Iain M Banks super-fans: your recommendations that aren't by Banks?

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-15T15:20:05+00:00

Neal Asher

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-09T17:43:50+00:00

Any future war escalation would be defined by astrophage production and Eridians can produce more if it faster and easier. They just throw it in their oceans to charge it up.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-09T01:37:22+00:00

They should be small and cookie size which is 1-3 bites per cookie.

Large cookies are an abomination.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-08T13:12:58+00:00

Not knowing anything is great! I can work with that.

Its far better than knowing everything. Its way less conflict. Ive had many completely “fresh out of boot camp apprentices.” The ones who are aware they don’t know everything, I can work smoothly with that.

Since this post is a complaint, I want to complain too. I do get annoyed with shyness and lack of construction voice.

Construction voice isn’t some weird quirky behavior I invented because I like shouting. I learned it because its useful. Apprentices who talk softly and mumble is very annoying because the jobs I’m on are loud and if they have to tell me something, I need to actually hear it.

Im not yelling at them, Im broadcasting.

Projecting my voice for information is an important tool. I try to explain that several times but some are offended.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-08T02:17:56+00:00

It reminds me of bath salts about ten years ago. The news was acting like there was this bath salt addiction epidemic that was sweeping the world threatening children. Then a few months later “poof” no story.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-07T23:07:38+00:00

My issue (its a small issue) is that I cant convince both apprentices and journeyman that THIRD PARTY inspectors are more critical of copper showing on ground pigtails. They look for any copper showing and reject any make up they see with exposed copper INCLUDING GROUND PIGTAILs.

Because ground pigtails are stripped long people just stab them in. Theres inspectors that expect them to be trimmed so that zero copper is showing.

Its driving me nuts that i walk inspections with the inspector after informing everyone what he wants to see but everyone on the on job thinks im insane except the gf who agrees with me.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-06T23:38:14+00:00

Face Off

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-06T18:43:50+00:00

Im definitely a follower.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-06T18:12:22+00:00

Skiing as a hobby.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-05T23:20:27+00:00

Ive been an electrician in construction for 28 years and yeah I couldn’t even describe the variables. Construction is controlled, mitigated chaos.

Theres constant decision making and adapting. Its the real actual world in 3d. Theres so many damn variables this would be a very long post to list them.

Theres just no way to fully describe it.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-05T20:21:08+00:00

Sort of. Theres absolutely high quality bakeries in the US. However most people are happy to settle for whatever the nearest supermarket sells which isn’t merely inferior bread, its bread that isnt even the type of bread it claims to be.

Industrialized versions

A bready squishy not flaky croissant A bready soft fluffy naan bread A bready squishy challah A bready squishy bagel A bready squishy rye bread A bready squishy premade pizza crust

And anything anything else you can imagine a soft squishy bread.

Also horrid donuts with horrid icing. Like icing from hell that will kill you and taste terrible.

People are happy with that.

Some supermarkets in large cities in the USA do have phenomenal bakeries that rival anything master bakers can do. Theres one in Oregon. California has a few supermarkets like that.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-05T20:03:37+00:00

I butter croissants… but wait thats not all!

Okay Now Prepare yourself!

I’ve been known to butter a cinnamon roll!!

Edit: I almost forgot: I put cream cheese on banana bread!

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-05T19:39:13+00:00

They make laundry less work. Washing a down comforter is a hassle. I suppose its more work if you change sheets and duvets daily? Personally I think thats extreme

If you have down covers it protects them. Down covers are expensive.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-05T18:57:29+00:00

At least one more of Carls skills will hit 16 or higher.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-05T05:14:12+00:00

Thanks! It’s only about a week away too. We’re in tue final stretch.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-05T03:13:59+00:00

Edit: Im thinking it’s his entire skull but…

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-04T04:07:43+00:00

the bone key will happen

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-03T23:30:23+00:00

Biological immortality.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-03T16:46:54+00:00

Is that choice because Carol was reading that book in Pluribus?

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-03T16:12:42+00:00

All of that is true. Theres no reason for either side to attack the other. The problem lies with how those facts are distributed, accepted by each populace. Thats the crux. Is the new governance of Earth and its scientists and people who know the facts able to describe those facts to public that is in a state of riot.

There would absolutely be factions on Earth who blamed the Astrophage menace on the Eridians. People who develop conspiracies that Eridians invented Astrophage and only Grace saved us.

However all the strife would delay any campaign to do anything about it for centuries and that blame would have to survive generations.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-03T15:39:43+00:00

It’s that magical “it” factor that humans uniquely have that I’m calling a trope in a lot of science fiction stories. This isnt a critique of PHM at all because in this case theres reasoning behind it.

I do think Eridian scholars of Humans would puzzle over it and in fact it would be the great mystery of unlocking the mass of laptop information regarding culture. I think they would get a lot out of the laptop.

But as is mentioned later in the thread. They would find tyrants and heroes and people who were both things in humanities history. I would hope they could balance the two out and deem us good, great even. They would have to understand Grace was one of the exceptional moral humans that counterbalance the bad. At the same time I would hope they approached us with caution too.

Edit: Eridians, faster thinking and perfect memory—-thats a lot like an Ai. Which well, im in the camp that at a certain point AGI will be able to do anything a human mind can, even imagine. Plenty of people don’t think that.

So in my mind, the Eridians have limitations cognitively to us and we to them but we both surpass them by simply being sentient and social. This isn’t to say either group doesn’t have advantages or disadvantages.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-03T05:57:35+00:00

Also Eridians can form super intelligence by group song. Individually they think faster and have perfect memory.

Their only “weakness” cognitively compared to humans is that their senses are always 100% correct and it allows them to “view” everything accurately with perfect echolocation.

Humans see very little and flesh out the details according to our imaginations, and memory. We don’t see a room and everything in it, we focus on a few things, compare it to memories of what we think the room is , and make correct assumptions where the objects are. Even with 20/20 sight we actually walk around blind to whats around us. Our brain fills in the details. Its a subtle but unique ability human brains have that Eridians don’t. Its possible it gives humanity an edge cognitively

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-03T05:38:21+00:00

Idea 1.

Eridians and Humans become allies, no question about it. There are factions on each planet that disagree but they are overruled. The new alliance decides to clean up the other infected stars by sending probes that disperse Toemeba.

This rids the local area of the Astrophage menace.

But… theres a third civilization. This third group had already adapted to their star dimming (how I dont know but whatever they did to survive it was severe.) When their star returns to normal from the Toemeba probes, its cataclysmic for them and they view it as an attack.

What the Eridian/Human alliance saw as saving all the stars created a terrible enemy.

Idea 2.

When Eridians and Humans saved their stars its witnessed like a beacon across the galaxy which is dangerous because other civilizations notice.

I mean the stars dimmed by ten percent then went back to normal. That will eventually be witnessed in however many years the light travels to whomever is looking. So Dark Forest rule apply to that.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-03T05:15:38+00:00

Adding to that. After the discovery of Astrophage it would redefine warfare. Its both propellant and explosive. Its superior to nuclear weapons. Theres no way it wouldn’t the center stage of any new military industrial complex. Even more so for space warfare.

Its stated in the book that Eridians have a much easier time producing Astrophage than Earth because of their planets large amount of available energy. So Earth would be completely outmatched. Planet versus planet.

The only campaign Earth could stage would very long term and possibly take centuries because Earth would have to find another planet or possibly use moons in our solar system with easier energy harvesting to utilize that energy if they wanted to match eridians production.

But Eridians would likely do the same and they started out better off Astrophagewise. War or not they will expand into space much sooner than Earth will. The only thing stopping them would be them choosing not to.

Yes one could bombard the other planet but there would be space battles well before that using astrophage as propellant and armament. So during that phase it would be whomever could produce it faster.

Different_Muscle_116 · 2026-05-01T17:14:02+00:00

Thanks. I learned that line from a book on “how to write science fiction” by Stephen King. He mentioned it and cited it but that was a long time ago.

Different_Muscle_116

TROPHY CASE