CVL-Caledon Literary Group Transcript for 2019-03-14
Jeff Soesbe, The Very Difficult Diwali of Sub-Inspector Gurushankar Rajaram
| 16:53 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Hi Val :) |
| 16:53 | Valibrarian Gregg | hello! |
| 16:53 | Phrynne | hi Val |
| 16:53 | Valibrarian Gregg | Just reminded a few people :) |
| 16:53 | Valibrarian Gregg | Is there a notecard for the discussion this time? |
| 16:54 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | I just put it into the figurine. |
| 16:55 | Valibrarian Gregg | ty! |
| 16:55 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Not as thorough as normal -- spent most of the afternoon at the dentist. |
| 16:56 | Valibrarian Gregg | oh dear= sorry wordsmith! |
| 16:58 | Phrynne | hello Phred, Cal, Beth |
| 16:58 | Beth Ghostraven | Hello everyone! |
| 16:58 | Caladon Rae'thiel (saeldurrae) | Evening. |
| 17:00 | Valibrarian Gregg | hello all! good to see you |
| 17:00 | Beth Ghostraven | Hi Val! |
| 17:00 | Beth Ghostraven | I don't have a headset on, so I won't be able to hear anything |
| 17:00 | Valibrarian Gregg | /me forgot to dress in Caledon attire....we alternate CVL and Caledon sims :) |
| 17:00 | Beth Ghostraven | and naturally, I haven't done my homework... |
| 17:01 | Valibrarian Gregg | the story---- Access it here https://daybreakmagazine.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/the-very-difficult-diwali-of-sub-inspector-gurushankar-rajaram/ |
| 17:01 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | No problem, Val. Oxbridge is to an extent like a space port -- we see people from different times and places |
| 17:01 | Caladon Rae'thiel (saeldurrae) | Yep, we do. |
| 17:01 | Valibrarian Gregg | Wordsmith, will we use text since a couple of people do not have voice? |
| 17:02 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | And if in the rest of Caledon the roleplaying is llight. |
| 17:02 | Caladon Rae'thiel (saeldurrae) | I mean, I'm a time traveling Noldor Elf *laughs* |
| 17:02 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Welcome Bonnie. Hi Lia. |
| 17:02 | Valibrarian Gregg | Caledon was my first "go-to" spot in SL :) back in the day |
| 17:03 | Lia (tokyorii) | Hello Dean |
| 17:03 | Caladon Rae'thiel (saeldurrae) | And some of us wandered into Caledon, and never left. Well, I did, but came back. Heh. |
| 17:03 | Beth Ghostraven | Hello, Miss Lia! |
| 17:03 | Lia (tokyorii) | Hello Miss ghostraven! :D |
| 17:03 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Any announcements you'd like to make, Val |
| 17:04 | Valibrarian Gregg | Well....just glad to work together on this Literary Study- we alternate spots on the 2nd THURS of the month at 5pm |
| 17:04 | Valibrarian Gregg | also- the VWBPE 2019 Conference schedule is up! and The Community Virtual Library has quite a few presentations |
| 17:05 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | There's a brief guide notecard on the table and the story we are discussing is at https://daybreakmagazine.wordpress.com/2009/10/13/the-very-difficult-diwali-of-sub-inspector-gurushankar-rajaram/ |
| 17:05 | Beth Ghostraven | (here's the VWBPE schedule: https://vwbpe.org/conference/vwbpe-calendar) |
| 17:06 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Good, tie in as many connections as we can |
| 17:06 | Valibrarian Gregg | and CVL's https://communityvirtuallibrary.org/2019/03/13/cvl-participates-in-vwbpe-2019/ (The Dickens presentation will be changed to 10am SAT 4/6 |
| 17:07 | Beth Ghostraven | Hello again, Stranger! |
| 17:07 | Stranger Nightfire | hello Beth |
| 17:07 | Beth Ghostraven | Hello, Kami! It's so good to see you! |
| 17:08 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | And the guide notecard is in the figurine on the table |
| 17:09 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | I want to be clear that what I'm doing is more nudging the discussion, feel free to jump in if you want to bring up a point from the story. |
| 17:09 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | First Welcome all. |
| 17:09 | Beth Ghostraven | /me is reading the story as quickly as possible |
| 17:09 | Lia (tokyorii) | /me is doing the same |
| 17:10 | Kamilah Hauptmann | /me prepping dinner and just showed up unprepared. :) |
| 17:10 | Caladon Rae'thiel (saeldurrae) | Same, but showed up unprepared. Reading now. |
| 17:10 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | This month we go to near future India in the fall during the Diwali celebration (festival of lights) |
| 17:11 | Valibrarian Gregg | It was a fascinating story....and I was not really familiar with Bengalaru- a "megacity" with over ten million people |
| 17:11 | Beth Ghostraven | Is Diwali the festival during which people throw colored powder on each other? |
| 17:12 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | That I'm not sure about, although the story notes that the city is slowly going crazy. |
| 17:12 | Caladon Rae'thiel (saeldurrae) | That's Holi |
| 17:12 | Valibrarian Gregg | There is a festival of lights that takes place |
| 17:12 | Beth Ghostraven | thank you, Mr. Rae'thiel |
| 17:13 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | We join Sub-Inspector Gurushankar Rajaram in his one-person copter to start the story. |
| 17:14 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | What about his patrolling immediately makes this science fiction? |
| 17:14 | Valibrarian Gregg | Apparently Bengalaru is super high-tech- so a good setting for this |
| 17:14 | Beth Ghostraven | the unicopter? |
| 17:14 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Not so much that. How does he know where to go? |
| 17:15 | Phrynne | SHIVA net? |
| 17:15 | Valibrarian Gregg | special algorithmic locators? |
| 17:15 | Beth Ghostraven | autopilot? |
| 17:16 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Yes, an array of sensors plus AI that uses probability algorithms (he mentions Bayesian) |
| 17:16 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | That barrages him with notices. |
| 17:17 | Valibrarian Gregg | I had never heard of a unicopter....but found this https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12206-018-0440-1 |
| 17:17 | Lia (tokyorii) | I unfortunately have to go, I will return if I can. Thank you |
| 17:17 | Beth Ghostraven | take care, Miss Lia! |
| 17:17 | Phred (phred420) | i read gyrocopter for that |
| 17:17 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | tc Lia thanks for dropping by. |
| 17:17 | Beth Ghostraven | Hi Andrea! |
| 17:19 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | There's nothing beyond today's likely technology in the copter itself., given drones and light-weights. |
| 17:20 | Valibrarian Gregg | so- the sci-fi element is more the technology that inputs where he is to go |
| 17:20 | Valibrarian Gregg | the probable threats etc |
| 17:20 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | We don't just have the Diwali celebration. There's another event occurring at the same time. |
| 17:20 | Beth Ghostraven | the anniversary of Dev's death |
| 17:21 | Valibrarian Gregg | yes- the anniversary of Dev Khan's death--- the celebrity so loved |
| 17:21 | Valibrarian Gregg | Some ignorant Western commentators referred to Dev Kapoor Khan as “The Indian Elvis”, but that was an insult to Khan and gave Elvis way too much credit. (nice sentence) |
| 17:21 | Stranger Nightfire | probable threats -- scary thought |
| 17:21 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Yes, at least at the beginning of the story, Val. Not so far in the future but not there yet. |
| 17:21 | Phred (phred420) | police detectives are still fat |
| 17:22 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | They don't get enough walking these days. |
| 17:22 | Valibrarian Gregg | Dev Khan was a tireless social activist who brought attention to the plight of the underprivileged, speaking against the unfair treatment of citizens in the rural and farming communities... a sort of superhero! movie star |
| 17:23 | Stranger Nightfire | /me is very leery of where the surveillance state and AI and the internet of things et all is taking us |
| 17:23 | Valibrarian Gregg | good point Stranger....our every move is already tracked |
| 17:23 | Valibrarian Gregg | on our phones |
| 17:23 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Which is a particularly important aspect for this story, Val. Not just a star but an activist. |
| 17:25 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | SHIVA mistakes firecrackers for gunfire and sends high priority dispatches. We learn two things about SHIVA from that. |
| 17:25 | Valibrarian Gregg | current day superhero |
| 17:26 | Valibrarian Gregg | SHIVA intimidates? |
| 17:26 | Phrynne | SHIVA expects the worst |
| 17:26 | Beth Ghostraven | SHIVA makes mistakes about critical things |
| 17:27 | Valibrarian Gregg | SHIVA is "watching" |
| 17:27 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | And isn't able to discriminate between the sounds (#1) |
| 17:28 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | We learn that SHIVA is not just a remote system looking down. SHIVA can hear, which means local sensors. |
| 17:29 | Valibrarian Gregg | /me wonders if we are being listened to! |
| 17:29 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | And as Phrynne and Beth pointed out SHIVA makes mistakes erring on the side of the worst possibility. |
| 17:30 | Phred (phred420) | thats not how Bayesian inference is supposed to work |
| 17:30 | Valibrarian Gregg | oh- so that is what was meant by the firecrackers sounding too much like gunfire |
| 17:30 | Phred (phred420) | after several false alarms the next one is not as likely |
| 17:31 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Normally, but it would depend of the weightings given. |
| 17:31 | Phred (phred420) | Alexa order 1000 rolls of toilet paper. Confirm! |
| 17:32 | Phred (phred420) | nope, not listening |
| 17:32 | Phred (phred420) | on the other hand, "Hal, open the pod bay door" |
| 17:33 | Phred (phred420) | so we know the programming is faulty at this point |
| 17:33 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | What does "hm" mean to Raja, when his wife says it? |
| 17:33 | Beth Ghostraven | her disapproval of what he's saying |
| 17:34 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Yes, either disapproval or not taking it as having much credibility. |
| 17:34 | Valibrarian Gregg | The author did a good job of defining their relationship through that short dialog. |
| 17:35 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | With his stopping listening before a 3rd "hm" |
| 17:35 | Valibrarian Gregg | example: He didn’t want to reply because it was too early in the afternoon for a third “Hm”. |
| 17:35 | Valibrarian Gregg | yes! |
| 17:35 | Valibrarian Gregg | The crisis really took me by surprise! Elephants! |
| 17:35 | Valibrarian Gregg | This issue with the elephants has the potential to become a major problem. |
| 17:36 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Something over 120 elephants. |
| 17:36 | Beth Ghostraven | surprises keep unfolding in this story--most entertaining |
| 17:36 | Valibrarian Gregg | Massive grey bodies trampling through the brightly colored tents and stalls, hordes of panicked people crushing each other in an attempt to escape. (good description) |
| 17:37 | Valibrarian Gregg | The officials were going to bomb 'em! |
| 17:37 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | And quite plausible. |
| 17:37 | Valibrarian Gregg | with the Third Eye! |
| 17:38 | Beth Ghostraven | I wonder why it's called the Third Eye? I thought that was for enlightenment or something |
| 17:38 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Sounded more like an intense laser that would incinerate things. |
| 17:38 | Valibrarian Gregg | a powerful weapon--- Third Eye of SHIVA At full power, the Eye wide open, it could leave a smoking twenty-foot-wide crater in the ground. The Third Eye would pick off the elephants one by one until all that was left was blast pits and fragments of charred ivory tusks |
| 17:38 | Beth Ghostraven | oh, of SHIVA--the Destroyer of Worlds |
| 17:38 | Valibrarian Gregg | and what a surprise...leading the elephants is a young girl! |
| 17:39 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | And how does Raja know that the elephants are not just stampeding on their own? |
| 17:39 | Beth Ghostraven | their path |
| 17:40 | Valibrarian Gregg | She is leading all the orphans on the elephants! |
| 17:40 | Valibrarian Gregg | What a mix of culture- vivid imagery and sci-fi! |
| 17:40 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Yes, and the path has swerved and avoided villages along the way. |
| 17:41 | Valibrarian Gregg | and- as I read- I wondered....this was written digitally on a blog? not published in print, right? |
| 17:42 | Valibrarian Gregg | /me loves Stranger |
| 17:42 | Valibrarian Gregg | s |
| 17:42 | Valibrarian Gregg | avatar outfit! |
| 17:42 | Valibrarian Gregg | the numbers of pi are going up through the ceiling! on stranger |
| 17:42 | Phred (phred420) | i was reminded of the Inspector Ghote series |
| 17:42 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | I thought I recalled it having some award. |
| 17:43 | Valibrarian Gregg | https://jeffsoesbe.wordpress.com/about/ says nominated for a sciFI award |
| 17:43 | Valibrarian Gregg | WSFA small press award |
| 17:45 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | So a herd of elephants, driven by orphans, that the officials would as soon annihilate unless RaJa manages to stop the elephants. |
| 17:45 | Valibrarian Gregg | It was hilarious that the elephant shot a mango from his trunk which cracked the unicopter window! |
| 17:45 | Beth Ghostraven | yes! |
| 17:45 | Beth Ghostraven | and I like this: "Raja wished he hadn’t picked Diwali to quit drinking." |
| 17:45 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Yes, his copter was brought down by a barrage of mangos. |
| 17:46 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | As the stress climbs. |
| 17:46 | Phrynne | WSFA is Washington Science Fiction Association. Publishers nominate the stories they think are best for that award. |
| 17:46 | Valibrarian Gregg | hahaha yes Beth- like the "wrong day to quit smoking" in AIRPLANE |
| 17:46 | Beth Ghostraven | lol yes |
| 17:47 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Does anyone speak Jive? |
| 17:48 | Valibrarian Gregg | Officer Chaterjee helps Raja rescue the children- plan B |
| 17:48 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | So little time to stop the elephants. Strategy one is to disrupt and confuse them |
| 17:48 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | How? |
| 17:48 | Beth Ghostraven | monkeys |
| 17:48 | Phred (phred420) | tax forms |
| 17:48 | Valibrarian Gregg | One of my favorite scenes was the simulation of Dev Kahn! |
| 17:48 | Valibrarian Gregg | "The simulated Dev Khan smiled, then his gaze locked on Raja and a chill crawled up Raja’s spine. It looked so real. “Hello, Sub-Inspector Rajaram. It is very nice to meet you.” The voice and image were perfect, like the man himself was talking to Raja live and in person and across the five years of his death." |
| 17:49 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Very smart monkeys, but that wasn't sufficient and was endangering the monkeys. |
| 17:49 | Valibrarian Gregg | seems like we are close to being able to simulate actors from the past.....in movies, etc |
| 17:50 | Phred (phred420) | china has many tv AI presenters modeled on real people |
| 17:50 | Bonnie Pfeffer | were the monkeys genetically modified? It seemed weird that they had such high intelligence that they could organize a raid |
| 17:50 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | The second strategy was to have Dev Khan speak to the people and have them go out and support the children and elephants. |
| 17:51 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | I recall that they were high intelligence; not whether that was simply breeding or GMO |
| 17:52 | Beth Ghostraven | flying monkeys! |
| 17:52 | Beth Ghostraven | sorry, that's as far as I've gotten in the story so far |
| 17:52 | Valibrarian Gregg | just like the Wizard of Oz lol |
| 17:52 | Valibrarian Gregg | yes- and everyone LOVED Dev Khan so it was brilliant |
| 17:53 | Valibrarian Gregg | The author packed SO much into this short story....even a neatly wrapped up ending! Could actually make a movie of this....set in Bollywood ;) |
| 17:53 | Bonnie Pfeffer | bollywood jesus |
| 17:55 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | In someways, a very pragmatic story, but with unconventional thinking and very definitely a change in culture and environment. |
| 17:55 | Bonnie Pfeffer | the end where the little girl said, "You're my father now," was heart warming, but went a touch too far in believability |
| 17:56 | Beth Ghostraven | I like how Raja's wife recognized his writing style in Dev's simulated speech |
| 17:56 | Valibrarian Gregg | yes- I can agree to that Bonnie (and I suffer from low-sap tolerance) but somehow with the craziness of this story - it worked for me |
| 17:56 | Valibrarian Gregg | yes agree Beth |
| 17:57 | Bonnie Pfeffer | in the beginning, everything was going wrong in his life and in the end everything was perfect in his life. Enjoyable story, but touch too fairytale |
| 17:57 | Valibrarian Gregg | Great story pic, Wordsmith |
| 17:57 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | I liked that too Beth. Knowing who wrote the words. |
| 17:57 | Valibrarian Gregg | /me wonders if you have an idea yet for next month |
| 17:57 | Valibrarian Gregg | yes- it had a fairytale feel along with sci-fi! |
| 17:57 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Thanks, Val. |
| 17:58 | Beth Ghostraven | this was fun! thank you! |
| 17:58 | Phred (phred420) | he was still fat, but that was not mentioned |
| 17:58 | Beth Ghostraven | I"ve got to run |
| 17:58 | Valibrarian Gregg | Next month- on April 11 we will meet at the CVL campfire |
| 17:58 | Bonnie Pfeffer | yes a sci fi fairytale |
| 17:58 | Valibrarian Gregg | so mark 4/11!! 5pm |
| 17:58 | Beth Ghostraven | a Hero Tale |
| 17:58 | Valibrarian Gregg | Wordsmith--- you want to send the next story to me later? |
| 17:58 | Beth Ghostraven | good night! |
| 17:58 | Valibrarian Gregg | It will be right after the VWBPE conference- so we can spread the word there too |
| 17:58 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | I want to run one by you, Val see if you think it fits the group. |
| 17:59 | Phrynne | good night, Beth |
| 17:59 | Phred (phred420) | bye bye all |
| 17:59 | Caladon Rae'thiel (saeldurrae) | Good seeing you Beth! |
| 17:59 | Valibrarian Gregg | oh okay! sure...let me know what you have in mind |
| 17:59 | Valibrarian Gregg | We have a pretty wide range! |
| 17:59 | Caladon Rae'thiel (saeldurrae) | (Sorry, just finished the story.) |
| 18:00 | Valibrarian Gregg | fun right, Caladon!? |
| 18:00 | Caladon Rae'thiel (saeldurrae) | Quite. Little outlandish in a few parts, but well put together overall. |
| 18:01 | Wordsmith Jarvinen | Thanks for coming. Until next time. I'll be catching up and posting past transcripts. |
| 18:02 | Valibrarian Gregg | Getting the notecard for next month ready! |
| 18:02 | Caladon Rae'thiel (saeldurrae) | I'll head home then. Thanks for this. |
| 18:03 | Valibrarian Gregg | goodnight |
| 18:04 | Bonnie Pfeffer | night everyone |
| 18:05 | Valibrarian Gregg | bye for now! |
| 18:05 | Phrynne | bye for now |