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Excerpt From Arthur C. Clarke's Last Work
Ubuntukitten writes "The Telegraph is running an excerpt from Arthur C. Clarke's last work, called 'The Last Theorem.' Fellow writer Frederik Pohl helped out. It's a reassuring chunk of old-fashioned sci-fi, describing an Olympics that's set on the moon. Typically for Clarkian sci-fi, is very much about the practicalities of mounting a Lunar Olympics, rather than any wild fantasy." The excerpt's centerpiece is a trip to the moon that begins with a space elevator ride. The book will be published on Aug. 1.
Stud dogs go about the whole sex thing rather differently than primates (or equines). Unlike us, male canines don't have an orgasm that involves a short, intense ejaculation. Instead, once they have become fully erect, they will have a continuous orgasm for from 10 to 45 minutes or longer. The "standard" procedure for dogs, when they are mating, is that the male "ties" with the bitch - which means that, after he has penetrated fully, his penis will develop a knot at its base that is several times wider than the rest of his shaft.
For reference, a 80 pound Golden stud dog might have, let's say, a cock that is 7 or 8 inches long when erect - but his knot will be at least as big around as a tennis ball. This knot swells inside the bitch, and so long as he remains erect the dogs are "tied." No, this isn't painful for her - canine females long ago developed an entire set of muscular supports for this process. Generally, once they are tied, most stud dogs prefer to step off and over, so he and the bitch are tail-to-tail. Theories abound on why this evolved - I have yet to see one that was truly convincing. Anyway, they'll stand like this, with the male having a continuous orgasm during the whole tie - until he starts to shrink and they pop apart. Bitches also have orgasms, and she'll likely have quite a few during the tie, as well - research has shown that her orgasms are essential to increasing the chances of pregnancy, due to muscular contractions.
Anyway. if a guy like me has a stud dog partner, one form of intimacy is for him to tie with us, anally. As young teenagers, many of us learned the hard way about the knot, and the tie - particularly back in pre-interweb days. So we'd suddenly find ourselves locked together, with this tennis-ball width cock inside us. Nowadays, I suspect most young zoos know all about this. However, some folks still have eyes bigger than their stomach, err their you-know-what.
It would not be accurate to say that I have a stream of visitors who show up at my house just for sex with my canine partners. However, it is true that I do not exercise any sort of unilateral control/ownership over the relationships my canine boys might develop with other people - they are adults, and if they desire to get frisky with another two-legger and I judge that the person is respectful and unlikely to do anything mean or stupid, I have no moral ground on which to say "oh, no, you aren't allowed - he can only have sex with me." That just makes no sense, so if there's a time when a friend is visiting and there's a spark between them and one of my partners, I'm ok with that. In truth, I think it's great to have the boys' enjoy other positive relationships and I love to see them happy, whatever the circumstances.
Many years ago, a friend was visiting - a zoo who had been active with his own stud dog for quite a few years. His boy was a breed that is not small, but is also somewhat known by old-school zoos as being, well, on average not so well-endowed relative to their body size. This friend had tied with his partner on a number of occasions - and he often talked about how intense and rewarding the experience was, for both of them. That's great, I said - while thinking that he'd probably not fare so well with a larger breed.
As it turns out, he and one of my canine friends hit it off quite clearly right from the get-go - the chemistry was there and the two of them seemed like they'd known each other for ages. After several visits, I could see that they were sort of getting closer and closer - my friend was worried that I'd feel he was somehow intruding into my relationship with this handsome stud dog - who had been in my own family for close to a decade. Of course not, I told him - if you guys hit it off and things get steamy, I'd hardly throw cold water on it just so I can be all possessive and insecure. HOWEVER, I warned him, that handsome boy with whom you're making goo-goo eyes is much bigger than your own long-time partner.
I tried to be nice about this, but some zoos get the
Like you.
That man is scary-stunning-awesome. If you haven't already done so, go read "The Nine Billion Names of God".
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I'm sure that Arthur Clarke has written in other short stories about Lunar-based sports events...this story seems weirdly familiar.
Forget your stupid Olympics! I'm gonna make my own! With hookers! And blackjack! In fact, forget the Olympics!
F. Pohl is one of the great masters of SF, if you haven't heard of him go read 'the space merchants', then check when it was written...
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The IOC should take this seriously. The air quality on the moon is probably better than at Beijing.
*buh-dum-tish*
I'm here all night, please tip your waitress on the way out.
Well, that way, at least you don't need any protestors in case the moon cast its shadow on Tibet.
How can anyone trust ANYONE's writings if they have the initials "A.C."?
+1 IDisagreeSoHeMustBeATrollOrAnAstroturferOrAShill
ever heard of 'Childhood's End'? Its inspired by the theology of Teilhard de Chardin!
typically for 'clarkian' sci fi, does it reek of shameless self adoration? are the characters bland? im more of a p.k. dick, isaac asimov kinda guy. i admit to liking 2001 book 1 though (A.C.C.)
Is this supposed to be a metaphor for the relationship between Obama and the media? I hope so, otherwise you have some serious issues.
Don't be so sure. 2pac is still bangin' them out.
I record my sleeptalking
No, I'm New Here
= 1400 NetBSD hav3 the energy sure that by the Can connect to be forgotten in a lube or we sell
My understanding is that in terms of speed, a Skyhook would be not that much different from a rocket, that is, you would be traveling at above supersonic speeds. The leisurely trip described in the passage seems to me to be more like the conventional "climber" type of space elevator. Could a better informed /.er please clarify, preferably with some links or better yet a CG/CAD rendering of an Skyhook?
I'm a sci-fi vegan: I don't want the aliens to think we have as much right to live as the fried chickens we eat.
How can anyone trust ANYONE's writings if they have the initials "A.C."?
You're thinking, no doubt, of Anonymous Coward - but let's not forget the other great ACs of the world!
There's Armored Core, with its warring corporations and mercenaries in their robots
There's A.C. Moore, when you need to buy some craft stuff
There's Art Carney, of "Honeymooners" fame
There's Alternating Current, which makes it easier to transmit electricity over long distances or change its voltage level
There's Air Conditioning, which is great on a hot day
There's AC/DC, who at one point were away but later were back in black...
There's Adam Corolla, who was funny on "The Man Show"
There's Ann Coulter, who is an obnoxious asshat (I guess your comment is valid with respect to her)
And don't forget good old "After Colony", the era of "Gundam Wing"!
So let's remember the good ACs of the world, too, shall we?
Bow-ties are cool.
At least it'll be a little easier to breathe than in Beijing
That'd be "Clarke", not "Clark". But, you know, w/e.
was one of the earliest books I read. It is a collection of short stories by Clarke, and a superb example of his brilliant imagination. If you can find a copy, please give it a chance.
Wow, the last work from the inventor of satellite communications, and an alleged pedarest.
I'm perplexed what is more important.
Abusing little kids or inventing technology?
Not a wild fantasy? That's why we call it science fiction, or SF, instead of "stuff we just make up". Welcome to SF as it was before the mass market publishers and anime came along. It used to be a bit more rigorous.
Sorry for the threadjack, jsut thought his fans might be interested David Fincher (Se7en, Alien 3, Fight Club, Panic Room) is directing and Morgan Freeman is starring. http://www.revelationsent.com/site/projects/in_development/rama.html
"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it is too dark to read." -Groucho Marx
I hope Pohl gets to see "Wall-E." It's the kind of satirical SF that he and Cyril Kornbluth wrote in the 1950s.
Pohl wrote what is possibly the first story about "transhumans," and which also hinted at the Singularity: "Day Million."
"Here may be found the last words of Arthur C. Clarke. He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the holy grail in the Castle of Aaauuuggghhh..."
-- I have monkeys in my pants.
Allegation is not proof. The allegations in question were made by an irresponsible journalist, investigated by the Sri Lankan authorities, and found to be totally without merit. The newspaper in question apologized.
...laura
Not nearly as inspirational as "The Last Lecture."
And he died after writing it, right?
People need to stop naming their things "The Last" whatever and then dying over it.
I mean, come on.
By four Americans, in 1966. Isaacs, Vine, Bradner and Bachus.
We should charge the world copyright fees for using all of our ideas...
The space elevator may not be practical, since experts are unsure if its riders could stand the music long enough to reach the top.
Great time to be an IOC member. Prospective host countries always sponsor boozy sex romps to their homes for the decision makers.
I think that the Moon folks have been planning this for a while. Just look at one of their "Teaser" advertisements for the Moon as the optimal location for the Olympics:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nude_on_the_Moon
Hey, a free trip to the Moon for the IOC!
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
He's was a very very very bright person, and very knowledgeable about science but he got the idea of the balloonist very wrong. Yes, on the moon you weight about 6 times less than on earth, but the buoyancy force on the balloon which keeps you afloat is exactly equal to the weight of the displaced air. This means this force is also 6 times less (for a given volume), hence you cannot get away with using a small balloon. In fact, in the article he mentions that the air pressure on the tubes was 1/2 of that at sea level on earth (at a higher concentration of O2 vs. N2, but these two molecules have similar weights). All in all, you'd probably need a balloon with a volume about 2x bigger on the moon than on earth. Sorry, I do not have the time to properly scale the weight of the skin of the balloon given its different size, but I will assume they can also use the "advanced C60 nanotubes" (whatever that might be) to make it really light. Overall a nice and interesting story, even more so to find that even a genius like ACC can make mistakes!
"The results of the Triple Jump are finally available and the medals will finally be distributed tomorrow, just two weeks after the closing ceremony. None of the bodies of the pole-vaulting entrants have yet been recovered."
Leela: "Is all the work done by children?" Alien: "No, not the whipping."