Possibility of wind instruments and their design for a race with snouts
Wind instruments--such as flutes, panpipes, and even glass bottles--are able to create sounds due to air being blown over the top of or into an opening on a given instrument. This is largely possible because humans are abl...
@JDługosz Okay, I'd still go with age and traditional two partner dances. Like: first the oldes one dances with the middle one, then the middle one with the youngest and then the last dance is for the youngest and the oldest. That sounds like the easiest thing to do.
@ThorstenS. hey :) sorry had a floating point issue/question and thought you might have the theory behind it - but managed to solve my problem in the meantime. It's not floating point related i think :) Still thanks!!
@dot_Sp0T That would imply "no" as the answer to your specific question. But not much attention for the question so far. Might be worth to wait or bounty if you don't want to place another question for the specific yes/no scenario.
Do we have a question somewhere whether discussion and feature-request should be used together? I always assumed they shouldn't be used together (none of the 4 default tags on Meta should be used together) and instead you should try to start a discussion about possible consequences first and then post a feature-request if the consensus seems to be to ask for a feature-request.
@Secespitus A responsible user would probably get consensus first, I don't know that we require that be done though...actually, we don't require that, Ill just say it.
@James That's what I thought after reading a few things on Meta and the help center. It's required to use on of the, well, required tags. But there are no other guidelines, except for that it doesn't make a lot of sense to ask for opinions and discussions about something and at the same time about implementing a certain thing if you ask me. I just wondered about the most recent edit here
Reviving a discussion as a discussion + feature-request felt weird
Which would represent the UN best as a personification? Gaia (as in: the Greek goddess of Earth), or the Enforcer (basically a random UN Espatier constantly wearing an EVA suit and armed with a FN-Beretta VAAR assault rifle)?
@FutureHistorian Like I said, the second one soudns more interesting. You are the one to decide how you want to portray them: are they trying to hold onto the great values of the past or are they looking forward into a bright future with their current leader?
Well, this is the UN and they are in the middle of a war. But I suppose that they are marching towards a bright future......at least that is what the UN tells its own people.
;)
Now, here is something of interest to @Bellephoron.
Now, I wonder if the UN needs a LOT of big spacecraft to handle the colonists or just use smaller spacecraft.
Because I am looking at the strategic assumptions and turns out that the last time there was a war (at least officially) is 20 years before the First Extraplanetary War OFFICIALLY erupts.
Though technically, it was an undeclared war since 2373.
So, @Secespitus? Until @Bellerophon shows up, any bright ideas for the security environment by the time war breaks out in any official manner?
The Fiscal Environment is easy: they already have the UN's member states' assets, and a small force that they directly control.
But nations are to provide that UN force with as many assets as possible in the event of an emergency (in this case, rogue colonists).
So, basically, you have the main directly controlled UN force and the national space forces.
Before the outbreak of war, at least.
Though this slowly changes as the official hostilities approach.
Though I am still wondering about the security environment.
Because in an overview, I have a slowly growing insurrection on Mars, the Belt and the Outer Solar System, while also dealing with criminals such as space pirates in Cislunar Space, Martian orbital space and the Trojans, especially the Trojans. The UN is also needing to concern itself with civilians having access to spacecraft on their own (which means any one of them could easily use it to destroy an entire city, which means spacecraft permits and microgravity tests).
Then again, any one of those civilians could EASILY be a suspected rebel, especially if he/she was born on the colonies, so.................
And you also need the phosphorus, so it may be a must-have to ensure that the supplies keep getting to Earth.
So, that means the strategic goals are the following:
1. Ensure the protection of commerce. 2. Enforce laws and regulations. 3. Project UN power across the Solar System, if need be.
@Bellerophon? Are you alive?
@Secespitus? Now that I think about it, does this mean that I need a LOT of big spacecraft or less of them?
@FutureHistorian Can't find the question but bigger is better in space. You don't really need to be able to maneuver fast or anything like that as there is no terrain you could use to your advantage. Big lasers and early detection systems that are ealier than your opponents are the way to go about space battles.
Space battles, with huge/gigantic space ships shooting lasers, missiles and projectiles at each other, there's a lot of material regarding space battles (Movies, books, games), but there's something that's been bothering me for quite some time now...
Like how during and after WW2 they stopped pr...
So, to start the question, I want to have a small assumption here:
Let us assume that we are an interplanetary civilisation. We have spammed much of the Solar System, but it is not all sunshine and flowers (if it was, I would not be asking this question). According to Atomic Rockets, the first ...
@dot_Sp0T My rule is 2 games at a time. I'm considering joining a Starfinder campaign, so probably no Fate in the immediate future. Starting up a D&D 4e take-your-turn-as-you-can game (if you'd be interested in that), though.
@FutureHistorian At a bare minimum I suggest waiting 48 hours before accepting anything and I tend to wait 4 or 5 days just to ensure that people get an opportunity to get an answer written up.
@FutureHistorian Yes I am familiar with that concept. I do think your question at the end could probably use some rework. Its not entirely clear what you are asking, at least not to me.
I am referring to the size of the space force, what kind of spacecraft may be more commonplace and how effective they would be at accomplishing those goals.
Your questions are always so complex, and you have so much background information that can't easily be sum'd up, I never feel like I can give more than a super general answer...
Most Espatiers are basically space marines, but the UN Space Force also has Task Force Red, which has had its origins to the Second Korean War back when it was a top secret US SpecOps unit composed of cybernetically and genetically enhanced soldiers, but mostly cybernetically enhanced soldiers. The original was wiped out in the final days of the conflict, and after the war, all details on the DoD's Enhanced Special Operations Unit (ENSOU for short; aka: Task Force Red) were declassified.
The current Task Force Red was reestablished by unanimous vote of the UN Security Council to deal with secret operations that the regular UN forces and national armies cannot handle.
1. Lots of small patrol ships to look for pirates, and larger war ships at intervals that can be called in if needed. 2. Lawyers probably. Also diplomats. 3. Nuclear tipped missiles and observer stations to look for inbound objects. 4. Send in the negotiators, backed up with nuclear hell fire and space marines.
That's international law. You haven't spelled out if the colonies/planets/outposts get any say, so that just leaves the UN members on earth, IE, international law.
Of course there are going to be uprisings. Who wants to have a bunch of out of touch bureaucrats telling them what to do when they have no idea what your life is like, and you have no say in how things go.
Well, "international law" also refers to enforcing things like the Revised Outer Space Treaty, which is basically a revision of the original Outer Space Treaty (which got violated in the 1970s, per the kinetic rods placed in orbit by the Cold War superpowers, which in turn is a consequence of the Soviets getting to the Moon first, which in turn, prolonged the Space Race).
You really should read The Expanse series. I think it would be right up your alley, and is probably the most realistic depiction of solar system politics and military action I've read.
So, for example: keeping nations from placing more nuclear weapons than they already have in space is a priority, and also making sure that corporations cannot go out of control with their mercenary groups in space.
I know. The Planetverse is more or less trying to put EVEN MORE realism in there, and an alternate history backstory is included as a bonus.
That way, in case some future event fails to pan out, I can just keep being legitimate, since this future world is not our future but rather an alternate future.
As for the strategic assumptions and goals.........I got it from Atomic a Rockets, which in turn, got it from the Honorverse companion.
@Bellerophon Industry and trade, like most colonization, I'd imagine. Maybe just enough to act as a part-way station for other trade, and to extract possible resources?
"As of 2005, the economic value of all hydrogen produced worldwide is about $135 billion per year.[20]
There are two primary uses for hydrogen today. About half is used in the Haber process to produce ammonia (NH3), which is then used directly or indirectly as fertilizer. Because both the world population and the intensive agriculture used to support it are growing, ammonia demand is growing. The other half of current hydrogen production is used to convert heavy petroleum sources into lighter fractions suitable for use as fuels. This latter process is known as hydrocracking. Hydrocracking …
So supporting farming industries on other colonies, as I imagine fertilizing efforts are even more important for other colonies than it is here on Earth.
Probably a lot cheaper to ship fertilizer to a colony than to grow plants on Earth and ship that out.
In the last few days I've seen several answers (from different users, on wildly different topics) that all basically say "it's fiction do whatever you like". Now this is an answer to the question, it's an answer to any question, except those tagged Hard-Science, asked under the worldbuilding bann...
yeah, that seems so crazy to me. You'd think we'd be running out of the heavy stuff, meanwhile the light stuff is floating away
lol now I want to write a short story about a terrorist attack on the US's stockpile of helium. Something like Air Force One, but everyone is talking in high-pitched voices
@NexTerren It's hard to get an idea that is truly unique, and it isn't a guarantee that a story will be good. The video gives a few examples; "A young girl is orphaned and has to move in with strangers, and ends up winning their hearts." Which could be Annie, Anne of Green Gables, and a half dozen others. What you do with the premise when turning it into a story is more important than the originality of the premise.
Right now, I'm captivated by my characters and have a lot of the plot and major themes, but have yet to write down anything. Certain ideas came to me in dreams…
Sure I'll share the idea… It occurs to me that “50 shades” was so lucerative while being bad writing simply because of the subject matter; likewise the movie was poor yet they still make a sequil? So, sex and provocative themes sells.
So I start with a main character who’s a promiscuous bisexual nudist, and follow her through a journey of discovery concerning different kinds of intimacy.
Another thing that worked out was deciding to not make it have supernatural elements, but get the same ends by having trickery and publicity roumers; plus unreliable narration and people telling stories within the novel.
@FutureHistorian The lower the contributions then either the lower the capabilities across the board or the lower priorities get dropped to maintain capability in high priority areas.
So, basically, if the PLA-SF for example, decides NOT to contribute new spacecraft to be deployed towards the Martian Front when hostilities become official, while the US Aerospace Force decides to send additional Espatier regiments, then what happens to the effectiveness of the UN Space Force?
@FutureHistorian It drops as they have less ships. Even if the other countries pick up the slack with equivalent or better units and ships the overall effectiveness still drops as their will be less coherence within the command structure.
Guys. I'm trying to recall the term for (especailly in the medieval era) the groups of tradesmen, craftsmen, and sometimes entertainers that would follow an army hoping for proffit.
It depends on a lot of factors way too complex to discuss here. If you start a private chat I could attempt to run through them but I don't want to completely fill the transcript here.
In german Tross has been in use until after around WW2
it is specific in that it is a word for the group of people, etc. following an army that does not fight itself but fulfills functions such as support and logistics, etc.
While the Duden explains the word [Tross](http://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Tross) with the following: 1. (Military, especially in olden times) vehicle fleet / rolling park that supplies the troop with rations and ammunition 2. Retinue, Followers 3. Travelling group of people with the same target
While Camp Followers seems to be something that, according from my Wikipedia skills, came up around the American Civil War - so seems to be America centered
@dot_Sp0T? Any potential nations besides the States, Russia/the USSR, China, Japan, a unified Korea and the combined EU members that could make space forces, even if they are not up to par with the Big 5/6's space forces?
@FutureHistorian big players you forgot: India, United southern Africa, maybe Australia; smaller players: Mexico, south america to some extent, northern africa, turkey + other block states, indonesia and surroundings
I am not sure if Israel, Nigeria, South Africa, a Pan American Space Coalition (led by Brazil), an Islamic Space Alliance (led by Saudi Arabia), India, ASEAN and possibly Turkey may have their own space forces.
Because those are big space players, but would they be able to afford a decent space force capable of operating at least in the boundaries of the Inner Solar System?
NOTE: The Big 5/6 are actually the only powers capable of power projection within the majority of the Solar System, both Inner Solar System and Outer Solar System.
And the only reason India never got a settlement in the Outer Solar System is because they started to deal with refugees from Bangladesh, and Vyomanauts only launched into space in 2008 in this timeline.
Because of the "Kosovo is Serbia" idiots who just happen to forget that even though Kovoso is a failed state, it is because the Serbians were the ones that got them in that state in the first place.
And I am not going to argue about that.
Then again, I am going to say that as long as Kosovo and Serbia can come to an agreement (which I doubt), then go for it, Kosovo. Be a sovereign state like the rest of the world.
If I were to make a near future setting I'd probably just put all of the ex-balkan states and some surroundings into a new block and be done with - that'd also give you an avenue of internal struggle to explore should you wish to
@FutureHistorian again I personally would put a bet on Mexico - unless you annex that with the States - as Mexico has amazing locations for cheap commercial spaceports
@dot_Sp0T. Good suggestion, but I do want to use the national space forces thing as backstory for the events that transpire in the late 24th and mid-25th Centuries.
And fair enough.
The problem? Mexico is currently unstable in real life.
@FutureHistorian I had a chance to get to know some Mexicans in my age (mid-twenties), they were mostly civil engineers and quite convinced that the first step in making Mexico viable again was to solve the traffic problems in the big cities. Assuming this would help getting the industry going again might actually already be enough. Don't see why you need to get rid of cartels if you can include them into your industry/economy - see Japan and the Yakuza maybe?
So maybe that could indeed be enough to get it rolling. Insurgencies seem often to be a symptom rather than a cause. E.g. people being unhappy revolting.
But now we're getting into a subject where I might be too idealistic to be useful
I tend to believe that people actually want to help each other. Might be my weakness.
@dot_Sp0T I went to Mexico City on business, and was amazed at the length of the drive all using unorganized low-capacity streets, without any kind of large boulevards beween large blocks of buildings.
NOTE: These are all moons of Jupiter, with one of them being a Galilean Moon (Io).
What I mean is technically for UN military outposts.
The Thebe and Amalthea outposts are all mostly automated, with the ocassional human supervision and small scale patrols deeper into the Jupiter Moon System.
NOTE: The reason I ask for the long-term practicality of military outposts past Europa is due to Jupiter's deadly magnetic field.
@DaaaahWhoosh It's not all that easy to immigrate legally either. Don't believe everything you see on TV. (he says while pasting links to websites...) The US accepts more legal immigrants than any other country in the world by a wide margin.
No, just raw numbers. The US has 10 times as many people as Canada, and 4 times as many as Germany, so the percapita number is smaller, but at those scales it's hard to keep that kind of percentage up. It starts to become exponential at some point
The big difference is where they come from, and I think that's what certain people are getting upset about, because [group from X] isn't being accepted as much, while ignoring that [group from Y] is being accepted enough to make up the difference.
Since the UN's military outposts in Thebe, Io and Amalthea are within Jupiter's deadly magnetic field, could a magnetic shield help protect the outposts from deadly radiation?
This is why you need Runza, they serve them via drive through. They also have Chili and Cinnamon Rolls in the winter time...plus they sell Runza's which are these things with meat and stuff baked into a mini loaf of bread...its sorta like a calzone thats not deep fried.
Possibility of wind instruments and their design for a race with snouts
Wind instruments--such as flutes, panpipes, and even glass bottles--are able to create sounds due to air being blown over the top of or into an opening on a given instrument. This is largely possible because humans are abl...
So, to start the question, I want to have a small assumption here:
Let us assume that we are an interplanetary civilisation. We have spammed much of the Solar System, but it is not all sunshine and flowers (if it was, I would not be asking this question). According to Atomic Rockets, the first ...
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The Factory Floor