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From: "Evelyn C. Leeper" <evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com>
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Subject: MT VOID, 04/25/25 -- Vol. 43, No. 43, Whole Number 2377
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THE MT VOID
04/25/25 -- Vol. 43, No. 43, Whole Number 2377

Editor: Evelyn Leeper, evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
All material is the opinion of the author and is copyrighted by
the author unless otherwise noted.
All comments sent or posted will be assumed authorized for
inclusion unless otherwise noted.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send mail to
     evelynchimelisleeper@gmail.com
The latest issue is at <http://www.leepers.us/mtvoid/latest.htm>.
An index with links to the issues of the MT VOID since 1986 is at
<http://leepers.us/mtvoid/back_issues.htm>.

Topics:
         Middletown (NJ) Science Fiction Discussion Group
         Picks for Turner Classic Movies in March (comments
                by Evelyn C. Leeper)
         Gaia Imaging of Our Galaxy (link from Gregory Frederick)
         Strongest Evidence So Far of Extra-Terrestrial Life
                (link from Gregory Frederick)
         Have You Been Training AIs?
         STARS IN MY POCKET LIKE GRAINS OF SAND (letter of comment
                by Joe Karpierz)
         BRIDGERTON (and Initials) (letter of comment
                by Susan de Guardiola)
         This Week's Reading (MAROONED)
                (book comments by Evelyn C. Leeper)

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

TOPIC: Middletown (NJ) Science Fiction Discussion Group

May 1, 2025 CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND (1977) & novel by
      Steven Spielberg
<https://archive.org/details/closeencounterso0000unse_h6k2/mode/1up>

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

TOPIC: Picks for Turner Classic Movies in March (comments by
Evelyn C. Leeper)

Terry Frost, well-known Australian movie reviewer, recently had an
episode of his podcast ("Terry Talks Movies") titled "The Movies
That Best Capture the 2020s Zeitgeist" and the first on his list
was A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957).

Conveniently, Turner Classic Movies is running this twice in May;
here are Mark's comments from 2008:

Andy Griffith plays Lonesome Rhodes, a bum in a drunk tank who
gets a chance to perform on the radio.  He is amazingly popular
with his listeners and soon he is a media sensation.  As his
popularity builds he becomes aware of the political influence he
has over his audience and he makes himself the most powerful man
in the country.  The film is an entertaining essay in how the
public can be swayed and controlled.  This is a powerful film that
is timelier today than when it was made in 1957.  Directed by
controversial director Elia Kazan from a screenplay by Budd
Schulberg.  [-mrl]

And if it was timely then, it's definitely doubled down on
timeliness now.  [-ecl]

A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957), Wednesday,  May 7, 9:30 AM
A FACE IN THE CROWD (1957), Thursday,  May 29, 3:30 PM

Other films of interest (including a lot of classic Clint
Eastwood):

THURSDAY,  May 1
6:00 AM    The Green Pastures (1936)

FRIDAY,  May 2
8:00 PM    Poltergeist (1982)
10:15 PM    The Haunting (1963)

SATURDAY,  May 3
12:15 AM    Scanners (1981)
2:15 AM    Village of the Damned (1960)
4:00 AM    Children of the Damned (1964)

SUNDAY,  May 4
4:00 AM    The Thief of Bagdad (1940)

MONDAY,  May 5
12:30 AM    The Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926)
4:00 AM    Walkabout (1971)

THURSDAY,  May 8
11:15 AM    Cabin in the Sky (1943)

FRIDAY,  May 9
1:00 AM    High Plains Drifter (1973)
3:00 AM    Hang 'Em High (1968)
12:00 PM    The Woman in White (1948)

WEDNESDAY,  May 14
8:45 AM    Things to Come (1936)
10:30 AM    World Without End (1955)
2:00 PM    The World, the Flesh and the Devil (1959)
4:00 PM    Soylent Green (1973)
6:00 PM    Logan's Run (1975)

THURSDAY,  May 15
1:15 AM    Kwaidan (1965)

FRIDAY,  May 16
2:15 AM    A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

SATURDAY,  May 17
12:00 PM    Finian's Rainbow (1968)
10:00 PM    The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

TUESDAY,  May 27
10:00 PM    The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1968)
1:15 AM    The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)

WEDNESDAY,  May 28
11:15 AM    The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936)

FRIDAY,  May 30
8:00 PM    Field of Dreams (1989)

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

TOPIC: Gaia Imaging of Our Galaxy (link from Gregory Frederick)

Results of the Gaia spacecraft imaging effort to see our galaxy as
viewed from the outside.  This is what our galaxy looks like from
outside looking at it.  Image and article ate:

<https://www.esa.int/Science_Exploration/Space_Science/Gaia/
Gaia_creates_richest_star_map_of_our_Galaxy_and_beyond>

[-gf]

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

TOPIC: Strongest Evidence So Far of Extra-Terrestrial Life (link
from Gregory Frederick)

Gregory Frederick also reports:

Looks like scientists have again found evidence from the James
Webb telescope observing the atmosphere of an certain alien planet
of the chemical signature for a compound only found to be created
by a life-forms on our Earth.  This is still not proven with
6-sigma accuracy yet but the evidence is the strongest found so
far.  Article is listed below:

<https://www.yahoo.com/news/scientists-hail-strongest-evidence-far-
230523715.html>

[-gf]

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

TOPIC: Have You Been Training AIs? (link)

The Atlantic Monthly has a story, "Search LibGen, the
Pirated-Books Database That Meta Used to Train AI".  The story
itself is paywalled, but the ability to search the database to see
if you are in it is not:

<https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2025/03/
search-libgen-data-set/682094/>

(I am not in it.  Mark is, from his paper on the P-function
written fifty years ago.)

[-ecl]

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

TOPIC: STARS IN MY POCKET LIKE GRAINS OF SAND (letter of comment
by Joe Karpierz)

In response to Fred Lerner's comments on STARS IN MY POCKET LIKE
GRAINS OF SAND in the 04/18/25 issue of the MT VOID, Joe Karpierz
========== REMAINDER OF ARTICLE TRUNCATED ==========