steventhowell

Comment Threads

• paws4thot commented on THE END.
  Agreed; other than when the flight termination system has been used (like that Arianne launch, when they caught it just as it started to tumble and was about 30deg off axis), rockets (and guided missiles) are typically lost to a deflagration rather than an explosion. Similarly, the Hindenburg was definitely a conventional fire because the flame front was restrained to follow the envelope and the hydrogen bladders inside it....
• Charlie Stross commented on THE END.
  What's the motivation with putting 'The End' at the end of the manuscript? All the reasons you gave, plus: it underscores an end to weeks or months (sometimes years!) of single-minded effort. It's the emotional equivalent of climbing a mountain or finishing a thesis. Books are big writing projects: most people who try to write one give up after a chapter or two. Even though this is my (mumble) twenty-somethingth commercial, sold book (don't ask about the learning exercises that came first!) it's still pretty daunting. Writing 'The End' doesn't mean the job's over. There's a bunch of editing and...
• Nestor commented on THE END.
  A-hah, so the sparks are intended as ignition, but of stray gas, not the main rocket exhaust. Thank you very much....
• Jay commented on THE END.
  Bob is not the most emotionally mature guy on the planet, and his outlook is tempered by his ability for self-deception. Given the nature of the universe Bob lives in, self-deception is a necessary survival trait. The Laundry RPG even has a trait to measure character's capacity for obstinate denial of the obvious (it's called SAN)....
• Nojay commented on THE END.
  I think the "sparklers" do double duty -- LOX and LH2 don't self-ignite the way other hypergolic liquid combinations such as hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide do. It's one of the problems SpaceX have to deal with, a re-ignition system for their LOX/RP-1 rocket motors if they want an in-flight engine restart mode....