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Gnaskar

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  1. People said that about the Falcon, when they announced an unprecedented 9 first stage engines, and some are still saying the same thing about the Falcon Heavy, which features 27 engines at launch. It turns out that engine development has come a long way since the 60's and a few of the old truisms no longer apply. For one thing, the Merlin engines, unlike the NK15, are covered in sensors linked up to fast computers. If something goes wrong (as has happened twice, I believe, once on the pad and once in flight) the engine automatically shuts down before an explosion can happen. And with 8 other engines available to take up the slack, the payload can still get to orbit even after an engine failure. Elon Musk's modus operandi is to take a fresh look at assumptions everyone just takes for granted, and finding a new approach. Mass producing the Merlin has not only made it cheaper, it's also allowed them to test it more thoroughly than most other rockets in history. Only a single Merlin engine has ever failed in-flight, despite nearly 300 having flown. Another one did fail during a test fire on the pad, at which point they shipped in a spare and launched successfully a week or two later.
  2. The many adventures of the Helping Hands Consortium, a group of mages working for the Seers of the Throne, who secretly rule the mortal world. The campaign is set in the city of Prague, noted for having three times the necromancers and one third of the diviners of any other city. The Cast: Dian Cécht: A 122-year-old ex-IRA terrorist and spirit magic specialist, from a family of faerie blooded druids. Works for the Panopticon, a Seer faction dedicated to spying on everyone and making people feel paranoid about being spied on. Looks about 25 thanks to a family blessing of longevity. Moriarty: one of the few people in Prague who can see the future. Moriarty is a gun crazy thug from a family of mystical craftsmen, who acts even dumber than he is to make people underestimate him. Works for the Praetorian ministry, who specialize in violence and strife. Orwell: Another Panopticon member, Orwell’s day job gives him direct access to facebook’s servers. He’s from a family of mystic manipulators, and specializes in mind reading and ESP. Maleficent: A young woman from a family of astral explorers, Maleficent specializes in fate magic. She works for Mannon, the ministry of consumerism and capitalism. Ex-pylon members: Maslow: Our first Mannon went insane from a combination of curses, and currently resides in an insane asylum. He specialized in life magic, especially mystic drugs. Typhon: Team Necromancer, working for the minor ministry of the Thanatoic, who have the responsibility of keeping people from finding out about the undead. Between Moriarty and Maleficent we have a third of the city’s acanthi (Divination mages) on our team, which gives us an unprecedented ability to come out ahead and with our hands clean. Thus far, we’ve managed to make our enemies look like fools repeatedly without seeming to raise a finger. We’re also ridiculously rich in magical loot, having done some very important favors for the head of the Mannon ministry. Character introductions: Typhon: Yeah, but what are you people worth? ST: …. wow. We haven't even begun the first session yet, and with that you've already earned xp for the first "stumble across vital stuff" achievement. Dian Cécht: When all you have is a hammer… Orwell: Everything looks like a diamond. A phone rings: ST: *looks questioningly over at player* Moriarty (OOC): My pants are all a-quiver. Moriarty: This is why new beginning-level mages can actually have obstacles at times We find a Norwegian body double for Dian Cécht via Facebook, as Moriarty has predicted that our enemies will attempt to kidnap Dian in the mistaken belief that he knows where the philosopher’s stone is: ST: Sure, he might've been born & raised in Lofoten, but that's why he entered university and moved to Bergen as soon as he grew up: to get away from all that small-town stuff and live in a more urban and civilized environment. Moriarty (OOC): And now he gets to taste the fruits of that civilization! *Chloroforms & abducts the guy* Our enemies send a SWAT team after the guy the next day, while one of Typhon’s assets (a tv news crew), happens to be nearby. The result is an international incident, allegations of human smuggling, and a government crisis that ends with new elections being called. None of this sh*tstrom falls on us. Typhon (OOC): So, are there any handjobs left? ST: My first reaction there was "What?!? Handjobs are a finite resource now? How can you run out of handjobs?!?" Dian Cécht (OOC): We have mages of Mammon. We can make a scarcity of anything. (Mammon is the Seer department for using capitalism and scarcity to keep the people down) Moriarty (OOC): It's Europe. It's not like you can even throw a rock anywhere without it hitting history. When we finally chase down the philosopher’s stone, it isn’t quite what we expected: ST: Yes, you're holding a fleshy, beating heart! Maslow (OOC): Must. Resist. Urge. To. Eat! Typhon: We could kidnap a Mystagogue. Dian Cécht: That's your answer to everything. A ghostly curse makes Maslow unable to interact with electric systems: Dian Cécht: That's right, he can't give us money or even flick light-switches. What are you for, anymore?!? The relative merits of an AI controlled society: Moriarty: Why would you leave the choice up to people, when you can leave it up to cold unfeeling machines?!? Maslow: Exactly! They're SO much easier to bribe. They don't have all those pesky ''love'' and ''honor'' things. Moriarty is a virgin, and makes the mistake of letting the rest of us know: Moriarty: Are you actually going to prevent me from getting laid just in case we meet a unicorn?!? Maslow: Not only that, there's all sorts of things that want virgin sacrifices. Moriarty: Because if you do I will shoot you. With ALL the bullets. We’ve called in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to help us with the small matter of an invading ghost army: Typhon (OOC): The angel of death is coming? ST: No, he's sitting at your table, not drinking anything. Moriarty (OOC): Yeah, you'll have to seduce him first. ST: Significant discovery? Maslow: MONEY! Discussing Mage Legacies: ST: Mhm, it's variant of bioremediation, which is sort of thing where they use algae to clean up an oil spill, but with nature-spirits instead. Dian Cecht: Active terrorists? Apply spirits: Problem solved! Moriarty: But terrorism IS a natural phenomenon! Typhon (OOC): I like the color of dead people. Moriarty: Maybe I NEED a bomb. For the feng shui. (beat) Moriarty's Player: I don't even know what that means. ST: Interior decorating. Mystical interior decorating. Players are visiting a bank, to get some ancient stone tablet grimoires out of the vaults. Moriarty's phone rings: ST: It's Porlock, your mentor. He just says a single word. Moriarty (OOC): Run? ST: Nope. Typhon (OOC): Duck! ST: Exactly! Moriarty hits the deck, then there's a dramatic shootout-sequence: Croesus: (bleeding out on floor next to them) I. Blaaaaame. Yooouuuuuuuuu….. Moriarty rewinds time, to the turn before. His phone rings: Porlock: …oh, never mind then. … ST: Moriarty short first. Typhon is on a spirit quest: ST: He's no longer entirely in the astral Dian Cécht (OOC): Yeah, he's in Gotham. Moriarty: You know, if you want I can shoot your dad for you. Orwell: I think I can manage. Orwell (OOC): It's a castle. And it's about to be stormed by an angry mob … Orwell (OOC): So, who's Frankenstein? Typhon (OOC): Hopefully he's in another castle… Moriarty (OOC): When you have that level of power you don't need to care about morals any more. We accidently awaken a new mage, and attempt to fill him in on how the world works: Maleficent: The secret organization ruling the world is… Kaz: S.P.E.C.T.R.E.? Maleficent: …I don't understand. Kaz: ''SPECTRE''. The board of villains in the James Bond movies. Maleficent: Not exactly. Less organized, I suppose. Dian: We have access to slightly better than average equipment, you might say Typhon (OOC): We're hung Dian Cécht (OOC): Now you will experience the awesome power of a fully operational Thyrsus mage. Maleficent (OOC): Fully functional and anatomically correct, even. Dian Cécht (OOC): I'm tempted to text him the name of a nice restaurant. Orwell (OOC): A place without irish. We’ve teamed up with another pilon, and Moriarty has already hooked up with their sexiest female: Typhon (OOC): We also picked up that Monroe was a big player in the Pantheon of Hollow Dreams. Dian Cécht (OOC): Mhm. Orwell (OOC): But don't worry, we have a man on the inside GM: So to speak…. Orwell (OOC): *grins* Orwell, meanwhile, hooked up with Presley, at the Pantheon’s lair: Dian: And now you know where they live and everything Orwell: OH GOD! I ACTUALLY DID SPYING STUFF!!! I don't know how to cope with this! The Pantheon call their lair the Hall of Fame: Dian: No no, we need to set up a ''Hall of Frame''. We have received epic rewards for the body parts we keep uncovering in ancient ruins: Maleficent (OOC): Maleficent would suggest herself as Custodian of the Profane Urim Dian Cécht (OOC): Hmmm…. Well, it is Mammon property. ST: Mhm, true, true. Dian Cécht (OOC): And she IS the most easily bullied member of our pylon. In need of clues, we ask for a prophesy by Moriarty’s mentor: Porlock: I foresee……rich wives that are more than they seem? Orwell: Werewolves?!? Dian: WHY DO I KEEP GETTING ATTACKED BY WILD ANIMALS?!? Orwell: Maybe the animals are afraid that you're onto them? Maleficent: No, DAMN, I can't look at the diamond with the diamond! I need more diamonds! ST: MAMMON! «I need MORE diamonds!» Maleficent: Could I maybe look at it in a mirror? Moriarty: That probably leads to a bad place Moriarty looks into the future to figure out who the mysterious Red King is: Moriarty: Ok, guys, so…we need to kill the Earth. Dian’s mind has been infected with astral snakes serving the Red King, and we wonder where he might have picked them up: ST: You mean like the ancient stone tablets? The ones where the memory of them contained more information than the actual physical tablets did? Dian Cécht (OOC): ….that should probably have been a warning, shouldn't it? Dian Cécht (OOC): TABLET! ST: As in ''stone tablet'', not ''iPod tablet''. Dian Cécht (OOC): Oh god, I'm showing you a tablet….on a tablet! What to do next: Orwell (OOC): We had leads ST: And Birmingham (leads / Leeds) Moriarty (OOC): for now…. Dian Cécht (OOC): What? Moriarty (OOC): We have plans A supposedly simple task would have ended with two pylon members dead if Moriarty hadn’t turned back time and avoided the encounter altogether. Only Orwell knew what we were up against in advance: Maleficent: Ok, new policy: Next time Orwell asks us to do something, we waterboard him until he tells us everything. Dian: Are you sure you didn't just have a dream? Maleficent: Yes. There was also a horrible spider-monster piñata Dian: Are you sure it wasn't just a scene from your childhood? We need to requisition an anti-spider vacuum cleaner: Moriarty: I guess I'll have to write an…unconventional…letter to Darth Vader. ST: You don't have the flexibility. Moriarty (OOC): But you DO have the spear of Longuinus. Maleficent: I don't think I would be very good at spying on the tentacle Dian: Why do you think I faked my death twice? Maleficent (OOC): Damn those librarians! So persistent! Maleficent (OOC): That's right, we have an Acanthus. We can KILL their parents! We dress a guy up with technical toys to infiltrate the Pantechnicon: Orwell (OOC): I didn't expect Pantechnicon to be this shallow. Orwell needs to pay for an unusual taxi drive: Orwell: So, what do you give an undead driver? Maleficent: Brains? Oh, wait, you don't have any! Maleficent: Come to think of it, do you actually swing that way? I don't think I've actually seen you with a woman yet. Dian: Back in my day, there was no other option. Maleficent: Or we could find Saint Patrick in the astral, and invite him into your head! Dian: Yes! That would solve ALL my problems! Dian: Or her. I mean, It's the 21st century: gay rights activists can be female too. Dian: You and Presley on the other hand…..you should also keep it up. You're pretty cute together. Owell: You're just saying that because he's useful. Dian: Yeah. Dian seems to turn into a walking corpse at sundown: Maleficent (OOC): I will tell him after the scheme. ST: What, you don't want to distract him with minutiae? Dian Cécht: What, that I was DEAD last night?!? ST: No, no, you were dead drunk. Orwell (OOC): That explains why Batman is only active at night. ST: Exactly: Because that's when his parents are dead. Dian: On the other hand, can the dead meditate? ST: Sort of like ''do androids dream of electric sheep?'', isn't it? Orwell (OOC): Well, he's IRISH. He's sort of lost to the land of the living already. ST: It's not like she's laminated or anything. Dian Cécht (OOC): She could be! It's not like I know how women work. Dian can always tell if someone is related to him: ST: Each of the paths has something like that. Moriarty (OOC): Yeeeah, Acanthus can always know if a woman is legal. ST: WHAT?!?!? Dian Cécht (OOC): A century of careful planning, and then «right, this is what Fate magic feels like». …FUCK YOU GUYS. Maleficent (OOC): Nothing stops you from picking up the superior magic. Moriarty: Riiiiight, phones. They're so useful, but also so evil. After chatting with the extremely blonde Stacey: Moriarty (OOC): This must be what people feel like when they speak to Moriarty. Orwell and Moriarty infiltrate a secret society while pretending to be a couple. Maleficent is providing the funds to make them seem upper class: Stacey: So, you're the rich one, or he is? Orwell (OOC): No, we both have a mutual girlfriend who supplies us with money. Moriarty (OOC): That's so sad, but so true. Orwell: I anticipated everything….except my plan succeeding. ST: (talking about Presley) There's a reason he deals with fame and media. He's good with people, but he's not so much a brain. Dian Cécht (OOC): (singing) it's pinky and the brain…. Orwell (OOC): No, not Hollywood fake. Real fake. Moriarty: Now you see what it's like being ME. Well, having to deal with unhelpful undead things. Maleficent: Like Dian? Dian is infiltrating a religious cult: Tobias: So, you believe in witchcraft now? Dian: Well, I'm Irish. ST: WHAT?!? An angel has taken an interest in Dian’s infiltration attempt: ST: Actually, your raven-familiar isn't the only one out there anymore. The guardian angel of the cemetary is also hovering outside the window, right behind him, also looking in, and still scowling disapprovingly at Dian. Diaval (Maleficent’s familiar): So….come here often? Orwell (OOC): Roll seduction! Orwell: Have you read ''le mis''? Presley: Oh, there's been made a book of it now? Dian Cécht (OOC): AUGH!!! shaking fists at them Dian Cécht (OOC): That IS a question: Does your imaginary raven poop? Maleficent (OOC): You know, I haven't checked. ST: Ah, the high-brow philosophical and metaphysical questions that only show up in Mage. Maleficent (OOC): I'm starting to suspect that for the panopticon, if nobody's watching then it didn't happen. […] Maleficent (OOC): Blackmail or it didn't happen. Dian Cécht (OOC): Bah, boundaries are for people with something to hide. Orwell: He's backed up by two acanthi. What's the worst that can happen? Dian Cécht (OOC): Same thing I do every night. ST: Turn into an undead abomination! We have a new mission. We’re to make sure the public takes an interest in the elections and keep believing that it makes a difference who wins: Moriarty (OOC): We're ready to defeat…..politics? ST: Not really. Rather like you're gonna help with making sure liberty remains defeated. Moriarty (OOC): Kicking it while it's down. ST: More like "help keeping the boot firmly placed on its neck". Moriarty (OOC): Ah, yes, it's time for the annual boot adjustment. ST: You don't need a demonically-empowered hormonal teenage boy on a lust-driven rape-rampage to ruin a relationship, but it helps. Dian: I was busy watching spirits. …And talking to spirits. …And talking to people with sprits. …And drinking spirits. GM: Is there anything in the charter that forbids you from waterboarding each other? Maleficent (OOC): No. INTENTIONALLY. Maleficent: Dian, please don't rouse Moriarty's hat. Moriarty: Praetorians! We can always find an excuse to shoot something! … Dian: You have my permission to shoot yourself. Dian explores an ancient cave with paintings in Maleficent’s head: GM: But you do notice that not all animals are represented. There's certain animals that Dian knows about which aren't anywhere on the cave-paintings of all the ways animals can kill and die. Dian Cécht (OOC): Like Penguins? GM: …..yes. That would also be one, true. No penguins. But more interesting, perhaps, is that there's also absolutely no dogs. At all. Moriarty (OOC): Maybe dogs don't kill people…? Orwell: I think we must have fucked up somewhere, if the worst thing that can happen is people giving us what we ask for. Dian: So….come here often? Moriarty (OOC): Seduce the darkness! You're in the astral. There's a wolf. … It's armed with a gun. … Roll initiative? GM: You still have Death Sight active, right? So you can see how much someone has been around Death. You see something like that out of the corner of your eye. Dian Cécht (OOC): I turn around GM: It's your shadow. Stretched out on the ground behind you, and it registers to your death-sense like a black hole registers for gravity. Dian Cécht (OOC): *groans* Oh no, Dian actually jumps at his own shadow, flinching backwards. GM: And given that you were standing right in front of the rock face so the birds on your shoulders could read the carved text, you'd now have the rock wall at your back, so you'd jump back into it, probably hitting your head pretty painfully. … Of course, if you're now standing with your back pressed up against the rock wall, how can your shadow be stretched out in front of you? *the 'shadow' begins to stand up, and soon resolves itself into a hovering skeletal specter wrapped in a black shroud that flaps in the non-existent wind, holding a scythe in one hand.* Creaure: (points a bony hand at Dian) I have come for you! Dian: Who are you?!? Creaure: I am your death! Dian: Aaaaaah! Moriarty (OOC): So, is this an ideal time for my character to finally get back to the group? GM: Ayup. So, Dian, you see the wolf emerging out of the fog and mist on your left, the gun still clutched in its jaws. Dian Cécht (OOC): Ah, now it makes sense. (later) Dian: Everyone, meet my new familiar. His Death: so…what's up? Dian Cécht (OOC): I swear, this will end up as some sort of children's show. Orwell (OOC): Dian the explorer? GM: (as Dian) Death! How could you betray me! GM: (as Dian): I will never trust Death again! Moriarty (OOC): In that case, I'm going to shoot down the fruit. Group: *WTF?!?* Moriarty (OOC): I brought a gun, and I'm going to use it! GM: It is… (dramatic doom-voice) the garden of enlightenment and understanding!!! Moriarty (OOC): That has to be an evil place. Dian Cécht (OOC): Well, the "garden of enlightenment and understanding" does sound like the sort of place the Seers would burn down pre-emptively. Moriarty (OOC): Bah, why would we burn it down? Imagine: a McDonalds on every corner. Dian Cécht (OOC): Don't worry, I have some books that might help. Maleficent (OOC): Bible fight! Orwell: I think I'll just retreat behind here and do mountain lion things. Maleficent: Ritual magic! Dian can sleep in the astral, even while his real world body is a corpse: Dian: Interesting thing: I can't sleep when I'm dead, but I can possibly sleep in my head. Dian: Besides, I don't think I can die here. His Death: I'm sure we can figure something out. GM: That's actually really weird: Diaval can also speak in a language everyone can understand, but nobody tried to do telepathy with him so he could tell stuff to the whole group. Moriarty (OOC): Because he has a sense of humor. GM: Yesss, [sarcasm] how horrible! [/sarcasm] Dian Cécht (OOC): Wait, and I don't? Moriarty (OOC): Exactly! Dian discovers he can choose whether to appear as a corpse in the astral: Dian Cécht (OOC): I'll spend the time trying to switch back and forth between being alive and being dead. GM: You want to toggle?!? Dian Cécht (OOC): We are chasing the worm. Moriarty (OOC): Heh. Dian Cécht (OOC): That is not a euphemism. Moriarty (OOC): It sure sounded like one. Dian is currently the human, as the rest have taken the form of their spirit animal: Dian: *intensely waves double middle-finger* I HAVE HANDS SO I CAN DO THIS! We find a pool of blood which appears to belong to a supersized version of Dian’s cardiovascular system: Dian: I would prefer NOT to swim into my own heart, thank you! Diaval: Why? You're afraid it's made of stone, and will crush you? Maleficent: At least we know it won't be made of gold. Maleficent: I like the suggestion that we should get to the heart of the matter. Maleficent receives the negative effects she encounters in the astral in the real world too. This makes her a bit more skeptical than the rest of us when it comes to taking gigantic risks in the astral: Dian: She drowned. Pyramid: In what? Dian: IN MY BLOOD! Maleficent (OOC): With Moriarty and Orwell and Maleficent, we went into their minds, but with Dian we went straight into his heart. ST: Sadly, Poland is not submerged in blood plasma. Dian Cécht (OOC): YET. Maleficent (OOC): So, first part of our invasion plan: submerge Poland in blood-plasma. Maleficent: I feel we're learning lots of stuff here. Orwell: Just not the stuff we came here for . Dian: My blood could invade Poland with sufficient effort!!!! Orwell (OOC): Looking for thrones in all the wrong places. Maleficent (OOC): The exarchs were within you all along. We find a throne in the supersized body: Dian: I hope there's not a throne in me. Maleficent (OOC): Is there anyone on the throne? ST: Nope. Dian Cécht (OOC): MINE! Maleficent (OOC): MINE! Orwell (OOC): So apparently the first thing we do is argue about who gets the throne. ST: Thyrsi never have problems with premature ejaculation. Unless there's something occult going on.…did I just say that?!? Maleficent (OOC): Maybe you're the town bicycle. ST: Of the universe?!? Moriarty (OOC): That's one thing we can brag about to our superiors: we're expendable Orwell (OOC): Our number one selling point! ST: Soul infection Moriarty (OOC): He has crabs! Maleficent (OOC): Soul crabs?!? Orwell (OOC): But this was a civilized dog: it had a gun. Maleficent: How can I make it up to you? What do you want? Anything! Moriarty: When we're done here, you. Are getting. THERAPY! Dian gets lost in Maleficent’s memories of Jurassic Park 3: Dian Cécht (OOC): I vaguely seem to remember that cars are dinosaur-proof Maleficent (OOC): Apparently Ireland was more awesome than I was aware of … Dian: Let's go save a dinosaur's life. It's not the stupidest thing I've done today. Orwell: I didn't really have a choice in the underage boy thing/fling Dian Cécht: Suuuure Orwell (OOC): That was that happy childhood marriage ST: Well, it WAS happy Orwell (OOC): Then you ruined it. Just like your parents' marriage Orwell (OOC): Are my eyes still there? ST: They seem to have melted Orwell (OOC): Wow. I really want to poke my finger in there Orwell: I think what we've learned is that things can always attack us, even if they're dead Dian: Or imaginary Orwell: We should never come across Dracula Dian: Or we should. We really shouldn't, but we totally should Orwell (OOC): I'm bleeding from the eyes, so your argument is sort of valid Moriarty: Ah-ah-ah, you all look alike to me, puny humans without awesome abyssal powers! Moriarty: The watchtower has shown me so much. I think I maybe should set it down eventually Dian: Yes. Something should surely be put down, yes…. ST: She may be walking around, but she IS legally dead Dian Cécht (OOC): That's easy enough to arrange Maleficent (OOC): We're not killing her Moriarty (OOC): Now, let's not say things we can't take back After scrying on Marquis de Sade and catching her interest: Moriarty: Why did you do that?!? It's like the Eye of Sauron, only sexy. Moriarty: You think you can do bad choices in life?!? Watch THIS! Dian: And you know, SEERS of the throne, not THINKERS of the throne Dian Cécht (OOC): That might be better if the corpse is also there ST: One of the few times that phrase has ever been uttered Orwell (OOC): But we'd need a magically enchanted hearse ST: When you said that, I imagined it like cinderella, with the pumpkin into a carriage, but with a hearse! Orwell (OOC): You really must be back before midnight ST: Yes Voldemort, you SHALL go to the ball! Dian: I'm not too dead to DRINK, I'm too dead to GET DRUNK. There's a difference! We debate whether to attempt to break through an illusionary wall that the construction workers set up in our lair without informing us: Dian: In order to avoid 'Canadian girlfriend' we should NOT look at the wall. Is that our conclusion? Moriarty: Yes. ST: Mhm, "Norma Jean", the actual birthname of Marilyn Monroe. Dian Cécht (OOC): ….she was born?!?! The Pantheon of Hollow Dreams stock ice-cream with narcotics for dealing with traumatic events: Moriarty (OOC): Ah, the Pantheon. Then again, not like we're any better. Dian Cécht (OOC): We are. We have absolutely NO coping methods whatsoever! Dian: A friend of mine just got a promotion like that. Well, I should say "colleague". Orwell (OOC): Freudian slip! Dian Cécht (OOC): So, get Pinocchio. Orwell (OOC): Then, make a table. Moriarty argues that Monroe is the best girlfriend of the pylon: Dian Cécht (OOC): I'll agree with the claim of "best girlfriend", if only because these two have boyfriends. Discussion about assassin's guild as business model: Maleficent (OOC): First hit's free Maleficent: Your shadow is a bit pale. Maybe you should see a doctor? A cursed instrument kills Cobain when he tries to play it, and brings him back as a ghost mage: Maleficent: Oh god, the question I didn't expect to ask today: Does anyone have anything we can keep my boyfriend's ashes in? Dian: So, Presley…..did you bring a lunchbox? Presley: ….yes. I did. Dian: SEE? The panopticon KNOWS!!! Dian, already dead for the night, is about to get himself decapitated to cheat his way out of a faery deal: Maleficent: I'm counting on the duct tape. Dian: I'm counting more on the ghost (Cobain) being able to change the cause of death to something I can live with.
  3. Re: Terraforming Gravity issues: No real studies have been made on the long term effects of low and/or high gravity on humans, animals or plants. The minor studies that have been done are listed as inconclusive. Depending on which scientist you ask the survivable range is anywhere from 10% to 90% (.9 to 1.1 G or .1 to 2 G) but most of them admit that this is pure guesswork. Best answer I've gotten to the question "can humans survive with Mars gravity" came from astronaut Story Musgrave: "I know of only one place we can figure that out". We have no idea whether bone degradation occurs exclusively in microgravity situations. The best current theory is that a gravity dependent mechanism is responsible for replacing the calcium lost naturally by the body, which shuts down in free fall. This mechanism would function perfectly until some currently unknown threshold before shutting down completely. In short: lower gravity does not necessarily mean bone loss. Muscle loss is, as far as we know, fully reversible. It even happens naturally with no outside interference. After six months on the ISS, returning astronauts immediately start gaining muscle mass as they start going about their daily lives on Earth. So: Too little gravity, up to an unknown point, does no permanent harm to the human body based on our current limited understanding of the effects of gravity. I'd like to be more precise than that, but at least I'm not making any assumptions. We known only one thing about higher gravity environments: they cause increased muscle growth proportional to the increase in gravity. Beyond a unknown point this causes various heart problems and the like, but for the most part it is fairly healthy. Day length: Today the city I am in had four and a half hours of daylight. Six months ago that was the length of the night. Apparently life here as adapted to handle this just fine, while life near the equator functions perfectly on their unchanging 12 by 12 hour schedule. So excuse me if I don't believe that the length of the day is a show stopper. Life adapts; pretty much by definition. You might see sort term stress or even some long term issues (see Winter Depression) but its not going to do significant damage to the prospects of colonization. And even if it did, the author completely ignores bio-engineering as a potential solution. For the last week or so I've been slipping into a 26 hour day schedule due to sickness and a lack of tasks I have to get up to do. Last year, exam reading and stress pushed me into a 6 day week of 28 hours per day which I kept up for most of a month before the Christmas holidays forced me out of it. I highly recommend it for people who have the chance to try it; you get a lot more done in a week that way. So, again, I'm not convinced. I'd also like to point out here that a martian day is 24 hours and 38 minutes. That's a 2.6% difference. Year length: My very first through is "why stop at Jupiter's 12 years?" Neptune's 168 years would have been more impressive. As would Pluto's 248 year orbit. Seems a bit arbitrary, especially since he's already noted that Pluto's gravity would, in his eyes, be more favorable than Mars. Again, everything he says here is pure guesswork. Some of it I even recognize from theories from the middle ages that have since been proven to be complete bull. Most notably: why would birth be linked to seasons? A pregnancy takes X days (plus to minus a couple) for a given species. Unless the exact day the pregnancy occurred is also based on seasonal milestones then the variation in when the birth took place verses when the fetus was ready would be too large even before you note that yearly variations of the season can push any given milestone around by weeks. What can give you trouble is that variations in climate (the perceived season) can effect mating seasons; potentially even stop them from occurring. Which is a problem, yes, but one solvable with medicine, climate control or (in the long term) genetic-engineering. As for clocks and calenders: We have a concept called Local Time. We use it to resolve these issues. The glass dome at the bottom of the ocean: Lets see: No sunlight below 1km and the ocean averages about 3.8km deep. So all the year and day issues are out the window (making the ocean equivalent to Titan and other Saturn colonies in that regard). That has already made the section this comment was in irrelevant but lets not stop there. At 3.8km below sea level the pressure is about 380 atm. That means a colony would need to maintain a difference of 379 atm, while a lunar colony would for comparason need to maintain 1 atm of difference. I'll let you guess which of these are easier. The bottom of the ocean has, effectively, the same gravity as the surface, granted, but as I've already pointed out, he's talking out of his backside when it comes to the effects of gravity anyway. Terraforming tools: These all address atmospheric composition. Nothing in the rest of the essay deals with that issue at all. Unprofessional, Mr Thompson. On a separate note, I love how "heats the planet" is considered a disadvantage of one of the terraforming techniques. More heat is exactly the best way to terraform Mars. Conclusion: Bull. I have nothing more to say about it.
  4. Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... Spy-fi campaign, and the players have just knocked out or killed a camp full of terrorists. About a dozen terrorists are still alive; most of them sporting numerous color coded tranquilizer darts and all of them are sleeping soundly. Having secured the leaders, whom their superiors want to interrogate, the players ponder what to do with the rest: African ex-child soldier: Does anyone mind it if I just shoot them all in the head? Genetically Modified American Super-soldier: YES! *pause* I want some too. *brandishes rifle*
  5. Re: Doomsday! Me: I'm in the third largest city of a NATO country. I'd pick up my emergency bag and run south as fast as I can (away from the city center). I have the route pre-planned. If the plume is drifting my way, I'm doomed, but otherwise I have a fairly decent chance coming out alive. My parents are covered by Continuity of Government plans, so at least I can be fairly certain they're alive. Captain Citadel: Override the controls on all the various drones he as given to police, fire departments and other emergency services. Their new mission: missile interception. If that fails, plan B is something drastic involving a supercharged molecular destabilizer to make everything that enters the campaign city's airspace disintegrate.
  6. Re: A Wicked Situation... I am happy to know such an organization exists. Captain Citadel: First, rescue the maiden in distress. Then realize the situation could have been a trap, a trapped demon in disguise, or a VIPER trap designed to appeal to his Gentleman complication. Then he scans everything. He's a walking crime scene lab, CIA listening post, and more combined, so WILL find some trace of the villain. Of course, he's also a pacifist, but this is the kind of situation he would ask the GM to roll vs complication, total or no. If he does lose his cool, there's not going to be much left of the villain; molecular destabilizers aren't pretty. If he doesn't, he'll deliver the now sleeping villain to the cops, along with a High Def recording of the crime scene (the "warehouse") as he found it.
  7. Re: More space news! I have it on good authority that they're actually a rather unappealing shade of dark purple, but I appreciate the sentiment. Yeah, mobility is a pretty big requirement if the plan is to build the framework for a human colony who's colonists are several light years behind. For taking pictures and soil samples, you can do without.
  8. Re: More space news! Let me do the math on that one. This is all ball park math done mostly from memory, may not be entirely accurate. Hydrazine has an exhaust velocity of about 2,000 m/s (compared to methane/LOX's 3,000 and H2/LOX's 4,000). We want the rocket to hover on Mars (3.8 m/s^2 gravity). Assume it masses a bit more than a ton at this point. Mass times gravity gives us weight: roughly 4,000 newtons. To keep it hovering we need mv = 4,000 Ns per second (solved for propellant mass). [EDIT: That is, the momentum of the propellant with respect to the rocket must equal the impulse inflicted on the rocket by gravity] That gives us about 2 kg of hydrazine hitting the surface at 6 times the speed of sound each second. But while this is going on, we're also shedding horizontal velocity and slowing down towards a hovering state, so lets say 5 kg instead. It strikes me that when doing this kind of ballpark math, there's no functional difference in plume impact velocity between the hover rocket and a landing rocket (20ft of martian air isn't going to slow down the rocket propellant significantly). The difference is in where the impact occurs. The rockets on the sled don't point straight down, but point out at about 30 degrees (eyeballed from video). Trigonometry gives us 12 feet between the landed rover and where the rocket plumes hit. Note however that the force of the plume impact is directed away from the rover, neatly functioning like a leaf blower to clear the area surrounding the rover of dust. In a desperate attempt to actually use the math I've already done, I'll calculate how much energy force is being used to push the dust directly away from the rover (the rest is pushing the dust upward). The plume hits with a 60 degree angle relative to the ground, and assuming a mostly elastic collision, that means the dust is going to be flying in a cloud that averages 30 degrees relative to the ground. the momentum of the collision (which is preserved) is the total mass times velocity of the system. Before the collision that is 5kg of propellant moving at 2,000 m/s for 10,000 Ns each second. The energy that's going into moving this away from the rover is N times cos(30) = 8,660 N. Say about half the energy momentum is lost heating up the soil, making dust into glass and what not, and we find about 5,000N is going into pushing dust away each second and about 700N is going into lifting it. So, assuming we only care about airborne dust, each second pushes about 200 kilo of dust away from the rover at 25m/s. Compared to the rocket lander that can lift up to half a ton of matter* per second (about 30% of which is pointed directly at the lander). TL;DR: There's half the dust, its 12ft further away, and being pushed away from the rover with about 5,000 newtons of force. * 5,000 netwons pointed strait down (the other 5,000N being heat loss lost as heat) can lift 1,300 kg of the martian ground, but that's with barely enough force to counteract gravity. I just assumed an average dust velocity of 10m/s to arrive at 500kg of matter. Assuming different averages can cause radically different results. We're achieved solar escape velocity. Barely. We've landed robots on a grand total of two exo-planetary bodies, one of which orbits our home world. We've had one program involving landing people on an exo-planetary body, and no permanent or semi-permanent bases further than 500km away from the surface. Lets learn to crawl before we start sprinting. But, it's definitely time to start crawling. Also, why are people so obsessed with other star systems? with 8 planets and 168(ish) moons, there's plenty of real estate left in this one.
  9. Re: Anyone have pre-made star ships???
  10. Re: China's new space station: It's real benefit is teaching the Chinese space program about orbital assembly. As nobody has a decent heavy booster these days orbital assembly is pretty much required for all major projects. From the few hints the Chinese government has let slip the next big goal is a lunar flag run, followed by a small base. For that they're going to need to put together a pretty impressive rocket or build a transfer vessel in space.
  11. Re: More space news! http://www.gizmag.com/mars-one-human-settlement-2023/22799/ Holy ****. I really can't think of anything else to write. I really hope this comes through. http://mars-one.com/
  12. Gnaskar

    Sun missing

    Re: Sun missing A lunar or martian base would likely be fission powered; which is a good sunless energy source. And both places are better protected from temperature change than earth, the moon being a vacuum and Mars having a really thin atmosphere. The colonies in both places have to designed to be self-sufficient, as importing stuff is hellishly expensive. Of course, "fare far better" is relative. If only one in 10,000 people survive the first week on earth, it doesn't take much to do it better. A colony designed to maintain a 20 man crew for 2 years in -40 C without outside help is easier to modify for this kind of disaster than a submarine is.
  13. Gnaskar

    Sun missing

    Re: Sun missing Pretty much. In about a week the global average surface temperature will have dropped 40 degrees Celsius. Meanwhile, the weather suddenly changes completely, meaning during that week we'd experience odd weather (with major heat sources, like cities, producing significantly more heat than the surroundings they would be expected to experience heavy winds if not full blown tornadoes). Humans could survive, either under water (A thick level of surface ice would isolate the water beneath at a constant 4 C for centuries) or in well isolated habitats powered by nuclear or geothermal energy (I suppose oil plants could provide some energy in the beginning). If there is a careful and coordinated survival mission I could see nearly a hundred thousand people surviving in submarine cities (parked nuclear submarines, and other submarines drawing power from said nuclear submarines). Another couple hundred thousand could possibly survive on the surface, setting up a habitat by a nuclear power plant or a geothermal plant. A martian or lunar base, coincidentally, would fair far better (as usual). Captain Citadel: Would use all his corporate assets and money to save as many as possible in a surface habitat. More long term he would develop a low cost cold weather exosuit, so the colony could go out and loot resources to expand. He would provide the colony with as much of a technological advantage as he could before old age claims him (he started the campaign a retired 70 year old).
  14. Re: Build the Enterprise It's 0.25 MW per ton, actually. Or, to use the actual stats 20,000+(8*kW) lb. How do you guys manage without the metric system?
  15. Re: Build the Enterprise
  16. Re: Well this just sucks. (Commercial rocket aborts on launch.) I respectfully disagree (but then, I do live close to Russia). The SpaceX many engine philosophy saved them significant development costs (one engine for the Falcon 1, Falcon 4, the Falcon 9 and the Falcon Heavy rather than 3-4). Additionally, mass production cuts costs and increases reliability (through shear production experience). Additionally, they only need all the engines working for about ten seconds, and can reach orbit with seven engines.
  17. Re: More space news! At first I thought he was insane, then I read up on the design. Now I think he is insane, but not quite as ambitious. Ion engines, nuclear power plant, rotational gravity... This thing could actually fly. Not in 20 years, mind, would take all of human launch capacity for the next century to put a kilometer long ship in orbit, but the design is feasible. Pointless, expensive, but feasible. I want one.
  18. Re: Cybernetics and Bioengineering: what are YOUR limits? That's because the planet is mostly controlled by old men who don't really expect to live long enough to reap the benefit of a twenty year project. Once clinical immortality enters the picture things will (hopefully) change when it comes to human short sightedness.
  19. Re: Ultra-Tech Punishments? I've proposed both of those to my local representative, but he didn't think it would get passed. Something about civil liberties and cruel and unusual punishment.
  20. Re: Ultra-Tech Punishments? Depending on the source and the year, crime in general has a repeat crime rate of 20-30%. Violent crimes are harder to find statistics for, but from what I found: it was about 50-60% for violent crimes, and 30-40% for rape. On the other hand, there's only about 1000 cases of violent crime per year. That's 0.2 per 1000 people. And most of those are just drunken brawls.
  21. Re: Ultra-Tech Punishments?
  22. Re: Ultra-Tech Punishments?
  23. Re: Rogues...and Soldiers...and Assassins...and...Gallery (Dark Champions Art) I'll just add my voice to those thanking you for the amazing collection. Sadly: "You must spread some Rep..." so I'll just have to owe you some.
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