[LMB] Wood, etc.

[Dorian E. Gray]

James and I are discussing...

> On Fri, 1 Jun 2007, Dorian E. Gray wrote:
>
>> James replied to me...
>>
>>>  Energy seems to be cheap as beans in that universe (consider the
>>> delta vees we see). It's odd nobody has glommed onto the slow frieght
>>> niche.
>>
>> Well, okay, maybe the weight thing isn't an issue - but the bulkiness 
>> surely
>> is; your raw wood or wooden items are going to take up a *lot* more cargo
>> space than, say, an equivalent value of micro-chips or even fabric items.
>> And your plastic (say) equivalent of whateveritis is presumably produced 
>> at
>> home, so it's going to be loads cheaper than buying an imported wooden 
>> one.
>
>  Why? As long as it's relatively radiation resistant, there's no
> reason dead cargo can't be stored in inflatable holds (Like the LLNL
> design for a space station, Brilliant Condoms).

Admittedly, the textev never covers freight (that I can think of off-hand, 
anyway), so that might be a feasibility.  But the impression I have is that 
everything, people, cargo, whatever, is carried within rigid, fixed-size 
ships.  In which case, just what you fill your hold up with and how much of 
it you can get in there *is* an issue and will affect the economics.

Until the sky falls on our heads...

Dorian.
--
Dorian E. Gray
israfel at eircom.net
http://dorianegray.livejournal.com

"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake."
- Napoleon Bonaparte