rylen

rylen

  • Commented on Report on Seat 14C
    Charlie's post gave me an idea I may try writing. I'm having a hard time with a world in which this is a one-off event. Instead, this is a known risk with as many as 1-3 arrivals and departures every...
  • Commented on The Day After
    A lot of those predictions seem right except for the Obama Golden Age. Trumpism requires that it is restoring us from something horrible. Obama-Romney Care was decent with problems, had bad press for the get go, and all the tragedy...
  • Commented on What else can you do with a Big Dumb Booster?
    My mind goes to Solar Power Satellites as well. Also, launching lasers if the SPS are practical....
  • Commented on Reality is broken
    Laundryverse question. Earlier, there was some talk about the general public learning about magical technologies, specifically the Basilisk guns. This got me wondering about the Bob's iPhone. He described it as having a major glamour. Which of these explanations holds...
  • Commented on Reality is broken
    -How long until I can exercise my (US) 2nd Amendment rights to buy a Basilisk Gun? And how will UK Customs know if I accidentally put it in my luggage when I go on vacation?...
  • Commented on What are you reading this summer?
    I've put "1177BC" on my to-read list. It sounds interesting. I've recently finished "Darker Shade of Magic" which was fascinating and "Gathering of Shadows" which grated. I'm currently reading (nonfiction): "The Information" by James Gleick, a history of how we...
  • Commented on A purely theoretical dilemma
    How do the group minds get defined? Would people choose which to belong to in a local area? Would they encompass a geographic region? In either case, it could get interesting at the places minds overlap. I'm impressed that their...
  • Commented on Towards a taxonomy of cliches in Space Opera
    Post-American-crash novel Julian Comstock has a scene using theatrics, balloons, and kites to win a battle. I can't give you a good source, but Penn&Teller explain a trick in a short story where the hero convinces aliens not to destroy...
  • Commented on Towards a taxonomy of cliches in Space Opera
    Neither is space opera, but Connie Willis uses British misdirection in Blackout/All Clear and Neal Stephenson a different sort of it in Cryptonomicon. What are some good space operas told by minor players? Most of the ones I'm currently thinking...
  • Commented on Towards a taxonomy of cliches in Space Opera
    Possible cliche: The local people have myths of how they came from space. These turn out to be true, often with a still working space ship. More broadly, myths always imply an ancient history now lost. As a side note,...
  • Commented on Towards a taxonomy of cliches in Space Opera
    Cool stuff. Cliche for the list: The first AI comes along. It is immediately smarter than humans and capable of defeating all computer security, knowing everything available, and controlling other machines. It doesn't happen too often in Space Opera --...
  • Commented on A world-building puzzler
    Painting can provide a lot of information without being writing. Imagine a picture of a healthy eye with surrounding pictures of diseased sections and arrows to indicate where they frequently occur. It would help a physician learn and remember that...
  • Commented on Miscellanea
    Elves fleeing / invading as the Elder Gods return reminds me of something I've long wondered. How does the Laundry universe deal with the Fermi Paradox? My memory of the first book has extra-dimensional Nazis who bungled a deal with...
Subscribe to feed Recent Actions from rylen

Following

Not following anyone

Specials

Merchandise

About This Page

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Propaganda