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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀

@nyrath@spacey.space

mastodon 4.6.6

Star map and Atomic Rocket geek. The hard-science SF writer's tech support. The website is at
http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/

Refugee from the decline and fall of Google Plus.

In my long and misspent youth I did the artwork for various TTWG such as Ogre, WarpWar, GEV and such.

Fans are Slans

1932 Followers

335 Following

50 Posts

Joined November 19, 2022

Website:

https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/

Posts

Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · May 12, 2026

Replying to @johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz

@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz That sounds like the start of a Steven King novel...

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · May 10, 2026

Replying to @cosmos4u@scicomm.xyz

@cosmos4u@scicomm.xyz Well, that does sound like an accurate prediction...

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · May 07, 2026

Replying to @coreyspowell@mastodon.social

@coreyspowell@mastodon.social Sounds like a sinister and moody place to set a science fiction novel.

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · May 05, 2026

Replying to @SFFMagazineCovers@zirk.us

@SFFMagazineCovers@zirk.us Seabury Quinn is indeed a weird one. His short story "Roads" is a hallucinogenic fever-dream mash-up of Norse mythology, ancient Rome, the nativity, and xmas. https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?65371

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · May 05, 2026

Replying to @astrocampEU@mastodon.social

@astrocampEU Even though it appears that the architect was Dr. Seuss

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · May 04, 2026

Replying to @anja@chaos.social

@anja@chaos.social How do you deserve this? Because you give them unconditional love.

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 29, 2026

Replying to @Leszek_Karlik@circumstances.run

@Leszek_Karlik @ombialik @cstross @isaackuo Aye! Those were the days. Until came Eternal September...

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 29, 2026

Replying to @kelpana@mastodon.ie

@kelpana @hobbs @gsuberland Yes, I think I had the blue Engineer's Mini Notebook, in English. Good times, I learned quite a bit about electronics. And soldering.

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 29, 2026

Replying to @nyrath@spacey.space

@kelpana @hobbs @gsuberland I was quite impressed by how versatile that 555 chip was. Lots of different applications.

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 29, 2026

Replying to @kelpana@mastodon.ie

@kelpana @hobbs @gsuberland I got my copy at Radio Shack. I made the electronic percentile dice by merging several circuits from the book. Otherwise I was a total novice at electronics.

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 29, 2026

Replying to @hobbs@dobbs.town

@hobbs @gsuberland My teenage years as well. I had a blue book with lots of 555 chip circuits. I adapted one to make a digital Dungeons & Dragons percentile dice

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 27, 2026

Replying to @SFFMagazineCovers@zirk.us

@SFFMagazineCovers@zirk.us He is painting the flag pole red, using the can of red paint hanging from his belt.

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 27, 2026

Replying to @cptbutton@dice.camp

@cptbutton@dice.camp @SFFMagazineCovers@zirk.us You are correct, sir. Back in the 1950's it was unclear if space suit gloves were even possible. You need to make the various protective layers thin enough to be able to fit between adjacent fingers. And with miniature constant volume cuffs at each finger joint. Some suit designers took a tip from deep sea diving suits and postulated mechanical pincers instead of gloves.

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 27, 2026

Replying to @Nick_Stevens_graphics@mastodon.art

@Nick_Stevens_graphics https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/commdeck.php#morsecode1

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 25, 2026

Replying to @juanfr@mastodon.social

@juanfr@mastodon.social That headline is far more creepy now than when it first came out.

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 24, 2026

Replying to @mhoye@cosocial.ca

@mhoye I would assume that the fossil fuel industry is screaming their blasted heads off?

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 24, 2026

Replying to @michael_w_busch@mastodon.online

@michael_w_busch @FredKiesche @jdnicoll Not your fault. Ever since I was young anyone who pulled my leg would find it detaching in their hand. If you wanted to know what I was like, just watch a few episodes of "Young Sheldon".

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 23, 2026

Replying to @michael_w_busch@mastodon.online

@michael_w_busch @FredKiesche @jdnicoll That is true, traditionally in scifi the asteroid prospectors used low-thrust engines. But Larry Niven wrote about asteroid prospectors using absurdly powerful fusion rockets capable of one gee acceleration for days. Jerry Pournelle wrote a science fact article called "Those Pesky Belters and Their Torchships", explaining in great detail how ridiculous a one gee fusion torch engine is.

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 23, 2026

Replying to @FredKiesche@dice.camp

@FredKiesche @jdnicoll That Pournelle essay was actually "Those Pesky Belters and their Torchships", but who's counting?

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 22, 2026

Replying to @signalapp@mastodon.world

@signalapp ...despite the app being deleted??!? 🤔 😠

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 19, 2026

Replying to @Crumbee@beige.party

@Crumbee First at Clinton-Sherman AFB in Oklahoma. Then at Loring AFB in Maine.

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 19, 2026

Replying to @Crumbee@beige.party

@Crumbee My father was a navigator on the B-52

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 18, 2026

Replying to @AlZheimer@framapiaf.org

@AlZheimer@framapiaf.org How to brush your cat

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 18, 2026

Replying to @nyrath@spacey.space

@StefanEJones@dice.camp @SFFMagazineCovers@zirk.us And, yes, I had a copy of this book as well. Back in the 1960s

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 18, 2026

Replying to @StefanEJones@dice.camp

@StefanEJones@dice.camp @SFFMagazineCovers@zirk.us Yes, got it in one. It was in one of those Wiley Ley kids books about space exploration. 1958 https://dreamsofspace.blogspot.com/2021/04/space-stations-1958.html

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 17, 2026

Where do I sign up?

https://stories.tamu.edu/news/2026/04/14/scientists-reverse-brain-aging-with-a-nasal-spray

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 17, 2026

Replying to @golgaloth@writing.exchange

@golgaloth IIRC that's the fossil creature which was so weird that paleontologists couldn't decide if it walked with its spines or with its wormy things

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 16, 2026

Replying to @aral@mastodon.ar.al

@aral@mastodon.ar.al "The abolition of armed forces had at once almost doubled the world’s effective wealth, and increased production had done the rest. As a result, it was difficult to compare the standard of living of twenty-first-century man with that of any of his predecessors. Everything was so cheap that the necessities of life were free, provided as a public service by the community, as roads, water, street lighting, and drainage had once been."

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 15, 2026

Replying to @SFFMagazineCovers@zirk.us

@SFFMagazineCovers Back in the 1950's it was unclear if space suit gloves were even possible. You need to make the various protective layers thin enough to be able to fit between adjacent fingers. And with miniature constant volume cuffs at each finger joint. Some suit designers took a tip from deep sea diving suits and postulated mechanical pincers instead of gloves. https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacesuits.php#glove

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 14, 2026

From @evildrganymede@wargamers.social

https://tapas.io/episode/3811341

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 14, 2026

https://thedefender.media/en/2026/02/motor-g-feature-story/

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 13, 2026

Replying to @pomarede@mastodon.social

@pomarede Yeah. But I want to see the heat shield...

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 08, 2026

Replying to @Npars01@mstdn.social

@Npars01 @Lynnd "Why is the murder of historians & destruction of their work so critical to the powerful in the prelude to war?" Just like you said: "Something, something controls the past controls the future: something something controls the present controls the past. "

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 02, 2026

Replying to @vintagefantasyart@mastodon.social

@vintagefantasyart@mastodon.social I love the flapper with the pistol, right next to the night-gaunt

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 01, 2026

Replying to @si_fuller@aus.social

@si_fuller

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Apr 01, 2026

Replying to @si_fuller@aus.social

@si_fuller Yes, Space Knights. NASA was also looking into that. Read about King Henry's space suit https://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/spacesuits.php#henrysuit

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Mar 31, 2026

https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/03/after-16-years-and-8-billion-the-militarys-new-gps-software-still-doesnt-work/

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Mar 27, 2026

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Mar 25, 2026

Replying to @pauldrye@spacey.space

@pauldrye@spacey.space @GIFS_of_Puppets@ohai.social I am Not 100% sure I saw this in the Ed Sullivan show. But I do remember the monster screaming "oh NOOO!!!" before exploding.

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Mar 25, 2026

Replying to @GIFS_of_Puppets@ohai.social

@GIFS_of_Puppets@ohai.social I remember seeing that Muppet clip on the Ed Sullivan show when I was a child. The machine keeps explaining it's features as the monster dimembers and eats it. When it is all consumed, you can still faintly hear it talking. That's when the monster, to it's horror, learns that the machine is a bomb. Which blows up...

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Mar 24, 2026

Replying to @TheBreadmonkey@beige.party

@TheBreadmonkey@beige.party Sounds like the start of the Butlerian Jihad

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Mar 23, 2026

Replying to @Ann_Effes@berlin.social

@Ann_Effes@berlin.social @pomarede@mastodon.social Ah! I stand corrected. It didn't occur to me that they would optimize to a specific number of years, instead of "infinity". Obvious in hindsight.

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Mar 23, 2026

Replying to @pomarede@mastodon.social

@pomarede@mastodon.social Someone was a bit optimistic in their estimation of wheel durability

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Mar 23, 2026

"And both stories"
(The Martian, Project Hail Mary)
"posit that for anyone stranded under these conditions, the most important assets are accumulated knowledge, patience, curiosity, and the understanding that you need collaborators. Not magic, not muscle, not weapons, not even bravery, really. Just this: Know your stuff. Stay calm. Solve one problem at a time. Get help."

https://www.npr.org/2026/03/20/nx-s1-5738164/project-hail-mary-review-ryan-gosling

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Mar 18, 2026

Replying to @selfsame@tiny.tilde.website

@selfsame@tiny.tilde.website Oh! Isn't his cute little head the most ridiculous thing you've ever seen?

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Mar 10, 2026

Replying to @jdnicoll@wandering.shop

@jdnicoll And of course hard bitten science fiction fans know what other work was based on Shakespeare's The Tempest

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Mar 09, 2026

Replying to @Cadbury_Moose@wandering.shop

@Cadbury_Moose @dymaxion @notsle I would watch that movie

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Mar 06, 2026

Replying to @Haste@mastodon.social

@Haste Well, I'm so ancient that my website lacks all those technologies because they didn't exist back then.

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Mar 04, 2026

https://strangehorizons.com/wordpress/non-fiction/why-all-science-fiction-and-fantasy-writers-are-historians/

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Winchell Chung ⚛🚀 @nyrath@spacey.space · Mar 03, 2026

Replying to @xs4me2@mastodon.social

@xs4me2@mastodon.social @SnoopJ@hachyderm.io

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