big screen. It more or less defines "confusing sequel to a story you haven't read" (I know, it was my introduction to the series)—and it butchers two beloved characters in an incredibly heartless, manipulative, bunny-boiler ex-girlfriend manner. It's like Joss asked GLaDOS how to deal with them: "You euthanized your Companion Cube faster than any test-subject on record."


• Speaking of GLaDOS, the second Portal song is no Still Alive, I'll tell you that for free. Incidentally, I've translated part of Still Alive into German (the official language of human experimentation):

  Dies war ein Triumph
  Notier' ich hier, ein groß Erfolg
  Ich kann nicht mein Befriedigung übertreiben
  
  Offnung Wissenschaft
  Machen wir was mussen wir weil können wir
  Für alles in die Welt wellen
  Ausnam' die Toten.
  
  Aber es bringt nichts zu schreien über jeder Fehler
  Immer wieder versuch bis die Kuchen fehlen
  Und die Wissenschaft gelingt und sie ein toll Waffen bringt
  Für die Menschen wer leb' immer noch.

  What? Yes, I know I'm a nerd. The rhyme breaks down a bit there at the end, but the meter's pretty good. Incidentally the ending goes:

  Und wann Sie sterben leb' ich immer noch.
  Und wann Sie tott sind leb' ich immer noch.
  Lebe noch!

  Any mistakes are because I took German a long time ago.


• My mother, speaking of German, only realized yesterday, because I mentioned it, that "schwarz" is related to "swarthy". She said she should've known (since she should've), and my little sister thought it was odd.
  
  To which we both replied, in virtual unison, "You don't speak German." My mother does, a bit (probably a bit less than me?).
  
  It's her fault, me, I mean; I'm a fourth generation geek on that side of the family. Her grandfather, I kid you not, spoke Esperanto! Freak.