From: shannon wilde <swilde_99@yahoo.com>
Subject: (urth) Re: Digest urth.v028.n055
Date: Mon, 18 Oct 1999 00:10:36 



--- urth-errors@lists.best.com wrote:
> 
> -------------- BEGIN urth.v028.n055 --------------
> 
>     001 - "Jim Henley" <jlhenley@er - Aw Hell
> (Giants)
>     002 - "Fr.Inire" <inire@yahoo.c - Re: (urth) Aw
> Hell (Giants)
>     003 - Ron Hale-Evans <rwhe@apoc - Re: (urth) Aw
> Hell (Giants)
> 
> URTH Digest -- for discussion of Gene Wolfe's New
> Sun and other works
> 
> 
> --------------- MESSAGE urth.v028.n055.1
> ---------------
> 
> From: "Jim Henley" <jlhenley@erols.com>
> Subject: Aw Hell (Giants)
> Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 23:29:38 -0400
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: text/plain;
> 	charset="iso-8859-1"
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
> 
> I was talking giants and the Square-Cube Law last
> night with my Amber (RPG)
> group and offered the oh-so-clever observation that
> one could get around it
> by living, giant-sized in the water, oh yes I did.
> But one of my pals said
> the real problem with the SCL is in the lungs - you
> pass a point where the
> surface area of your enlarged lungs can't absorb
> enough oxygen for all the
> cells in your enlarged body.
> 
> Well darn! But I wonder; we didn't get into the math
> - I mean, Bill's from
> art school - but can anyone put a number on the size
> where lung limitations
> come into play?
> 
> I can't help remembering the old Ben Bova science
> columns that ran in Boy's
> Life back in my scouting days. (This was more than,
> oh, ten years ago. And
> I do mean "more.") One month, by way of teaching the
> SCL, he set out to
> design a giant crab. By the end of the article,
> after all the compromises
> and efficiencies were accounted for, the "giant
> crab" turned out to be -
> Tyrannosaurous Rex!
> 
> Best,
> 
> 
> Jim
>  *****************************************
>  "Took my pistol and a hundred dollar bill
>   I had everything I needed to get me killed"
>               -- Steve Earle
> 
> 
> 
> --------------- MESSAGE urth.v028.n055.2
> ---------------
> 
> From: "Fr.Inire" <inire@yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: (urth) Aw Hell (Giants)
> Date: Fri, 15 Oct 1999 21:58:00 -0700 (PDT)
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> 
> 
> 
> --- Jim Henley <jlhenley@erols.com> wrote:
> > I was talking giants and the Square-Cube Law last
> > night with my Amber (RPG)
> > group and offered the oh-so-clever observation
> that
> > one could get around it
> > by living, giant-sized in the water, oh yes I did.
> > But one of my pals said
> > the real problem with the SCL is in the lungs -
> you
> > pass a point where the
> > surface area of your enlarged lungs can't absorb
> > enough oxygen for all the
> > cells in your enlarged body.
> > 
> 
>    aw, tell him to bugger off and go appreciate some
> existencial<sp> impressionism...;-> Actually,
> doesn't
> that naively assume that the lung capacity isn't
> also
> increased by the evolution of greater numbers of
> alevoli <sp> sucking up O2? That would seem to
> follow
> if the rest of the body has evolved such that water
> as
> the only means of support...
> 
> 
> 
> =====
> Jeff "My dice hate me!" Miller
> 
> The HeavyGear Parts SwapMeet is at
>
http://freecenter.digiweb.com/games/severian/swap.html
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> game...www.dp9.com
> 
> 
> Gaming to keep War out of RealTime!        '82
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> 
> --------------- MESSAGE urth.v028.n055.3
> ---------------
> 
> From: Ron Hale-Evans <rwhe@apocalypse.org>
> Subject: Re: (urth) Aw Hell (Giants)
> Date: Sat, 16 Oct 1999 01:01:08 -0700
> MIME-Version: 1.0
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> References: <199910160324.UAA02815@lists1.best.com>
> In-Reply-To: <199910160324.UAA02815@lists1.best.com>
> 
> Jim Henley wrote:
> 
> >I can't help remembering the old Ben Bova science
> columns that ran in Boy's
> >Life back in my scouting days. (This was more than,
> oh, ten years ago. And
> >I do mean "more.") One month, by way of teaching
> the SCL, he set out to
> >design a giant crab. By the end of the article,
> after all the compromises
> >and efficiencies were accounted for, the "giant
> crab" turned out to be -
> >Tyrannosaurous Rex!
> 
> Omigoodness.
> 
> Whenever I hear anyone mention the square-cube law,
> this very article leaps
> instantly into my mind. I had no idea it was by Ben
> Bova (what did I know
> from Bovas at that age?). And I have always recalled
> it as an insect he was
> scaling up.
> 
> But no matter. A Scout is trustworthy, loyal,
> brave...
> 
> Thanks for confirming this memory.
> 
> Ron H-E
> --
> Ron Hale-Evans: rwhe@apocalypse.org  ...
> <http://www.apocalypse.org/~rwhe/>
> Center for Ludic Synergy:       
> <http://www.ludism.org/>
> Kennexions GBG artgame:         
> <http://kennexions.ludism.org/>
> Hexagram-8 I Ching Mailing List:
> <http://www.apocalypse.org/~rwhe/hex8.html>
> Positive Revolution FAQ:        
> <http://www.ludism.org/posrev/>
> 
> 
> --------------- END urth.v028.n055 ---------------
>FWIW, remember Ox absorbtion can be pretty complex,
and easy (relatively) to screw with genetically, yes?
I mean we're talking about low temps, possible biochem
enhancements/adaptations (re:seals, whales, etc. down
the evo tree as far as we +wolfe care to, and yeah,
it's being tried now...So, this is science fiction,
indeedy. Why not figure thar was tried first and then
all the other nutbar adaptations and abilities come
millenia down the pipe? Oh, yes, I too as a nontheist
am curious about the "conversion process." So bring it
on, hegemony loyalists! Go alga, it's your
birthday...crimony, it's past me bedtime. Tater on,
Shannon (Aoi, maybe, open to not-overly-nasty
suggestion, or maybe Lemongrass. Is this still hip?
You all say,k? ;) 
> 
> the New Sun and other works
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> 


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