#this makes them both more hydrodynamic and gives them a layer of natural protection

[vqlisms]

my worst habit is that i have to figure out the anatomy of any fantasy creatures i think about. anyways tritons are like elasmobranchs

[fantasticedifice]

I’ve been reminded recently that it’s unusual to bust out tangential or incongruous facts is not nearly as charming or useful as I find it to be, so I’ll just say this: Did you know the numbers on a roulette wheel add up to 666, and that semaphore comes from the Greek sema, meaning sign, and phero, meaning to bear? That’s just two of the multitude of things you’ll claim to remember reading by the end of this edition. Remember, we’re still moving through the list of skills Heinlein laid out as abilities a competent person ought to have, so start way back at the beginning if you’ve not read up on how to butcher a hog or how to touch-type.

But before all that, check out:

The Art of the 1968 General Strikes in France

Considered a success as a ‘social revolution, not a political one’, May ’68 was a reaction against Charles de gaulle’s… let’s say, heavy handed political style. His decisions in Isreal, Nigeria and Canada led to conflict that raged for years and his domestic policies left a large group of young, predominately left-leaning people outraged. Considering Saboteur is a french loan-word for good reason, you’d think he’d know better. The art, music and political discourse borne of this period reverberated across Europe and America, at a time when many thousands were hoping to shrug off the imperial shackles they still felt after the end of WWII. The posters and paintings above speak to this sense of righteous indignation. More can be found at Toronto University’s online collection.

Gliding swiftly away from politically charged imagery, why don’t look at how to…

Build a wall

Did you know the Austrian Oak, Arnold Schwarzenegger himself was a bricklayer for a time? He fashioned his business as a sort of European artisan craftwork, which allowed him to hike the prices up and rake in that sweet scrilla from the denizens of LA. Inspirational, right?

We all know the ubiquity of bricks; the quasi-educational How It’s Made shows and spinoffs are replete with dozens of episodes that hype up the object and its uses. virtually every Western home has bricks somewhere in its structure, and they’re a cost-effective way to protect, insulate and demarcate space. So we’re going to assume that Heinlein’s mandate is for brick walls, but we’ll look over some alternatives afterward.

So what do we do with bricks? Well, a casual looksee at your neighbour’s drive-in, drive-out driveway suggests that stacking them atop each other in straight columns is not the fashionable solution; instead and interweaving, staggered arrangement is used where two bricks sit above one, like this:

So far, so blindingly obvious. But knowing the proper configuration of the wall you want to build BEFORE you lay brick is crucial; making it up as you go is going to leave you with a henge rather than a garden wall. Here are the steps we need to take to ensure quality barrier building:

setting out the ‘footprint’ of the wall – where the wall starts and stops

Lay out your bricks ‘dry’ beforehand; imagining them in place is not good enough and will be inaccurate. place corners and the ends of the wall first.

maintaining level and square – ensuring each layer of brick is where it needs to be

plumblines, spirit levels and straight demarcation is crucial, and constant checking is the best habit you can develop

mixing the mortar – preparing the mixture that binds brick to brick

This will change depending on your needs, location and size of wall. Check this resource for more information

bedding the bricks – placing and aligning the bricks in their final resting space

Finesse the bricks, don’t worry them. watch the video below for technique and remember, it’s called bedding for a reason 😉

finishing joints neatly – cleaning up any excess mortar and adding any flourishes.

Being cognizant of the time-sensitive aspect is crucial here: sloppy work is hard to shift if you leave it too long.

For the visual learners out there, check this delightful Aussie’s brickwork:

No you might assume from this footage that the first step to building a brick wall is “have two brick walls already in place”, but we can still learn a lot from the work that goes into situations similar to the ones we’re working towards. For example, the tip about adding more mortar on each run of bricks to ensure the uppermost layer is flush with the existing brickwork teaches us that mortar is a commodity to be used in varying situations, rather than just a binding agent with a singular, specific job. We can also see a few techniques for ensuring our work is level and square, which is of paramount concern when making a structure intended to be in place for multiple years.

If a more… rustic wall is what you’re after, I defer to the stoic silence of Primitive Technology and the work John Plant presents with such somber clarity:

The techniques John uses to build his structures are not complicated, nor are they precise, but if shelter is the aim of the day his ways are faster and (potentially) easier than waiting for the stack of bricks and bags of mortar mix to arrive from Homebase.

  Design a building

This ties in nicely with Primitive Technology’s work, since John’s videos demonstrate the arbitrary and obfuscatory nature of modern building: because we don’t know how to do it, we think it’s difficult. Well, John did it in the wilderness with leaves and mud. No blueprints, no elaborate existential diatribe outlining the meanings behind having bay windows instead of french doors. That simple fulfillment of a need is Design’s raison d’etre. Anything else is salesmanship.

That being said, this blog’s called The Fantastic Edifice, not The Simple But Effective Structure, so we’re gonna indulge our big boy brains and watch some poseurs talk about which pens they use to outline multimillion-dollar buildings.

Here’s my favourite architect channel talking about his *process*:

Points to think about if you are planning on planning out your building include:

Lineweight

Depicting walls, masonry, appliances, doorways and windows with identically thick lines is confusing and inaccurate. different line thicknesses, or weights, will help add clarity to the work

Screened penweights/screened tones

Similar to lineweight, screening regards colours and shades of lines in the work. it allows your work to highlight important areas as well as contrast differential spaces

Hatches

Hatched lines are very useful to mark out space, but can also be used to describe specific types of object, like pipework or masonry

[All of the above have the overarching appellation of Poche. It’s french, naturallement.]

Scale elements (figures, cars, birds)

Birds for scale help relate a drawing and add understandable reference to a non-technical viewer

Showing Materials

If you know you’re building a house made out of gingerbread, don’t draw it like it’s cement. It’ll only be confusing later.

Annotations

Write in Franklin Gothic. It looks like this.

The squint test

A great rule of thumb (the etymology of that phrase is great, check it out) for almost all artistic endeavors is to move away from it and see if it still makes sense, in both a literal and figurative sense. Rothko’s paintings change and evolve the closer you get to them, while Shakespeare’s sonnets are hard to read from the opposite side of the room. Use discretion.

  Conn a ship

an abbreviation (maybe) of conduct, conning a ship is the act of directing its travel and controlling its lines and external effects (like nets, offset boats, rigging etc). It is also absolutely not the province of an amateur sailor. commissioned officers and tradesmen with years of experience are the ones directing the movements of modern day ships, and they have systems and electronics that are as difficult to parse as they are useful once mastered. BUT difficult is looking at the mountain from the foothills, and defeating difficulty is just a matter of choosing which steps to take. With this in mind, here are the highlights I gleaned from The Naval Shiphandler’s Guide, the most widely recommended authority on the task of conning a ship:

Consistency is key

Knowing what needs to be done, when and in what order is a task that encompasses dozens of variables. Your job is to take those variables in hand and master the art of smoothing the interaction, leading to a regular and controlled passage and landing.

Know your vessel

If a turn needs to be made, you need to know what actions will create that turn in the time you need it done. All ships have varying capabilities, quirks and issues, so presuming a replica Schooner will react the same as your favourite tugboat is naive and dangerous. learn the ropes (literally, if necessary).

Intuition is important, Hydrodynamics is importanter

We’re not just concerned with buoyancy here. The force of the currents and wind, the impact of waves, even the movement of fuel in your tanks will change the commands you should be giving. (This is why the job isn’t given to just anyone with an eyepatch and a love for being bossy)

Tide and Time waits for no man

This is highlighted repeatedly in the book, and for good reason: do not guess at the effects of the tide. Know exactly when the tide is coming in or out, and know what that means for acceptable depths for your vessel. Remember the Costa Concordia? Captain Schettino presumed he knew the effects of the tide and the seabed levels for his approach off the coast of Isola del Giglio, because “I had done the move three, four times”. This was the result:

It also transpired that Captain Schettino refused to return to the ship after he abandoned it before all crew and passangers were safely away, which, as we all know, is a breach of maritime law. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison for his mistakes. Don’t be like Schettino!

And with that, we’ve reached the halfway point in Heinlein’s list! Next time we’ll be diving into computor programming, fighting, and planning invasions (it almost follows a natural progression, doesn’t it?)

Before I let you go read the rest of the shiphandler’s guide or barricade your bedroom with perfectly aligned masonry, lemme share with you a track that’s been bouncing of the walls of our living room for hours at a time recently as an ambient window dressing looking out onto the dread of our weekly Call of Cthulhu games:

The Music of Disparition

[if you can’t get the player to play find the link beneath that’ll give you a 20 second taster]

https://open.spotify.com/track/59jxqMMYCHTJJqHbpwK5T4?si=LyusMKAGQnaSc5UoeekVtw

https://open.spotify.com/embed/track/59jxqMMYCHTJJqHbpwK5T4

To me, it sounds like a melancholic organ player with the place to himself just moping his heart out, whilst the whole place is underwater and moving through a train tunnel at speed. Das jus me doe. Disparition has a TON of fantastic ambient music and is featured heavily in the Welcome to Night Vale podcast.

Until next time.

Jozef

Five I've been reminded recently that it's unusual to bust out tangential or incongruous facts is not nearly as charming or useful as I find it to be, so I'll just say this: Did you know the numbers on a roulette wheel add up to 666, and that semaphore comes from the Greek…

[vancilocs]

alien physiology

nedians (ninida, vim): built for swimming. strong shoulder and chest muscles as well as arms and legs. enormous lungs, can hold their breath for up to half an hour. big hands, big feet for optimal swimming speed. gecko-like grip thanks to pads on their hands and feet. some may even have webbing in between fingers and toes but it’s become rare. sharp eyes and ears that work as well under and over water, developed to see colours underwater as well. capable of communicating underwater quite well with clicks and whistles. quick reflexes, sharp teeth and nails. at some point, did have tails, but those have been dropped off even if their skeletal structure shows signs of there once being a tail. can detect changes in temperature and and their skin is very sensitive to detecting movement underwater as well as wind currents above the surface. men and women don’t differ that much - men are slightly more colourful with longer ears, women are usually taller, have wider hips and are a bit heftier. children don’t eat anything for their first months, instead surviving on the layer of fat they’re born with until they’re old enough to eat solid food.

dovan’mai (kiurz): strong swimmers with long arms and big, webbed paddle hands as well as feet. very strong legs. excellent eyesight and hearing both over and underwater. head shape more hydrodynamic and entire body structure built for faster swimming ability. the “beak” is sensitive to current changes or other anomalies when underwater, and it’s somewhat effective regarding air pressure or the like when over the surface. teeth and jaws extremely strong, capable of denting steel. dovan’mai come in any colour. men are bigger with brighter colours, women are heavier by body type. children are born alive and are ready to eat straight from the womb. dovan’mai and nedians can mix.

sivians (shaina, jehan, avis, mor rioghain): covered in fur which works as a great insulator. some have very long fur, some have shorter (mor rioghain’s is like velvet while shaina has a longer ridge along her back). don’t usually shower or bathe, except for the short-furred ones. those from deserts usually prefer sand-bathing. for others, dry shampoo is a popular contraception. extremely sharp eyes, ears, teeth and nails. see really well in the dark. eat a lot to keep their bodies energized and moving, and often snack on high-energy treats. soft paws tread lightly. while small, very physically capable and have powerful leg muscles for running and jumping. can run on all fours or on two legs, depends on the type of the individual. men and women hardly differ, all of them are fuzzy. generally, men are slightly bigger and more muscular, but there are a lot of women bigger than many men. usually have around three children at a time, give or take one. the babies are blind and deaf but develop very fast.

evarians (rosta, amarthea, charon): well adapted to the cold climate. thick skin, soft bodies with an insulating layer of fat. wide noses and nasal cavities to warm the air breathed. their blood is clear and thick with natural antifreeze and their eyes cut off the vast majority of sunshine reflecting from the snow. in human standards, they’re mostly colourblind. however, they have a second pair of smaller eyes evolved into detecting colours human eyes never could. this has helped them find edibles from the coldest of corners and survive as they have. slow digestion to maximize the amount of energy gotten from one meal, but seem to constantly be running on low energy given how slowly they seem to move. an energetic evarian is a rare but terrifying sight. don’t handle heat well. it will cause severe dehydration very fast and lead into organ failure if not regulated. women and men are very similar to each other, but women have wider hips and noticeable breasts, and usually softer features with bigger lips and eyes. they’re mammals, and their children develop slowly as they also live very long. evarians and humans can mix without manipulation, but the offspring are infertile.

valoidians (alecto, hecate, moran): very variable while also not. unlike evarians, valoidians have more skin tones, pure white being the most common and the majority in cities, but outside, various shades of gray are not unheard of. not as durable as evarians. hair colours range from one end of the spectrum to another though orange, yellow and red are the most common ones. very fashionable people. can see colour. no noses! they smell through their mouth. unlike many other races who are right/left/both-handed, valoidians are often split between upper/lower-armed, upper-armed being more common. not always. left/right-handed people exist, as do ambidextrous people or those who favor one arm above all. a valoidian without facial tattoos is most likely a rebel, outcast or has never lived among their people - parents usually have their children tattooed as they reach adolescence to avoid such a fate. the tattoos have meanings and signify status (hecate has gotten more as they have risen in rank, while alecto’s marks have stayed as they have since he was young because he was disowned). the more lines, the higher up you are. one or two lines are the lowest (moran has only two and alecto, as a rich kid, already had three when he was kicked out) mammals. one gender, though when pregnant, the person develops breasts and wider hips that then return to the usual after the child has been reared. transgender individuals (men, women, fluid etc.) exist but are considered an oddity, even if no outward hate is directed towards them.

kahani (noor): durable. manage on little food and little water. mild-mannered. generally unremarkable and blend in well, which makes them excellent assassins. see well in the dark, not as well as sivians, but better than many others. strong leg and arm muscles. indomitable focus - can sit still for hours at a time, thanks to being able to put their bodies in a rest mode while their brains are still fully aware. however, this means that it takes a moment for them to be able to move and run again. quick thinkers, fast to think outside the box. both genders look fairly similar. men are taller and more muscular, but thus less appreciated as assassins and instead used for harder work. always one child, born very small and inside a protective shell where they develop and grow for up to six earth months until hatching. so they lay eggs, basically.

wasiso (amil): small and energetic, needing a lot of sustenance. durable and capable of adapting. naturally unseen to human eye - they bend light in a way which renders them invisible. can be seen by many other races. strong leg muscles for running and jumping, sharp nails and a strong grip for climbing, fast reflexes and metabolism. six eyes give an impeccable eyesight and an unrivaled sense of depth and distance. the markings on their face and body are sensory organs, giving them an almost echolocation-type sense of their surroundings. come in any colour. polyamorous by nature, living in clans, families are big and very close. multiple children at once is hardly uncommon. mammals.

tessarians (kestra, naras): incredibly thick skin. very sinewy and pointy. four eyes give an incredible sense of depth/distance. blood is black and clots very fast when tissue gets damaged. heal very quickly and bones can take an incredible amount of damage before breaking. complicated lungs so they can breathe the toxic air of their home. very adapted to heat, dryness and dust, but extremely vulnerable to cold. a tessarian in evaria would freeze to death in minutes without the necessary precautions. the long strands at the back of their heads store fluids and fat for tougher times. women have longer strands than men, to give them more energy for pregnancy. mammals.

anira (tabur, yarma, yaara): similarly adapted to the harsh climate of tessaria. very stocky and heavy, thick skin with even thicker plates and small horns on their heads. short compared to tessarians. bodies can withstand undernourishment, dehydration and incredible shock without failing. eat practically anything and take their time to process the food, building a protective layer of fat with the excess energy. keen senses and capable of detecting a presence in the middle of a dust storm. one gender, but usually choose whether they want to carry a child and then keep the role of a “mother” in the family. unlike valoidians, don’t return to neutral state after giving birth, instead adopting a more feminine figure. the children are ready to eat solid foods as soon as they’re born.