Drunkard's Walk Forums

You know... This is getting a bit off topic. Lemme take this into a new thread.

The Register: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/09/01 ... _printers/]Concrete-jet 'printers' to build houses, Moonbases in hours

Helps explain how Kandor City could be built up as far as it has been in a half-decade...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

It looks like the first http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/mers ... 595486.stm]prototype Tachikoma has made the scene...

http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080907]Why the Hotel Stellvia will never offer free wi-fi
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Kinda meta, but good advice for worldbuilders & space opera writers.

Some dude on the Something Awful Forums Wrote:I'll tell you what... Technobabble is a finicky bitch. I watched that Fringe show last night, and I've come to the following conclusion. There's no less technobabble. You either have to go all out with it, or completely avoid it. BSG was smart, they've almost completely avoided it, and have gotten complimented for it. Star Trek is the polar opposite, and despite the bitching that occurs in this thread, I fully enjoy it and feel that it is mostly well-fleshed out.

Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

Excellent point there. Though I don't think we've gone overboard with the technobabble quite yet. I imagine it'll happen as soon as we get to the
point where we evacuate the Sol system.

... we're going to need a map. Here's one: http://astronexus.com/node/34]the HYG Database.

Also handy for plotting out the Miranda's course, should somebody want to give that a try.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

http://www.paleofuture.com/]Paleo-Future: A look into the future that never was You just know some groups of Fen somewhere are working on most of these...

http://forums.sjgames.com/showpost.php? ... ostcount=4]GURPS: "Everyman" skills for modern-day A post by Sean "Kromm" Punch on the SJGames forums. Handy for anybody statting out characters in GURPS terms, even if there is a fair amount of debate about which particular skills belong on the list.

http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/pinafore/html/index.html]HMS Pinafore Home Page Curious about the inspiration for Fenspace's Pinafore? This is the place to look.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Japan develops first marketable human exo-assist suit:

http://www.mytelus.com/ncp_news/article ... ID=3010829

Quote:TSUKUBA, Japan - A robotic suit that reads brain signals and helps people with mobility problems will be available to rent in Japan for $2,200 a month starting Friday - an invention that may have far-reaching benefits for the disabled and elderly.

HAL - short for "hybrid assistive limb" - is a computerized suit with sensors that read brain signals directing limb movement through the skin.

The 22-pound (10-kilogram) battery-operated computer system is belted to the waist. It captures the brain signals and relays them to mechanical leg braces strapped to the thighs and knees, which then provide robotic assistance to people as they walk.

Cyberdyne, a new company in Tsukuba outside Tokyo, will mass-produce HAL. Two people demonstrated the suits at the company's headquarters on Tuesday.

A demonstration video also showed a partially paralyzed person getting up from a chair and walking slowly wearing the HAL suit.

Voot.
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

HAL...and Cyberdyne. Boy, these people don't believe in asking for trouble at all, do they....?

Did you hear about their other new product, an automated system for catching parachutists whose equipment fails? Yeah, they call it SkyNet.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

A British team is working on a 1,000mph rocketcar they're calling "Bloodhound". The http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/23 ... r_project/]Register and http://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer/ ... -drive-mph]Inquirer stories are using different concept artwork, so there's at least two views of the silly thing available...
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Badass chainsaw:

Let 'er rip, boys!
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

Somehow, I keep seeing The Professor having something based on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7686530.stm]this.

One-time use instant x-ray device? That'd be useful in the field, I think. Put the x-ray film under the appendage to be x-rayed, peel the x-ray generating
film, and *POOF!* Instant X-Ray!

Add in Polaroid self-developing and that's an incredible all-in-one product...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Some time before Operation Great Justice, Blackstone and the crew from WW1 start playing a cover of this song, which they refer to as a "Fenspace Anthem." (Not THE Fenspace Anthem, and their tone when
calling such is tongue-in-cheek.) Sooner or later, the BBI fleet will be building the submarine/spaceship shown in the video.
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

Register article here. This appears to be a ground-based test,
but they're working on getting one into orbit.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Well, at least http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/10/29 ... discovery/]there are opals in the Valles Marineris, east of Tharsis - it's only a mater of time before some Fen start mining them, right?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Damn. You beat me to it, Rob.

They're not going to end up underwater after the terraforming, are they?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Because we've what look like planets, asteroids and a
kuiper belt in Epsilon Eridani and that that's only about 10.5 light years away.

The Miranda was going to visit a whole bunch of systems; there's no reason why Epsilon Eridani can't be on the list. Besides, I suspect the Trekkies
would have insisted.

(And I put Starbase 2 in the Epsilon Eridani system in my nextgen story. Hmmmmm... maybe Starbase 2 will be built in the Sol system and flown to E. Eridani as
a colonization "ark"...)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Quote:They're not going to end up underwater after the terraforming, are they?

The Barsoominas are hoping they will (that's why they built Helium beside Valles Marineris)... but I doubt there's that much water on Mars, even after dropping a few cometary nucleii onto the planet.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

A commet's nucleus is a drop in the bucket. On Earth we get iceburgs that size (though with some dismay). To get the kind of water you'd want,
you'd want to take something like the entirety of Earth's polar ice caps. That'll put some real oceans on Mars.

Really, it's going to be a long and tedious process to get oceans on Mars because most of the water escaped with the atmosphere (which is going to have to
be the first problem we lick before making oceans).

In that case, let's throw opal exportation into the economy articles. They ought to fetch a high price on Earth simply because of their origin.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.