Short stories are the perfect medium for science fiction. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love a space opera as much as the next nerd—but there's something about short-form sci-fi that has the potential to beespecially mind-blowing. In just a few pages, the author must set up an entire new world (or a world that is just ever so slightly different than our own), and then deftly twist this new world into some kind of satisfying (or devastating) conclusion. It's no mean feat. Lucky for us, though, some of the greatest sci-fi authors out there today have published stories available for free online — and you can read them right now.
Between Black Mirror and the whole gaggle of Marvel movies, we're all but drowning in science fiction media right now. And I genuinely think that's great! You can never have too many stories (although I do think that keeping up with every single superhero show would constitute a full time job these days). Every so often, though, it can be nice to return to the world of written science fiction. You don't need CGI or recognizable super-powered characters to have a fascinating sci-fi adventure, after all. Sometimes all it takes is a few paragraphs and a truly inventive author:
If you're not such a fan of spiders... you're going to want to take a deep breath and read Nnedi Okorafor's 'Spider the Artist' anyway. It's set in a future Nigeria where oil pipelines are guarded by spiders with artificial intelligence, and it might mess you up a little (but in a good way).
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Sy Berger (1923-2014), Topps company employee considered the father of the modern baseball card Sy Syms (1926-2009), American businessman, entrepreneur and philanthropist Seymour G. Sternberg (born 1943), chairman and former CEO of New York Life Insurance Company. SY SY SHORT INTEREST. SY Short Interest. Data is currently not available: Back to SY Overview. Short interest is available by issuer for the past 12 months and updated twice a month.
One of the all time classic sci-fi short stories, 'All Summer in a Day' follows a day in the life of a young girl on the distant, rainy planet of Venus. Warning: reading this story may cause wistfulness and painful memories of elementary school bullies.
Steampunk fans, rejoice: 'The Effluent Engine' is available to read online, and it is the steampunk spy adventure story about Haitian independence that you didn't know you needed.
'Day of the Builders' takes us to a small, rural village, in a world much like our own. The Builders have arrived, and our narrator is tasked with showing them around. As for who the Builders are, and what their mission is... well, just read Kristine Ong Muslim's wonderfully unsettling story to find out.
It was a Ted Chiang short story that inspired the film Arrival, so it's safe to say that Chiang is a mastermind of mind-altering short fiction. 'The Lifecycle of Software Objects' is one of his best-loved stories, about what it means for an artificial entity to 'grow up.'
For fans of supremely creepy sci-fi, Kelly Link is a name you're going to want to remember. In her standalone story, 'The Game of Smash and Recovery,' she weaves an especially weird game of hide and seek (kind of) between two siblings on an alien planet.
OK, so 'The Paper Menagerie' veers closer to fantasy than to science fiction, but you'll be sobbing so hard by the end of it that the genre hardly matters. Ken Liu's award-winning story speaks to anyone who's ever struggled to understand a parent.
'The Janitor in Space' is about, well... a janitor in space. A very lonely janitor who cleans during the artificial 'nights' up in space. So if you've ever wondered how one would clean in zero G's, then this is the story for you.
Some wasps conquer a group of bees in 'The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees.' Sounds pretty straightforward, right? But in this work of speculative biology, the wasps' control over their bee 'colony' is anything by straightforward.
'The Greatest One-Star Restaurant in the Whole Quadrant' might not be the ideal read for extremely squeamish vegans. But for everyone else, it's a wonderfully weird, funny, creepy, meat-filled story.
In 'The Red Thread,' a girl travels through a post-apocalyptic America with her mother, all the while trying to reach someone from her past. As the story unfolds, we slowly begin to piece together more about this world, and about this girl trying to survive in it.
Recently, it was reported that Myanmar is receiving the first batch of SY-400 (also called “DF-12A”) short-range ballistic missile system from China, thus becoming the second user of the SY-400 guided rocket artillery (or referred to as SY-400 Short-Range Ballistic Missile outside China).
It is believed that the introduction of SY-400 ballistic missile systems will enhance the long-term strike capability of the Myanmar Army.
It was reported that Qatar became the first user of SY-400 ballistic missiles, as in 2017, Qatar showed SY-400 ballistic missiles. However, Qatar chose BP12A tactical ballistic missiles instead of “guided rockets”. It is still unknown whether Myanmar is receiving guided rockets or BP12A tactical ballistic missiles.
Qatar demonstrates BP12A tactical ballistic missiles
SY400 is a new-generation ballistic missile system developed by China Aerospace Science and technology Corporation, mainly used for long-range precision fire strikes.
According to Chinese military analyst Xiao Feizhu, the biggest feature of SY-400 ballistic missile system is the use of a vertical launch system, which is the first time in the history of the development of rocket launchers in the world. The biggest advantage of the vertical launch system compared with the traditional tilting directional device of a rocket launcher is that it can attack in all directions at any time, and there is no need to rotate the directional director like a traditional rocket launcher. Therefore, there is no need to install height and direction machines, and the structure of the rocket launcher is simplified. Of course, the disadvantage is that the design of the rocket is relatively complicated, and it is necessary to increase the relay inertial navigation system and the thrust vector, so that the rocket can quickly turn to the predetermined target after the rocket is launched.
According to the public information from Zhuhai Air Show, the SY-400 rocket is about 6 meters in length and 0.4 meters in diameter. Each launching vehicle is equipped with 8 launch containers. The maximum range for a 300 kg warhead is 150 km, and for a 200 kg warhead is 200 km. This specification has been able to suppress the US ATACMS tactical ballistic missile, which has a maximum range of about 150 kilometers. The SY-400 rocket uses relay inertial guidance, and can also be equipped with a final guidance system, which has a high hit accuracy. In addition, it also uses a side strip wing, which can provide greater lift for the rocket, allowing it to carry out maneuvering orbiting flight in the atmosphere and improve its penetration ability. Therefore, overseas sources mostly mention it as “short-range precision-attack ballistic missile” rather than “multiple rocket launcher system”.
SY-400 missiles are equipped with large side strip wings for better maneuverability
It also has a thrust vector, so the outside world generally called it a short-range tactical ballistic missile
Since the SY-400 uses a vertical launch system, it can be modularized, and match different missiles and rockets as needed. The most commonly integrated one is the BP12A short-range tactical ballistic missile, which has a length of 6 meters and a diameter of 0.6 meters. It is equipped with a 480kg warhead and has a range of 280 kilometers.
The outside world believes that its range should be farther. The guidance system is INS / BDS, and the final guidance can also be used, and the hit accuracy can reach 30 meters, with variable program trajectory and strong penetration ability. BP12A and SY-400 can be installed separately on a launch vehicle, and the launch vehicle can be equipped with 2 BP12A missile launch containers or 8 SY-400 rocket launch containers, or a mixture of 1 BP12A missile launch container and 4 SY-400 rocket launch containers.
1 vehicle can hold up to 1 BP12A and 4 SY-400 rockets
The outside world generally believes that Myanmar’s purchase of SY-400 short-range ballistic missile system is to counter the long-range rockets of neighboring countries. The potential opponents of Myanmar are mainly Bangladesh and Thailand.
Thailand has introduced WS-1B long-range rocket system from China. Its range can reach 150 kilometers. It has also achieved localization and successfully developed a domestic DTI-1 long-range rocket system. Bangladesh also has plans to purchase long-range rocket launchers from China or Russia. In this way, Myanmar has little power to face the long-range rocket launchers of both countries, so it bought SY-400 ballistic missile system from China.
Myanmar wants SY-400 to counter Thailand’s DTI-1, which is the Thai version of the Chinese WS-1 rocket launcher
What Is St Short For
Myanmar seems to be optimistic about the excellent performance of SY-400 ballistic missile systems. As mentioned earlier, the range and response speed of SY-400 are better than WS-1B.
In particular, it can integrate BP12A short-range tactical ballistic missiles, which can provide Myanmar with ballistic missile attack capabilities in an economical and fast way. Southeast Asian countries generally do not have advanced air defense and anti-missile systems and cannot defend against SY-400 and BP12A missile attacks. Therefore, SY-400 ballistic missile system has a strong deterrent capability there. This should be the main reason why Myanmar chose SY-400.