THE MT VOID
09/02/22 -- Vol. 41, No. 10, Whole Number 2239

Co-Editor: Mark Leeper, mleeper@optonline.net
Co-Editor: Evelyn Leeper, eleeper@optonline.net
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Topics:
Excerpt from "Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil Travelog"
(Part 1) (travelogue by Mark Leeper)
BLADE RUNNER, Transliteration, Herodotus, and the Mt. Holz
Science Fiction Society (letter of comment
by John Hertz)
This Week's Reading (THE LAND OF LONG LOST FRIENDS,
HOW TO RAISE AN ELEPHANT) (book comments
by Evelyn C. Leeper)

===================================================================

TOPIC: Excerpt from "Colombia, Venezuela, and Brazil Travelog"
(Part 1) (travelogue by Mark Leeper)

2/17/01 Roxton Camp, Maple White Plateau

I woke up early as usual. I have had a hard time sleeping since
we got to Brazil. I guess I like it cool at night and it is hot
and humid. Back at the lodge they have air conditioning, but of
course you cannot air condition a tent. Evelyn was still
sleeping and I heard something that must have come to the river
to drink in the morning. It sounded big and heavy. I pulled on
my shirt, pants, and sandals and grabbed by camera but by the
time I got to the water there was nothing to film. I am not
sure what kind of animals we would get coming to drink. The
Orinoco is slow and particularly muddy on this stretch and I am
a little surprised that any animal can drink from it.

The Plateau is still about two hour's drive by jeep over what
they call roads here. It probably would have taken the
Challenger expedition something like three days to travel the
distance, but they were on foot for this last part. Even so it
is going to take a while. And the trip through the jungle on
that road, though not really boring, is lacking in a lot of
variety. Any animal who hears the jeep engine is long gone by
the time we drive by so the best we can hope for is seeing a few
birds, and then we have to look really quick. I imagine back in
Challenger's time there was a lot more to see.

A lot of nasty things come out of this jungle. We are just a
little way east of the Rio Negro. Ever read "Leiningen versus
the Ants" by Carl Stephenson? I haven't seen any big ants,
actually, but you do see smaller ones swarming over trees. I
don't know if they ever really get army ant swarms like the ones
Stephenson wrote about. Also the mosquitoes can be pretty bad.

Breakfast was scrambled eggs and fruit. There were a few pieces
of toast, but they were burnt. They eggs were watery. Even the
fruit which was good the last few days seemed a little overripe
and mushy. But still I was looking forward to the day. I mean
this is really the centerpiece of the whole trip. It doesn't
matter how many times you have seen pictures and films of live
dinosaurs, it is nothing like seeing the real things in front of
you. And we get only one day. Actually with the jeep ride to
and from the plateau and the cable ride up and down half the day
is taken up with that. Evelyn was saying that the Brazilian
government was going to build a small dormitory for travelers on
the top of the plateau, but the conservation people decided to
protest and the plans were quickly cancelled. Probably for the
best. There is only one Maple White Plateau. Only one place
that we can really see dinosaurs in their natural habitat left
alive. I don't want to see anything happen to them. We were
done and ready to go at 8:00, but the jeeps were late. Gil
won't be going with us. I guess he has seen the top and he
doesn't want to pay the ticket for a ride up and down. We pay
only one fee for the whole trip so do not see how much of it
goes for the trip up the plateau, but I take it the Brazilian
government gets a hefty chunk of change for everyone who goes up
to the plateau.

At about 8:20 the two jeeps pulled up and Gil packed three of us
in the back of each. There is a seat next to the driver, but I
guess they don't want to share the front with a tourist. Evelyn
and I got one jeep and Jim joined us. One of the couples has to
be split up for the trip. I guess Jim doesn't mind. Actually
since I will be working on my log it wouldn't bother me too much
to be split up from Evelyn. You might wonder how I can write in
my log on these--I hate to use the word "road"--wet sand traps.
With a palmtop the shaking doesn't stop my typing.

Anyway, I we have an Indian driving. We sit in the back. It is
not really comfortable, but we didn't come to Brazil for
comfort. I am going to see dinosaurs. Jeez. Just the thought
of it. Actually it shouldn't be so hard to see them. I mean if
the Brazil government would cooperate, they could clone them or
something. Of course that would end their monopoly. I guess
when you discover something like the Maple White Plateau in your
own country you want to milk as much from it as you can. Brazil
does not have that many big moneymaker industries. I guess let
them benefit as much as they can from the one thing they have
that nobody else in the world has.

The drive through the jungle was long and hot and dull. It was
about 10:15 when Evelyn tapped my leg. Just over the trees you
could see the Maple White Plateau. It looked like a lot of rock
and not much green at he top. I was hoping to see a pterodactyl
or two flying over. No such luck. It just looked like a lot of
rock. I have to try and find out why this rock is like this. I
mean geologically. It all looked like it was one piece from
here. Actually it was all one piece at one time in its past.
The Summerlee Column broke off as cleavage at one point. It
looks like the only place that the rock was climbable and it
broke off. That was how Challenger got up. He climbed
Summerlee Column and used a tree to cross over to the main part
of the plateau. That was also how he got stuck up there. I
guess it is kind of pointless looking for where the tree fell.
Everything is just so big.

I asked the driver if we would be seeing "Curupuri." He thought
that it was very funny that I used that word and he didn't tell
me anything. Everybody back home knows the dinosaurs are called
Curupuri and that is what the Indians call them. This guy had
never even heard of the name. If the Indians don't call them
Curupuri, who does? Where did we get that name for them? It is
hard to know how much of this is publicity and how much is real.
Anyway now the driver thinks that I am some sort of a jerk.
Honestly, Curupuri is supposed to be the Indian name for the
dinosaurs. I don't think the drivers think very much of the
tourists.

[to be continued next week]

[-mrl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: BLADE RUNNER, Transliteration, Herodotus, and the Mt. Holz
Science Fiction Society (letter of comment by John Hertz)

In response to Mark's comments on BLADE RUNNER in the 06/10/22
issue of the MT VOID, John Hertz writes:

In MT VOID 2227, Vol. 40, no. 50, 10 Jun 22, I concur in Mark's
note on BLADE RUNNER (R. Scott dir., U.S. theatrical version 1982),
"Scott ... seems to revel in unpleasant images."

In response to Evelyn's comments on Herodotus in the 06/17/22
issue, John writes:

In MT VOID 2228, Vol. 40, no. 51, 17 Jun 22, Evelyn may not be
quite fair to Herodotus. He was of the school holding that, as
Montaigne put it (ESSAYS Bl. 3 ch. 8 [1595]; J. M. Cohen tr. 1958;
Penguin ed'n 1993 p. 310), "all good historians ... among matters
of public interest [let] popular opinions and rumors have their
place." Montaigne quotes Quintus Curtius IX:1, "Truly I write down
more than I believe, for I can never affirm what I doubt, nor
suppress what I have heard", and Livy I, preface, & VIII:vi, "It is
not worth while either affirming or refuting these things. One
must stick to the report." We now are not thus satisfied.

In response to Evelyn's comments on transliteration in the 07/01/22
issue, John writes:

Transliteration [MT VOID 2230, Vol. 41, no. 1, 1 Jul 22] is, in the
old saying, an art, science, or mystery--even though "mystery"
didn't mean then what it does today. A woman I used to know said,
"A good transliteration is perfectly clear, and allows the reader
to pronounce the transliterated expression without error or
difficulty, if the reader already knows the language being
transliterated."

And in a meta-comment, John writes:

Although that [07/01/22] issue of the MT VOID says, "we have
dropped the 'Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society' from our header",
the copy I received still shows it. I am reliably informed MT VOID
2231, Vol. 41, No. 2, 8 Jul 22 has it too--not that I mind. [-jh]

Evelyn responds:

I had dropped the 'Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society' in the
template of the text version, but forgot to do so in the HTML (and
hence PDF) versions until MT VOID 2233 (the 22 Jul 22 issue).
[-ecl]

===================================================================

TOPIC: This Week's Reading (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

I caught up on the "No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" series by
Alexander McCall Smith with TO THE LAND OF LONG LOST FRIENDS
(Anchor, ISBN 978-0-525-56427-0) and HOW TO RAISE AN ELEPHANT
(Anchor, ISBN 978-0-593-31095-3). McCall Smith is trying to be
more in tune with present trends, but seems mildly uncomfortable
with this. For example, in a discussion of men having many
girlfriends, there is mention of men who don't like "ladies".
(McCall Smith often has his characters speak of "ladies" rather
than "women"--not surprising, given the name of the agency, I
suppose.) Mma Makutsi thinks this is unfair of them because this
means some women won't find men. The idea that some "ladies" don't
like men apparently doesn't occur to her, and none of these men
ever seem to be a character in one of the books. (In Botswana,
homosexuality and homosexual acts are legal, as is gender-affirming
treatment, and discrimination on the basis of either is prohibited.

(However, gay marriage and adoptions by gay partners are not
recognized.)

There is perhaps less detection in these books than earlier ones,
and more personal problems. There are also long passages about
rain, and cattle, and whether men should cook, and how various
interpersonal relationships should be handled. On the whole these
repeat similar passages from earlier in the series, but this one
spoken by a math teacher was new, and really resonated with Mark's
experience:

"I like it when I get through to some of the kids. Maybe a child
who has not been doing well ..., and then you show them that they
can actually do mathematics rather well, and then you see their
face light up and you know that you've gotten through to them That
is a very special moment. ... I had a boy, fourteen, maybe
fifteen; he was not doing very well in my mathematics class, an so
I gave him some extra time in the afternoon. [description of how
his problem was a father who kept telling him he was stupid, and
how the teacher countered that] He started to do very well,
..Mma. He has gone off now to do a degree in mathematics. He
wants to be an actuary."

(And speaking of current attitudes, "wokeness", and all that stuff,
did you even notice that McCall Smith used the plural pronouns
"they", "them", and "their" for a single individual?)

[-ecl]

===================================================================

Mark Leeper
mleeper@optonline.net


There's a fine line between a numerator and a denominator.
Only a fraction of people will find this funny.
--unknown

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