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Subject:   Traveller-digest V1996 #295
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Traveller-digest            Sunday, 28 July 1996        Volume 1996 : Number 295

(R)1996. Traveller is a registered trademark of FarFuture Enterprises.
All rights reserved.

The following topics are covered in this digest:

         1. So, you think Traveller fans are rabid?
         2. Re: Nuclear Airplane (Td V96 #294)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Joe Walsh <ransom@connect.iconnect.net>
Date: Sat, 27 Jul 1996 19:31:58 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: So, you think Traveller fans are rabid?

A while back some of us were commenting that Traveller fans are 
uncommonly concerned with such things as internal consistency, 
plausability, etc. etc. (insert favorite flame war subject here).  

Last week, the Chicago Tribune carried an article based on the writer's 
experience at a recent "I Love Lucy" convention.  Among the things that 
went on there were panel discussions, q/a sessions with one of the 
writers, etc.  One of the questions brought up was: "It was well-established 
that the Mertz's didn't allow pets in their apartment building.  Yet Little 
Ricky had a dog.  How do you reconcile this?"  The answer (from the 
script writer): "We forgot about the no-pets rule."  :)

The fans have the episodes memorized by episode #, there are tons of 
inconcistincies that bother them, etc. etc.  Sound familiar? :)

I guess any group of enthusiasts, if they're as dedicated as we are, will 
end up having the same sorts of questions (and, inevitably, arguments) 
that we do.

So, we're not alone. :)


- -Joe
______________________________________________________________________________
Joseph E. Walsh      |  Atari 8-Bit User and Programmer Since 1982
ransom@iconnect.net  |  Classic Traveller Referee Since 1983
Stuck in the '80s    |  Microsoft-Free and Loving It! :)



------------------------------

From: Derek Wildstar <wildstar@qrc.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Jul 96 23:20:24 -0400
Subject: Re: Nuclear Airplane (Td V96 #294)

shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson) wrote:
> Picture a reactor built around a ceramic lined air channel and designed
> to operate at *very* high temperatures. It heats the air hot enough to
> make it work like a ramjet.

At least one version of this went under the name "Project Pluton".  It was
reported not long ago (at most a couple or three years) by Air&Space
Smithsonian magazine.  The ramjet engine was intended for a sophisticated
cruise missile application: the missile was to be an unmanned bomber, and
deliver multiple atomic bombs to different targets.

A prototype engine was built and statically tested.  The ceramic engine core
was made by A. Coors & Co of Colorado (at that time, the company was a major
manufacturer of ceramic vessels for the brewing industry).  Even though the
engine operated at a few degrees shy of the ceramic core's failure temperature,
the thing aparrently worked.

The project was finally ended when nobody could figure out a way of
flight-testing the engine, or even a place where it could be tested safely.


wildstar@qrc.com
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     "I write because I am personally amused by what I do, and
                      if other people are amused by it, then it's fine.  If
                      they're not, then that's also fine."     --- Frank Zappa


------------------------------

End of Traveller-digest V1996 #295
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