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Worldbuilding Meta
Worldbuilding Meta
8:00 AM
2
Q: Why was this post deleted? Since when do we need citations to make Answers acceptable on WB?

JDługoszWhat's the deal with this Answer It has a banner saying it needs more citations. But this SE is all about making things up and discussing ideas, except for specific cases such as hard-science. It's had a ridiculous number of references added, so now it's basically a list of sources. The appar...

discussion
 
 
2 hours later…
Worldbuilding Meta
Worldbuilding Meta
9:37 AM
0
Q: Why do people downvote but refrain from commenting the reason?

Ganesh RamachandranI am a beginner to this stack exchange and I am holding account in 21 sites of stack exchange. I ask a question, I get positive comments and a valid answer . With that am offered with down-votes too which reduces my reputation. When a person gets a valid answer, shouldn't the down-votes go meanin...

feature-request comments down-votes
 
Tim B
Tim B
9:49 AM
Weekly average is now >20 questions per day
 
Worldbuilding Meta
Worldbuilding Meta
0
Q: Is there easy way to get to the Worldbuilding election site?

Pavel JanicekBeing active user on this site, I am constantly curious who is running up for the moderators of this site. However, I did not find any easy way how to get to the election site than just remembering the link to worldbuilding election site. Is there some mouse-only option I could access the electi...

discussion support
 
 
5 hours later…
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
2:49 PM
Looks like we've got a new user who thought it was a good idea to ask two questions, both of which look like they'll never get answered
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
Yes, a slight misunderstanding of what kind of questions we answer.
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
I think the second one is closer than the first, but there are at least three questions being asked, and I can't really see a connection between any of them
I think people often forget that everyone has a different brain
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
I'm happy that my brain is different. I pity so many...
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
Yeah, my brain is pretty great. I have a sister, and we think we each got half of a perfect brain, but I wouldn't want the half she got
not that there's anything wrong with her half, it just doesn't sound as fun
 
Tim B
Tim B
3:09 PM
lol
post a comment to the user and vote to close is about all you can do in that case
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
3:33 PM
that 'something from nothing' question might've actually been a good question
I now need to find out if matter and antimatter really can spontaneously generate, it was mentioned in an answer but not explained
I don't like being on the cusp of violating what I thought were the laws of the universe, only to be incapable of understanding the maths involved
 
Tim B
Tim B
zero point energy stuff?
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
maybe... I don't even know
 
Tim B
Tim B
I'm sure I remember reading that there's a theory saying matter and antimatter are spontaneously appearing all the time only to immediately annihilate each other
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
yeah, but I thought matter/antimatter annihilation released energy
 
Tim B
Tim B
because you're generating a +1 and -1 they cancel out for conservation of energy
they release the energy they absorbed to form in the first place
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
3:46 PM
but if they absorb energy, then it's not really spontaneous, is it?
 
James
James
Hows everyone today?
 
Tim B
Tim B
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
@James More confused than I was yesterday, that's for sure
 
James
James
@DaaaahWhoosh What about?
 
Tim B
Tim B
"Zero-point energy refers to random quantum fluctuations of the electromagnetic (and other) force fields that are present everywhere in the vacuum; in other words, an 'empty' vacuum is actually a seething cauldron of energy. This energy is present even at absolute zero temperature (-273 Celsius),and of course, even when no matter is present. "
basically the "fizz" sometimes gets strong enough that particles pop out
if I understand/recall correctly
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
3:49 PM
@TimB This just sounds a lot more like Renaissance science than I was expecting.
 
Tim B
Tim B
:)
well I'm pretty vague on it myself so do some reading before you take anything I just said as true
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pair_production - that's not spontaneous though
ahha
found it
Quantum fluctuation
In quantum physics, a quantum fluctuation (or quantum vacuum fluctuation or vacuum fluctuation) is the temporary change in the amount of energy in a point in space, as explained in Werner Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. According to one formulation of the principle, energy and time can be related by the relation That means that conservation of energy can appear to be violated, but only for small times. This allows the creation of particle-antiparticle pairs of virtual particles. The effects of these particles are measurable, for example, in the effective charge of the electron, different from...
 
James
James
Would it be wrong to nominate myself out of vain curiosity to see what my nominee score would be?
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
@James I was thinking the same thing yesterday, apparently you're supposed to actually be okay with the idea of winning
there are queries though
 
Tim B
Tim B
There is a SEDE query to find out your nominee score
 
James
James
@DaaaahWhoosh Ohhhh, well I can handle winning if things go that way...but jeez tough field.
 
Tim B
Tim B
3:55 PM
30
A: What would my Election Candidate score be?

Shog9Here's a SEDE query - this displays the candidate scores for some of the candidates in the 6th election on Stack Overflow. You can use the site-switcher to make this work for user IDs on a different site: Pass it one or more user IDs for the site you've selected, and it'll display a total ...

insanely tough
I really doubt all the existing mods are even going to make it in
(so far 3 out of 4 have stood)
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
has Vincent been around recently? I don't think I've seen evidence of him
 
Tim B
Tim B
I've seen moderator activity from him
not sure if he's been active otherwise or not
 
James
James
Yeah other than modding he's been pretty quiet.
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
The last week or so I've been getting upvotes from posts I made in the first two months of WB. Someone's been digging in the past!
 
James
James
@bowlturner I've noticed a few of those too
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
4:04 PM
I'm not complaining by any means, but I wonder what they are looking for. They don't seem to be related. or maybe just a bunch of people working on archaeology?
 
James
James
Could be that...or new users checking out highly voted old stuff.
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
Except some are pretty low key. This is the latest where mine was upvoted. worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/1332/…
 
James
James
Wow...ok that is pretty random.
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
As I said, I certainly don't mind, but I wonder
 
Tim B
Tim B
Google :)
I get a steady trickle on upvotes on old posts across stack exchange and worldbuilding
one or two a week I'd guess. Just people finding old questions and upvoting them
a question hit 10k views months after it had been asked, so had been getting a steady trickle of views all that time
first I knew about it was the gold badge
 
James
James
4:10 PM
@TimB I wrote a couple questions to get myself over the hump to 10,000 but a lot of the previous thousand or so came from a trickle of old stuff getting voted.
@TimB I got one on super user the other day...
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
@TimB ya, I get that. sometimes it seems there are more than normal though, like right now
The hiding as a brown dwarf question has been slooowly creaping toward 2500 views for months, and then all of a sudden it jumped passed and got an up vote, giving me 2 badges yesterday.
 
James
James
4:23 PM
I dropped the proverbial hat for moderator.
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
I see the mud flinging has begun!
 
Hohmannfan
Hohmannfan
About the 'heat-death' question that has recently rocketed into the sky, the OP has made an edit to it to change the question into what happens after the last star is gone. Should not that be a new question?
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
probably
 
James
James
@bowlturner Absolutely. You how do you plead sir!
@Hohmannfan You could suggest a roll back and mention in the notes that is what should be done.
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
I do not recollect any simbiote discussions.
 
Hohmannfan
Hohmannfan
4:30 PM
How do I add a note to the rollback?
 
James
James
@Hohmannfan There should be a block for comments I believe just like with any other post edit.
 
Hohmannfan
Hohmannfan
nope
Have to log out now anyway, so I am just leaving a mess :) Bye
 
James
James
Under the changes, should say ....'edit summary' I believe?
 
Universe Factory
Universe Factory
5:07 PM
Universe Factory — Medium: Meeting the Worldbuilders — Tim B
posted on February 03, 2016 by bilbo pingouin

This article is from a series here on Universe Factory, where we look at the people behind the Worldbuilding. We present a number of short… Continue reading on Medium »

 
Tim B
Tim B
5:18 PM
I'm famous \o/
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
:)
 
 
1 hour later…
James
James
6:24 PM
@TimB Pshhh I was famous first :p
 
Hohmannfan
Hohmannfan
7:23 PM
@James I am back! I know about the 'edit summary' box, I can find it for every type of edit, EXCEPT for roll-backs.
 
James
James
@Hohmannfan Weird...
 
Hohmannfan
Hohmannfan
Not a problem actually, I do not have to do roll backs often
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
I have yet to do a roll back. Still don't have that badge...
Someone beat me to the 2 I would have rolled back
 
James
James
@bowlturner There generally isn't a ton of need for it around here.
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
That was my point.
 
Hohmannfan
Hohmannfan
7:34 PM
There are practically no use for the roll-back option, I have only done it twice
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
It's one easy little bronze badge, and one of the 'missing' badges for my score as a candidate!
 
Worldbuilding Meta
Worldbuilding Meta
7:55 PM
0
Q: Non-Sequitur Questions: how to handle them

Draco18sThis question popped up a few minutes ago and its premise has no foundational basis in anything. No really. "If the Earth were to spin the other way, could gravity exist?" This is such a complete non-sequitur, so I am unsure how to handle it. None of the flagging or closing options seem to ap...

discussion non-sequitur
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
8:55 PM
can anyone explain why this question isn't idea generation or opinion based?
 
Hohmannfan
Hohmannfan
It seems like it is simply a question about terminology. Nothing wrong with that?
 
Samuel
Samuel
@DaaaahWhoosh The asker seemed to assume there was already a name and wasn't asking for one to be made up.
 
Hohmannfan
Hohmannfan
But if you ask for a name here, and it does not exist, be sure people will try to invent one...
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
@Samuel In that case, why does the answer making one up have so many upvotes?
 
Samuel
Samuel
@DaaaahWhoosh I'm not sure, I guess because some people think it's funny. Idea Generation answers aren't disallowed...
I don't think it's a very good answer.
 
HDE 226868
HDE 226868
9:14 PM
@bowlturner Yeah, I inexplicably got a couple upvotes there.
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
@HDE226868 sorry where?
 
HDE 226868
HDE 226868
The brown dwarf/Dyson spheres in disguise question.
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
ahh
Did anyone edit any of the posts?
 
HDE 226868
HDE 226868
Nope.
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
weird
maybe a science class had a question on brown dwarfs or something
 
HDE 226868
HDE 226868
9:20 PM
Maybe the question showed up in the Related sidebar for the recent Dyson sphere around a planet question.
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
maybe
 
Hohmannfan
Hohmannfan
That was how I found it
 
bowlturner
bowlturner
cool. Didn't know about that
 
James
James
ok am I out of line expecting to be able to talk about a movie that came out almost two months ago without spoilers tags?
 
HDE 226868
HDE 226868
9:42 PM
@James Ehhh. . . I can see the points that each side is making there.
Catchy campaign slogan, though.
 
James
James
@HDE226868 I'm keeping it :)
 
HDE 226868
HDE 226868
Give me Chewie's bowcaster, and justice shall be done!
 
James
James
If you're not bothering to see a movie until it comes out on video I think you assume a certain amount of risk for the movie not longer being a surprise...especially one as big as star wars.
 
Samuel
Samuel
My sister-in-law wants to see it, but with a recent baby, hasn't found the time.
So, there are some legitimate reasons a fan may have not see it and still can be on the internet at home.
I mean, if anything you could just write "Crimes against Han Solo".
@James Feeling the political pressure?
 
Serban Tanasa
Serban Tanasa
@HDE226868, wanted to put hard-science on this
0
Q: Mountain-sized Mobile Machines

Serban TanasaThese machines are large. The size of mountains. Have not moved in millennia. And now they're awake again. And moving. With every movement, there are quakes as the crust literally buckles under their massive weight. It is possible that they were used in the original terraforming of the planet m...

mythical-creatures megastructures
but thought i'd get no answers if I did. Care to try your hand?
 
HDE 226868
HDE 226868
9:54 PM
@Samuel That kind of covers the situation between Leia and Han, frankly.
@SerbanTanasa Sure, but maybe not now.
I'm expecting an over-the-phone college interview sometime in the next five hours, hopefully closer to now than 10.
 
Serban Tanasa
Serban Tanasa
@HDE226868, bon chance!
MIT?
 
HDE 226868
HDE 226868
I'd die there.
Cornell University School of Arts and Sciences.
 
Serban Tanasa
Serban Tanasa
Cornell -- hmm, going for the Ivy League
 
HDE 226868
HDE 226868
That and Princeton (deferral) are my only two Ivies. Most are smaller liberal arts schools.
So far, my school has done terrible on early college acceptances, and there are pretty smart people at my school. So things are not looking up. :P
 
James
James
@Samuel I'm not caving sir! (But yeah that is legitimate)
 
Serban Tanasa
Serban Tanasa
10:08 PM
@HDE226868, was visiting a former student of mine in Princeton just a few months ago
the place is a maze
but incredibly nice
 
HDE 226868
HDE 226868
It's nice there.
@SerbanTanasa Can these machines be made largely of superconductors?
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
@James For the record, when I commented on that I was joking.
 
Serban Tanasa
Serban Tanasa
@HDE226868 Sure, if you can have a mountain made of superconductors
 
HDE 226868
HDE 226868
Oh, wait, titanium is diamagnetic but not ferromagnetic. I can use diamagnetic levitation instead! Maybe.
Superconductors work, too, though.
 
Serban Tanasa
Serban Tanasa
ah, a careful read will reveal that the density is similar to titanium,
nowhere does it say it is MADE of titanium
 
HDE 226868
HDE 226868
10:23 PM
Well, yeah, but I was planning to make most of the structure out of it.
 
Serban Tanasa
Serban Tanasa
ok, so it's a good megastructure metal
 
HDE 226868
HDE 226868
10:50 PM
@SerbanTanasa I got an answer, but it seems weirdly easy for diamagnetic levitation to happen.
I suspect I made a unit conversion error somewhere, but I can't find it.
 

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