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Universe Factory
Universe Factory
12:43 AM
Universe Factory - Medium: Analysing the Brutal and the Travelling
posted on March 29, 2017 by Joe_Bloggs

Image source: http://www.turnology.com/tech-stories/carbon-fiber-a-lesson-in-composites/Continuing on from Analysing the Lost, the Itinerant and the Fractal, and the three stories analysed in that piece (Builder, Storyteller and Now, respectively), here is a second analysis piece on the continuation of two stories (though not the third, for reasons which will become apparent in due course). Th…

 
 
3 hours later…
James
James
3:29 AM
@SPavel Consider yourself smited...smoten...smitten...no that's something else.
on a side note I think reasoned discussion is mostly irony.
 
 
4 hours later…
Secespitus
Secespitus
7:41 AM
Good morning everyone.
 
Feeds
Feeds
0
A: Sandbox for Proposed Questions

SecespitusHow to create a cat with toxic claws? This cat looks like a normal Maine Coon to the unsuspecting victim. Except for one little detail: Red claws that inject a neurotoxin into the victim onpon scratching it. What would be the most appropriate way a cat could evolve toxic claws? I am looking...

 
Secespitus
Secespitus
8:02 AM
@Willow That's good to hear, thanks for the quick fly by ;)
@Bellerophon Will you claim credit for bad stuff, too or are you limiting yourself to the good things? :D
 
Pete
Pete
8:38 AM
Good morning. I'm being somewhat Schrodinger this morning.
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
@Pete You are dead and alive until we poke you with a stick?
 
Pete
Pete
Just present and not present until I get more up-votes....
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
Your hornet-question is getting quite some upvotes
 
Pete
Pete
9:00 AM
It's been on the first page of HNQ for a while now. That helps. I guess people like the idea of making hornets even more bad-ass.
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
Questions involving something evil or destructive seem to be well-received quite often
 
Pete
Pete
Even the normal hornets we get in the UK scare me a little. Well, not girly-scream scared, but I wouldn't want to annoy one.
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
Nobody wants to annoy hornets. They are mean
 
Pete
Pete
For sure. They chew the heads off honey-bees during attacks. That's just plain awesome.
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
Isn't there somewhere on the world a type of hornet that lays eggs inside of insects? The babys then eat through their host, mind-control him and in the end kill him when he is no longer needed
 
Pete
Pete
9:11 AM
Or a wasp that hunts tarantulas. Can't get more bad-ass than that. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tarantula_hawk
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
It was more like (warning: little gif at the beginning with a caterpillar) this, but that article is inteersting too
" the sting is considered the third most painful insect sting in the world"
woah, pretty brutal
 
Pete
Pete
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
9:26 AM
Schmidt advises that if you’re stung, “lie down and scream,”
“Don’t touch a caterpillar that looks like Donald Trump’s hair,"
That's a great article you found there
 
Pete
Pete
I'm tempted to buy the book now.
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
Understandable
 
 
1 hour later…
Worldbuilding Meta
Worldbuilding Meta
10:30 AM
2
Q: The issue with multiple answers

xDaizuThis is usually a sporadic issue, but today I found a question that really made me do something about it: World with a different sun every day, and random days with no sun The question per se is perfectly fine. But I noticed that many of the answers are multiple answers. Should something be don...

discussion
 
 
5 hours later…
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
3:02 PM
@Secespitus you needed to put more information into that warning
'warning: gif of caterpillar' is very different than 'warning: gif of caterpillar being eaten from the inside by parasites'
 
AndyD273
AndyD273
@DaaaahWhoosh Yeah, that is not a great warning. Some people like caterpillars.
 
Pete
Pete
3:32 PM
You might not like this snail-eating broodsac gif then....
 
Green
Green
@Pete That's national geographic. What's offensive about that?
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
@Pete ... because of the way you phrased that, I now need to check
 
James
James
Hola wubbers.
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
oh... it's not necessarily bad, just kind of weird
 
AndyD273
AndyD273
@Pete But see, that's a better warning. "WARNING: snail-eating broodsack" is much better than "WARNING: Caterpillars"
 
James
James
3:35 PM
@AndyD273 Bugs with fur creep me out.
 
Pete
Pete
@DaaaahWhoosh - you might want to read up on what the pretty little broodsacs do to snails....
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
@Pete whoa... I mean, it is pretty creepy, but it makes the snail look so fancy
imagine a parasite that infects humans... but all it does is make them look/act more attractive.
the idea is to increase contact with other humans so that the parasite can spread, but once people figure it out, I wonder what would happen
 
James
James
3:50 PM
@DaaaahWhoosh We'd end up infecting the vast majority of the human race because we are vain and stupid.
and think with our genitals.
Well everyone but this guy would do it.
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
makes sense... I need to rewatch Futurama
 
James
James
@DaaaahWhoosh pretty sure its still on netflix
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
probably, maybe I will look for it after I finish DS9
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
@DaaaahWhoosh We were talking about things "that lays eggs inside of insects? The babys then eat through their host, mind-control him and in the end kill him when he is no longer needed" (chat.stackexchange.com/transcript/message/36356024#36356024)
I thought it was pretty clear what that link was going to show :D
Good afternoon guys
@Pete Whaaaat??
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
4:35 PM
@James @DaaaahWhoosh What about this Guy Zombie Fungus livescience.com/47751-zombie-fungus-picky-about-ant-brains.html
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
@EnigmaMaitreya Nice addition to the discussion
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
5:25 PM
I love when I think about editing something, then I see someone has proposed the edit I was thinking about, and then I can approve their edit
 
James
James
6:02 PM
Random thought just occurred to me...in Episode 7 they consume the star that their planet orbits. Now if not for those pesky rebels that would have left the planet they lived on devoid of a star to orbit and gain heat from...and since they chose a habitable planet to turn into a superweapon that seems stupid...none of the infrastructure appeared ready to exist in a super cold eventual vacuum. Not to mention that fact that they are effectively out of ammo now...
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
@James Starkiller can move.
 
James
James
With what energy?
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
(shrug meme)
 
James
James
best meme I have seen today.
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
51
Q: How is the Starkiller Base supposed to work more than one time, given how it draws its power?

galacticninjaIn Star Wars: The Force Awakens, once the Starkiller Base has depleted the star it is drawing power from, is it supposed to travel to another star where it can draw more power? Or is it non-mobile and supposed to fire a few, limited shots only? Or can it somehow reuse the star it is drawing power...

star-wars the-force-awakens
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
6:04 PM
Cross-Site-Duplicate
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
@DaaaahWhoosh I am kind of suprised people are having issues with that vs Hum .... how did they deliver their "beam or what ever" to the target star, if it was not in the system?
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
(I like to browse SFF shortly after watching a sci-fi movie in theatres)
 
James
James
I love starting science based debates on Star Wars, its Star Wars...with the exception of that stupid ass reference to bacteria giving people force powers science is completely ignored.
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
"The super-weapon is capable of firing a beam that travels faster than light." Oh ... Ok ... we are back to that again JOE were are you
And there is the answer, if they now how to do FTL Beams to something then it is applying the same science but reversed From a Star to the Technobable storage unit
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
@James there is some of Star Wars that tries to be hard-science-ish, but it's like the kid that keeps on getting stuffed into lockers by the movies
huh, actually, now that nerd culture has been appropriated by the mainstream, maybe 'true' nerds are the ones who go for hard-science?
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
6:13 PM
Hum, so there is a nano scale life form that can directly exert control of the Quantum Soup as in change the nature/laws for things. That life form gains energy from Living Organic Beings. That Life form can be manipulated by the Living Organic Beings.
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
@EnigmaMaitreya I think the explanation now is that midi-chlorians are just middlemen between organics and the Force
the Force is still space magic, just now there's a special organism that decides whether or not people can access it
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
@DaaaahWhoosh Ah but to answer @James I am defining what is "The Force" it is less the midi-chlorians and more that the Quantum Soup can be maipulated leading of course back to your assertion that they are the middlemen
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
@EnigmaMaitreya ah, then yes, sounds about right to me
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
@DaaaahWhoosh What I am more suprised that people don't get ... interested in is how does one survive death, interact with the living etc. I can see a way that may not really require magic
 
James
James
@EnigmaMaitreya do share.
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
6:24 PM
It derives from an old SciFi story, an exploration team comes across an Amoeba type thing, there is a man and woman Biologist and another man that is a physicists. They all 3 get absorbed by the thing and ... after a time ... awaken as thought within the thing. Knowing Biology the Man and Woman force the other guy out (killing him) then learn how to divide the thing in two, One is the Man which he reshapes to his original Form the other is the Woman that does the same thing.
Well Ok, now then you use the midi-chlorians to hold your consciousness
 
Green
Green
I love the comparisons between Star Wars and Star Trek. stardestroyer.net/Empire/Essays/FiveMinutes.html
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
@Green Have you ever seen any of the You Tube videos? I particularly laugh at Darth vs TNG Enterprise, they are kicking the crap out of the Emperors Fleet, then Darth Vader does his Choke Trick on them and kills them
 
Green
Green
@EnigmaMaitreya Nope, haven't seen that one.
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
@Green makes me wonder now, if the Empire could beat the Borg
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
@Green Some of the You Tube fan stuff is better than some of the Hollywood stuff. Star Trek's I forget the name but it is nearly 1.5 hours about Commander Garth oh and then there is the other one that sets up a "Raider" type group as "do what Start Fleet can not do ... legally"
@James Hope you say my sharing
@Secespitus On the Endo Therm Star, what stops a late Neutron Star (say last 100 years before it becomes a Black Hole) from being an answer to the question? And when it starts to radiate only in the X-Ray how does heat get transferred to an object
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
6:39 PM
@EnigmaMaitreya I don't understand what you mean
 
James
James
@DaaaahWhoosh Thats a good fight.
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
@Secespitus You know that question I am referencing?
 
James
James
@EnigmaMaitreya Weird but I like it.
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
@EnigmaMaitreya I didn't post anything on the Endothermic Star question
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
@Secespitus Oh my bad, I thought you did the edit perhaps not. Sorry
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
6:41 PM
I only commented on one of the answers and edited it
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
@Secespitus Again sorry I made an assumption :)
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
Okay :D
No problem
 
Green
Green
@DaaaahWhoosh I guess it depends on who you ask.
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
@Green yeah, I'm kind of struggling to remember why the Borg lost to the Federation now that I think about it
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
@James Well, the rational from the Darth Vader vs TNG Enterprise is the Empire has nothing to stop the TNG's weapons and the TNG's Shields are vastly superior to the Emperors Weapons SO Darth May have a tough time strangling the Borge
 
Green
Green
6:44 PM
@DaaaahWhoosh Magic and courage!
I don't remember either.
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
@DaaaahWhoosh @green Janeway (Voyager) traveld back in time with Superior technology and had Star Fleet waiting for the Queen Cube
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
@EnigmaMaitreya ah, that might explain it. I haven't seen Voyager yet (and I don't think I ever will)
when watching First Contact, I realized there's no way the Federation would've won if the Borg didn't do that thing where they only attack after you've shown them that you're a threat
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
@DaaaahWhoosh Meh the last 2 or 3 episodes are worth watching there are "Cherry Pick" episodes that are very good
@DaaaahWhoosh A lot of the latter Episodes of Voyager are in Borg Home Space and a Dimensional space were there is an advanced species with Organic Objects
@DaaaahWhoosh Now that you mention First Contact I may see if I can watch the end of voyager and first contact to see if there is a conflict of how the Borg came to an end OR maybe the Queens Cube is not destroyed and Flees to the Past setting up First Contact
 
Piomicron
Piomicron
7:01 PM
Does anyone know of any fiction, book or otherwise, that involves different base components of the universe than our periodic table, and the traditional four elements with slight variations?
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
(I do not)
 
AndyD273
AndyD273
In regard to the insect discussion earlier, I just came across this: washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/03/28/…
 
James
James
@Piomicron ...I do not but would ask that if you find something you share it here :)
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
@AndyD273 i love the gif at the end... in fact...
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
@AndyD273 It is rather amazing how we are both numericaly and mass wise out numberd
@Piomicron @James Let me remember I am fairly certain there is. While I am doing that you could look up "With folded hands" prequel to "Humanoids"
@Piomicron @James " "Cavorite" in H. G. Wells' The First Men in the Moon" might be one
 
HDE 226868
HDE 226868
7:24 PM
> There's a good chance at least one spider is staring at you right now, sizing you up from a darkened corner of the room, eight eyes glistening in the shadows.
3
Now I'm not going to be able to sleep tonight.
 
Enigma Maitreya
Enigma Maitreya
@HDE226868 Spiders tend to be far more beneficial than harmful to humans. My wife and I treat them as allies ... well for her as they predate the predators of her plants, garden etc.
@Piomicron @James There is also this "The Periodic Table of Science Fiction is a collection of 118 very short stories by science fiction author Michael Swanwick. Each story is named after an element in the periodic table, including the then-undiscovered element 117." - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Periodic_Table_of_Science_Fiction - But these are not what I am trying to remember.
@Piomicron @James - This link is probably good for you it listed several that I was trying to remember. sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/elements
 
Bellerophon
Bellerophon
7:41 PM
@Secespitus Of curse I only take credit for the good stuff. I'm not an idiot. I'll blmae the bad stuff on the moderators.
 
Secespitus
Secespitus
@Bellerophon Good idea :D
 
James
James
@HDE226868 Thanks for that you giant jerkwad...I hope one of them crawls in your mouth while you're sleeping tonight
Also I love this one: what-if.xkcd.com/136
 
DaaaahWhoosh
DaaaahWhoosh
8:22 PM
@James see also this one
 
Worldbuilding Meta
Worldbuilding Meta
8:33 PM
0
Q: Should moderators mark a high voted answer as the accepted answer after a while?

SRMThis is a general question across SE sites, but I figured I'd ask here since I couldn't find the answer generally. Suppose there is a high-voted question with a high-voted answer. It has been over a year and the OP has not marked the answer as accepted. It's clearly high traffic question that l...

discussion moderators flagging
 
 
1 hour later…
Bellerophon
Bellerophon
9:36 PM
@WorldbuildingMeta I reckon that is a main meta issue.
 

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