Charles Ashbacher Reviews

 Review of Chasing Pluto, a NOVA DVD Five out of five stars Why Pluto is no longer a planet Until it was degraded to minor planet status in 2006, Pluto was considered a planet. However, with the discovery of many objects in the Kuiper belt, it became clear that there were an enormous number of objects that were of size similar to Pluto. This video covers two parallel tracks, the reclassification of Pluto and the history of the New Horizons spacecraft that flew by Pluto in July 2015.   The story is a fascinating one. The skills needed to send a small robotic spacecraft billions of miles and fly within thousands of miles of a planet are considerable. Furthermore, the engineering necessary to have that craft engage in significant data collection and transmit it back to Earth are amazing. So much data was collected that it took 16 months to transmit all of it back to Earth.   Some people are constantly bashing the federal government as being wasteful and incompetent...

 Review of Eagle Day: The Battle of Britain, by Richard Collier, ISBN 0785816003 Five out of five stars A true existential battle  There were so many battles in the Second World War that it is hard to justify the labeling of any single one as existential. Yet, the Battle of Britain or the air war over Britain in late 1940 was truly existential for the British Empire. For if the German air forces had been able to gain control of the air over the British coast facing France, the Germans could have launched an invasion.  People look back at the Allied invasion of Normandy with the massive force used to storm the beaches and think that the Germans would have had to use similar force to invade Britain. However, the defending Germans were well armed and fortified, In 1940, the British coast was not. Some areas were defended by little more than pitchforks, hunting shotguns and stout sticks.  Even with their limited naval means, the Germans could have made a strong run at it...

 Review of Desperate Siege: The Battle of Hong Kong, by Ted Ferguson Five out of five stars So weak, yet they battled hard  Looking back at the opening battles of World War II in Asia, it is amazing to see how ill-prepared the western outposts in Asia were for the invasions by the Japanese. Some of this was simple arrogance, many in the west, from the leaders down to the front-line troops, simply could not believe that the Japanese would dare challenge the west. They considered the Japanese forces to be low-caliber, effective against Chinese forces, but not against western troops.   This arrogance was quickly overthrown when the Japanese launched their attack against British held Hong Kong on December 8, 1941, a few hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Defended by second rate military units and hastily organized Home Guard forces, the British troops did reasonably well initially. Part of this was due to Japanese arrogance, they could not understand why the opposit...

 Review of Big Bang Machine: Searching for the Hoggs Boson Particle, a NOVA video Five out of five stars Success in understanding the universe  While a lot is known about the universe and the particles that make it up, there is always something more over the horizon. A previously unknown item over the horizon was first postulated in 1964 and came to be known as the Higgs boson. If it could be proved to exist, that fact would fill a major hole in the understanding of how the state of having mass is attained.   Unfortunately, at the time the Higgs boson was first postulated, there was nothing that could create the incredibly high energies that could recreate them. Ten billion dollars was spent in creating the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland. After four decades of construction, the involvement of thousands of physicists and the creation of some ingenious detection techniques, it was announced in 2012 that the Higgs boson had been detected. This was a major ...

 Review of Born at the Battlefield of Gettysburg: An African-American Family Saga, by Harriette C. Rinaldi, ISBN 9781558763326 Four out of five stars One of the darker sides of slavery  The mother of Victor D. Chambers lived on both sides of the slavery issue. She was born to free black parents in Philadelphia and was kidnapped and sold into slavery on a Virginia plantation. She toiled there for 37 years before she escaped north, reaching the free state of Pennsylvania in the area of Gettysburg. She gave birth to her son Victor when the battle between the Union and Confederate forces took place. Hence the title of the book.  The most significant point of history related to the sordid practice of slavery was the lucrative practice of the kidnapping of young blacks in the free states to sell them into slavery in the slave states. While the actions of the brutal slave catchers receives some historical attention, the actions of the slave kidnappers are left out. Those men wer...

 Review of Biography: Amelia Earhart, DVD Five out of five stars A hero to many that vanished  Although Amelia Earhart has received nearly all of the publicity regarding early female pioneers in aviation, she was not the only one or even the best female pilot of the time. Growing up, she was what used to be called a “tomboy,” wearing male clothing and doing things generally reserved for boys. While those aspects of her early life are interesting, the most revealing aspects of this video deal with the publicity machine that surrounded her.   The flight that was billed as the first woman to fly the Atlantic was nothing more than a publicity stunt. While Earhart was indeed on the plane, in her own words she was, “little more than a sack of potatoes.” The men flew and navigated the plane. Yet, she was heralded as an international hero.   Earhart’s career as a flyer was managed by George P. Putnam, a publisher that later married Earhart. Putnam was famous as one...

 Review of Devil May Care: The New James Bond Novel, by Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming, ISBN 9780385524285 Four out of five stars Strong villain, a but weak in the good guy area  This continuation of the Bond saga by a writer other than Ian Fleming has the necessary precondition for a good Bond story, a powerful villain bent on world conquest and destruction. Dr. Julius Gorner is a brilliant chemist that has branched out into the area of opiate derivatives. Gorner is playing both sides of the legal fence, manufacturing and selling to legitimate medical interests as well as to the underworld.   Not content to simply being incredibly wealthy from his earnings, Gorner has a plan to dramatically extend his delivery of street opioids. He also has a pathological hatred for England, citing the British actions in China that are known to history as the “Opium Wars.” The British victory in those two wars meant that they could import addictive opium into China and reap...

 Review of An Agent in Place: The Wennerstrom Affair, by Thomas Whiteside, ISBN 0345303261 Five out of five stars A look inside Cold War espionage  Swedish Colonel Stig Wennerstrom served as Sweden’s Air Attache in Moscow and Washington shortly after the end of the Second World War when the Cold War was heating up. For fifteen years, he served as an agent of the Soviet Union, passing NATO secrets to his handlers controlled by Moscow. Eventually uncovered and arrested by the Swedish authorities, the first part of the book is his recollection of the events of his spying.   What comes across very clear is how easy it was for him to gain access to secrets, copy them via photos and then pass them to his Soviet handlers. While there were many hints of his being a Soviet agent and there were suspicions within the Swedish security services, it took years before they were able to gather enough evidence to arrest him.   The second and shorter section of the book is a...

 Review of PBS Home Video: The Great Transatlantic Cable, DVD Five out of five stars Diagram of a world-changing event  In the modern world of near worldwide Internet access and near instantaneous communication, it is easy to forget the first such communication revolution. In the 1830’s, Professor Samual Morse developed the concept of using electricity to send messages over wires. The mechanism was the use of dots and dashes that could be interpreted as alphanumeric characters. Just as significant, he invented the Morse Code, which took advantage of the natural distribution of the appearance of letters. Shorter codes were used for the most commonly used letters. For example, the most common letter is “e” and a single dot represents it in Morse Code. This compression technique is still used in compression tactics for storing data in computers.   The incredible efficiency of telegraphy over the fastest transmission of letters led to a very quick development of telegrap...

 Review of Wings of Madness, Nova DVD Five out of five stars The unknown history of aviation  Through the course of my life, I have read hundreds of books in the area of science and technology. Those books cover all areas, and many dealt with the history of technological progress. Yet, until I viewed this video I did not know the name of Alberto Santos-Dumont. He was the son of a wealthy Brazilian coffee magnate and so had a great deal of money available.   A boyhood dreamer about science fiction, Santos-Dumont grew very proficient in mechanical matters and once he reached adulthood, his obsession became flight. He was an incredibly brave and daring man and his first flights were in balloons. Santos-Dumont quickly grew bored with that as he wanted to fly devices that he could control.   His first endeavors in that area were dirigibles, lighter than air balloons that had a motor and steering apparatus. After some serious crashes, he managed to achieve a mile...

 Review of Billions and Billions: Thoughts on Life and Death at the Brink of the Millenium, by Carl Sagan, ISBN 0679411607 Five out of five stars Musings about the universe from a top intellect  While Carl Sagan is known for his high level involvement in space science and has written popular works in that area, this is not totally about space. Sagan has also written speculations on other areas of science, including the evolutionary development of human intelligence. Humans are the first living creatures that we know of that developed the capability to dramatically alter their environment and even destroy it.   Although this book was published in 1997, Sagan demonstrates an understanding of the evolution of climate change and the consequences that have and continue to take place. He covers the issues of ozone depletion, the consequences of even a limited nuclear war and the absurdity of the existence of  massive nuclear arsenals.   One of the chapters d...

 Review of  Return of the Living Dead: Rave to the Grave, DVD Two out of five stars A movie with two personalities  Since the main theme is that of zombies, this movie is fundamentally designed to be a horror movie. In that respect, it is a failure. Embedded within the plot are the actions of two men that try to act out the personalities of old Soviet KGB agents. They dress the part, speak with poor accents of Russian English speakers and try to inject a bit of humor into the movie. That also fails. There is also a weak attempt to titillate by showing a few scenes of young topless females. Twenty seconds or so of skin are not enough to push this movie up to good.   The basic premise is that the U. S. government has a secret project where they have created genuine, slimy zombies. There are three zombies in locked canisters complete with green slime. The uncle of one of the young main male characters has somehow acquired the cannisters and is trying to monetarily ...

 Review of Lost in Limehouse, a 1933 Sherlock Holmes parody Four out of five stars Hints of the three stooges  Although this short film appears British, it was actually produced in America in 1933. It is a parody of both the Sherlock Holmes and Fu Manchu characters. The title character is called Sheerluck Jones and it also utilizes the standard villain with a big mustache with a cackling laugh that is fond of spinning the ends of his mustache in his hand.   Intermixed with the blatant racist formula, much of the action reminds the viewer of the Three Stooges of Moe, Larry and Curly. Since the distinctive slapstick antics of the original stooges were developed in the 1920’s, it is very possible that they were an inspiration for this movie. There is also a mass fight in an opium den that would do justice to the saloon fights that were so common in later American westerns.   With over the top acting, strongly presented dialog and some physical expressions righ...

 Review of The Limejuice Mystery or Who Spat in Grandfather's Porridge?, short directed by Jack Harrison Three out of five stars Entertaining when originally shot  This 8 minute plus short is made up of a set of string puppets and is a parody of the Sherlock Holmes character. His name has been modified to Herlock Sholmes and the action opens inside a Chinese opium den. There is a fight, and some people are killed with a female dancer left alive.  The British police are called in and they are baffled, so they consult the great detective Herlock Sholmes and he agrees to investigate. With magnifying glass in hand, Herlock manages to avoid the knife wielding assailant until the police arrive.   Modern viewers will generally find the action of string puppets to be uninspiring, but this was no doubt great entertainment in the early years of television, it was produced in 1930. With as many as seven puppets on the screen at one time, there had to be a great deal of coo...

 Review of Sherlock Holmes: Fatal Hour, a 1931 film starring Arthur Wontner as Sherlock Holmes Four out of five stars Need to view it in historical context  Fans of Sherlock Holmes familiar with the later episodes starring Basil Rathbone will likely be disappointed with this movie. However, if  viewed in a historical context where the movie producers and actors were still learning their craft, it can be entertaining. One aspect of this movie is how physically close the actors sometimes are to each other.  The dialog is often delivered with a brusqueness that comes across as overbearing and the acting is frequently stiff.   This movie was released in 1931, when the players at all levels were still learning how to include dialog. The first movie with sound had been released in 1927, so the path to crisp and effective dialog was still unproven.   The plot is a simple one. A member of the British government is being blackmailed into transporting count...

 Review of Shadow Games, by Ed Gorman, ISBN 1857820312 Five out of five stars Several gruesome murders with several suspects  Cobey Daniels is a young star that seemingly has an incredible future. However, he has a deep and deadly dark side and when he is caught with a 14-year-old girl in what appears to have been a prelude to a murder, his career vaporizes. Daniels is also a person that will drink to the point of blacking out and while under the influence, he exhibits a tendency to homicidal violence. When he awakens, he has no memory of recent events.   Daniels appears to be clean and is in the process of regaining his star stature when he awakens from a blackout and finds a decapitated corpse where the head is in the refrigerator. With no memory of the incident, Daniels tries to manage the situation. Over the years since the incident with the 14-year-old, he has had the help of a male private problem solver and a female manager, the combination of which helps Dani...

  Review of I May Be Wrong, But I Doubt It, by Charles Barkley and Michael Wilbon, ISBN 037550883x Five out of five stars Honest opinions from an athlete   Charles Barkley has long been a rarity in the professional sports world. He is a superstar basketball player that is willing to state his opinions, even to the extent that it may diminish his reputation or reduce his income. This is in contrast to Michael Jordan, who refused to say anything considered controversial because, “Republicans buy sneakers too”   Barkley famously stated that he did not want to be a role model for young people, that parents and other adults in the lives of children should fill that role. It was not a statement declining responsibility, but a fact that a talented and famous athlete should not fill the role of a mentor to children that they really do not know.   Barkley expresses many strong opinions in this book, even to the point where he criticizes the ownership of the NBA t...

  Review of Under the Black Umbrella: Voices from Colonial Korea, 1910-1945 , by Hildi Kang, ISBN 9780801472701 Five out of five stars A look at the Japanese domination of Korea   As a consequence of the Japanese victories over China in 1894 and Russia in 1905, Japan gained full control over Korea and began treating it as part of the Japanese Empire. In behavior typical of colonial powers, the Japanese took control of most vital functions and economic operations while having a small number of Koreans in positions of authority. Policing of the country was carried out by local Korean police under the strong supervision of the Japanese. The colonial behaviors of the Japanese overlords were firmly in position by 1910, the time when the first events chronicled in this book took place. This book is a collection of oral histories related by Koreans that lived under the Japanese during the years from 1910 until the Japanese were defeated and removed in 1945. Many of the stor...

 Review of Brief Answers to the Big Questions, by Stephen Hawking, ISBN 9781984887269 Five out of five stars Folksy explanations to deep questions In this book noted astrophysicist Stephen Hawking deals with answering ten of the major questions about how the universe works and how humans relate to it. Those ten questions are: 1) Is there a God? 2) How did it all begin? 3) Is there other intelligent life in the universe? 4) Can we predict the future? 5) What is inside a black hole? 6) Is time travel possible? 7) Will we survive on Earth? 8) Should we colonize space? 9) Will artificial intelligence outsmart us? 10) How do we shape the future? Given wide range of these questions, some, such as “How did it all begin?’ can be answered with reasonable certainty. There was a sudden expansion called the “Big Bang,” but what came before that is currently unanswerable. The answer to “Should we colonize space?” is easy to answer in the affirmative. Throughout human history...