ALL SCI-FI Forum Index ALL SCI-FI
The place to “find your people”.
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

FEATURED THREADS for 5-27-22

 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    ALL SCI-FI Forum Index -> What's New at All Sci-Fi
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Bud Brewster
Galactic Fleet Admiral (site admin)


Joined: 14 Dec 2013
Posts: 17016
Location: North Carolina

PostPosted: Fri May 27, 2022 3:50 pm    Post subject: FEATURED THREADS for 5-27-22 Reply with quote



If you're not a member of All Sci-Fi, registration is easy. Just use the registration password, which is —

gort



Attention members! If you've forgotten your password, just email me at brucecook1@yahoo.com.
____________________________________________________________________

________________________________________

Well, folks, I must confess that sometimes I get a bit discouraged by the fact that All Sci-Fi's list of active members has dwindled to mere handful. Sad

However, I appreciate the efforts of the fine folks who still contribute wonderful comments. Frankly I think your contributions are of a much higher caliber than most of drivel I've seen on other message boards. Rolling Eyes

Add to this the fact that I enjoy adding my own creative efforts on All Sci-Fi! Cool

And I know there are dozens of "guests" each day who enjoy the post we've all made So, I do NOT think we're wasting our time by adding posts to the board. Very Happy

However, over the last 17 years we've lost several valued members who have sadly past away. Sad

One the positive side, we've managed to run off several unpleasant people, a few of those poor misguided Trump supporters, and one or two people who couldn't stand it when someone disagreed with them . . . Confused

Unfortunately there's also a list of fine members who simply wandered away for no apparent reason . . . like the folks listed below, many of whom were prolific contributors on the "Old Board" from 2007 to 2014. But they just stopped posting during the first year after we created this current version of All Sci-Fi.

I really miss the members listed below.


Rocky Jones

mach7

Rick

larryfoster

Bongopete

Skullislander

Steve Joyce

Mike Cervello

Andrew Kidd

PumamanRedux

noetic_hatter

Korinaz

Dr Acula

17 Oaks

Custer


Guys, I've spent many hours trying to reach these "lost" members by sending them emails, along with PMs on the other boards they're members of. Sadly, I haven't had much luck.

However, please rest assured that I have no intention of shutting down All Sci-Fi just because we don't have dozens of members who post frequently! Very Happy

Having said, I hope you guys will continue your efforts to keep All Sci-Fi active and interesting by adding comments. And you can all start by adding replies to the posts below! Very Happy

Hey, it's a thankless job, but somebody has to do it! Cool

____________________________________________________________________

The Right Stuff (1983)

IMDB has 88 trivia items for this movie. Here’s a few of the ones I found the most interesting, in the blue text. Very Happy
________________________________

~ The mysterious "fireflies" observed by John Glenn on his first orbital flight were actually tiny flakes of frost illuminated by sunlight. As the spacecraft orbited into darkness behind the Earth, the sub-zero temperatures caused condensation on its skin to freeze. When warmed by the sun on the other side of the orbit, the temperature change caused some of this frost layer to break free and to be illuminated by the sun. This was confirmed by astronaut Scott Carpenter on the next Mercury flight when he banged on the craft's side, causing more of the flakes to break free and become visible.

Note from me: In the History Channel's wonderful documentary, Moon Shot (1994), based on book by Alan Shepard, we're told that the "fireflies" were caused by John Glen's urine being expelled from the capsule. Narrator Barry Corbin states the the fireflies were "astronaut pee-pee".

There are also scenes of several elderly Mercury astronauts sitting around a cafeteria table while they chat about their NASA memories. They joke about the glowing sparks, and one of the guys laughingly called it "the constellation Uri-ine." Very Happy

~ While several of the lead actors chose to meet their real-life counterparts, Scott Glenn elected not to meet with Alan Shepard. Scott said he wanted to get down Shepard's character and nuances by observation and by hearing others' points of view. After filming, the real Alan Shepard wrote writer and director Philip Kaufman and commented on Scott Glenn's "spot-on" performance — except for "not being nearly as good-looking as he was."

Note from me: It's good to know that this movie had the respect of the men who were portrayed in it.

~ While filming the lung-capacity sequence - in which the seven original Mercury astronauts need to blow into individual tubes to keep toy balls suspended in a beaker and end up in a competition of physical stamina - the seven actors portraying the astronauts actually competed with each other for the same reason. Gordon Cooper was third, John Glenn was second and Scott Carpenter won (in the movie). In reality, Cooper — the astronaut portrayed by Dennis Quaid — was the only non-smoker among the seven original astronauts, and therefore possessed a far-greater lung capacity than any of the others.

Note from me: I have no idea why the producers changed the way the real events took place! Dennis Quaid's cocky portray of Gordon Cooper is entirely consistent with the idea that he would gleefully win the competition.

So . . . why did the movie present an inaccurate version? Confused

~ It is generally believed that Gus Grissom was not at-fault in the real-life hatch-blowing incident on the Liberty Bell 7 capsule.

Kickback from the manual activation switch caused a tell-tale bruise to form on the hand activating it, and Grissom never developed the bruise. Wally Schirra, at the end of his Mercury 8 space flight, deliberately activated his own hatch to demonstrate how the bruise formed and exonerate his comrade.

The most likely explanation for Grissom's hatch blowing is that the external release lanyard came loose, as it was only held in place with a single screw — a design that was changed to be more secure for subsequent flights.

N.A.S.A. apparently believed in Grissom's innocence as well, as he remained in a prime rotation spot for subsequent Gemini and Apollo flights. There is also significant belief among astronauts of the time that, had he not been killed in the Apollo 1 fire, Grissom would have been the first man to walk on the moon.


Note from me: And that, ladies and gentlemen, settles the question concerning the hatch that blew. It was NOT Gus' fault! Very Happy

~ According to Chuck Yeager, in his autobiography, it was not known that he broke the sound barrier until after they checked the Bell X-1 recording panel, and not when they heard the sonic boom, as shown in the movie. He still got his steak dinner for being the first to break the sound barrier though.

Note from me: A steak dinner after a sonic boom taste just as good as one you get when the telemetry confirms it! Very Happy

~ When Ed Harris appeared in Apollo 13 (1995), as N.A.S.A. Flight Director Gene Kranz, it gave him the unique distinction of appearing with some of the same characters from The Right Stuff (1983) but played by different actors, like Deke Slayton (played by Chris Ellis in Apollo 13 (1995)). Others are mentioned but never seen like Alan Shepard and the late Gus Grissom. Harris also provided the voice of Mission Control in the space thriller Gravity (2013).

Note from me: Seeing Ed Harris in those roles from both The Right Stuff and Apollo 13 is a real treat.

~Some were concerned that when this film was released it would help propel John Glenn, then a U.S. Senator from Ohio, into the Presidency. Newsweek Magazine had a cover story about it. Although Glenn ran for President in 1984, he lost the Democratic nomination to Walter Mondale.

Note from me: Who the heck remembers Walter Mondale? I can't help but wonder if John Glenn would have been a good president. Confused

~ Tom Wolfe was unhappy with the film, because he felt it made too many changes to the book.

Note from me: Based on some of the departures from the known facts — as listed above — I'm not surprised by this. Rolling Eyes

~ The film eschewed the use of visual effects done in the lab. The decision was made to use methods pioneered by the Republic Pictures special effects team of Howard Lydecker and Theodore Lydecker, and used in such Republic theatrical serials as Radar Men from the Moon (1952) and Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe (1953).

The shots of the Bell X-1 were accomplished using a model "flown" on a long wire rapidly passing by the camera utilizing a natural sky background enhanced by clouds created using special chemicals. The use of the model can be seen when the plane banks and turns as the ailerons never move.


Note from me: This was probably a good idea for most of the film . . . but the FX of John Glenn's capsule in orbit are just plain terrible! Those scenes always bother me.

They look like some kind of avant-garde version of reality, and they certainly aren't as impressive as the way a more realistic presentation would have looked. Sad

~ Although the producers discouraged the cast from contacting the real people they were portraying, Dennis Quaid reached out to Gordo Cooper after learning they lived just a few miles from each other. The two became friends, and Cooper encouraged Quaid to get his pilot's license.

Note from me: If that doesn't make you like Dennis Quaid a bit more . . . well, it certainly should. Very Happy

____________________________________________________________________

Here's How We'll Build A Cheap, Safe Lunar Base

Bulldogtrekker's interesting post above was added to All Sci-Fi in November 2014, it's never gotten a single reply in five years! Shocked

Several months ago I came up with an idea that relates to the concept presented in the article above. I wrote it up in detail and saved the document . . . but then I forgot about it until I noticed it today.

I knew we had threads about colonies at the lunar poles, so I went look for on to add my post to. I found this thread by Bulldogtrekker's and realized that (a) it was the perfect thread for my reply, and (b) it solved the problem of this fine-but-neglected thread!

So, here's the idea I came up with.

As the article above states, the perfect places to build a lunar colonies is the north and south poles.






If the Earth has been visited by alien beings who’ve zipped around in our skies for decades (or centuries), then I think those aliens already have bases at those two locations.

The aliens are smart enough to know that the couldn’t build a base on the far side of the Moon, because eventually mankind would send camera probes and manned spacecraft around the Moon and see the big, alien complex!






So, they'd use the two places on the Moon that are best for lunar bases for the same reasons we would use them . . . and for several additional reasons which serve their own special purposes..

We all know, of course, that the lunar poles offer the only spots on the moon that never have to endure the killing heat of the sun — the conveniently located craters at both poles that remain in permanent shadow. This allows bases located in those craters to keep their living structures warm and well supplied with energy by using solar panels positioned along the rim which collect solar energy constantly.

Meanwhile, the areas that remain in permanent shadow at the bottoms of the craters can include areas where water ice remains permanently frozen.

Now, before some kindly soul says, “Ummm . . . Bud? We know all this,” I’m going to offer a few new ideas that I thought up today while having breakfast at Phat Daddy’s Café.



]


First of all, why should we assume that the aliens who have been visiting Earth for years didn’t snap up this prime real estate hundred years ago and build bases there long before Galileo even started playing Peeping Tom on the cosmos with his newest toy, the telescope?

Therefore, it’s entirely possible that aliens already have elaborate bases at both the north and south, from which they conduct all their secret operations in OUR solar system!

What secret operations, you may ask? Plenty, my friends!

First of all, the mining of the Moon! These bases can extend down into the Moon for many miles while the aliens excavate any materials they want from OUR beloved satellite!

And while they’re doing that, their mining spacecraft are zipping around the solar system, gutting all our juiciest asteroids by mining their precious metals, making sure that their looting of our solar systems takes place on the other side of the sun so that space-based telescopes like Hubble never gets a look at what’s going on.

Now, folks, I know what you’re thinking. “Bud is nuts! How could there be vast aliens bases located at the lunar poles without our probes finding any photographic evidence?”

That’s where this idea gets really interesting. Very Happy

Ask yourself this: What kind of pictures does NASA have of the lunar poles? They have picture of the crater rims there . . . and the shadows that never see the sunlight! But are there any “flash photos” of the dark areas?

Of course not.

Are there any imaging methods of those areas that would show a complex arrangement of alien structures hiding in those inky black shadows?

Yes, there are. But no such structures have been found.

But even if we flew over the lunar poles with probes that have cameras which could take infrared, radar, and flash picture, do we really think that advanced aliens couldn’t build a lunar base with structures that could fool cameras like those?

Of course not!

The aliens building would be painted black to fool any photographs in visible light. They would be insulated to prevent any heat from leaking out so that infrared images wouldn’t detect their presences.

And they could be given exteriors which appear natural and rock-like to fool any radar images from orbit.

In short, these miles-deep alien bases could be completely hidden from the eyes of man — even if astronauts stood on the crater rims and gazed down at the crater floors — while the aliens conducted their activities!

____________________________________________________________________

[url= http://www.allsci-fi.com/viewtopic.php?p=31808&highlight=#31808] Werewolf in a Girls' Dormitory[/url]



When I was about thirteen years old, my friend Jimmy and I often played around with my reel-to-reel tape recording. We'd create comedy versions of imaginary movies and serials, like The Mud Monster From Slime Land and Flash Gordon.

Jimmy played Dr. Zarkoff as a goofy old moron who thought Mars Candy Bars were made by Martians. I did the voice of both Flash and Dale, so I got to flirt with myself. Zarkoff would burst in on Dale shortly after we blasted off for Mars, while Dale was in the shower. I'd scream in a falsetto voice while Jimmy cackled maniacally. Laughing

The Mud Monster skit start off with Jimmy portraying Monstro, a perverted old Late Show host who encouraged kids to sneak up and watch him on school nights.

I still have the Mud Monster tape, and on it Jimmy mentions an upcoming feature called Werewolf in a Girls Dormitory. For over sixty years I actually thought Jimmy made up the title! Shocked

But lo and behold, it's a real movie and YouTube has it! Furthermore, I watched it a few days ago, and to my absolute astonishment, the darn thing is actually fairly good!

Watch the well-done trailer below, narrated by the legendary Art Gilmore.

But don't be fooled by the snippet of the rock n' roll title theme ("There's a Ghoul in the School"), because this a dark and spook tale, without a trace of comic relief or a single shot of girls wiggling their butts at a school dance!

In fact, it takes place at a reform school, were all the attractive gals are inmates!


_____ Werewolf In A Girl's Dormitory 1963 trailer


__________


Admittedly you'll have to watch three-fourths of the movie to finally get to a pretty cool climax, and you won't see the moderately impressive werewolf makeup until that point.

But this Italian-made Horror/Sci-Fi does have some merit. The claim to it's sci-fi status comes from the fact that two young-ish doctors conduct a medical experiment which creates the Wolf-Creature.

The film effectively has the audience guessing who the werewolf is until the later part of the movie, with an equal number of male and female suspects — but that was part of what I enjoyed about it.

Like I said, if you stick with it on a rainy afternoon and don't expect too much, it won't be a complete waste of time
. Cool

_________ WEREWOLF IN A GIRLS' DORMITORY


__________

_________________
____________
Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    ALL SCI-FI Forum Index -> What's New at All Sci-Fi All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group