17776 Thoughts

17776: What Football Will Be Like in the Future is the new hotness all the kids these days are jiving about and this is my place to talk about it.

[deceptifunk]

i bought lunchables to celebrate ^_^

[chilipepperconverse]

posts i can only make today

[druid-for-hire]

There's this sort of anthropomorphizing that inherently happens in language that really gets me sometimes. I'm still not over the terminology of "gravity assist," the technique where we launch satellites into the orbit of other planets so that we can build momentum via the astounding and literally astronomical strength of their gravitational forces, to "slingshot" them into the direction we need with a speed that we could never, ever, ever create ourselves. I mean, some of these slingshots easily get probes hurtling through space at tens of thousands of miles per hour. Wikipedia has a handy diagram of the Voyager 1 satellite doing such a thing.

"Gravity assist." "Slingshot." Of course, on a very basic and objective level, yes, we are taking advantage of forces generated by outside objects to specifically help in our goals. We're getting help from objects in the same way a river can power a mill. And of course we call it a "slingshot," because the motion is very similar (mentally at least; I can't be sure about the exact physics).

Plus, especially compared to the other sciences, the terminology for astrophysics is like, really straightforward. "Black hole?" Damn yeah it sure is. "Big bang?" It sure was. "Galactic cluster?" Buddy you're never gonna guess what this is. I think it's an effect of the fact that language is generally developed for life on earth and all the strange variances that happen on its surface, that applying it to something as alien and vast as space, general terms tend to suffice very well in a lot more places than, like... idk, botany.

But, like. "Gravity assist." I still can't get the notion out of my head that such language implies us receiving active help from our celestial neighbors. They come to our aid. We are working together. We are assisted. Jupiter and the other planets saw our little messengers coming from its pale blue molecular cousin, and we set up the physics just right, so that they could help us send them out to far stranger places than this, to tell us all about what they find out there.

We are assisted.

And there is no better way to illustrate my feelings on the matter than to just show you guys one of my favorite paintings, this 1973 NASA art by Rick Guidice to show the Pioneer probe doing this exact thing:

"... You, sent out beyond your recall, go to the limits of your longing. Embody me. ..."

Gravity assist.

[dreamsrunfaster]

being a 17776 fan feels like chewing drywall. guys. guys this story ostensibly about american football changed me. no guys you should read it - well when I say read I mean experience it really - no no it's online it's free - no it won't break your computer this is normal it's okay i promise it's not even really about football. well no actually it's about satellites. yeah the Jupiter Explorer is in it and they're a little shit. yeah no the gender binary doesn't exist in 17776. yes i meant 17776 not 1776. it's not even really about satellites. it is though. please i am begging you read this it changed me.

[juiceshampuck]

Happy JUICE launch day

[juiceshampuck]

don't. don't do this

The price of freedom

[weaponwifer]

[citizen-card-deactivated2025031]

you know who

[juiceshampuck]

Happy JUICE launch day

[juiceshampuck]

1 year of JUICE

[janmisali]

is "What football will look like in the future: 17776: An American Football Story" a webcomic?

yeah it's a webcomic

no it is not a webcomic

I don't know what that is

I know what that is but I don't know if it's a webcomic

it's complicated

[show results]

Voting ended onDec 5, 2023

[juiceshampuck]

[landmineblogging]

i wanted to do something productive today like work on a new song but as it turns out i'm gonna sit in a beanbag chair with a stack of lunchables and look at art of gay people until my brain ceases functioning

[juiceshampuck]

JUICE approved

[souperluminal]

05.01 - The Ancient Blade

[nightbringer117]

[juiceshampuck]

Happy JUICE launch day

[calware]

JUICE GETS LAUNCHED ON 4/13??? YOU MEAN THE SATELLITE THAT INSPIRED THE CHARACTER FROM THE STORY EVERYONE COMPARES TO HOMESTUCK GETS LAUNCHED ON HOMESTUCK DAY????? HELLO?????

[juiceshampuck]

[the-sarcastic-sorcerer]

[nebulations]

[ID: Red-toned art of Pioneer 9 with an arrow labeling them as "full of dumbass questions." End ID]

[skaiansatellites]

love those funky lil satellites