#AROW80: 2020

[doomsdaywriter]

Boop, I'm A Submarine!

Well, I’m reading about them. And planes, because I’m trying to develop a timeline of nuclear weapons based on yield and speed of delivery system. I’m also reading a lot of comics. I love my library apps.

[doomsdaywriter]

Yesterday, I Learned...

That the Nazis attempted to design a plane capable of reaching the United States (specifically, New York City) from Germany. The project, called Amerikabomber, resulted in five prototypes, but no operational aircraft. The plane would have needed to be able to make the 7,200 mile round trip without refueling. In addition to New York City, the Nazis had twelve other targets in mind, including La…

[doomsdaywriter]

Math Accomplished!

I finished my calculations for the scale models of nuclear blasts, so now I’m going to be working on setting those scale measurements against Soldier Field. I’ve also figured out scale measurements for the atmosphere. I’m expecting this part will be easier, since it’s going to be less math and more map reading and such. I also started taking notes on The Zone again. The book is still awful, but…

[doomsdaywriter]

Moderate Success!

I still haven’t tracked down exact measurements for the stadium at Soldier Field, but I have found figures that are close enough for my purposes, thanks to CalcMaps – Maptools. Using their distance tool, I was able to put points on a satellite photo of the stadium itself and get a rough estimate for length and width. It’s honestly shocking to me how hard it is to find out what I’d thought would…

[doomsdaywriter]

Checked Out

Good news: my colonoscopy came back negative! This means I don’t have to have another one for ten years — hopefully by 2033 medical science will have advanced enough to create a colonoscopy prep solution that doesn’t taste like sadness and misery. Or, barring that, at least comes in a smaller portion. Otherwise, I have been playing around with numbers and vaguely working on my scale model of…

[doomsdaywriter]

Not Doing Nothin' Today

Except prepping for a colonoscopy. Which leads to the question of the day: why the hell does the prep stuff have to taste so damnably foul? I mean, is there a medical reason for it or what?! So far, other than having to choke down the first round of the Awful Stuff – and not looking forward to Round Two in the wee hours – the prep hasn’t been so bad. I’ve been loafing in bed, listening to…

[doomsdaywriter]

More Adventures with Stupider Big Numbers

More Adventures with Stupider Big Numbers

I’ve been continue playing with ridiculously large numbers, particularly as relates to explosive yield. I made a spreadsheet to relate explosive yields in terms of tons of TNT equivalent versus how many pounds of TNT that yield would represent (i.e. 1 ton of TNT equivalent equals 2,000 pounds of TNT, 1 kiloton is 2 million pounds of TNT, 1 megaton is 2 billion pounds of TNT, and so on). And,…

[doomsdaywriter]

Adventures in Stupid Big Numbers

Adventures in Stupid Big Numbers

As I mentioned in my Goals Post back on Monday, I’ve been working on a way to create scale comparisons of nuclear blast yields. I’d already created a couple spreadsheets full of figures for yields between 1 ton and 100 megatons for surface blasts and airblasts and I’d even created a scale where 1 foot = 30 feet but that led to a model that was too large. Especially since I’d wanted to compare the…

[doomsdaywriter]

It's The Final Blog Post...of 2022

It’s The Final Blog Post…of 2022

I’ve been spending the last couple days watching old episodes of Columbo, because I have a major soft spot for the bumbling detective. Watching him take down elitist creeps is just soothing – also, it’s fun to check early 1970s prices against an inflation calculator. I also started watching a British series called New Tricks, which features retired officers being brought in to rework cold cases.…

[doomsdaywriter]

Stuff I Found Out...

Stuff I Found Out…

I did some reading about the history of the survivalist movement, since that’s cromulent to my interests.   I thought that survivalism had its  roots in civil defense preparations for nuclear war. Turns out, it originally sprang from fears of economic collapse in the 1960s and especially in the 1970s. Nuclear war became a concern in the 1980s, due in part to increased tensions between the US and…

[doomsdaywriter]

Titles Are Hard...

Titles Are Hard…

And I’m tired. Working on notes, focusing on articles about literature and criticism. It’s been enjoyable and I am laying a foundation on which to build a premise. Honest.

[doomsdaywriter]

Brain Food

I’ve taken a break from taking notes on cheesy books to take notes on meaty articles on weighty subjects. Which is good since it’s helping me build a framework for later articles but now my brain is full so I’m going to sleep. Articles I’ve read include: Umberto Eco’s “Ur-Fascism” – which outlines fourteen points for identifying fascist movements. The article is not a breezy read, but it is a…

[doomsdaywriter]

Quick post is quick

I’m working on The Marauders and it is a silly book. It’s a spin-off from The Guardians, featuring new characters and is kind of like CSI: Miami in that it’s much more over the top than the original. Or, to use an analogy that will likely only make sense to me and a few other highly specialized 80s nerds: if The Guardians was like a PG-13 version of GI Joe: Real American Hero, The Marauders is…

[doomsdaywriter]

Some Recommendations

Firstly, I am pretty much fully recovered from my bout of food poisoning, so I’m beyond happy about that. Not only because I can eat more than crackers and Sprite (though a good saltine is damn tasty), but because my back was getting down right irksome about laying down so much. Second, speaking of food, I recommend the McDonald’s cheese danish. Especially if you have it while it’s warm, though…

[doomsdaywriter]

Journaling Project - Days 1-5

Journaling Project – Days 1-5

I’m off to a decent start, mostly been using this to quickly jot down thoughts and also some research notes on various things. Yesterday, it was on the archaeology of compassion which was pretty interesting. Based on skeletal evidence, there is a solid case to be made that humans have been caring for the sick and/or disabled since the Stone Age. And the impulse to do so even predates anatomically…

[doomsdaywriter]

Making My Plans

For the final round of 2022. I’ll go into more detail on them come Monday, October 3rd, but suffice to say il going to be trying to seriously branch out from notetaking into writing. And that’s all for now, I’m going to listen to a video and slide into candy corn dreams…