Post AUO2ZAyOwcOuSqBoqu by clankgy1@infosec.exchange
(DIR) More posts by clankgy1@infosec.exchange
(DIR) Post #AUE04oUQLe56yc4QvA by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-04-02T00:32:17Z
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From my "be prepared" personal notebook: If through a temporal incursion accident you find yourself trapped in a civilization of the distant past and you want to impress leaders with your skill (perhaps to become the royal military tech expert with all the perks), show the local king or emperor how to build a trebuchet. No special materials required that wouldn't typically be available locally.Which type depends on when you're stranded. The original traction trebuchet operated by manual power and was developed around 4 B.C. So if you're earlier than that this is simple and effective.After around then and prior to the 12th century A.D. you can show them how to build the much more effective counterweight trebuchet (or hell, show them that one prior to 4 B.C. also). It won't be independently invented until the 12th or so. Of course, any of these actions runs a significant risk of blowing the timeline to smithereens up the line, but if you're trapped back when and need to impress the locals, who cares?
(DIR) Post #AUE0KF6PgWVXrHCGrQ by neurovagrant@masto.deoan.org
2023-04-02T00:34:34Z
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@lauren vaguely reminded of the story of the Spanish building a trebuchet at Tenochtitlan that fired only one shot, straight up, that came down and destroyed the trebuchet.
(DIR) Post #AUE0UVmaWU8yUFovtg by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-04-02T00:36:56Z
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@neurovagrant The idea is not to build the Wile E. Coyote version.
(DIR) Post #AUE2vneQOf2tdE8rRY by LeslieVS1965@mas.to
2023-04-02T01:03:52Z
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@lauren Is it doom-scrolling discuss this now?Current read 'Sapien'
(DIR) Post #AUE7zZybgCPq9NCfnE by druskisa@c.im
2023-04-02T02:00:50Z
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@lauren yes,who cares, because you may no longer exist to go back in time.its the classic paradox.
(DIR) Post #AUE8PBJ21iinAHxtSa by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-04-02T02:05:36Z
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@druskisa The big problem with that paradox model is how quickly (or not) changes percolate up the line. In other words, a fast flow upward could cause you to vanish as soon as you arrived, since your very arrival predetermined that you'd do something that would blow your own existence later. Actually one of the best time travel novels I know that considers this stuff in some depth is "Up the Line" ('69) by Robert Silverberg. Time travel, sex, and paradoxes galore. You can't go wrong.
(DIR) Post #AUEEAJ7bHlxymmuPiq by SocialistStan@kolektiva.social
2023-04-02T03:10:07Z
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@lauren Saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur
(DIR) Post #AUELpYE6jJl7BXZA8G by dfrancis@mstdn.social
2023-04-02T04:35:58Z
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@lauren Yes, but it's only a trebuchet if it comes from the Trebuchet region of Fr...wait, I think I already used this joke here....
(DIR) Post #AUFOxwu7MCmH3gs84O by smartwatermelon@worldkey.io
2023-04-02T04:53:56Z
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@SocialistStan @lauren
(DIR) Post #AUFOxyA6gFA4xZMPdA by SocialistStan@kolektiva.social
2023-04-02T04:56:50Z
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@smartwatermelon @lauren Perhaps I should start by making a primitive lathe
(DIR) Post #AUFOxyiUcOfQgDRsEC by smartwatermelon@worldkey.io
2023-04-02T05:37:13Z
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@SocialistStan @lauren how's your stash of stone knives and bearskins?
(DIR) Post #AUFOyHIxVYX2KWeFZA by lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org
2023-04-02T16:45:28Z
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@smartwatermelon @SocialistStan I'm a technologist not a doctor, dammit!
(DIR) Post #AUO2ZAyOwcOuSqBoqu by clankgy1@infosec.exchange
2023-04-06T20:47:08Z
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Mr drivers license recently was up for renewal, and most of the time, they allow mail-in renewals. Not this time for me. So I went to the Santa Ana DMV in early March, and waited for ~3 hours in various lines only to fail my vision test.When I went to the optometrist to have my vision checked and recorded, I had 20/40 in both eyes, no wey near bad enough to fail the DMV's vision requirements.I went back to the DMV today to ask the next step in the process, had my vision rechecked, and was tested at 20/30.I can't adequately express how much of a relief it was to have the DMV clerk hand me my temporary renewed DL with zero restrictions.