My tweets

[ellenscult]

• Mon, 12:40: RT @Chadbourn: I'm organising a writers' riot. We're going to stand around grumbling, then loot the specialist wine shop of absinthe.
• Mon, 14:48: Dogtoy thrown, laundry on the line, cuppa made, back to the writing. :D
• Mon, 17:22: My nearly-dry washing is now slightly less nearly-dry. Bah! Still writing. Slowly. Up over 700 words. This should be a lot easier & faster!
• Mon, 17:23: Also? I fished out my New York City Ballet workout dvd (thank you best husband ever!) - keep doing another 3 minute section. It's tough!
• Mon, 17:46: Signs of depression: I get to the smut and I just can't be arsed to write it. Wtf? May have to take laptop upstairs; too noisy down here.
• Mon, 18:08: RT @tordotcom: Joanna Russ pulls apart "crashing spaceship" mythology with perfect brutality. @britmandelo reads We Who Are About To..: ...
• Mon, 18:24: 1000 words! Made my daily wordcount minimum, thank ghu! Should be time for dinner soon. Then more writing! And form-filling! Party on! \m/
• Tue, 11:39: RT @MitchBenn: Let's keep #riotcleanup going once the physical damage has been repaired. Let's start something bigger. The govt. is out ...
• Tue, 11:43: RT @almostalady: Waterstones staff member to me last night: “We’ll probably stay open. If they steal some books, they might actually lea ...
• Tue, 11:45: Was going to go into Belfast this morning to the Carers support group. Went back to bed for an hour instead. Over 3 hours later, I woke up!

• Tue, 11:46: Well, I say 'I woke up', but really I made it to the shambulatory stage of zombiedom. Next stage - 'braiiiiinnnnzzzz'... Morning all! (just)
• Tue, 11:58: RT @ghostfinder: EMPIRE STATE's page is up at @angryrobotbooks, complete with a few early blurbs! http://bit.ly/oWmtVd

Comments

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

"'crashing spaceship' mythology"?

[ellenscult]

In the article; it's the plethora of crashing spaceship stories in which everyone walks away without a scratch and there's a handy technologically advanced friendly society somewhere conveniently close. Sounds like a hell of a book.

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes - the A-Team 'crashed helicopter' effect. Whereas an actual crashing spaceship would most likely leave the occupants as part of either geology or plasma physics ...

[ellenscult]

Yup indeedy! There usually aren't many survivors, if any at all, from a helicopter crash and let's face it, compared to a spaceship, it isn't falling very far nor going fast at all!

[palmersperry.livejournal.com]

That depends upon the helicopter crash, there are some great videos on YouTube of crashes in which I imagine at least some people survive!

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

Aye. I mean, if the crash comes into the category of "almost a landing", there's a chance¹, though it'll pretty much guarantee not leaving the planet in the same ship. But anything more than that, and you're likely to become part of the ecosystem.

¹ Of course, there may be some especially rugged ships designed for really harsh landings - but even those tend to be intended more for a survivable landing rather than any chance of an ensuing purpose for the ship ... life-pods, maybe, rather than an actual shuttle.

[palmersperry.livejournal.com]

Remember! All landings are controlled crashes, and the definition of a good pilot is one who has the same number of landings as take offs!

I suspect there may also be a space/sci-fi equivalent to the following poem too?

They say in the RAF that a landing's okay,
If the pilot can get up and walk away …
But in the Fleet Air Arm the chances are slim,
If the landing's piss-poor and the pilot can't swim!

More seriously, I suppose there's some sort of scale?

1. Perfectly good normal landing.
   
2. Well I've seen better.
   
3. We'd better have the maintenance guys take a look over that ship before it next flies, just in case.
   
4. I hope we've got the spare parts to fix that or it's going nowhere.
   
5. Well it may never fly again, but at least all the passengers/crew are uninjured.
   
6. Well it may never fly again, but at least all the passengers/crew are still alive.
   
7. It's never going to fly again, but at least some of the passengers/crew are still alive.
   
8. People survived that??? How???
   
9. <SPLAT!> Oh well, it was nice knowing Bob …
   

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

I believe item 3 on the scale is usually prefaced with "[wince]", and ends with "You're going to owe the mechanics a few rounds."

There are probably a couple more below 9, as well ...

A. <kabooom> "Oh well, it was quite a nice city ..."
B. <KABOOOM> "Oh well, it was quite a nice continent ..."
C. "Oh well, it was quite a nice ecosystem ..."
D. "I can't believe you did that!"

[palmersperry.livejournal.com]

But what sort of person would you say "D" to??? :-D

[palmersperry.livejournal.com]

"thank you best husband ever!" You've tried a selection then??? ;-)

[ellenscult]

More than you have! :-p Unless there's something you're not telling me...? Hmm?

[palmersperry.livejournal.com]

Well I did have a recent conversation with $SOMEONE in which I said I regarded married women as off-limits, and they replied "Why didn't you say that before I got married?"!

[ellenscult]

Well, damn! lol

You should ask if she and her husband have an 'open marriage'... Or maybe not!

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

I know the feeling.

Then again, one of my girlfriends is married - it just depends on the specific terms of the marriage ...

[palmersperry.livejournal.com]

You mean I should ask to see the exact wording of paragraph 12 of clause 23b? :-)

[d-floorlandmine.livejournal.com]

Aye. Or their Permission Card. (Yes, L actually has one! [grin])