Space construction checklist

What we need to do, in order, from a logistics and engineering perspective:

1. Build a "truck stop" space station orbiting Earth.
2. Build a space station orbiting the moon.
3. Build a temporary habitat on the moon.
4. Build a permanent habitat in the moon. 
5. Build a space station orbiting Mars.
6. Build a temporary habitat on Mars.
7. Build a permanent habitat in Mars.

You build temporary (ten years?) shelters on the surface, to learn local conditions and techniques.  Then you house the workers for the subsurface phase in the domes.  You make clear up front that this is a very high risk project, and that quite a few people will die along the way.  You pay the workers handsomely, with a healthy bonus for completing a full tour, and a very substantial death gratuity.

Digging tunnels down makes far more sense than trying to build radiation and micro-meteor proof domes on the surface for long-term habitation.

USAID

I used to travel the world, working for the government. I’ve been to more than 60 countries. In quite a few places, USAID had more employees and a larger building than the actual US embassy. They operated completely separately, with an enormous budget and essentially no oversight.

I thought it was hilarious when Congress made bribing foreign officials a federal crime. That was at least half the purpose of USAID. Not to mention, that’s how business actually gets done in most of the world.

I’m not saying the US Department of State is a good, or even pro-American organization. It’s not. I’m saying USAID is much, much worse.

All this isn’t even close to the insanity that is the US Peace Corps.

Good riddance to bad cess.

Spacetime diagram

Here is a handy diagram of spacetime, with a brief explanation of how it works.

This is a diagram of the potential energy field, better known as spacetime.  At the center is a stationary particle of mass 8, along with curves showing its effects upon spacetime.  (Don't ask 8 what.  It's just 8 units of energy.  Doesn't matter.)  The horizontal axis is space (which is equivalent to time, because if it weren't, nothing would ever move or change).  The vertical axis is potential energy, which is equivalent to time.  Our particle is using up 8 units of energy, so it depresses the potential energy field by that much.  This is what work is.  (The total work done by the particle is mass plus kinetic energy.)  (In this graph, the top of the potential energy field is zero, where proper time = 1.  The bottom is somewhere, way, way off the chart, where proper time = 0.)

The red curve is the position of an approaching particle.  It's abstract, but the important part is that it can't be negative, because that would be inside our test particle.  So the effects of our particle begin at distance 1 from the center.  Don't ask what the units are.  Doesn't matter for the purpose of this explanation.

The purple curve is the force of attraction (AKA gravity) to another particle.  Any other particle.  Other particles are attracted to our test particle by empty space pushing them down the gradient.  Once again, just because the math shows the curve approaching zero in the center, doesn't mean it actually does.  The particle is a sort of discontinuity with radius 1.  Why is this curve following the inverse square law?  Because energy is conserved and the field is elastic.  The area above this curve is gravitational potential energy.  The field elasticity allows changes to propagate at a finite rate - the speed of light, c.

The green curve is the velocity of a particle attracted by gravity to our particle.  This curve is hyperbolic spacetime.  Just because the math shows it approaching zero, doesn't mean it really does.  The particle is absorbing 8 units of potential energy.  The curve crosses this mark at 1 unit from the center.  That's where the curvature ends.  Or, rather, where it turns into a spheroid of radius 1, because space is three dimensional, while our graph is not.

The slope of the green curve is really interesting.  The horizontal part is proper time and space contraction.  The vertical part is speed (which goes to the speed of light when the slope is vertical, and zero when the slope is horizontal).  The hypotenuse is a constant, c, the speed of light.  The trick here is that this green curve is the path that particles follow as they move.  The speed of light (propagation of change) is constant along this curve.  Not along the horizontal axis.  This has profound and weird effects, because what we perceive is three dimensional space.  We can't "see" time, only space.  So what we see is the vertical projection along the horizontal axis of what is really happening along the curve.  A 3D projection of the true 4D reality.  (Want to know what a tesseract looks like?  Look at a cube.  Now look at it again.  Tesseract!)

How does the particle itself move?  It has its own slope across its diameter.  That's why it is a spheroid, not a sphere.  It squishes along the direction of motion.  (Geometrically, it can be described as an ellipsoid, usually a spheroid.)  This is a locally hidden variable, but one we can easily observe the effects of.  (Bell's theorem is bunk and hokum.  It proves nothing, because it's a straw man argument.)

Imagine a small object near the edge of the graph.  It is forced towards the center by the gradient, picking up speed and energy along the way.  But as it gets closer to the center, the slope of the green curve increases, shrinking the apparent size of the object along the horizontal axis.  This is what we perceive as the time dilation and length contraction of general relativity.   The object's own contraction in the direction of motion due to its increasing speed is special relativity, and is caused by its own gradient.

Notice the green and purple curves cross at radius 1 (and at the given mass, in this case 8). No matter what value you pick for the mass, they always cross at radius 1, the same place the red position curve drops to zero.  This is not a coincidence.  This is what prevents singularities and infinities from happening in the real world.

• Space is flat (triangles add up to 180 degrees) and three dimensional.
• Spacetime is curved (hyperbolic) and four dimensional.
• Motion is along curves in spacetime.
• The propagation of change along the curve is finite and constant (the speed of light).
• What we perceive as motion is a 3D projection of the 4D reality.
• Particles are tiny, spheroidal discontinuities.
• The particle is work done on the potential energy field.
• The area above the force curve, outside the particle, is free (available) energy.
• Gravity isn't really attraction, it's empty space pushing down along the gradient.
• Every particle believes local spacetime is flat.  They're all wrong.
• Every particle has properties hidden inside the discontinuity, like velocity.
• Special relativity is caused by the slope of a particle's own velocity gradient.
• General relativity is caused by the slope of the spacetime gradient across a particle.

There are no infinities.  There are no singularities.  There are no contradictions.

Tanager's Flight

 Cedar Sanderson's new book is available now!

All her stories are delightful.  Give her imagination a try.  I think you'll like it.

Game review: Weirdos

This is a review of the two related miniature skirmish war games: Space Weirdos and Sword Weirdos.  I have not played them yet (it's winter flu season here), but I have read the rules and watched several complete play videos by OldHammered.

Space Weirdos was published by Casey Garske in 2021, and clocks in at a mere 16 pages of concentrated goodness.  Sword Weirdos followed in 2023 due to popular demand and more play testing.  In addition to the different theme, Sword weirdos has a more mature, longer rule set, a whopping 24 pages!  This includes the front cover, back summary, FAQ, and play example.

Both games are intended for "skirmish" play.  That means you can play with as few as three or as many as a dozen figures on a side, and still have a good time on a small table in a reasonable amount of time.  They are slightly more complicated than a beer-and-pretzels games - perhaps cheese and sausage on crackers with a nice micro brew or a glass of wine.

Space Weirdos, as you may guess, uses a science fiction setting.  There is no built in setting, and you are encouraged to use existing models to mimic more expensive games.  It is also quite possible to mix and match genres, playing totally-not-colonial-marines against totally-not-space-marines, or not-that-xenomorph versus brown-coated-smugglers.  They're your playthings.  Use them however you want.

The basic system gives three actions to each figure, with each player activating one figure at a time, so there is very little down time.  Statistics are very general, such as move, shoot, melee, defense.  Each stat is rated in the size of dice to throw - 2d4, 2d6, 2d8, 2d10, or 2d12.  Buffs raise the size of the dice, banes lower it.  All rolls are opposed, with the game rolling 2d6 against skill checks.  This means there is always a chance, but higher skills generally win.

The more you out roll your opponent, the better, because the "to hit" roll is followed by a 2d6 damage roll.  If you double your opponent's score, you get a +1 to the damage roll.  Tripling it gives you a +2.  A low roll on the damage chart results in a counterattack, and only a 10+ results in a kill, so these bonuses really matter!

Movement and range are handled by 5" sticks, marked in the middle.  All movement is in a straight line, up to one stick per action.  You figure's movement rating tells how many actions can be used to move.  Very simple, very easy.  Ranges for weapons fire are line of sight, with some bonuses or penalties for over or under one stick distance.  Again, very simple, very easy.

Each player gets a number of command points based on the size of their force (75-125 points).  You use these tokens to activate special abilities, like dodging away from gunfire or counterattacking a charging enemy.  You don't have to designate a figure to be on overwatch - you just keep a command point handy, just in case.  An unused command point grants you a bonus to initiative for the following turn.

Equipment is very limited and very generic.  Generally speaking, your figure should be statted out for what it is actually carrying.

Here is where Sword Weirdos really differs - it has a much larger, less generic set of weapons, armor, and equipment to choose from, and all weapons have "maneuvers".  These abilities require the use of a precious maneuver point, which are also used for the generic abilities of all figures, just like Space Weirdos' command points.

Did I mention the psionic/magic system?  They're just skill checks like everything else.  There are also special leadership abilities available only to your leader figure.  There are special abilities you can choose for your whole force.  Normal figure can have up to 20 points of abilities and equipment, while the leader can have 25.

Sword Weirdos also fixes the one major problem in Space Weirdos - undead.  In Space Weirdos, undead are only killed on a 10+ damage roll.  In Sword Weirdos, they can be killed by accumulated damage, just like everybody else.  They just recover from damage (the staggered condition) automatically, unlike everybody else.  This is much more balanced.

If I write any more about this, you won't need to buy the game.  Go check them out - they're only $4.99 each.  Throw some money at this guy - he's produced a very fun little pair of games for you.

The fish story

I can't remember if I told this story here before, so here it is (again).

So there I was, West Berlin, January/February 1991. The Gulf War is on, and we’re out patrolling the site in 40 below (true reading, not wind chill) weather. Monday morning shift change comes along, and we have to inspect all the cars coming in. “Step out, open the hood and the trunk.” Inspect with mirrors and flashlights.

This one car comes up, and on the engine block I find… a fish. A rather large, whole fish. Just lying there, looking slightly surprised, as fish often do.

“Excuse me, sir. Is this your fish?” No.

“Have you ever seen this fish before?” No?

“Do you have any idea where this fish came from?” No!

So we called EOD (explosive ordnance disposal), and they came and blew up the fish.

Turns out, the guy’s buddy had gone fishing over the weekend. Having caught too many fish for their freezer, he thought it would be a hoot to put one on this guy’s engine block, so it would stink on his way to work. Except, at 40 below, the fish never thawed out.

Debugging code

This is a pretty good summary of the process of working on a large, legacy code project.  Even if it's one your past self wrote.  That guy's an idiot.  What was he thinking?