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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
 Posted - 02/02/2005 : 12:51:55
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6901573/
Story about trash in orbit including decaying russian nuclear satellites.
I had an idea for a book a while ago and since i'll never write it I will share it.
So some aliens come to earth and are peaceful but not stupid, they determine to make contact and whatnot. Bad or misguided humans attack the aliens in someway, conflict ensues, aliens see humans as threat to the galaxy. Then the money idea-aliens come with huge cargo ships filled with countless ball bearings which are released into orbit to prevent any human ships from breaking orbit. Then book concludes with a cliffhanger of somekind...energy shields perhaps...
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"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2005 : 12:55:54 [Permalink]
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| Mmm... can I write it? [sweet smile] |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2005 : 13:08:16 [Permalink]
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| Feel free, although you may not try to prevent others from using it. |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2005 : 13:09:20 [Permalink]
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I believe that idea is already in print, except with hunks of cheap rebar instead of ball bearings. Don't ask me where. It's possible I just dreamed it.
And, of course, the idea of lobbing huge hunks of asteroid (from the mines of the Asteroid Belt) at Earth as an offensive weapon has been done at least once. If I'm not mistaken, in the novel Wrack and Roll. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2005 : 13:13:32 [Permalink]
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| Im sure its somewhere, who knows how many Sci-fi stories are out there. Too many to read anyway. |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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Siberia
SFN Addict
Brazil
2322 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2005 : 13:17:05 [Permalink]
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| Yeah, don't I know. Everytime I come up with a really cool plot, I happen to run across it written by someone far better than me... [sigh] |
"Why are you afraid of something you're not even sure exists?"
- The Kovenant, Via Negativa
"People who don't like their beliefs being laughed at shouldn't have such funny beliefs."
-- unknown
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2005 : 13:19:55 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.
And, of course, the idea of lobbing huge hunks of asteroid (from the mines of the Asteroid Belt) at Earth as an offensive weapon has been done at least once. If I'm not mistaken, in the novel Wrack and Roll.
It's also used in the TV series Babylon 5 where Centauri battleships bombard the Narn homeworld by dropping asteroids onto their capital cities.
"The use of mass-drivers has been outlawed by every civilized world" wasn't considered, they just wanted Narn flattened by the most efficient means available. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Paulos23
Skeptic Friend
USA
446 Posts |
Posted - 02/02/2005 : 14:13:27 [Permalink]
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Not to mention The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, Footfall...
The list is endless.... |
You can go wrong by being too skeptical as readily as by being too trusting. -- Robert A. Heinlein
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. -- Aldous Huxley |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2005 : 10:08:39 [Permalink]
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In Footfall the little elephant aliens drop a massive number of metal bars into low earth orbit in order to disrupt staellite communications.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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| Edited by - Dude on 02/03/2005 10:10:14 |
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Paulos23
Skeptic Friend
USA
446 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2005 : 12:17:32 [Permalink]
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They also drop one hummer of a astroid into the Indian Ocean.
I have to say though...the Orion class ship launching from Bellingham (nuking it in the process) to attack the aliens was clasic. |
You can go wrong by being too skeptical as readily as by being too trusting. -- Robert A. Heinlein
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored. -- Aldous Huxley |
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Dude
SFN Die Hard
USA
6891 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2005 : 12:29:44 [Permalink]
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quote:
I have to say though...the Orion class ship launching from Bellingham (nuking it in the process) to attack the aliens was clasic.
Yeah. The book was a good read. Love Niven and Pournelle.
I was just responding to the idea of dropping loads of metal into a low earth orbit with the intent of interdicting something, either com or ships launching, to not that it's been thought of.
But it would take ALOT of metal to totally prevent a ship launch, and even us pathetic low tech humans could figure a way to clear a launch path.... a few nukes would do it.
I mean, if we can send a ship on a 7 year trip to Saturn, use the gravity of two different planets to assist the trajectory, and drop it into orbit at precicely the desired and predicted position...
Nuking a hole in a cloud of debris and calculating the path of a ship through it should be cake.
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Ignorance is preferable to error; and he is less remote from the truth who believes nothing, than he who believes what is wrong.
-- Thomas Jefferson
"god :: the last refuge of a man with no answers and no argument." - G. Carlin
Hope, n.
The handmaiden of desperation; the opiate of despair; the illegible signpost on the road to perdition. ~~ da filth |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2005 : 13:05:53 [Permalink]
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Ya beat me to it. Footfall is a good one.
I havent read Niven and Pournell in a long time,
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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BigPapaSmurf
SFN Die Hard
3192 Posts |
Posted - 02/03/2005 : 13:06:12 [Permalink]
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Actually a nuke in space would have far less effect than one in the atmosphere also the hole would be very small an almost impossible target with current launch technology.
They could keep adding new material to the shield as well with cargo ships hauling and smashing apart asteroids into earth orbit. |
"...things I have neither seen nor experienced nor heard tell of from anybody else; things, what is more, that do not in fact exist and could not ever exist at all. So my readers must not believe a word I say." -Lucian on his book True History
"...They accept such things on faith alone, without any evidence. So if a fraudulent and cunning person who knows how to take advantage of a situation comes among them, he can make himself rich in a short time." -Lucian critical of early Christians c.166 AD From his book, De Morte Peregrini |
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