01/06/21 – Burn It

Spacetrawler, audio version For the blind or visually impaired, January 6, 2021.

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2021-01-06-spacetrawler3

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The best way to deal with paperwork.

22 Comments

  1. MaximumCarnage

    Fortunately, where paperwork is concerned, the waste bin is still technically an ‘out box’. Though admittedly it’s a bit difficult to keep ash particulate in an orderly sequence.

    I suppose this is what it means to put a document in ‘File 13’.

  2. FlySwatter

    I can’t wait to see the payoff when one of her suit defense systems actually does save her (probably in a way it wasn’t designed to). But until then, I’m going to enjoy watching them all backfire.

  3. Muzhik

    Problem is (and I know I’m being a grinch about this), paper fires, i.e., fires involving stacks of papers as in books or reams, don’t burn that way. They are usually slow-burning fires (unless they’re dosed with an accelerent). I learned this while doing research on using newspaper as an insulating material in exterior walls. It’s actually a pretty good insulator (I’d have to dig up my notes to remember it’s “r” value) provided you soak or cover the paper in a borax solution as a fire retardant.

    Part of the text involved warnings re: fire, specifically to tell fire departments to treat it as a library fire. The outer edges (where there’s oxygen) will burn with flame, but in the center of the pile (where there’s little to no oxygen), the fire sort of slowly eats its way through the pages. You’d have cases where after battling the fire for hours, the firefighters think it’s done; go back to the station, then get called back out two hours later when the flames start up again. You have to soak the entire stack in water to make sure those “core” fires are put out.

    1. Havlock

      Bear in mind that he shot it with a “Laser” which in this universe does not leave little holes in the target but we’ve seen completely discombobulates living creatures. I don’t think that’s a normal fire is what I’m getting at.

    2. Gregg Eshelman

      In other words, like getting flour or grain dust to explode, a massive pile of neatly and tightly stacked paper needs something to disperse it really well in order for oxygen to be able to get to all the pieces.

      Anyone have a 0.005 kiloton warhead handy?

  4. Meran

    Chris, there’s an error on this page, panel 2: the what we can we do about it… (not a perfect transcript of it. Scrolling the phone is bothering me right now. Arthritis is acting up. )

    And I have a question for you: I’m reading the books, keeping track of the (very few) errors. Would you like me to send you the full list once I finish it? I’d be glad to send it to your email account, rather than post it here. It’s for the Just In Case You End Up Doing Reprints occasion. I’ve clicked on the email notification button for this post so I see your response.

    Thanks so much for the diversion of your (actually more complicated plot that it seems) comic. Each week it’s amazing how much more crap hits the fan, politically, socially, and medically. I’ve been pretty tough thru these last 4 yrs, but I’m not sure how much longer I can just brush off this “interesting social experiment” I predicted 4 years ago. YOU are one of those who have helped keep us sane.

    Thank you.

    PS. When is the next book going to “happen”?

  5. DSL

    One would think that a suit capable of sudden acceleration would have a provision for deceleration and soft(ish) landing. Unless it has a capacitor that needs to recharge or something. It’s a bit of realism if the tech has limitatons.

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