On Wed, 14 Apr 1999 22:44:11 -0700, Mike Ralls <mra...@willamette.edu> wrote:
>The Alien Space Bats have seemed to become a popular figure here on >SHWI. Anyone remember how they got started?
I think we have Alison to thank, over one of the interminable "Sealion's a Breeze, if only ... " threads. Even if it wasn't, Alison's certainly made the idea what it is today!
Phil Phillip McGregor (Space Opera (FGU), Rigger Black Book (FASA) --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- asp...@curie.dialix.oz.au | www.fandom.net/~PGD/index.htm | mcgre...@locs.org --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- YES! StaRPlay:Armageddon and Dark Star are now available from www.hyperbooks.com
<Pine.SOL.3.91.990414224329.18574B-100000@gemini>, Mike wrote:
>The Alien Space Bats have seemed to become a popular figure here on >SHWI. Anyone remember how they got started?
On November 3, 1998, in a post http://x14.dejanews.com/[ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=408059528&CONTEXT=924195932.1067057381&hitnum=3&AH= 1 Alison Brooks first said:
"Personally, I think alien space bats are more plausible."
Phillip McGregor wrote: > >The Alien Space Bats have seemed to become a popular figure here on > >SHWI. Anyone remember how they got started?
> I think we have Alison to thank, over one of the interminable "Sealion's a > Breeze, if only ... " threads. Even if it wasn't, Alison's certainly made the > idea what it is today!
"Irony and Steal", posted by Alison on 10 Aug 98, the now infamous plotline for the Alien Space Bat Multi-Volume Epic, was the first occurance of our ASBs according to Dejanews.
ASBs started interfering in real history that October when Alison invoked them as the only way for the Confederacy to win the US Civil War, assuming a POD in 1865. In November, the made their Sealion debut, again thanks to Alison.
In article <7f56h5$...@drn.newsguy.com>, bgarid <bga...@my-dejanews.com> wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Apr 1999 22:44:11 -0700, in article > <Pine.SOL.3.91.990414224329.18574B-100000@gemini>, Mike wrote:
> >The Alien Space Bats have seemed to become a popular figure here on > >SHWI. Anyone remember how they got started?
> On November 3, 1998, in a post > http://x14.dejanews.com/[ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=408059528&CONTEXT=924195932.1067057381&hitnum=3&AH= 1 > Alison Brooks first said:
> "Personally, I think alien space bats are more plausible."
> And here they stayed ever since...
I concur with the Brooksian provenance of the ASBs, but their first appearance I think can be traced somewhat earlier, to July of last year. See "Irony and Steal", at http://x7.dejanews.com/[ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=370297052.1&CONTEXT= 924207330.202178774&hitnum=0 to see what I believe is the first entrance of our winged rodent friends. I personally think that Alison's invention filled a void that needed to be filled on this newsgroup, i.e., a shorthand expression for the sort of miraculous intervention required to create certain PODs.
Colin Alberts quod scripsi scripsi
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>In article <7f56h5$...@drn.newsguy.com>, > bgarid <bga...@my-dejanews.com> wrote: >> On Wed, 14 Apr 1999 22:44:11 -0700, in article >> <Pine.SOL.3.91.990414224329.18574B-100000@gemini>, Mike wrote:
>> >The Alien Space Bats have seemed to become a popular figure here on >> >SHWI. Anyone remember how they got started?
>> On November 3, 1998, in a post >>http://x14.dejanews.com/[ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=408059528&CONTEXT=924195932.1067057381&hitnum=3&AH= 1 >> Alison Brooks first said:
>> "Personally, I think alien space bats are more plausible."
>> And here they stayed ever since...
>I concur with the Brooksian provenance of the ASBs, but their first >appearance I think can be traced somewhat earlier, to July of last year. See >"Irony and Steal", at >http://x7.dejanews.com/[ST_rn=ps]/getdoc.xp?AN=370297052.1&CONTEXT= >924207330.202178774&hitnum=0 to see what I believe is the first entrance of >our winged rodent friends.
Oh, I missed this. For pedantry sake, I note that this early post uses term "alien bats" and "alien space bats" were introduced only in November.
[On related note, Mike Ralls' "Moon of Green Cheese" post in July used drunk aliens of unspecified origin.]
>I personally think that Alison's invention filled >a void that needed to be filled on this newsgroup, i.e., a shorthand >expression for the sort of miraculous intervention required to create certain >PODs.
In such cases, the world outside this newsgroup usually uses nursery rhymes like "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, every day would be Christmas". . .
In article <Pine.SOL.3.91.990414224329.18574B-100000@gemini>, Mike Ralls <mra...@willamette.edu> writes
>The Alien Space Bats have seemed to become a popular figure here on >SHWI. Anyone remember how they got started?
Guilty, m'lud.
Some bright spark had postulated that Sealion was a breeze by a single change (I forget what). I responded, outlining some of the problems, and concluded that a single point change required to get a workable Sealion was along the lines of Alien Space Bats.
Charlie Stross wrote: >ObWI: George Bush's outbreak of stomach 'flu in Japan, in, was it 1990 >or 1991?
>Let's make it full-blown food poisoning. Say, the fugu chef got it wrong >and the sushi is, er, terminal.
>All of a sudden, the leader of the free world is a man who can't spell >"potato" and thinks there are canals on Mars.
>How does President Quayle respond to the trade problem with Japan and >the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait?
We revert to government by staff, much like the Baker administration of Reagan's second term.
Hm. Bush could put together a coalition; Quayle... I have grave doubts. Questions of intelligence aside, it's fairly obvious that he had no geopolitical savvy whatsoever.
Colin Alberts wrote: > I personally think that Alison's invention filled > a void that needed to be filled on this newsgroup, i.e., a shorthand > expression for the sort of miraculous intervention required to create certain > PODs.
Unfortunately, though, ASB's have become the deus ex machina of this newsgroup. Their meaning has been distorted from their original intention so that too many lazy posters use ASBs to prop up implausible histories. (The infamous "well, I can't think up a POD for this what-if, so let's just say ASBs arrive and ..."). And to think ASBs were meant as a mockery of this very type of posting. Alison must be spinning in her chair as she reads those postings ;-)
> >I personally think that Alison's invention filled > >a void that needed to be filled on this newsgroup, i.e., a shorthand > >expression for the sort of miraculous intervention required to create certain > >PODs.
> In such cases, the world outside this newsgroup usually uses nursery rhymes like > "If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, every day would be Christmas". . .
World outside this newsgroup? Blasphemy I tell you, Blasphemy!
- Stephen "I've been busy and only had 14 read messages in the NG today" Lazer
>Colin Alberts wrote: >> I personally think that Alison's invention filled >> a void that needed to be filled on this newsgroup, i.e., a shorthand >> expression for the sort of miraculous intervention required to create certain >> PODs.
>Unfortunately, though, ASB's have become the deus ex machina of this >newsgroup. Their meaning has been distorted from their original >intention so that too many lazy posters use ASBs to prop up implausible >histories. (The infamous "well, I can't think up a POD for this what-if, >so let's just say ASBs arrive and ..."). And to think ASBs were meant as >a mockery of this very type of posting. Alison must be spinning in her >chair as she reads those postings ;-)
ASBs should be used either as a means of mockery, or as a means of humour. They are the equivalent of a Deus Ex Machina.
To put it another way, how does one react to a story which goes: "And then through miraculous divine intervention, this happens." Bit of a giveaway to a weak point in the plot, no?
Some people don't mind weak points, some do. I, for one, do appreciate someone saying: "I know this is a question that I can't answer, so I'm not going to try." Sometimes, inventive minds can come up with solutions to the apparently insoluble.
But, in principle, the ASBs should be a rare, shadowy menace, lurking and waiting to feast on the blood of insipid and weak and ill-thought out timelines. They are not, by nature, a species that lives in the daylight taking prominent roles.
Oh, and isn't Deus ex Machina a sort of miraculous intervention?
> In article <3717BD6B.CBFCB...@sprint.ca>, Jair <j...@sprint.ca> writes
> >Colin Alberts wrote: > >> I personally think that Alison's invention filled > >> a void that needed to be filled on this newsgroup, i.e., a shorthand > >> expression for the sort of miraculous intervention required to create certain > >> PODs.
> >Unfortunately, though, ASB's have become the deus ex machina of this > >newsgroup. Their meaning has been distorted from their original > >intention so that too many lazy posters use ASBs to prop up implausible > >histories. (The infamous "well, I can't think up a POD for this what-if, > >so let's just say ASBs arrive and ..."). And to think ASBs were meant as > >a mockery of this very type of posting. Alison must be spinning in her > >chair as she reads those postings ;-)
> ASBs should be used either as a means of mockery, or as a means of > humour. They are the equivalent of a Deus Ex Machina.
> To put it another way, how does one react to a story which goes: "And > then through miraculous divine intervention, this happens." Bit of a > giveaway to a weak point in the plot, no?
Could we combine the previous SHWI expression for deus et machina and have "vigorous arm-waving" summon the ASBs?
> ASBs should be used either as a means of mockery, or as a means of > humour. They are the equivalent of a Deus Ex Machina.
> To put it another way, how does one react to a story which goes: "And > then through miraculous divine intervention, this happens." Bit of a > giveaway to a weak point in the plot, no?
> Some people don't mind weak points, some do. I, for one, do appreciate > someone saying: "I know this is a question that I can't answer, so I'm > not going to try." Sometimes, inventive minds can come up with solutions > to the apparently insoluble.
Well, I don't mind that in principle if the question really has no easy solution. The problem is the majority of the time ASBs are frequently being invoked for lazy thinking, and not merely to solve insoluble questions. If you built your AH upon an ASB intervention, you're building it upon a very thin foundation indeed. The foundation of your AH is critical to the development of your timeline. "How the South won the ACW", for example, can be answered numerous ways, depending on how this victory came about, and invoking ASBs does nothing to answer these questions.
> But, in principle, the ASBs should be a rare, shadowy menace, lurking > and waiting to feast on the blood of insipid and weak and ill-thought > out timelines. They are not, by nature, a species that lives in the > daylight taking prominent roles.
Well, I do like ASBs as a concept, but like you said they should be maintained in the dark and used only as a last resort. Bringing ASB into your AH makes a mockery of your AH, something which some posters don't realize...
> Oh, and isn't Deus ex Machina a sort of miraculous intervention?
Jair <j...@sprint.ca> wrote: > Bringing ASB into > your AH makes a mockery of your AH, something which some posters don't > realize...
I don't think it makes it a mockery, it just admits that you know that this could never really happen, but still want to talke about what would happen if it did. I've used them twice, first turning the Moon into green cheese, and making everyone in the US healthy and young. Now, turning the moon into green cheese sounds really wacked up, and you wouldn't think people would take it seriously, but they did. It became (IMNSHO) a REALLY good thread. We had people talking about the physical aspects of cheese in a level of seriousness you don't always get on AH's. Go check out the Moon of Green Cheese thread on Deja-News. It's really interesting.
-- Mike Ralls
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> Could we combine the previous SHWI expression for deus et machina and have > "vigorous arm-waving" summon the ASBs?
*snarf*
This I like. Let's go with it. In order to summon the power of the ASBs (is it ASBs or ASB's?) one must perform this ritual.
"So, after Dictator Bob conquers Lichtenstien, he performs the sacred ritual of vigorous arm-waving. The Alien Space Bats come forth, and the World Liechtenstien Empire is formed."
-- Mike Ralls
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Alison Brooks wrote: > Some people don't mind weak points, some do. I, for one, do appreciate > someone saying: "I know this is a question that I can't answer, so I'm > not going to try." Sometimes, inventive minds can come up with solutions > to the apparently insoluble.
Well, it depends on the context. My example of looking at a POD two ways involves WW2. You can simultaneously show that Sealion is about as unlikely a successful operation as is possible to imagine, but just because you believe that doesn't mean that you can't comment on a timeline where, by some unspecified means, the remnants of the Royal Navy and members of the Royal Family escape to Canada after Hitler wins and sticks Edward back on the throne.
