Saturday 12 February 2022
Book review: Rotherweird and Wyntertide
Book review: Ringworld
I can put aside the casual sexism and clunky dialogue; I'm not looking for high or sensitive literature. But I'm less happy with the stupidity. Foremost amongst this is the bizarre nonsense about the hereditability of luck. That's so stupid that I really can't think of anything else to say about it. It wouldn't be so bad except it keep recurring. Secondly there's the implausible casualness of the entire expedition; to some extent one has to forgive this because so much scifi is similar but really: to go all that way with absolutely no plan whatsoever; to not have a backup ship around to observe; to not spend weeks if not months carefully studying the object before getting close; and so on.
Where I stopped was somewhat after the first episode with the natives, where they fly over a vast empty city, and don't stop, because they wouldn't learn anything. WTF? The author knows they wouldn't learn anything, and anyway he hasn't got any ideas about what they might find in the city; but there is no way they could possibly know that, and not stopping for a look around is both delinquent and speaking of an astonishing lack of curiosity.
There's a contrast to be made with, say, Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, where the sense of mystery sustains interest.
Refs
Tuesday 8 February 2022
House: the cut beam in the loft
Some years ago - let us say in 2003, I forget the exact date; before the building work of 2006, certainly - I wanted to make some useable space in the loft. But the cross-beams were awkward. The roof is rafters over frames, and at both ends and twice in the middle, there is a cross-beam at about waist height, which is the problem. Here is a picture of the remaining middle uncut one (facing approx SW, towards the connected neighbours):
So, after verbal consulation with a structural engineer I bought appropriate construction-grade 2x4 (the same thickness as the existing), built a "door" frame of double construction around the beam, braced at floor and ceiling and... cut out the mid-section. As shown below.
First, a general view. You see behind the uncut beam shown above.
Above you can see that the footing is bolted to the original bottom cross-beam that runs across the width of the house. Below we see the doubled structure clearly, and the bolts.