Greetings to planet Earth

[mentor]

my nick is Mentor, not because I am a Mentor, but taken from an old E.E.Doc Smith story, someone I was at school with tried to insult me by saying my brain would be more use pickled and stored in a jar, I was reading the Lensmen series at the time, the super-intelligence that was helping civilisation to thrive was seen by the First Lensman when he visited Arisia as being a huge brain in a jar of nutrient solution, so the "Insult" amused me, since from that perspective he was claiming I was super-intelligent, I kept the nick during the CB radio years, and carried it onto the Internet when that arrived.

 

in the real world I am an engineer who works on exotic- one off- machinery, in my time off I play with computers, telescopes, books, electronics and remote control model aircraft/cars

 

my interests are everything, my only regrets are a need to sleep every day and they only have 24 hours in each day, plus the inevitable mortality thing that will one day get in the way of my fun

 

my other main regret is that the space race didn`t continue, when I was younger I thought by now I would be crewing a spaceliner to Mars or working as researcher in the rings of Saturn, the reality seems incredibly boring and trivial compared to O` Neil colonies, outer system hotels, orbital starship docks and colony ships heading for the nearer stars that I grew up reading about as "the next step"

 

hope anyone reading this is still awake, cheers.

 

edit due to missing word

[pamela]

nothing sleepy about that post

welcome to hypography, mentor!!

[arkain101]

Well written introduction. I should actually add one myself, regardless if I am new or have been around.

 

What type of "exotic- one off- machinery"? What does that mean?

 

Welcome!

 

For me this place is a lot of things. From Enterainment to my source of free eductation untill I am able to attend a real college or uni.

[lemit]

my other main regret is that the space race didn`t continue, when I was younger I thought by now I would be crewing a spaceliner to Mars or working as researcher in the rings of Saturn, the reality seems incredibly boring and trivial compared to O` Neil colonies, outer system hotels, orbital starship docks and colony ships heading for the nearer stars that I grew up reading about as "the next step"

 

I think that makes you a fully qualified future-studies expert. Unlike them, though, you seem to have outgrown that kind of thinking. It is interesting how slowly progress moves, except in ways we ever would have thought. For example, one of the sure signs of science fiction when I was growing up was fully automatic doors. Another was lasers. Those were much less likely than inter-galactic exploration, for some reason.

 

Before I get into a full narrative, welcome! And what is one-off engineering, besides the name of a company?

 

--lemit

[mentor]

AH! exotic engineering, you would ask that...stripped away my air of mystery in a flash, LOL, well, it is exotic in more sense than one, I help make new and refurbished fairground machinery, you know?, roller coasters, gallopers, waltzers, big wheels, cyclones and kiddie rides, it combines exotic (often one off) machinery with exotic art, all man rated, super safe and designed to run at high G`s, so its got a few bits of my promised future in it, sadly I doubt any aerospace company could make use of me (except maybe for making the ISS`s gravity wheel or something :evil: )

[lemit]

So . . .

 

You work for the company One Off Engineering?

 

Just curious.

 

--lemit

[mentor]

nope!, I worked for an engineering firm in England, now I work for a company that subcontracts to them, both companies make fairground rides and fairings/controls, since they are small firms it would be easy to find out who I am in the real (analogue) world, so that`s all I am going to say.

 

addendum

I am using the term "one off engineering" in the sense that most stuff is heavily customised and hence a "one off", there is often only one of any specific ride made although they may all look similar, they vary according to the needs of the buyer (custom built and not cheap...buyer gets a lot of say in what they want).

 

for example a speedway made for internal use (covered park) could well be smaller in diameter than normal (space at a premium), plus running wheels will be rubberised, sound deadening on panels etc, rubber wheels are less energy efficient than steel (which is noisy but free running) so power supplies and motors will be larger etc, hence its a "one off", we generally only make one of any specific ride, they all vary.