Semi-OT: A General Tech Question Thread for me :)

[Slick]

Thanks for backing up my calcs, Kamog. Here's a real geeky approximation an old physics prof told me 20+ years ago and somehow I still remember it:

a pretty good approximation of the number of seconds in a year = pi x 10E7

I use this for "quick & dirty" approximations. Frequently the pi cancels out with something else and people wonder how I can do that kind of math in my head.

I don't know why I remember that one and still use it till today even though it makes no real sense that pi has anything to do with units of time, but it just works out that way and somehow my brain finds it easy to remember those kinds of silly numbers.

[dogscoff]

The infantry vs orbital bombardment debate reminds me of a very interesting article written by Iain M Banks about his Culture novels.

Here an extract:

The thought processes of a tribe, a clan, a country or a nation-state are essentially two-dimensional, and the nature of their power depends on the same flatness. Territory is all-important; resources, living-space, lines of communication; all are determined by the nature of the plane (that the plane is in fact a sphere is irrelevant here); that surface, and the fact the species concerned are bound to it during their evolution, determines the mind-set of a ground-living species. The mind-set of an aquatic or avian species is, of course, rather different.

Essentially, the contention is that our currently dominant power systems cannot long survive in space;

And here's the URL: http://www.vavatch.co.uk/books/banks/cultnote.htm