
Traveller-digest      Friday, October 22 1999      Volume 1999 : Number 1244



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

The following topics are covered in this digest:

Re: "new" critter [OT] 
Re: Re : cloning mammoths
Re: Type B/C atmospheres
Re: Drive destruct sequencing
Re: Fnord, et al.... 
Re: Space Opera?
Re: WTF- "vingean singularity" (was Re: Re Traveller and the modern era)
RE: Canon, background, etc
Official Request: Palm Traveller
RE: TML Members as resources
Re: Another new 2D Graphic...
Re: Army missions...
RE: TML Members as resources
Re: Macro Ships; was Re: Ship building....
re: Supporting our game
re: Type B/C atmospheres
Re: Official Request: Palm Traveller
re: TML Members as Resources
Tech Level as Singularity

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 03:47:50 -0700
From: "Kelly St.Clair" <kellys@efn.org>
Subject: Re: "new" critter [OT] 

On Thu, 21 Oct 1999 21:43:02 -0500, Black ICE <wombat@premier.net> wrote:

>> Nah, It'll just taste like chicken. ;)
>
>Reminds me of the joke about the Cajun whose son didn't want to try the
>chicken at a restaurant.  The father replied, "Don' worry, che', tastes
>just like gator."

Dunno if this NEW-YORKER-style cartoon actually exists, or if I've just
vividly imagined it:

Two nearly-naked spear-carrying Bushmen are eyeing a chicken that has
somehow made its way onto the veldt.  One assures the other, "Trust me,
I've had these before.  Taste just like antelope."


- --------------
Kelly St.Clair   "The Jigglypuff's trilling seems to have a 
kellys@efn.org    tranquilizing effect on the human nervous system.
                  Fortunately, I am... immune..."
                            -- Mr. Spock, THE TROUBLE WITH POKEMON

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 02:31:38 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: Re : cloning mammoths

In mail you write:

> The telomere theory of aging has been largely discredited - it was the
> 'magic bullet of aging' for the 1990's. Other factors are at play.

I'd heard just the opposite. With the clincher being Dolly the sheep
and her fellow clones all showing advanced aging shortly after
maturity. 

> Ahh, if the problem was that easy to solve....

Well, knowing that the problem is at least *partly* loss of the
teleomeres from the DNA strands is helpful. But figuring out how to
*restore* them is quite a different matter. Especially since doing it
wrong is guaranteed to cause cancer.

I *am* reminded of the regen technique invented by E.E.Smith in "Gray
Lensman". It'd regen everything, right down to replacing missing adult
teeth. But the replaced soft tissues were appropriately "old" (ie
wrinkled skin, gray hair, etc). Teleomeres give a "sufficient" reason
for that. 

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

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 02:54:01 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: Type B/C atmospheres

In mail you write:

> Please Help(!) Bureaucrat needs help from TML scientists:
>
> In a nutshell:  What typical kinds of atmospheric composition would make
> Type B corrisive atmpospheres different from Type C insidious
> atmospheres?

The main difference I'd give things is that Type B is corrosive. That
is, it *degrades* (corrodes, dissolves, rusts) things exposed to it. 

Type C doesn't (and IMO *shouldn't) corrode things. But it, or at least
some troublesome component is *really* hard to keep out of suits,
vehicles and habitats. 

For example, helium is very insidious. It's a single atome "molecule",
and is darn small. It'll seep thru "airtight" seals. Even ones that
will hold air against vacuum. 

Luckily, helium doesn't do much worse than make your voice squeaky.
Right? 

Well, it depends on your technology. If you've got tube based tech, and
a moderately high partial pressure of helium in the atmosphere, the
helium will leak into the tubes and ruin them. Even *now* this is a
problem in deepsea habitats. You see, most displays are still big
vacuum tubes. :-)

Hydrogen is almost as bad. In fact, under some conditions, hydrogen is
*worse*. That's because there are a number of metals that hydrogen will
seep through! The metals can store H inside their molecular structure,
and thus give a sheet of such a metal with H on one side and no H on
the other, the H will seep into the metal, and slowly diffuse into it.
And as soon as it's diffused to the far side, it'll start seeping *out*
of the metal. 

This can be hazardous two ways. First, the H is a fire hazard in an
oxygen atmosphere. Though it'll take a while to build up to hazardous
levels. But a bigger danger is that once the metal has absorbed a not
that large amount of H, it will become *brittle*!

Titanium has lots of nasty problems if it absorbs H. It can be almost
as brittle as *glass*. Titanium metal that has been shaped in certain
ways (mostly "cold", ductile forming) will tend to try to revert to
it's unformed state. 

It's an extreme case. But *most* metals get brittle with enough
absorbed H.

Planets with lots of Helium or Hydrogen in the atmosphere will be rare.
And, as you can see, they *deserve* the "insidious" rating.

Carbon monoxide can seep thru metal also, but it's harder. Apparently
is passes thru red hot iron *readily*. No need to point out what
happens if CO gets into the ship or suit. 

For purely "inorganic" insidious hazards, it takes *very* simple
molecules. I can't think of any others at the moment. 

But things like fine dusts can also be insidious. For example, a planet
with a lot of fine dust in the air, where the dust either contains
beryllium (a very toxic light element) or some heavy metals (lead,
arsenic, gold, etc) is just as dangerous. Especially since these metals
tend to stay in the body unless special treatments are used to remove
them. And in the case of beryllium, I don't *know* of any means of
getting it out of the body. 

There's an Asimov short story dealing with a world with a high
beryllium content. An expidition is trying to figure out why a colony
attempt long ago had failed (in Traveller terms, it'd been colonized
before the Long Night, and failed when the colonist died of mysterious
maladies). One of the members of the expedition finally connects a
geological report with an old book he'd read (he's got an eidetic
memory, but isn't very smart).

The (quite reasonable) logic is that while beryllium is *useful* for a
lot of things, it's so toxic that there's a lot of pressure to find
substitutes that *don't* use beryllium. So, over the centuries, the
warnings about its toxicity have gotten lost. This *could* happen even
in the Traveller universe. 

Another nasty chemical type "insidious" agent is mercury vapor. Get
much of that in the air and you'd better pray you've got *good*
filters. 

Then we get into things like airborne viruses and prions. Stuff that's
only a few hundred or thousand atoms, but if it gets into a living
organism, it can trick the organism into replicating it, and the cost
of interfering with normal functions or even damaging the organism.

Virii and prions are *hard* to deal with because unlike bacteria, they
aren't "alive" in the common sense. With bacteria, you can simply
supply simple chemicals as food and the right sort of air, heat and
humidity, and the bacteria will reproduce. 

With virii and prions, you have to provide lots and lots of
*compatible*, but easily infected cells. And somehow keep all these
cells alive while making it easy for the viruii or prions to reproduce.

And even then, the only way you can be sure you've managed to culture
them is to see if an extract from the culture will infect people (or if
you are lucky, a lab animal that is also susceptible to the disease). 

It's unlikely to be practical, even at high Traveller tech levels to
seperate and examine every different type of molecule in the air sample
or the culture. So it'll take a *long* time to get a pure sample of the
agent. 

> Type atmospheres both contain stuff like methane, ammonia, hydrogen,
> etc. So I'm trying to understand how those chemicals would react one way
> to cause B Type atmospheres and a different way to cause C Type
> atmospheres. This got stuck in my head while I was fleshing out some
> details on Frond/Sp March 0810 E9C3300-9 Lo nIn Fl  103Cs  F8V. I had a
> copy of the Nyotekundu Sourcebook from 2300 and I thought (please
> correct me if I'm wrong) that the planet Inferno seemed to be a good
> example of a Type C atmosphere. So I try to check what it said about
> Inferno's atmosphere against the Traveller standard atmosphere types.
> Somewhere (again probably tne or gt) it says that both B/C atmospheres
> have these kinds of chemicals. So, what would make them require
> protective suits in type B and what would make those same chemicals
> cause protective suits to fail in type C?

See all my stuff above. Corrosive stuff "eats" at things. Insidious
either leaks thru stuff that other things *can't* leak thru, or in the
case of biologicals, it's able to reproduce, so that just *one* virus,
prion, or bacterium getting past your precautions can result in
sickness or an epidemic.

With bio hazards, the problem is that because of the "it only takes
one" problem, and an individual organism being so small, the
precautions required to prevent stuff from getting where it isn't
wanted get pretty involved. Read up on biohazard lab rules. 

But lets take at least a first cut at it. The planet has an "insidious"
rating because in spite of normal precautions, the first ship to land
had the entire crew wiped out by what is thought to be an unknown
disease. 

Basicly, someone went out in a sealed suit, *something* got on it, or
floated into the airlock, and survived the normal "disinfectant" shower
(read that as something not *quite* corrosive enough to damage the suit
or airlock). And then managed to get from the inner lock area (where
the suit was hung) into the living areas. And then discovered that the
crew made adequate "culture media" for reproduction.

Until IDed, and possibly long after if a treatment isn't come up with,
you'll have to take some really extraordinary precautions when dealing
with that planet.

Oh yeah, it occurs to me that planets that are sufficiently
radioactive as to require protective gear would also be a likely to be
lumped under "insidious". 

Hopefully, I've gotten your imagination sparking away now. :-)

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

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 02:23:32 PST
From: shadow@krypton.rain.com (Leonard Erickson)
Subject: Re: Drive destruct sequencing

In mail you write:

>> Hm.  That's not very much; it probably won't even destroy the entire
>> ship (15 kilograms of high explosive per cubic meter just isn't
>> enough....) 

15 kg is a *big* satchel charge. They take out *bunkers* with those
things. 

The hull might be intact but warped. But anything inside would be well
homogenized. 

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

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 07:16:24 -0400
From: "Keven R. Pittsinger" <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
Subject: Re: Fnord, et al.... 

> In mail you write:
> 
> >> Matthew Bond wrote:
> >> > 
> >> > -----Original Message-----
> >> > From: Keven R. Pittsinger <jamstar@accesstoledo.com>
> >> > To: traveller@lists.imagiconline.com <traveller@lists.imagiconline.com>
> >> > Date: 21 October 1999 07:42
> >> > Subject: Re: Traveller Auction Update
> >> > 
> >> > >> > > "Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn fnord."
> >> > >> >
> >> > >> > Careful.  I just seen the fnord.
> >> > >>
> >> > >> Wait until you start pining for 'em.
> >> > >
> >> > >That's pining for the *fyord*, not pining for the fnord.
> >> > 
> >> > Its "Fjord", fnord <g>
> >> 
> >> Narf!  Zort!  Poit!  Troz!  (sorry, couldn't resist)
> >
> > Pinkie, I think I am going to have to hurt you now...
> >
> > (Anybody *else* miss that show??)
> 
> "We've called you in to investigation strange occurences in the vicinity
> of Acme Labs. We can't seem to find a correlation between any of the
> lab personnel and the occurences though. That's why we brought you
> in... "
> 
> Meanwhile....
> 
> "Yes, Pinky. All we have to do is locate the lost Imperial Warrant and
>  then we can conquer the world!"

"Gee, Brain, will that explain why we found Abe Vigoda's pants?  Narf!"

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: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 07:42:05 -0400
From: "Jory Earl" <j-man@iname.com>
Subject: Re: Space Opera?

>Is that the one where they flat-out swiped clips of the "Vipers"
>from Battlestar Galactica?

No.  the ships/models used were even worse.


___________________________________________________________
 J-Man
 ICQ# 2843475
 New Hampshire - U.S.A.
 Email : j-man@iname.com
 Home Page : http://www.geocities.com/~jman037/
___________________________________________________________

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 07:44:43 -0400
From: "Jory Earl" <j-man@iname.com>
Subject: Re: WTF- "vingean singularity" (was Re: Re Traveller and the modern era)

>Vinge has written several books where he speculates at a post
>singularity society, "The Peace War" was serialized in Analog back
>in the early 80's, and expanded in a novel and a sequel.  The thing
>is, Vinge's protagonists are all pre-sigularity individuals that
>find some way to transistion past it, *they* are understandable.


His book, "Accross Realtime" is where I read of his 'singularity'.

___________________________________________________________
 J-Man
 ICQ# 2843475
 New Hampshire - U.S.A.
 Email : j-man@iname.com
 Home Page : http://www.geocities.com/~jman037/
___________________________________________________________

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 12:33:03 +0100
From: "Trevor, Peter" <Peter.Trevor@rb.cwplc.com>
Subject: RE: Canon, background, etc

Otter Driver wrote:
> I'm wondering if there's some readily (i.e. very cheaply)
> accessible source from which I can garner at least the basics
> of the CT campaign background -- Imperial political figures,
> history, etc.  The CT stuff is what I'm most interested in, as
> I stopped playing long before MT, and TNE doesn't sound like my
> cuppa.

One of my favorite CT sources was the Spinward Marches  Campaign.
Basically, you get the Spinward  Marches  sector  (if  you  don't
already have a copy), details of the Fifth  Frontier  War  (which
fleets  are  where  at  what   times,   some   key   events   and
personalities, etc ... a  great  backdrop  for  a  campaign),  an
Imperial Batron detailed, an adventure, and more.  Back  this  up
with Traveller News Service stories of the  time  (which  can  be
found on the net), and four LBB supplements:  Library  Data  A-M,
Library Data N-Z, Traders and Gunboats, and Fighting Ships.

On a larger budget you could also  get  the  Fifth  Frontier  War
boardgame and mine that for info but its not necessary.



Regards PLST
"Rome wasn't burned in a day."

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 07:51:19 -0400
From: "Scott Spieker" <scspieker@ncweb.com>
Subject: Official Request: Palm Traveller

Hi,
    I have been working on a few items for my PALM III and was very pleased
with the results.  Now I would like to start working on a few apps or a
suite for traveller on the palm.


    What would others on the TML here find useful on such a device? (i.e.
what type of apps are others looking for?)

    I have started off this endeavor by applying a sector translator
(basically a sector reader that breaks down the UWP into human readable
format with a small amount of descriptive text.  The next step in this
process is to allow for small amounts of world building as well as notes and
general history for the system (for GM's to keep track of important info as
different systems are visited.)

    I appreciate any ideas that may happen to come my way.  However with the
limited amount of time that I have to actually work on this side project I
cannot guarantee that all needs will be attended too.

Please keep this discussion on-list so that others may be enlightened by the
advents of others.

Thanks,
Scott Spieker

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 13:04:42 +0100
From: "Trevor, Peter" <Peter.Trevor@rb.cwplc.com>
Subject: RE: TML Members as resources

Juliean Galak wrote:
> Juliean Galak - Computer 4, Rifle 1, Pistol 1, Fencing(?) 1, Law 1

Okay.  Here goes:

Peter Trevor - Computer 4
               Admin (Merchant Banking) 2
               Electronics 1
               Pistol 1
               Ground Vehicle (Wheeled) 0

Regards PLST
"Rome wasn't burned in a day."

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 09:14:58 -0300
From: Michel Vaillancourt <misha@empire.atlantic-online.ns.ca>
Subject: Re: Another new 2D Graphic...

At 09:29 PM 10/21/1999 -0700, you wrote:
>Just added a new one to my "Traveller Art" page at:
>
>    http://www.ssgfx.com/traveller/art
>
>entitled "Low Pass Over Inferno."  I'm still plodding along with just
>Bryce 4 and Photoshop, but sometime this year (I hope), I'll join
>Jesse and Andy in the ranks of Lightwave users! :^)
>
>        - Mark C.

        Tres nice, Mark!
        I'm just getting started with 3dMax...  Trying not to be a junkie...
not succeding.  =)

        --Michel
	-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-
	Michel R. Vaillancourt	misha@atlantic-online.ns.ca
				ICQ # 31172292
	-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-
	    NET-City Communications....
	         Providing "Solutions for the Common Company"
	-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-
	***REMEMBER - Always virus-check your emails ***
	-+=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=+-

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 21:44:08 +1000
From: "Alan Bradley" <alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au>
Subject: Re: Army missions...

Right, this is my absolute last post on this thread.

From me:
> Oh, and one last thought - my father was a 'Nasho' (National Serviceman).

> This must have been before 1961, and would probably have been late 50s. 
> This was _before_ the main US involvement in Vietnam.  Weird.  I'll have
to
> check the dates.  It's got no relevance to Traveller, though.

I asked my dad!  There was "National Service" in Australia from about 1952
to 1960, but it was compulsory membership in the Reserves (CMF). 
Basically, it was three months full time, 6 if you were in the Navy or Air
Force, followed by a couple of years in the Reserves.  Or something like
that - I may have garbled the details.  I suppose it gives you a certain
number of partly trained people, so it's not *quite* entirely useless.

"Real" conscription was introduced after the old Nasho was eliminated, but
not too long after - a year or two, I gather.  This, of course, was to
provide troops for Vietnam.

OBTRAV:  Hell, I dunno.  I said this was going to be my last post on the
thread, didn't I?  Umm, ways to keep an Army going on the cheap.  Reasons
why some worlds need to hire Mercs occasionally, in the absence of a decent
sized pool of properly trained and equipped people.

Alan Bradley
alanb@elf.brisnet.org.au

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 14:27:02 +0200 (MET DST)
From: Tommy Grav <tommy.grav@astro.uio.no>
Subject: RE: TML Members as resources

On Fri, 22 Oct 1999, Trevor, Peter wrote:

>Peter Trevor - Computer 4
>               Admin (Merchant Banking) 2
>               Electronics 1
>               Pistol 1
>               Ground Vehicle (Wheeled) 0
>

I'll throw in mine
	      - Science (Math) 2
              - Science (Physics) 2
	      - Astrogation 2 :-)
	      - Computer 2
	      - Ground Vehicle (Wheeled) 1
	      

Tommy Grav
- -------------------------------------------------------------
tommy.grav@astro.uio.no     http://www.uio.no/~tommygr/  
Institute of Astrophysics, UiO, No  
IMTU tn++t4+tg+ ru+ge++ !3i jt+au+st+ls hi++dr-so++zh-sy-sw++ 
 

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 07:06:28 -0700
From: "Dave Strebe" <strebe@intergate.bc.ca>
Subject: Re: Macro Ships; was Re: Ship building....

Do you have any pictures you could post or make available on-line?
Do you still have the model?

Dave
- -----Original Message-----
From: Sean Bayan Schoonmaker <schoon@aimnet.com>
To: gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU <gzg-l@CSUA.Berkeley.EDU>
Cc: JDoch226@aol.com <JDoch226@aol.com>
Date: Friday, October 22, 1999 6:55 AM
Subject: Macro Ships; was Re: Ship building....


>><<I did a Zhodani Patrol Cruiser for Traveller in 25mm (2 decks, about 4
feet
>>long). Not just the decks; the whole ship, exterior and all. It came out
>>very nice.>>
>>
>>Can you give us any details on how you did this?  Materials, size, how was
it
>>to play on?
>
>Sure. I used 1/4 inch styrene from a local plastics shop for structural
>ribs, similar to the construction of a balsa and tissue airplane. The lower
>deck (which was smaller) and 2/3rds of the upper deck were permanently
>mounted to this frame. The portion of the upper deck that lay over the
>lower deck was removable.
>
>Internal bulkheads were done with the same 1/4 inch stock, and then
>detailed. I think I used ForgeWorld (I can't exactly remember if the
>company is right or not) resins for the "furntiture," etc.
>
>The skin was thin sheet styrene over the ribs with some external detailing
>where appropriate. Areas over the decks were not "skinned," only sides and
>bottom, so it looked like a "cutaway" drawing from above.
>
>It was a bear to transport at approximately 4 by 2 feet, but it was
>incredible to play on. There's nothing quite like the visual impact of a
>real nice bit of scenery - as those who have been to major Cons can attest.
>
>IFF (sic) there is sufficient interest after FMA comes out, I might be
>pursuaded to build something from FT, but a frigate or destroyer would top
>out the feasible "scale."
>
>
>Schoon
>
>
>

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 10:07:57 -0400
From: Walter Smith <SmithW@HARTWICK.EDU>
Subject: re: Supporting our game

Kelly St. Clair wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
On a somewhat related note to the problem you found, a MURPHY'S RULES
column in Pyramid Magazine pointed out that a Castle Falkenstein character
with good enough science skills can finish creating the simpler chemical
formulations weeks before he starts...
>>>>>>>>>>
Actually, considering the nature of the genre, I don't see that as much
of a problem.

"We need some Sodium Niterase? I whipped some of that up last week
for a little project of mine. I think I still have a vial of it on me somewhere..."

<G>

However, for the record, "Murphy's Rules" RULES!!!  :-)

Walt Smith

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 10:28:00 -0400
From: Walter Smith <SmithW@HARTWICK.EDU>
Subject: re: Type B/C atmospheres

Leonard Erickson wrote:
>>>>>>>>>
Oh yeah, it occurs to me that planets that are sufficiently
radioactive as to require protective gear would also be a likely to be
lumped under "insidious". 
>>>>>>>>>
Since "insidious" is defined in the rules as defeating protective suits
in a relatively short period of time, would a sufficiently high-temperature
planet qualify as an insidious atmosphere?

A vacc suit's temperature regulation gear must have some limit to
how long it can stand up to a furnace atmosphere, especially if there's
no "dark side" to dump heat into. Specialized buildings, vehicles and
even some suits may fare better, of course.

Walt Smith

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 15:35:42 +0100
From: Timothy.Collinson@solent.ac.uk
Subject: Re: Official Request: Palm Traveller

>    I have been working on a few items for my PALM III and was very
pleased
>with the results.  Now I would like to start working on a few apps or a
>suite for traveller on the palm.


>    What would others on the TML here find useful on such a device? (i.e.
>what type of apps are others looking for?)

>    I have started off this endeavor by applying a sector translator
>(basically a sector reader that breaks down the UWP into human readable
>format with a small amount of descriptive text.  The next step in this
>process is to allow for small amounts of world building as well as notes
and
>general history for the system (for GM's to keep track of important info
as
>different systems are visited.)

>    I appreciate any ideas that may happen to come my way.  However with
the
>limited amount of time that I have to actually work on this side project I
>cannot guarantee that all needs will be attended too.

>Please keep this discussion on-list so that others may be enlightened by
the
>advents of others.


Just a thought inspired by another thread and someone's recent comment
about a list of MT tasks: how about a task library which would even resolve
the task for you on demand?  Ideally, it would let you add your own tasks
too.

In the meantime, I've been thinking about going through the MT books to
collect all the tasks given.  But before I reinvent the wheel has anyone
done this and would like to share the work?

tc

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 10:43:39 -0400
From: Walter Smith <SmithW@HARTWICK.EDU>
Subject: re: TML Members as Resources

OK, I'll have a go...

Computer-3, Admin-1, Swimming-2, Brawling-1, Wheeled Vehicle-1,
Science (Biology)-1, Medic-1, Instruction-1, Survival-0, Carbine-0,
Bow-0.

I'm a computer system manager, currently running Windows NT servers 
and PC-based computer labs for a liberal arts college. I worked my way up 
to the position from a long list of computer jobs ranging from selling them to 
running a help desk to doing field support. In the process, I've had to 
organize quite a few projects with at least small groups of people in them. 
the Brawling skill comes from a year of karate training, the Instruction skill 
from a year as a substitute high-school teacher, a year of university-level 
science teacher training courses, and running countless computer skills 
seminars over the years. The Biology comes from college courses (it 
probably used to be higher, but I left the field before really getting into it). 
The Swimming and Medic skills are leftover from my experience with the 
Boy Scouts of America, as are my familiarities with Survival, Carbine and 
Bow.

If you add my couple decades of gaming experience, maybe you could
work in some familiarity with Tactics skill...<G>

Walt Smith

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

Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1999 11:23:50 -0500
From: "Robert Eaglestone" <eaglesto@nortelnetworks.com>
Subject: Tech Level as Singularity

Traveller's Tech Levels are probably meant to parallel
a revolution (new term=singularity) in aspects of civilization,
wouldn't you think so?

TLs parallel stuff we think of as being revolutionary, including:

agriculture - prehistorical
writing - the edge of history, by definition
the person as an individual - around 2000 BC (Avram or Abram)
paper
democracy - Pericles? 400 BC?  Earlier?
the phalanx?
the stirrup
gunpowder?
the printing press
anaesthetics
the telegraph
powered flight
radar
radio
vaccines
the Bomb?
the satellite
the personal computer (the GUI and the mouse)
the 'Net
contragrav
Jump Drive
low berths
the Megacorporation
truly massive starships
slow drug, fast drug, combat drug
personal energy weapons
the black globe

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

End of Traveller-digest V1999 #1244
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