Richard V. Rupp

October 11, 2021

Good Monday morning. I'm author Richard V. Rupp, writing from Burbank, California. Welcome to RUPP'S NOTES/FBI SPECIAL AGENT HARTMAN SERIES posts.

 

Happy Columbus Day! AND, please celebrate and understand the reason for Indigenous Peoples' Day! I know why Columbus and his day have become another polarizing issue in today's culture. But, I was brought up celebrating his discovery of America. I understand the reason for the controversy and that this early explorer and his followers persecuted the indigenous people. We can't change the past, but all that now live in this beautiful land need to work toward harmony and equality.

 

To my many Canadian friends, Happy Thanksgiving!!!

 

Three recent quotes in the news have caught my attention.

 

The first is one from Frances Haugen, the former Facebook employee who stated in her Congressional testimony that "it's easier to inspire people to anger than it is to other emotions." The quote did not surprise me as it's the same preception long repeated about the news media. Facebook determined that they could get more attention and make more money from angry people than happy ones. Therefore they became, for the most part, the bearer of bad news because bad news gets a higher rating than good news, and it sells more papers or gets more viewers.

 

In my novel SKYWARD, the decision is made by the "Clique" who built and run the Bowman Moon Colony to isolate its occupants from the Earth's Press. Sites like Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, Pinterest are not made available. These decisions were made to help maintain the cooperative social structure needed for the good of all.

 

The next quote is from the WALL STREET JOURNAL from an old-school Mafiosi who complained that younger mobsters are "soft" and spend too much time texting. "Everything is on the phones with them," said a former member of the Colombo crime family. I assume this is also true for the street/drug gangs, which have pretty much replaced the Mafiosi. I need to consider this in my character descriptions and action scenes in my future crime novels.

 

The third quote, "The human imagination cannot be programmed by a computer. Our imagination is our greatest hope for survival," is by Artist Keith Haring in ARTSY.NET. I have to remember this one when I'm writing about "Sky," the master computer that controls the Bowman Colony on the Moon in my novel SKYWARD. I can only hope Mr. Haring is right.

 

I seem to be at odds with many other dreamers who want to build a moon colony. Many seem to prefer round buildings on the Moon, arguing that they are stronger than square ones and that a  circular plan encloses the maximum area for the minimum amount of wall.

 

As the Moon has gravity at 7/40 that on Earth (200 pounds on Earth, you will weigh 34 pounds on the Moon) and there is no wind, I have decided in my novel SKYWARD that the Bowman Colony will have linear instead of rounded buildings. Box-shaped buildings are easier to build and more practical to utilize. Furniture is one of the most important ways we interact within a structure. We might "live in the house," but that's really a compilation of smaller tasks - "sleeping on the bed," "using a computer at the desk," "cooking on the stove," "washing up in the sink," and "storing things on a linear shelf."

 

Speaking of furniture. In the design phase of the Bowman Colony, the decision is made early to always use the U.S. Navy KISS method of design developed in 1960 (i.e., keep it simple, stupid -  with the belief that most systems work best if they are kept simple rather than made complicated; therefore, simplicity should be a key goal in design, and unnecessary complexity should be avoided). Based on this, a young STEM techie working on the Skyward Project suggests using IKEA furniture exclusively. She argues it's practical, it's already compactly packaged, there are numerous items available, and it's relatively easy to assemble. After her unit visits an IKEA store, they agree with her suggestion. However, to reduce the weight of the IKEA products, an agreement is made with them that the Skyward Project will pay for special production runs that change the particleboard and medium density fiberboard used to specially manufactured lightweight plastic panels. In writing SKYWARD, I have fun with the IKEA products and their assembly in my novel.

 

Now I have all these square and rectangular boxes of IKEA furniture to ship to the Moon. And, I round rockets and square shipping containers. More on this next time.  

 

Have a great week!

 

Cheers,

 

Richard V. Rupp, Author

Website – www.richardvrupp.com

Email – rupprisk@gmail.com

Copyright©2021 by Richard V. Rupp