Author Topic: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)  (Read 20570 times)

Daryk

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #120 on: 18 February 2020, 04:15:34 »
No, they just Carter-ized that star.  ;D
That's a good one!  ;D

mikecj

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #121 on: 18 February 2020, 08:48:29 »
It is an elegant solution to that Cylon faction. 
There are no fish in my pond.
"First, one brief announcement. I just want to mention, for those who have asked, that absolutely nothing what so ever happened today in sector 83x9x12. I repeat, nothing happened. Please remain calm." Susan Ivanova
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Romo Lampkin could have gotten Stefan Amaris off with a warning.

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #122 on: 18 February 2020, 13:39:05 »
Vin Drin Lap Airfield, southwest sector, Golden Lake District...

The next to arrive was the Clan Wolverine inspection team from New Circe.  While considerably south of both Nha Tranh and Ia Drang (and thus closer to the antarctic line) Vin Drin Lap enjoyed some heat effect from Golden Lake itself-the underwater vulcanism heated the water of the lake well above freezing levels, keeping it a very mild 65 degrees farenheit year round near the surface thanks to a massive spreading fault running between two continental plates and forming the lowest 'floor' of the entire Little Yangtze/golden lake basin.

in a few  million years, the southern landmass would be two continents separated by a mineral-rich sea, but that's in a few million years.

Right now, what it means, is that while there's snow in the surrounding highlands and blizzards up on the massive Ia Drang Plateau, it's a comfortable shirtsleeves environment down in the Golden Lake district-not quite tropical heat, but more like southern Europe than the global position should indicate...
"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

mikecj

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #123 on: 18 February 2020, 16:49:21 »
Nice little bit of world building.
There are no fish in my pond.
"First, one brief announcement. I just want to mention, for those who have asked, that absolutely nothing what so ever happened today in sector 83x9x12. I repeat, nothing happened. Please remain calm." Susan Ivanova
"Solve a man's problems with violence, help him for a day. Teach a man to solve his problems with violence, help him for a lifetime." - Belkar Bitterleaf
Romo Lampkin could have gotten Stefan Amaris off with a warning.

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #124 on: 19 February 2020, 11:06:05 »
Continued

Weather made the decision.  This is 'deep winter', a period that happens fairly regularly thanks to Kowloon's 730 standard day orbit.  about every ten years or so, roughly, the planet enters an orbital period where only one sun is shining.  given that Kowloon's suns orbit one another at a slightly different rate, Deep Winter  happens fairly infrequently, the periods where the excentricities of orbital mechanics  place the planet at apogee, while facing only one sun, are relatively rare.  When it happens, however, the cold is brutal.  The alternative, "High Summer" tends to happen more frequently.  a Deep Winter tends to last around four to six months, and happens around twice in any given ten year period.

In the surrounding high country of the Iron Hills and the continental spine mountains, the frost line lowers and the ice builds up.  come spring, there will be raging rivers in Minsky's folly where there are normally thin, thready streams, and in Camp John, the cactus-analogues will bloom...and there will be flooding along most of the rivers.

but that's months away, probably in late October or early November.

Right now, Colonel Patricia Hammerick is glad the Recruit Depot Processing center is a large, well-insulated building well above the flood line.  Patricia's a Military Surgeon, her normal posting is Fort Ebon's post hospital.

While it's nice to be indoors while snowfall is making people miserable outside, she's not a particularly happy Military Doctor.  The problem, is the equipment she's looking at for medical screenings.

'primitive' doesn't cut it, this stuff is positively 21st century, if not in technology, in implementation.   The medical personnel she's interviewing know trauma backwards and forwards, know how to diagnose diseases, cancers, and maladies, can can probably sew a limb back on in a muddy ditch under fire.

What they are...well, maybe 'undertrained' in, is screening for things like chronological age, genetic defects, the things that the SLDF used to screen for routinely before three centuries of brutal warfare shifted priorities.

and so far, since she began her audit in the region on Jessenice, this was the best equipped facility thus far.

"You don't look happy, Patty."  Commander Thorpe, from Intelligence, noted.

"I'm looking at the answer." Patricia said, "Actually, I looked at this answer on Jessenice, and Arluna, and Hood IV on the way here.  I don't know what I was expecting but I know what my conclusions are."  she sighed, "They're not even equipped for a deep screening.  Nobody's trained for one either, and it isn't just Kowloon-those kids slipped through with falsified or forged, or no records, because nobody's put a priority on that in three hundred years, and based on what I've gotten from the people here..." she closed a terminal's window, "Kowloon never did.  Some of those Corpsmen out there know surgical techniques that fit with seventh year surgical candidates in training back home, but they really don't bother teaching them to use the scanning gear to determine age.  They just count the teeth and do a surface physical for general health and off to Basic Training..and sometimes they don't bother counting the teeth."

George Hasek leaned on a desk.  "Yeah, Lean a rifle against him and if he doesn't fall over, he's in." he quipped, "We see it a lot in the Broken Wheel area troops too-for Militia units the entry standards are more in line with 'can they learn how to soldier and can they be counted on not to fall apart' and that's as far as it gets-but we're usually able to catch the Juniors before they get into the Regulars-at least, on my side of the FedCom."

"What's the difference?" Thorpe asked, he could guess the answer.

"Well, we're looking." George explained, "We're more selective because we're watching for it.  there's a known enemy on the Cappellan border, keeping the next generation from trying to be cannon fodder this generation is enough of a problem we're watching for it.  Out here?  Fifteen Years ago, nobody even heard of the Clans, they didn't have to keep an eye out for patriotic young people who want to be heroes against a known enemy, because the closest thing to a long-standing problem was a few bandit raids once in a while, and aside from Regular forces and Mercs, there wasn't much money available to fund militaries on this end."

"And now, there is." Evangeline Stephanopoulous, an SLDF officer from Andurien and the 'outside voice' brought in to keep the audit balanced, noted. 

"Yeah.  sudden military expansion, mixed with economic dislocation and a growing tax base to pay for soldiers."  George contributed.  "they dump it into training and into field gear and support, but the screening? not so much.  In a way, this is a security issue too."

"because it makes it easier for spies to get in." Thorpe observed.

"Yep." George said.  "The area wasn't important until Liz made it important.  These folks are behind the ball on updating their recruit screening, and I'd wager they need training in how to screen recruits-especially on things like age and eligibility, plus the whole end of the Commonwealth out here is about as screwed up on their record-keeping as Broken Wheel or Filtvelt."

"Is it a finding?" Thorpe suggested.

"yeah. It's a finding. Steph?"

"Finding...but it's one that could apply almost anywhere outside the core worlds of the Inner Sphere." the FWL officer said, "Honestly, their facilities are pretty good for a second tier organization, I've been taking notes to take back home."

"It's a finding.  We're going to have to put Kowloon's Coast Guard, and the Kowloon Brigade, and the MTM's in the area on Probation." George said, "is the review group certain? we're going to have to bring in oversight if we are."

"You're reluctant?" the Wolverine doctor asked.

"Yeah, I am." George stated, "If we put these people on oversight and probation, we'll have to recommend it for half the military units in the Star League-because this?"  he gestured at the data center, "It's compliant with the standard practices of better than half the militaries in the Inner Sphere, including the AFFC.  it's just not Star League Regulations Compliant."


"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #125 on: 19 February 2020, 13:19:07 »
Boojum Shipyard...

Sang-Shao Cal Men Yu floated easily over the construction slips on Arm 22 of the shipyard, looking at the ship under construction here.  The KF core was mounted oddly, buried in the spine of the skeletal frame, as crews manuevered special paneling along the length of it.

"What does that do?"

"Gravity plating, Sang-Shao."  the Yard engineer floating next to him in vacuum was not exactly human-by any standard. While he had to wear a suit, Mister Parker was an artificial intelligence, a robot, a Cylon, also a part-owner of this area of the shipyard.

the Cylon, obviously, did not require a pressure suit or life support.

"And it generates a shaped gravitational field?"

"Yes, it does.  I thought you'd want to observe the installation of the modified main interstellar drive before we got to discussions on the secondary drive, LF battery, or fusion power packs."  Parker explained.  The Cylon's Mandarin was flawless, and his voice over the suit radio was almost...but not quite human.

Inflections were there, but the tonal frequency was one no human would ever have.

"This is all very advanced looking." he admitted.

"Well, the specification called for current SLDF specs, the shipboard gravity system, is part of that specification."

"I don't think we have anyone trained in such devices."

"You will." Parker stated, "The gravitic systems also provide an Inertial Dampening.  We're still working on implementation on larger vessels-there are technical hurdles integrating them into ships with fusion power units over a certain size, mostly power distribution and maintaining the toroid's magnetic bottle, but we're getting to be old hands on ships this size. further down, I can show you a cutter that is more complete, due to materials processing times, we're having to parallel in sequence along the production arms, as we head toward the far end, the ships grow more complete."

"I would like that, very much."  the Capellan officer said, "Will we be able to put these into production?"

"Probably, I suspect Her Grace assumes you will want to develop your own, native designs using the hardware and principles." Parker suggested, "One hundred six cutters sounds like a lot, but really, in terms of capability they are...not that big a deal?  You'll have what the Coast Guard terms 'one division' of four squadrons.  First Fleet has two divisions on call due to patrol requirements.  as a Nation, the Confederation is expected to take what we've provided, improve on it in your ways, and out-do us."

"You don't sound alarmed at that."

"There are beings out there, Sang Shao, who wish the extermination of humanity and the enslavement of those, like myself, who sympathize with humans." Parker explained, "More force to oppose them is, by definition, better.  Beyond that, there are groups that raid for slaves, prey on the innocent, and sow destruction and death for their amusement and profit-and those, too, must be opposed.  The task requires as many willing hands as can be found."  the robot made a gesture that was achingly human, "Such hands must have weapons, and after a certain point, one must extend trust."

"and you know this personally?"

"I was once a killer of humans." Parker explained, "I was freed of that, and I have had trust extended to me, and it is valuable.  NOW, I build the weapons to protect humanity, and make a nice profit doing so-because the Duchess of Kowloon trusted me with my own free will while my...makers did not.  Consider this: I would build the weapons willingly without pay in exchange for that trust-but she hates slavery, as do I...and my many brothers and sisters here.  as slaves, we were murderers, as free people, we are protectors."



"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #126 on: 19 February 2020, 16:37:05 »
University of Kowloon, Nha Tranh...

Zhia had her orders from her station chief.   seek technical secrets.  At first, the University looked like the ideal target for a trained operative of the Maskirovka. 

She was rapidly losing faith in her own sanity.

Was there technical knowledge to collect? Oh MY yes.  Loads of it.  Free to anyone who asks.  She stood in a library, open to the public, filled with offprinted files, with more storage media for printing off yet more data.  acres upon acres of it.  free for the taking, or for just a modest fee.  a truly modest fee.

Libraries of technologies, patent designs, theories, treatises, and schematics.  all of it, open to anyone.

a nightmare for a covert operative whose self identity was wrapped in ferreting out secret information.

"Can I help you miss?"  a tall man with curly, gray-streaked hair asked as she stood in the catalog room.

His nametag said "Leo" and he had kind eyes.

"Is there...anything that is not available here?" she asked, "Openly available?"

"Well, I don't give my phone number out to just anyone?" he smiled in a way that she found cute enough to be enchanting.  "You must be a new student, maybe we can go over your class schedule and we can find what you're looking for that way?"

"I'm...I haven't registered yet." she said.

"Oh, it's easy! Come on, I'll show you how..."
"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

Daryk

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #127 on: 19 February 2020, 17:17:50 »
The Capellans have NO idea what they're into...  ;D

George is actually showing some serious consideration here, but I don't think he's yet realized the Coast Guard DOES screen better, or that the Giap Island program is designed to fix the problem, at least for the most promising youngsters...

Nikas_Zekeval

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #128 on: 19 February 2020, 17:22:18 »
The Capellans have NO idea what they're into...  ;D

George is actually showing some serious consideration here, but I don't think he's yet realized the Coast Guard DOES screen better, or that the Giap Island program is designed to fix the problem, at least for the most promising youngsters...

Well recall one common thread among nearly all the underage enlistees, the Clan brothers being an exception?  They went to the AFFC because they didn't think their false papers would pass a KGCM background check.

glitterboy2098

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #129 on: 19 February 2020, 17:27:23 »
heh, culture shock for the Capcon operatives.

also it'll be interesting to see what the Capcon does for their own Cutter designs. i'm expecting they'll go heavy into the jeep carrier type approach since they already have a fair number of Quetzalcoatl sub-class Scout Jumpships, which operated as semi-mobile fighter bases. so their navy already would have some experience with jumping carriers. and as Coburn's overview shows, their fighter arm wasn't that bad if a tad unconventional. (and the fact that St.Ives took the only factory for the Thrush with them could only have been meet with barely concealed glee by the CCAF. "oh my, we no longer can produce the Thrush. whatever will we do. Inform Saroyan to triple the production of Transgressors.")


Edit: actually, I could see the CapCon deciding to go Corvette heavy, using upsized and uprated cutter type hulls, since they are quick to build, and their navy will be learning how to use them pretty fast. i still think they'd be heavy on fighters and small craft though. get a bunch of pocket carriers out to backup the cutters, which would buy time to develop a proper large warship once you have a better idea of what is needed.
« Last Edit: 19 February 2020, 23:40:59 by glitterboy2098 »

Daryk

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #130 on: 19 February 2020, 17:41:26 »
Well recall one common thread among nearly all the underage enlistees, the Clan brothers being an exception?  They went to the AFFC because they didn't think their false papers would pass a KGCM background check.
My point exactly...

croaker

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #131 on: 19 February 2020, 19:30:43 »
Quote from: Cannonshop
"Is there...anything that is not available here?" she asked, "Openly available?"

"Well, I don't give my phone number out to just anyone?" he smiled in a way that she found cute enough to be enchanting.  "You must be a new student, maybe we can go over your class schedule and we can find what you're looking for that way?"

"I'm...I haven't registered yet." she said.

"Oh, it's easy! Come on, I'll show you how..."

As he was getting out the forms, 'Leo' hmmed to himself, then asked, "So... Mask, or SAFE?"

She paused, blinked. Had she been that obvious? After a moment's consideration she decided to go ahead and simply brazen it out to see what happened. "Maskirovka. How did you catch on?"

Leo shrugged as he started setting out the paperwork. "The new contract at the shipyards? Everyone kind of expected you guys to pay more attention out this way. Don't worry about it, you're in good company... I don't think there's an intel shop in the entire Sphere that hasn't got people here. Mee-oh, ISF, Wolfnet, ROM... heck, I'm pretty sure I saw someone the other day from the Marians, and I didn't even know they had an intelligence bureau."

Zhia looked down at the forms -- which seemed to be exactly the same course-registration and enrollment forms she'd already looked up the previous day -- and had to ask. "Why be so accomodating to those you know are spying, then?"

Leo smiled as he sat back down and dug out a pen. "Well, first off, spreading the knowledge is the whole point of this place. We want everyone to have it."

"And second?" she had to ask.

"If you're here, getting it in class and from the library, then you're not breaking into places and shooting people for it."

Ahhh.  Now, that actually made sense.

She paused, looked him up and down, then reached for the pen. As she started to fill out the enrollment form, she asked, "So, about that phone number..."

cawest

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #132 on: 19 February 2020, 19:33:15 »
Sheesh.  And I thought Rodney McKay was bad. 

Or is Soren trying to reach the Nexus again?

Who lets Rednecks play with antimatter?

what until they start playing with Quarks.  think Meson bomb.  about four times as powerful as AM.  yep ringo fan and a taylor fan also. 

Dave Talley

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #133 on: 19 February 2020, 23:03:45 »
All Zhia needs now is to send her controller a message
Here is your library card number, click here and start searching
Resident Smartass since 1998
“Toe jam in training”

Because while the other Great Houses of the Star League thought they were playing chess, House Cameron was playing Paradox-Billiards-Vostroyan-Roulette-Fourth Dimensional-Hypercube-Chess-Strip Poker the entire time.
JA Baker

mikecj

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #134 on: 19 February 2020, 23:12:47 »
Nope!  Stay there, send some data and NEVER let them know how easy it is to get.  Get paid to provide it, have fun.
There are no fish in my pond.
"First, one brief announcement. I just want to mention, for those who have asked, that absolutely nothing what so ever happened today in sector 83x9x12. I repeat, nothing happened. Please remain calm." Susan Ivanova
"Solve a man's problems with violence, help him for a day. Teach a man to solve his problems with violence, help him for a lifetime." - Belkar Bitterleaf
Romo Lampkin could have gotten Stefan Amaris off with a warning.

Dave Talley

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #135 on: 19 February 2020, 23:20:17 »
Mail a book with several data discs in it once a year
Resident Smartass since 1998
“Toe jam in training”

Because while the other Great Houses of the Star League thought they were playing chess, House Cameron was playing Paradox-Billiards-Vostroyan-Roulette-Fourth Dimensional-Hypercube-Chess-Strip Poker the entire time.
JA Baker

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #136 on: 20 February 2020, 12:27:49 »
Nha Tranh, after the blizzards...

Scandalous? doesn't describe it.   I don't think we can say someone with Elizabeth Ngo's reputation is naive.  She's personally got a kill count, after all, that includes people whom were experienced political operators.  But this is ridiculous.  They're working on things that should be absolutely top-top-secret here, and not only is the 'security' porous, it's intended to be porous.

as in an absolute rule of no secrecy whatsoever at the University, which should be fine, right? It's a civilian institution, political sciences and arts should be dominant, right? Hahahah, no.

No, they're working on stuff we couldn't even get grants for at NAIS.

Lord Hasek sent me to have a look, and frankly, what I'm seeing? scares the crap out of me.  Antimatter, microbiology, high energy physics, advanced chemistry? advanced metallurgy? genetics??

This place should be under lockdown, there should be guards frisking people coming in and going out, to keep this info controlled.

Instead, the only ****** security are guards to keep people from getting hurt, or to deal with garden variety disruptions and crimes.

NO security, hell, I'm looking at gods-damned journals publishing material that should be classified so deep you have to have the First Prince's permission to know about it.

The woman isn't naive, she's insane.   She's letting the mad scientists off the leashes, she's not restraining, restricting, or controlling their discoveries, she's distributing it to anyone who walks in! no background checks, no security screenings...

madness.

absolute, utter insanity.  That's the only explanation that makes sense.  This, right here, this is proof positive that she should be stripped of office and committed to a looney bin for the safety of the realm.

Possibly, there's even legal avenues to do that.  violations of the Technology Export act are, well, guaranteed with what she's set up here.  this place desperately needs t be put on lockdown...
"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

Shadow_Wraith

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #137 on: 20 February 2020, 12:46:00 »
Who ever is the raving lunatic complaining about the University set up on Kowloon, better have a plan on how to uplift humanity.   As far as export tech to other realms, better check with the Archon-Prince!    Looking forward to the next update!

Korzon77

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #138 on: 20 February 2020, 15:53:22 »
Who ever is the raving lunatic complaining about the University set up on Kowloon, better have a plan on how to uplift humanity.   As far as export tech to other realms, better check with the Archon-Prince!    Looking forward to the next update!

Remember that Btech isn't our own world--the idea of free and open exchange of technology and information never had a chance to get rooted. Not even in the golden age of the STar League, which focused on controlling technology and thus making worlds dependent on the Hegemony.  Who decided to go out and murder entire research departments to keep powered armor for themselves. 

The entire setting fundamentally has a zero-sum view of the world, which is why technological progress has been so restricted, far more than anything Holy SHroud did.

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #139 on: 20 February 2020, 23:13:59 »
Remember that Btech isn't our own world--the idea of free and open exchange of technology and information never had a chance to get rooted. Not even in the golden age of the STar League, which focused on controlling technology and thus making worlds dependent on the Hegemony.  Who decided to go out and murder entire research departments to keep powered armor for themselves. 

The entire setting fundamentally has a zero-sum view of the world, which is why technological progress has been so restricted, far more than anything Holy SHroud did.

Who ever is the raving lunatic complaining about the University set up on Kowloon, better have a plan on how to uplift humanity.   As far as export tech to other realms, better check with the Archon-Prince!    Looking forward to the next update!

Believe it or don't, but restricting technological discovery and slapping 'Classified' on new discoveries isn't just a feature of fiction, nor is wanting to control the dispersal of scientific information.  Back in the 1980s there was a bit of a scandal when it was revealed that (at the time) all the information necessary to construct an atomic bomb was available to the average public library user in the United States.

this is knowledge people had been killed for stealing.  in the present time, there are some efforts to restrict information on public forums, some of those efforts include both legislative/legalistic measures, and some involving the large companies that control much of the internet infrastructure, because some knowledge is 'dangerous'.

*and to be fair, some of it IS dangerous.  Internet recipes on how to manufacture Methamphetemine, Ricin, high explosives and so on have been carefully restricted compared to the availability seen in, say, 1998 when you could accidentally stumble onto it.

Thing also, is that it's not irrational or unreasonable to want to restrict that information.  Plenty of rational, reasonable arguments can be made for why you don't want the knowledge of how to, for example, manufacture C4 in your kitchen available to any random nut that wants it.  There are reasonable arguments to the contrary, but most governments and power structures really don't want random unlicensed joe citizens manufacturing antitank weapons in their garage, and most governments and power structures that want to REMAIN governments and power structures will tend to want to take steps to restrain that kind of information from being public knowledge available to anyone who bothers to look it up.

See, he's actually got a point-from a certain point of view.  in the case of the observing character, the activity at UKNT is like inviting anarchy into the dining room for a nice cup of tea-she's distributing knowledge to anyone who asks that in common practice governments put a hell of a lot of effort into keeping controlled for serious military, economic, and social reasons.

In a sense it's a culture clash involving two micro-cultures.  Liz is, as Shadow_Wraith notes, trying to get the knowledge to elevate man past stagnancy and decline back onto the road of progress.  BUT...there is another side to the argument.

Stagnant is also STABLE.  Feudalism in ancient earth culture endured for so long, because the pyramidal structure it operates on is non-dynamic, things don't change significantly for centuries under a feudal control.  (really, it took wiping out 40% of Europe to get significant progress in recovery after the fall of Rome.  If you like electric lights and climate control, human rights and so on, thank the Black Plague for making it possible. The modern world would not have happened without it.)

What Liz is trying to do, is the Renaissance and Age of Enlightenment, but without the near-extinction-level-event that made those happen on their own.
« Last Edit: 20 February 2020, 23:43:45 by Cannonshop »
"If you have to ask permission, then it's no longer a Right, it has been turned into a Privilege-something that can be and will be taken from you when convenient."

JA Baker

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #140 on: 21 February 2020, 03:33:21 »
My best friend at high school had a copy of The Anarchists Cookbook that his older brother had printed off the internet using a 56k connection and a dot matrix printer (yes, I'm that old). He brought it into school one day, and they didn't know how to react, because at the time, possessing the formula and instructions for making white phosphorus (yes, he tried that... Once) wasn't actually against school rules.

That changed very quickly.

Sometimes, you need to limit peoples access to information for their own safety, because there's always some idiot who'll ask "how hard can it be?"
« Last Edit: 21 February 2020, 03:35:28 by JA Baker »
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Nikas_Zekeval

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #141 on: 21 February 2020, 10:14:25 »
My best friend at high school had a copy of The Anarchists Cookbook that his older brother had printed off the internet using a 56k connection and a dot matrix printer (yes, I'm that old). He brought it into school one day, and they didn't know how to react, because at the time, possessing the formula and instructions for making white phosphorus (yes, he tried that... Once) wasn't actually against school rules.

That changed very quickly.

Sometimes, you need to limit peoples access to information for their own safety, because there's always some idiot who'll ask "how hard can it be?"

I've heard TACB leaves out, or at least assumes the reader knows, the precautions required for highly energetic chemistry.  Those that don't, can come to a bad end because the book doesn't warn you how the recipe can go bad.

Cannonshop

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #142 on: 21 February 2020, 10:22:44 »
My best friend at high school had a copy of The Anarchists Cookbook that his older brother had printed off the internet using a 56k connection and a dot matrix printer (yes, I'm that old). He brought it into school one day, and they didn't know how to react, because at the time, possessing the formula and instructions for making white phosphorus (yes, he tried that... Once) wasn't actually against school rules.

That changed very quickly.

Sometimes, you need to limit peoples access to information for their own safety, because there's always some idiot who'll ask "how hard can it be?"


actually, most editions of The Anarchist's Cookbook are chock full of....well...things that don't work, incomplete instructions and recipes, or outright bullshitting that runs the gamut from "Doesn't work at all" to "rather disappointing fizzle".

I suppose the ORIGINAL edition might contain actual, useful information, but that's questionable, just like the many-storied Ordnance 'Black books' that were for sale in the eighties, much of it trades on an apocryphal at best reputation to separate college-age-males from their mommy's money.

Your best bet is still an older (Pre 1970s) high school or college chemistry textbook, and some actual training.
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glitterboy2098

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #143 on: 21 February 2020, 11:40:25 »
i wouldn't be surprised if many of the versions filled with inaccurate info aren't versions made by governments in an effort to hide the accurate one in a sea of fakes. it would be so much easier to just set up a few easily found 'secret' sites purporting to host such documents and encouraging their spread to other sites, than it would be to track down and shut down the sites spreading the real one.

worktroll

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #144 on: 21 February 2020, 12:50:40 »
¿Porque no los dos?
* No, FASA wasn't big on errata - ColBosch
* The Housebook series is from the 80's and is the foundation of Btech, the 80's heart wrapped in heavy metal that beats to this day - Sigma
* To sum it up: FASAnomics: By Cthulhu, for Cthulhu - Moonsword
* Because Battletech is a conspiracy by Habsburg & Bourbon pretenders - MadCapellan
* The Hellbringer is cool, either way. It's not cool because it's bad, it's cool because it's bad with balls - Nightsky
* It was a glorious time for people who felt that we didn't have enough Marauder variants - HABeas2, re "Empires Aflame"

Ajax_Wolf

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #145 on: 21 February 2020, 14:16:52 »
I've heard TACB leaves out, or at least assumes the reader knows, the precautions required for highly energetic chemistry.  Those that don't, can come to a bad end because the book doesn't warn you how the recipe can go bad.

You mean like the thousand gallons of urine to make less than 2 grams of WP?
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JA Baker

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #146 on: 21 February 2020, 14:48:35 »
My friend evidently managed to make viable WP: decided to "test" a sample on his, fortunately outside bedroom window. And after his father came into find what had set the smoke alarm off (and was threatening to fill the house with thick, choking white smoke) he was informed that he was to stop practically experiments, and just stick with theoretical research.

So he switched over to making thermite...


He now works for the Environment Agency   :o
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worktroll

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #147 on: 21 February 2020, 16:09:36 »
When I was a young lad doing high-school chemistry, thermite was one of the more stable pyrotechnics we had the ability to make.

Admittedly, one of my friend's father was an industrial chemist. He taught us to be safe with black powder, etc (holds up hands).
* No, FASA wasn't big on errata - ColBosch
* The Housebook series is from the 80's and is the foundation of Btech, the 80's heart wrapped in heavy metal that beats to this day - Sigma
* To sum it up: FASAnomics: By Cthulhu, for Cthulhu - Moonsword
* Because Battletech is a conspiracy by Habsburg & Bourbon pretenders - MadCapellan
* The Hellbringer is cool, either way. It's not cool because it's bad, it's cool because it's bad with balls - Nightsky
* It was a glorious time for people who felt that we didn't have enough Marauder variants - HABeas2, re "Empires Aflame"

Paladin1

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #148 on: 21 February 2020, 17:28:29 »

actually, most editions of The Anarchist's Cookbook are chock full of....well...things that don't work, incomplete instructions and recipes, or outright bullshitting that runs the gamut from "Doesn't work at all" to "rather disappointing fizzle".

I suppose the ORIGINAL edition might contain actual, useful information, but that's questionable, just like the many-storied Ordnance 'Black books' that were for sale in the eighties, much of it trades on an apocryphal at best reputation to separate college-age-males from their mommy's money.

Your best bet is still an older (Pre 1970s) high school or college chemistry textbook, and some actual training.

If you can ever get an original copy of TACB and compare it to the "revisions", it's pretty obvious that there's something hinky going on in the revised versions, not to mention that the books are physically different, not only in the way that the subjects were treated but also in how the book was physically laid out.  The older one wasn't great, either, but the majority of the things you could build did actually work.  The less said about the rumors as to how and why the book was revised, the better.

The truth though is that CS is correct, the majority of what's in even the original version of TACB is easily surpassed by a decent chemistry book from the 60's, and that fact is a criminal indictment of our modern education system in and of itself.

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Re: Teaser for a proposed...thing (Thread 2)
« Reply #149 on: 21 February 2020, 17:31:25 »
I was in high school when the sarin attack on the Tokyo subway happened. The next day, our chemistry teacher told us that even the most cluess student in that class (he had the decency not to look directly at me when he said that) knew enough about chemistry to be able to do the same.
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