Research

A 8-post collection

Challenge #02987-H064: Unwelcome Advancements

[H] "Hold still, we're going to try this again."

[galactic volunteer] "It won't knock me out like last time?"

[H] "Nope, bugs are worked out, we tested on other humans first for a reason after all, that knock-out was accidental, sorry about that."

[galactic volunteer] "Alright, I'm ready."

The human throws the small metal disk which adheres to the galactic and, suddenly, they can't move. They can breathe, see, hear, they are not being hurt, but they can't, otherwise, move.

[galactic] "Well... it works, take it off now please."

[human] "Thank you very much for your help, I'm grateful." They remove the disk and transfer time to their volunteer's account before heading straight to medical

[galactic] "Why did you make that?"

[Human] "The more we go after bad guys, the more people end up dying in the fight. The more we can stop bad guys without killing, the happier I'll be." -- DaniAndShali

All high-octane policing has one significant problem - collateral damage. Even with stunner fire, a miss can create problems. Worse, many stunners need calibration to be sure that the target species is safely knocked out, without harming any others. Since many offenders are Deathworlders, this means that any Havenworlders caught in the crossfire could die. They needed a better way that wasn't controlled exclusively by a keen eye and a steady hand.

Which was the key to the body lock disk. A specific charge, some micro-scanners, and a very specific program involving species specific neurology and nanomachines to seek out and disrupt certain key areas. Upon contact, the disk released a series of seeker drones that spun nano-wires into the prospective victim's nervous system. It would scan the one struck, and render them immobile without also ceasing autonomic functions.

Those struck by it would be stopped, without it being terminal. From Havenworlder to Deathworlder, any fleeing miscreant would not be able to escape justice. Of course, they tested it from Deathworlder to Havenworlder, in that specific order, with Mediks on standby in case anything went wrong. It didn't.

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Challenge #01679-D218: Dangerous Reading

[Person #1] rolled their eyes. “Just get on with the research you’re not even meant to be doing, [Person #2].” -- RecklessPrudence

Certain words are signs of certain doom. These include, "I think I know where I went wrong," in experimental laboratories, and "hold my beer," anywhere that humans tend to gather. In the libraries of Vastarixus, the words are. "Oooooohhh... Oh! Oh this is so cool!"

Grand Librarian Farltha hurried as fast as her old legs could carry her to

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betterbemeta:killbenedictcumberbatch:oscob:mariokart64ost:I wonder what kind of symbolism they're trying to get at“There are a lot of...

betterbemeta:

killbenedictcumberbatch:

oscob:

mariokart64ost:

I wonder what kind of symbolism they’re trying to get at

“There are a lot of giant robot shows in Japan, and we did want our story to have a religious theme to help distinguish us. Because Christianity is an uncommon religion in Japan we thought it would be mysterious. None of the staff who worked on Eva are Christians. There is no actual Christian meaning to the show, we just thought the visual symbols of

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When Historical Dramas Fail History...

I can forgive AU’s. I have a great love for them. I can understand a writer willing to explore an alternate time stream.

But when they pretend they’re set in our history… nails down the chalkboard.

You can NOT show the Mona Lisa in-progress on a freaking canvas. She was painted on an oak board.

[You should also not make Jesus white, but that’s a whole different can of worms…]

Similarly, having era- or

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When good Science Fiction contains Bad Science

I can’t be the only person annoyed by this. Science fiction is supposed to contain science. Especially the kind of science even a layperson can recognize.

If a layperson can correct your mishandled physics, bad math, chemistry failures and so on… it irritates me no end.

Especially when writers use said bad science as a major plot point.

It’s like hanging a chandelier with chewing gum. The foundation is flawed and the whole thing collapses.

And some

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My muses, my characters, and the workings of my butterfly mind...

I apparently have a poetry muse that only turns up at BF in the morning. If I’m asleep, I miss it.

This muse can also turn up when I’m rat-faced tired. Often, too tired to write anything down.

Same way my story muse tends to bug me when I’m driving the car. Dang muses. Always turning up at inopportune moments.

And then there’s my characters.

Argumentative bunch, the lot of them. Some get really

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I've been working on a cypher

It’s for a book. Honest.

Nothing nefarious going on here, no sir.

Now, given my limited brains on the subject, I thought the wise thing to do was encode something with my cypher and let the internet geniuses out there try and crack it.

So here’s the encoded text:

Raewadmzpeqhqzkudlmsaairmjqdlndafradjazjuexbagvarag'narjanlba'xbafrirqvaYvoregv'naqqrqvxngrqgbkrcebcbfvlbakngnyzranexerngrqrxjny*Abjjrnerratnwrqvantengfvivyjb'grfgvatjrkreknganlba'benavanlbafbxbafrirqnaqfbqrqvxngrq'xnaybatraqhe*Jrnezrgbantergongy|svyqbskngjb*Jrunixbzgbqrqvxngncbelbabigungsvyq'nmnsvanyerfgvatcynfsbkbmuhuvetnikreyvimkngknganlbazvgyvi*Vgvmnygbtrkresvgvatnaqcebcrkngjrlhqqbkvf*Ohg'vanynewrfraf'jrpnaabgqrqvxng||jrpnaabgxbafrxeng||jrxnaabgunyb||kvftebjaq*Kroenizra'yvivatnaqqrq'jubfgehtyquve'unixbafrxengrqvg'snnobibjcbecbjrgbnqbeqrgenxg*Krjreyqjvyyvgyabg'abeybaterzrzorjngjrfnvuve'ohgvgxnaarirsbetrgjngkrlqvquve*Vgvmsbehfguryvivat'enkre'gborqrqvxngrquvegbkrhasvavlrqjrexjvpkrvuhsbguveunikhfsnfbaboyvnqinafq*Vgvmenkresbhfgboruveqrqvxngrqgbkrterggnfxerzravatorsbehf||kngsebzkrfrbabeqqrqjrgnxvaxerfqqriblbagbkngpbmsbjvpkrltnikrynfgshyzrmhebsqriblba||kngjruveuvyvermbyikngkrfrqrqlnyabguniqvqvaira||kngkvfanlba'haqrTbq'lnyuninahorekbiserqbz||naqkngtbirezragbikrcrcy'ovkrcrcy'sbkrcrcy'lnyabgcrevlsebzkrrek*

What say you all? Crackable? Uncrackable?

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