@futile-rice.bsky.social - Futile Rice

30 Dec 2024 14:53 +0000

I want to apologize for my unplanned hiatus these last couple of weeks. Unfortunately I ran into some medical issues over the holiday season, but thankfully my prognosis is good, and I will do my best to get back to posting regularly as soon as I am able. Again, sorry about the lack of recent posts.

15 Dec 2024 16:08 +0000

Just came across this account of similar, but more focused purpose: [contains quote post or other embedded content]

14 Dec 2024 01:34 +0000

A recent and very relevant report for any #SF #writers creating stories about epidemics, technological polycrises, and/or extraterrestrial life: [contains quote post or other embedded content]

14 Dec 2024 01:15 +0000

Musings for the #writingcommunity: Switching gears from sci-fi more to #fantasy today, I'd like to look at homeobox genes as inspiration for a system of fantastic creature-type variations, both as applied to demihumans/metahumans (dwarves, elves, orcs, nagas, etc.) and monsters. 🧵 1/21

12 Dec 2024 19:25 +0000

Musings for the #writingcommunity: Following up this week's threads on space lasers (is.gd/L4iQBs) and space missiles (is.gd/ovjTrJ), I'd like to discuss sleeper LAWs, the closest plausible equivalent to mines in space, and a weapon type that seems underrepresented in #SF 🪐📚. 1/18

11 Dec 2024 13:50 +0000

Musings for the #writingcommunity: Monday's jumbo thread (is.gd/L4iQBs) looked at realistic #SF space lasers; today's 🧵 turns to space missiles/torpedoes and their ilk. Like before, I hope the discussion will spark some concrete ideas for hard #sci-fi and/or inspiration for softer #SF. 1/26 https://is.gd/L4iQBs

10 Dec 2024 00:25 +0000

#ShortPit on Wednesday, December 18 (midnight to midnight EST): [contains quote post or other embedded content]

10 Dec 2024 00:25 +0000

#HoliPit on Sunday, December 15 (8:00 to 8:00 EST): [contains quote post or other embedded content]

10 Dec 2024 00:25 +0000

#WIPPit on Saturday, December 14 (midnight to midnight EST): (Note: Correct "H" to "His" as the tag for historical fiction.) [contains quote post or other embedded content]

09 Dec 2024 18:38 +0000

Just to explain beforehand, I may not be online tomorrow to post; hence the jumbo-sized thread today. Also, a reminder that #CheerPit is ongoing right now (!), and that #WIPPit, #HoliPit, and #ShortPit are all coming up soon!

09 Dec 2024 18:27 +0000

Musings for the #writingcommunity: #Sci-fi space lasers for today's long 🧵, especially how they would affect ship design and a crew's experience during combat. While the viability of lasers as weapons in space is well-trod ground, I'm hoping these other angles offer something new for authors. 1/42

06 Dec 2024 21:42 +0000

Musings for the #writingcommunity: Given the by-now widespread public exposure to conversational #LLMs, readers of hard #sci-fi have a new angle from which to evaluate realism in AI characters. Still, a speculative AI need not be like today's chatbots. A 🧵 on possible realistic contrasts: 1/20

06 Dec 2024 13:57 +0000

Update! Cheer Pit now has a dedicated BlueSky account! Guidelines are the same as on X (formerly Twitter), but replace "@CHEERPITX" with @cheerpitx.bsky.social. Inaugural event *this coming Monday*! [contains quote post or other embedded content]

05 Dec 2024 21:59 +0000

Musings for the #writingcommunity: Switching up my thread-intro tag! Today's 🧵 is a long one about quantum-gravity-friendly spacetime anomalies for #sci-fi or science-inspired #fantasy authors. Here I consider the implications of a very modest QG theory, causal dynamical triangulation (CDT). 1/24

04 Dec 2024 23:13 +0000

#writingcommunity Crazy question that surely hardly ever comes up, but what is the correct possessive of "star(s)"? In my last thread I wrote "star(s)'" with an apostrophe after the maybe-plural, but I have no idea if that's right. I could rephrase, obvs., but I'm curious what happens if I don't.

04 Dec 2024 23:01 +0000

Musings for possible #inspiration: Long cause-effect chains are probably my favorite to find in an author's #worldbuilding. To give an example, in this 🧵 I work through some near-realistic exogeobiological consequences of putting a protoplanetary system on a superbubble-skimming trajectory. 1/20

04 Dec 2024 00:01 +0000

Musings for possible #inspiration: Near-future #YA #sci-fi often has classroom scenes, where an author might need a topic being taught. In addition to world-specific and evergreen subjects, this 🧵 uses graphene as an example for portraying a curriculum that has moved on from the present. 1/13

02 Dec 2024 22:50 +0000

Trying to spread the word: grassroots #cheerpit in one week: [contains quote post or other embedded content]

02 Dec 2024 12:42 +0000

Musings for possible #inspiration: #SFF, #xenofiction or otherwise, is no stranger to nonhuman sentients and interspecies contrasts. In this 🧵, I discuss an often atmospheric-only trait of animal-inspired nonhumans—mobile pinnae (ears)—and a few potential ways to integrate it into the plot. 1/18

29 Nov 2024 22:59 +0000

Musings for possible #inspiration: It's certainly topical for #sci-fi to examine training-data bias in machine intelligence, but it can be tricky not to come off as too on-the-nose. Here's a subtle twist on the well-worn idea of a rogue #AI that can already be found within present-day #LLMs. 🧵 1/11

29 Nov 2024 17:11 +0000

Musings for possible #inspiration: When a story needs characters to lack a shared language yet still communicate in real time, #sci-fi #scifi has many choices: conlanging a pidgin, introducing universal-translator tech, …. This 🧵 examines an oft-overlooked option: a universal *glossator*. 1/9

28 Nov 2024 05:45 +0000

また祝日なので、今日も短い投稿だ。かっこよくて、あまり使われていないと思う設定といえば、以下のようなものがある。軽石いかだの上（https://w.wiki/CDg7）、氷の卵のいかだの上（https://w.wiki/CDgE）、雪まりもがたくさんある場所（https://w.wiki/CDgD）、フロストフラワー（霜の花）とヘアアイス（髪の毛のような氷）の庭（https://w.wiki/CDgQ、https://w.wiki/CDgR）とか。（ごめんね。リンク先のウィキペディアページは英語しかないんだ。）

28 Nov 2024 05:43 +0000

Another holiday, so a another short post today. Some, IMHO, cool but underused settings: aboard a pumice raft w.wiki/CDg7, aboard an ice-egg raft w.wiki/CDgE, amid 雪まりも w.wiki/CDgD, in a garden of frost flowers w.wiki/CDgQ and ice wool w.wiki/CDgR.

27 Nov 2024 15:51 +0000

アメリカの祝日「Friendsgiving」のため、今日はオフラインだけど、せっかくなので何かを書くことにした。RNA/DNAに代わる生化学的に現実的なものを求めるSF作家にとって、は素晴らしい学術論文となる。Fialhoらは、図1には新規の塩基対、図2には新しい糖鎖の要素、図5には可能な構造が示されてる。別のスレッドで詳細な分析を書くつもりだ。

27 Nov 2024 15:49 +0000

Mostly offline for Friendsgiving, so no thread today. In lieu, here's a great resource for #sci-fi #scifi authors wanting a biochemically realistic alternative to RNA/DNA: is.gd/G6eiRw. Fialho et al. present novel base pairs in Fig. 1, backbone sugars in Fig. 2, and geometry in Fig. 5. https://is.gd/G6eiRw

26 Nov 2024 23:36 +0000

Musings for possible #inspiration: Time travel, staple of both #sci-fi (#scifi) and #fantasy, has accrued a constellation of unphysical tropes I would summarize as "no travel in time travel". While breaking physics can be useful, in this 🧵 I look at the potential for a tad more realism. 1/20

26 Nov 2024 23:33 +0000

Musings for possible #inspiration: #xenofiction is one of my favorite genres, and beyond more typical perspectives, I also sometimes ponder the subjective experiences of computer algorithms. Here's a 🧵 thinking about how the idea of "want" or "desire" differs for a planning or game-playing AI. 1/16