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Space memes, fusion schemes, and x-fundie dreams Recurrent laryngeal nerve's #1 defender
Dec 8, 2024 8 tweets 2 min read
There's some freaking ironclad worker's rights you need to keep loan-for-service (DO NOT CALL IT INDENTURED SERVITUDE) for off world work to keep it from being as bad as the anti-spacers say it will be. 1. A Right to Refuse:

Any worker must be able to end their employment contract at any time without having to fear their life is in jeopardy. Air, water, and food must still be provided until they can be returned to where they signed up.
Nov 29, 2024 18 tweets 6 min read
1/So you want to know which heavenly bodies to grab a take in the great solar system land rush?

Sit down, buckle up, and read on! 🧵 Image 2/I'll work my way outwards for the solar system, so that means I start with Venus.

What's that you say, 'Mercury is actually the innermost planet'?

Ugh, how is that not a Dyson Swarm already?
Nov 25, 2024 19 tweets 7 min read
1/ Is @elonmusk making the right call in focusing their efforts on colonizing Mars?

Is there a better place to try to figure out how to live a life without the Earth?

Answering these questions reveals key insights into who were are as a technological species. 🧵 Image @elonmusk 2/ First place you can get to in space where you can stay a while is LEO. Mere minutes away, still mostly sheltered from the solar wind, it's where we've spent the most time figuring out this spaceflight thing.

One problem: you have to bring literally everything with you Image
Nov 17, 2024 20 tweets 7 min read
1/ Ionizing radiation is a health hazard in space, but some people act like it's a death sentence.

But what exactly is ionizing radiation, and what does it do to our bodies?

The answers to this might actually point to why our current radiation risk calculations are wrong. 🧵 Image 2/ First up, what actually is ionizing radiation? Anything that will knock electrons off of other atoms. Generally not a good idea, but really not great when it's your DNA. Image
Oct 30, 2024 8 tweets 3 min read
Venus colonization represents one of the greatest potential win-wins of a solar system economy.

And that involves turning Venus's harshest feature into it's greatest asset: it's atmosphere.

🧵 1/8 The atmosphere of Venus is notoriously harsh, with an average temp of 870F/465C on the surface, and pressure comparable to being a kilometer deep in the ocean.

And that atmosphere is almost entirely CO2, with a little nitrogen.

Oh, and sulfuric acid clouds. 2/8 Image
Oct 28, 2024 13 tweets 5 min read
I will tolerate recurrent laryngeal nerve slander no longer! It's actually the result of several elegant solutions to difficult problems in embryology, and the length is a non-issue. A 🧵 1/13 The fundamental problem in embryology is that you have to get from a single cell to a complex organism that is not symmetrical in two different axes, and about 10 orders of magnitude.

Oh, and everything must work at all times while growing. 2/13 Image
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