None of these general thoughts should come as a surprise. Survival on Earth has almost always implied stepping down from whatever level of technology has failed to a level that still works. It’s one of the most fundamental principles, and a reason that the line between “survivalism” and interest in various forms of primitive technology is so blurred.
Survival – PC Kills- on the water too
It seems that the same insane “PC” mindset that has decided, against all and ongoing evidence, that the best way to deal with terrorists and pirates is to render all of their potential victims as helpless as possible has invaded into life at sea. I’m very, very sorry to hear it.
Hackaday on Stirling Engines
It’s really not that difficult to understand the working principle of a Stirling engine, it’s mostly just counter-intuitive that there’s enough energy there for it to really work… similar in that respect to the fire piston, or the Rüdiger roll. As described, they all seem barely plausible, you have to see it to really believe it.
MGTOW – National Geographic’s series Mars is the usual 21st-Century cliche, women in charge, disposable men.
At the end of the series the two women who were previously rivals for power have reconciled, and a harmonious caste of women have quietly taken over all important tasks. The woman in charge makes an exception to her own rules so that she and the other two core women can heroically don spacesuits, drive across the martian landscape in a rover and personally discover life on Mars, thus saving the colony and the mission, with no involvement of men at all.
Knives in Space… 1
I don’t mind going into more detail about any or all of this, at least what I know and can find out about the subject, in fact I’d rather enjoy it, but my personal interest is even more about the future, and especially the key question of how useful and necessary knives are likely to be for those leaving the planet in the decades and generations to come… or not.
Mars is in the Air
Honestly, how could you NOT love an honest-to-god spaceship with a hatch latching mechanism from a junked minivan? This not only captures the best spirit of the Maker movement, but also Victor Korman’s excellent and prescient book Kings of the High Frontier, and, for that matter, Tom Swift, Tom Swift Jr., and a whole slew of we-can-do-it “juvenile” science fiction from ages past, from what seems in retrospect like an alien, long-vanished culture. I loved it all.
The Martian – Survival Stories Transcend the Campfire, and the Planet
The movie “The Martian” starring Matt Damon is a success. That’s encouraging, but the book it’s based on is MUCH better. It’s a classic “shipwrecked” survival story, but the protagonist is on Mars. Still… can a fictional survival story set