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"If we're going to be consistent and advocate freedom of speech we have to advocate freedom of encrypted speech too. The genie is out of the bottle, cryptologically."
- Neal Stephenson
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| Space-Tanned | ||
| The characteristic darkening of the men of the spaceways. |
As far as I know, this is the first use of this phrase.
| Hilary’s space-tanned features hardened; the light gray of his eyes darkened. |
| Technovelgy from Slaves of Mercury,
by Warren Hammond. Published by Astounding Stories in 1932 Additional resources -
|
If you find yourself present at a murder on a space ship, you might well be brought before the captain - a space veteran who has spent many hours gazing out the glassite windows of his ship, exposed to the ravening electromagnetic radiations of the spaceways. As in Edmond Hamilton's 1936 story Murder in the Void:
Half an hour later, in the captain's office, the veteran, space-tanned Venusian who was master of the Vulcan faced Rab Crane.
There is another illustrative use in Static, a short story by Kent Casey in May, 1938 Astounding:
Young shavetails* - hadn't even got a space tan yet - insisted on being chummy...
(For those who don't know, a "shavetail" is a newly minted second lieutenant, deriving for the word for a newly broken-in pack mule.)
Edmond Hamilton used a variant on this idea in his 1940 story Revolt on the Tenth World:
Jimmy Crane’s voice was hoarse with passion, his worn, space-bronzed young face quivering...When they entered the lighted cabin of the craft, which was crowded with piled sacks and metal cases, a wiry old Earthman got up, stretching and yawning. His sparse hair was pure white, his face bronzed and seamed like leather by long exposure in space to unsoftened radiation.
By the time Robert Heinlein uses it in his 1941 novel Methuselah's Children it has lost its hyphen - see space tanned.
On the other hand, maybe Venusians tan more easily than Earthmen...
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| Space Traffic Management (STM) Needed Now |
| Denmark Joins The 'Zero Debris Charter' To Clean Up Space |
| Starship Special Edition For Lunar Shuttle |
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