[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: (TFT) first Saturday in May?
I tell you three times.
I am a cellular super power.
The museum of Science and Industry in Detroit MI (a dieing city) back in the 60's had a generalized proportional model of a human cell that was 24 feet in diameter so as to allow people to walk inside.
They report that this is on the order of a million-fold magnification.
Now I'm told that the cell is the basic unit of life.
This is arguable, and the mere fact that it is arguable is a key component of my argument.
Can you say recursive?
First let me tell you about slime moulds.
So here's this amoebalike critter and he's just hanging around, chillin.
After awhile another one oozes by and they get to jawing.
Over time others drift by and get engaged in the conversation.
I have some idea of what they might be talking about because once a few thousand have gotten into the con-fab they all ooze together in formation and cling together to create a multi-celled worm.
This worm crawls along until it finds fresh, new horizons at which point it stops, sets roots, grows a stalk with a spore ball on top and after the stalk has grown to sufficient height the ball pops open and little amoebalike critters rain down like shroom spores and start hanging around, chillin.
Now remember that stuff about "The Rite of Spring"?
If the neurons in my brain work something like I'm hearing they do then I'm the "President Carter" of the cells that make up Jay, who addresses you on this list as the leader and spokesperson for the Jayite peoples.
Oh crap!
I just remembered Jubal's lesson in dealing with sovereigns...
Mike got Mars.
I'll take Jupiter.
Where's my Almanac?
I get another title for this...
Of course, Jay is just an amoebalike creature in the u.s. slime mould.
Jay has cells inside his head
That harry him and fight him
And they have fleas upon their backs
And so on ad infinum
Add that Moibus twist through (I use 5) x dimensions to connect top and bottom and I get little things, and just like Napoleon in 'Time Bandits' that is what I like to see, little things hitting each other.
God help MY universe cause it looks like there's not much I can do about it.
Oh sure, I could just not push the button, but come on!
EVERYTIME we make something we end up using it.
That means I wish 'em all the luck, push the button, and hope they don't put too much faith in me.
Hell, I've learned to stop worrying and love the bomb.
It just may take a firecracker that big to make my universe.
I'd best keep that one at least arms length form the basement though...
Wanna get weird?
Weirder anyway...
Okay rock that "grows" is alive IMHO.
All I ask of the definition is a self-replicating system.
Quartz for example.
Boy is THAT a LOOONG day!
I don't know if they would even notice us, much in the same way that we aren't conscious of our own hitchhikers.
What I'm talking about for my universe is way past weather a quartz crystal could ever be aware of a bacterium.
Maybe I just get my own "Membrane."
Mem-Brain.
Wiggin hurts my brain.
Anybody wanna make a slime mould worm?
I get to be the head.
It was MY idea after all...
In other words, Units are coming up.
Rules for cells.
I have Clatsop County covered in at about 50 STS-hexes (16 square miles apiece).
A LOT of the walking I've been doing is adding elevation to my old Pittmon County map.
As Clatsop is laid out in Jefferson's section, township, range method each cell is a square mile, or one square in the hex.
There are a number of conditions or rules that I need if I'm gonna set these cells up for plants and animals.
Population for living things depend on the conditions inherent in the cells themselves.
At this scale, (1 cell = 1 square mile) I need somewhat general information, and often what applies for one square mile applies to all the squares in the STS-hex it's a part of.
Latitude, Longitude and Timeline
Lat. and Lon. are used to fix the location of the square mile within the fixed square degree grid for the planet.
Timeline allows placement of the hex in epoch or season.
This allows a determination of how much Light reaches the cell and the length of its day at the Timeline point, which is a determinant of Temperature, a determinant of Weather along with geographical questions served by Lat. Lon. and Timeline.
I'm assuming that nobody is gonna want to built their own planets from scratch but would prefer microwaveable Hot-Planets so I'll skip the plate-tec stuff and just use Clatsop County.
Prevailing conditions in Clatsop County circa 1979.
Days with 0.01" + precipitation - 180.
Percent of years with less than 15" of precipitation - 0%.
Number of freeze-free days - 270 to 150.
Annual precipitation - 80".to 96"
Days with dense fog - 40.
Seasons.
Winter
850mb surface winds prevailing sw @ ~ 10 knots.
Winter precipitation - 20' to 40' (seems like.)
Snowfall - 0" to 24".
80 mean total hours of Jan sunshine.
Spring
850mb surface winds prevailing w @ 5 knots.
Spring precipitation - 15" to 20".
Latest snow depth >6" - Feb. (NOT the last few years!)
200 mean total hours of April sunshine.
Summer
850mb surface winds prevailing from the nw @ 5 knots. (Strong clockwise circulation between the Coast Range and the Cascades centered on the Columbia.)
Summer precipitation - 2" to 4".
30 to 40 nights of stagnation (night-time windspeeds less than 7mph.)
260 to 280 mean total hours of July sunshine.
Autumn
850mb surface winds prevailing w @ 10 knots.
Autumn precipitation - 15" to 25".
30 to 50 nights of stagnation.
140 total mean hours Oct sunshine.
Vegetation Zones
Sitka Spruce (west) and Western Hemlock (east).
The whole county is zoned Haplumbreptic Inceptisol for soil.
Only the extreme sw 40 square miles or so are graded class II by the Soil Conservation Service, the rest of the county is IV.
So that's half the problem.
I have some interesting info on plants and the light and temperature requirements for dominant and transitional species, etc.
At this point I'd like to raise a practical question
I'm supposed to be running HOW MUCH physical memory by now!?!?
Maybe I can make a 'The Little Prince' planet with deep-time and weather and carbon cycles and the like
Then I'll put the little people on it
Y'all will tell everyone where I've gone huh?
Uhhhh, I'll list out what plants can grow on what class cells later.
It's probably only good to me for "detailed" background.
Ain't no player gonna catch ME out on what can and can't be eaten in my gameworld.
"Is it any wonder I've got
too much time on my hands?"
____________________________________________________________
Proven Hair Replacement Options. Click here.
http://thirdpartyoffers.netzero.net/TGL2241/fc/BLSrjpYWiPabt4MSizKBPadgUUAT8EIXO4sk2xaHbpL8I95nxmFCNiGNTDC/
=====
Post to the entire list by writing to tft@brainiac.com.
Unsubscribe by mailing to majordomo@brainiac.com with the message body
"unsubscribe tft"