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WINTER WRAP-UP!
[Good morning, Paradisa! You know what today is. That's right, it's WINTER WRAP-UP!!! Now that you've gotten your note about your task -- put on your coats, scarves, and gloves, and get to work!]
CASTLE SHOVELING | CLOUD MOVING | WILDLIFE AWAKENING | PUTTING OUT THE FIRES | ICE SCORING | CASTLE SEED PLANTING | BIRD DIRECTING | BIRD NESTS | TOWER CLEANING | CITY STREET PLOWING | CITY FOOD PLANTING | ORGANIZATION TEAM
[ooc: Comment away, Paradisians! You can reach me if you have any questions via email (cupcakesasuke @ gmail) or aim (terraqueousorb)! All teams are listed here ; if you need your character placed into a section still please contact me/comment there. ]
CASTLE SHOVELING | CLOUD MOVING | WILDLIFE AWAKENING | PUTTING OUT THE FIRES | ICE SCORING | CASTLE SEED PLANTING | BIRD DIRECTING | BIRD NESTS | TOWER CLEANING | CITY STREET PLOWING | CITY FOOD PLANTING | ORGANIZATION TEAM
[ooc: Comment away, Paradisians! You can reach me if you have any questions via email (cupcakesasuke @ gmail) or aim (terraqueousorb)! All teams are listed here ; if you need your character placed into a section still please contact me/comment there. ]
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[He flies himself over to the cloud, and tentatively puts his hand against it. Rather than passing immediately through it like he was expecting, Huey encounters a strange resistance, allowing him to push it with his hands. It felt like he was grabbing air, but there was just enough substance to it where he could move and shape it like it was made out of something heavier than a cough.]
Wow! This is really something! You guys can do this sort of thing all the time?
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Yes. Pegasus ponies have built entire cities out of clouds.
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[Then again, none of this should be possible. Though he's still struggling with trying to rationalize everything he's seeing and doing, he's enjoying himself far too much to try and think about it too hard right now.]
So for this...we just push all the clouds out of the way, so the sun can shine down? Sounds easy enough.
[Though he's awkward and ungainly at it, Huey knows enough about flight to start gaining some altitude, to get up to the level of the clouds, examining them and his hands even as he starts gathering them together, and pushing them away.]
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By melting it, we help the teams in charge of clearing the snow.
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Makes sense to me. There's less to deal with, and the melting snow helps to rehydrate the soil so flowers and grass can grow again. To be honest, I'll be glad to be rid of all the snow. It's not that I hate winter or anything, it's just that my wheelchair doesn't do well in the snow, so I can't go outside much.
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Winter does tend to have that effect on poni - people.
[hm] Are there no healers here?
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[Huey smiles. He's going to have to get used to people asking him this.]
Oh...uhh...I was born this way. My father was involved in the Manhattan Project. It was a...uhh...a special project dedicated to creating the most powerful weapon in my world. He was exposed to dangerous levels of toxic radiation, and as a result, when I was born I was unable to walk. Even if it were possible to repair the damage to my spinal cord, I wouldn't be able to walk. See....my mind knows how to walk...spent half my life observing the process for my research, but my body never learned.
[He gestures at the ground, where his wheelchair is looking rather forlorn without a Huey occupying it.]
I made modifications to, and ended up inventing a wheelchair that allows me to overcome most of the weaknesses of my legs, but it's still just a machine. It can climb stairs, and that's good enough for me.
[Huey doesn't have confidence in much, including himself much of the time, but his research, and his wheelchair were two of his proudest accomplishments.]
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But she'll leave the matter be. Maybe magic cheapens the struggle/accomplishments/strength of character or something.]
How can a wheelchair climb stairs?
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Oh, uhh...it's a lot of things, really. I replaced the front wheel assembly with one of my own design. Three wheels in a triangular configuration, spaced just far apart enough to to catch each step without rotating too far. See, the whole assembly rotates, either pulling me up the stairs, or lowering me down them. [He gestures the process by rolling his hands over each other.] There's a proximity sensor on the underside that tells the built-in guidance computer how far I've traveled, how far I still have to travel, and other data like that. It took me the better part of ten years to perfect it, but a lot of doors opened for me as a result of the research I did.
[He'll keep going if you don't stop him. He has a whole lecture prepared on independent ambulatory programs for wheelchairs and vehicles of all kinds. He DID work for NASA, after all.]
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And what, pray tell, is a computer? The last human to try to explain it simply said it is capable of solving mathematical equations at a much more rapid rate.
[being the master of the arcane and mistress of the stars doesn't help when you're faced with modern technology.]
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Well, it is that, but that's...umm...a really oversimplified explanation. Computers, at their most basic, are able to make calculations much more quickly than person can, because they only deal in 1's and 0's, on and off. Building on that, we're able to build computers for specific tasks, automate them to do what we tell them to, without having to always be there to tell them. Program are able to be written, basically scripts telling a computer what it should calculate and why, and otherwise provide instructions that tell a computer what to do, based on certain conditions.
[He thinks of the most simple example he can give.]
For example, my wheelchair has the sensor built into it's underside. A laser, to be precise. That measures the distance between the bottom of my chair, and whatever surface it's passing over. This measurement is then sent to the computer, which has a program that says "If the distance is less than x, then do this." I have a whole bunch of these instructions written, and they are programmed to tell different parts of the wheelchair to do different things, based on the data gathered by the sensors.
[Suddenly, Huey gets an idea.]
So, you do this magic stuff, right? Would tell me how it works? I've been...uhh...trying to figure it out since I got here, but magic's not my area of expertise. Computers and mechanical engineering are mine.
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Unicorn magic is will, shaped by spells, and channeled through one's horn - poetically speaking. [she lightly taps her long, spiraling horn with a hoof]
However, other magic users here make use of glyphs, spoken spells, and wand movements. There are others, I am sure, but I have yet to meet them.
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Hmm...so your will provides the instruction, the spell gives it form, and you conduct it through your horn. Is that about right? That...makes a lot of sense, actually. Computer programs do much the same thing, but with mathematics and external input.
I'll have to learn more about it, I think. Magic, I mean. It sounds like it could be fascinating to learn about.
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[any cloud moving is automatic by now as she stares down at the wheelchair] Thou connectest these computers to machinery and give it instructions so that thou dost not have to supervise it at all times?
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Well, in the case of my wheelchair, the programs for climbing or descending the stairs are tied to a switch on the armrest, so that I can trigger them when I want to, but that's the basic idea. You write a program to tell a machine what to do, and as long as they act within their program, you're free to do other things. It's pretty handy, especially if you're in a position like mine, unable to handle the same sort of workload as an able-bodied person.
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What is powers it, if not by magic?
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Harnessing lightning is no mean feat. [she pauses, flapping idly] Although I do believe they have built some 'hydroelectric dam' near Ponyville...
[she's outdated even by pony standards]
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[Luckily for Luna, Huey is both very smart, very patient, and very curious. He's started to get used to how strange Paradisa is, so explaining electrical energy generation, and basically the industrial revolution as a whole doesn't seem odd to him.]
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[a small, wry smile] I have a lot of catching up to do, if this conversation has been any indication.
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[He smiles.] Everybody's gotta start somewhere. We come from very different worlds. Where I need machines and energy, you've got magic. Who's to say that the way your world works isn't better?
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'Though thou wouldst need to speak with the younger ponies if thou wert to obtain a more informed opinion on the status of Equestrian technological achievements.