sex and dampers...

A thread of 2 messages, 22 May 1992 to 23 May 1992, in the order they were sent.

#4197 sex and dampers...

Steve Higginbotham · 22 May 1992

Hans:

>But strangely enough there are Traveller planets that are radioactive.
>Of course a half-way radioactive planet IS a dramatic locale for an
>adventure. That's what I meant in a previous posting about situational
>physics. When it's convenient you can and when it's convenient you can't.

A half-way radioactive planet is also just about impossible.  And
conveniently ignorng their own background is what Traveller does best.


>So how long would it take to focus a node on every cubic meter of the
>affected area? How long do you have to keep it focussed? Perhaps cleaning
>up a radioactive planet is not quite so easy as running a vaccuum cleaner
>over a carpet.

A good battlefield damper can totally inert the radioactives in 288
nuclear shells in 15 seconds.  It can also clear the induced radioactivity
from an area of 78 hectares in the same time.


>Given that human beings have been known to consort with goats, and that
>the prime sexual organ is the brain, I don't think we can rule out any-
>thing.

Humans I wasn't concerned with.  How do the ALIENS feel about it?  If
they don't have the same kind of sexuality cycle we do, why should they
consider us attractive?  Admittedly Vargr should have similar sexual cues
to humans, and they might have been rebuilt with a year-round fertility
cycle...


>421 huh? You know, that is just one of the glaring holes in the whole
>Grandfather story. "He kept careful count of his descendants and made
>sure he killed them all".

Yeah, I thought of that too.  And how did he know that some of them
didn't develop something to let them survive his attacks, and then
just lay low till he got tired and quit.


Scott 2G Kellogg:

>CraftID:  Ground Car, Hot Rod Lincoln, TL 5, Cr 4065

Scott, you have finally gone around the bend.  PLease report either to
your local Euthanasia center, or the nearest branch of the Thought Police
for reprogramming.  We can make you a useful member of society yet...

Later...

- -- Via DLG Pro v0.991

[email removed]

I have learned to use the word "impossible" with the greatest caution.
                                    --W. von Braun

#4208 Nuclear dampers and sexual cues

Hans Rancke-Madsen · 23 May 1992 · reply to #4197

Steve Higginbotham writes:
>Hans:
>
>>So how long would it take to focus a node on every cubic meter of the
>>affected area? How long do you have to keep it focussed? Perhaps cleaning
>>up a radioactive planet is not quite so easy as running a vaccuum cleaner
>>over a carpet.
>
>A good battlefield damper can totally inert the radioactives in 288
>nuclear shells in 15 seconds.  It can also clear the induced radioactivity
>from an area of 78 hectares in the same time.

Where do you get these numbers from? And how can I invalidate them? I want
my half-radioactive planets, dammit! (All right, I'll settle for quarter-
radioactive planets).

>>Given that human beings have been known to consort with goats, and that
>>the prime sexual organ is the brain, I don't think we can rule out any-
>>thing.
>
>Humans I wasn't concerned with.  How do the ALIENS feel about it?  If
>they don't have the same kind of sexuality cycle we do, why should they
>consider us attractive?  Admittedly Vargr should have similar sexual cues
>to humans, and they might have been rebuilt with a year-round fertility
>cycle...

If you want to define aliens as unable to take an interest in anything
that dosen't give off the right cues, go right ahead. But the aliens
we're talking about are all intelligent. I'm not going to stretch my
neck out and claim that the ability to fool oneself and one's glands is
an inevetable result of intelligence, but I will claim that there's no
reason to think that humans would be unique in this department. And as
far as Aslans are concerned, Steven Bonneville points out something that
I think is a heavy indication that they at least can fool themselves:

> ALIEN ROMANCE:
>
>     I noticed in S&A that the Aslan seem to consider such liaisons *very*
> dishonorable.  The fact that they consider them at all probably means that
> there are some of the Ftierle who do engage in what most of their folk
> would normally consider perverted....

It's all in the mind...

      Hans Rancke
University of Copenhagen
     [email removed]
- ------------
"I know there are some people in the world who do not tolerate their
fellow human beings, and I just can't _stand_ people like that!"
                                (after Tom Lehrer)