We took the train toward Saltsjöbaden, but got off at Fisksätra (Swedish). This looked, on the map, as if it might be an interesting place – unfortunately it isn’t as welcoming as we had hoped. Still the island was not so bad as the concrete centre on the other side of the railway.
[Audiobook]
Ignition! An Informal History of Liquid Rocket Propellants by John Drury Clark
While the author describes this as an informal history and claims to write for a general audience, I found this was stretching my, admittedly somewhat rusty, O-level chemistry knowledge – his idea of the level of education of ordinary people may show some misalignment.
That said, there is plenty of fun to be had in this book, following the development of different potential fuels, their advantages and dangers, with plenty of unexpected explosions, or ‘hard starts’, along the way.
I had naively assumed that all rockets were powered by hydrogen peroxide, it being obviously chemically easy and with harmless waste products. It is true that it is used for some rockets, but there are many other choices, broadly of two types, fuel and oxidiser, and monopropellant. Where a fuel and oxidiser are used a hypergolic (self-igniting) mixture can do away with the need for an ignition system.
When I hear about people spending three or four years developing a rocket fuel I start to feel less bad about spending a few weeks on my automations – I know there is a lot of work involved in getting the depth of understanding of chemicals needed to use them safely and reliably as rocket fuels, but I’m pretty sure my brain couldn’t focus for that length of time on a single subject.
In summary, this is rocket science, and if you come out of it with all your limbs intact you probably didn’t push the boundaries far enough.
Having spent quite a lot of time wandering around Gamla Stan, I was surprised to discover a rune stone I’ve not noticed before.
On our way to the Synth picnic we found a couple of interesting sights.
Across the water from Hammerby Sjö is Luma Park, old home of the North European Luma Cooperatives Lamp Factory designed by Artur von Schmalensee (links both in Swedish).
A. standing by the Thai Boat at Hammerby Sluss.
Walking down to Hammerby Sluss for another wander around we found some old cars.
To the west of Gamla Stan is the palace island of Riddarholmen.
Between Gamla Stan and the City Centre is the small palace island of Helgeandsholmen.
[Read aloud to Adelle]
Virtual Light by William Gibson
I’m really enjoying rereading Gibsons works, this one doesn’t have quite the same ground breaking feel as Neuromancer. It is set in in a similar dystopia where society has fractured with the extinction of the middle class. The poor get by living in shanty towns built on the ruins of infrastructure destroyed by earthquakes while the rich have control over everything that matters.
The story here is quite linear and not nearly as densely packed as some of his other works – which makes it an easier read. It follows the story of the theft of some glasses and the attempts of some interested parties to reacquire them.
The world it is set in happens to be a future world, but there is nothing about the story that need be set in the future, and certainly most of the technologies are now available in some guise or another, if not the earthquake torn infrastructure. That said, the future world is one of the things that appeals to me, getting lost in a world somewhat like a potential future, and the further into that future we get the more a sense of alternate there is, we are looking sideways at another timeline, not forward to a potential one.
Would I recommend this book? Yes, of course I would.