Rather a much smaller item, a micro-organism. Let me immediately change the subject, and bring in old Alistair Maclean. You remember him, wildly successful author of "H.M.S. Ulysses" and "Fear Is The Key" etcetera. Well, like all wildly successful authors he had a period of self doubt.
"Hello, Alistair! I'm Self-Doubt!" introduced the condition. "People only buy your stuff because of your name. You're actually a talentless hack. You have nil worth."
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| Self -Doubt on the right |
I understand this is typical of Self-Doubt in a conversation - very assured but with a limited vocabulary. Anyway, Ol' Al hit back with a cunning plan. He'd write a novel in his usual style, except he'd use a pseudonym. In this case, "Ian Stuart".
And the name of the novel?
"The Satan Bug".
"The Satan Bug"
Here's a thing. The novel is firmly set in the Allotment of Eden*, at a place called the "Mordon Microbiological Research Establishment", and the chief protagonist is English. The film is completely different, and (I think) all the better for it. It has great Sixties production values, a much wider vista and a wonderful search scene set in a baseball stadium. Yes, it has been transposed to "Station 3" in the middle of a Californian desert. Art?
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| From the outside |
It has a great cast with some outstanding character actors, both good and evil. Here's a shot of the interior of The Vault, part of "E" Lab where only the most dangerous of the dangerous are mucked about with.
| Not a computer monitor in sight! |
I must run this past Darling Daughter's boyfriend Tom, who is a biology graduate working in a lab himself; purely for research purposes if MI5 happen to be listening in to this. You know, as a comparison as to how different science looks after fifty years. Oh, you might recognise one of the FBI agents who turns up from other character actor work he's done elsewhere -
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| - unfortunately - er - playing a Redshirt |
So! Hopefully that makes sense of this post's title.
The Missionary
No! Not the film. The young lady from the <takes a deep breath> Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, whom sat next to your humble scribe on the bus. I was doing my Cryptic Crossword when she commented, at which point her accent and bouncy enthusiastic attitude gave away her origin from across The Pond. I said as much, although I used "Atlantic" instead of "Pond" as this might have confused her.
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| A Pond |
We chatted for a few minutes, as I chaffed her briefly about the Allotment's weather, which bewildered her, and she remarked on the politeness of the British**. I then also poked a bit of fun by declaring that I considered the American Revolution never happened, and that there was no USA - just South Canada, and if the Revolution did actually occur, then north of that sits British America. Which she took in good spirit.
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| Hmmm. Not actually incorrect |
Excuse me, got to go check on those chicken drumsticks, and to see if Edna is still sulking in the bedroom - my lap is currently occupied by Ye Dreddful Laptoppe, you see -
"Reductio Ad Absurdum"
Sorry about bringing more of that zombie language Latin into the blog, just allow me to proceed and then you can decide whether to agree if it was merited or not.
First of all, a translation: "Reduced to the absurd" or "Clearly daft" if you want a Northern English version.
"Er - to what or whom are you referring?" I hear you quibble.
Logical fallacy, of course! And yes, that is SFW.
The RAA fallacy posits that there are two, usually extreme, courses of action to take, and we must choose one of these. Anything in between is ignored, leading this fallacy to also be called "The Excluded Middle".
I know you want an example, so allow me. Art?
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| The four Dark Judges: Fire, Fear, Mortis and Death |
Now, you ought to know about the Dark Judges, but I shall provide some background. They come from a dimension (more correctly a reality) where they have killed everybody they can lay their hands - or claws - upon.
Their Reductio Ad Absurdum goes like this: All crime is committed by the living. Our options are to allow all crime to carry on, OR KILL ALL THE LIVING! As you can see, the Excluded Middle of merely prosecuting the guilty is ignored. I'm sure a lot of their victims would have been grateful if this logical fallacy had been pointed out.
Well, that's a very sinister concept and post, which is pretty much where we came in.
Pip pip!
* Britain. OF COURSE!
** Oh so true.
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