A question about SF 68

Included with the radio plays are the ads that ran in each episode. These are for a brand of enzyme-based washing powder called Biotex (a brand that seems to still be in business today, owned by Unilever). Aside from being charmingly quaint, the ads make me wonder who exactly the target audience for SF 68 was supposed to be.

Alien Worlds was backed by a candy bar company while X Minus One was sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon and E-Series Bonds.

A bit of Americana I'd never heard of before

This was run the day after Thanksgiving 1960.

Christopher Priest's Lice in the Locks of Literature

In which Priest reminisces about Robert McCrum's early days at Faber.

An interesting development

Toni Weisskopf has posted a series of messages to the Baen Bar indicating major changes in the offing for the Baen Ebooks (nee Webscriptions) store. Baen is finally on the verge of getting its titles placed directly into Amazon (and is negotiating with others such as Barnes & Noble, etc.) The problem is, that comes with pesky contractual obligations.

SF 68: Homecoming (Based on a story by Arthur Sellings

Homecoming

Unfortunately the sound quality on this episode was not great and I could not follow a lot of the dialogue.

A man wakes from what he is told was a long coma following an accident. Aided by his wife, he does his best to fit back into society but it becomes clear what he has been told cannot be the truth. This, of course, leads to a surprising revelation about what is really gong on.

And it really was a suprise revelation because while there are elements of horror to the fellow's predicament, his hosts are in fact rather benevolent and willing to put in a surprising amount of effort on behalf of a stranger.

I am not familiar with Arthur Sellings' fiction but I am tempted to keep an eye out for more. A short piece on him may be found here.

Today's lesson

Check opaque water container for biofilms before drinking from it.

In much the same way butchers do not ask the cows how they feel about flank steak

SAN FRANCISCO -- Facebookhas made it official: Its users will no longer get a vote in how the giant social network handles their personal information.

And the votes that they did cast over the past week rejecting Facebook's proposed changes to privacy policies will not count. Facebook said Tuesday it has already adopted the policy changes.

The numbers are in!

The results of The Nielsen Company's market research for DC Comics that surveyed "New 52" readers were released at ComicsPro's Dallas meeting yesterday and well... there's not much that's brave or bold about them. ICv2 reports that 70 percent of the survey's 5,336 respondents were already fans, with only 5 percent completely new to buying comics, and 93% were male. What's more, only an estimated 2 percent were younger than 18 years old. The results are troubling, and raise serious questions about DC's ability to expand their audience base, and the accessibility of their content to both women and younger readers.

No No No No No

NO.

My idea for a Superman revamp

Based on how the Jonathan Kents from Smallville and the new trailer

fear what will happen if Kal El uses his powers in public (esp his reply to Kal El's "What was I supposed to do? Let them die?"):

A Kal El is adopted by a Jonathan Kent whose working model for how to manage kids from another race and culture who come under one's mentorship is based on how the Canadian Indian residential school system handled issues like language and religion. And so, Jonathan sets out to beat the Kryptonian out of Clark Kent.

Sad

I thought I found another archive of SF 68 episodes but it was just a list of mp3 titles.