http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/steely-eyed_missile_man

How is this not already a song title? (I fully expect that it is in the UF universe. Maybe by Minmei and the Marauders.)

>http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/steely-eyed_missile_man
>
>How is this not already a song title? (I fully expect that it is in
>the UF universe. Maybe by Minmei and the Marauders.)

Well, by an odd coincidence...

(NOTE: Both of those posts have non-ASCII characters in them predating the Forum's switch to UTF-8 text encoding. If they give you a problem, just switch your browser to ISO-8859-1 for a minute.)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Ha! I'd missed that, somehow. Well played, sir.

(This was prompted by the excellent novel entitled "The Martian" by Andy Weir, which is available as a Kindle eBook and has blurbs from a variety of luminaries, including some guy named Chris Hadfield. It's the story of an unlucky astronaut who is marooned on Mars and has to wait for several years for rescue, McGuyvering his way to survival (and thus victory) on wit, cleverness and engineering know-how. It's extremely crunchy-hard SF; you're walked through the Cold Equations of Survival in many occasions, and yet it's both a witty and triumphant celebration of engineering know-how and can-do astronaut capability. Strongly recommended; I devoured it in one sitting).

LAST EDITED ON Mar-18-14 AT 00:59 AM (EDT)
 
>(This was prompted by the excellent novel entitled "The Martian" by
>Andy Weir, which is available as a Kindle eBook and has blurbs from a
>variety of luminaries, including some guy named Chris Hadfield. It's
>the story of an unlucky astronaut who is marooned on Mars and has to
>wait for several years for rescue, McGuyvering his way to survival
>(and thus victory) on wit, cleverness and engineering know-how. It's
>extremely crunchy-hard SF; you're walked through the Cold Equations of
>Survival in many occasions, and yet it's both a witty and triumphant
>celebration of engineering know-how and can-do astronaut capability.
>Strongly recommended; I devoured it in one sitting).

Hmm. You're like the fourth person I've seen in the last four days go "OMG The Martian." I'll be frank, it doesn't really sound like my cup of tea, but I strive not to grudge well-made things that aren't, and it sounds like the author is kind of livin' the dream with the buzz it's getting right now, so good on him.

That said, "The Cold Equations" itself can suck an entire bag of [REDACTED]. I wish I could find a neurosurgeon skillful enough to remove any knowledge of it from my brain, except then I wouldn't remember how hateful and stupid it is and probably accidentally read it again someday, and then I'd be out all that money and have a permanent rectangular bald spot for nothing.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

I totally get what you're saying about "The Cold Equations" needing to suck it, and I agree.

By mentioning them I was just trying to convey that they were *Thought About*.

The story itself is almost UF-ian in its proportions because engineering and astronaut nobility triumph over NASA bureaucracy and international relations to bring the main character home. It's a genuinely fun, suspenseful-yet-lighthearted read. I honestly think you will enjoy it.

>I totally get what you're saying about "The Cold Equations" needing to
>suck it, and I agree.
>
>By mentioning them I was just trying to convey that they were *Thought
>About*.

Oh, I figured as much. I just saw the phrase and the pink mist descended. :)

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Every time I reread The Cold Equations (there are reasons for doing this, don't judge) I do so with the female character in Tali's voice.

It makes it so much worse.

>Every time I reread The Cold Equations (there are reasons for doing
>this, don't judge) I do so with the female character in Tali's voice.
>
>It makes it so much worse.

I was about to get very irate with you over infecting me with that mental image. Then I realized just how Tali'Zorah would deal with that bullshit. Engineering and Shotgun. Not necessarily in that order.

Matrix Dragon, J. Random Nutter

That is a very good point!

>Hmm. You're like the fourth person I've seen in the last four days go
>"OMG The Martian." I'll be frank, it doesn't really sound like
>my cup of tea, but I strive not to grudge well-made things that
>aren't, and it sounds like the author is kind of livin' the dream with
>the buzz it's getting right now, so good on him.

Count me as the fifth one, then, because OMG The Martian.

I may do a Random Book Review of it. It's pretty sweet.

-Merc
Keep Rat

>Count me as the fifth one, then, because OMG The Martian.

Shit. I agree with Merc on something.

--
-Pasha
"Don't change the subject"
"Too slow, already did."

>
>>Count me as the fifth one, then, because OMG The Martian.
>
>Shit. I agree with Merc on something.

"Don't feel too bad, my boy. It happens to all of us."

Offsides

[...] in order to be a realist you must believe in miracles.
-- David Ben Gurion
EPU RCW #π
#include <stdsig.h>

>That said, "The Cold Equations" itself can suck an entire bag of
>[REDACTED]. I wish I could find a neurosurgeon skillful
>enough to remove any knowledge of it from my brain, except then I
>wouldn't remember how hateful and stupid it is and probably
>accidentally read it again someday, and then I'd be out all that money
>and have a permanent rectangular bald spot for nothing.

You could almost think of this as the antithesis of that story, actually. a) Dude has enough margin of error that he can at least give survival a shot. b) everyone (and I mean EVERYONE) is all "how do we save this guy?"

And the line in question is delivered kind of perfectly.

--
-Pasha
"Houston, be advised..."

>...an unlucky astronaut...McGuyvering his way to survival...

He builds a suit of Bio-Booster Armor from random scrap?

Peter Eng
--
Yes, I know what you meant, but I can't resist the joke.

>>...an unlucky astronaut...McGuyvering his way to survival...
>
>He builds a suit of Bio-Booster Armor from random scrap?

... in a CAVE with a BOX of.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

Are you being sarcastic or are you honestly not familiar with Chris Hadfield? (sarcasm rarely translates well to text)

>Are you being sarcastic or are you honestly not familiar with Chris
>Hadfield? (sarcasm rarely translates well to text)

Sarcasm. If I didn't know who Chris Hadfield was, I probably wouldn't have mentioned it.