The Factory Floor

12:46 AM

@NexTerren Sorry I didn't look in to respond earlier, but wouldn't chaotic effects like wind, air density, the bullet tumbling or suffering uneven burn-off due to compressive heating, etc, which can't be fully compensated for muck up accurate sniping over those kinds of ranges. Unless your bullet is going ridiculously fast, but at that point it's basically a WMD just from sheer kinetic energy, making super-accurate sniping kinda unnecessary.

@AndyD273 Beta particles are pretty much just high-energy electrons and/or positrons, so I could see how you could turn that directly into electricity (which is pretty much just high-energy electrons).

Shalvenay

@Gryphon yeah, we already do this, look up "betavoltaics"

Gryphon

@Shalvenay Yeah, that's what the video was talking about. I was just saying that I could see how that would work.

Shalvenay

@Gryphon it's more that it's hard to compete with the low cost and ease of handling of a CR2032 :P

Mithrandir24601

9:24 AM

@Gryphon Even light has to worry about stuff like turbulence

@AndyD273 Hey! I go to that university!

AndyD273

11:54 AM

@Shalvenay Right, but a CR2032 has to be recharged or replaced. Betavoltaics powered by a carbon 14 diamond doesn't. IF they can figure out how to increase power output, then this would be a powercell that lasts a long time. This would be great for things like pacemakers, cochlear implants, etc. where it's hard to just pop in a new battery.

And if they can't get the power output up quite high enough, maybe it could be used in tandem with a normal battery to act like a constant charge, so the phone or whatever runs off the battery, but the betavoltaics keeps the battery charged.

@Mithrandir24601 Cool, swing by their lab and see if you can get the info on how soon it'll be ready.

Gryphon

1:07 PM

Good morning, all. (Or afternoon or evening or whatever)

Pavel Janicek

Hello. I am trying to find one awesome question and answer here on this site. Basically it was about how to quickly colonize planet to get nearest to our current level

I kinda remember, that most voted answer was talking about using only wireless networks and giving everyone only raspbery pi. But putting these to search does not really come up with any reasonable search

Anyone willing to help me out?

Gryphon

I'll see if I can find it for you.

Hosch250

1

Q: Post-apocalyptic... Rasberry Pi with Linux distribution?

Some time ago I asked about redesigning computer from scratch in post-apocalyptic setting. Nevertheless such approach may seem a bit like reinventing the wheel... So I'd try to look at the same issue from a bit different perspective... Which computer related technologies would have the highest c...

Pavel Janicek

I stumbled upon this but no. Also my memory on what I am searching for sucks, I know)

Hosch250

OK.

Pavel Janicek

1:14 PM

The setup was definitely new planet. And it was about how to get people luxury of today quickly

Hosch250

We have so many dozens of ones like those, LOL.

Pavel Janicek

you can post them here :)

Gryphon

Yeah, sorry, I'm not really finding anything that fits your description.

Pavel Janicek

No worries. I know I brought up almost impossible task

Hosch250

4

Q: How long does it take a Space Opera setting to recover after losing more than 80% of its collective civilization

In a space opera soft sci-fi setting, the typical War in Heaven happens as two superpowers go to war and drag everyone into it. Over the course of about 30-ish years, planets were trashed, empires shattered and whole civilizations wiped out. Refugees ran and hid wherever possible. Most were eve...

empire-building

Pavel Janicek

1:21 PM

Interesting one, but still. No

I feel bad :)

Hosch250

3

Q: 10 commandments to encourage development

Ok, so I saw this question, and I thought that it was an interesting idea to explore. But then I thought, the opposite would be equally interesting! So I came up with a scenario that I couldn't properly justify, and once that was pointed out to me, I came up with a second scenario: Say that hun...

religion history

Definitely not it, but still interesting.

10

Q: How long after a global nuclear disaster would the world become habitable by humans again?

So at some point in the future, humans have small colonies on the Moon, on Mars and many space stations in orbit of all the planets in the solar system. Everything is going great until one day something happens on Earth that sparks a global nuclear war. The USA, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, U...

science-based post-apocalypse habitability weapon-mass-destruction

Doesn't look right either.

Pavel Janicek

Ok, I will probably find it eventually

ha!

10

A: How to cut corners while rebuilding after apocalypse?

The "Cheap Planet Project" Objectives: Use standard solutions if possible Remove costs with marginal loss of quality Make reusable products Durable solutions, environment friendly if possible Assumptions: If we need any mineral, it can be mined with availability similar to that of Earth Th...

So it was not new planet but apocalypse

Hosch250

Nice!

Pavel Janicek

I totally loved that answer and today I was thinking to re-visit it for story purposes

Feeds

2:31 PM

Pavel Janicek

2:45 PM

@Feeds Thank you

Ok, time to get packing. Enjoy whatever activity your species does at the local time of your appearance

Nex Terren

3:57 PM

@Feeds This stands in absolute defiance of 80% of this website. Begone, uncomfortable truth comic!

2

James

@NexTerren Yeah this is what I was thinking.

AndyD273

@NexTerren This seems like it could be closely related to the concept of Citogenesis

I just read a pop-science book by a respected author. One chapter, and much of the thesis, was based around wildly inaccurate data which traced back to ... Wikipedia. To encourage people to be on their toes, I'm not going to say what book or author.

Nex Terren

@AndyD273 I wonder how often something along those lines actually happens.

AndyD273

4:20 PM

@NexTerren All the time [citation needed]

4

Nex Terren

4:50 PM

So the 1969 moon landings were the first time man had step foot on a non-earth body. Is there a better way of phrasing that? I can't say "planet..."

AndyD273

@NexTerren add "allegedly"? ;)

Oh, the other bit. "So the 1969 moon landings were the first time man set foot on an extraterrestrial body."

Nex Terren

Duh! Thanks!

AndyD273

or maybe "extraterrestrial object"... though that makes it sound artificial.

But maybe it was...

The moon is a giant battle station confirmed!

Rory Alsop

5:14 PM

@AndyD273 Yep - Wikipedia agrees

AndyD273

5:24 PM

@RoryAlsop That's why they had to fake the moon landings; due to artificial gravity the only place you can land is on the north pole, otherwise you fall off.

James

8:00 PM

@AndyD273 So I was listening to NPR at lunch today and they were discussing ways to improve democracy...they went into STV as an update for voting methods. Apparently Ireland does it, as do several cities in the US.

Nex Terren

@James Like how stack exchange does it?

James

@NexTerren Yep.

They were talking about a ...well it was basically a House of Representatives seat but for Ireland.

15 candidates.

Nex Terren

I think it's a pretty good system, myself.

Also I imagine it'd cause a significant blow to strong parties. I'd reduce (I want to say remove but... people will be people) the mindset of "if I don't vote for party A or party B I'm throwing away my vote."

AndyD273

@James Could test it out on the DNC primary as a test.

Better than the "let us decide who you voted for" that they used last time

James

@NexTerren This was a key point actually.

@AndyD273 I'd wholeheartedly support that. You'd probably end up with Biden as your candidate...at least that's my prediction and I kinda like Joe.

AndyD273

8:11 PM

I've completely lost track of how many people they have running. From what I've see it comes down to how many Intersectional points each candidate has, meaning Kamala Harris is the predetermined winner.

Gryphon

@AndyD273 There are over 200. Not exaggerating.

Nex Terren

@Gryphon What.

James

@AndyD273 Every poll I have seen has Biden in the lead...and I don't even think he has formally announced...has he?

Nex Terren

Just... what.

James

@AndyD273 Also you're doing that thing where you lump all democrats together.

I am contemplating looking up the local DNC group since as an independent I can't vote in the R primary but I can in the D primary and suggesting they use STV

AndyD273

8:14 PM

@James Nope, just going by what I read and see on the news

James

@AndyD273 Right, but you and I both know that what's on the news isn't reality.

Nex Terren

Is there a simple online utility for setting up a STV? I've wanted to do something like this previously for my own purposes, but I didn't want to mess with all the paperwork.

James

@NexTerren Hrm...SE uses a site...I forget what it is called.

AndyD273

Since I won't be voting for any of the democrat people, I haven't researched any of them, and don't really care which one gets nominated.

James

@AndyD273 Does that not strike you as potentially a problem or at least a bad way to approach democracy?

@NexTerren I think its this one. opavote.com/methods/single-transferable-vote

AndyD273

8:20 PM

@James Did you research all of the dozens of Republican candidates that came out in 2016?

Nex Terren

@James I'll be the Devil's Advocate here. "Is it a good use of your time to spend time researching something you can't have an effect on?" It's like worrying about the past.

James

@AndyD273 I did actually, I was inclined to vote for several of them before they lost the primary.

Nex Terren

I research items I vote on, and try to stay generally informed.

But... I don't research politics that I don't/can't affect.

Free up to 10 candidates. Hm.

Gryphon

@NexTerren Over 200 democratic candidates for the primary.

Nex Terren

@Gryphon That's crazy many. How do they narrow that many down?

James

8:23 PM

@AndyD273 I guess my point is I voted democratic in the 2016 election but there were republicans I would have much preferred voting for.

Gryphon

@NexTerren "212 individuals have filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for president in the Democratic Party primary, as of March 20, 2019." From Wikipedia, so that's probably correct.

I have no idea how they narrow them down.

James

@Gryphon Usually they narrow it by polling numbers...so if you're not in the top 10 you won't be included in debates etc, and if you get no name recognition you get no votes.

Gryphon

@James Yeah, but do they have like a several foot long ballot? It'd take a couple minutes just to find your candidate's name to put an X beside.

AndyD273

@James Good for you then. Of the ones that seem to be leading the poles at the moment, I don't think there is a single one that isn't a far left wacko. IIRC they all came out supporting the Green Leap Forward, most of them have Socialist talking points. The tiny bit I've heard about the shit-posting retired senator from Alaska sounds fun though.

Gryphon

@AndyD273 I'm calling it "The Green Leap Forward" from now on. Did you make that name up?

James

8:27 PM

@AndyD273 Yeah but...if you don't research them you can't know that.

@Gryphon I think the state party officials narrow it down to a reasonable number but I am not really sure how it all works.

AndyD273

@Gryphon I actually don't remember. I was talking to someone about the green new deal and the great leap forward, but I don't remember which one of us stuck them together.

@James Maybe when they find a way to narrow it down to the top 50?

Worldbuilding Meta

9:09 PM

0

Q: Who are the anonymous users?

A not-small percentage of proposed edits are from anonymous users. I'm not sure how this works. It's not Community because that would be a high level user setting that name, no? And why do an edit that way? I suspect these are non-users of the system proposing an edit. There appears to be no...

discussion users suggested-edits

James

@AndyD273 I think the top 5 would be sufficient.

lol

John Locke

9:51 PM

@NexTerren Never be devil's advocate

Nex Terren

@JohnLocke A joke about a literal take of the phrase, or no?

John Locke

'It's not actually ... it's a DEVICE for EXPLORING a PLAUSIBLE REALITY that's not the one we're in, to gain a broader understanding about it.' 'oh, like a boat!' '...' 'Just for the sake of argument, we should get a boat! You can invite the Devil, too, if you want.'

Nex Terren

@JohnLocke Okay, joke. Fair. :P

Is this really World Building?

https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/142619/what-measures-can-defecting-spies-and-whistleblowers-take-to-protect-themselves

It was transferred to us, but...

Shalvenay

11:17 PM

@AndyD273 yes, this is precisely where you see betavoltaics in play already

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