# As the Whorl Turns *The Urth list — 6 messages, 6 voices, 26 Jan 2009* > Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright > in each message remains with the person who wrote it. > Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original > archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than > retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact. --- ### John Smith *26 Jan 2009, 16:07* Does anybody know which way the Whorl turns? I had assumed that if you viewed the Whorl from outside looking toward its front, it would turn clockwise. — But it could just as easily be turning counterclockwise. — Any evidence in the books? Best wishes, Jack --- ### Craig Brewer *26 Jan 2009, 19:42 · in reply to John Smith* I don't have the books with me, but when Silk first looks out of a lander in Lake and sees the short sun rising, are there any tidbits there? ________________________________ From: John Smith To: urth at urth.net Sent: Monday, January 26, 2009 10:07:06 AM Subject: (urth) As the Whorl Turns Does anybody know which way the Whorl turns? I had assumed that if you viewed the Whorl from outside looking toward its front, it would turn clockwise. But it could just as easily be turning counterclockwise. Any evidence in the books? Best wishes, Jack --- ### Jordon Flato *27 Jan 2009, 00:48 · in reply to Craig Brewer* "looked across a benighted plain of naked rock." "The somber plain was pitted like the cheeks of a child who had survived the pox, and far more parren tha tne sheer clifss of the Pilgrims' Way; no tree, no flower, no least wed or dot of moss sprouted from its rock." "The plain of rock had blanched unwatfched, and was streaked with sable...." So, we have a plain of benighted rock which is pitted like a pox survivor. Sounds like an asteroid to me. --- ### Jeff Wilson *27 Jan 2009, 18:01 · in reply to Jordon Flato* > Jordon Flato wrote: > "looked across a benighted plain of naked rock." > > "The somber plain was pitted like the cheeks of a child who had survived > the pox, and far more parren tha tne sheer clifss of the Pilgrims' Way; > no tree, no flower, no least wed or dot of moss sprouted from its rock." > > "The plain of rock had blanched unwatfched, and was streaked with sable...." > > > > So, we have a plain of benighted rock which is pitted like a pox > survivor. Sounds like an asteroid to me. This indicates the original asteroid was massive enough to flatten gross irregularities into a plainlike smoothness, and of a sufficient scale for its spheroidal curvature to look like a plain at Silk's distance from it. This also means that the outer surface is probably the original, ruling out the Cole process (melt the asteroid with solar mirrors, then expand it into a bubble with steam) The "sheer cliffs of the Pilgrims' Way" is also informative about the interior geography. Oh, and I found some classic illustrations of asteroid habitats, complete with axial light sources and unshadowed interiors. http://www.fabiofeminofantascience.org/RETROFUTURE/cole1small.jpg http://www.fabiofeminofantascience.org/RETROFUTURE/coleanalog.jpg ``` Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com < http://www.io.com/~jwilson > ``` --- ### Stuart Hamm *27 Jan 2009, 18:06 · in reply to Jeff Wilson* Love the space age tractor..I want one!! ???? Mobile — (415) 786-3624 ???? Skype? stuart.hamm myspace.com/stuhamm ? ??? stuarthamm.net --- On Tue, 1/27/09, Jeff Wilson wrote: From: Jeff Wilson Subject: Re: (urth) As the Whorl Turns To: "The Urth Mailing List" Date: Tuesday, January 27, 2009, 10:01 AM > Jordon Flato wrote: > "looked across a benighted plain of naked rock." > > "The somber plain was pitted like the cheeks of a child who had > survived the pox, and far more parren tha tne sheer clifss of the Pilgrims' Way; no tree, no flower, no least wed or dot of moss sprouted from its rock." > "The plain of rock had blanched unwatfched, and was streaked with > sable...." > > > > So, we have a plain of benighted rock which is pitted like a pox survivor. Sounds like an asteroid to me. This indicates the original asteroid was massive enough to flatten gross irregularities into a plainlike smoothness, and of a sufficient scale for its spheroidal curvature to look like a plain at Silk's distance from it. This also means that the outer surface is probably the original, ruling out the Cole process (melt the asteroid with solar mirrors, then expand it into a bubble with steam) The "sheer cliffs of the Pilgrims' Way" is also informative about the interior geography. Oh, and I found some classic illustrations of asteroid habitats, complete with axial light sources and unshadowed interiors. http://www.fabiofeminofantascience.org/RETROFUTURE/cole1small.jpg http://www.fabiofeminofantascience.org/RETROFUTURE/coleanalog.jpg -- Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com < http://www.io.com/~jwilson > --- ### Jeffrey Brent McBeth *27 Jan 2009, 19:18 · in reply to Jeff Wilson* > On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 12:01:06PM -0600, Jeff Wilson wrote: > > This indicates the original asteroid was massive enough to flatten gross > irregularities into a plainlike smoothness, and of a sufficient scale > for its spheroidal curvature to look like a plain at Silk's distance > from it. You should be able to get a reasonable estimate of the interior cross-section of the asteroid from the fire descriptions in BotSS Jeff ``` ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- "The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them." -- Mark Twain ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ``` ---