You get to decide the next phase of the workshop. I realized I may have been focusing too narrowly on the label “inertial propulsion.” Let’s see what actually excites you. Bonus: There are several “never seen” projects that might become available if I can convince the owners to let our group help. Your input could help make that happen! Your input will shape what we build next.

Some of us are here to learn. Some are here to teach. All of us are here to collaborate. I want Builders Workshop to be both a place to grow and a place to work together safely on meaningful projects. Not a social club — a working lab. I’m exploring the idea of adding a protected collaboration space where members can share serious work without fear, and where those who want their ideas to outlive them have a path to preserve that legacy. We’ve got highly intelligent people here doing real experimental work, and some are ready to collaborate on individual builds. I’d like to give that energy a structure that helps it move forward. Let me know your thoughts. Comment here or DM me directly if you’d rather talk privately. (Meetings will be via video calls.)

I would line to get started with a Monthly Get Together video call. Probably using either Google Meet or Zoom since they allow lots of people on a call and are reasonably user friendly. I am still trying to narrow a time and day, and yes, it will probably be 2 calls to accommodate time zone issues. Please let me know so we can get this ball rolling! Time is based on Zone 5 - Eastern time. Feel free to post any thoughts on this, or simply use the "poll" feature below this message.

In the early days of space commercialization, Arthur Dula was recognized as the world's foremost authority on space law. (Of which there are now many). I talked to Art on the phone back in the '80's, in his alternative capacity as a patent attorney. He told me: "The test of an Inertia Prime Mover is that it will deflect a pendulum". This term 'pendulum' has been subjected to a significant amount of misconception and misunderstanding. Various builders on YouTube have demonstrated their devices with a so-called "pendulum test". Usually, the device is suspended on a tether, hanging straight down at the bottom, with the expectation that the 'plumb bob' will be pulled out to the side a little ways and stay there. Invariably, the device's momentum will add to its thrust, causing it to swing out further than its thrust alone would take it. This movement is directly in line with gravity's reverse acceleration. So, as the 'thruster' settles back to its effective deflection angle, this reverse movement couples with gravity, which changes its operation. (Just as a drawing on a piece of paper will change when the paper is moved). The result is that, even with a unidirectional thrust impulse, the suspension line still moves back past the straight down position. At this point, a laser spot, or some background reference line, is added, to convince the observers that the tether vibrates further on one side than the other. This test is neither convincing nor conclusive. Fundamentally, a plumb bob is NOT a pendulum. A pendulum is something which swings back and forth, while a plumb bob just hangs there. (An unsteady line will hang straight and plumb if it is bobbed up and down a few times; hence the name). To understand the true Pendulum Test, we must consider what happens the instant the pendulum reaches the highest point in its swing. (Or anywhere up to that point). Here, gravity is acting to move the swinging mass back towards the bottom. However, gravity has no sideways effect whatsoever on a mass which isn't at the bottom. Therefore, any amount of unidirectional thrust applied perpendicular to the swinging direction will change the pendulum's swing angle. If the applied thrust is not unidirectional, or missing altogether, the pendulum's swing will not be "deflected", remaining in its normal plane of movement.

Workshop Check-In Time — good to have everyone here. Alright, quick sidebar note before we get back to the fun stuff. I think this is important. Since we’re posting real experimental work in public forums like YouTube, we tend to attract the standard (but troublesome) internet background noise. That’s completely normal, and it happens anywhere people are making progress instead of just talking about it. So to clarify, there’s a difference between criticism and disruption. Criticism is always welcome here. If someone has a thoughtful suggestion, a test idea, or a technical challenge, that’s part of the process. That’s how we make progress, and sharpen the work. Disruption is different. It’s the pattern where no result is ever accepted, the goalposts keep moving, new “requirements” appear every time something is demonstrated, and eventually it drifts into personal jabs. At that point it’s not about the experiment anymore — it’s about attention through disruption. This workshop isn’t a stage for that. We’re here to design and build, test and document, and come together to learn. The pace of the work is set by the work at hand, not by whoever shouts the loudest in a comment thread. Nobody here owes the internet trolls an endless series of hoops to jump through. If a comment helps move the project forward, great — I appreciate it.If it’s just trying to derail momentum, I cannot afford the time and energy to feed it. Part of protecting a creative space like this Workshop is refusing to let it get dragged into arguments that don’t produce results. I want this group focused, collaborative, and comfortable sharing unfinished ideas without feeling like they’re stepping into a boxing ring. The people who are here to learn and contribute are the ones this workshop is built for. When trolls keep it up, be professional, be kind (if possible), and walk away from the “no-win” situation they try to pull us into. In a nutshell, we are here for each other to be safe, to make progress, and to have fun.