Epi-Systems and ANDD (Nanowrimo notes, among other things).

[amazon_syren]

It's 7am. :-)

Paul and I went to bed *really* early last night (like 8:30pm). So I've had lots of sleep. :-)

Things to do today:

- Laundry!
- Shower
- Pick up printed copy of Bernadette's newly-typed poems.
- Ottawa Slashers' Brunch @ the Arrow and Loon
- Hang out w/ Reyl and sew stuff. (Whee!) -- It will probably be boring stuff like stitching buttons back onto my rubber-suede coat, or something, and cutting out tote-bag parts. (They will have to be soaked and dried before I can sew them, though - maybe I'll cut them out this morning, before brunch, and put them in the laundry with the rest of the Black Stuff. :-)
- Study for my test tomorrow. :-)
- Try to write something coherent about Subversive/Subverting Gender in the Matrix for the Feminist SF Carnival. (We'll see if anything actually happens there - Hope so!)



Thoughts on Nanowrimo:

I'm starting to wonder if Nita's role in the story is changing.
I'm... really not sure how she's going to fit in anymore.

On the plus side, I think I know what's causing The Plague (Acute Neurological Disintegration Disease) that's currently making life miserable for a sizable chunk of the System:


I've decided that, for the purposes of this story, at least, satellite-based internet (and radio and so-on) don't work inter-planetarilly. Planet-to-moon communication? Not a problem. Generally. But Planet-to-Planet? Problem.
A new system - the Epi-system - of communication was developed using a machine that generates a particular wave frequency that can (for reasons I haven't figured out yet!) traverse the depths of space without getting screwed up upon encountering another atmosphere.
Or something.
Iiiiit still needs a little work.

But, anyway. The waves, themselves, aren't the problem. The machines that generate the waves, however, will screw with the human brain (they only just figured this out about five years ago - since the Epi-system, itself, isn't more than 20 years old) if said human brain is exposed to them in high enough concentrations.
So... densely populated planets that see a lot of inter-planetary communication will be more prone to outbreaks, BUT sparsely populated planets may get them, too, simply because the more sparsely populated planets are have mostly farm-and-raw!materials based economies and communicate a lot with the other planets to see what's selling where and who needs what and so-on.


Basically, if you're out in space, running the inter-planetary equivalent of a police scanner, and you pick up the epi-signals, you're not going to get yourself sick.
If you're living within, say, a 100 kilometer radius of an epi-tower (or visiting one on any kind of a regular basis), however, you're in danger.
Since the towers are mostly located within city cores, you can see how this would be a problem.

People are scrambling, trying to find (A) a way of reversing the effects of the towers, and (B) a replacement *for* the towers, so that inter-planetary communication can continue.

The semi-obvious choice here, of course, is to go with couriers.
However even a fast shuttle can take up to a week to get from one planet to the next (let alone a third ring planet to a fifth or sixth ring planet).
So the speed of *everything* (particularly everything money-based) would slow down.
Also, there might be less inter-planetary commerce happening (or at least happening quickly).
None of which is in the best interests of the people who are looking to develop a replacement for the Epi system.
So they're trying to come up with something else.


So that's where I'm at right now. :-)

Time to go and cut up some fabric. :-)

- TTFN,
- Amazon. :-)