Nyrath

Re: 10 Sci-Fi Weapons That Actually Exist

Re: Orion Drive space battleship

Re: Orion Drive space battleship

http://news.discovery.com/space/mystery-object-behaves-both-like-a-comet-and-asteroid.html

http://beyondapollo.blogspot.com/2010/01/starfish-and-apollo-1962.html Blasted space based nuclear test supercharged the Van Allen radiation belts.

This is a plastic model, but it may provide some inspiration http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=5137 http://fantastic-plastic.com/ProjectOrionBattleshipPage.htm Nuclear-bomb powered, armed with city-killer nukes and casaba howitzers

Re: 10 Sci-Fi Weapons That Actually Exist

Re: 10 Sci-Fi Weapons That Actually Exist

Re: 10 Sci-Fi Weapons That Actually Exist OK, asked my brain trust, and one of them found this: http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/2004solic/flat.ppt (warning: power point presentation file) It describes a low-drag tubular bullet with extended range. It does have a hole down the middle that constricts then expands. But is is not really a ram-jet. It just has a lower coefficient of friction than a conventional bullet.

Re: 10 Sci-Fi Weapons That Actually Exist I did find this, but the munitions in question have an on-board fuel source. Not quite what Taylor was talking about. I'm still looking for a cite. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Army+tests+scramjet+to+power+kinetic+energy+tank+rounds.%28munitions...-a0107043021

Re: 10 Sci-Fi Weapons That Actually Exist

Re: 10 Sci-Fi Weapons That Actually Exist Yes, I vouch that Dr. Taylor is not a crack-pot, and definitely knows what he is talking about.

Re: First Contact Could Be Tomorrow!

http://oreilly.com/news/seti_0201.html This is kind of technical, so non-techies might want to skip this. Lacking a universal translator gadget, communicating with aliens is a real challenge. Especially if your first contact is only indirectly via radio messages. The idea is to use "anti-cryptography", that is, a coded message that is easy to break. http://www.projectrho.com/rocket/rocket3ao.html#pidgin The article suggests that after one makes a code for simple mathematics, it is not much harder to make a simple computer programming language. And a simple computer program written in such a language can communicate some surprisingly sophisticated ideas.

Re: First Contact Could Be Tomorrow!

http://nextbigfuture.com/2010/01/sun-explosion.html A long read, but scary

Re: First Contact Could Be Tomorrow!

Re: First Contact Could Be Tomorrow!

Re: What Happened to the Hominids Who Were Smarter Than Us? That show Prey had a disturbingly plausible premise. If you wondered why there seems to be a rise in violent crime, well, Prey has the answer.

http://www.gemini.edu/index.php?q=node/11385 In other news, astronomers have located Alderan...

http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/nuclearwar1.html just in case your future history includes a nuclear war.

http://www.metafilter.com/88240/CLASSIFICATION-SAPPHIRE-VORPAL-JULIET-POTUS-EYES-ONLY

Re: 10 Sci-Fi Weapons That Actually Exist Well, notice how the other weapon had its name changed from Pulsed Impulsive Kill Laser to Pulsed Energy Projectile

Re: Looking for a technobabble Term

Re: Time Travel in Sci Fi and Games....The Good, The Bad, and the Oh so Ugly...