Traveller-digest      Thursday, August 12 1999      Volume 1999 : Number 952



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: Games of Berkeley
Re: Do the doggies even bother with clothes?
Re: Do the doggies even bother with clothes?
Re: Oops... Off Topic...
Re: Oops... Off Topic...
Re: AAFES (was: Re: PRB)
Re: Milieu 0 & stuff
Re: Natural Disasters
Re: Traveller-digest V1999 #935
Re: AAFES (was: Re: PRB) 
Re: Explain to me how radios work
Re: Explain to me how radios work
Re: MT Tusk Variants
Re: AAFES (was: Re: PRB) 
Re: Natural Disasters
Re: MT Task Variants
Re: Traveller-digest V1999 #946
Re: Oops... Off Topic...
Re: Atmospheres #3 : Carbon compounds, allergens, pathogens, &c.
Re: What's the News on T5?
Re: Lagrange points
Re: Vilani  Stature, human origins
Re: AAFES (was: Re: PRB)

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 11:25:37 -0700
From: Keith Johnson <kejohnson@2xtreme.net>
Subject: Re: Games of Berkeley

At 01:02 AM 8/10/99 -0400, you wrote:
>
>Berzerley has three good things going for it:
>
>Games of Berkely

Ugh.  Don't walk, but run away from Games of Berkeley.

Get a car, bus or taxi to take you to Ian's Games in Vallejo.  Ian's has
the best game store in N. California that I have been able to find.
Regular 15-20% discount off of _everything_, huge RPG stock, very friendly
and knowledgeable owner, nothing is shrinkwrapped (#$@)%(*#@$% Gamescape!)
and has quite a bit of out of print material.  He also has an weekly email
reminder letting you know what new products have arrived.  The _only_
drawback is that he is only open a few days a week.  Call and find out the
hours.  You won't regret it.

Ian's Games
301 Georgia St. #A12
Vallejo, CA 94590
(707) 552-7127
IHenrich@ix.netcom.com


BTW, if you know of a better store around the Bay Area, PLEASE tell me.

_____________________________________________________________
Rev. Keith Johnson      /\     keith@sjgames.com
Assistant Webmaster    /()\    kejohnson@2xtreme.net
Steve Jackson Games   /____\   reverendkeith@hotmail.com
             http://www.sjgames.com/
  IMTU tm+ t4+@ tg++$ ru-- ge-@ st+ pi+ he+ dr+ hi-@ zh+
"I don't practice what I preach, because I'm not the kind
of person I'm preaching to." - J.R. "Bob" Dobbs in Newsweek
_____________________________________________________________ 

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 11:37:03 -0700
From: "Benyamene' ZeAbe' Akella" <xrp@sierratel.com>
Subject: Re: Do the doggies even bother with clothes?

> Canonically they do, and they tend to lean towards dramatic,
> brightly-colored items.  It's never made much sense to me that they
> would wear clothes in the temperatures they're used to.  Their fur
> should be enough insulation for comfort, and the fur itself gives lots
> of opportunities for decoration with bright objects or dyes.

That was my thought, beads & bones & bits o' ribbon. Other than armor, I
would imagine they would avoid excessive clothing. Anybody with body hair
knows that fabric friction can cause ingrown hairs, itchy skin, etc. I
always get this on the tops of my legs were the denim from my jeans chaffs.
It is annoying, and I can't imagine what more hair on my legs would do.
Yeesh!

Did the Ancients add cones to their optics? I thought they would be
color-blind. Or is the justification they wear bright colors that they can't
tell?

Did Marc have to make so many references to chew-toys and what-not in M0?
Very silly stuff in there.
BZA
////////////////////////////////////////
Akella 0609 C654474-6 S kk+ hi++ as+ va+ dr+ da+ so@ zh- vi+  A523
IMTU tc++ ?t4 ru@ 3i+(-) c+ jt au@ st- ls+ pi+ ta@ he+

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 11:55:00 -0700
From: Bruce Johnson <johnson@pharmacy.arizona.edu>
Subject: Re: Do the doggies even bother with clothes?

Benyamene' ZeAbe' Akella wrote:
> 
> Did the Ancients add cones to their optics? I thought they would be
> color-blind. Or is the justification they wear bright colors that they can't
> tell?

Actually, contrary to popular belief, canids are _not_ color-blind at
all. They have fewer cones, so their color perception is muted, hence
the generally brighter colors in the Vargr palette, but they defintiely
see and distinguish colors.

Human-chosen colors must be drab and almost monochromatic to a Vargr.

- -- 
Bruce Johnson
University of Arizona
College of Pharmacy
Information Technology Group

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 11:58:27 -0700
From: "Benyamene' ZeAbe' Akella" <xrp@sierratel.com>
Subject: Re: Oops... Off Topic...

> Wonderful.  I heard of a local teenager who called himself Sir <something or
> other>, derived from his AD&D game character, until his friends got sick of
> it (his title) and refused to play along.
>
Hmmm, my friends were more into my title than I was. I guess they liked the
archaism, yet didn't want to be billed as the nuts. So I got the job.  I
also tend to jump in and take responsibility for situations that this
culture might not think was my problem. Come to think of it, I forgot a
title: Prince of the Undeclared.

> I too know B&D, S&M (referred to in the scene as the catch-all "BDSM")
> "players," but very few of these people are RPG'ers.  Just the number of
> Goths using that title from gaming back-grounds got me curious... and yes, I
> also found many Goths into the BDSM scene in Brisbane, so perhaps there is a
> crossover?

Many crossovers. This is why it is silly for "spokespeople" to say they
speak for such & such group. Generalizations are just that. And you might be
surprised how many RPGers are into B, D, S, and/or M. Though they may not be
a large portion of the Travellers. I imagine AD&D, Paranoia, Storyteller,
etc. would be more in that area.

ObTrav: What "scenes" are in the 3I, SW, etc.? I suppose the Z. Cons. have
none of that, and the Aslan may find the idea quite alien.
BZA
////////////////////////////////////////
Akella 0609 C654474-6 S kk+ hi++ as+ va+ dr+ da+ so@ zh- vi+  A523
IMTU tc++ ?t4 ru@ 3i+(-) c+ jt au@ st- ls+ pi+ ta@ he+

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 12:00:30 -0700
From: "Benyamene' ZeAbe' Akella" <xrp@sierratel.com>
Subject: Re: Oops... Off Topic...

> BDSM is not just a modern fad, but something that has been going on for
> a while.

Like, centuries.
BZA
////////////////////////////////////////
Akella 0609 C654474-6 S kk+ hi++ as+ va+ dr+ da+ so@ zh- vi+  A523
IMTU tc++ ?t4 ru@ 3i+(-) c+ jt au@ st- ls+ pi+ ta@ he+

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 10:03:03 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: AAFES (was: Re: PRB)

In mail you write:

> On Wednesday, 11 August 1999 12:16, Black ICE [SMTP:wombat@premier.net]
> wrote:
>> 
>> During Operation JUST CAUSE, our site at Empire Range had a gut truck
>> coming by daily, starting on D+6.  AAFES food is better than MREs....
>
> Yeah, in the same way that ebola is better than the bubonic plague...

Hey! As a former "dependent" I resent these slurs. 

Of course, my experience was limited to the facilities at Fairchild AFB
in the 60s and early 70s. And this was as "dependents of retired
personnel". So we lived in Spokane, but visited the base to get stuff
cheap. 

The food in the cafeteria in the back of the exchange was pretty good.
We *really* kicked ourselves when, after watching a movie at the base
theater and commenting on "Darn, it's to late to hit the exchange for a
snack" someone piped up and told us there was a small 24 hr snack bar
down on the flight line.  It turned out to be pretty good. And we'd
been ignorant of its existence for years. <sigh>

OBTrav: visiting the port facilities to get a stuff that's either too
expensive or just plain nort available locally can have it's drawbacks
if it's a military facility. 

Things like getting caught in an unscheduled alert. Or wishing you had
hearing protection as they test the main engines of some of the "ready"
vehicles on the flight line. Which is only a mile or so from the BX &
Commissary. Trust me, if they are even "merely" as loud as B-52s a mile
is only enough distance to prevent *immediate* hearing damage. You sure
as hell can't talk until you get inside the well sound-proofed
buildings. 

And then there's the slight miscalculation of dropping in on a supply
run on payday. And watching as the "real" dependents (ie the ones for
active duty personnel) try to buy a month's worth of food all at once!

Screaming kids, one parent trying to push as many as *5* shopping
carts... lines at cash registers that civilians will *never* believe.

Then there's the plus side. Stuff like discovering that somebody in
supply wangled a trade with someone at another base and there's a
*huge* pile of <off world delicacy> *cheap*[1].



[1] the one I recall was around 1965 when apparently someone made a
deal with a base in Alaska and they flew down a cargo plane *full* of
frozen Alaskan king crab. And sold it for a price that had my mother
trying to figure out how much freezer space we could spare.

- -- 
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 11:16:12 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: Milieu 0 & stuff

In mail you write:

>     The first missions were quiet reconnaisance. The very first of these
> were to simply go to the existing borders and scan the nearest neighbors
> from a parsec away. These were partly training missions, but Cleon hoped to
> get useful information from them. His scout commander was less sanguine
> about that part. Before the first wave of scouts returned, Cleon was
> appalled to find learn his his intended program was in serious jeopardy
> because the mapping sensors on most scout craft were not adequate for even
> good detection of gas giants in neighboring systems.  Veteran scouts agreed
> that one of the hazards of the scout service was that scouts usually went
> to uncharted systems blind and ignorant of what was really there, but  this
> could not be helped, because to provide adequate sensors would triple the
> cost of a small scout, and larger ones were too expensive.  Cleon muttered
> something about being the Federation being millicredit savvy and megacredit
> stupid, and immediately ordered half a dozen of the older variety of
> extended scout retrofitted with upgraded sensors.

Not so minor detail. With space based telescopes, *amateur* astronomers
will be not only detecting gas giants, but likely plotting orbits of
even Earth sized worlds from 10-20 parsecs.

The only reason that stars a single parsec outside the "borders"
aren't mapped to the point of having most planetary sizes and orbits
plotted correctly will be if the astronomers in the 3-5 parsec radius
of them *inside( the borders were complete and total incompetents.

The proper thing for those scouts to be sent off to do is deploy
large, flimsy dish antennas (at least a hundred meters or more across)
to listen for evidence of civilization in the systems.. 

"Jumping blind" isn't going to happen anywhere *near* a star with space
based observatories. 

- -- 
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 11:32:11 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: Natural Disasters

In mail you write:

> Then there's the killer krill. Those things can strip a man to the bone in
> less than a fortnight!

Grab a copy of Scientific American (the one with OXYGEN on the cover).
Read the article about Pfisteria(sp?). 

*That* is one damn scary microrganism. Picture a strain that can invade
starship life support systems. 

- -- 
Leonard Erickson (aka Shadow)
 shadow@krypton.rain.com        <--preferred
leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com     <--last resort

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 15:33:20 EDT
From: AveNelso@aol.com
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1999 #935

In a message dated 8/12/99 9:50:12 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
cos90@powersurfr.com writes:

<< 
 (did I miss anything in that list?)
  >>
Well, didn't mention the econmics of drop tanks,

        Dave Nelson

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 15:48:54 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: AAFES (was: Re: PRB) 

> Would gut truck food be considered Normal or Meager rations?  While they
> seem to fall in the Meager category, I would think that they would have
> to be better than combat rations, or they wouldn't sell.  That leaves me
> as either defining them as Meager, with combat rations being equivalent
> to Emergency rations; or defining combat rations as Meager, and roach
> coach food being Normal rations.

IMNSFBHO, a roach coach would be considered to be banned by the Convention of 
Antares as a lethal weapon.  <grin>
 
> I'm leaning toward the first option.... :-P

Have you considered 'Deadly'?  You *DO* know why they call them 'gut grenades', don't you???

Keven

- -- 
tc++ tm+ tn t4- to ru++ ge+ 3i c+ jt au st- ls pi+ ta+ he+ so- vi zh sy
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Science-Fiction Adventure
                                                     In Reavers' Deep

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 17:43:07 +0100
From: Matt Clonfero <Matt-C@aetherem.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Explain to me how radios work

David J. Golden wrote:

>       In fact, that's the concept behind a "link budget" beloved of comm
>planners, especially satellite comm planners. Simply add together a
>bunch of factors representing transmitter signal power, antenna gain,
>space loss (range), atmosphere loss, receiver antenna gain, receiver
>noise, and receiver sensitivity. If the result is above the minimum
>S/N ... you're good to go.

Certainly, that's what we do in sonar. If you make all the terms in
decibels, then it becomes a simple sum to determine whether or not the
signal should get detected. Should work fine for RF. Better, in fact,
because the environment doesn't affect RF as much as sonar.


Aetherem Vincere
Matt
- -- 
Matt Clonfero: Matt-C@aetherem.demon.co.uk    | To err is human, To forgive
My employer and I have a deal - I don't speak | is not Air Force Policy.
for them, and they don't speak for me.        |   -- Anon, ETPS.

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 17:31:52 +0100
From: Matt Clonfero <Matt-C@aetherem.demon.co.uk>
Subject: Re: Explain to me how radios work

Michel Vaillancourt wrote:

>>Not always so - a receiver with a higher sensitivity may be better able
>>to reject noise or interference, and thus be able to give an acceptable
>>reception at a greater distance than a less sensitive receiver, given
>>the same transmitter.
>
>        Hi, Matt.
>        Yes, it is.  However, the request was for an explanation a 12-year
>old could get his head around.

I was hoping that the request wasn't literal. Maybe I should rephrase:
Given the same transmitter, some receivers will be able to pick up the
signal further away than others.

>>>So, a 10km range transmitter can be heard by any reciever on the
>>>same freq within 10km.  A 1000km range transmitter is heard by every
>>>reciever on the same freq within 1000km, regardless of the range of the
>>>recievers transmitter.
>>
>>This is an oversimplification.
>>
>
>        A monsterous one.  It fails to disucss about two years worth of
>technical and practical savvy, starting with antenna design and wave
>propagation, through to the effects of atmospherics and electronic warfare.
>However, the original poster requested the reply be kept simple.

The trouble is, the original poster was probably after correct
information. Given the `generic 10km' transmitter; I could probably
knock up a receiver able to pick up the signal from across the car park;
but with 0.0% chance of getting usable reception at 10km. Conversely,
the sneaky-beakies at Cheltenham will be able to build a receiver that
will sense the same signal at orbital ranges.

A better simple answer is: Matched receivers and transmitters achieve
the range listed in the rulebooks; a receiver you build out of simple
spares will not achieve that range; a highly sophisticated receiver will
exceed that range.

We won't even start on `on the same frequency'; which ignores modulation
types and coding.

>>Note: A 10km range portable radio will tend to be a line-of-sight
>>transmitter; unless the EW team is within line-of-sight they will not be
>>able to intercept the transmissions.
>
>        Incorrect on both points, based on current day technology.

Are you telling me that the cruddy little handset Tx/Rx units you can
buy are going to get a signal through a hill? We've already had one
poster with experience of the US Army's set (PRC-77, IIRC) which drops
out if you go into a fold in the ground.

>  Further,
>the most obvious piece of kit in the TL12+ EW inventory would be EW drones;

Why not COMINTSATs? Global coverage, if you spend enough.

>CG-lifted, chamelion skinned, with COMM-4 and SENSOR-4.   Sit and listen,
>pick up a signal, move a few times to triangulate, home in on transmitter,
>designate with a laser and call in an MRL strike.  Repeat.  Put a dozen of
>them out in the FEB and you'll have LOS on somebody's transmitter.  =)

In the meantime, the enemy COMSEC team with it's neutrino sensor and
maser commo hunts down and kills the drones...

Aetherem Vincere
Matt
- -- 
Matt Clonfero: Matt-C@aetherem.demon.co.uk    | To err is human, To forgive
My employer and I have a deal - I don't speak | is not Air Force Policy.
for them, and they don't speak for me.        |   -- Anon, ETPS.

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 22:00:22 +0200
From: VAG <volker@greimann.de>
Subject: Re: MT Tusk Variants

Well mammoths really have two different kinds of tusks, long ones and
short ones.
The long ones are...uhm..longer!

Oops wrong topic ;-)
Volker
- ---------------------------------------------------------------------
Volker A. Greimann --- http://www.greimann.de --- volker@greimann.de

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 13:05:39 -0700
From: "Kiri Aradia Morgan" <tiamat@tsoft.com>
Subject: Re: AAFES (was: Re: PRB) 

>> Would gut truck food be considered Normal or Meager rations?  While they
seem to fall in the Meager category, I would think that they would have to
be better than combat rations, or they wouldn't sell.  That leaves me as
either defining them as Meager, with combat rations being equivalent to
Emergency rations; or defining combat rations as Meager, and roach coach
food being Normal rations.
>
>IMNSFBHO, a roach coach would be considered to be banned by the Convention
of Antares as a lethal weapon.  <grin>
>
I agree.  Although, perversely, I am fond of the hotdogs some roach coaches
serve, they are in fact dangerous to health and sanity.  (Ouch, this
conversation is making me hungry.  I want something really disgusting and
overprocessed.  That is scary!)

>> I'm leaning toward the first option.... :-P
>Have you considered 'Deadly'?  You *DO* know why they call them 'gut
grenades', don't you???
>
If he doesn't have him eat a few and then go on a long trip to some
convention somewhere with four or five other people that have also eaten
them.

That will get the message across just fine.

Kiri

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 16:57:22 -0400
From: "Jory Earl" <j-man@iname.com>
Subject: Re: Natural Disasters

Leonard warns us :
- -----
Grab a copy of Scientific American (the one with OXYGEN on the cover).
Read the article about Pfisteria(sp?). 

*That* is one damn scary microrganism. Picture a strain that can invade
starship life support systems. 

- -------

I just read Popular Mechanics, and it had an article about that too.
___________________________________________________________
 J-Man
 ICQ# 2843475
 New Hampshire - U.S.A.
 Email : j-man@iname.com
 Home Page : http://www.geocities.com/~jman037/
___________________________________________________________

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 99 15:31:06 -0500
From: "Eris Reddoch" <eris@pcola.gulf.net>
Subject: Re: MT Task Variants

On 08/12/99 at 08:40 AM,  "Anthony Merlock" <amerlock@execpc.com> said:

>Have you taken a look at the Fuzion rule system?  It's a free
>"generic" game engine that combines the "best" of the Hero and the
>Interlock game engines.

Yep, sure have.  

Eris
- -- 
- -----------------------------------------------------------
"Eris Reddoch" <eris@pcola.gulf.net>    using MR/2 ICE #245
- -----------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 21:15:52 GMT
From: jzeitlin@cyburban.com (Jeff Zeitlin)
Subject: Re: Traveller-digest V1999 #946

On Wed, 11 Aug 1999 20:45:12 -0400 (EDT), "Kiri Aradia Morgan"
<tiamat@tsoft.com> wrote:

>>>> By the way, just what sort of swearing do your PC's and NPC's use IYTU?
>"What the Hierate" works.
>>>I've always been a fan of "smeg" myself.

>>And Kiri and I both occasionally have reason to "conjugate
>>'shen'", as it's put on another list...

>Yeah, that IS a good one.  I haven't used it in Traveller yet though a TU
>based on S~G would be highly amusing.

I've got some of the workup for a human minor race, but then I
made the "mistake" of asking for permission to finish it off and
share it - which was denied, more's the pity (but I _do_
understand why). So, while I haven't discarded my work, it's been
shelved indefinitely.

- --
Jeff Zeitlin
jzeitlin@cyburban.com

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 13:50:18 -0700
From: "Legate Legion" <legate@futureone.com>
Subject: Re: Oops... Off Topic...

From: Benyamene' ZeAbe' Akella <xrp@sierratel.com>
Subject: Re: Oops... Off Topic...


>> BDSM is not just a modern fad, but something that has been going on for
>> a while.
>
>Like, centuries.


    And, that is a very good thing.  *weg*

Legate Legion
ICQ # 8973001
legate@futureone.com
http://www.futureone.com/~legate/index.htm

"A man may fight for many things; his country, his principles, his friends,
the glistening tear on the cheek of a golden child. But personally, I'd
mudwrestle my own mother for a ton of cash, an amusing clock, and a stack of
French porn." - Edmund Blackadder

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 18:38:20 -0600
From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@pcisys.net>
Subject: Re: Atmospheres #3 : Carbon compounds, allergens, pathogens, &c.

At 04:11 PM 8/12/99 +1000, you wrote:
>Leonard Erickson wrote :-
>> When I was researching alternative respiratory pigments, I recall
that
>> there was *specific* mention of cyanide radicas *not* bonding to
>> hemerythin. 
>> 
>> So not only do we have a "taint", we have a *known* means of
making the
>> natives immune.
>
>Makes for an interesting bit of chrome, doesn't it?
>Sorry about the biological gearheadedness, folks.

	**NEVER** apologize for excellence! My only complaint about these
threads is you're not ALSO providing sufficient additional hours in
each day to fully digest, appreciate, and use them ...
- -- ------------------------------------------------------------ --
   Dave Golden                  http://www.pcisys.net/~goldendj 

   Fight Spam! Join CAUCE! == http://www.cauce.org/

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 18:41:38 -0400
From: Michael Peters <travelleri@home.com>
Subject: Re: What's the News on T5?

Ya know Ken, I tend to agree. Maybe it's because I went into low passage
between CT and TNE but I still "think"  in CT terms when trying to write
adventure. I've then converted them to the current system T4 and, most
recently GURPS. I've picked up some MT stuff lately (EBAY addict) and I
really like the task system (the one on the T4 ref screen isn't half bad
either) so I've been thinking that the original may be the way to go.
Update it, insert a GOOD task system, expand the char gen a bit and you
have everything needed for a darn good game!

Maybe Marc's realized he needn't re-do a good thing. With the reprint of
the Classic rules he's announced there may be a market created for NEW
CT products, like the Rogues in Space and other unpublished stuff that's
begining to turn up. Heck, it worked for Coca Cola.

Mike

Kenneth Bearden -- Walker Jane Productions wrote:
>
> Bottom line is:  I'd like to see the fantasitc universe that Traveller has be
> coupled with a mechanics system that is just as fantastic (and accepted as
> playable by veteran role players right out of the box).
> 
> As I look at the systems for my next campaign, I'm leaning towards Classic
> Trav...although the system is a bit outdated (naturally) without a task system.
> 
> I just want something easy, playable, and something that won't take a lot of
> time away from the game to Gamemaster.
> 
> Kenneth.

- -- 
Mike Peters
travelleri@home.com

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 18:52:18 -0600
From: "David J. Golden" <goldendj@pcisys.net>
Subject: Re: Lagrange points

At 10:42 AM 8/12/99 PST, you wrote:
>In mail you write:
>
>>         OK, it's not *cancel* out. You're right, there's only one
such
>> point, the (IIRC) L1 point. Rather, it's points of stability in an
>> orbit. Folks feel free to correct me where I stray (especially
with
>> the numbering). 
>
>As I recall, not even the "L1" point has the forces cancel. The
>"equipotential point" is not a Lagrange point.

	Absolutely right.

>Most discussions use Earth, Moon, and a satellite. 

	Since when have I ever done things the "canon" way?

>>         Stability: Note that only the L1, L4 and L5 points are
>> "stable"--that is, if an object in one of them is subject to a
>> disturbance that would cause it to move out of the point, there
would
>> be a tendency for them to drift back in.
>
>I thought L1 was also unstable?

	Could be, I was pontificating off the cuff and I'm not a
professional orbitmonger
- -- ------------------------------------------------------------ --
   Dave Golden                  http://www.pcisys.net/~goldendj 

   Fight Spam! Join CAUCE! == http://www.cauce.org/

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 18:52:42 -0500
From: Black ICE <wombat@premier.net>
Subject: Re: Vilani  Stature, human origins

Bruce Johnson wrote:
> 
> Alan Bradley wrote:
> >
> > > From: "Matthew Bond"
> > > H. neandertalensis is nowadays (unless everyone has changed their minds
> > > again in the last five years) classed as H. sapiens neanderthalensis, ie
> > a
> > > subspecies of archaic Hom. Sap. There is probably a little H.S.N (amongst
> > > others) in all of us.
> >
> > I saw "some random TV program" on this a few weeks ago.  It said that there
> > had been tests done on DNA recovered from Neanderthal remains, looking for
> > common genes.  Basically their results put neanderthals as more similar to
> > modern humans than gorillas and chimpanzees, but still different enough to
> > suggest they were another species.  I'm not claiming that this is the last
> > word on the matter, of course.

Well the Hitler ^h^h^h^h^h History Channel is showing a program about
our Neanderthal cousins tonight (12 Aug 99), at 8:00 and 12:00 PM EDST. 
Those who are interested in this topic may want to watch.

<<snip>>

- -- 
AuricTech Shipyards Journeyman Gearhead
"Gold-Plated [tm] solutions for copper-plated problems!" (r)
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/9776

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

Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 19:31:01 -0500
From: Black ICE <wombat@premier.net>
Subject: Re: AAFES (was: Re: PRB)

"Keven R. Pittsinger" wrote:
> 
> > Would gut truck food be considered Normal or Meager rations?  While they
> > seem to fall in the Meager category, I would think that they would have
> > to be better than combat rations, or they wouldn't sell.  That leaves me
> > as either defining them as Meager, with combat rations being equivalent
> > to Emergency rations; or defining combat rations as Meager, and roach
> > coach food being Normal rations.
> 
> IMNSFBHO, a roach coach would be considered to be banned by the Convention of
> Antares as a lethal weapon.  <grin>
> 
> > I'm leaning toward the first option.... :-P
> 
> Have you considered 'Deadly'?  You *DO* know why they call them 'gut grenades', don't you???

Hey, in 6 1/2 years at Ft. Bragg, I've eaten my share of gut truck
food.  It's _still_ better than MREs.  If I classify roach coach food as
Deadly, then I have to classify field rations as "Lethal within 20
meters", and, while that sums up the _attitude_ troops have toward MREs,
it is not technically (completely) accurate.

I think that, based on a re-reading of FF&S2, I'll go with combat
rations being Emergency quality, and AAFES gut truck food being Meager
rations.  (Any deficiencies in the entrees is offset by the sale of
pogey-bait.)

I have drill this weekend, but I'll be posting the AAFES starship and
"Running Chef" ship's launch early next week.  My premise for this
design is that an AAFES starship is designed to provide shoppette and
roach coach service for a division, leading to a requirement for 3
shoppette modular cutters, and 9 "Running Chefs", give or take a
couple.  As a quasi-military auxiliary ship, the AAFES starship is
lightly armed, but unarmored.

- -- 
AuricTech Shipyards Journeyman Gearhead
"Gold-Plated [tm] solutions for copper-plated problems!" (r)
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Shadowlands/9776

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

End of Traveller-digest V1999 #952
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