Hellwhips (was Re: Questions on the Hyperions)
Jeff Youngstrom
>In article <ERICH.94N...@hrl8.cs.tamu.edu> er...@hrl8.cs.tamu.edu (Erich Schneider) writes:
>>>2. How does a hellwhip differ from your garden variety laser?
>>I assumed "hellwhip" to be a word formed from the phrase "High Energy
>>Laser Weapon" (HELWeap). I doubt it's any different from a "garden
>>variety" laser, and I don't recall Simmons making any distinction.
>I thought this too, but there is a section in The Fall of Hyperion which
>mentions `laser and hellwhip beams` (I can`t remember where this is: maybe
>when Kassad witnesses the Ouster invasion with Moneta).
Well, I have no basis in the text of the Hyperion Cantos for
crossposting this to rec.juggling, but a recent thread there
would appear to have some bearing...
In the "Laser Balls" thread in rec.juggling, someone was
raving about juggling balls which emanated four-foot-long
laser beams. The "laser beams" in question were quickly
determined to be LEDs, but not before someone made the
observation (perhaps in jest) that a laser could be tuned
to focus at a given distance from its projector causing a
plasma discharge at the focus point. (That would be bad.)
Anyway, I can't think of any more appropriate name for a
weapon based on such technology than "hellwhip".
jeffy
.sig hoping no one will tell Andrew Conway about these,
or we'll NEVER get any sleep in the gym.
--
Jeffrey Youngstrom (je...@netcom.com)
"It's a joyless existence, being smushed." - Larry Wall
Andrew John Conway
je...@netcom.com (Jeff Youngstrom) wrote:
>.sig hoping no one will tell Andrew Conway about these,
>or we'll NEVER get any sleep in the gym.
Actually I wasn't the person cracking the whip in the gym late at night. I
was outside in the lobby guarding the entrance to the bathrooms.
Andrew
con...@bdt.com
.sig thinks juggling conventions are far more interesting than sf
conventions.