Ringworld exists - Found by Hubble! 40
Dracul writes: "Niven was a prophet, clearly this object is not a giant hamburger, but rather evidence that Homo Habilis really was Pak!"
FORTUNE'S FUN FACTS TO KNOW AND TELL: A giant panda bear is really a member of the racoon family.
I prefer real burgers (Score:2, Informative)
Re:I prefer real burgers (Score:1)
llooks like (Score:1)
ok
i need to get out more.
Re:llooks like (Score:1)
Not really a ringwold (Score:2, Informative)
Oh, and if I remember the series right, the Pak didn't build the Ringworld, they just found it. (Fawn built it).
Ringworld sequels (Score:1)
Re:Ringworld sequels (Score:1)
It's not as "science-fictiony" as the other two (e.g., no spaceships, etc.).
IIRC, it's just Louis Wu wandering around Ringworld, the story having no real beginning or end, but it's been a while since I read it.
I think that Niven has gotten away from hard scince fiction, and more toward so-called "science fantasy", in his later works, but even his earliest stories contain some elements of fantasy (e.g., the luck of Teela Brown in the original "Ringworld").
Re:Not really a ringwold (Score:1)
Re:Not really a ringwold (Score:1)
Re:Not really a ringwold (Score:1)
And as for the other comment, yes Pak are the ancestors of humans according to Brennan (who may or may not have been right - the Kzinti thought he was)
And no, I didn't think Niven was that obscure...
Hamburger? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:whoa (Score:4, Informative)
Hardly obscure. Larry Niven's "Known Space" future history is one of the most well-known story universes in SF -- and assuming you've at least heard of it is an understandable assumption for a geek site to make.
Ringworld won Nebula and Hugo awards when it was published. Ten years later the massive continuing flow of fan letters and mathematical papers forced Niven to write a sequel, The Ringworld Engineers, also very good. He followed it up some 12-16 years later by publishing The Ringworld Throne which was mostly crap.
The "Ringworld" is a gigantic artifical ring of solid matter constructed around a star, one million miles wide, six hundred million miles long, and several hundred feet thick. The inner surface is habitable (and, of course, fucking gigantic in surface area).
Re:whoa (Score:1)
Encyclopedia of Known Space (Score:1)
Re:whoa (Score:4, Informative)
On a related note, due to the inherent instabilities of a ringworld [alcyone.com], I would suggest looking for signs of jets (or other methods of in-space propulsion) around the peripherary of the disk. That should provide significant evidence as to whether it's really a ringworld, or "just" a belt of dust, as the article indicates.
Re:whoa (Score:2)
Louis Wu is a recuring character in Niven's books. He plays a major role in the Ringworld series, he's seen in various Kzin stories, and he just crops up every now-and-then.
Louis Wu (Score:1)
Re:whoa (Score:1)
OK, he's probably cooler than his genetic father, come to think of it.
Re:whoa (Score:1)
Re:whoa (Score:2)
Re:whoa (Score:1)
Also... (Score:1, Informative)
Not found by Hubble! (Score:2, Informative)
ad server (Score:1, Offtopic)
too bad. space.com is no longer any use to me because of excessive ads.
Re:ad server (Score:2)
Come to think of it, that's probably why the .mil proxy server I sit behind eight hours a day blocks it, too.
Sigh... (Score:1)
Would you refuse to go into a grocery store, just because it was physically located right next to a telemarketing office?
Check out "Astronomy Picture of the Day" (Score:1)
Excuse me! (Score:1)
UH...WAIT A SECOND??
No, it's (Score:1)
SB