Miscellany

[stoutfellow]

1. It looks like we've got Murphy's skin condition licked. This afternoon the vet told me he needed to finish the course of antibiotics and vitamins, but I wouldn't have to bring him in again. He does look much better, and the bare spots aren't fever-warm any more.

2. I finally got Season 4.3 of Farscape, plus The Peacekeeper Wars. They weren't available last September, when I bought the rest of the DVDs; now I have the complete set. (And just in time; I'm about to start in on watching Season 4.2.)

3. On a related note, a bit of trivia: in the episode "Natural Election", the crew of Moya elect a captain. The voters are John, D'Argo, Rygel, Pilot, Aeryn, Chiana, Sikozu, and Noranti. There is one vote each for Scorpius (certainly cast by Sikozu), Rygel (presumably by Rygel), The Great Beyond or something like that (Noranti), and Aeryn, and four votes for D'Argo. I'm wondering who voted for Aeryn. Not Chiana - she's an almost certain vote for D'Argo. Probably not Crichton, given their estrangement at that point. I doubt that Aeryn would vote for herself, either. Pilot seems most likely to me - he's had a special bond with Aeryn since "DNA Mad Scientist". It's conceivable that D'Argo would be humble enough not to vote for himself, though. Any other Farscapers care to comment?

4. I just finished reading Vernor Vinge's Tatja Grimm's World, and something's bothering me. Among the key plot points are that a) the (Earthlike) planet in question is very low in metals and b) there is a high mountain range, one of whose peaks is high enough that the partial pressure of oxygen near the top is 0.7 PSI. Now, I'm not that knowledgeable about geography/geology, but that combination doesn't sound right to me - tectonics on Earth are driven by radioactive decay in the mantle, aren't they? The planet is part of a double-planet system, though. Could tidal effects substitute? Anybody know more about it than I do?

Comments

[pompe.livejournal.com]

Hmm. If there are eclipses every twenty hours of the local year, can the twin-planet orbit be much inclined to the planet-solar orbit?

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Oh, I think we've crossed wires. Here's the relevant passage: "They were well into the eclipse season; once every twenty hours, Seraph blocked the sun or was itself eclipsed." I read that as saying that this pattern of eclipses occurs at certain times of year, not at all times.

[pompe.livejournal.com]

Yes, that makes much more sense. It is like Pluto and Charon. Still, the eclipse season would only make sense on part of the world.