Oasis

One might accuse me of contradicting last week’s screed by trying to distract from the appalling events in Europe currently underway.

No. Be aware of it. But take a break. Here’s a guy talking about rockets and space and stuff in an entertaining way, with toys surrounding him.

Right. Be kind to each other, folks. Kindness is the substance the world cries out for most.

Today’s pen: Moonman M2
Today’s ink: Diamine Writer’s Blood

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Gravitar Writ Large

When I was a kid, the “Space Race” was just winding down. I was thus pretty thoroughly steeped in a kid’s notions of what it would take to be an astronaut– the Rotor, the Zipper, and the Tilt-A-Whirl were all, in my mind at the time, the same as the training centrifuge that almost killed James Bond when he was Roger Moore.

Which means that this development seems to me to close a circle metaphorically as well as being an enclosed circle.

On a side note, while I’m not a huge fan of a lot of recent neologisms, “yeet” amuses me deeply.

Today’s pen: Faber-Castell e-motion
Today’s ink: Herbin Éclat de Saphir

An Impediment to Worldbuilding

While I haven’t been doing as much of it as I would like, I still call myself a writer. And as a member of that self-torturing happy breed, I spend a lot of time weaving whole new worlds out of the cobwebs and bits of moss that lurk in my head. One of the tricks to worldbuilding is coming up with something which doesn’t knock someone’s disbelief off the hook, because then it will get all fractious and start asking uncomfortable questions.

With that in mind, here’s an interesting explanation of why you can’t have suns of a particular colour if you’re writing a world with extant physics:

I’ll freely admit this was not a thing I had known until this week. So, there’s me learning new things and (hopefully) staving off dementia for another few days.

Today’s pen: Waterman 52
Today’s ink: Diamine Evergreen

It’s Not Going to Clean Itself

I am a big fan of the sort-of-dull exploratory science fiction films from the very dawn of the space age, like Destination Moon (which is not the same at the Tintin adventure of the same name, but the storylines are remarkably similar). Just about my favourite, though, is Conquest of Space. That one was somewhat based upon the Chesley Bonestell images in a book of the same name written by Willy Ley, a German rocket enthusiast who got out of Germany before the war and thus had less practical experience and fewer potential war crimes.

…ANYWAY…

The plot of Conquest of Space was an mildly utopian and extremely mechanistic description of an expedition to Mars. It’s great. And today’s film pokes some of the same buttons.

I suppose naming the ship Bradbury would be a little too on the nose. I think I might have gone with Burroughs, for a laugh.

Today’s pen: TWSBI Diamond 580 ALR
Today’s ink: TWSBI Royal Purple

A Brisk Walk

There’s been a fair amount of noise recently about stacking starships (which sounds like a deeply unwise version of Jenga). While I’m not a specific proponent of SpaceX, not a Musk-ovite at all, I do like the idea of the current future including (semi)realistic plans for space-faring.

This sort of thing, after all, is what I grew up with as “what to expect from the future!”

I can’t decide if it would be a good idea or not to wave this under the noses of those pushing space currently. The existence of the Segway suggests we might be able to work out more intuitive controls… but the “make mistakes and break stuff” mode of at least one of the parties makes me fear for potential test-pilots.

Today’s pen: Eversharp Skyline
Today’s ink: Monteverde Malibu Blue (which I chose because I happened upon something written on a date I was previously using this ink, but it’s nothing like as vibrant– either I was using something else then, I didn’t clean out the Skyline well last time, or I can still be surprised by how much effect the pen can have on the look of the ink)

To The Stars!

Right, so, the US didn’t collapse into civil war over the past couple of weeks, and looks like it probably won’t (fingers crossed). That’s a treat, eh?

With that corner (hopefully) turned, perhaps we can look forward to that brave sci-fi future I was pondering last week. And what’s more brave futuristic sci-fi… as imagined in the middle of last century… than a provocatively dangerous means of space exploration?

I’m trying to not harsh the mellow of this delightful plan by wondering how one would get all that edge-of-critical material into space in the first place. I guess we need to find a big ol’ pitchblende asteroid.

Today’s pen: Pelikan 120
Today’s ink: Monteverde Malibu Blue (oh look, something else I need to come up with a page for)

The Cold Depths of Space

Let me start with a still photo.  Outside my window at The Regular Job, right this moment:

Yep.  Three days after the vernal equinox.  That’s Canada for you, I guess (portions of south-west coast subject to exemption).

ANYWAY, let’s use that as a jumping off point.  Snow, wind… these are as nothing to the hostile depths of space, right?

Two final observations:

1. I am very affected by the end.  I blame a confluence of good acting and a very subtle trick of the writing;
2. Because I am a Canadian and used to harsh conditions, I was slightly distracted by the fact that he never put on his damn hat.

Today’s pen: Parker 51
Today’s ink: Skrip Black

Happy Birthday, Dear Spheroid

I’m a couple of days late on this, I know, but this week marks the sixtieth anniversary of the proof that “What goes up must come down” has a caveat which reads “…unless you can throw really, really hard.”

Today’s pen: Sheaffer Targa
Today’s ink: Pelikan Violet

Salve Atque Vale

Uh-oh.  Like the school film presentations this Friday feature of mine was inspired by, I’m veering perilously into undisguised educational material.  Well, too bad.  Today was the last day of the Cassini space probe, and as one who grew up watching things like the latter Apollo missions (which, damn it, were real) and Skylab I take a small interest in the probing of space.  Apart from the science expansions it offered, which I admit to comprehending imperfectly, the whole enterprise produced some really cool pictures.  Thus, we have a retrospective of a fallen robot’s valiant efforts.

Also, I rather like the fellow’s voice.

Today’s pen: Lamy Safari
Today’s ink: Iroshizuku Fuyu-Syogun

The Joy of Science

There is an argument to be made that today’s film has some educational content.

…but I don’t have the energy to construct one that will stand up.  Here, then, are two people having fun with science, but not at the expense of science:

Today’s pen: Parker Challenger
Today’s ink: Diamine Evergreen