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Dec. 5th, 2021
SpinLaunch
Dec. 5th, 2021 05:05 amIt's like a round railgun! It throws satellites into orbit, or is intended to. It's a work in progress.
"The more crazy the project is, the better off you are just working on it — rather than talking about it."
-- JONATHAN YANEY
Absolutely, totally true. "To know, to will, to dare, and to keep silent." All the more important in today's overly connected socially networked blabberfest.
Just remember: you cannot use this type of system to launch anything delicate. The spin and thrust will mangle fragile cargo. What you can use it for is mass cargo. Metal parts, food ingredients, anything that is solid or granular. Maybe liquid if you have really great containment, but that's riskier. This tech would be fantastically useful for building and supplying things in space. But throw the raw materials, and build it up there.
Also, dudes: put one on the Moon! It'll be way easier and cheaper to launch from there, and some of what's on the Moon is also useful for building things in space. Nobody's built anything to do stuff on the Moon yet: you could be famous.
"The more crazy the project is, the better off you are just working on it — rather than talking about it."
-- JONATHAN YANEY
Absolutely, totally true. "To know, to will, to dare, and to keep silent." All the more important in today's overly connected socially networked blabberfest.
Just remember: you cannot use this type of system to launch anything delicate. The spin and thrust will mangle fragile cargo. What you can use it for is mass cargo. Metal parts, food ingredients, anything that is solid or granular. Maybe liquid if you have really great containment, but that's riskier. This tech would be fantastically useful for building and supplying things in space. But throw the raw materials, and build it up there.
Also, dudes: put one on the Moon! It'll be way easier and cheaper to launch from there, and some of what's on the Moon is also useful for building things in space. Nobody's built anything to do stuff on the Moon yet: you could be famous.
Economic Flywheels
Dec. 5th, 2021 05:13 amHere's an exploration of economic flywheels: the factors that combine to make a given city known for a certain industry or good at spawning new businesses in general.
( Read more... )
( Read more... )
Lexember Day 5
Dec. 5th, 2021 02:56 pmI'm doing Lexember this month. The idea is to make (or learn) a new word every day. This can be for a conlang or a natural language.
December 5
Danderflam -- a zetetic substance that forms tiny white flakes when bone dry, but once exposed to any water, quickly expands into a sticky mess. This happens fast enough that when it's thrown into the air, it comes down as gooey little globs just from absorbing atmospheric moisture. It works faster in humid conditions, much slower in arid ones. It is biodegradable and environmentally friendly, but hell on machinery and worse on electronics. Danderflam is a favorite load in zoomwagons or other tricked-out vehicles because it's easy to fire at anyone tailing them to gum up the pursuit vehicles.
[Polychrome Heroics vocabulary]
December 5
Danderflam -- a zetetic substance that forms tiny white flakes when bone dry, but once exposed to any water, quickly expands into a sticky mess. This happens fast enough that when it's thrown into the air, it comes down as gooey little globs just from absorbing atmospheric moisture. It works faster in humid conditions, much slower in arid ones. It is biodegradable and environmentally friendly, but hell on machinery and worse on electronics. Danderflam is a favorite load in zoomwagons or other tricked-out vehicles because it's easy to fire at anyone tailing them to gum up the pursuit vehicles.
[Polychrome Heroics vocabulary]
Coyote and Crow: Opening the Can of Worms
Dec. 5th, 2021 03:07 pmThe PDF copies of Coyote and Crow have been released. This is my second post, following the Overview, which lists my relevant credentials and skims over broad areas of the gamebook. Continue with Religion and Argument Fuel.
Earworm warning: I have been arguing in my head over some of this stuff, which is intense and controversial, since I started reading the book. I'm writing it down to get it out of my head. If you are prone to this problem, you may want to skip the book/game -- or the following discussion -- to avoid that. I'm happy to have read it, and still like the game overall, but it has eaten up a lot of headspace in the last day or two.
( Read more... )
Earworm warning: I have been arguing in my head over some of this stuff, which is intense and controversial, since I started reading the book. I'm writing it down to get it out of my head. If you are prone to this problem, you may want to skip the book/game -- or the following discussion -- to avoid that. I'm happy to have read it, and still like the game overall, but it has eaten up a lot of headspace in the last day or two.
( Read more... )
Coyote and Crow: Overview
Dec. 5th, 2021 11:14 pmThe PDF copies of Coyote and Crow have been released. The book is gorgeous, but there are some issues. The overview is generally positive. I'm going to argue about some things later on, which is likely to please some people and annoy others, so I'll start by laying out some of my relevant credentials. You can decide for yourselves whether my critique is valid and useful, or not.
Continue with Opening the Can of Worms, Religion, and Argument Fuel.
( Read more... )
Continue with Opening the Can of Worms, Religion, and Argument Fuel.
( Read more... )
Birdfeeding
Dec. 5th, 2021 11:16 pmToday is chilly and wet. It's been raining off and on.
I fed the birds. Not much activity today, given the weather.
I fed the birds. Not much activity today, given the weather.