Maxed Out: Ray Bradbury Takes Flight
June 13, 2012 |Estimated reading time: 6 minutes
Well, the last few weeks have been a period of ups and downs with some good stuff and some not-so-happy news.
RIP Ray Bradbury
There were a number of science fiction authors whose works I devoured when I was growing up, such as Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and Arthur C. Clark. And, of course, the works of Ray Bradbury were a cornerstone of my collection. Some of his books were a tad disturbing, such as "Fahrenheit 451," a dystopian novel about a future America where books are outlawed, and the role of firemen is to burn any hidden caches of books that are discovered.
Others were deeply thought-provoking, such as "The Martian Chronicles," a short story collection that chronicles the colonization of Mars by humans fleeing from a troubled and eventually atomically devastated Earth, along with the conflicts between the indigenous Martians and the new colonists.
Whenever I hear the name Ray Bradbury, the names of his books just pop into my head, like "The Golden Apples of the Sun," "The Illustrated Man," and "Something Wicked This Way Comes." Ray had a unique style that really set him apart from the crowd. He passed away a few days ago, leaving the world a sadder place.
But wait, there's more. Earlier today I received an e-mail from a guy named Gene, who lived near Ray Bradbury in Los Angeles in the 1960s. Gene says that Ray didn’t drive a car at the time – he rode a bicycle around Beverly Hills. Apparently Ray was friendly to everyone. Gene and Ray would occasionally have a coffee together, and on one such occasion Ray gave Gene an autographed copy of “Fahrenheit 451” as a gift for Gene's son, John.
Sad to relate, John died in 1986 at the age of just 27. The amazing thing is that, while visiting the TruthDig.com website to read an article about Ray Bradbury, Gene was more than a little surprised to see a picture of his son John, as shown here:
Gene says that he does not remember ever seeing this photo before. One possibility, Gene says, is that it may have been taken by Gene's wife and sent to Bradbury all those years ago.
I Saw the Transit of Venus
On a happier note, a couple of columns ago I mentioned that there was to be a Transit of Venus on June 5 or June 6, depending on where you live in the world. This is a rare event. The next such transit won't occur for more than 100 years, which meant that seeing this one was the last chance I will get in my lifetime, unless I eventually manage to get my time machine working again, of course.
So, last Tuesday after work I raced home, got my special dark glasses, and bounded out into the back garden. Oh, no! There were clouds everywhere…
I was a little despondent by this. One of my neighbors saw me in the back yard and came over for a chat. I gave him a spare pair of glasses and we waited, and waited … until the clouds cleared and the sun came out. After donning our special glasses, we could see the dark black spot that was Venus in front of the sun.
The picture below is one I took using my iPhone. I pointed the camera lens through the dark glasses. Sadly the resolution was not great enough to see Venus, so the dark spot you see in the image is something I added using my Paint.net package. However I have shown this image to friends who live nearby and who watched the transit for themselves, and they say that my mocked-up version looks just like they remember it.
One thing that did surprise me was that Venus appeared toward the top of the sun. In all of the pictures I'd seen on the Internet leading up to this event (from the previous transit, of course), Venus was shown on the bottom. Of course there are many possible explanations for this, such as the fact that some telescopes "flip" the image from top-to-bottom and left-to-right. Also, if one was standing in Australia in the Southern Hemisphere, for example, then things would appear upside-down as compared to someone like me standing in the Northern Hemisphere. For example, consider the photograph below, which was taken and e-mailed to me by a guy in Australia – he obviously has better photography equipment than my humble iPhone.
I’m just happy to have witnessed an event that might occur only once or twice in my lifetime. The next Transit of Venus won’t take place until 2117, and it won’t be visible to much of the United States, but Asia will get a big show.
Froth Blowing Furiously
While I was exchanging e-mails with the guy in Australia, we discussed the possibility of "blowing the froth off a few cold ones" should I ever manage to make it Down Under. Just in case you are unfamiliar with this term, it refers to blowing the froth off the top of a glass of beer before downing the rest of the contents.
I had heard this phrase many times before, but on this occasion I paused to wonder as to its origin, so I turned to the trusty Wikipedia. You can only imagine my surprise to discovered that there was once an Ancient Order of Froth Blowers. This was a charitable organization whose mission (in addition to raising charitable contributions) was"To meet regularly in pubs or clubs to enjoy 'beer, beef, and baccy'"(where "pubs" means public houses or bars, and "baccy" means tobacco). At their height, the Froth Blowers had 700,000 members (well, we are talking about a club devoted to drinking beer). I was sad to hear that the original organization folded in 1931. But then I thought to myself that if the club was no more, then there was no reason I should not form my own version.
Just so no one gets confused, I'm planning on calling my club The Worshipful Ancient Order of Froth Blowers. In the fullness of time I will get around to printing some cards, deciding on an official drinking song, and possibly even picking an official hat. Personally I favor the Propeller Beanie Hat as shown here:
In addition to just being so cheerful (it makes me happy just to look at it), this hat conveys a number of advantages. For example, it's unlikely anyone would steal it while your back was turned. Also, if you are out with a group of your fellow Froth Blowers in a crowded bar, it will be easy to spot the other members of the group. Really, I cannot see a downside to this hat.
The great thing about my Froth Blowers club is that it's so easy to join. If you want to make it official, just e-mail me, and I will be happy to add you to our official rolls (this will be easy, because our membership comprises only yours truly at the moment). In reality, however, being a member is more a state of mind than anything else. All you have to do to join our merry band is to follow our club's philosophy, which can be boiled down to: "Think good thoughts, say good words, do good deeds, and enjoy quaffing a glass or three of the amber nectar (beer)."
Until next time, have a good one!
Clive (Max) Maxfield is founder/consultant at Maxfield High-Tech Consulting. He is the author and co-author of a number of books, including Bebop to the Boolean Boogie (An Unconventional Guide to Electronics) and How Computers Do Math featuring the pedagogical and phantasmagorical virtual DIY Calculator. To contact Max, click here.