I've not heard of that use of "heater" before. I think of it as a gun or weapon because of Star Trek ToS episode "A Piece of the Action", which would give an entirely different meaning to "sucks on a heater." OTOH, "Hepcats Jive Talk Dictionary" from 1945 defines it as "a big cigar", so perhaps John is simply more hep than I am.
My wife's Dad took us to the gun range where I got to fire his Mosin–Nagant, which is similar to the rifle Häyhä used, and also with iron sights. It made me appreciate more the skill, patience, stamina, and, well, sisu that Häyhä must have had.
My wife uses an app to count steps. We live in Sweden, within walking distance of stores and schools, or we take mass transit. About 15 months ago she went back to the US for her mother's 60th birthday. Her step counts for that week were a small fraction of normal, as even when she wanted to walk, it just wasn't possible.
Hah! I've been in that spot, back in the 1980s. There's a scout camp nearby. My Mom's troop camped there and I got to go along. Her sister was also there on a visit, so one evening my aunt took me on a road trip to that bat tower. She parked right underneath it, and we looked up through the open moon roof.
I think it's rude to be so presumptive of the background of our hosts. This is, after all, the same Heinlein who writes a whole lot of sex, nudity, incest, and polygamy into his novels, and for whom Campbell famously commented "Bob can write a better story, with one hand tied behind him, than most people in the field can do with both hands. But Jesus, I wish that son of a gun would take that other hand out of his pocket." I can see many reasons for not having read Heinlein's oeuvre like I have. It's hard to read "Stranger In A Strange Land" (where the female lead declares 'Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it’s partly her fault') as a strong feminist/gender equality book, for example, and for many making him a hard no when there is so much other great SF out there. FWIW, I think a movie like "Forbidden Planet" is a better fit for the sketch. Sigourney Weaver's character in Galaxy Quest is an effective critique of the women-as-sex-object in older SF, even though Emma Peel's man-appeal was definitely also highly competent.
Heinlein liked his female characters sexy *and competent*. The closest to this is likely Dejah Thoris "Deety" Burroughs Carter in "The Number of the Beast", whose father created the continua device, but she is herself smart. The novel is (at least according to one popular review) deliberately written to parody bad SF while showing how to do it right. The very first line is "He’s a Mad Scientist and I’m his Beautiful Daughter."
It looks more like the cooked body scene at the end of the crime drama "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover." Which is one of about three scenes I remember from that film.
That looks like it would be so satisfying to operate! There's the fun of operation, the finesse of control, and the immediate feedback of success to see the power lines become unweighted.
I came for the rabbit and the adultery in his heart. I left content. Carter was the most honorable president we've had in modern times. I'm glad he pushed the effort to return the Panama Canal to Panama, despite Republican opposition. I helped on one Habitat house. Every time I drove by, after the owners moved in, I felt a bit of pride that I could help out.
I can see many reasons for not having read Heinlein's oeuvre like I have. It's hard to read "Stranger In A Strange Land" (where the female lead declares 'Nine times out of ten, if a girl gets raped, it’s partly her fault') as a strong feminist/gender equality book, for example, and for many making him a hard no when there is so much other great SF out there.
FWIW, I think a movie like "Forbidden Planet" is a better fit for the sketch. Sigourney Weaver's character in Galaxy Quest is an effective critique of the women-as-sex-object in older SF, even though Emma Peel's man-appeal was definitely also highly competent.
Carter was the most honorable president we've had in modern times. I'm glad he pushed the effort to return the Panama Canal to Panama, despite Republican opposition. I helped on one Habitat house. Every time I drove by, after the owners moved in, I felt a bit of pride that I could help out.