Tampico:
"By the way, Pirate Ronald, how is the Free State project coming? Ihave not been keeping up with news on that lately."
Pirate Ronald:
Me, too. I've been very busy and got behind on our group posts.That is temporary. I always catch back up. Answering this gives me the opportunity to put it with many other things into perspective as it concerns us.It's a great concept! It is working and it could achieve the goals,but I expected New Hampshire to demonstrate that the Free State Project would have done very well by getting much more votes for Ron Paul because I can see the influence just one of me has on local Utah elections and I had expected exponential improvement with greater numbers instead of diminishing returns. Maybe when there are few, the political forces don't organize well to counter. Perhaps a few can convince those who can be convinced and more don't make that much more of a difference other than to concentrate more votes in an area. There are other factors. Perhaps it is an exponential rate that society becomes dumbed down and trusts government and media to tell them what to not think, but what to believe.I imagined that it would be much more powerful than demonstrated with all of the like minded political activists concentrated into one state. It is a great concept and will in time work except we are rapidly running out of time for anything to work except for the average people trusting of media and government to wake up and not be zombies in that sense of the word for them and most of the rest of the population to not become zombies in the other sense of the word that I more often use to describe the desperate seeking to take essentials of life from the prepared as we can only imagine* at this point.
I have a plan of political activism in the works that will greatly empower the Ron Paul supporters that are now in great numbers in every state to become highly effective. It isn't over. With Ron Paul as President, we would still have to win Congress in the same November general election by electing Ron Paul supporters to be our public servants. We will still do that. All is not as it seems nor will it remain the same. There will be problems with the media so called top tier candidates who even lie that Ron Paul is no longer in the race when it is all he and his supporters can do to insist that they will never give up. Add to the mix the start of The Great Collapse and the ordinary people who tell me not to bother them with politics will then become very interested and ask: "Why don't I have a job or food to eat?!" OR worse: "Why doI have three jobs and that is insufficient to be able to buy enough food to not see my family starve before my eyes!?"Then they will learn that Ron Paul had it right all along. For those who are new among us,* become proficient at resolving zombie ambiguity of the two different uses of the word by visualizing the zombie movies where the zombies move rather clumsy and slow, yet persistently after healthy people. It will be similar amidst The Great Collapse as starvation, injury and disease impede the physical and mental effectiveness of those who are otherwise productive members of society as normal capable and loving people, yet when motivated out of love and guilt in their continued desire to provide for their loved ones they see miserably perishing in their care, then they would be similarly dangerous and numerous and pervasive as in the zombie movies except for being real people presenting moral issues defending from them because like in the zombie movies, reason wouldn't stop them as they are dying anyway. No, not just similar,but the collapse behaviour of people will be exactly like in the zombie movies except that you can't just turn it off, so study them well.For moral reasons, it would be best to in advance, if possible, just sail away, as zombies don't swim well and will not be having a good time of it enough to master longer range strategy other than brief acts of desperation instead of sailing and longer range plans that fit with productivity and preparedness. There will be those few that do, but they are not zombies. Further understanding can be found *bysearching our archives for zombies and watching zombie movies. It will be sad to turn away from them as they are the people we see today in society, but they, like in the zombie movies, will be too numerous to help and so numerous they will be dangerous.
Which brings us back to the beginning of the subject of political activism and this is why I am so motivated to do my part and all that I can to prevent the tragedy they insist on bringing upon themselves with their votes and their failure to head our Founding Fathers'admonition to be ever vigilant.Though it will sadden me to sail away from them, I will do it with love in my heart for those I can help after those times when only the survivors remain in the aftermath of a destined-to-fail-overwhelmingly-powerful-at-first-global-governance. The strategy here is to be prepared to outlive it outside of society and without dependence on society to plant the seeds of freedom where freedom can thrive.This will be quite a challenge, so pray and prepare to do your part.Eat nutritiously and become as healthy as possible and become very prepared with supplies and skills and healthy living and mental attitudes.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Sling Shots and Long Bows (Discussion from June 20 and 21, 2006)
Tampico:
Any thoughts on sling shots?I have sling shots on my mind this morning for reasons that I don'thave time to explain, but I would be interested in hearing any slingshot stories or thoughts.I am not thinking of sling shots as a replacement for hand made longbows, by the way.
Black Bart Moon:
Actually, If you had the materials readily available, sling shots would be the weapon of choice. Your reference to a long bow vs a sling shot is kinda like a reference to a Winchester lever action rifle vs a colt 45. It is not a matter of one vs the other but both.
The sling shot would be the weapon for small game and rapid fire defense.
Of course, in the area of defense, should your forecast ever come to fruition, modern firearms would rule for some years to come. A think a viable defense strategy would be to immediately acquire firearms and material but avoid using them. Use items such as your bow and sling shot for day to day survival.
Industrial grade bungee cord should be on your list of items to acquire.
Wayne:
Slings in the hands of a trained user can hit man size targets at 200' and with an 2 Oz stone kill. Think David. In fact the Greeks liked slinger more then bows.
Long bows will out perform a sling but takes years of training.
Check this
http://www.slinging.org/
Black Bart Moon:
Slings are definitely proven but it takes a lot less skill to use a modern day sling shot and they are effective.
Wayne:
Right about that. I have shot more then one drug dealer with a Cat's Eye at 100' which gets them going.
Tampico:
Good points and nice link, Wayne. I do think that I would have better luck getting good with a modern sling, however, and I feel like I could use it to hunt squirrels with ball bearings. I also think I could regulate the speed on a modern one better -- so as not to seriously hurt the dogs.I also have a problem with keeping my rifle out near the back door because we still have underage members of the household. Consequently,when a coyote is spotted I never have a rifle handy. I'll bet that I could bump off a coyote with a sling shot.
One thing I probably would not do is use a sling shot on a drugdealer. What were the circumstances of that Wayne? We can't afford to lose you before the Collapse.
Poppyuncut:
WHY NOT? (Use a sling shot on a drug dealer) I SURE WOULD. IT SOUNDS TO ME LIKE WAYNE IS JUST BEING A GOOD, REAL-LIVE PIRATE. KEEP IT UP WAYNE. YOU HAVE MY COMPLETE SUPPORT.
Tampico:
Wayne has my support too, because he is a brave Neo-Swashbuckler, but I contend that you should never go into a battle under-armed unless you have some element of surprise or something else that would tip the advantage in your favor. That is why I asked what the circumstances were.
Brian Provost (modern pirate):
hmm sling shots, will let me say this not be......will thousands of years ago, but i guess whatever me myself perfers good old swords, for i got plenty of them as wella compound bow - silent but deadly…
Poppyuncut:
“right about that. I have shot more then one drug dealer with a Cat'sEye at 100' gets them goingWayne
LOL. WAY TO GO WAYNE! MY KIND OF FELLA!
Tampico:
Great to hear from you Black Bart. Hope things are going well in Arkansas and with the baby.My main motivation for getting a sling shot was not survival related. There are two dogs next door and the owner is too lazy to keep the fence in repair so the dogs come out and attack my photenias. I don't think the dogs are anti-photenia, its just that I am running a soaker hose on the new photenias (8 are new, 22 are established) and the dogs are attracted to the water. I wish I could zip a few shots off at the owner, but I'm thinking about pelting the dogs just to run them off. I would use marbles as shot and not shoot at anywhere near a lethal velocity.I tried reasoning with the guy (yelling across the fence) but he just sends one of his poor kids to recover the dogs and puts them right back in the unsecured yard.
Black Bart:
This does indeed sound like a perfect use for the sling shot.
Incidentally, someone from the University from Texas is here looking for the Ivory Bill. Apparently, I am not the only one who is seeing things.
Wayne:
About a near my home there was an old dead end (Now The Pancho Villa Victory Garden) Drug dealers and hookers would ply their trade. I would go along the woodbine to about 50' 100' and send off a few cat eyes in to the crowd of dealers. First few times some of them would talk shit and pull guns that got a 911 call to the police would who come and search the dealers most felons with firearms after about 4 months and the City letting the block watch group turn the dead end into a Garden the drug dealers moved some place else.
Note never shot at Hookers they were at least runing the worlds oldest business. The Mexicans loved calling the police on the guns Racine had a program where you got $50 for each firearm seized in a drug bust .
I love legal Mexicans
Wayne:
I would have felt bad if I had missed a hurt someone else and there was a chance (small) they would have found out who it was. I could not do it all the time or after dark with no or little moon light.
Also I needed the help of others I am very glad they are gone - the Garden is so much nicer.
Any thoughts on sling shots?I have sling shots on my mind this morning for reasons that I don'thave time to explain, but I would be interested in hearing any slingshot stories or thoughts.I am not thinking of sling shots as a replacement for hand made longbows, by the way.
Black Bart Moon:
Actually, If you had the materials readily available, sling shots would be the weapon of choice. Your reference to a long bow vs a sling shot is kinda like a reference to a Winchester lever action rifle vs a colt 45. It is not a matter of one vs the other but both.
The sling shot would be the weapon for small game and rapid fire defense.
Of course, in the area of defense, should your forecast ever come to fruition, modern firearms would rule for some years to come. A think a viable defense strategy would be to immediately acquire firearms and material but avoid using them. Use items such as your bow and sling shot for day to day survival.
Industrial grade bungee cord should be on your list of items to acquire.
Wayne:
Slings in the hands of a trained user can hit man size targets at 200' and with an 2 Oz stone kill. Think David. In fact the Greeks liked slinger more then bows.
Long bows will out perform a sling but takes years of training.
Check this
http://www.slinging.org/
Black Bart Moon:
Slings are definitely proven but it takes a lot less skill to use a modern day sling shot and they are effective.
Wayne:
Right about that. I have shot more then one drug dealer with a Cat's Eye at 100' which gets them going.
Tampico:
Good points and nice link, Wayne. I do think that I would have better luck getting good with a modern sling, however, and I feel like I could use it to hunt squirrels with ball bearings. I also think I could regulate the speed on a modern one better -- so as not to seriously hurt the dogs.I also have a problem with keeping my rifle out near the back door because we still have underage members of the household. Consequently,when a coyote is spotted I never have a rifle handy. I'll bet that I could bump off a coyote with a sling shot.
One thing I probably would not do is use a sling shot on a drugdealer. What were the circumstances of that Wayne? We can't afford to lose you before the Collapse.
Poppyuncut:
WHY NOT? (Use a sling shot on a drug dealer) I SURE WOULD. IT SOUNDS TO ME LIKE WAYNE IS JUST BEING A GOOD, REAL-LIVE PIRATE. KEEP IT UP WAYNE. YOU HAVE MY COMPLETE SUPPORT.
Tampico:
Wayne has my support too, because he is a brave Neo-Swashbuckler, but I contend that you should never go into a battle under-armed unless you have some element of surprise or something else that would tip the advantage in your favor. That is why I asked what the circumstances were.
Brian Provost (modern pirate):
hmm sling shots, will let me say this not be......will thousands of years ago, but i guess whatever me myself perfers good old swords, for i got plenty of them as wella compound bow - silent but deadly…
Poppyuncut:
“right about that. I have shot more then one drug dealer with a Cat'sEye at 100' gets them goingWayne
LOL. WAY TO GO WAYNE! MY KIND OF FELLA!
Tampico:
Great to hear from you Black Bart. Hope things are going well in Arkansas and with the baby.My main motivation for getting a sling shot was not survival related. There are two dogs next door and the owner is too lazy to keep the fence in repair so the dogs come out and attack my photenias. I don't think the dogs are anti-photenia, its just that I am running a soaker hose on the new photenias (8 are new, 22 are established) and the dogs are attracted to the water. I wish I could zip a few shots off at the owner, but I'm thinking about pelting the dogs just to run them off. I would use marbles as shot and not shoot at anywhere near a lethal velocity.I tried reasoning with the guy (yelling across the fence) but he just sends one of his poor kids to recover the dogs and puts them right back in the unsecured yard.
Black Bart:
This does indeed sound like a perfect use for the sling shot.
Incidentally, someone from the University from Texas is here looking for the Ivory Bill. Apparently, I am not the only one who is seeing things.
Wayne:
About a near my home there was an old dead end (Now The Pancho Villa Victory Garden) Drug dealers and hookers would ply their trade. I would go along the woodbine to about 50' 100' and send off a few cat eyes in to the crowd of dealers. First few times some of them would talk shit and pull guns that got a 911 call to the police would who come and search the dealers most felons with firearms after about 4 months and the City letting the block watch group turn the dead end into a Garden the drug dealers moved some place else.
Note never shot at Hookers they were at least runing the worlds oldest business. The Mexicans loved calling the police on the guns Racine had a program where you got $50 for each firearm seized in a drug bust .
I love legal Mexicans
Wayne:
I would have felt bad if I had missed a hurt someone else and there was a chance (small) they would have found out who it was. I could not do it all the time or after dark with no or little moon light.
Also I needed the help of others I am very glad they are gone - the Garden is so much nicer.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Behavioral Economics
It is ironic that Hillary constantly bashes Obama for being shallowand just giving good speeches because if you actually look at the thinking of the two candidates you see that Obama has some unique ideas while there is nothing that Hillary expouses that wasn't thought of sometime between January and June of 1932 by the FDR socialists. Hillary just wants to make programs mandatory, garnish wages and reduce the freedom of choice. One thing Obama's people have been discussing is the new concept of behavioral economics.
A simple example of behavioral economics just occurred tonight. Goat Girl and I have a mental checklist of grocery items and then have a written list of things that we do not purchase every week (like say coffee, which we buy in bulk infrequently). The two lists usually cost us between $85 and $100 if we shop at Krogers and $115 and $150 if we shop at Wal-Mart. Is Wal-Mart more expensive? Actually, almost every item that we routinely purchase is less expensive at Wal-Mart. Rational behavior is a basic assumption of modern economic theory,yet people do not behave rationally. If you have data on how people really behave then why not use that data rather than assume rationality? In the case of Goat Girl and myself we are obviously making more impulse buys at Wal-Mart. We can either continue to shop at Wal-Mart and vow to be more rational or we can just make the decision to shop at Krogers. We call Wal-Mart the $100 Store becausewe will spend $100 there even if we just go in for milk.
People behave irrationally when doing taxes, entering mortgage agreements, buying insurance, selecting a mate, voting, and selecting a favorite beer. The only thing more irrational than individual humans is groups of humans and human governments. Understanding the irrationality is essential to making good decisions. Assuming rational behavior assures bad decisions.
A simple example of behavioral economics just occurred tonight. Goat Girl and I have a mental checklist of grocery items and then have a written list of things that we do not purchase every week (like say coffee, which we buy in bulk infrequently). The two lists usually cost us between $85 and $100 if we shop at Krogers and $115 and $150 if we shop at Wal-Mart. Is Wal-Mart more expensive? Actually, almost every item that we routinely purchase is less expensive at Wal-Mart. Rational behavior is a basic assumption of modern economic theory,yet people do not behave rationally. If you have data on how people really behave then why not use that data rather than assume rationality? In the case of Goat Girl and myself we are obviously making more impulse buys at Wal-Mart. We can either continue to shop at Wal-Mart and vow to be more rational or we can just make the decision to shop at Krogers. We call Wal-Mart the $100 Store becausewe will spend $100 there even if we just go in for milk.
People behave irrationally when doing taxes, entering mortgage agreements, buying insurance, selecting a mate, voting, and selecting a favorite beer. The only thing more irrational than individual humans is groups of humans and human governments. Understanding the irrationality is essential to making good decisions. Assuming rational behavior assures bad decisions.
Blog Note
I think I am just going to use this blog to place key posts from the Neo-Swashbuckler Yahoo Group.
Pirate Ronald re: Fuel Costs
When I was bicycle racing at a time that I stopped driving and replaced driving with bicycling, I averaged hundreds of miles a week some years. To fuel this, I ate a lot of high quality and expensive food. The fuel cost per mile was rather high compared to gasoline, but the physical fitness and health benefits likely have saved me greatly in not having medical expenses and having a much more productive life.
After The Great Collapse, my transportation energy source will be the wind for sea travel and bicycling and walking for on shore where it will be important to be able to pick places away from zombie populations and otherwise outdistance zombies that might become aware of my presence. But, zombies don't swim well and the sailboat is an excellent way to travel away to a better location.
After The Great Collapse, my transportation energy source will be the wind for sea travel and bicycling and walking for on shore where it will be important to be able to pick places away from zombie populations and otherwise outdistance zombies that might become aware of my presence. But, zombies don't swim well and the sailboat is an excellent way to travel away to a better location.
Geoff and I discuss space travel
Re: [Neo-Swashbucklers CC2] Pilgrims
Tampico Jack wrote: There are some key concepts here. First, I think it will be relatively easy to get to near light speed.
Geoff: Well, that's the easiest part, but there are relativistic complications.
Tampico: Almost any source of thrust will work since thrust in space is cumulative.
Geoff: Not thrust, which is a force being utilised to change a velocity, but*velocity* is cumulative. ie the speed that you build up remains evenwhen thrust ceases according to the First Law of Motion. This is true for any speed we have been able to obtain thus far, however when you get to speeds that are up around C you run into some obstacles. According to General Relativity, mass increases as in proportion to speed and theoretically, at C, becomes infinite. So acceleration due to thrust will drop as speed approaches C as the thrust is trying to Delta V a mass that is increasing constantly at high percentages of C. There is also friction to consider. At speeds we have been able to reach,friction from interstellar hydrogen is insignificant, however as we get faster, the number of impacts per unit time will increase and will ultimately have a retarding effect (ie Drag) on the passage of the vessel through space.This also brings up the problem of meteoric and cometary material. To reach the stars requires passage through the Oort Cloud, which is believed to have a relatively high particle density and there are certainly a lot of stray objects. Now as the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy says, space is really, really, really, big, however at any speed approaching that of light, it wouldn't take an impact from an object much bigger than a dust mote to cause serious damage to a physical structure - punch a hole straight through it or simply destroy it utterly. Radar won't let you 'see' that far ahead, since you are travelling at close to light speed and relativity also says that can't travel faster, your radar range will progressively reduce as you approach C. Time contraction is the only favourable outcome of travelling at high percentages of C and is one of the factors of relativity that has actually been demonstrated, which suggests that therest of it is at least somewhat likely to be correct...So that's the EASY part, but having your ship SURVIVE travel at that speed for more than seconds is a much more significant problem.One solution that has been offered is to fabricate a large mass of something solid, (perhaps ice) and mount it on the front of the ship as a sort of armoured shield, to absorb impacts while shielding the actual ship from them. Whether there would be enough heat from friction with interstellar hydrogen to melt it has not been established.
Tampico: Second, getting to the brink of light speed will be worthless if there is ever a way for tyrants to travel faster than light speed. There needs to be a maximum speed and that maximum speed must be attained inexpensively so that the main cost of the travel is the time spent.
Geoff: There is presently no even theoretical way to exceed C. Short of a breakthrough into some new realm of physics, this is unlikely to change.
Tampico: If there is a habitable planet 8 light years away, and I can travel there in 9 years, I would sign up tomorrow and go.
Geoff: If there is a planet 8 light years away, it will take rather more than 9 years to reach it. Remember that even if you can accelerate to C orsome significant percentage, it will take some time to accelerate to itwith a small thrust source (assuming the mass problem I mentioned is notan issue) then you will also need to DEaccelerate so I would suggest itwould take rather longer than 9 years, perhaps as much as 20-25.
Tamico: Someone wanting to tax me or force me into their empire would also have to travel 9+ years and then they would have to defeat me and return back on another 9+ year trip. What tyrant would do that?
Goeff: Concur. I believe I made that point in my earlier response.Wars are conducted to gain something for the warmaker. If there is nothing to gain, and I believe the cost of transport over interstellar distances of war materiel and warships etc would be, literally,astronomical and such a war would doubtless cost more to wage than any possible tangible gain that might eventuate. It's been hypothesised that trying to do so would likely bankrupt said Empire and lead to its collapse.
Tampico: Besides, I would leave a note when I left saying that if I am followed that I would destroy all improved property before the arrival of my pursuer. Interstellar travel will be the end of tyranny if there is a maximum speed of travel.
Geoff: Very likely INTERSTELLAR tyranny, however there is nothing to stop some new self styled Hitler or Bonaparte from starting up on the new world.We take all our human failings with us when we go anywhere.
Tampico: I am also pretty confident that we will find habitable planets in various sized solar systems. If the star is larger than our sun, then perhaps the planet will be proportionally more distant from the star.
Geoff: There is as yet no mechanism to detect Earth like planets even around nearby stars (ie under 10LY) though it is possible to detect PLANETSaround other stars (this has been done) the only ones that have been reliably proven to exist are Jupiter type gas giants - clearly not habitable. Whether other more earthlike worlds also exist in company with them has not been demonstrated - though one could postulate that the existence of one may suggest it to be possible at worst. I concur that there are very likely to be earthlike planets 'out there' but it will be difficult to find one without actually going there to look. This will doubtless require space probes that are sufficiently long lived to reach a star system and send back real data - a mission that could easily last 50 years or more even to nearby stars. Such an undertaking would be a true 'generational' mission, with the people who began it passing the responsibility for its completion to their successors. One wonders if NASA's proposed moonbase would include an astronomical telescope of significant aperture - ie bigger than the Hubble. If it did, it *might* be possible to discover if extra-solar, earth sizedplanets exist. The problem of micro-meteorites will be solved someway possibly by being dissolved by some sort of force shield around the craft.That would be the ideal, however there is not presently any known method of producing such a phenomena - it would clearly require a breakthrough in both theoretical physics and engineering - I suspect that even if itis eventually possible, the power requirements would be staggering.
Tampico: Tyranny will suffer a blow in a less direct way also. If you look at the improvements made on the US East Coast in employment from 1800-1900 it gives a good indication of what could occur. Employers in Boston, for example, did not just become more kind hearted during that period. I think that they knew that they had to pay a livable wage and had to improve working conditions or they would risk losing employees to the frontier. The same will happen when mankind starts pioneering new planets. Even tyrants will have to soften their tyranny for those who remain or risk losing them to the frontiers in space.
Geoff: Possibly. Or you will get what Heinlein, McCaffrey et al postulated -the adventurous will migrate to new frontiers and the 'sheeple' will remain in their safe little cubby holes. Overcrowding might well bemore of an incentive to migrate than oppression (and one is frequently aproduct of the other).I don't know if you read SF at all, but 'Decision at Doona' by Anne McCaffrey postulates just such a situation. An overcrowded world that is 'dormitised' into a complete urban complex, with complex rules of behaviour and etiquette and 'Proctors' watching for any 'social crimes'being committed and punishment consisting mostly of reductions in rations.
Tampico Jack wrote: There are some key concepts here. First, I think it will be relatively easy to get to near light speed.
Geoff: Well, that's the easiest part, but there are relativistic complications.
Tampico: Almost any source of thrust will work since thrust in space is cumulative.
Geoff: Not thrust, which is a force being utilised to change a velocity, but*velocity* is cumulative. ie the speed that you build up remains evenwhen thrust ceases according to the First Law of Motion. This is true for any speed we have been able to obtain thus far, however when you get to speeds that are up around C you run into some obstacles. According to General Relativity, mass increases as in proportion to speed and theoretically, at C, becomes infinite. So acceleration due to thrust will drop as speed approaches C as the thrust is trying to Delta V a mass that is increasing constantly at high percentages of C. There is also friction to consider. At speeds we have been able to reach,friction from interstellar hydrogen is insignificant, however as we get faster, the number of impacts per unit time will increase and will ultimately have a retarding effect (ie Drag) on the passage of the vessel through space.This also brings up the problem of meteoric and cometary material. To reach the stars requires passage through the Oort Cloud, which is believed to have a relatively high particle density and there are certainly a lot of stray objects. Now as the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy says, space is really, really, really, big, however at any speed approaching that of light, it wouldn't take an impact from an object much bigger than a dust mote to cause serious damage to a physical structure - punch a hole straight through it or simply destroy it utterly. Radar won't let you 'see' that far ahead, since you are travelling at close to light speed and relativity also says that can't travel faster, your radar range will progressively reduce as you approach C. Time contraction is the only favourable outcome of travelling at high percentages of C and is one of the factors of relativity that has actually been demonstrated, which suggests that therest of it is at least somewhat likely to be correct...So that's the EASY part, but having your ship SURVIVE travel at that speed for more than seconds is a much more significant problem.One solution that has been offered is to fabricate a large mass of something solid, (perhaps ice) and mount it on the front of the ship as a sort of armoured shield, to absorb impacts while shielding the actual ship from them. Whether there would be enough heat from friction with interstellar hydrogen to melt it has not been established.
Tampico: Second, getting to the brink of light speed will be worthless if there is ever a way for tyrants to travel faster than light speed. There needs to be a maximum speed and that maximum speed must be attained inexpensively so that the main cost of the travel is the time spent.
Geoff: There is presently no even theoretical way to exceed C. Short of a breakthrough into some new realm of physics, this is unlikely to change.
Tampico: If there is a habitable planet 8 light years away, and I can travel there in 9 years, I would sign up tomorrow and go.
Geoff: If there is a planet 8 light years away, it will take rather more than 9 years to reach it. Remember that even if you can accelerate to C orsome significant percentage, it will take some time to accelerate to itwith a small thrust source (assuming the mass problem I mentioned is notan issue) then you will also need to DEaccelerate so I would suggest itwould take rather longer than 9 years, perhaps as much as 20-25.
Tamico: Someone wanting to tax me or force me into their empire would also have to travel 9+ years and then they would have to defeat me and return back on another 9+ year trip. What tyrant would do that?
Goeff: Concur. I believe I made that point in my earlier response.Wars are conducted to gain something for the warmaker. If there is nothing to gain, and I believe the cost of transport over interstellar distances of war materiel and warships etc would be, literally,astronomical and such a war would doubtless cost more to wage than any possible tangible gain that might eventuate. It's been hypothesised that trying to do so would likely bankrupt said Empire and lead to its collapse.
Tampico: Besides, I would leave a note when I left saying that if I am followed that I would destroy all improved property before the arrival of my pursuer. Interstellar travel will be the end of tyranny if there is a maximum speed of travel.
Geoff: Very likely INTERSTELLAR tyranny, however there is nothing to stop some new self styled Hitler or Bonaparte from starting up on the new world.We take all our human failings with us when we go anywhere.
Tampico: I am also pretty confident that we will find habitable planets in various sized solar systems. If the star is larger than our sun, then perhaps the planet will be proportionally more distant from the star.
Geoff: There is as yet no mechanism to detect Earth like planets even around nearby stars (ie under 10LY) though it is possible to detect PLANETSaround other stars (this has been done) the only ones that have been reliably proven to exist are Jupiter type gas giants - clearly not habitable. Whether other more earthlike worlds also exist in company with them has not been demonstrated - though one could postulate that the existence of one may suggest it to be possible at worst. I concur that there are very likely to be earthlike planets 'out there' but it will be difficult to find one without actually going there to look. This will doubtless require space probes that are sufficiently long lived to reach a star system and send back real data - a mission that could easily last 50 years or more even to nearby stars. Such an undertaking would be a true 'generational' mission, with the people who began it passing the responsibility for its completion to their successors. One wonders if NASA's proposed moonbase would include an astronomical telescope of significant aperture - ie bigger than the Hubble. If it did, it *might* be possible to discover if extra-solar, earth sizedplanets exist. The problem of micro-meteorites will be solved someway possibly by being dissolved by some sort of force shield around the craft.That would be the ideal, however there is not presently any known method of producing such a phenomena - it would clearly require a breakthrough in both theoretical physics and engineering - I suspect that even if itis eventually possible, the power requirements would be staggering.
Tampico: Tyranny will suffer a blow in a less direct way also. If you look at the improvements made on the US East Coast in employment from 1800-1900 it gives a good indication of what could occur. Employers in Boston, for example, did not just become more kind hearted during that period. I think that they knew that they had to pay a livable wage and had to improve working conditions or they would risk losing employees to the frontier. The same will happen when mankind starts pioneering new planets. Even tyrants will have to soften their tyranny for those who remain or risk losing them to the frontiers in space.
Geoff: Possibly. Or you will get what Heinlein, McCaffrey et al postulated -the adventurous will migrate to new frontiers and the 'sheeple' will remain in their safe little cubby holes. Overcrowding might well bemore of an incentive to migrate than oppression (and one is frequently aproduct of the other).I don't know if you read SF at all, but 'Decision at Doona' by Anne McCaffrey postulates just such a situation. An overcrowded world that is 'dormitised' into a complete urban complex, with complex rules of behaviour and etiquette and 'Proctors' watching for any 'social crimes'being committed and punishment consisting mostly of reductions in rations.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Podcast Thread
Tampico:
Does anyone have a particular accent? I think in the early pod castsit would be nice to have some distinct voices. Of course, LadyDrake, Blackhearted Pirate Lee and Bootleg have the advantage offemale voices. Ken, do you have a Texas accent? That would be goodin one of the early pod casts.I don't know my own voice that well, but I suspect that Wayne and Ihave similar voices and accents. Wayne is from the upper Midwest andI am originally Midwestern. Rev Wry is free of any detectableaccent, but I encourage him to watch Bogart movies and move to moreof a Bogart accent to match his Bogart-like persona.Obviously, Geoff will need to be in early pod casts if possible. Wewill need to do some time zone research however before scheduling him.One thing that Wayne mentioned is that the site strongly suggestsusing land lines. I will set up the pod cast on a land line.What about Bootstrap? Does he have a Boston accent or a Connecticutaccent? I know he has been in West Virginia for a while, but I doubthe has any accent from there.
Blackhearted Pirate Lee:
Bootstrap said that if he had a Kennedy accent then he wouldn’t be here, hey-ohhh... lol
But he can put on an accent if you wish it. Any accent. He does wonderful movie lines to the "T". That is his forte'. He does Hannibal Lector, Star Wars, Holy Grail Monty Python - he can talk like Hannibal if you wish. lol
Casablanca too.
Tampico:
The reason that I bring up accents is not really theatrical. I havenoticed that some pod casts are difficult to follow because of voicesthat are indistinguishable from one another. The speaker is notintroduced each time and I find myself asking which speaker isspeaking. This is why speakers with unique voice characteristicswill be at a premium in the early Neo-Swashbuckler pod casts. PirateRonald has a unique voice. Any female voice will be at a premium.Geoff, of course, is Australian. I suspect that Bootstrap's naturalvoice will be distinct form Texans and Midwesterners since he haslived in Connecticut and West Virginia. Kelly is a female with avery slight Texas accent, but she has worked in radio before and willhave a distinguishable presentation for that reason.I expect that the early pod casts will be somewhat rough and we willhave to be highly self critical for a while to get steadyimprovement. This is going to be fun. I hope I can get things readyon Friday night so that we can have our first pod cast done nextSaturday.The Neo-Swashbucklers are an institution now. We are now on thebrink of marching forward and adapting to the huge challenges thatwill be faced in the dismal era of 2008-2012.
Does anyone have a particular accent? I think in the early pod castsit would be nice to have some distinct voices. Of course, LadyDrake, Blackhearted Pirate Lee and Bootleg have the advantage offemale voices. Ken, do you have a Texas accent? That would be goodin one of the early pod casts.I don't know my own voice that well, but I suspect that Wayne and Ihave similar voices and accents. Wayne is from the upper Midwest andI am originally Midwestern. Rev Wry is free of any detectableaccent, but I encourage him to watch Bogart movies and move to moreof a Bogart accent to match his Bogart-like persona.Obviously, Geoff will need to be in early pod casts if possible. Wewill need to do some time zone research however before scheduling him.One thing that Wayne mentioned is that the site strongly suggestsusing land lines. I will set up the pod cast on a land line.What about Bootstrap? Does he have a Boston accent or a Connecticutaccent? I know he has been in West Virginia for a while, but I doubthe has any accent from there.
Blackhearted Pirate Lee:
Bootstrap said that if he had a Kennedy accent then he wouldn’t be here, hey-ohhh... lol
But he can put on an accent if you wish it. Any accent. He does wonderful movie lines to the "T". That is his forte'. He does Hannibal Lector, Star Wars, Holy Grail Monty Python - he can talk like Hannibal if you wish. lol
Casablanca too.
Tampico:
The reason that I bring up accents is not really theatrical. I havenoticed that some pod casts are difficult to follow because of voicesthat are indistinguishable from one another. The speaker is notintroduced each time and I find myself asking which speaker isspeaking. This is why speakers with unique voice characteristicswill be at a premium in the early Neo-Swashbuckler pod casts. PirateRonald has a unique voice. Any female voice will be at a premium.Geoff, of course, is Australian. I suspect that Bootstrap's naturalvoice will be distinct form Texans and Midwesterners since he haslived in Connecticut and West Virginia. Kelly is a female with avery slight Texas accent, but she has worked in radio before and willhave a distinguishable presentation for that reason.I expect that the early pod casts will be somewhat rough and we willhave to be highly self critical for a while to get steadyimprovement. This is going to be fun. I hope I can get things readyon Friday night so that we can have our first pod cast done nextSaturday.The Neo-Swashbucklers are an institution now. We are now on thebrink of marching forward and adapting to the huge challenges thatwill be faced in the dismal era of 2008-2012.
Friday, February 15, 2008
Who are the Neo-Swashbucklers?
The Neo-Swashbucklers are a group that was founded in 2002 for the purpose of stealing the tallship Elissa from the Galveston Seaport Museum in Galveston, Texas following the collapse of western civilization. The Neo-Swashbucklers developed as a Yahoo Group and has attracted survivalists, libertarians, heavy drinkers, trouble makers, edible plant enthusiasts, people who believe the long bow is a valuable asset, sailors, liveaboard wannabes, political junkies, cutlass owners, space enthusiasts, people who listen to coast-to-coast AM and outdoor adventurers.
Our natural enemies include big government liberals (socialist zombies), social conservatives, right wing militarists (fascists), moderates/centrists, coyotes (cat eaters), the US Coast Guard and mosquitoes. We have also been plagued for the last three years by a band of unhappy trolls who formed for the purpose of opposing and annoying us. All of our enemies will eventually feel the heat of the cold cutlass steel.
Our topics are generally about fighting for freedom or fleeing from tyranny.
We have adopted many piratical customs and fashions, but we also believe that the pith helmet will return to the top of the fashion world soon and we are often seen wearing pith helmets.
We are frequently accused of being a dangerous cult. We do not deny this charge, but we point out that we have no membership fees, offer free movie reviews and are not biased against individuals who release invasive animals or plants into existing ecosystems.
We are always on the lookout for new recruits and, for those who are shy about joining dangerous cults; we also just seek people who will join our discussions. Our expansion campaign includes plans to begin blogtalkradio broadcasts within the week and pressing into service people who have participated in the campaigns of Ron Paul and Barack Obama.
Our natural enemies include big government liberals (socialist zombies), social conservatives, right wing militarists (fascists), moderates/centrists, coyotes (cat eaters), the US Coast Guard and mosquitoes. We have also been plagued for the last three years by a band of unhappy trolls who formed for the purpose of opposing and annoying us. All of our enemies will eventually feel the heat of the cold cutlass steel.
Our topics are generally about fighting for freedom or fleeing from tyranny.
We have adopted many piratical customs and fashions, but we also believe that the pith helmet will return to the top of the fashion world soon and we are often seen wearing pith helmets.
We are frequently accused of being a dangerous cult. We do not deny this charge, but we point out that we have no membership fees, offer free movie reviews and are not biased against individuals who release invasive animals or plants into existing ecosystems.
We are always on the lookout for new recruits and, for those who are shy about joining dangerous cults; we also just seek people who will join our discussions. Our expansion campaign includes plans to begin blogtalkradio broadcasts within the week and pressing into service people who have participated in the campaigns of Ron Paul and Barack Obama.
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