From: Christopher Gribbon [c.gribbon@dundee.ac.uk] Sent: Friday, August 17, 2001 12:56 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - A Story Seed - Prophet's Staff >The problem I have always had with mono whips is that, sure they are >very strong and VERY sharp, but the wielder is still having to exert >the force necessary to cut something. And I don't think it's that easy >to sever the bonds holding 2 steel molecules together. Actually, I don't think that the molecular bonds holding atoms together are *that* strong (even in covalent molecules, rather than metals). The problem is that you are attempting to sever millions upon millions of them whenever you cut comething - and they sum up to quite a strong adhesion. On the other hand, I don't know if the molecular bonds holding the carbon buckytubes together are actually much stronger than those holding the steel (or whatever) together. I think they'd just snap. What you want is a monomolecular-edged blade (like the diamond knives sort of are), rather than a monowhip. >It has just >never seemed believable to me that monowire can cut through anything >easily. Christopher Gribbon Vision Research Laboratories Medical Sciences Institute University of Dundee Dundee DD1 5EH UK (01382) 344 229 ____________________________________________________________________ "A scientist is meant to be disinterested, pure; his ambition merely to descry the cement of the universe. He isn't meant to use it to start laying his own patio!" - WILL SELF, The Quantity Theory of Insanity *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: Paul Lesack [lesack@interchange.ubc.ca] Sent: Friday, August 17, 2001 10:47 AM To: Blue Planet List Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - Submarine model I finally got around to putting the finishing touches (ie, instructions) on my 25 mm submarine model. It's a fairly big model, requiring 2 sheets of cardstock for all the parts. It's supposed to be a sub that a group of PC's would use, holding 4-6 people. Interior conditions would probably be somewhat cramped. It's not the Nautilus, after all. I don't have any photographs of it yet (hopefully this afternoon), so the web page has my concept drawing of it, which is good enough to give you an idea of what it looks like. It's a fairly hefty download (1 MB) for 3 pages. Considering that the 2 Photoshop files I created were 14 MB each, I think I managed to compress it quite nicely. http://www.primusnoir.f2s.com/bob/ F2S seems to be kind of slow today. If anyone wants an e-mail instead of waiting for a download, please let me know. Naturally, the people of Storm Surge are more than welcome to mirror the file. If you have any problems, comments or suggestions, please don't hesitate to let me know. List traffic seems a little slow, anyway. Paul *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: David R. Crowell [gpfarm-dave@northnet.org] Sent: Friday, August 17, 2001 1:48 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: [BLUE PLANET] - Fw: Zeppelins Remembering or discussion of airships a while back, thought some on the list might find this to be of interest. --dave ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Friday, August 17, 2001 12:45 PM Subject: Re: [S1889] Digest Number 929 > Oops--let me try Take 2: > > Chris Beiting > CJBeiting@aol.com > > German Zeppelin Takes to Skies > The Associated Press > Aug 16 2001 6:54AM > > BERLIN (AP) - A new zeppelin that took to the skies this week over Germany > carrying passengers - the first commercial blimp flights since the Hindenburg > disaster - could bring new life for the spurned form of air transport. > ``It has a real future,'' Juergen Bleibler, curator at the Zeppelin museum in > Friedrichshafen, said of the new airship that took its first passengers for a > cruise Wednesday over southern Lake Constance - the same place where Count > Ferdinand von Zeppelin inaugurated the airship age in 1900. > > The zeppelin era ended in 1937 when the Hindenburg caught fire on landing at > Lakehurst, N.J., after an Atlantic crossing, killing 35 of the 96 people on > board. Unlike the Hindenburg, the new model - called the Zeppelin NT for > ``New Technology'' and built by Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik in Friedrichshafen > - is filled with nonflammable helium instead of dangerous hydrogen. > > ``They won't fly again to America but have a chance to succeed for tourism > and sightseeing,'' Bleibler said of the new blimps. > > With six flights a day, five days a week, the Zeppelin NT Bodensee - the > German name of Lake Constance - will carry up to 12 passengers and two crew > on a one-hour cruise over the lake on the Swiss border. > > The firm received final approval Tuesday from air authorities to start > commercial flights in the 246-foot-long airships. Prices for the trip start > at $275, and the company says it already has 3,500 bookings for this year and > 500 for next year. > > The new zeppelins are much smaller than the Hindenburg and are designed to > carry tourists on short jaunts at a top speed of 75 miles per hour. The > company has also been licensed to start production of the new airships. > > The Zeppelin NT can reach altitudes up to 7,875 feet and fly for 24 hours for > a range of 560 miles carrying 4,200 pounds. Three propellers help the craft > maneuver like a helicopter, able to take off vertically and come to a landing > on a point. > > Bleibler said the dirigible's relatively slow speed, low noise and cheap > operating cost make it well-suited for such pleasure cruises. > > ``It is a wonderful experience,'' he said. > > The museum has already featured an exhibition on the design of the new > zeppelin, and is gathering materials to document the history of the new > aircraft. > > Zeppelin-Luftschifftechnik has invested $34 million over more than a decade > to develop the new ships, flying the first prototype in 1997. The new model > uses principles of construction going back to Count Zeppelin himself, using > internal supports within the blimp to maintain its shape and maneuverability > even in case of a loss of pressure. > > The Hindenburg offered the first commercial air service across the Atlantic. > It carried 1,002 passengers on 10 trips between Germany and the United States > during its one year of operation. The airship was destroyed at the May 6, > 1937, tragedy at Lakehurst, which was captured as it happened by New York > media and reverberated around the world. > > Goodyear and other companies have since turned blimps into advertising tools, > but for the most part, zeppelins fell into disuse. > > Zeppelin isn't the only German firm hoping to find a 21st-century market for > blimps, despite the legacy of the crash. > > Another German company, CargoLifter AG, hopes to use lighter-than-air ships > to move bulky products such as turbines, prefabricated bridges and oil rigs > from factory to customer. > > The first prototype of its 860-foot-long dirigible enters production this > autumn, and CargoLifter has said it hopes to build 50 airships by 2015. > > On the Net: > > http://www.zeppelin-nt.com/ > > http://www.zeppelin-museum.de/ > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ > > > *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message. From: H L [haniel_559@yahoo.com] Sent: Friday, August 17, 2001 2:58 PM To: blue_planet@lists.ient.com Subject: Re: [BLUE PLANET] - A Story Seed - Prophet's Staff The value of an item this big made from xenosilicate makes it unfeasible. To plagerize ideas form other sources, in particular Larry Niven, perhaps a device as described, but rather than made of xenosilicate, made instead of carbon steel, containing a small resovoir of mercury (or insert whatever is technically more feasible), some nanites which would strip carbon out of the carbon dioxide in the air. Smoke or similar would speed up production of the nanocord. Although the strength of the nanocord is quite low, the center of the buckytube is filled with mercury, which conducts electromagnetic fields that re-inforce the tensile strength and/or interfere with the molecular bonds of anything which aproaches it. That way the user's force is not what splits the molecular bonds. Perhaps the field strips electrons out of the material it is passing through... Without the field, the cord would fall apart in seconds, which would be an additional safety feature. The end of the cord could be attached to a "lug" that is created when the cord is first created, perhaps a carbon disk. Operation - at the end of the tube is a plug made of carbon (could even be diamond, the strange shape of it being perhaps a hook for an adventure or a means of attracting "unwanted" attention. As the user pulls, a nanocord aleady within it snakes out. Once it reaches maximum length, it can be teased out slowly, if carbon is available. what triggers the "field" to collapse and the cord to disintergrate may vary from device to device; although a carbon plug would begin to build up almost immediately. Srop a piece of coal into it and it would recharge rapidly. Also a way of creating the strange diamonds quickly... Just some ideas that this thread has inspired... __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ *************************************************************************** To unsubscribe from this list send mail to majordomo@lists.ient.com with the line 'unsubscribe blue_planet' as the body of the message.