The Factory Floor

dot_Sp0T

04:58

Oh my there seems to have been happening a lot over night

Btw. anyone an idea how I can provoke more science in the answers to my question? worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/questions/56710/…

Pete

06:08

@dot_Sp0T Put a bounty on it and ask for more science. Be specific about what you want more specifics about.

dot_Sp0T

I don't wanna lose my rep :(

Pete

Then just edit your question, I guess.

Tim B

11:15

@dot_Sp0T Saga of Seven Suns. Terrible terrible books that were nearly good

The writing was ok, some interesting ideas. Absolutely no grasp of scale (bad in someone trying to write space sci fi) and unfortunate plot holes that you could drive a train towing a hot air balloon through....sideways.

dot_Sp0T

11:57

@TimB I really really like the space battles

Journeyman Geek

lol

I might give it a shot

Tim B

I don't really remember them tbh.

Journeyman Geek

I am a sucker for space battles

Tim B

I just remember spaceships skimming over the surface of a sun and freezing it

like wtf

Journeyman Geek

o0

Tim B

11:58

and I vaguely remember the number "thousands" being used

they did similar with a planet too which was already vaguely improbable

and a lot of very contrived things that didn't really make sense

Journeyman Geek

@TimB I find good scifi/space opera writing tends to focus on one ship and her crew

(honor harrington for example)

or the RCN series

Tim B

like the initial idea of the ignition of the gas giant provoking aliens who lived there was decent....but the friendly aliens would never have allowed that. They knew the whatever they were called were in the gas giants

the author tried to retcon an explanation in later on but it was incredibly feeble and just made it all the more improbable

Nights Dawn trilogy has some epic space battles

dot_Sp0T

Oh hey Journeyman

And it's got cool robots

@TimB got ISBNs?

@JourneymanGeek as you are here, would you care explaining me your answer on the booze-rat question?

Before we flood the comment section there

Journeyman Geek

@dot_Sp0T I figured you would ask

Tim B

0-333-63427-6

that's the first one

be warned it gets dark at times

dot_Sp0T

12:05

sounds good

Journeyman Geek

Basically, the rats would have really poor food sources - while animals like cows have a multi stomach processes for breaking cellulose into simple sugars (yay!) these things eat basically the things nothing else would eat, and breaks it up into somewhat nasty booze...

which the break down for energy

dot_Sp0T

@JourneymanGeek I'm in an electronics class, thus I might not insta-react

Tim B

it starts off at pure sci fi...then half way through gets fantastical/horror elements...then over time all of that is explained back to pure sci fi

Journeyman Geek

And since their food is so poor, when they start starving, one of them lets itself get eaten, and the poor drunk predator gets swarmed and eaten

dot_Sp0T

@JourneymanGeek so you are referring to the fact that it would be hard for the booze-rats to create alcohol from the food normal rats eat?

Tim B

12:06

and it has epic "close escape" moments where you feel genuine peril and then they pull off an amazing escape that feels real...like all the mechanics used are fore-shadowed and already there and then the good guys put themtogehter in a way that feels real...if you know what I mean?

Journeyman Geek

@dot_Sp0T basically they live somewhere with few food sources

Tim B

no problem->technobabble->solved

Journeyman Geek

kinda like koalas being stoned out of their mind all the time

dot_Sp0T

why stoned?

Let me break your answer down:

Journeyman Geek

cause they eat somewhat toxic eucalyptus.

dot_Sp0T

12:09

Alcohol is actually a pretty energy dense substance. However, why this would be preferred to simple sugars would be interesting - perhaps the gut flora of the rats efficiently breaks down 'poor' foodstuffs like grass into Cellulosic ethanol. << the first phrase followed by the second phrase, it makes absolutely no sense to me; it feels like there's lots of information missing that is assumed by you to be there?

Journeyman Geek

@dot_Sp0T simple sugars are a great food source

dot_Sp0T

yes so far I follow

but then i get lost

Journeyman Geek

But converting that to booze is dumb

Now, take a cow

dot_Sp0T

Why don't you write it that way

Journeyman Geek

the cow eats grass. Runs it through multiple stomachs over a period of time...

cause its overcomplicated, and people get confused when I do that

dot_Sp0T

12:10

I get confused by your answer

they do not consume alcohol

Pete

This is what fuelled my answer to the booze rat question. youtube.com/watch?v=50tlF3kGbT4

dot_Sp0T

they produce it to kill predators to eat them then

Journeyman Geek

Why would the predators eat them?

dot_Sp0T

Unless you propose them also living from alcohol

Because Weasels and others eat rats

Journeyman Geek

Ok, lets start with grass, paper, old books...

stuff that's REALLY hard to digest

but instead of breaking down to sugar, they happen to break it down into booze.

dot_Sp0T

12:11

then they kill the predators and feed on them to produce more rats

Journeyman Geek

naw, I was considering a constant state of near starvation

dot_Sp0T

The question the was: How could these rats produce the alcohol they use to stun predators

Journeyman Geek

If predators are constantly getting killed they would avoid the rats

dot_Sp0T

Naturally there will be an equilibrium or similar

Journeyman Geek

@dot_Sp0T they eat cellulose, break it down to ethanol. Then convert that to energy

as opposed to eating sugars and converting it to energy

dot_Sp0T

12:12

Maybe the rats use pheromones or similar to attract predators

Journeyman Geek

or they just look vaguely edible, and a large hungry predator eats it, gets drunk on an empty stomach, and feeds the swarm for a few weeks

Pete

Spot, if you're after rep points, why not answer more questions. Looks like you've only answered one person's question in the last two months. Or do you only want to ask questions?

Journeyman Geek

(tbh, I randomly pop in, answer stuff... and don't look at my reputation ._.)

dot_Sp0T

@Pete I am not necessarily after rep: I am primarily here to have good discussions and get issues in my world-building-process resolved

And sometimes I have an idea I wanna think through and then I either think myself OR I ask the community here because I have too little knowledge/time to get into the answer

Tim B

The booze rats feel quite contrived tbh. There are much more effective ways to be poisoness

dot_Sp0T

12:16

And the booze-rat sorta exploded

Tim B

and something that is poisonous (as opposed to be venomous) uses it as a defensive strategy not a hunting one

dot_Sp0T

I wanted to create animals that produce alcohol

So I can ask questions about how to farm that alcohol

Pete

@dot_Sp0T Oh, I thought I remembered you saying that the booze rat thread was a rep farming question. Maybe I read it wrong.

Tim B

the only way booze rats would work is if there were enough non-booze rats so they could hide among the population

dot_Sp0T

And create a group of people that get drunk on animals

Tim B

12:16

and even then they'd get better calorie returns just digesting the alcohol than from the predator

dot_Sp0T

@Pete well it became one, so it's a farm now

@TimB I can create a plausibility question if you'd like to put these elaborations into prose

@JourneymanGeek Imagine a whole colony living inside a dead animal for weeks

Journeyman Geek

I didn't actually consider that

I was thinking something like a naked mole rat

they swarm, tear apart their prey, and quickly carry away the evidence.

dot_Sp0T

@JourneymanGeek it would be advantageous if you'd refer to the message you're referring to by clicking the respond sign on it - thus one can follow the conversation more easily

@JourneymanGeek well that would also work

Journeyman Geek

@dot_Sp0T I know how that works. I just don't bother in a continuous conversation

I've been on SE for... a while

dot_Sp0T

@Pete the booze-rat question sorta exploded, hence I am rooting for it getting on HNQ

@JourneymanGeek I am used to have multiple conversations at a time and stuff like that, thus it's useful for me

Pete

12:21

@dot_Sp0T It was there yesterday, and it's there today.

Journeyman Geek

@dot_Sp0T I do that if there's multiple conversations ;p

@dot_Sp0T I even have an extension so I can colon and then up

dot_Sp0T

@JourneymanGeek See, I am way too lazy to make my life easier

Journeyman Geek

@dot_Sp0T I don't actually remember what extension it is

dot_Sp0T

@Pete indeed, I only look at the sidebar normally

Can we get it to 10k views today?

Maybe the viewcount turns green at some point?

Pete

@dot_Sp0T I doubt you'll get it to 10k views today. My monster of the thought crime killer question isn't there yet and it's a week old now.

dot_Sp0T

12:33

@Pete but your though-crime question does not have *booze-rats*<sup>TM</sup>

most peculiar

Skye

@Pete soon, it's only about 150 views before it reaches 10k. Though I always get a bit sad when questions reach close then die.

Pete

@Skye Yeah, I think it's finally run out of steam. I think there's only about 9857 users on SE, so maybe that's it.

Tim B

lol

if you get close enough then the steady trickle means it will hit sometime

I got a gold badge for a 2 year old question recently

2 in fact, one for views and one for 100 upvotes

that was on stack overflow but the principle is the same

@dot_Sp0T Up to you :)

Pete

Yeah, I'll award the bounty either today or tomorrow. Hopefully people might visit to see who got the "right" answer.

@Skye Sorry about the bolas. Seemed pretty obvious to me.

Skye

@Pete The hot network questions generally make those views increase like hot cakes, that's how dot_spot's question raised that fast. Just hope people from other stack exchanges come look.

It's nothing much. The bola idea came about when I was writing anyway

Pete

12:41

@Skye I used to read the hot questions a lot when I used to look up answers on StackOverflow.

Skye

I still remember when I got so confused seeing my own question there. It's hard to know what interests the world building community.

Pete

I think there's been cases where Roman gladiators have been tethered together so that they're able to clothesline their combatants. I can't readily find examples on the interwebs for that though.

dot_Sp0T

@Skye bolas?

Skye

That reminds me of the legend where a idiot general tied his wooden ships together. Guess how it went up in flames.

Journeyman Geek

@TimB SO is a bit of an outlier IMO ;p

dot_Sp0T

12:47

hmmmmmmm, monomolecular-booze-rats

Skye

@dot_Sp0T That won't end well, they will light up like Christmas trees at the slightest sparks.

dot_Sp0T

@Skye or what about boola-booze-rats ? The possibilities are endless

monodokimes

@Skye That's fine if their predators don't use fire. And super fun if you use a flamethrower for pest control.

Pete

@Skye Sorry, couldn't resist my last answer to that question. I can delete if it's too stupid for words.

Journeyman Geek

flaming booze rat flails

Skye

12:53

@Pete just add it to your answer, I got confused when I saw two petes

Pete

It's just there for giggles and generate a bit of traffic, I'll delete it in a while - doesn't really fit the "reality-check" tag anyway.

Skye

Molotov bola rat. It has become a new sport after natives learnt to tie their tails together, set them alight and throw them at enemies. It binds and explodes in their face. Twice the fun! Buy them now for $1.99 while stocks last.

2

Pete

If booze-rats have flammable tails, then it's a winner. Otherwise, where do you put the wick?

Skye

They are the cocktails.

wicks can be stuffed in their mouth.

I don't promote animal cruelty of any kind

Pete

I actually just had a mini-daydream about posting a question regarding what animals could be used as weapons and how....

Maybe that's a bad idea...

monodokimes

12:59

Snake whip!

Pete

I seem to remember that rotting horses used to be loaded onto catapults/trebuchets as ammo.

dot_Sp0T

Soooo I guess I'll have to accept the most upvoted answer on the booze-rats.... for the sake of asking more questions on them

Skye

You can ask more no then link them to the current booze rats question

This means your other question can enjoy some publicity

@Pete During world war 2 , I think the us died to put bombs on bats. It didn't end well. In ancient times, corpses were actually launched over wars sooo...

dot_Sp0T

@Skye that was the plan; same as for the BOB

Pete

@Skye And I seem to remember the Russians loaded explosive warheads onto the heads of dolphins and trained them to be friendly to shipping...

@dot_Sp0T You don't have to accept the most upvoted answer, just the one that best suits your opinion.

Journeyman Geek

13:09

I think they trained pigeons as a early bomb guidance system.

Skye

explodingkittens.com <how is this name legal @Pete Humanity has comed far...

Pete

I have about four of those games at home. I helped fund the project on kick-starter.

Journeyman Geek

And Russian bomb dogs in ww2 :(

Skye

@JourneymanGeek Ok, what's next. Kitty bombs?

If someone really tried that...

Pete

I've heard of kitty-litter bombs, but not kitty bombs.

Has anyone ever read a sci-fi book where one of the characters has been reading a sci-fi book as part of the plot?

Skye

13:27

Not really. I have read about characters who read books. It's that question right? I can't really make sensse

Of it

Pete

Neither can I, I don't really get it. Maybe I've not had enough coffee yet.

"So how can I have a future nerd read science fiction without having him read science fiction?" is the bit that makes no sense to me. But the question has two upvotes, so I guess people understand it more than I do.

Skye

It's like that mirror question I couldn't make heads or tails of, but people understood

DaaaahWhoosh

maybe the idea is what science fiction would mean to characters in a science fiction setting?

like, what would a fantasy novel look like in a world with magic and centaurs?

Journeyman Geek

@Skye the russian idea failed cause the dogs kept going towards their own tanks

@Pete why not?

Well, I'm pretty sure lots of sci fi quotes classic sci fi

and there's always going to be dreamers

DaaaahWhoosh

13:42

oooh, wait, that question is about immersion. They don't want sci-fi reading to be self-referential

Pete

I think it's more of the core question in that question that I can't really understand. And probably how the question is worded - if it's not clear to me, then I can't really engage.

Tim B

there is a book I read recently where one of the characters is reading a childrens book to their sun - the "reading the book" is used as a chapter intro

the bat bomb idea was basically timed incendiary devices attached to bats. Drop a bomb full of bats over a city, they all fly out and look for somewhere to roost (house eaves for example) then the bombs go off and set fire to the city. Pretty horrific really.

Pete

Oh, and the plot of "Princes Bride" is essentially a book reading, isn't it?

Journeyman Geek

yup

Tim B

@Skye Exploding kittens actually is the kittens accidentally blowing up people, not people blowing up kittens.

Journeyman Geek

13:44

tho I was thinking Trip from the monster hunter universe series

Project Pigeon

During World War II, Project Pigeon (later Project Orcon, for "organic control") was American behaviorist B.F. Skinner's attempt to develop a pigeon-controlled guided bomb. The testbed was the same National Bureau of Standards-developed, unpowered airframe that was later used for the US Navy's radar-guided "Bat" glide bomb, which was basically a small glider, with wings and tail surfaces, an explosive warhead section in the center, and a "guidance section" in the nose cone. The intent was to train pigeons to act as "pilots" for the device, using their cognitive abilities to recognize the target...

Tim B

@Pete It's more of a framing device. The true story is the book inside. The boy and his grandpa is there to frame the story and provide a narrator etc.

Pete

Yes, I guess so. I never read the book and only saw the film the once.

Journeyman Geek

I consider it the ultimate geek date movie ;p

James

Morning wibbers

dot_Sp0T

@Pete sadly the most upvoted is the best one so far, because the others don't really go into actual detail on how to produce alcohol in an animal

Skye

14:01

@dot_Sp0T I think he/she deserves it as well, unless someone comes up with a better answer with more details.

dot_Sp0T

@Skye I am still hoping for someone else actually understanding the question itself instead of nitpicking things that are not part of it

dot_Sp0T

16:17

I am aiming to create a whole array of conlanguages and yet I struggle in japanese beginner classes

Nex Terren

17:36

Another three hours of driving.

DaaaahWhoosh

I'm looking forward to 4 hours of driving this weekend

but at least it may or may not be in a new car

AndreiROM

new car?

NICE

my car recently turned 5 yrs old

I have to do a whole bunch of maintenance this weekend :(

@DaaaahWhoosh vacation, or work?

James

He's visiting some relatives or something I believe. Or maybe the people that created him as I have a suspicion he is a cyborg

HDE 226868

17:54

Awww, I missed a psychopath/sociopath conversation.

Nex Terren

@AndreiROM Nope, recruiting trip for my place of work. Unfortunately not fun driving. :P

@AndreiROM What sort of car? Is this 5-year-birthday maintenance or ahhhh-no-things-are-falling-apart maintenance.

@James What sort of cyborg are we talking about? Bio first, then machine, or machine first then bio?

@HDE226868 Give it a few hours. Every conversation is a sociopath conversation when DaaaahWhoosh has joined in.

James

@NexTerren ...that's a tough question

DaaaahWhoosh

@NexTerren mua ha ha aww I just don't have the time today

Nex Terren

Huh. I just got a chat related badge. Didn't know those were a thing.

James

the only one I know of is for stars...which did you get?

Pundit?

AndreiROM

18:15

@NexTerren the sort who doesn't like people who ask too many questions ...

@NexTerren Mazda 2. I keep it well maintained, it's nothing that I didn't know was coming, thankfully

it's just cheaper if I do it, as opposed to taking it to the dealership

it's a bit of a learning experience, and it might get messy, but i'm saving 200 bucks ..

Nex Terren

@AndreiROM Okay, well that makes it sound better.

rek

18:40

I'm not sure this constitutes an answer so much as a series of assertions; what do you think?
http://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/a/56892/25189

Bellerophon

@rek It does not answer the question which is how did they evolve.

DaaaahWhoosh

@rek yeah, I don't see how that answer is at all helpful

rek

19:14

Yeah; commented. Thanks.

Mike Nichols

19:53

@rek I'm working on an answer for your question. How negotiable is the requirement for the snake to be terrestrial? For instance if the answer proposes that the snake develop sapience and tool use underwater, and then at some point left the water for the land for unspecified reasons... because I couldn't think of any reason why it would... Is that enough?

rek

That should be fine, as long as the end result is a sapient tool-using ophidian at home on dry land.

Stack Exchange

23:28

0

A: Sandbox for Proposed Questions

Space mega-shield needs an Achilles Heel science-fictionweapons Sandbox note: I’m starting this Q to help newbe Xxy after this earlier question and his sentiment “i[sic] still want to hear ideas of destroying something with my wrong vision of the black hole.” I point out that he must describe...

Transcript for