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nyrath

@[email protected]

Star map and Atomic Rocket geek. The hard-science SF writer's tech support. The website is at
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/

Refugee from the decline and fall of Google Plus.

In my long and misspent youth I did the artwork for various TTWG such as Ogre, WarpWar, GEV and such.

Fans are Slans

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@nyrath@spacey.space avatar nyrath , to random

Whelp. Looks like it's about time for Nehemiah Scudder to make his appearance...

@nyrath@spacey.space avatar nyrath , to random
@nyrath@spacey.space avatar nyrath , to random

Inventor of ‘Lite-Brite,’ ‘Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots’ and ‘Mouse Trap’ Dead at 99

https://parade.com/news/lite-brite-mouse-trap-toy-inventor-dies-99

Bert Myers
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@nyrath@spacey.space avatar nyrath , to random

“The future of life beyond Earth is not a narrow choice between robotic and human exploration.”

https://www.noemamag.com/the-future-of-space-is-more-than-human/

@EmpyClaw@mastodon.social avatar EmpyClaw , to random

How would you stop a chronomancer?

Asking for a friend.

nyrath ,
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@EmpyClaw

Try to set up an elaborate situation which if the chronomancer tries to pull a fast one, a temporal paradox will explode in their face.

@nyrath@spacey.space avatar nyrath , to random

Back in the early 1960s, one fine day the teacher of my grade school brought out a box of peculiar cards, all color coded. I didn't know at the time, but this was the SRA Reading Laboratory.

In your own time, you would start at the bottom with the red cards. Pick a card, read the excerpt from world literature, then self test yourself for reading comprehension.

If you tested poorly, read the next red card's excerpt and test again.

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https://hackeducation.com/2015/03/19/sra

SRA Reading Laboratory
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@SmudgeTheInsultCat@mas.to avatar SmudgeTheInsultCat , to random
r/AskReddit u/ThatTreeWillFall: Reddit, what is the most intelligent thing your pet had ever done? ihavespaceballs: My cat yawned, so I stuck a finger in his mouth. He sort of stared at my curiously as he shut his mouth, but didn't bite down hard. A few minutes later, he's sitting on my chest and | yawn. He proceeds to put his whole paw in my mouth.
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nyrath ,
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@SmudgeTheInsultCat

Our two kittens had just become old enough to be neutered. Surgery had been scheduled, and the vet said stop feeding the kittens 24 hours before surgery.

My wife heard a strange noise in the feeding area. She went to investigate. Next thing I knew she was calling me in a worried voice, telling me to come and see.

I asked what was wrong. She repeated, come and see.

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nyrath ,
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@SmudgeTheInsultCat

Alarmed, I went to investigate. I stopped dead in my tracks, dumbfounded.

Kitten Samantha was holding a small can of kitten food stationary with two paws.

Kitten Mehitabel had a plastic spoon in her paws, using it to try and lever up the pull top lid of the kitten food can.

My wife and I looked at each other, and agreed that our kittens were dangerously intelligent.

@60sRefugee@spacey.space avatar 60sRefugee , to random

@nyrath Came across a proposal for a nuclear armed asteroid interceptor that would basically be a stripped-down Orion that wouldn't need a shock absorbing system. Can you pick out what sort of terminal velocity this design envisions?
Nuclear Explosive Propelled Interceptor for Deflecting Objects on Collision Course with Earth
Johndale C. Solem*
Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545
https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/epdf/10.2514/3.26501

nyrath ,
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@60sRefugee

It looks like terminal velocity is 821 km per second. And it strikes with the energy equivalent of 38 kilotons.

@cjust@infosec.exchange avatar cjust , to random

nihilism disrespecter @meaning_enjoyer holy heck i'm training a zoomer kid to use the computer at work and it's exactly like training a boomer Egg Price Sufferer @agraybee There is exactly one generation that can rotate a pdf and there will never be another. The knowledge dies with us.
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nyrath ,
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@aeva @Doomed_Daniel @guamwatt @cjust @USBTypeSteve

How does one switch to expert mode?

@RanaldClouston@fediscience.org avatar RanaldClouston , to bookstodon group

This was my absolute favourite book for part of my childhood. Does it hold up? Not really, sadly, as today I see clunky prose and dialogue, a ridiculously arrogant protagonist in an all-male cast, and repetitive action. Oddly I've read other in recent years and enjoyed them more - I appreciate his surreal side these days, which isn't featured so strongly here. This book is apparently important to the history of , as the 1939 short story Black Destroyer which was expanded into this novel is considered by some the start of the genre's Golden Age, so that adds interest, as does the nostalgic factor of trying to remember exactly how this story plunged so deeply into my brain when I first encountered it. For all its flaws, there is something mind expanding and exciting here in its story of human explorers meeting increasingly powerful and threatening alien races. I can't go back to who I was when I loved this book, but it was still fascinating to revisit. bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

The Voyage of the Space Beagle, by A. E. van Vogt
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nyrath ,
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@RanaldClouston bookstodon@a.gup.pe icon bookstodon group

From the scifi novel, the "science" of a Nexialist was an interesting concept. Related are the members of the Mnemonic Service in Isaac Asimov's "Sucker Bait" and the Synthesists in John Brunner's STAND ON ZANZIBAR.

http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Content.asp?Bnum=1972

@nocontexttrek@mastodon.social avatar nocontexttrek , to random

Star Trek The Original Series scene. Noteworthy best friends forever Kirk and Spock stand close to one another in soap opera blocking. Kirk slightly ahead looking forward, Spock just behind also looking forward at some unknown thing. Closed caption reads, "[MEOW]"
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nyrath ,
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@nocontexttrek

Offhand, the only ST:TOS episodes I recall that had a cat are "Cat's Eye" and "Assignment: Earth"

@nyrath@spacey.space avatar nyrath , to random

Dear Mastodon mass-mind, please come to my aid. I am trying to remember the name of a book i had when I was a little boy back in the 1960s.

The name was something like "Le Ballentine de L'Espace".

It was in the French language. It was a picture book with stylized cartoon like images.

It was about a little boy who was tired of eating healthy food, taking baths, going to school, and other non-fun activities. He complained the outer space beings didn't have to do all that.

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@lowqualityfacts@mstdn.social avatar lowqualityfacts , to random

The Shine region of the moon, to be precise.

Moonshine technically cannot be called moonshine unless it was produced on the moon.
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nyrath ,
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@lowqualityfacts

Otherwise it is just sparkling lunar light...

@SFRuminations@wandering.shop avatar SFRuminations , to random

Jim Harmon (1933-2010) was born on this day. Bibliography: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?1270

L, Ed Emshwiller, 1957; R, John Pederson, Jr., 1959

image/jpeg

nyrath ,
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@SFRuminations

That is a laser pistol with a reflex aimsight. Similar to a reflex camera. You aim through the weapon optics.

https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/sidearmenergy.php#reflex