Blog

OK, this isn't complete, but I'm getting way behind, so I'm posting what I have so far.

Airship to Orbit

The technology is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication 2007/0205330, filed by Hubbard Aerospace, LLC, published on 6 September 2007 (it's attached to this post as a PDF, too). The premise here is that a semi-rigid dirigible type craft can be taken into orbit. The craft does not rely solely on lifting gases for lift, nor does it use conventional propeller-type drive, but uses a combination of lifting gas, lifting body shape, and turbojet engines that can draw air for combustion from reservoirs within the craft itself when outside air is too rarefied or simply unavailable.

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Why should you take me seriously on issues of technology? It's a good question. The short answer is that I'm a patent lawyer with experience as a patent examiner, an undergraduate degree in Aerospace Engineering, and experience with a wide variety of technologies. Working as a patent examiner and as a patent lawyer requires and hones one's abilitiy to learn and understand new technologies. It also helps one pick things apart to see how they work - or don't. I'm also a computer geek, having ripped apart and rebuilt my computers (and those of others, mostly Macs) for maintenance, repair, and upgrade for over fifteen years - hardware and software.

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All he wanted was a little respect for the genre. Now look at what we've done.

Thoughts from Warren Ellis, Cory Doctorow and John Scalzi on what, if anything, the "big three" (Asimov's, Analog and Fantasy & Science Fiction) can do to redress their falling subscription numbers -- and, for that matter, whether they are even "relevant".

Pass the knife. Where is the line to cut the SF pie?