Rockets In Narnia! The Silver Chair Spoilers

westprog wrote:

> "Kurt Busiek" <kurtbusiek DeleteThis @aol.comics> wrote in message
> news:2005123109321150073-kurtbusiek@aolcomics...
> > > Would the
> > > Emerald Witch have used such rockets in the war to conquer Narnia?
>
> > Depends on how they work, how they're made, where they're useful and
> > what situations they're useful in -- see earlier discussions.
>
> I'm pretty sure that Lewis would have regarded this discussion - and most of
> the Tim Bruening discussion points - as completely crazy. The sewing machine
> and the lampost wear thrown in as picturesque anachronisms. Narnia doesn't
> have an economy, or a political philosophy, or even a climate. Gondor might
> be a different kettle of fish.

Never the less, he included the sewing machine, and we have a right to
extrapolate from the sewing machine to speculate about Narnian technology and
economics.

At least Lewis did explain the lamppost.

I wasn't the one who first mentioned the sewing machine anyway.

Narnia definitely has a climate! It was cold early in LWW, and much warmer
later on!
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Tim Bruening wrote:
> westprog wrote:
>
> > "Kurt Busiek" <kurtbusiek.TakeThisOut@aol.comics> wrote in message
> > news:2005123109321150073-kurtbusiek@aolcomics...
> > > > Would the
> > > > Emerald Witch have used such rockets in the war to conquer Narnia?
> >
> > > Depends on how they work, how they're made, where they're useful and
> > > what situations they're useful in -- see earlier discussions.
> >
> > I'm pretty sure that Lewis would have regarded this discussion - and most of
> > the Tim Bruening discussion points - as completely crazy. The sewing machine
> > and the lampost wear thrown in as picturesque anachronisms. Narnia doesn't
> > have an economy, or a political philosophy, or even a climate. Gondor might
> > be a different kettle of fish.
>
> Never the less, he included the sewing machine, and we have a right to
> extrapolate from the sewing machine to speculate about Narnian technology and
> economics.
>
> At least Lewis did explain the lamppost.
>
> I wasn't the one who first mentioned the sewing machine anyway.
>
> Narnia definitely has a climate! It was cold early in LWW, and much warmer
> later on!

More seriously... winter is normal. Permanent winter with no Christmas
is not.

Christmas, after all, represents - or /is/ - the Nativity.
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"Kurt Busiek" <kurtbusiek.RemoveThis@aol.comics> wrote in message
news:2005123111234127544-kurtbusiek@aolcomics...

> >>> Would the
> >>> Emerald Witch have used such rockets in the war to conquer Narnia?

> >> Depends on how they work, how they're made, where they're useful and
> >> what situations they're useful in -- see earlier discussions.

> > I'm pretty sure that Lewis would have regarded this discussion - and
most of
> > the Tim Bruening discussion points - as completely crazy.

> I agree!

I'm not saying that it isn't interesting to hear about how long Victorian
sewing machines might last. It just doesn't really have much to do with the
Narnia books.

J/
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Kurt Busiek <kurtbusiek RemoveThis @aol.comics> wrote in
news:2005123111234127544-kurtbusiek@aolcomics:

> On 2005-12-31 10:58:39 -0800, "westprog" <westprog RemoveThis @hotmail.com>
> said:
>...
>> I'm pretty sure that Lewis would have regarded this discussion
>> - and most of the Tim Bruening discussion points - as
>> completely crazy.

> I agree!

Though he might have found it amusing, at least in moderate doses.
A biographical documentary of Lewis that ran on some cable station
around when the movie came out (TiVo means never knowing where
something came from or when it ran, but I think it was called
"Beyond Narnia") dramatized his first meeting with his future wife,
Joy, and her sons. In it, she supposedly asked on the boys' behalf
where, given the hundred year winter, the Beavers had found the
food they'd served the children. Lewis replied that being beavers,
they fished through cracks in the ice. Joy asked if they'd fished
for the milk, butter, marmalade, beer, and tea as well. (I have no
idea if this was a real exchange, but FWIW they did interview
Douglas Gresham elsewhere in the program.)

Mike

--
Michael S. Schiffer, LHN, FCS
mschiffe RemoveThis @condor.depaul.edu
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"Michael S. Schiffer" wrote:

> Kurt Busiek <kurtbusiek DeleteThis @aol.comics> wrote in
> news:2005123111234127544-kurtbusiek@aolcomics:
>
> > On 2005-12-31 10:58:39 -0800, "westprog" <westprog DeleteThis @hotmail.com>
> > said:
> >...
> >> I'm pretty sure that Lewis would have regarded this discussion
> >> - and most of the Tim Bruening discussion points - as
> >> completely crazy.
>
> > I agree!
>
> Though he might have found it amusing, at least in moderate doses.
> A biographical documentary of Lewis that ran on some cable station
> around when the movie came out (TiVo means never knowing where
> something came from or when it ran, but I think it was called
> "Beyond Narnia") dramatized his first meeting with his future wife,
> Joy, and her sons. In it, she supposedly asked on the boys' behalf
> where, given the hundred year winter, the Beavers had found the
> food they'd served the children. Lewis replied that being beavers,
> they fished through cracks in the ice. Joy asked if they'd fished
> for the milk, butter, marmalade, beer, and tea as well. (I have no
> idea if this was a real exchange, but FWIW they did interview
> Douglas Gresham elsewhere in the program.)

What answer did Lewis give?
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Malcolm wrote:
> <rja.carnegie.RemoveThis@excite.com> wrote
> >
> > More seriously... winter is normal. Permanent winter with no Christmas
> > is not.
> >
> > Christmas, after all, represents - or /is/ - the Nativity.
> >
> The polar regions are in permanent winter.
> Of course they look nothing like temperate regions in winter.

Hmm... does Narnia's world have polar regions? Oh.... in _The Silver
Chair_ they head towards where you'd expect to find permafrost, yes.
And of course where does Father Christmas come /from/? However,
Narnia apparently expects winter and Christmas to come and to pass.
That's a climate, ain't it?
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rja.carnegie.RemoveThis@excite.com wrote:

> Malcolm wrote:
> > <rja.carnegie.RemoveThis@excite.com> wrote
> > >
> > > More seriously... winter is normal. Permanent winter with no Christmas
> > > is not.
> > >
> > > Christmas, after all, represents - or /is/ - the Nativity.
> > >
> > The polar regions are in permanent winter.
> > Of course they look nothing like temperate regions in winter.
>
> Hmm... does Narnia's world have polar regions? Oh.... in _The Silver
> Chair_ they head towards where you'd expect to find permafrost, yes.
> And of course where does Father Christmas come /from/? However,
> Narnia apparently expects winter and Christmas to come and to pass.
> That's a climate, ain't it?

Narnia is on a flat world, so why would there be seasons anyway?
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<rja.carnegie DeleteThis @excite.com> wrote
>
> More seriously... winter is normal. Permanent winter with no Christmas
> is not.
>
> Christmas, after all, represents - or /is/ - the Nativity.
>
The polar regions are in permanent winter.
Of course they look nothing like temperate regions in winter.
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rja.carnegie DeleteThis @excite.com writes:

> Hmm... does Narnia's world have polar regions?

No. Narnia is a flat world, so none of your geographic preconceptions
will fit.

--
Peter B. Juul, o.-.o
The RockBear. ((^))
I speak only 0}._.{0
for myself. O/ \O
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Tim Bruening <tsbrueni.DeleteThis@pop.dcn.davis.ca.us> writes:

> Narnia is on a flat world, so why would there be seasons anyway?

Magic.

--
Peter B. Juul, o.-.o "Yes," said Winnie-the-Pooh.
The RockBear. ((^)) "I see now," said Winnie-the-Pooh.
I speak only 0}._.{0 "I have been Foolish and Deluded," said he,
for myself. O/ \O "and I am a Bear of no Brain at All."
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Malcolm wrote:
> "Peter B. Juul" <p4 DeleteThis @enzym.rnd.uni-c.dk> wrote
> >
> >> Narnia is on a flat world, so why would there be seasons anyway?
> >
> > Magic.
> >
> Aslan created the seasons so that man could have familiarity and novelty at
> the same time, as Lewis argues elsewhere.

I've forgotten where it might be established that Narnia is a flat
world. It would imply that sailing ships technically never pass out of
sight of their home port unless there is other land in between, I think
- unless there's a trick for that.

As to how seasons may work, there are lots of ways - the sun gets
nearer or further away, or dimmer or brighter, or there's a periodic
change in the atmosphere... but maybe it should be specifically a
mechanism that involves Father Christmas coming to bring winter to an
end - strictly he arrives at the start of winter, I think, unless
you're in the southern hemisphere, which probably won't apply to a flat
world anyway, but you could still have a setup where if Father
Christmas hasn't come then winter never ends.

talk.origins, the newsgroup where creationists are allowed to dispute
with people who take the view of modern orthodox science on the
subject, gets into this more often than it should, given a Christian
flat-earth view is historically limited to about a dozen clerical
authors who never saw the sea, and Washington Irving. But apparently
there was a belief that the equator was unsurvivably hot so that you
couldn't live there. It was therefore also impossible for missionaries
to travel to the southern hemisphere, and so there could not be humans
living there, since God could not save their souls through Christ if
they didn't know about him. Weaknesses in this argument - including,
perhaps, Noah's Flood having put the fires out - need not be considered
here, but in such a world as that the question of Christmas in summer
would not arise.

Terry Pratchett's fictional Discworld revolves, being supported on the
back of four huge elephants on the back of a giant turtle, and gets
seasons that way... somehow; I suppose that each part of the Disc gets
a turn at being on the equator. But Narnia's world seems to be fixed
at the edges to other worlds, so it probably doesn't rotate?
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"Peter B. Juul" <p4 RemoveThis @enzym.rnd.uni-c.dk> wrote
>
>> Narnia is on a flat world, so why would there be seasons anyway?
>
> Magic.
>
Aslan created the seasons so that man could have familiarity and novelty at
the same time, as Lewis argues elsewhere.
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Malcolm wrote:

> "Peter B. Juul" <p4.TakeThisOut@enzym.rnd.uni-c.dk> wrote
> >
> >> Narnia is on a flat world, so why would there be seasons anyway?
> >
> > Magic.
> >
> Aslan created the seasons so that man could have familiarity and novelty at
> the same time, as Lewis argues elsewhere.

Novelty: A beverage drunk by books.
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