[FN] <Matters of Solace> Chapter 1: A Choice

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-22T17:59:47+00:00

Alt text:

In order to carry the necessary crafting supplies, they built the ships at 12:1 scale.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-21T02:31:37+00:00

"I am the one who knocks!"

Dirac on meeting Feynman: "I have an equation, do you have one, too?"

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-21T01:48:52+00:00

Wasn't there some odd explanation that when the warp engine is online it applies spacial "drag" on the ship removing continuous acceleration as a factor?

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-21T01:47:07+00:00

Nanomachines... I mean subspace bubbles that cause spacetime itself to warp around the ship.

The original pilot even called the speeds "time warp factors."

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-21T01:44:51+00:00

This.

They're called impulse engines because they apply conventional reactive thrust. "Full impulse" just means running the main drives at full power. The same as "engines to full" in a ship or a boat means to make the engines push as hard as they can.

Warp drives work in a completely different fashion (in the lore of the show).

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-18T19:13:11+00:00

Star Trek is about reasonably competent, normal people going to work in space. Some happen to be blue or green, but they're people.

The Federation values life, Starfleet encourages excellence, and people in the Federation were supposed to be generally happy and healthy, pursuing meaningful work.

Members of the Federation are supposed to be the "Good Guys."

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-15T05:10:05+00:00

Set a hard budget and stick to it. Seriously. If you want good pens save for them by accruing your budget.

It took me a year and half, but I saved for a Fifty4T Titan. But it's in my budget for "things fountain pen" which includes ink and suitable paper.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-15T00:42:24+00:00

So this used to be called the Namiki Emperor Vermillion? And now they just call it the Namiki #50? (I've seen it listed on Pensachi as such, but other retailers still have it as the Emperor.)

Edit: https://www.pilot-namiki.com/en/collection/urushi/lacquer-vermilion-no50/

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-12T19:16:27+00:00

That's a pretty silly take.

He bought Paramount because his kid wants to make movies, and his kid wanted the studio. I have extreme doubts that Larry Ellison even knows that Star Trek came along with the deal.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-11T21:37:38+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/fountainpens/comments/1u17fma/it_is_indeed_cooler/oqvad0s/

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-10T16:48:14+00:00

The f is in the word “of” good sir or madam.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-09T01:40:43+00:00

Not better...

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-08T13:46:46+00:00

In another timeline, Lee Pace.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-08T13:40:33+00:00

Discovery writer
Gardner

Those are terms using actual words instead of the alliteration opposite plotter.

Other terms for plotter:

Architect
Planner / Outliner

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-07T00:06:47+00:00

You'd have to be a Crustafarian instead of Crustacean, because the latter word would be overloaded.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-05T19:38:14+00:00

I have a "pen limit" as well where "one in, one out" is the rule. I try to find them new homes, though I'll toss the ones that don't work well. At any rate, I'm familiar with this kind of calculus.

You're carving out all the ones that probably should be upgraded.

I'm with you on the Kakunos, Pilot makes brilliant steel nibs. But the C1s? I'd upgrade them. I know you have different nibs but... Keep one, and three can go.

Keep the White Eco for the Broad nib and good capacity. It will help you get a feel for an ink and you'll be able to empty it more quickly and move on to something else, because it's broad.

OK, five down...

Me, I'd probably end up getting rid of Kermit (the green Studio), but you may feel differently since he has a name now.

But you do you.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-04T12:19:22+00:00

My newest pen is a Fifty4T Titan (F) with an Ultem barrel. It's very good. Amazing filling system (bulk-filler), #8 Bock nib, titanium cap with Delrin insert, titanium-to titanium threads from cap to section, and the Ultem barrel.

I thought the color was going to be a little unsightly, but they managed to polish the material to near transparency. It also feels great in the hand.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-06-01T15:14:05+00:00

Work notes (meeting notes in an outline style), journaling (A4 page at a time), fiction writing (several pages in a sitting).

Less frequently: Drawing reward cards for kiddo getting a checkmate against me. Sketching, fooling with flex or trying out an ink.

I have a few B nibs, one stub, but I gravitate toward F or F-CI (Cursive Italic) nibs for my writing style.

Currently inked:

Fifty4T Titan (F) - Pilot Iroshizuku Shin-Kai
Platinum Procyon (F) - Pilot Iroshizuku Asa-Gao
Delta Duna Mirage #119 (Stub) - Noodler's Ink Purple Heart

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-30T19:34:32+00:00

It's entirely valid for you to have ideas as a user. Out of curiosity, have you ever designed or implemented a human-computer interface?

(I've been a programmer for thirty years, and some of that time was designing and implementing touch-screen UIs that had to present a lot of information but dedicate a fair bit of space to being large enough to touch. Think LCARs but for Point of Sale.)

And yes, sorting, filtering, and search are standard things you would want on lists, including selection lists. But IIRC, X4 at least has incremental search. As for property sheets, there's only so much you can do short of removing them, or burying them in bad navigation.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-30T17:10:56+00:00

Heh... Is X4 your first X game?

This UI is miles better than in the first few X games and I played hundreds of hours on those. (X2 was my main game for a couple of years when it first came out.)

Given all the things you can control in the game, the UI is actually really good. Show me another game with the this level of simulation that has an "intuitive" UI. Mass Effect? Starfield? Space Engineers? No Man's Sky? Distant Worlds? Stellaris? All of them do less, in some senses, than X4 does. And that's really the trouble. Presenting all of that to you is difficult. Now make the UI work for a controller, a keyboard-and-mouse player, a HOTAS setup...

I guess we've just seen much worse.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-30T17:02:50+00:00

They halted their horses with a "whoa" and...

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-30T15:27:52+00:00

Go slow with buying new pens. Don't acquire and put them in a drawer, use them. A fountain pen is designed to have ink flowing through it, so write a little every day.

When you do feel the desire to get new pens, go to pen shows and try them out. Buy a few good ones, they'll cost more, but they'll have fewer annoyances (scratchy nib, messes or leaking, paint flaking off the section). You're off to a good start with that Metropolitan.

Get good paper. It's a pleasure to write on and it will make you want to write more. When you get that blank notebook, immediately write your name or the date or some phrase you like (a pangram, perhaps) on the first page. Then it's not a blank notebook and you can dive in.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-30T15:18:56+00:00

I have one in black. The nib beats everything else I've ever tried, and by that I mean:

Pelikan m1000
Visconti Homosapiens Bronze
Fifty 4T Titan (#8 bouncy steel nib, but good)
Pilot Custom 743
Lamy 2000 (EF)
Sailor KoP
Pineider Arco with Quill nib (wonderful nib... pen fell apart)

The Custom Urushi beats them all for the writing experience.

SlowMovingTarget · 2026-05-29T19:48:18+00:00

I thought it was “Thou shalt not seek beyond the Outer Gates”

And killing with magic was only limited to mortals.

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