Unused and Probably Unusable

Just like last week ("Pending Post: Heinlein Friday & Superman"), I'm choosing not to publish this week's HF before I head off to work in the morning. But, here's a preview.

I've been talking about "Jerry Was a Man" for the last three weeks, in the Superman, Aliens / Combatants, and Courts posts. That story's time has come, its day in the sun is here.

(Hey, why not? After all, It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia....) (FX official site; Wikipedia entry). [That new tv show, by the way,


Right, end of digression. Oops, just one more: anybody heard anything good about Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest? I did so like Jack Sparrow (channeled portrayed - or is it perpetrated? - ably by Johnny Depp, one of my handful of favorite male actors) but the current movie's getting mediocre reviews at best, unlike its predecessor. So many p's.

Back to the subject: HF

Last week's HF had me looking outside of Heinlein's work to shed light on what he was doing, and whether it was successful. This week, I'm back to focusing on his writing as my main source material. "Jerry Was a Man" is a 1947 short story, collected in Assignment In Eternity, and although there are some (to me, today) inexplicable words or phrases, most of the story has aged quite well in 53 years. It's timely, even, in part. But if the racial and sexual politics (and sensibilities) have changed, have the scientific ones? Maybe. Possibly not. We have 50 more years of genetic modification, of experience with the nuclear age [if it's proper to describe the End of Innocence as if it were an Age, of Steam or of Information (aside - which last we are assuredly in, even as most new American jobs continue to be in the service industries, and the professions, rather than in dealing with "pure" information)... nested parenthesis problem... perhaps a ']' would help. ]. The world is older and not necessarily wiser. People are much the same. And Jerry? Is he a Man? We'll open it up, later today. You have about 10 hours to submit comments or questions, and then the post is up. Of course, since it's a blog, unlike a newspaper, I can then make corrections/ additions/ emendations to the piece - that's why I consider every post to be New, for purposes of discussion. Heinlein doesn't go stale - or any staler than he already is.

So if you see anything in any of the HF series (full list at the bottom of any HF post), leave a comment (until the comment period expires - and I may extend them) or drop an e-mail. This is my forum, and I'm inviting your reactions.

Next topic: the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany

The greatest single-sport athletic event the world has to offer is nearly at an end, to return in another four years. Several countries have distinguished themselves. A greater number did not. A few embarassed themselves - or were humiliated by others. Brazil, which had so effortlessly cruised over lesser teams, bowed out ignominiously, not even making it to the semifinals. Finishing below the top four, when you are defending champs (2002, hosted in Korean/Japan) and have won outright many times, is a major fall.

The last non-Brazil winner, France, won in 1998, and will be playing in the finals this Sunday, at 1:30 p.m. eastern time, against Italy, which has a long history with the finals. I remember watching Baggio in 1994, when Italy last made it to the finals, losing on penalty kicks. A sad end, and not the best way to decide a soccer game, if I had it to design over again. I stopped watching games in this tournament when they went to PKs. That's why I was so glad Italy beat Germany in the final seconds - scoring twice at the end of the second period of (non-sudden death, aka "No Golden Goal") overtime, in the 119th minute overall, and at 120 + 1 minute of injury time, only a minute or so before the final whistle.

I'd have loved to see a German home final. I'd also have loved to see Portugal (an underdog favorite for me since their defeat of Mexico in the opening round) in the final, but it was not to be; they had opportunities but could not convert. For that matter, a Germany/ Argentina final would have given me a chance to make lots of Fascist jokes, which would apparently get me arrested in Germany. Freedom and democracy, at the cost of limited freedom of speech. A suspicious proposition, in my view. Portugal/ Brazil, had it happened, would have been a "former colony/ former colonialist" match, and would also have been an opportunity for interesting social commentary beyond the match itself.

The Third Place match, between the losers of the semifinal matches, will be played by Germany and Portugal at 3 pm EDT on July 8th, tomorrow, Saturday.

Next World Cup, in South Africa, we'll see who has stepped up and who can't handle the stiff competition.

As a side note, Jots seems to be performing quite poorly. I may have to migrate from Jots to del.icio.us, which has an inferior interface (but if it works, that's necessarily a better interface), or switch to something else entirely. BlogSpot has a Blog post feature; I may check that out. (Free *is* a good price). Or I may try Tags.

And that's all, until later today.