I should have added this back when I mentioned seeing the Dune Movie. I started the post and forgot about it. SOP
Anyway, too cool, not to post.
Dune: we simulated the desert planet of Arrakis to see if humans could survive there
Complex models like this take time to run, in this case more than three weeks. We needed a huge supercomputer to be able to crunch the hundreds of thousands of calculations required to simulate Arrakis. However, what we found was worth the wait.
It looks like Herbert got it mostly right.
This has nothing to do with Dune. I am cleaning out old files and ran across an article of yours that has been stashed for many years – Struck with Consequence, published in Northern Lights, which sadly no longer exists. After re-reading it, I can see why I saved it, and it’s probably even more pertinent now than when it was written. My family came from Grants, just north of you, and were well acquainted with real work and subsistence living. Anyway, I’m happy to mail the article to you, if you don’t happen to have a copy and would like it. Otherwise it will be re-stashed. And as another aside, too damn many of my friends have been struck with Parkinson’s. It has made them all more courageous, but at a very demanding cost.