[Tlhingan-hol] Klingon Word of the Day: QoD

[Terrence Donnelly]

--- On Mon, 12/12/11, Steven Boozer <sboozer at uchicago.edu> wrote:


> ter'eS:
> > It's a theory. It could also refer to using impulse
> power, for
> > example, to maneuver into a spacedock. You as an
> aircraft pilot
> > would not be likely to use anything similar, but I
> think a
> > spaceship in weightlessness behaves more like a ship
> on water
> > than a craft in the air within a gravity well.
> 
> lojmIt tI'wI' nuv:
> > Keep in mind that spacecraft lack rudders.
> "Maneuvering thrusters"
> > appears in many places in the Star Trek world. {QoDmeH
> chuyDaH}? 
> 
> Unfortunately Okrand has never used {QoD}, but I would use
> it WRT to docking a ship (or parking a car).  WRT
> aircraft, think about the in-flight refueling of
> warplanes.  Remember that it is just as tricky to
> undock and leave a spacedock (or a tight parking space)
> without hitting any of the smaller craft swarming
> about.  
> 

I was thinking of the fact that a spacecraft in weightlessness can come to a full stop without trouble (assuming it doesn't drift into anything), whereas it would be catastrophic for an airplane to come to a full stop in mid-air. I didn't realize that aircraft that land on water need to maneuver around, too.

Back to the steamboat analogy for a moment: a sternwheeler had just a single propulsion unit in the back, but lots of steamboats had two independent paddlewheels on the sides, and the pilot could control their rotation and speed independently. They had rudders (I think), but the rudder was used for slow, relatively gentle navigation. The sidewheels were used for abrupt movements; since they put quite a strain on engines and hull, their use was more for crisis situations. When they used the sidewheels, they were more like bulldozers, with their independent treads, than like modern boats, even those which steer by angling the propeller.

-- ter'eS