Sometimes, when I am reading about a novel that is mostly about spaceships firing projectiles at each other at near relativistic speeds (and I’m mostly thinking of David Weber here), I wonder if some sort of coin-flipping/dice-rolling was engaged in on the part of the author to decide the gender/ethnicity/etc of the various characters in their equal-opportunity space navy.
I am using the coin flip method to determine gender. With the exception of the Captain, who was predetermined to be a lady.
On a side note, looking at the Wikipedia entry for David Weber was the first time I’ve seen a picture of the man – or should I say, man-mountain. Seriously, it looks like he could punch my head off without getting too worked up about it.
–Geoff
http://www.ftg-comic.com/2009/01/15/index.php
The future is a cruel place. The stuff we think is totally rad now (Red Vines, Ladytron) becomes buried and forgotten, and the events which we believe so important and unique get jangled together in a grey mass. What, then, will become of Frederick, Newton, and Abe as they come down to land in the mid 28th century? Exhilaration over the advancement of man, or despair over the passage of time? Future meets History in Episode 184: Honest Man, Golden Girl!
– The Count and Geoff
*Catches the script baton*
Wow. Seeing as how we kicked this thing off on 01/16/2007, tomorrow will mark the close of the second full year of Frederick.
–Geoff
I both heartily look forward to and am entirely terrified by the day when calculus and smooth-space physics, once the realm of only two or three of the greatest minds on the planet and now the realm of advanced high school students, becomes the core kindergarten material, while the differential equations of curved space time make up the bulk of the elementary school curriculum.
It is also my guess that future generations won’t conflate the past 200 years or so of OUR time as much as we conflate, say, the years 600 to 1200 (didn’t something about some guy named Norman happen in there? The Goths, they were around there, right?), but that’s probably being optimistic….
*Tossing the Script Baton to Geoff*
– Count Dolby von Luckner