Recent content by IanBertram

No source mentioned on the Wikipedia talk pages either. I do wonder, though. Why should a neologism be created using Gaelic in 1919. It seems unlikely. I would have expected Greek or Latin at that time. According to Google Translate Dux Avis - Latin Αρχηγός πουλί (Archigós poulí) - Greek -...

Some of the ranks considered for use when the RAF was set up are interesting. Under this proposal the names were to have been: ensign, lieutenant, flight leader, squadron leader, reeve, banneret, fourth ardian, third ardian, second ardian, ardian and air marshal. A further proposal was: ensign...

My favourite is The Great Explosion, which, much like Foundation, is really a collection of short stories, but great fun nevertheless.

I've not seen the film, but from what I've read, it never occurred to me to think of it as AH. It seemed more a commentary on the extreme polarisation of US politics. The author of Prophet Song, by Paul Lynch, about the descent of modern Ireland into civil war and repression, has apparently...

I think you are right. As I said, my original post was about alternatives to the PC as a piece of hardware, which back then ran some variety of DOS, where the BBC and the Amiga were streets ahead. Early versions of Windows were really just a fancy front end for MS-DOS, and it took three versions...

Of course - I was thinking of an alt-PC not the company which designed it.

Only in the UK, given its key role in school IT teaching. (I sold mine to the local secondary school. I still have the Amiga which replaced it) Even then, not in terms of the technology employed. I don't know if it's changed, but after the demise of the BBC micro, school IT lessons seemed to be...

The Amiga 500, the BBC Micro and perhaps the Sinclair Spectrum had the potential to develop into an alternative to the PC with MSDOS. The BBC in particular was very flexible with the ability to run parallel boards accessible by the *command. Mine had a Word processor accessed that way. The Amiga...

It's hard to pin down, but I think I know what you mean. Good writing has a spring in its step, and this doesn't always succeed in getting there. I sympathise - I'm on the point of rewriting 80,000 words because what I've written has that same problem of being just too heavy footed to work properly.

Yes, but transportees provided much of the labour force involved in opening up the country to European farming and settlement. Without that free labour force what would happen?

Did I read somewhere that they tried to develop some sort of analog computers rather than the binary at the hear of modern systems? Or was that a myth?

As far as I can see, free settlers and convicts arrived in very roughly the same numbers up to the middle of the 19th century. Without transportation the development of the country would have been very different.

Transportation to Australia, began as an alternative to North America once that option became unavailable. In a world where Britain somehow retains all or even most of British North America, as here for example, what are the implications for Australia? Does Britain lose interest? Would other...

Definitely. I tend to start with a broad idea, and just write until I run out of steam. Only then do I start planning. That's when certain characters can start to take on a life of their own, becoming 'real' people, not just vehicles for the story. An example is Cassie in my current TL, The...

In the latest episode of Foundation that I watched, Hari Seldon's home planet has a huge moon, within the planetary atmosphere.