The Musings Of The Consensus

 In my last post on  Gundam tech nerding, I mentioned a few examples of fictional tech from the Gundam universe with real-world analogs. In this post, I'd like to discuss a few more examples. 1. Mobile Suit Gundam 00 - E-Carbon One bit of technology that does not get discussed as much by casual fans of the show is the E-Carbon material used as armor plating, a building material for the in-universe orbital elevators, and some that, in truth, already exists largely in real life right now. First, Carbon is one of the most common elements in the Periodic Table of Elements. Second, carbon is an interesting element in that it's not that special in its purest form (not to mention highly unstable), but when used in allotropes, or combinations of carbon with other substances, they can form many interesting and useful things. Two of special note are graphite, used in many industrial processes, and diamonds, which are basically a crystallized form of carbon and valuable in both industry ...

 I've watched quite a few Gundam shows and read some of the manga as well. While I enjoy the robots going at it in combat and the drama of the people involved, I'm a bit of a nerd and enjoy it when real-world principles are applied to making certain things in Gundam work.  Below is a list of my favorite instances of tech realism. 1. Mobile Suit Gundam - Magnet Coating The original Mobile Suit Gundam's titular machine ran into a problem towards the latter end of the show. While it had taken a while to master, its pilot, Amuro Rei, had gotten to the point where he was outpacing the machine. To put it simply, the Gundam could only move so fast without damaging its joints, but Amuro's brain was faster, and he thus could not push the Gundam to its limits without wrecking the internals. The solution was to apply "magnet coating". Real-world arms and legs are connected to joints, and the flexibility of those joints determines how well the limb can move. Magnet coatin...

 I'm writing this because I just reflected recently on why I plan to die single. I have neither the means, ability, or emotional and mental maturity for having kids. I came to this conclusion long ago and have reconciled myself to never having a child of my own, whether via siring one myself or adoption. That said if anyone out there is a parent. I'd like to pass on advice to give your kids if you are interested. 1. Teach them how to survive without high technology As much as I love computers and the convenience of technology, there are far too many people who probably starve to death without modern tech. As much as preppers and people who shun tech for low tech from days gone by get stereotyped as Luddites, let's face it, if the power ever goes out, a computer is just a paperweight and a cell phone is meaningless. At the end of the day, people need to remember how to survive without them. Our ancestors had to do it, no reason why we shouldn't, and I advise you to teach...