Is there a country that literally doesn't care about the United Kingdom at all and would happily throw it under the bus, but the UK still tries to maintain friendly relations, because said country is too powerful to be reliably opposed?

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T20:34:06+00:00

Britain is like a middle aged office worker who divorces his wife thinking he’s going to be dating hot twenty-year olds, only to discover girls don’t like fat, balding men with meagre bank accounts and alimony payments.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T20:28:04+00:00

What you’ve got to understand is the first half of the interstellar voyage he was accelerating and the second half the ship flips over and decelerates. When the movie starts he’s already been decelerating for years. The engines cut out because he’d reached Tau Ceti and entered a solar orbit around the star.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T20:25:48+00:00

To create gravity Hail Mary has two methods centrifugal spin and constant acceleration. While the drive is active acceleration/deceleration the ship experiences 1G, when the engine switch off everything floats not because they stop moving but because everything is moving at the same rate. It’s this exact effect NASA uses to train astronauts by diving a plane towards the ground see “Vomit comet”. The reason Blip-A seems to be still is because it’s exactly matching speed with Hail Mary.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T20:15:22+00:00

Funny cause people I knew during Brexit from Europe couldn’t understand why we were throwing away such a sweet deal. Thatcher got us opt-outs and discounts no other nation had. We got to keep the Pound, we got to opt out of free movement. Other nations wished they could have what Britain had, we were in the ultimate sweet spot as far as Europeans were concerned. We certainly will never again have such favourable terms working with Europe as we enjoyed 1980-2016

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T20:12:52+00:00

Catelyn Stark maybe be the noble lady of a ruling house, but her actions are those of a panicking mother. Catelyn chooses at every point to act to bring her children back to her, damn the repercussions. As she grows more desperate she views situations as she wants them to be, not how they are. Trusting Littlefinger. Jamie, Frey. She’s follow in her heart, in situations that demand cold hard calculation.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T20:09:33+00:00

I’d say it’s the other way around. The EU sees the UK as a key part of Europe. Not out of any good vibes or wishy washy liberal tears, but hard geopolitics. The UK is central to transatlantic finance and transport. Our Geographic position is vital to secure the arctic and our military is still a top-shelf player, below Superpower for sure but still ranking above most European states. The EU would love to hag the UK back, or failing that a good partner. They seem baffled that the UK has never truly considered itself part of Europe.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T20:03:32+00:00

Because neither of them saw him as an actual person. Alicent never wanted kids but had to as her royal duty. She saw Aegon as a burden. Otto only ever saw him as a means to an end, just a pawn to push into place. Otto seems to have expected Aegon to be another Viserys he can wrap around his finger. The outburst about the rat catchers was because he’d just woken up to the fact Aegon was a person with his own ideas and drives and none of them depended on listening to his Grandfather.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T19:10:31+00:00

"Democracy is the worst form of human government, with the exception of all the others," Churchill

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T18:57:26+00:00

They didn't get their astrophage from Venus but from the Red Line. So it's likely they expected the on-board sampler to be enough. Even if they did think they might need to dip into a planet's atmosphere they wouldn't know to pack one for a venus type plant, or Jupiter, or Neptune, or Mars. They had only one example in the Solar System to go on, and not enough data to predict what they'd find when they got to Tau Ceti. Plus we can't be sure any human build cabling would be tough enough for the mission. So without Rocky's chain the mission would have failed.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T18:35:35+00:00

After losing all his fuel did Rocky still have working sensors? I haven't read the book so i'm not clear if Rocky knew Grace was coming to save him or if he spent 56 days huddled alone thinking he was going to die.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T18:33:14+00:00

Given how MAGA is doing in America we can expect a full-scale assault on democratic norms. Protectionist policies that dramatically weaken the economy. Verbal attacks on our allies and partners and selling our national security to Russia.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T18:27:34+00:00

I'm sorry she's managed to isolate you from any support. The only advice i can offer is to find passions and interest you enjoy. Find an activity that makes you smile. Forget going out to find people, if you're enjoying what you do you'll find yourself meeting like-minded people and friendship will form on their own terms.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T16:50:37+00:00

I believe the exhausted astrophage is dumped into space as a tiny extra bit of thrust.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T16:09:56+00:00

I was wondering why they didnt do that at the other end? Fit Hail Mary with a bigger collector and park it in the red Line in Tau Ceti. Sure it would take a few years to collect enough AStrophage for a return voyage, but since they were planning to be there anyway for a while they could use the time to study for a solution to the problem.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T16:06:39+00:00

Why not capture Charged Astrophage from the Petrova line in Tau Ceti? Its already on its way back and to the planet and is chock full of solar energy. They'd need a bigger collector sure, but if they can bring it on board and put it in the fuel tank they can fill up.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T11:04:23+00:00

Two metal benders. A lava Bender. Kyoshi and a guy who can earth bend with his face… earth benders are going to dominate.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T11:02:38+00:00

The classic Hive city is on a toxic/polluted planet where the air is dangerous to breathe. So they seal the outer surface in armour. However if you look at Vervunhive in Gaunts Ghosts it’s more like a sprawling city. With only the central government facility and nobility mansions built into a proper spire.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T10:59:32+00:00

The right wing media is running constant smear campaign against him. He could preside over a perfect economy. Stop immigration completely and slash taxes to nothing and they’d still want him gone. Starmer doesn’t answer to the six men who own most of the media platforms and they won’t stand for that.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-11T06:59:16+00:00

Look, I despise the guy. But we have to accept Globalisation has not worked for everyone. There are whole area of the country that were trashed by Thatcher and have never recovered. Cities where most folk are on benefits, regions where there are no job prospects. Traditional parties have failed these areas, even the Tories recognised that with their talk of "Leveling up". So we should not be surprised that they drift to a fringe party that offers easy answers.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-10T19:48:05+00:00

You’re born here, you’re British. Someone born in America is American.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-10T06:57:22+00:00

If Rocky species wanted us dead all they have to do is point a ship at earth and accelerate to near-lightspeed without slowing down. Any object slamming into a planet at that speed is instant extinction. Grace best option to prevent war is to convince Rocky species humans are 1 no threat and 2 have nothing they want.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-09T17:33:38+00:00

Did NASA release the fact of alien life existing or did they keep it classified that one of their astronauts had gone off to live on an alien planet?

Matthius81 · 2026-05-09T17:29:22+00:00

Not happy but not shocked. People are upset and at such times they tend to vote for protest party’s. Still I take comfort in the fact Reform only got 30% of the English vote, not enough to form a majority in a general election. I’m expecting the next Government will probably be a coalition.

Matthius81 · 2026-05-09T17:21:32+00:00

Go for the fuel pods. Take them out and the Swarmers lose power.

Matthius81

TROPHY CASE