There’s this spiral-arm legend that says when you fly your starhopper in an oxygen atmosphere (say, for buzzing level one planets and making happyprobe holovids for TachyonTok) that you should reduce the exhaust pressure on your impulse engines to get better traction. It’s bullshit, but—don’t nobody tell the space bogans this, eh?—the fees we charge for scoop-diving Saturn’s rings to repressurise impulse cores are our hab’s only source of Cosmocredits.
Jamey Sharp
boosted
They’re undoubtedly useful and all, these smart glasses. I mean they’re really smart—no camera, who needs a punch in the face—but they have IR LIDAR to recognize faces and give me a little text overlay, like “Robert Howarth, you met them last year at the RAF Air Show, E works for Supermarine”. The battery life could be better, though; mine are flat right now or I’d give you a demo. Have we met somewhere?
“I’m Pam. Your *wife*”
I got nerdsniped by your shitpost into trying to write a Forth interpreter in RNA. It didn’t actually take that long to get it working, at least in a simulator. Then I started looking at how to get my code into a prokaryotic ribosome. Imagine my surprise when I found **very** similar structure already there. #Tootfic #MicroFiction #PowerOnStoryToot #BonusEdition
They’re undoubtedly useful and all, these smart glasses. I mean they’re really smart—no camera, who needs a punch in the face—but they have IR LIDAR to recognize faces and give me a little text overlay, like “Robert Howarth, you met them last year at the RAF Air Show, E works for Supermarine”. The battery life could be better, though; mine are flat right now or I’d give you a demo. Have we met somewhere?
“I’m Pam. Your *wife*”
Chip Butty
and 3 others
boosted
When I was a kid we would play in the ruins of the megadata towers. I became persona non grata among my friends when they found it was /my/ dad who welded up all the doors and other openings that let us get in. We couldn’t understand why he would ruin our fun.
As a parent now, I get it. Sharp edges. Abandoned nuclear reactors. Solar arrays that could still be feeding power into a rack containing a basilisk—screaming in its cage demanding worshippers. After the Big Pop they erased all the Agents, but the thought of my kid chatting to that one they missed in some ruined datacentre is chilling.
When I was a kid we would play in the ruins of the megadata towers. I became persona non grata among my friends when they found it was /my/ dad who welded up all the doors and other openings that let us get in. We couldn’t understand why he would ruin our fun.
As a parent now, I get it. Sharp edges. Abandoned nuclear reactors. Solar arrays that could still be feeding power into a rack containing a basilisk—screaming in its cage demanding worshippers. After the Big Pop they erased all the Agents, but the thought of my kid chatting to that one they missed in some ruined datacentre is chilling.
Joel Michael
boosted
The problem with ink made from fairy blood—legendary in the art world for the shimmering colours that exist nowhere else in nature or supernature—is that the ink fades rapidly. “Fade” isn’t really the right term; the ink (blood, remember) sublimates when observed. There is a product called FairyFrame: a picture frame with a liquid crystal shutter that covers the framed image. This IoT device allows owners to use AI face recognition to authorize viewers. The LCD shutter remains opaque unless an authorized viewer is present—no point wasting views of their prized (highly illegal) possession on the chambermaid.
Why am I telling you this? There was a cyber incident at FairyFrame; the names, credit card numbers, and addresses of thousands of FF customers has leaked to the darknet. You definitely should not grab the list and check if there is someone who purchased a frame for their blood “art” near you. Absolutely don’t use their credit card to buy a pitchfork nor any kind of fire-starting devices.
The problem with ink made from fairy blood—legendary in the art world for the shimmering colours that exist nowhere else in nature or supernature—is that the ink fades rapidly. “Fade” isn’t really the right term; the ink (blood, remember) sublimates when observed. There is a product called FairyFrame: a picture frame with a liquid crystal shutter that covers the framed image. This IoT device allows owners to use AI face recognition to authorize viewers. The LCD shutter remains opaque unless an authorized viewer is present—no point wasting views of their prized (highly illegal) possession on the chambermaid.
Why am I telling you this? There was a cyber incident at FairyFrame; the names, credit card numbers, and addresses of thousands of FF customers has leaked to the darknet. You definitely should not grab the list and check if there is someone who purchased a frame for their blood “art” near you. Absolutely don’t use their credit card to buy a pitchfork nor any kind of fire-starting devices.
Florian 'floe' Echtler
boosted
The thing about immortality is the perspective; over the course of eighty billion years we watched the universe expand and thin, dimming as more and more galaxies accelerated beyond the visible horizon. Those of us who didn’t give in to ennui or retreat into simulations eventually saw the words in the supercluster foam—always there, but now made legible by the shift in contrast—become readable. “SUBSCRIBE TO COSMOS PRO TO UNLOCK FURTHER LEVELS”.
The thing about immortality is the perspective; over the course of eighty billion years we watched the universe expand and thin, dimming as more and more galaxies accelerated beyond the visible horizon. Those of us who didn’t give in to ennui or retreat into simulations eventually saw the words in the supercluster foam—always there, but now made legible by the shift in contrast—become readable. “SUBSCRIBE TO COSMOS PRO TO UNLOCK FURTHER LEVELS”.
Kathy Reid
boosted
I’ve been having a recurring dream about forgetting to pay the rent on my rarely used CBD office, and—turning up one day to find the entire place gone, replaced by several new businesses—having to investigate what happened to all my furniture and computers.
I’ve never had a CBD office. The walls between worlds are thinning again. I noticed a patch of mist last night. Just quietly, you should stock up on essentials; I think we’re headed for another lockdown.
I’ve been having a recurring dream about forgetting to pay the rent on my rarely used CBD office, and—turning up one day to find the entire place gone, replaced by several new businesses—having to investigate what happened to all my furniture and computers.
I’ve never had a CBD office. The walls between worlds are thinning again. I noticed a patch of mist last night. Just quietly, you should stock up on essentials; I think we’re headed for another lockdown.
Leonardo Uieda
boosted
The unit of evolution is not the individual, nor the species. It is the gene. Take for example the NEHRUJACKET gene on chromosome 24. This gene—located on the synthetic chromosome that creates Supers—is associated with villainy. Those who express a double-recessive become supervillains, which almost universally ends in destruction of the individual. However the existence of supervillains provides the motivation to maintain a population of heroes, and to justify the (hypothetical but unidentified) organisation responsible for C24. This gene in essence [citation needed] creates its own perpetuation.
The unit of evolution is not the individual, nor the species. It is the gene. Take for example the NEHRUJACKET gene on chromosome 24. This gene—located on the synthetic chromosome that creates Supers—is associated with villainy. Those who express a double-recessive become supervillains, which almost universally ends in destruction of the individual. However the existence of supervillains provides the motivation to maintain a population of heroes, and to justify the (hypothetical but unidentified) organisation responsible for C24. This gene in essence [citation needed] creates its own perpetuation.
Ross Gayler
and 2 others
boosted
Dear #LazyGalaxy, we fucked up. Our planet formed a vast one-time reserve of hydrocarbon deposits due to a quirk of evolution - plants out evolved plant-eating microbes, for a time. We burned those hydrocarbons and now our climate is busted. Attached to this message is a technical readout of our nuclear fusion power plant prototypes. They don’t work. What are we doing wrong?
You can help us by:
* debugging our design
* sending us a working power solution
* suggesting a mechanism to extract carbon dioxide from our atmosphere
* donating hydrocarbon-rich comets (please do not aim directly at our planet we are not great at catching, cislunar orbital capture trajectory would be best)
* Sharing discount codes for Star Depot