The Factory Floor

Feeds 4026

00:37

Sandbox for Proposed Questions - Worldbuilding …: Answer by Dubukay for Sandbox for Proposed Questions

posted on August 01, 2018 by Dubukay

Fastest way for an invincible immortal to make $1 billion USD? Tags: immortality super-powers economy? biology? So, I gave a $100 bill to a homeless person a few months ago who gave me "God's blessings" in return. Apparently, that conveyed immortality and invincibility on me as I no longer age (I think) and cannot be injured. Think Superman-style iron skin, except I haven't found my krypton…

Ash

11:22

Is it okay to be really aggravated by people using imperial units to answer a question that's stated in S.I. Units, or am I just being extra crabby today?

Secespitus

@Ash I wouldn't be too aggravated. Just ask them to edit their answer and please use/add the units that are used in the question. There is no real rule about which units to use. The best solution would probably if they or someone else simply added the other units so that both versions are present for those that prefer imperial units and those that prefer SI units.

Which question are you referring to, by the way?

ArtificialSoul

@Ash I totally get it, though. If you want science-based results, please use units that 99% of scientists would use. Don't make people work for the simple numbers if you want them to help you.

Ash

11:42

@Secespitus This one

ArtificialSoul

@Ash That's just a link to your question for me, not any of it's answers. Do you mean the answer by ivanivan?

Ash

@ArtificialSoul Sorry Secespitus just asked which question um there were two answers ivanivan's in fractional inches and another one which was in feet.

ArtificialSoul

@Ash Since you have such an aversion against imperical units, you are probably not american. Where are you from?

Ash

@ArtificialSoul New Zealand, I can work in both, dad's a Brit, but I'd rather not.

ArtificialSoul

Cool! I am not a very travel-interested person, but New Zealand is rather far up on the list of places I'd like to visit one day. :D

Ash

11:57

Beautiful country, generally clean, generally nice people. I wouldn't live anywhere else.

ArtificialSoul

Well, I can't work in both systems. At least not quickly. It annoys me immensely that so many industries have been corrupted with american measurements.

Ash

Living here does cause some interesting issues sometimes, like I forget that not everyone in the world lives in a country where volcanoes and earthquakes are an every day thing.

ArtificialSoul

Is it that frequent?

I've not experienced either in my life. And I am not that likely, too. Germany isn't really plagued by natural disasters.

The closest i ever had was the iceland volcano cough a little stopping all air traffic in europe for a while. But i haven't seen or experienced anything.

Ash

Volcanoes are always there but they rarely do anything, I'm thirty mumble and I've only seen a couple of eruptions neither of which was really that big. We have earthquakes almost constantly but you don't notice most of them, most people in New Zealand won't notice anything smaller than a 3 on the Richter scale when the epicentre is close and shallow when they're awake and can sleep through 4s.

ArtificialSoul

12:13

What are your earthquakes on average? Are there regular ones of significantly more than 3?

Ash

12:24

So in the last 24 hours we've had 3 3 pointers, none of them too close to me so I didn't notice anything, in the last month we've only had two over the 4 point mark and not even the 5.2 made the news, it been a slow month but if it doesn't top 6 most people don't pay much attention it's "oh that was a bit of a jolt" and we carry on. It's the 7s and 8s that we really sit up take note of and those are mercifully rare.

ArtificialSoul

13:01

How big is the damage usually on those? Like in Japan where they build the houses so they can withstand that or like in the US in hurricane areas where every hurricane always destroys everything?

Ash

13:18

The 7s and 8s can and recently have knocked down a lot of buildings, usually in brick and stone, timber houses are usually okay except the chimneys, unlike hurricanes and the like which tend to trash timber frames more than the harder building materials.

Hosch250

Problem with hurricanes here is they hit someone, who loses a bunch of stuff.

Then they can't afford to rebuild as well, and next hurricane, they lose even more.

And with hurricanes, its really more the storm surges than the winds in most cases.

Because back in the day, the rivers used to be wide and shallow, and there used to be a lot of swamps on the coast.

As things got more industrialized, they decided narrow, deep rivers were better, and that the swamps could be drained and developed.

Turns out they were there for a reason.

Ash

@Hosch250 More reasons than one but that's the one that'll hammer your property values.

Hosch250

Yep. They also supported a lot of biodiversity that is now endangered.

Although, other species will be happy to fill the niche (e.g. house sparrow).

Ash

13:34

@Hosch250 I was thinking about nutrient filtration, the Gulf of Mexico would be much more lively with a few more swamps on the edges of the Mississippi.

ArtificialSoul

13:47

@Hosch250 Well, the problem with it is partially the mentality of the people and partially the lack of regulations on construction work. Building houses like that is most definitely illegal in Germany - and german houses do not have to withstand hurricanes or tornadoes.

Hosch250

Building houses like what?

If you don't have to withstand hurricanes or tornados, how do you know your construction is better?

The proof is in the real-life test. Not the theory.

3

And yes, there are regulations on construction work over here.

Contractors get in huge trouble if they ignore them.

Poor people often do the work themselves and don't bother to pull permits because they can't afford it.

FWIW, US houses withstand tornadoes pretty good at until they hit about 4-5 on the scale.

And even then, they usually aren't flattened.

And if you think a German house could withstand 2-9 feet of turbulent, muddy water without being wrecked...

Even if the house "survives", it's been wrecked simply from having that water in it.

Green

@Hosch250 This. So much this.

Hosch250

Not to mention the dead sea life being deposited all over the place (including inside houses through broken windows) making a mighty stench.

Ash

@Hosch250 Christchurch and Wellington have both found that out the hard way in the last few years, buildings theoretically built to modern code failed spectacularly in both cities during large quakes.

Hosch250

I've heard of people finding alligators in their house that got swept in through the windows.

And if a sewer/water line happens to break outside the house, there's another entrance for the water. Imagine coming back and finding sewage was pushed back up the line and dumped out of all your sinks and toilets and stuff.

Ash

14:06

@Hosch250 I've heard horror stories about what the escapees of exotic pet stores are doing to the ecology of wilderness areas from Florida all the way to Mexico.

Hosch250

Yep.

FoxElemental

Hi

Green

@Ash Which is why I live far enough north that even a hard frost kills all those beasties.

Ash

@Green What about the tigers? They don't mind even a very hard frost.

Green

@Ash Tigers are a tractable problem for me. I'm not worried about those.

Feeds 4026

14:12

Sandbox for Proposed Questions - Worldbuilding …: Answer by Ash for Sandbox for Proposed Questions

posted on August 01, 2018 by Ash

Meta Question Should the science-based and/or hard-science tags automatically require answers to use S.I. Units? Sandboxing: The question is all in the title, I'd rather not point at any particular questions or answers, I'm not trying to call people out I'd simply like to establish a precedent or understand one that already exists that doesn't seem to be written anywhere but I'm having tro…

Ash

@Green Fair enough then, as long as you have a handle on your local threat environment.

Hosch250

@Ash For tigers, you just need a handle on a heavy rifle.

Ash

@Hosch250 Then thank God they've never gotten loose here then.

Hosch250

@Ash Your police probably have a heavy rifle somewhere.

FoxElemental

0

Q: Can we Sandbox meta questions?

Recently I saw this question draft in the Sandbox, entitled "Meta Question: Should the science-based and/or hard-science tags automatically require answers to use S.I. Units?" While I look forward to seeing the discussion it will spark, I wanted to ask: Is there any precedence or specific rule re...

Just posted

Ash

14:20

@Hosch250 Yes they are available, though depending just how heavy we're talking someone would have to go talk to the Army, just not in the quantities you'd want them in if tigers got breeding around here, we have too much of the kind of rough ground and water habitat they love and too much wild prey they could pick off before anyone started paying attention.

In the North Island in particular we could go from a few tigers to hundreds in a few years and before anyone ever saw one roaming free.

Hosch250

@Ash They only have 1-5 cubs a year, IIRC.

And usually, they don't all survive.

They aren't quite like mice.

FoxElemental

@AndyD273 With a side-by-side translation, of course :)

Ash

@Hosch250 "Can triple in numbers year on year in favourable habitat" was what I'd read, that'd be 5,15,45,135, 405 in year 5 if that figure is right, we have a lot of very favourable habitat.

Hosch250

@Ash Fun. Let's hope 5 don't get released.

Ash

@Hosch250 Yeah the most big cats that ever went missing over here was two male lions at one point and one sterilised black leopard another time, none of which have ever turned up again.

Hosch250

14:26

Now I know where to release tigers when they almost go extinct.

Ash

@Hosch250 The Cascades Mountains on the west coast of North America is supposed to be about the same only on a much bigger scale, and much closer to far too many tigers.

Hosch250

@Ash The coyotes will eat them.

And the native mountain lions won't be too pleased with them.

Also, lots of hunters in that area come deer season.

Ash

@Hosch250 Wolves, Pumas, and Bears maybe, I wouldn't bet on a Coyote in competition with a Tiger.

Yeah humans aren't too good for anything, especially predators.

Hosch250

@Ash If the parent isn't around, they'd be all too happy to eat the young ones.

Ash

@Hosch250 True there is always that.

Worldbuilding Meta

14:38

0

Q: Can we Sandbox meta questions?

Recently I saw this question draft in the Sandbox, entitled "Meta Question: Should the science-based and/or hard-science tags automatically require answers to use S.I. Units?" While I look forward to seeing the discussion it will spark, I wanted to ask: Is there any precedence or specific rule re...

discussion questions sandbox meta

Mike Nichols

14:50

@HDE226868 If you have the time and inclination would you be willing to clear something up for me? My question prevailing winds on a rotating space habitat was suggested to be a duplicate of an old question of mine that you answered almost 4 (!?) years ago:

What would the weather be like in an asteroid habitat?. The argument in the comments has turned to whether you answered this new question in your old answer. I’d appreciate it if you could give your input as the author of that answer.

HDE 226868

@MikeNichols Sure. Give me a sec.

Done. I agree that it's not a duplicate.

My answer there also isn't good, but . . . that's a different problem.

Mike Nichols

We were all younger then. It was a bad question. I don't think it could have been answered well.

Feeds 4026

15:16

Sandbox for Proposed Questions - Worldbuilding …: Answer by Kepotx for Sandbox for Proposed Questions

posted on August 01, 2018 by Kepotx

I travel back in time: how could I know when did I landed? Today, a weird pointy-hat guy offer me and my friends to play at one game: We will all travel back on time, in a random date from the antiquity to modern times. We will have a limited amount of time to do whatever we want, before returning to our current world. After that time, each of us try to guess the date where we travelled, and …

AndyD273

15:54

Story-go-round #1 is now 9034 words.

Congratulations, our little experiment is firmly in Novelette territory.

Secespitus

@AndyD273 Congrats

AndyD273

@Secespitus I remember when it was just a drabble... It's just getting so big.

Hosch250

16:51

Talking about big... I need to work on my story.

Hosch250

17:43

@AndyD273 Just thought of another way to blow off the bomb.

Use a dead-fall trap and trip the trigger by pulling the rope.

AndyD273

@Hosch250 Hmm, perhaps. Especially if it was a big enough rock, and could fit inside of a narrow crevice

Mithrandir24601

@AndyD273 I really ought to catch up on that

AndyD273

So I'm thinking that a big part of this particular challenge is to train people in how to use their shadows. By making them blow up their phylacteries, they are forcing people to try to figure out a way to get very heavy rocks up from 30+ feet under water (about 10 meters), in complete darkness. With no outside distractions. And now that the phylactery is gone, the shadows will have no problems getting down there, and they don't need to breath.

@Mithrandir24601 Here's the fast version: drive.google.com/…

So this is where Bremdag will get some practice in controlling his. He's a little behind the other two in this area.

Hosch250

What happens if they send a shadow out in the middle of the lake and lose control over it? How do they get it back?

AndyD273

I've been thinking that since it comes from them as a sort of an external projection of mind/will, then they only really lose control of the shadow when they lose control of their emotions, or when dreaming.

Hosch250

17:58

So, they'd just have to wait for it to walk back?

AndyD273

or fly/float. They can break and pick up trees, but they might not be corporeal as we think of it.

Hosch250

True.

AndyD273

This is all just my own head cannon, which I adjust as other people fill in details. I have an idea of what I'd do with the story if everyone else abandoned it for a couple months again, but I also keep adjusting it as other people write, and the world is better for it.

Hosch250

@AndyD273 Head cannon?

That sounds, fun?

AndyD273

headcanon. Noun. (uncountable) (fandom slang) Elements and interpretations of a fictional universe accepted by an individual fan, but not found within or supported by the official canon. (also, I was spelling it wrong)

Hosch250

18:04

Teh rong speeling wiz wat mad it so gut.

AndyD273

So I have theories of how the universe works, but until they are down in writing they aren't official, and are subject to change at a moments notice

@Hosch250 Yeah, one of the dangers of only ever hearing a word said, and not reading it. It also works the other way. I always call the daschund weiner dogs "Dash hounds", because I never had the written word and and spoken word in the same place at the same time until after I got married.

Hosch250

LOL.

You've got one?

Mithrandir24601

@AndyD273 Oh, thanks! :) I'll maybe also have another blast through any retcons at some point

Hosch250

@AndyD273 Incidentally, the others might as well.

Because Bremdag's was probably interfering slightly.

AndyD273

No. My friends did, but I just called it Marley, and never referred to it's breed in front of them. After I got married I was talking to the wife about a dash hound I saw someone take out for a walk, and she was really confused. "You know, a dash hound, like Marley." She laughed a me for a while after that.

Hosch250

18:13

They are some of the fiercest dogs out there, so our vet said.

Not quite as noisy as schnauzers.

AndyD273

@Hosch250 Very probably. I think it will be a good excuse for them to lift and crush rocks in the dark. The question is, is it also a good opportunity for us to break back to the other two and the quest to kidnap a fireslug

Hosch250

Not yet. I'd wait until after they are ready to leave.

I'm not sure if the kidnapping should go past being a joke.

If you think they are up to it, I'm game, though.

James

Hola all

AndyD273

I don't care. I don't know what they'd do with a live fire slug for very long.

Hey @James. How goes it?

Hosch250

@AndyD273 Maybe they meet up with the others and they have unlimited slime for forging phylacteries, or something.

@James Hola!

Green

18:19

@James Hey old man.

Mithrandir24601

@AndyD273 To be honest, I think it has much potential but goes way too quickly - things that I feel should take a page or so get blasted through in about two sentences, which makes it feel somewhat erratic

AndyD273

@Mithrandir24601 I think you're right. I'm kind of thinking that after it gets finished it could be fleshed out a bit more in editing. Also, a couple of the chapters are out of order I think 5 and 4 would naturally be switched.

Or at least, most of 5 happens before chapter 4

Mithrandir24601

@AndyD273 Fleshing it out would be nice - there's so much in there that could be great if it was given some time to just breathe

James

@Green I feel old today. Just got back into town at 3am from a vacation (with a nice sunburn) and man work is killing me today.

@AndyD273 @Hosch250 Hey there

Green

@James Let it never be said that I don't know how to kick a guy when he's down. Sorry about your sunburn.

Hosch250

18:25

@James Hey, it was a vacation!

Mithrandir24601

@James Just got back (a couple of days ago) from training with a Shaolin monk. The world feels different and somewhat tame, lazy and a touch dull :P

James

@Mithrandir24601 That sounds really awesome.

Where'd you go?

Mithrandir24601

For the record, it was one of the best experiences of my life, despite the fact that everything still hurts and it involved early starts and 7-8 hours of intense training every day for 3 days straight

@James Dublin :P

@James and then some :D

James

@Mithrandir24601 Did he make you stand on one leg while balancing Guinness on your other knee and head?

Mithrandir24601

@James Despite the fact that the name was 'drunken summer camp', actually not although that would have been fun

we were learning the drunken fist form, hence the name

James

18:30

I figured that

:) lol

I once played a monk in dnd that was constantly drunk. It was entertaining.

@Green I'm like a twice-baked zombie today.

Mithrandir24601

@James haha! I'm sure it was. That would be soooo much fun

James

@Mithrandir24601 It was a Shadow Dancer monk mixed with an assassin rogue. Seriously deadly and sneaky drinking all the while to forget the atrocities he had committed.

AndyD273

@Mithrandir24601 Yeah, A small bit of that might be because of the nature of how it is being written. People want to get their part of the ideas written down before someone else comes along and changes it. Another problem, for me personally, is that I'm more used to writing short stories, and so I'm having to make an effort to include extra details. But there is a fine tradition of taking short stories and turning them into novels.

Hosch250

@AndyD273 Also because it's hard to flesh an idea out in 500 chars, or whatever it is.

And it takes 100 +/- words to write a paragraph...

AndyD273

@Hosch250 Very right. That is also a big thing. When you can only add a paragraph at a time, brevity is a virtue

Mithrandir24601

18:42

@James Nice!

HDE 226868

19:52

How did I not see this question?

I see I now have something to do this evening.

James

@HDE226868 I look forward to not understanding your answer.

7

AndyD273

20:20

@HDE226868 I wonder where iron stars would fit on that diagram

Probably below the dwarfs

HDE 226868

@James Challenge accepted.

But I'll add some code so people can test it out.

@AndyD273 Yeah, probably fairly low? I'd bet they're low-luminosity objects.

AndyD273

@HDE226868 Or will be. I think the universe is too young to have any iron stars yet, if I'm remembering correctly.

HDE 226868

Fair point.

AndyD273

Yeah, looks like we'll have to wait till the year 10^1500 or so.

Civilizations at the End of Time: Iron Stars

►

James

21:37

@AndyD273 How long is that in people years?

HDE 226868

22:16

@James Done.

But I bet you'll understand it.

Krakoom

22:33

I hope everyone is doing great

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