A CITY IN THE SKY

Hi everyone.

Well, Everything Takes Longer Than It Takes (see below)… but we are making decent headway behind the scenes. We’ve gone from the OH, WOW! phase to the HOW THE HELL DO WE DO THAT? phase, which can be a little daunting. But we soldier on!

Above are some early test renderings I have done to play with some of the overall look of the place. Now here’s something interesting: everyone views this City-State differently. Some people would like it to be a collection of Greek buildings in a verdant valley. Some want it on a tropical isle. Some want a Rivendell-esque hidden valley surrounded by waterfalls, and some people even want a medieval village in the middle of a forest.

Well, the good news is, in time all of these — and more — will be possible. We can provide as many ‘skins’ to this experience as there is demand. Right now, though, the first iteration of Ejectia will probably be something like the sky city you see taking rough shape before you now. I could tell you this is because of some lofty philosophical underpinning, but the real truth is mountains and clouds are relatively easy on the render because they don’t soak up memory like trees do, and these buildings are very complex. So if you like this look, that makes me happy because I do too and I’ve been working hard on it. But if you had something else in mind, please be patient. And by that I guess I mean please be more patient than you already are.

Moving on with the progress report: it looks like about time to get started on the main item we offer at Ejectia: those “expertise essays.”

I mentioned in the prior entry that we would start with a proposal, in order to not commit you good people to a lot of work we may not be able to use right off the bat. I think it’s time to start accepting submissions for those proposals.

This proposal should be very simple: one paragraph on what it is you hope to write about, and a second one on why you are qualified to do so. Remember, this is not a university research paper… your qualifications may be something as simple as you’ve been doing it for twenty years. We’re not looking for credentials — heck, college professors have those and some of them are prize idiots — we’re looking for experience. In Ejectia, real-world skill and the wisdom learned over time count for way, way more than a piece of paper.

So, if you have something you want to contribute, we really, really want to hear from you. Here’s the standard disclaimer:

Your contribution of any material, whether in comments or otherwise, grants to William A. Whittle, Aurora Aerospace, Inc. and their affiliates, a perpetual, royalty-free, non-exclusive, worldwide license to use, sublicense, reproduce or incorporate into other material all or any portion of the material posted, for commercial or other use.

All that says is that we retain the right to use that material in any way we see fit. You of course are free to use your own material in any way you choose.

I have to tell you that with all the work we’ve been doing, this is the part that excites me the most. I’ve been waiting to look over proposals since I first got the idea in the shower, a few moons ago. If you have something to say — and I know you do! — you can send a two-paragraph proposal to Library [at] ejectia [dot] com. (Bloody spambots!)

Man, I cannot WAIT to see what you folks are going to come up with. Birdwatching, quantum physics, chocolate pie recipes — it’s just going to be cool.