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So, Daylight Savings Time starts earlier this year and goes on for longer. I'm glad. These days, the sun is well up by the time I'm exiting my apartment at 7 AM, but has set when I get home twelve hours later. I'd rather have more sunlight at the time when my activity level is higher: in the early evening. When I left for work this morning the temperature was about 12F, the low for the day. Tomorrow the high temp is supposed to exceed 50F. I hope it does.
During the past couple days I seem to be coming out somewhat of the funk I've been in for a few weeks.
I have just read an interesting short story by Lewis Padgett (pen name for husband and wife collaborators Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore). The story is "Mimsy were the Borogroves," and its entire text can be found here, albeit with the occasional typo. I got there from checking my local movie showtimes -- there's a movie that will be out soon, called "The Last Mimzy," which is based on this story. The brief description of the movie made me want to know the plot, and so I Googled a bit. (Judging from the trailer, the movie is very different from the short story and only has major aspects of the premise in common, not the plot.)
The story, including the ending, reminds me greatly of another science fiction short story I read many years ago concerning an incredibly intelligent little girl. The girl was the daughter of parents who were perhaps on a comparable genius-level as Einstein, Hawking, or Dirac. The girl referred to people of her parents' level of intelligence as "Tweens." She herself and others as smart as her were "Brights." Ordinary people were "Stupids." Kindergarten was mostly an exercise in acting/social engineering. Luckily for her, she had a Bright little boy for a playmate; they played hide-and-seek inside the articles in her parents' encyclopedia. One notable difference between that story and "Mimsy were the Borogroves" was that the Bright girl did not have any special toys to shape her intelligence: she was just born that way.
Naturally, I can't remember the author or title of that short story. I wish I had the recall to reference any story I've ever read. Turns out I've read a lot of noteworthy ones.
Edited To Add: The story I remember from before is called "Star, Bright" and was written by Mark Clifton. I probably read it in the collection Tomorrow's Children. Also, the text of "Mimsy" has been removed from the website I linked.
During the past couple days I seem to be coming out somewhat of the funk I've been in for a few weeks.
I have just read an interesting short story by Lewis Padgett (pen name for husband and wife collaborators Henry Kuttner and C.L. Moore). The story is "Mimsy were the Borogroves," and its entire text can be found here, albeit with the occasional typo. I got there from checking my local movie showtimes -- there's a movie that will be out soon, called "The Last Mimzy," which is based on this story. The brief description of the movie made me want to know the plot, and so I Googled a bit. (Judging from the trailer, the movie is very different from the short story and only has major aspects of the premise in common, not the plot.)
The story, including the ending, reminds me greatly of another science fiction short story I read many years ago concerning an incredibly intelligent little girl. The girl was the daughter of parents who were perhaps on a comparable genius-level as Einstein, Hawking, or Dirac. The girl referred to people of her parents' level of intelligence as "Tweens." She herself and others as smart as her were "Brights." Ordinary people were "Stupids." Kindergarten was mostly an exercise in acting/social engineering. Luckily for her, she had a Bright little boy for a playmate; they played hide-and-seek inside the articles in her parents' encyclopedia. One notable difference between that story and "Mimsy were the Borogroves" was that the Bright girl did not have any special toys to shape her intelligence: she was just born that way.
Naturally, I can't remember the author or title of that short story. I wish I had the recall to reference any story I've ever read. Turns out I've read a lot of noteworthy ones.
Edited To Add: The story I remember from before is called "Star, Bright" and was written by Mark Clifton. I probably read it in the collection Tomorrow's Children. Also, the text of "Mimsy" has been removed from the website I linked.
