The Factory Floor

1:06 AM

@Secespitus Australia. Sorry I can't help it if most of you live on the wrong side. It does make chatting difficult. Usually everyone's gone by the time I tune in. Catch you next time.

Enigma Maitreya

2:57 AM

Anyone see this or have comments on perhaps its ability to visible and if it can what impact it will have? Scientists unveil a giant leap for anti-aging sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170323141340.htm Interesting snippet “"The cells of the old mice were indistinguishable from the young mice, after just one week of treatment," said lead author Professor David Sinclair of UNSW School of Medical Sciences and Harvard Medical School Boston.”

Secespitus

7:59 AM

@a4android It's already not so easy in Germany, as most regulars in chat seem to be from the USA and only come here when I am already preparing to leave work.

But normally there are a few people here at this time. I would expect Pete to be here right now.

Pete

I am here right now. But I shouldn't be, I have stuff to fix before the PM gets in and asks me to fix stuff.

Secespitus

Good luck fixing stuff

Pete

Garbage in/Garbage out. Have a good day, I have a ton of stuff to do, so won't be that active here.

Secespitus

Good day to you too

Pete

Thanks! Hope someone else turns up soon to talk to.

Journeyman Geek

8:06 AM

@Secespitus vaguely true but not really

Secespitus

@JourneymanGeek Are you refering to my thought that most regulars seem to be from the USA?

Journeyman Geek

yeah

Well, I find that there's this critical mass for a chatroom

something like 12-20 people and its hopping most of the time.

And you need someone who's really chatty, and at least vaguely knowledgable on the subject at hand ;p

Secespitus

I always get the feeling that there is a handful of people more or less active in the morning and after 2 pm the americans come online and the chat seems to liven up.

Journeyman Geek

Its not just about geographics. The internet crowd has no timezones.

;p

Secespitus

I wonder if there is a statistic about where people using WorldBuilding are coming from. And whether they use the chat or not.

Feeds

9:14 AM

0

A: Sandbox for Proposed Questions

Taking all the blood of a dozen humans and putting it into acid – could I create a wolf? My story includes an evil mage that can manipulate everything that comes into contact with acid on a molecular level. This means if something touches acid there will be the normal chemical reaction going o...

Worldbuilding Meta

1

Q: Don't argue with comments on down and close votes, please

As shown in comments section under Enforcing mandatory comment when downvoting people don't like to comment on downvotes because it is not productive. If someone comments on down or close vote, do not start a discussion He did it to help OP recover. Trying to argue he is wrong is going nowhere....

kingledion

12:13 PM

@HDE226868 I am starting to think my answer to that surfing question is not correct. For a lower intensity solar flare, I'm thinking you could engineer a shield to block X-rays from the pilot/passenger and still get enough momentum from the storm of charged particles (using a solar sail) to go for quite a ride.

Lets consider that answer to be on hold for a bit, I think we can make this surfing thing work, the problem is I haven't yet found good numbers on charged particle emission type and flux.

HDE 226868

1:16 PM

@kingledion Okay. I can certainly wait.

@DaaaahWhoosh 1) Cool. 2) Aren't those just snakes?

Pete

Crap question of the day: "How could I unobtrusively prove that my boss is an alien masquerading as a human?"

DaaaahWhoosh

@HDE226868 no, they evolved leglessness independently! They have eyelids and ears and different belly scales!

HDE 226868

@DaaaahWhoosh Shudders

Pete

Anguis fragilis

The Anguis fragilis, or slow worm, is a limbless lizard native to Eurasia. It is sometimes called a blindworm. Its German name, "Blindschleiche", is derived from the Old High German plintslîcho meaning "blinding creeper", perhaps because of its lustrous scales. Slow worms are semifossorial (burrowing) lizards, spending much of the time hiding underneath objects. The skin of slow worms is smooth with scales that do not overlap one another. Like many other lizards, slow worms autotomize, meaning that they have the ability to shed their tails to escape predators. While the tail regrows, it does not...

Secespitus

@Pete Play Slim Whitman's "Indian Love Call"

Pete

1:26 PM

lol. Might be too obvious....

Secespitus

Ask him about FTL travel. If he knows more than people on this site he's definitely an alien.

2

Pete

Plot point for this question: We know that there's aliens around and there's a government agency where you can report suspected aliens where they get picked up for "testing". A correct report results in a $1million award. An incorrect report results in a $20K fine.

DaaaahWhoosh

I think proving alien-ness is going to depend on the nature of the alien. If they're one of those Star Trek aliens that can be identical to a human with a bit of cosmetic surgery, then nothing short of a DNA test is going to work

Secespitus

So, basically you are looking for ways to sell out your boss and not being at a risk of paying the fine?

Pete

@DaaaahWhoosh And that's the "crap" part of the question right there. As soon as you describe the kind of alien, you describe the answer...

DaaaahWhoosh

1:35 PM

yep. Personally I bet you can figure them out by giving them alien food

something that would poison them (nonfatally) if they are human, but be fine if they're alien. You could put it into a box of donuts and have the whole office 'tested'

Pete

Yes, I was thinking that the previously successful methods of detection would remain secret, to prevent the aliens from adjusting their camoflague.

Secespitus

dilbert.com/strip/1998-07-22

Pete

Another dumb question: Would aliens be able to clean Earth (pollution-wise) just through offering advice? (no alien technology is offered). In other words, could clean energy be more profitable than dirty fuel?

DaaaahWhoosh

it's profitable if the world doesn't become uninhabitable

Secespitus

If it's more profitable yes

Or if the aliens are threatening to destroy us if we don't do this

Pete

1:48 PM

It's a benevolent thing, but one of their "directives" is not to give us tech. (They're teaching us to fish, as the old proverb goes). The basic question is whether the current fuel and energy companies would allow this to happen as cheaper/cleaner fuel may not be as profitable. And what effect would this have on global economy?

DaaaahWhoosh

it would be interesting to see the rhetoric, "the aliens told us to" vs "we make our own decisions"

liberals would probably be pro-alien, conservatives more anti-alien

the aliens are trying to steal jobs from the coal miners

Secespitus

If it's not as profitable companies would try to avoid it for as long as they can, saying "we need time to change things"

Pete

Is this question worth sandboxing? Or could it be judged too broad?

Secespitus

Isn't every question worth sandboxing?

Journeyman Geek

or at least beatboxing?

Pete

1:55 PM

No. Most my ideas don't even make it to chat.

Secespitus

@JourneymanGeek Would love to hear someone beatboxing this question

I'd say yes, it's worth sandboxing

Pete

I'll see if I can think of a snappy title and write something up. Cant be worse than my last question....

Secespitus

You mean the zombie chariot?

HDE 226868

*(boom shicka shicka kssh boom shicka shicka kssh)*
Yo, we got some aliens who want to save the Earth, *(ssh)* We're running out of fossil fuels, yet they've plenty of worth.
*(boom sicka boom sk' boom shicka shicka boom)*
So how would this work - hey don't look at me funny; *(kkh)* Yo, the CEOs would hate it 'cuz the oil's got money.
*(boom shicka shicka shicka ksssssh.)*

3

Secespitus

@HDE226868 That definitely deserves a star :D

HDE 226868

2:04 PM

@Pete I was surprised it didn't get more upvotes. I thought it was a good question.

Pete

@HDE226868 - If I ask this, you have to beatbox the answer....

@HDE226868 - There's times when WB users actively resist a sense of humour. I really did enjoy your answer though.

HDE 226868

@Pete I have absolutely no idea how to do that, but you've got me curious about the question.

@Pete I was bored at the time.

Tim B

This answer really went above and beyond :) rpg.stackexchange.com/a/96920/10420

HDE 226868

@TimB You lost me at "Imentesh Protean", but reaching out to someone for an answer certainly takes work.

Tim B

Yeah, it's a D&D (pathfinder) monster where the flavour text didn't match up with the stats

Pete

2:21 PM

0

A: Sandbox for Proposed Questions

Would benevolent aliens be allowed to clean up Earth? Advanced aliens have at least contacted our planet. It's immediately apparent that they have grave concern of the amount of pollution and the effect the rapidly decreasing natural resources will have on the longevity of our species. They ar...

Feeds

0

A: Sandbox for Proposed Questions

Would benevolent aliens be allowed to clean up Earth? Advanced aliens have at least contacted our planet. It's immediately apparent that they have grave concern of the amount of pollution and the effect the rapidly decreasing natural resources will have on the longevity of our species. They ar...

SPavel

2:45 PM

Greetings, chat

Pete

Greetings, chien

Journeyman Geek

Woof?

DaaaahWhoosh

@JourneymanGeek it's like you can smell the dog references

Pete

WB does hold up a lamp-post to the modern world....

Journeyman Geek

;p

@DaaaahWhoosh and I know a little french

DaaaahWhoosh

3:01 PM

I remember in high school, I chose to learn French because it was supposedly harder than Spanish, but easier than the other languages offered

SPavel

French classes have ruined French for me

Instead of associating it with art and elegance and beauty, I associate it with fourth-graders trying to get through nous sommes les fourmis

Pete

When I was early in school (age 12 or 13), I drew a large swastika on the front of my German exercise book. Up to that point, my only knowledge of WWII was in comic books.

DaaaahWhoosh

reminds me of this video

kingledion

@Pete I dressed up as hitler for a class presentation on a biography in like 5th or 6th grade.

Even drew on a mustache

And you know, at the time, no one seemed to think that was a problem

I think twitter ruins everything

Nowadays you'd have some sort of viral tweet shaming

Pete

3:17 PM

My teacher at the time beat me over the head with a hard-back text book and told me to go and read some history before ripping my exercise book in half.

kingledion

Good for him/her

People need more corporal punishment to keep them in line

I was total putz until I went to boot camp and got my ass beat

It really clarifies one's perspective on life

SPavel

In high school we had an assignment towards the end of October for art class - create a wearable artwork (a Halloween costume, essentially). Being the contrary sort of person that I am, I decided that these days, anything could be a Halloween costume, and so the only thing to do was to create a non-costume. I briefly considered wearing both a red swastika armband and a gold Jewish star, but decided against it.

kingledion

Wait...I thought you grew up in the Soviet Union

That sounds like the kind of thing that gets your parents sent to Siberia

SPavel

No, I was born in the USSR

kingledion

Ahhh

Where did you go to high school then?

SPavel

3:20 PM

Canada

kingledion

Close enough!

<----- (jingoistic American)

Pete

I feel somewhat boring in comparison, born and living in the same country.

SPavel

Go have an adventure right now

Flip your desk and get on the first plane to Guatemala

kingledion

Well, you were born in England, then you moved to the EU, and in a few months you'll be living in England again!

It counts if your country moves, right?

Pete

I'm somewhat thankful you haven't just assumed I live in the country called "Europe"....

kingledion

3:25 PM

Thats @Secespitus

Pete

Oh yes. He's Roman, that's most of Europe and half of Africa right there.

Secespitus

Hey there, I was born and raised in Germany.

SPavel

Which Germany?

Secespitus

Wearing a Swastika for Halloween would get you into a hell of trouble here

kingledion

Lol at restrictions on free speech

Secespitus

3:28 PM

@SPavel I am 22, at that point there was only one Germany

kingledion

Wow, now that is dating myself.

As someone who remembers watching the Berlin Wall come down on the MacNeail-Lehrer News Hour on PBS

SPavel

@kingledion Did you swipe right on yourself on Tinder?

kingledion

@SPavel That one took me a minute, you clever boy

Secespitus

@kingledion Not really restrictions, but there are holocaust-deniers running around these days and getting associated with them would not be a good idea

SPavel

Did you just assume my gender

(nah I'm a dude)

kingledion

3:29 PM

I do that

Secespitus

Are we on Instagram here?

kingledion

Who is we?

SPavel

The royal We

So just @Secespitus

kingledion

I don't associate with dirty social media, if you want my opinon, which you probably don't

Secespitus

Yeah, We like to talk like that about Us

kingledion

3:31 PM

Thats why I've got so much time to burn up chat here

DaaaahWhoosh

I tried to get back into Facebook, mostly because my HEMA group posts class updates there, but I don't understand how it works

Pete

I actually owned a part of the berlin wall at some point. Or at least it was a small lump of concrete with purple spray paint on it.

Journeyman Geek

@DaaaahWhoosh it dosen't work at all

Pete

George Takei is the only thing that makes Facebook remotely worth opening these days.

SPavel

George Takei reposts shitty memes from 9gag

kingledion

3:37 PM

You will never find a more wretched hive of narcissim and falsehoods

Pete

That pretty much sums it up. I never post on FB any more. I only really use it for one or two closed groups.

I use Twitter, but only to aggregate feeds from a few sources.

kingledion

I honestly don't think social media has as much penetration as people seem to think it does

Whenever I go to a news site of some sort, they are always talking about 'so-and-so tweeted this'

But I don't actually know anyone who is on twitter (except @Pete I guess)

SPavel

I use Twitter to repost shitty articles

kingledion

And the people I know on facebook or instagram (like my wife) only post pictures of their kids (the aforementioned narcissim) and block anyone who talks politics

Its like there is this media bubble that some people live in and yell at each other digitally, while the rest of America (or Europe?) is just going about their own lives, making their own independant decisions

Where have I heard that narrative recently...

Pete

MY facebook feed is currently crammed with "pray for London" and dog videos.

DaaaahWhoosh

3:49 PM

@kingledion I used to think that, but now I'm just worried that I'm actually only seeing the minority, and most people are living in that bubble

SPavel

Everyone has a bubble

Bubbles aren't restricted to Facebook

Pete

I leave my bubbles for bath-time.

kingledion

@SPavel Exactly! I think my impression is that most bubbles don't interact with the popular media bubble.

Or the social media bubble

Well the twitter one, at least, facebook is pretty ubiquitous

Secespitus

I am quite content with my personal bubble. No Facebook, no Twitter, no Instagram

DaaaahWhoosh

I think WB chat is a good bubble. May it never be popped by an excited dog

3

kingledion

3:58 PM

@DaaaahWhoosh This is a good bubble, filled with friendly folks, and mathematics, and weird questions from @Pete :)

2

Pete

At least I am memorable for something....

"What kind of animal can I magic out of my packet of pork rind snacks"

kingledion

What would this bubble be without weird questions?

Secespitus

@kingledion Boring

kingledion

Speak truth!

Alright lunch time, see yous guys in the bubble later

Secespitus

See ya

DaaaahWhoosh

4:48 PM

oh hey, they're making a show based on the Haindmaid's Tale

which I guess makes sense, it's a good time for it, what with feminism and the President

it's probably a great time for post-apocalypse dystopian stories

Enigma Maitreya

@DaaaahWhoosh did you vote this last election?

Joe Bloggs

Gah. Anyone ever have that moment when you use the wrong terminology and just fail to get a point across?

DaaaahWhoosh

5:12 PM

@EnigmaMaitreya yes, I did. But I skipped the primaries, which seems to have been a mistake.

@JoeBloggs I do that all the time. Proper terminology is for those people who are not me.

Joe Bloggs

@DaaaahWhoosh Answered a question on space helicopters, said power-weight instead of fully articulating my point, accidentally started a conversation on engine efficiencies and interstellar capital ship design (which I've now tried to reroute to here)

DaaaahWhoosh

wait, but space helicopters are impossible, right?

oh, I see the question, never mind

Joe Bloggs

@DaaaahWhoosh yeah, it confused me to start with too

@DaaaahWhoosh: Though, in a fun twist, if you had a couple of unobtanium material rotors mirrored on one side and counterspin them at near the speed of light then you'd end up making a stupidly inefficient quantum vacuum plasma thruster.

theoretically, anyway. I think relativity would have something to say about you spinning things that fast.

Enigma Maitreya

@DaaaahWhoosh Chose one of these. Did Congress work together more before the election or after the election.

DaaaahWhoosh

@EnigmaMaitreya not sure, I haven't been paying attention long enough. I'd say it's about the same though?

@JoeBloggs I'll take your word for it

Enigma Maitreya

5:24 PM

@DaaaahWhoosh Shrug then you may want to consider if the "establishment" Congress has a common enemy in the White House.

DaaaahWhoosh

@EnigmaMaitreya that does seem to be an accurate assessment

Enigma Maitreya

@DaaaahWhoosh Then he is doing what he was elected to do, shake the government up. Would you say that the World Governments do not quite know how to deal with the president?

SPavel

@JoeBloggs Since the outer sections of the blades spin faster, does that mean they would age slower, because relativity?

Enigma Maitreya

@DaaaahWhoosh If so then good, he has them off balance and business is not as usual and Russia, Iran and N. Korea have a problem on how to proceed

@DaaaahWhoosh One may want to ask a World Building Question on How could a centrist become elected in a polarized (Liberal vs Conservative) country. One might want to see what the process would be in "forming a coalition government" and how to weed out the members you do not want after being elected

Joe Bloggs

@SPavel Yep. And if the axle was infinitely long you end up twisting space into a time machine.

General relativity makes my brain hurt

SPavel

5:32 PM

What about special relativity

Enigma Maitreya

Are you guys exploring what would happen if you build a base in space with ...potentially infinetly long extensions going in opposite directions and then spinning the base?

SPavel

It's the world's longest car, I swear,
It reaches from Beale Street to Washington Square.
And once you get in it
To go where you're going,
You simply get out, 'cause you're there.

Joe Bloggs

@SPavel: Special relativity is the easy one. It's the 'special' case where reference frames aren't accelerating. Rotating frames of reference are accelerating by definition, so you can't use it.

@EnigmaMaitreya No, we were discussing space helicopters, which led onto things spinning at relativistic speeds, which led to a quick description of tipler cylinders

Enigma Maitreya

5:53 PM

@JoeBloggs If your up for a segue, assume one could build a device, in space, with finely long arms with a means to rotate the center, with an infinte power supply. The arms will not bend due to stress or break. At some point the arms will exceed the speed of light or will they ... what is going to happen here.

@JoeBloggs Not finely .... infinetly

Joe Bloggs

@EnigmaMaitreya: Space warps. Which is why the tipler cylinder is a valid way to build a time machine

like I said to SPavel, general relativity makes my head hurt.

Enigma Maitreya

@JoeBloggs Going to look that up (tipler cylinder) (not asking you but feel free to answer) why would space warp.

Joe Bloggs

because it has to in order to prevent the ends of the cylinder from exceeding the speed of light, basically.

Enigma Maitreya

@JoeBloggs Ah .... and I assume we have no experimental evidence of this.

Joe Bloggs

6:10 PM

@EnigmaMaitreya: We do, actually

so:

rotation means there's acceleration going on

there is no was to tell the difference between acceleration and gravity

no way*

gravity warps space and time, which we've managed to prove by measuring light from other stars etc

SPavel

Gravitas, on the other hand, is wholly unnecessary

Joe Bloggs

all the theories line up nicely (aside from quantum mechanics and some issues we've explained away with dark matter, but hey)

@SPavel: Do infinite rods have infinite gravitas?

SPavel

Depends on the ship Mind

Mithrandir24601

@EnigmaMaitreya 'The arms will not bend due to stress or break' At large enough velocities, this approximation breaks down

SPavel

GSV "Large Enough Velocities"

Joe Bloggs

6:23 PM

@Mithrandir24601: Also means exactly what you mean by bend. Even if it's a hypothetically rigid structure it will end up bending, though if you walk down the length of it you'll see it as straight and the rest of space as bent.

Hmm.. How can we mark a question as duplicate if it's a duplicate on a different exchange?

Joe Bloggs

6:46 PM

Could a mod move the comments on the first answer here to a chat thread?

Enigma Maitreya

@JoeBloggs But Causality is being constrained by the speed of light so if one can exceed the speed of light then causality needs to be changed to the new constraint

Joe Bloggs

@EnigmaMaitreya: Precisely. if one can exceed the speed of light then we can make situations where event precedes cause.

Enigma Maitreya

@Mithrandir24601 Not in the what if I gave:)

Joe Bloggs

Now, we have no experimental evidence that things move faster than light. We do have evidence that events happen in the right order.

HDE 226868

@JoeBloggs Done, thanks. We just an auto flag saying the same thing.

Enigma Maitreya

6:48 PM

@JoeBloggs Only informationaly and the proof is in the context of the question knowing the future does NOT allow you to act on it

HDE 226868

Chat room: chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/55987/…

Joe Bloggs

Except it always lets someone somewhere act upon it.

Cheers HDE

Enigma Maitreya

@JoeBloggs How the only they can act on is as an example, placing a bet on the horse race on star system A that you returned from. This only allows interaction on Earth not star system A

@JoeBloggs To make that more clear, I return from Star System A with the winner of a Horse Race and tell you. You go out and bet on it on Earth. All is fair and square but you can NOT go to Star System A and bet on it because the event has already happened.

@JoeBloggs That in my book is NOT Physical Time Travel, it is exploiting the delay of information and that exploit is common here on Earth, it is measured in milliseconds in the Stock Markets.

@JoeBloggs Early online games exploited it and that was due to different connection speeds and the number of routers between various people and the server. It is all the same thing.

Shalvenay

11:03 PM

hey there @Mithrandir24601 and @Bellerophon

Mithrandir24601

Rytsas @Shalvenay!

Shalvenay

how're things going?

and hey there @Noctrine

Mithrandir24601

Same old - been a fairly busy week. Got a concert tomorrow!

Noctrine

Hey

Mithrandir24601

You?

Shalvenay

11:11 PM

wondering what it'd take to scare a dragon witless ;)

(also, got a funny dragon + adventurers scene running on loop in my head)

Noctrine

A plague of mice that eat gold

Shalvenay

hahaha, but nah...I'm thinking even hearing the tales of what The Gun (tm) does to things would be enough to make most dragons think "Boy, I really don't want to ever be in the sights of whatever carries that into battle!"

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