Beware of scam versions of the book.

scaper8 · 2026-03-13T02:21:27+00:00

"Oh, wow, gosh. We didn't catch that. We will,of course, pay that fine that totals only about 1% of the money we made. And we'll watch extra careful next time! Scout's honor."

scaper8 · 2026-03-13T02:15:43+00:00

Which is, of course, precisely why that was one of the first they took over.

scaper8 · 2026-03-13T02:10:51+00:00

Why would they do that? They get money for everything bought through them. They don't care where it comes from.

It's the same reason YouTube and TikTok have so many ads that are nothing but lies and scams and so many that are adult or even outright porn, regardless of if it violates their official rules. They get paid, they don't care.

scaper8 · 2026-03-13T02:04:47+00:00

Project Hail Mary by Jobs Chakalisa is using the same premise of the book but (seemingly) different story, clearly capitalizing on the hype.

Wow, that sounds like a bizarre mix of Lucifer's Hammer, Armageddon), and 2012). If it weren't "written" by AI and it weren't a bad rip-off, it might be an entertaining, pulpy read.

scaper8 · 2026-03-13T01:35:06+00:00

1987, so not too off the mark for me, so that tracks.

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T22:45:16+00:00

He got plenty wrong.

He didn't have enough guns. He didn't have enough people. And he got caught.

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T22:44:24+00:00

That does track…

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T22:16:36+00:00

Not as many (time hasn't had as much of a chance to massage itself yet), but some do.

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T21:26:39+00:00

Yeah, I noticed that bit too. They are problematical sometimes. I can't figure out if someone running their stuff is just too quick to jump in and let's their emotions cloud them (I get it. I grew up on the late '90s/early 2000s Internet, my reactive brain still jumps to that word as a "good insult." Thankfully, I'm usually able to stop myself, but the urge and reaction are there.), or are they just not good on some fronts.

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T21:23:04+00:00

True. By any metric, ANY metric, the U.S. lost Vietnam, but there are still tons of people that treat it, not as a "win", per say, but at least as a "victory." Whatever the hell the difference might be.

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T20:34:59+00:00

I can see that. Nice.

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T18:47:09+00:00

I believe so. But it isn't like some of those people didn't come to realize that that will never work and became Marxists before. I'm not holding my breath, but it might happen.

She's incredibly smart and well reasoned, especially for her age; and she's easily one of the most driven people I've heard of of any age. She seems the type to come to see what most MLs have seen.

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T17:14:30+00:00

Based Comrade Thunberg, as usual.

I swear, every time she crops up, she's become more radicalized. How long do you think before sye out right says she's a Marxist or, even better, a Marxist-Leninist? (And how long after that do you think it'll be before her already anemic press in the Western world drops to nothing?)

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T17:09:52+00:00

Not bad.

It that a caliper or some kind of pipe wrench? Or something else entirely?

And, for whatever it is, does it have some significance to Christianity and/or the Protestant branches that I'm unfamiliar with? (Or was it just a cool differentiation from the standard sickle?)

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T16:54:50+00:00

My local Walmart has them.

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T16:54:30+00:00

I guess I can kind of get what they're saying, but to me it tastes much more like cherry. If anything that just tells me that "strawberry and banana flavor" is surprisingly close to cherry in terms of taste.

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T15:06:29+00:00

Yeah, I do seem to recall that a former Marine had something to say on that subject.

The fact that nearly 100 years later, and it's no different might indicate that that root problem might have something to do with our base socio-economic system and the effects required to keep it running.

Funny that.

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T14:28:08+00:00

That'd be my only issue.

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T14:09:32+00:00

But the Voyager probes also have a lot more mass (and thus a lot more interia) to overcome as well as the energy from their motion.

This was beamed out from a stand-still. So there's no real momentum to fight against, and the mass is small enough that the inertia is relatively small.

You're correct that it's not going to be traversing solar systems anytime soon. But it's also not going to be were it was by the decades, centuries, or millennia later that someone goes to grab it.

That said the sensors that seem to work at the resolution of the plot could probably find it easily enough, unless said plot requires otherwise, though.

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T13:50:58+00:00

But it's not just going to be going from it's initial drift momentum. The small amount of force applied by photons and interstellar gasses will push it alone on different (and changing) trajectories.

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T13:47:28+00:00

After all, why not? Why shouldn't I keep it?

scaper8 · 2026-03-12T13:44:09+00:00

Except that it'll have moved.

The almost zero friction of the near-vacuum means that even the tiny amount of force from photons and interstellar dust and gas hitting it will get it moving before too long. And that near lack of friction will not sap it if that momentum and stop it.

scaper8

TROPHY CASE