Category: Culture

Posted on

IQ

If you like prog rock kind of music, Genesis, Moody Blues, King Crimson whatever, you may enjoy a band called IQ.

They started in the early 1980s and are still on the go, despite members coming and going.

Their last album, The Road of Bones, is, in my opinion, one of their best and is really enjoyable. Don’t be put off by long tracks, up to 20 minutes or more. Tuneful and multi-part epics.

IQ do regular concerts. They are popular in the UK, doing two concerts in London alone this year including their legendary Xmas bash, and on the continent, especially the Netherlands.

In September, they did a new album launch at the Islington Town Hall. The new disc, Resistance, is a double cd at a reasonable price. The concert was full (they have loyal fans) and I am sure they sold plenty of records.

For me, though, while there are great moments, it’s a bit unsatisfying and a let down from the last. Having listened to it several times, I still find the tracks somewhat unmemorable and none really stands out.

But you may enjoy it, so give it a listen.

Posted on

Science fiction

I love a good science fiction film, but there are things that always puzzle me. Here are a couple.

Why do doors on spacecraft nearly always open automatically? Are crewmen so lazy they cannot open a door?

Yes, I know it’s a lift really, but pictures of people walking through doors are not that interesting

The spacecraft we have had so far in realy have had a problem – weight. Every gram of excess weight needs more fuel. Most of the Saturn V rocket was designed to lift, well, itself. The payload was minute. Surely, excess weight for door opening motors would be avoided at all costs.

And have you noticed, when people want locked doors to open they shoot them with ray guns? And when they want them to lock, they shoot them with ray guns.

And what about transporters? They are amazing things. They are machines that take every molecule of an animate or inanimate object and transfer them instantly to another place where they are reassembled perfectly (except when the plot demands they are not working properly) without mixing them up.

The destination doesn’t even have to be another transporter machine. People just appear anyway (or disappear) from thin air. In fact, you can transport from one place without a transporter to another without a transporter. That’s a miracle.

And they must be so deadly accurate, to within the tiniest fraction of an atom. If a person is being transported onto a surface and is just a little bit too low, their molecules will meld with the molecules of the floor and they will be stuck. Too high above the surface and they will fall the last distance and possibly be hurt.