(no subject)

[gfish]

I must have this shirt.

...though now I want to come up with a more practical set of technological bootstrapping instructions.

Comments

[neuro42.livejournal.com]

The 3-plate technique for generating a flat surface. Archimedes' Principle. The photoelectric effect. Gunpowder and nitroglycerin and nitrocellulose (guncotton) syntheses. Agriculture. Plumbing and the concept of sewage handling. DNA. The transistor. ENIAC.

All infinitely more useful than the stoichiometric formulae for anything, which tell you nothing at all about how to actually make it (since there's no structure information).

The aerodynamics section is woefully misleading; generating lift was never the problem, it was getting a sufficient power-to-weight ratio. The Wrights' chief achievment was in obtaining a new, lightweight engine.

[yami-mcmoots.livejournal.com]

All the same, I was happy to see that birth control was included - yay for not assuming that time-travelers will be men!

You can apparently get progesterone precursors from a species of Mexican yams (or the source for the original synthesis, sasparilla), and estrogens from pregnant mare's urine, but I think the effectiveness of hormonal birth control is pretty dependent on the precise dose and the mix of particular progestogens/estrogens/other byproducts you end up with. Not sure I'd want to chance it.

Instructions for making condoms, diaphragms, and spermicides would be more useful.

[neuro42.livejournal.com]

Concur.

[ilmarinen.livejournal.com]

And in the control surfaces/technique, was my impression.