Human Technology

RHJunior · Post by **RHJunior** » Wed May 24, 2006 6:52 pm

1.Are human beings at the modern level of technology in the questorverse?

Long answer short: no. Not even close.

2. No, they are not in the "new world." Or any other part of our world. They are on an entirely different planet with an entirely different geography--- not to mention an entirely different astronomy. They have TWO MOONS, just for starters. (which matters more in the grand scheme of things than you think. The moon's influence on tide, tectonics and weather patterns means that it has influence on a great deal of the geography.)

3. concerning the earlier discussion about technologies that catch on while others don't--- or that take centuries to be rediscovered--- I present to you <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031634 ... 3155">"The Tipping Point,"</a> a book that goes into detail about the forces that affect whether an idea catches on or languishes in obscurity.

Acolyte · Post by **Acolyte** » Wed May 24, 2006 7:10 pm

BrockthePaine wrote:I was taught otherwise in my typography and design class. I'll certainly accept that the medial s was be used the way you mention - though I've never heard of it before now. And unfortunately I can't get a cite of what my teacher said to see whether he was accurate or not.

Ah, all the things they didn't teach us in school...

I'm actually shocked you were taught this. It sounds like your teacher picked up an urban legend somewhere and started repeating it as fact without questioning it. If you look closely at the medial s, it actually is not identical to the f. The nub you see in Roman type only extends from the left side of the stroke, it never crosses; and it's completely absent in Italic type.

It was even fashionable in formal handwritten documents. Here's and example you may be familiar with. Plainly, the scrivener can't have run out of handwritten "s"es.

I've had teachers pull this kind of BS, but not when they were teaching a specialist class.

AYBABTU · Post by **AYBABTU** » Wed May 24, 2006 7:29 pm

THANK YOU, Mister Junior! Now, we can stop talking here. The writer himself has answered my question admirably.

StrangeWulf13 · Post by **StrangeWulf13** » Wed May 24, 2006 9:12 pm

Four pages just for that?

If I didn't know better, I'd say this place was government owned and operated...

Acolyte · Post by **Acolyte** » Wed May 24, 2006 9:14 pm

If that was true, four pages would have been just the abstract.

EdBecerra · Post by **EdBecerra** » Wed May 24, 2006 9:14 pm

Wanderwolf wrote:
EdBecerra wrote:You reach the FINAL finish line, and just sit around for eternity? BOOOORING. Now, to someone from oh, 6K years ago, used to the old "work from sunup to sundown just to keep from starving, and dying old and worn out by the age of 35-40", yeah, sitting around on their arse for eternity being pampered would probably be paradise.

Just not for me.
You must be an aficionado of Twain... you both have the same idea of Heaven.

But no, Heaven is an individual matter. Nobody finds Heaven in a cookie-cutter existence; like punishment, reward must be suited to the individual, or it is a waste.

You want a struggle, Kickaha? Try being the angel assigned to guide an inventor to the ONE way his invention will work, knowing you have to keep him going through thousands of failures. THAT is a struggle for you.

Yours truly,

The wolfish,

Wanderer

*snickers*

Well, aside from the fact that I use a set of clippers to keep my hair extremely short, I've been told by a number of people that my irritating manner reminds them of either Mark Twain or the old prospector from "Blazing Saddles".

Even more so since my stroke, as it hit both the motor control of my left side (leaving me with something of a slur in my speech) and parts of the speech center (leaving me fumbling for a word - one of my doctors called this 'partial expressive aphasia' or something like that).

My sweety Aili used to tell me I'd often sound like "authentic frontier gibberish".

And yeah, it's the frustration that I enjoy, as twisted as that may sound. It's a fine line, I admit - too easy, I'm bored; too hard, and I grow angry. Just right, and I'm able to sit there and gloat over my success, and that's where I find my pleasure.

As to the cookie-cutter Heaven bit, well, that's what was pounded into my head by Jesuit priests and the nuns of Mt. Saint Vincent's many many years ago, and I can't seem to shake it. Their teaching was "This IS Paradise, you'll like it or ELSE!"

If they're right, I'm going to have quite a bit of difficulty in the afterlife.

Really, given my contradictory attitudes and existence, I'd probably end up in something similar to the group novel "Heroes in Hell", where the First Fallen ends up with most of the skilled (note: I didn't say "best", I said "skilled") warriors of history, and finds he has an armed and SUCCESSFUL rebellion in Hell on his hands.

But then, I've always been something of a belligerent grump. I have NO idea what either Tasha or Aili ever saw in me.. *shrugs*

StrangeWulf13 · Post by **StrangeWulf13** » Wed May 24, 2006 9:20 pm

Acolyte wrote:If that was true, four pages would have been just the abstract.

Good lord, you're right...

Tbolt · Post by **Tbolt** » Thu May 25, 2006 1:57 am

AYBABTU wrote:THANK YOU, Mister Junior! Now, we can stop talking here. The writer himself has answered my question admirably.

Oh, goodie! =^^= Now that we've expiated the original purpose of the thread, now we can get down to some serious tangential wanderings!

It could be worse, we could be talking about something like the US tax code!

BrockthePaine · Post by **BrockthePaine** » Thu May 25, 2006 5:19 am

Acolyte wrote:If that was true, four pages would have been just the abstract.

Probably more like the introduction to the table of contents

AYBABTU · Post by **AYBABTU** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:23 am

CONVERSATION IS OVER PEOPLE! GET BACK TO WHATEVER IT IS YOU DO ALL DAY!

Atarlost · Post by **Atarlost** » Thu May 25, 2006 6:43 am

But this *is* what we do all day.

AYBABTU · Post by **AYBABTU** » Thu May 25, 2006 9:22 am

Go do something else then. Humor, common sense and coherent thoughts should not be mixed, ever!

Trump · Post by **Trump** » Thu May 25, 2006 9:59 am

Sure they all go together. They go together like gin and tonic and... err... MORE tonic... or gin...

AYBABTU · Post by **AYBABTU** » Thu May 25, 2006 11:28 am

...ok, coherent thoughts go with humor.but common sense does not.DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN COMMON SENSE IS MIXED WITH HUMOR!?<insert mushroom cloud/atomic explosion>CATASTROPHY!

Squeaky Bunny · Post by **Squeaky Bunny** » Thu May 25, 2006 11:56 am

AYBABTU wrote:...ok, coherent thoughts go with humor.but common sense does not.DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN COMMON SENSE IS MIXED WITH HUMOR!?<insert mushroom cloud/atomic explosion>CATASTROPHY!

Did you just call for me?

Shyal_malkes · Post by **Shyal_malkes** » Thu May 25, 2006 12:00 pm

AYBABTU wrote:...ok, coherent thoughts go with humor.but common sense does not.DO YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN COMMON SENSE IS MIXED WITH HUMOR!?<insert mushroom cloud/atomic explosion>CATASTROPHY!

ummmm, an impractical joke?

Wanderwolf · Post by **Wanderwolf** » Fri May 26, 2006 10:16 pm

RHJunior wrote:2. No, they are not in the "new world." Or any other part of our world. They are on an entirely different planet with an entirely different geography--- not to mention an entirely different astronomy. They have TWO MOONS, just for starters. (which matters more in the grand scheme of things than you think. The moon's influence on tide, tectonics and weather patterns means that it has influence on a great deal of the geography.)

Pax! Pax, for Yeshu's sake, Pax!

I wasn't Sirius-ly identifying the Questorverse as existing in relation to our modern world, Ralph; I was postulating where it would correspond to if it did, in response to the impassioned pleas for "have Quentyn meet the modern man... oo, and put in tanks, an' planes, an' lotsa lotsa guns".

All I meant to point out was that, if the Seven Villages DID exist in our reality, it would have to be down around Florida or Louisiana by virtue of terrain... hills and swamp, subtropical, in distinct need of a weathermage. That's all.

Yes, really.

But yes, having two moons really makes the climate interesting. There was a book on the subject, but I can't remember the title just now... something about green sky...?

Anyway, looking forward to the "what happens next".

Yours truly,

The wolfish,

Wanderer