Julian Satchell

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• Commented on Typo Hunt: The Labyrinth Index
  Not really a typo, but a nitpick. Mhari chooses Tawny port when benefiting from the cellars of the Lord's dining room. I think she would more likely choose Vintage. Tawny is produced in larger quantities, and matured at the warehouse....
• Commented on Empire Games
  Thank you. I finished reading Empire Games over the weekend, and it is so good - Charlie is just getting better and better at this stuff. Rita is a wonderful creation, and there are some interesting hooks set for the...
• Commented on Empire Games sneak peek
  Great start, ordering as soon as I get home. Thank you....
• Commented on Just plain icky
  Parasite load has big effects on domestic animals as well. Horses that are treated for worms grow about two hands bigger than their wild siblings. In the absence of worming (or equivalent care by careful pasture management) few live into...
• Commented on State of the Charlie
  Does supplemental vitamin D help you? I have taken it at a low dose over the last few UK winters, as I don't get very much UV on my skin for several months. As we have had a mild start...
• Commented on Evolver
  I have been lucky enough to see ravens on an almost daily basis. They have an immense range of vocalisations and very complex social interactions, as well as very adaptable feeding strategies. Who knows, maybe a descendant of corvids will...
• Commented on What else can you do with a Big Dumb Booster?
  As others have commented, wake shield epitaxy isn't compelling. For logic, small dimensions require relatively high doping levels; the limitations on mobility are dominated by the dopants rather than unwanted impurities. In a similar vein, the very high mobilities that...
• Commented on Suspense is the key
  One of Roger Zelazny's books, "Doorways in the Sand", uses IMR in every chapter. Each chapter is split into multiple sections, with the big action first, then the intervening events that lead up to it. Using it in every chapter...
• Commented on We'll all go together when we go
  There are two limits on the energy requirements for computation. For irreversible computation (real world), the limit is set by thermodynamics at some multiple of kBT. The multiple depends on what bit error rate you think you can tolerate and...
• Commented on Three Unexpectedly Good Things VR Will Probably Cause
  I recently got use an Occulus Rift. I found the moire and aliasing artefacts very distracting, the demonstrations involved test flights round an aircraft carrier. Take off in a F35 was great fun, but elements like the railings at the...
• Commented on Burnout, creativity, and the tyranny of production schedules
  Further variants on burnout: If you work in a team that depends on you (as leader, specialist, whatever), so that if you give up or fail, it takes the rest of the team down as well. When the work stops...
• Commented on Dysprosium (Eastercon) schedule
  However you do need to fly BA/Iberia to use it. Apart from that, did you enjoy the play, Mrs Lincoln? My worst Heathrow experiences all involve BA, to the extent that I will go far out of my way to...
• Commented on Update
  Kill the weeds!?!? Once upon a time, it was enough to just kick sand in their faces....
• Commented on Why we're not going to see sub-orbital airliners
  Lithium is special for batteries for two reasons. It gives highest cell voltages (so most energy per atom transferred). It is the lightest metal - atomic number 3 - so those atoms are as light as possible. It is not...
• Commented on Why we're not going to see sub-orbital airliners
  There was a single class of Russian titanium hulled subs. Although this reduced the magnetic signature, they had a lot of other defects, and other Russian subs use conventional construction. Magnetics are not the primary method of detection in most...