Activity for Joe Bloggs
| Type | On... | Excerpt | Status | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Question | — |
Why would a sleeper ship be designed to only wake one person in case of emergency? Starliners are huge colony ships. They carry enough equipment, building materials, embryos, colonists and nutrient rich rations to permanently establish a sizeable colony on a far-flung world. Although they're big, they aren't designed to act as generation ships. Instead any perishables (like people)... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
How can I estimate the maximum mass that can be safely handled in low to no g? Many countries, authorities and companies have the concept of a maximum weight limit for manual handling, both to protect their workers and to protect themselves from lawsuits. Interstellar Shipping Incorporated (I.S.I.) also has such limits, but their requirements are a little more complicated. As ... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
How can a race incapable of conceiving discrete quantities evolve? Shamelessly inspired by this question, where a race was capable of counting only 0, 1 and "˜many', I have designed a yet more extreme race!! The Continuuoids are a pretty complex race. They can solve problems, they can build homes, they might even be intelligent. But they have no concept of equali... (more) |
— | over 4 years ago |
| Question | — |
Is it possible to have naturally occurring deposits of diamond on a volcanic island chain? The People of The Shining Isles have long been exploited. They are cruelly used in mines, excavating tonne after tonne of rock and dirt in pursuit of what the Warriors from Away call "˜diamonds'. These small, shining rocks are apparently of great value to the invaders for some reason or another, thou... (more) |
— | over 5 years ago |
| Question | — |
Bioengineered reversible sterility The Humern empire is vast, unbelievably powerful and (in certain matters) brutally authoritarian. One such issue is that of reproduction. In order to ensure that all subjects of the Empire remain part of the same species all breeding must be done either by taking a randomly chosen fertilised egg fro... (more) |
— | about 6 years ago |
| Question | — |
What mechanism can prevent super-healing heroes from accidentally budding? We're all familiar with the heroes that can't die. Honey-badger (with the claws and the angry voice), Dreadpeel, that girl with the weird cheerleading obsession... Basically they all have the same superpower: any one of their cells contains the blueprint and exact reconstruction details for their en... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
| Question | — |
How can a Dyson Sphere be built with minimal orbital disruption? Dyson spheres are a staple of science fiction. Solar system spanning megastructures, they represent a significant effort by whatever species chose to build them, and a significant mass moved into the orbit of the star they engulf. Now, shell theorem shows (assuming a homogeneous mass distribution on... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
| Question | — |
How do puffer lizards puff up into flight so quickly? Xenobiology expedition 'Profundity': Log entry 634 These things are remarkably tricky to study!! Puffer lizards live on the open salt pans of Arbslex IV (an incredibly Earthlike planet), eking out an existence by snapping up the salt flies. Mostly they're unassuming blue grey lumps on the floor... (more) |
— | over 6 years ago |
| Question | — |
How does the air remain stationary in The Big Blue? The Parachute Cities fall endlessly, ploughing their way downwards through an infinite blue sky. The Big Blue is a universe of sorts. It certainly has no bottom, but it does have a concept of "˜down'. Objects, airships, people and whole islands plummet through the occasional clouds, permanently lit ... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
How well will interstellar ploughs work? The Humern empire uses Photonic Railways to transport its unimaginably vast cargo containers from one solar system to the next. These ships can reach truly staggering velocities (>0.8c even for 'short' journeys) before finally stopping their acceleration phase. Each ship on the railway is a series o... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
How high can Ludicrous Leg man jump? Ludicrous Leg Man has never skipped a leg day, as a result of which he has infinitely strong and fast legs and all attendant secondary superpowers. Don't ask why, just roll with it. While performing leg related actions such as running, jumping and kicking his body shrugs off all forms of damage, so ... (more) |
— | almost 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
Can I overcome the bandwidth limitation on my photonic railways? The Humern Empire is a vast, well established empire that spans the galaxy. Despite having no FTL travel they have kept their empire together with a series of subluminal transport methods. Heavy cargo loads are moved from system to system using a finely tuned web of Photonic Laser Propulsion base st... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
How to ensure only one child survives out of many established embryos? The Humerns are quite an odd species when it comes to mating. They have nine distinct sexes (not genders, they're biologically distinct) all of which exhibit varying levels of dimorphism and all of which can interbreed with any sex but their own. Don't even ask about their social structure or mating ... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
Why does the Conjoined Alliance of Space Travellers keep producing red uniforms? The Conjoined Alliance of Space Travellers (Nope, not that one) is a generally nice completely peaceful group of heavily armed species exploratory organisation. Using ships such as the Exciting Undertaking and bases like A Long Way from Anywhere V C.A.S.T. has spread across the stars, often cultural... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
How can a highly advanced sub-luminal galactic empire minimise the effects of speciation? The Humern Empire (no relation) spans the galaxy, using a variety of methods to move from place to place and planet to planet. One thing all of their modes of transport share is that they are not faster than light, and as such they have large temporal dilation effects associated with them. The most ... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
How do passive, toggleable magnetic clamps function? See, I'm a low-g cargo shipper by trade. We get all sorts of containers in all kinds of shapes that we need to fasten to the deck plating, and to do that we use magnetic clamps. Now, these clamps are all manner of strong. Like, stupid strong. My engineer tried to explain it to me, something about su... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
What might an angel's knapsack look like? The Angelic Host is going to war. It's a long journey, requiring flight over the highest mountain ranges and long trudges through the fiercest blizzards. As with all large scale military marches the Host will be carrying equipment, tents and provisions for the journey and the eventual battle, averag... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
How might the spores of an interstellar lifeform navigate? Voidcrawler (Mycocelium Nocturnis) is a voracious invasive species, most similar to a fungus but much hardier and with some singularly unique properties: Firstly it absorbs not only light, but also heat from its surroundings and, through processes unknown, both uses the energy to absorb and use near... (more) |
— | about 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
Would a frictionless fluid make a good lubricant for physical machinery? I have a new fluid, called Unobtaniol, which is a room temperature frictionless superfluid. It has the same physical properties as liquid helium, but with less freezing everything. A friend of mine reckons that it would be great for lubricating gears, pistons, various forms of reciprocating arm, wor... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
What geological/geographical features are needed to support a Greco-Roman 'City of Fountains' Belsaria is the City of Fountains. The capital of Nowheria, it's truly a civic marvel, due to the thousands of fountains that jet water into the air at every intersection and in the courtyards of almost all the houses. Built at a similar time to Rome, the architects of Belsaria were masters of aqued... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
How can an unimaginably huge life form reliably communicate with mortals? The Starmakers are vast. Stars are their seeds, supernovae their hatching. Unimaginable millennia pass before they even begin to blink at their neighbours, and they do not die, merely pass along their experiences to the next generation (unlike some cosmic beings). Even the smallest and weakest of th... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
Would the sudden creation of a super-suit cause noticeable wind? Using my world changing invention and my massive intellect I have created the perfect defensive tool for myself and any minions valued friends I deem might need one. The tool is a super suit that doesn't actually exist until it's needed. The suit is worn as a bracelet, and when activated the bracele... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
How do Glass Ants create their tunnels? Xenobiology expedition 'Profundity': Log entry 504 Glass Ants are a fascinating species. We discovered them on an arid desert world last visited by humanity aeons ago. They seem to have evolved from an Earth species into something unique. Glass Ants seem to have two interesting methods when it c... (more) |
— | over 7 years ago |
| Question | — |
Why are interstellar colonists lone rangers? The time is The Future. Humanity is spreading throughout the stars, aided by the invention of Schwarzschild gates. The gates allow for FTL travel by tearing open wormholes in space. There are three kinds of Schwarzschild gate (and three corresponding modes of operation): 1. Tethered (AKA stable): A... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: What to do with all the heat in a Dyson Sphere? Being careful with your aim You can't not radiate, so if you want to not be observed then you need to make sure you aren't radiating in the direction of your nearest neighbours. To do this you'll need to somehow channel all the energy into a series of directional beams that are aimed in-between the ... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
What hull materials are suitable for a helium-sea jet-ski? Inspired by this question. Imagine a sea of liquid helium. Some people like to use submarines, but we've got a better plan. Jet-Skis. Impeller pumps are used in jet-skis and can also be used to shift helium around, so we'll assume that the motive power of the craft is dealt with and the internal c... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
What mammalian biological constraints would have to be relaxed/changed in order to allow Victorian style mixing of body parts? A common theme in older novels and some more modern publications is that of body parts (potentially from multiple species) being 'swapped' on to new bodies and recombined in (usually grotesque) ways by mad scientists (I prefer the term misunderstood, personally, but that's just me). An example of th... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
What advantage would a species gain from birthing a child larger than itself? The Lorting are a very strange race. Not only are there multiple genders (the actual term for which is more like 'castes' or 'classes'), but when any member of their species is 'born' it is born at it's full size with exactly the same configuration and number of cells as its peers (similar to Tardigr... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
What is stopping people getting dizzy on board the generation ship 'Spinny McSpinface'? Spinny McSpinface is an ancient generation ship, invented and launched before the creation of Wrap drive and recently arrived at its original destination of A Long Way from Anywhere V. All the crew are long dead because of reasons (possibly related to them trying to reverse the polarity of the life s... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
How many calories must Santa's Reindeer consume? Santa's reindeer are pretty awesome. They can stand on arbitrary planes (giving the illusion of flight, the reindeer are actually running on n-dimensional hills) and can dilate time in a bubble around Santa without tidal effects tearing holes in the universe. This lets Santa and the sleigh make as ma... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
Is an interstellar clock orbitally possible? A Kardashev Type III civilisation has need of a long-scale timepiece, and as such has arranged a series of planets around a black hole such that their orbital periods can be used to tell the time in the same way an analogue clock would be on Earth (don't worry about how they know where 12 o' clock is... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
How are there so many species on the space station 'A long way from anywhere V'? Here on the Space Station 'A long way from anywhere V' (not to be confused with any other space stations) a wide variety of species pass through on their way to the Krasnikov tube terminal. Even the starship 'Exciting Undertaking' stops here from time to time. Due to the number of strikes on the Nebu... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
Why are there no toilets on the starship 'Exciting Undertaking'? DISCLAIMER: Any resemblance to other starships (living or dead) is purely coincidental. The starship 'Exciting Undertaking' is a brand new ship about to set off on a five and a bit year mission to explore mostly new lands and go where only a couple of people have gone before. As space is boring, it ... (more) |
— | almost 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
How big can the Parachute cities be? Nobody knows where the big Blue is. Some people say it's a dream. Some people say it's the space between the worlds, where all the things that fall through the cracks end up. The occasional rains of odd socks and pencil sharpeners make me inclined to believe the latter though. Either way: I know we'... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
How do marrow adders move house? Listen. You hear that crunching, cracking noise? That's the marrow adders. They're all around us. Tiny, timid, pretty much harmless. If you break open one of the larger bones left behind by the bonegrass you'll probably find a marrow adder peeking out at you like you've done something wrong. What? ... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
Can the fleshmoles breathe? The bonegrass fields are full of other life, despite their dangers. Lots of insects, some birds, and even a handful of reptiles have adapted to the paralytic nature of the air in order to reap the rich rewards offered by the deathly white foliage. Of all of these creatures the most advanced by far ar... (more) |
— | over 8 years ago |
| Question | — |
Does an arbitrary constant burn path between two orbiting bodies exist? I have an engine with unlimited $\Delta v$. Don't ask how I got it, it's probably one of my earth changing inventions. Either way: I no longer like Earth and want to get off (I'm headed for a retirement villa on Olympus Mons), but I don't want to lose the nice home comforts, like a sink with a plug ... (more) |
— | almost 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
Orbital construction: How to get around some of its problems? Orbital construction facilities have a great many advantages over ground based ones: You can use materials from space without having to drag them up the gravity well, you can make vessels that don't have any atmospheric capability, and you can cold weld certain metals. However: They also have downsid... (more) |
— | almost 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
How does the digestive system of a creature that can turn around in its own skin work? There is a creature. Let's call it a Blop. Blops are fairly simple creatures: They consist of a tough, flexible outer skin and then an inner structure that is (essentially) organs and tentacles floating in goo. This gives them a remarkable versatility, as they can literally flip end-to-end within th... (more) |
— | almost 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
Psychology and sociology in my Earth Changing underwater community I've built a device. It can change matter to energy and energy to matter with 100% efficiency. I've built myself a global presence, and populated the ranks of my employees with people such that I can solve pretty much any problem. I want somewhere safe and secure to co-ordinate my empire from in cas... (more) |
— | almost 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
Can I use my earth-changing invention to hide in orbit? I've built a device, it's capable of turning matter to energy and energy to matter with perfect efficiency, I've got the resources to build a space station in secrecy, and I want to get off the planet in case things start to go badly. Naturally, I can't go too far, or the signal lag will start inter... (more) |
— | almost 9 years ago |
| Question | — |
Would communication lag stop language developing in a space-borne race? Imagine for a few moments that despite the difficulty a race has evolved in space, away from any atmosphere (perhaps a species of space jellyfish). This race exists in a fairly 'noisy' nebula, but communicates over interplanetary distances using electromagnetic radiation, either in discrete bursts o... (more) |
— | about 9 years ago |
| Answer | — |
A: How do seasons work in a binary system (planet orbits one star, not both)? Quick point: An orbit with that level of eccentricity is going to have summers that literally melt everything, so I'm going to assume a circular (or at least much less eccentric) set of orbits. I'm also going to use the planet as my reference frame, because it makes it easier to track the locations o... (more) |
— | about 9 years ago |