I Have Already Mentioned the "3 Body Problem"
Both the novel and the television series. The TV series has mated together the contemporary or near-contemporary parts of the novels into a single coherent serial, rather than jumping back and forth in time. Thank you for that.
Well, let it be known that there are SPOILERS AHEAD. Unlike Darling Daughter and Quiet Tom, who let it slip yesteryon that Luke dies in one of the latter "Starry Warz" films, the dastards. Art!
The novel
I have to say, it's well worth reading the novel itself, because it puts forward a very Sino-centric sci-fi vision that - understandably - focusses on China and the Chinese rather than South Canada or This Sceptred Isle. Art!
SPOILERY BIT AHOY! just so you know.
At the end of Season One, the Trisolarian (a.k.a. 'San Ti' in Chinese) invasion fleet has set out from Centauri for Earth, numbering A Lot Of Ships. I don't think either the novel or serial actually gives a total, but from the brief visuals we are talking hundreds of spaceships.
The kicker here is that the San Ti may be a lot more advanced technologically than Hom. Sap. but it has taken them millions, rather than ten thousand, years to get to this point. Their invasion fleet is capable of travelling incredibly fast - comparatively. Managing to accelerate to 1% of c, the speed of light, means they are hitting 18,600 miles per second. Sounds impressive, nicht wahr? Art!
WRONG! It will take them 400 years (as per television, the novel had it at 450 years) to reach Earth, thanks to the sheer scale of astronomical distances. In order to prevent Hom. Sap. from developing any technological deterrent to this invasion fleet, the San Ti intend to use their immensely powerful 'sophons' to sabotage scientific research, because otherwise, with a lead of four centuries, you can bet the inventive and canny humans will come up with a countermeasure.
This is where Conrad has an advantage over Cixin, because I am a lot more devious and underhanded than he is. How would Your Humble Scribe go about stalling or defeating the San Ti's invasion fleet?
O I thought you'd never ask! Art!
STEP ONE: That above is a MIRV bus, as used on an ICBM. Rather than sending out a 'probe' carrying a human brain, Conrad would send out a single large probe, on a spaceship using Project Orion 'pusher-plate' technology, which has been theoretically possible since the Sixties. Art!
It would be robotic, so no need to worry about acceleration or radiation. The payload would be a giant 'bus' carrying 54 sub-missiles, each of which in turn would carry 54 'remote cameras'. Thus you end up with 3,000 remote cameras.
The argument for this, because those pesky sophons would be guaranteed to be listening in, is that the speeds involved are going to be immense, and if the PO Nuclear Pulse Propulsion gets up to 1% of c, then they are going to pass the San Ti invasion fleet at a combined speed of 37,000 miles per second. Having 3,000 remote cameras detecting and relaying data back to Earth means having the ability to network and collate 3,000 streams of data; or, if you like, the 0.001 seconds of recorded transit will be spooled out to all of 3 seconds. Art!
EXCEPT NOT. Did I mention about being an utter liar? The 'remote cameras' all have a stealth shielding, all 300 of them. They are built first, to deceive the eavesdropping sophons. The other 2,700 supposed cameras are really spherical balls of cast iron, mimicking the cameras, produced under the 'Project Wink' title, because Hom. Sap. is very good at lying and the San Ti are not. I leave it to your imagination as to what happens when four pounds of solid metal impacts a spaceship at 2% of c.
Of course that's not all. If this swarm of 'remote cameras' impacts the leading edge of the San Ti's fleet, then the cumulative debris will imperil everything approaching it from the rear, because you cannot manoeuvre like a fighter jet when moving at relativistic speeds.
Well, that's enough for this Intro, Steps Two and Three will have to wait.
A Quiet Victory
There's a lot of energy and focus on a certain military operation transpiring on the territory of Modern-day Mordor at present, which has rather overshadowed another significant anniversary. Art!
Up to June of 2023. the orcs were honouring a treaty that the Turks had brokered, allowing Ukrainian grain to be exported via the Black Sea, thus propping up their economy thanks to the gigantic volumes of grain they exported.
Of course, who had to come in and poop in the party pool? Art!
Head toilet thief
The Ruffians decided that Ukraine was doing too well out of this deal, and arbitrarily decided to end it, even going so far as to helicopter onto a grain-carrying ship in a show of strength.
Ooops.
Their Black Sea Fleet is now down to a flotilla, and it's been chased out of the Black Sea entirely. Meanwhile the NATO members Turkey, Romania and Bulgaria have all conspired/organised/arranged <delete where applicable> to allow Ukrainian-bound or departing marine freight to use their territorial waters. This has been going on for a year now, with the Ruffians totally unable or unwilling to interfere. Art!
Nobody is raising a hurrah about this, which is a bit of a shame, because it means Ukraine is supporting itself, not relying on whimsical Western politics and politicians. I doubt Putinpot has been given this information as it would very likely lead to a myocardial infarction.
"The War Illustrated Edition 192 October 1944"
We are back on the centre-page montage, where the editor shoehorns eight or nine photos together, leaving Conrad to explicate for you. Art!
No, they are not removing pieces of lumber. This is the bridge at Nijmegen, which had been captured by the Grenadier Guards - with an assist from South Canadian paratroopers* - and which had been prepared for demolition by the Teuton occupiers. They never got the opportunity to destroy it, which meant a whole lot of hapless British sappers had to remove and defuse giant blocks of high explosive. That's what they're wrestling with in the larger picture, and stockpiling in the smaller picture.
More of Kyle's Isles
After conflict and strife, it's a pleasant change to bring in another South Canadian island that Kyle, a.k.a. "Geography King" on Youtube, has found worthy of attention. This time it's the South Canadian west coast, and Vashon Island. Art!
This island is at the southern end of Puget Sound, which might not mean a lot to you until I mention that it's close to Seattle, which is to the north-east on the above map. It's not small, either, clocking in at 37 square miles and with 11,000 citizens in residence. Art!
The population has only grown by 1,000 in the past 24 years, so unless someone builds an international airport on the island (not impossible, folks) or constructs bridges to the mainland (only ferries at present) this total will not increase any time soon. It sounds like a rather under-developed yet very nice piece of real estate. Art!
Not literally. I think Kyle had to add that in for legal reasons.
Even Nature -
A month or so ago, 'Big K' who also goes by the name of Konstantin Samoilov, posted that Ruffia was experiencing unprecedented levels of extreme weather. What might have happened once in a quarter had now become four times in a single week.
Mother Nature doesn't seem to have changed her mind of late. Art!
Given Ruffian geography this is bound to be in their far east, where volcanoes abound. Still, an event to give one pause, hmmm?
* This will enrage South Canadian paratroopers. Tee hee!
No comments:
Post a Comment