The Factory Floor

bilbo_pingouin

20:25

7

Q: Surviving the world of zombie mosquitoes

Some Details Suppose an Earth-like world with the following changes: Atmosphere: 67% nitrogen, 31% oxygen, 2% other Average surface temperature: 16.7° C (62° F) Day/night cycle: 20 hours Gravity: 0.86 g This world is inhabited by genetically diverse creatures that are equipped with sugar-lad...

Is that too broad? ^^^

Tim B

I live in the UK, down by London...we've basically had zero snow this year

I think a few flakes a couple of times and that's it

AndreiROM

@TimB I envy you

Tim B

I prefer snow to miserable rain tbh

and we've had a LOT of that

AndreiROM

@bilbo_pingouin zombie mosquitoes - surprised there isn't a TV show about them yet

@TimB in Ontario we still salt the roads. I'll take rain over a car crusted in salt any day

bilbo_pingouin

I got some friends who were in London over the previous week end... they said it was raining and cold all the time ;)

AndreiROM

20:30

@bilbo_pingouin ok, that's pretty bad then

it'll be 8 degrees (celcius) this friday in southern ontario

weird winter

bilbo_pingouin

+8°C? is that warm or cold?

AndreiROM

it was negative 20 (celcius) 2 days ago

Tim B

@bilbo_pingouin Hmm, not had a proper look but at a glance I think it's maybe ok

AndreiROM

oh, it's practically beach weather considering that it's winter :P

bilbo_pingouin

@TimB it appeared in the review queue... I had to consider it for some time... and I am not yet entirely sure

AndreiROM

20:32

24 Celcius is basically beautiful weather ... T-Shirt and shorts, you could hit the beach

30+ ... it's pretty hot

at around 10 degrees you can forego a jacket if you're not out long

so 8 degrees .. i'm lovin' it

might leave my jacket in the trunk and just walk around in a sweater

Romanians would call me crazy

Canadians, conservative

as you will see ppl in shorts and flip flops in -20 degree weather

bilbo_pingouin

ok, it's close enough to us here...

bowlturner

Question, when an 'old' question is answered, does it always go into the 'Late Answers' Queue, no matter who answers?

James

I don't know that that queue works right honestly...

bilbo_pingouin

@bowlturner no. Only for low rep users

HDE 226868

@bowlturner I don't think so. It's for neqer users.

bilbo_pingouin

20:36

it used to be a special case of first post (as an answer), but they extended it...

bowlturner

So any of my new answers to old questions have very small chance of being read then

bilbo_pingouin

I don't remember the details, but I believe it was like 150 rep

well, the questions gets promoted to the first page

bowlturner

I was hoping that at least 2 people would look at it. Oh well.

HDE 226868

@bowlturner From experience, I can say that you might have luck.

AndreiROM

@bowlturner some weird ppl like myself might go around reading old questions and lol-ing at the answers

bowlturner

20:37

@bilbo_pingouin yes, but as generally the '0' up vote answer it's at the bottom.

bilbo_pingouin

today, just got a +1 on an answer from July... you never know :)

@bowlturner I did not say it was easy ;)

HDE 226868

I've gotten +3 the last couple times I've gone after old questions.

bowlturner

But if it was in a queue it 'would' get a couple looks

@HDE226868 it helps when they get mentioned in talk. I had one make it to 5 for my Necromancer badge.

bilbo_pingouin

review is supposed to be for risk of mistakes/spams/etc. not for promotion ;-)

HDE 226868

And the +13 on the bountied question. Bounties help. A lot.

bilbo_pingouin

20:40

I can go and flag it if you want :D

bowlturner

@bilbo_pingouin looking at like that does make more sense.

the risk part I mean

I'm working on the Archaeologist badge but only doing a couple a day to not flood the queue

Keep looking for a question that I can get a Revival badge for and one I'm willing to actually answer...

Hohmannfan

What is this massive vtc thingy going on?

James

@Hohmannfan What do you mean?

bowlturner

there have been 10? questions vtc today

bilbo_pingouin

@bowlturner I've tried a few times to go for revival... but there were often a reason why the question didn't have a good answer already...

bowlturner

20:46

@bilbo_pingouin exactly

AndreiROM

i haven't actively badge hunted before. . but maybe I should get into it ;)

Hohmannfan

perhaps it is just more traffic

James

We do seem to have gotten quite a few new folks the last week or so

bowlturner

@AndreiROM when I'm bored I look for things to gets badges for.

And sometimes I try to 'bump' several badges with one or 2 posts/edits! ;)

AndreiROM

@bowlturner the only one I actively tried to get was the fanatic badge .. and then Valentine's weekend rolled around ... and now I'm back to 2 days

bilbo_pingouin

20:49

@AndreiROM revival is the only I actively tried to get ;-)

Serban Tanasa

@HDE226868 , funny thing, I've gotten more downvotes in the 2 days i've been a moderator than in the entire calendar year before

bilbo_pingouin

@AndreiROM ok, and that one. But I was disappointed not to get a platine badge for 250 days in a row ;)

James

@SerbanTanasa Bowl is punishing you for beating him

Serban Tanasa

Still at 200 reputation for the day, heh :D

they gotta try harder

DaaaahWhoosh

@SerbanTanasa challenge accepted.

AndreiROM

20:50

@bilbo_pingouin i hate you

@bilbo_pingouin I've considered writing a script to just visit the SE pages each day - even if I forget

@SerbanTanasa well .. i have some time ... flexes down-vote muscles

bowlturner

@bilbo_pingouin and you don't get it twice even if you get 100 days multiple times.

Samuel

What challenge was that?

bowlturner

@Samuel ha, I'm happy I've made it to 32!

bilbo_pingouin

@AndreiROM well, I have kids, so I often have some time with not much more to do in the evenings... and I installed the SE app on my phone for it... a quick visit a day is enough

@bowlturner isn't that a shame?

bowlturner

yep!

AndreiROM

20:53

whenever I see a user with 5+ gold badges I get insanely jealous

Serban Tanasa

[flashes gold badges]

AndreiROM

bastard

Samuel

[drops gold badge, still has 5]

AndreiROM

grrr

picks it up <- I wish

it would be so awesome if you could trade in bronze and silver badges for gold :P

bowlturner

I expect my next gold badge will be either the close review badge or copy editor. Both a ways out there

Samuel

20:55

What would the exchange rate be?

Serban Tanasa

@AndreiROM, I'm patiently waiting for my Humans-as-pets question to pass 10k views

Samuel

@SerbanTanasa Ah, I see the purpose of the tie in now.

AndreiROM

@SerbanTanasa you do have some great questions

I've not asked a single one yet

bilbo_pingouin

@SerbanTanasa and you shamelessly drop a link to get closer to it ;-)

Serban Tanasa

@Samuel, keepin' it real, keepin' it cheap

[weaves his web, patiently]

bowlturner

20:57

heck I've been tickled the Mosquito Assassin has made it to 7000 views!

AndreiROM

I've noticed that Serban always masterfully ties his questions together

it's pretty damned sneaky

Serban Tanasa

shameless, it is.

AndreiROM

I'm taking notes

Expect a deployment schedule of inter-related questions, coming to World Building soon :P

Serban Tanasa

thing is, nobody really answered the ~10k view question, so I've tried to clarify the question

bowlturner

I should go edit out his cross-linking, then I'd get that much closer to Copy editor

Serban Tanasa

20:58

apparently, the clarified version is making @Samuel feel it's too broad

Samuel

Yep, I stand by it.

Serban Tanasa

dunno how to fix it, the meaning is not about being happy, it's about keeping them content

you know, "give your employees a raise to keep'em happy"

doesn't mean they're actively ecstatic all day

Samuel

I'm not seeing whatever difference you're suggesting that makes.

Serban Tanasa

well, hapiness is a philosphical question, but "keep'em happy" has no such ramifications

Samuel

I'm reading it as "being happy in life" which to me is fairly synonymous with "being content"

bowlturner

21:00

I also pointed out that what makes any one person happy/content, won't work with the next person and so they need to 'get to know' their target

Serban Tanasa

yeah, i liked that answer

Samuel

@bowlturner Basically, you answered that the question needs to be found out by the AI and can't be answered by us.

Serban Tanasa

i like the idea of an AI having a model of its bonsai

and trying to trim it just right

Samuel

Which is exactly why I see it as too broad of a question.

Tim B

I need 11 more 200 rep days to get epic

HDE 226868

21:02

@bowlturner Yeah, that does help.

Serban Tanasa

just deleted some dino poop

Samuel

Why not ask for an optimal algorithm for determining the contentedness of Alice?

HDE 226868

@SerbanTanasa Strange. A nice welcome to the job.

Serban Tanasa

@samuel i leave that for code golf

bowlturner

@HDE226868 sorry what helps? not sure where you are in the converstion.

AndreiROM

21:03

is Morpheus going to visit Alice and offer her a way out of the "Matrix" ?

Samuel

I mean, bound the binary search somewhat. What % of oxygen between 0 and 100 makes her happy?

HDE 226868

@bowlturner Your message about a post being mentioned in chat.

bowlturner

ah, yes.

HDE 226868

Hey, is anyone here familiar with the Foundation series? I have a question idea.

bowlturner

I've read them

Serban Tanasa

21:04

go ahead

been a while since i read that

Tim B

I read them when I was about 12, still remember the premise but not details :p

HDE 226868

I was going to ask something about the plausibility of psychohistory - although a few other ideas buzzed around in my head.

AndreiROM

@HDE226868 I read the books at one point

Samuel

I've read them.

bowlturner

I'm pulling a @SerbanTanasa . I tried answering this old question. worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/22648/… then I read one of the other ones that was so much better. I almost deleted mine.

AndreiROM

21:05

i always thought so, but now I know for a fact that I'm in good company :P

HDE 226868

Okay, do those who read them remember Hari Seldon and his ability to use psychohistory to predict the future?

Tim B

yepp

bowlturner

@HDE226868 the broad strokes actually have some merit

Tim B

chaos theory says no

Serban Tanasa

@bowlturner, no, i like the answer

@HDE226868, if you're a believer in the Longue Duree it is

HDE 226868

21:07

@TimB Even the idea of simply prediction about when an empire will fall, for instance? Seldon crises are way too specific, IMHO, but other things might not be.

bowlturner

@SerbanTanasa thanks. You seem to like a lot of my answers! I appreciate it! I knew there was a reason I voted for you in the primary!

Serban Tanasa

hahah

HDE 226868

@SerbanTanasa Interesting.

Serban Tanasa

@bowlturner, also like @Thucydides answer

bowlturner

@SerbanTanasa yes, his was the one I thought was great

Serban Tanasa

21:12

although it is unclear whether IQ would ever apply to AIs

after all, do submarines "swim"?

HDE 226868

Nixing the psychohistory question; more researching has convinced me that it's controversial and not definitively decided.

bowlturner

I would consider psychohistory to be more like weather forecasts.

and we are shaking bones to make predictions

AndreiROM

Seldon's predictions sometimes fail - and fairly spectacularly at that

so yes, akin to weather forecasts sounds about right

but even more vague

HDE 226868

@AndreiROM Spoiler!?!

AndreiROM

@HDE226868 uhm ... I guess ? Maybe ? The books are awesome and you should still read them?

@HDE226868 Please don't ban me? :P

Hohmannfan

21:19

Has it ever happened that a high-rep user has been banned?

HDE 226868

Not on WB.

Hohmannfan

SO?

HDE 226868

On other sites, yes.

Serban Tanasa

if only we had some moderators to hide the spoilers

AndreiROM

@SerbanTanasa outta luck

bilbo_pingouin

21:24

by the way, did we just miss the calendar challenge fitting with the leap day, or did I miss the discussion about it?

@James I think your question is very opinion-based.. and possibly broad

James

@bilbo_pingouin Why do you say that?

bilbo_pingouin

@James well, "great people" sounds very opinion-based. different cultures have different opinion on the same people... some might see them great, when others, terrible

and asking to fill various profile people is quite broad...

"great" people might include religious figures, kings and knights, philosophers, scientists, etc.

James

Great and terrible are the same thing in this case.

@bilbo_pingouin I agree, I specifically mention that in the question

bilbo_pingouin

terrible in the sense of horrible

Tim B

@bilbo_pingouin I think no-one started it so maybe someone not aware of the discussion just picked the top

James

21:32

@bilbo_pingouin i know. but they alter history just the same

I can define great people to make my meaning more clear. brb

bilbo_pingouin

that would remove the opinion-based part

but the fact that you want all kind of profiles, makes it very broad

and hard to answer without know much more about your world

James

@bilbo_pingouin Well again, I am looking for a process, does the setting particularly matter?

@bilbo_pingouin updated btw

you're the second one to ask about setting so it very well may matter, I am actually asking.

bilbo_pingouin

well the 21st century western world celebrate their scientists... Middle Age Europe very little... even Renaissance ones...

they tended to use them to warm their palaces up

HDE 226868

New grammatical/spelling pet peeve: people spelling "rogue planet" as "rouge planet".

bilbo_pingouin

the religious figures reflect the religious philosophy

AndreiROM

21:39

when you say "rouge" I think "red"

bilbo_pingouin

@HDE226868 they may mean mars ;)

James

@HDE226868 Hey, if planets want to wear makeup who am i to judge

HDE 226868

. . . I should have seen those jokes coming.

James

yeah for sure lol

bilbo_pingouin

for example, Suicide is wrongly viewed by the catholics, whereas martyrs (a form of suicide) isn't that bad for muslims. And Bouddhists essentially celebrate someone who starve himself to death.

so the "great" people of religious profile is really dependent on the religion

AndreiROM

21:41

@bilbo_pingouin yes, but this will be determined by the story's context

bilbo_pingouin

yes, but how do you generalise a process to make great people of all type?

AndreiROM

@bilbo_pingouin I posted an answer on that question, lemme know what you think

bilbo_pingouin

I think the question is way too broad ;-) but going to read your answer :) and James' update while at it

AndreiROM

@bilbo_pingouin please be gentle, lol. I made that "system" up in 3 or 4 minutes

bowlturner

I went even simpler. I think sometimes answers to questions depend on your point of view

AndreiROM

21:45

@bowlturner of course. Most WB answers are pretty subjective

HDE 226868

Okay, the psychohistory question's up. @SerbanTanasa, if you want to turn your link idea into an answer, be my guest.

bilbo_pingouin

@HDE226868 question for my English... be my guess or be my guest?

HDE 226868

@bilbo_pingouin Typo on my part. Thanks.

As I've said before, I'm a terrible typer.

James

@bilbo_pingouin guest

bilbo_pingouin

fair enough... not wanting to nitpick or whatever, but that would not be the first time that I am using some expression... wrongly ^^"

bilbo_pingouin

22:01

@James, I still see your question as too broad. But I might be tired, so I'll see how I feel about it in the morning. I would really prefer you to focus on one type of profile. Note that many "great" people actually organised their own image... so "great" might be a results of propaganda.

And I think @AndreiROM's answer somehow shows that broadness

anyway, good night all :-)

AndreiROM

@bilbo_pingouin night

bowlturner

doh, several upvotes have now put me where I'm hoping to 'make' 200. I don't have a problem with ending at 150-160 in a day, but it really irritates me to be 180-190 or worse, 197! (I think that happened twice!) Just needed to speak out. Anyway mostly done for the day. Later folks.

AndreiROM

@bowlturner that's when those sock-puppet accounts come in handy :P

take it easy!

Serban Tanasa

22:30

@HDE226868, there, answered and w/o obvious spoilers

HDE 226868

@SerbanTanasa Thanks. Upvoted and commented.

Tim B

23:39

Ok, I've replied to the case studies. Only quick replies but I think that's enough, time is limited :(

In the next day or two (hopefully tomorrow evening) I'm going to post asking for suggestions for risk factors. The first step is identifying those.

goodnight all o/

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