Isqua Istari

We’ve recently been introduced to the Kerbal Space Program. Turns out rocket science is right up our alley! We built and launched home made model rockets together as kids, and now we’re building and launching model rockets as adults.

In an effort to give back to the community (and since the official channels are down for maintenance) and show off, here’s our version of a probe (in v0.19.1) that can reach any location in the game. It can even land and take off from the smaller moons (Gilly, Minmus, Bop, and Pol).

I present, the AnyProbe Mk IIIB (more…)

I was in the clean room doing some tests. Everyone is in white gowns. The place feels like a science lab. My ears hum with the ubiquitous noise of the air handlers. The place tastes like plastic, and smells the same.

The tool I’m testing needs a new razor blade. I ask the foreman, and he points me to a drawer. Striding confidently over, blue fabric covered shoes scuffing on the white tile underfoot, I grasp the cold stainless steel handle. Everything in the clean room is cold. Cold and bright like a winter’s day. (more…)

Do you care about “gender roles”? You know, where “women do housework” and “men open jars” and that kind of thing. No, it doesn’t have to be that blatant, but is this something you give thought to?

Should men and women be socially indistinguishable except for individual competence? Should all individuals be expected to conform to certain stereotypes? Who makes these generalizations and why?

Gender roles intrigue me. Nearly every society has them, and there is significant overlap. Feminism, egalitarianism, and other modern forces for equality have done a great deal to bring traditional gender roles into question, and with good reason. Here’s an overview from wikipedia. However, even in the present age, there are concrete differences between the genders, and this should affect the way we think. (more…)

Dear KickStarter,
Creators are desperate to manage and receive feedback on their projects, both ongoing and speculative. Forums get swamped with garbage ideas. E-mail is overwhelming. The barriers to entry for “good ideas” are just too low.

I propose you add a new service, I’ll call it “PushStarter” but name it whatever you like. PushStarter is all about monetizing the process of pitching ideas. The mechanics are very similar to Kickstarter, and synergize well with your core competencies.

PushStarter has two core components, the “channel” and the “pitch”.

A “channel” is like an ongoing project. Content creators open channels and set a threshold for consideration ($1000 should be about right for small teams) as well as a kickback amount. When a pitch crosses that amount, the channel is responsible to respond to the pitch. They don’t have to do anything but respond.

Any user can create a new “pitch” and attach text, images, links, whatever they like. They then “pitch” it at any channel they choose. Other users can pledge money toward this idea (just like a kickstarter project). Once the pledges cross the channel’s threshhold, the idea is “pitched”, the channel gets the cash (minus your cut, and the kickback) and they are responsible to respond. The kickback goes to the “top” contributers to the idea (whatever criteria works well in your market testing). These are the people who “bid” the most for the idea to be heard. A clever person should be able to make money just by discerning good ideas and laying money on the line to support them.

When a pitch “succeeds” the channel just needs to consider and respond. As little as a simple “yes, no” answer, or as much as a video production explaining what they think. If the channel really likes the idea, they can convert it into a KickStarter project and raise the funds for implementation. If they don’t like it, a thoughtful discussion of the topic will encourage people to submit more ideas. Even if most of their answers are “No, we can’t do that”, but followed up with  ”here’s a thoughtful 5 minute video about why, and what we’re doing similar to that that we think you might like”, people will keep making suggestions.

If a channel is getting too many ideas to handle, they can raise the threshold for consideration. If they are getting too few ideas (or ideas of poor quality) they can raise the kickback.

In this way content creators can receive compensation for considering ideas and responding thoughtfully and encouragingly. The public can make their voice heard, and support ideas that they like. Creators won’t be hassled with a barage of half-baked ideas, and their fans won’t be drowned out by the masses. People who support good ideas are compensated as well.

And you can make a ton of cash.

This is a rework of a paper I wrote in Bible School (long before I had any first-hand experience with the topic). My wife asked me to re-write it, and the following is the result. I’ve treated the topic several times before as has my compatriot, but it bears repeating in a new form. Warning, lots of Bible quotes and antiquated ideas ahead.

The Bible does not have much to say about marriage. What little it does say assumes a cultural setting which may differ very much from your own. Nevertheless, even with the dearth of basis and diverging backgrounds we may glean much. But first a word on equality. (more…)

For this article I will assume that:

1. Evolution and natural selection are the greatest good.
2. Passing on your genes (and, perhaps, ideas) is the highest goal of life.
3. An individual’s sexual orientation is free from any actual or imagined causes, moral value, personal value, and ideologies, and rests solely on reason. (more…)

I’ve been playing around with phase diagrams, trying to figure out how exactly they work, what processes give rise to their properties, and what the boundaries look like. During this process I met with several frustrations, specifically the general lack of phase diagrams available to the public. There is some NIST software available on a demo basis, but the rest seems to be locked away behind proprietary licenses. In any case, Wikipedia proved marginally helpful and along with a few other resources I was able to get a general idea of the “normal” phases of materials.

But that only served to get me thinking… what are the limits? What’s off the edge of the maps? Super critical fluids, and exotic crystalline structures appear to be the answer… But how about even further? (more…)

To friends and family, enemies and strangers, all alike, one and all together,

From the Spooner family of Paul and Anna, together with our children Leahana, Charlette, and the One who has no name.

We welcome you to this, our Christmas letter. (more…)

Talking to the internet is like talking to an old guy with Alzheimer symptoms.  You have to know where you’re going, and say the same thing over and over. If you get bored of it, the old guy gets mad at you for being rude to him. If you give up, the internet will forget you existed at all. And then you die, and you’re forgotten anyway.

So, basically, what I’m saying to you, dear reader, is: If you want to know what I think, read through the archives.

No, there isn’t anything new in there. But you’re not going to find out the latest news on this blog anyhow. There are quite a few things I want to say again, but I’m not saying them twice. We’ve worked hard to keep this blog insightful and meaningful. If you’re looking for entertainment, perhaps best to look elsewhere.

Over at shamusyoung.com, someone left a comment that it would be cool to write a program in the form of a story.

This is both easier and more difficult than it sounds. (more…)