Pat @Pat@qoto.org

@dsollberger
?

@numas13

I remember watching live streaming images on the internet from the Pathfinder mission in the late 1990s.

Retro SciFi Film of the Week…

Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)

The title of this film is very misleading. It makes it sound like a low-budget 50s scifi, but this is actually a very well made movie. I think it's on par with The Day the Earth Stood Still (1952), except this film had a lot more special effects. They used a combination of stop action and other practical effects as well as post processing techniques.

The guy who did the special effects on this film, Ray Harryhauser, invented a technique called Dynamation, a special type of stop action effect. He went on to work on the 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1956) which is probably one of the most well-known stop action/live action films of the era. But this film uses a wide variety of techniques as well as stop action.

The writing and acting are also top-notch. The actors weren't big stars but they were accomplished character actors. It has a fully developed plot and the dialogue was well written. Also, they got a lot of the science facts right on this one, at least more than usual for a Hollywood scifi. They even tried to explain special relativity, incorrectly of course, but they tried.

I highly recommend this film to anyone who likes old science fiction movies.

It’s just unfortunate that they gave this film such a cheap-sounding name. They even released it as a double-feature with The Werewolf. (I guess film marketing has improved since then as well as special effects. 😆 )
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#science #fiction #ScienceFiction #SciFi #FTW #film #movie #space #aliens #claypigeons #flyingsaucer #the1950s #ColdWar #hairy

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accessible image description:

an ugly movie poster with orange and white headlines, muted colors, with images of flying saucers that are shooting rays to the ground and robot creatures walking around, the large headlines say flying saucers attack! warning! take cover! earth vs the flying saucers, small headlines say flying saucers invade our planet: washington, london, paris, moscow, take cover!, a smaller inset image of a man and woman looking scared and holding each other.

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Congress and Biden just came to an agreement on the budget. They had to make cuts in order to come to an agreement.

If you were in charge, which would you cut?

#DebtCeiling #debt #deficit #taxes #spending #revolution

@JonKramer

Here's an excerpt from the opinion...

"Second, the Union argues that workers do not forfeit the NLRA’s
protections simply by commencing a work stoppage when the loss of perishable products is foreseeable, but this case involves much more than that. Given the lifespan of wet concrete, Glacier could not batch it until a truck was ready to take it. By reporting for duty and pretending as if they would deliver the concrete, the drivers prompted the creation of the perishable product. Then, they waited to walk off the job until the concrete was mixed and poured in the trucks. In so doing, they not only destroyed the concrete but also put Glacier’s trucks in harm’s way. "

@LouisIngenthron

@JonKramer

>"So the Supreme Court has ruled that if you strike, or your union strikes, you can be sued for any business costs or loss of business."

That statement you made, is not true.

Here's a link to the opinion issued by the SCOTUS in the case...

https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/21-1449_d9eh.pdf

@LouisIngenthron

@JonKramer

I don't believe this. Have you got a cite for this?

@lupyuen

This is every AI scifi plot come to life. 😆

@Kihbernetics

Contrails in a cloud chamber.

@calculsoberic@mstdn.social @stux

And he didn't even need an infinite number of monkeys. 😆

https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Infinite_number_of_monkeys
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Accessible description of image:
old black and white photo of a chimpanzee sitting at a very old manual typewriter, his hands are up near the keys. the photo is taken from the side and he is looking away from the typewriter off to the left of the camera.

@Kihbernetics

That paper is about epistemology. I’m referring to physics, where memory exists whether anybody’s around to know it or not.

@freemo @LouisIngenthron

Cannabis is illegal in the US. It is a Schedule I drug and it is against the law to use, sell, or possess marijuana that has over 0.3% THC content anywhere in the US.

@Kihbernetics

“…physical theory is described by rate-dependent dynamical #laws that have no #memory…”

The laws of physics require memory. Motion requires memory. Time implies memory.

In a previous Retro SciFi of the Week for the movie Her (https://qoto.org/@Pat/110317806170452959) I mentioned a technique that pro-racist Hollywood uses to marginalize black people. That technique is to only show black people at the beginning (or end) of a film, which is what that film did.

Well in this film, On The Beach, they did it too. There is only one black actor in the movie, an extra, who appears in the beginning of the film on the submarine, but he is not shown in the movie again (even though he is a member of the submarine crew!) This situation is quite different, however, from the movie Her because in the 1950s black people were almost always excluded from mainstream Hollywood movies. Intentionally excluding black people in movies in the 21st century is not acceptable.

In that other review for Her I guessed that that technique of only putting black people at the beginning of a movie was used at least since the 1980s, but here is evidence that it started much earlier -- at least since 1959.

@leovarnet

https://qoto.org/@Pat/110317806170452959

@stux

>"But the huge difference is the training!"

>"Soldiers know how to handle weapons and more importantly, WHEN "

Competence and safety are imperative when handling weapons.

Apparently Putin and many Russian troops do not have the proper training and discipline because they committed horrible acts in Ukraine.

>"People can defend themselfs in many other ways but many are not equiped to handle a weapon or make those decisions"

I think more effort should go into the development of non-lethal weapons. Eventually, if effective non-lethal weapons could be developed and made available, then lethal weapons would no longer be necessary.

>"Plus, it does not outweigh the risk, benefit factor by a loooooong shot"

On average in the US this is true. People who keep firearms are more likely to end up hurting themselves or a loved one. That's because a lot of people don't have the proper training.

But in areas where there is a high risk from aggressors, then the risk from those aggressors is much higher. So in those cases it makes sense, and if someone has the proper training.

@stux

Sometimes people find themselves in situations or places where there is a real danger from other people and there is little or no help from police. So in those situations, I think it makes sense for them to be able to have weapons to defend themselves against aggressors, just like Ukraine is defending itself from an aggressor.

@stux

In this thread you seemed to condemn weapons, but in the other one you seemed to promote them.

(ps - I support providing Ukraine with whatever they need to defeat Putin.)

@stux

>"Where all the 'people' who ban books and promote weapons can play with each other and leave the rest of us in peace.."

I'm confused by this toot...

https://mstdn.social/@stux/110431934241307260

The release of this film was widely covered by the media at the time.

Here's a video of how WABC-TV covered the story...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aG-e52yAxfs