The Factory Floor - 2018-12-10

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12:44 AM

@Secret I hate to spoil things, but 12 Monkeys

Ah the classics

hey again @CortAmmon

heyas

Ahh, I love toddlers. Mine just went from punching my punching bag to trying to catch a baloon in aboug 5 minutes

5 hours later…

6:10 AM

Hi mods, random question - what's the least annoying way for me to request the deletion of an abandoned question in the Sandbox? I've inherited a bit of the clean-up duty since Secespitus disappeared and I feel bad adding custom flags each time, but none of the other flag reasons seem specifically applicable. Perhaps "not an answer"?

6:35 AM

@Dubukay Custom flags are fine. There aren't that many and it doesn't require a lot of thought/investigation either.

6:55 AM

@James Cheers, thanks! Didn't want to make extra work for y'all.

7:27 AM

0

A: Sandbox for Proposed Questions

Omegaverse Society For some reason (probably sheer variety of 'verses) I can't find any in depth analysis of this online so I'm posting this here. Due to the many omegaverses out there, for my purposes assume the following Every individual has a primary sex (male/female) and a secondary sex (...

4 hours later…

Worldbuilding Meta

11:30 AM

0

Q: Suggestion for improved sandbox

I'd like to propose we make use of the existing structure of SE for sandbox questions instead of artificially putting them inside Meta. I've not been able to find a previous discussion about this although I have searched. Problem Currently there seems to be a lot of admin to maintain it as part...

discussion feature-request

3 hours later…

2:24 PM

@dot_Sp0T Somewhat. I think it got a bit out of sync, but I have been keeping the google doc updated if you want to read it that way.

@HDE226868 Why is having the head of the group writing it a problem? Wouldn't they be the best ones to get all the details right? It does seem like it falls into "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof", but honestly so does dark matter IMHO. I get that the math works out for dark matter and dark energy, except that aren't both kind of holes in the math?

Like "well, the universe doesn't have enough observable mass for the equations to match what we see. We have to put a X in here to make is balance... Meaning that there is a lot of invisible matter... How about we call that dark matter?"

Invisible stuff that we can't see, feel, touch, or detect with any instrumentation, only detectable by it's effects on the universe... sounds kinda spiritual.

The biggest problem I see as an outsider with the new theory is that it requires an unlimited incoming flow of this dark fluid to make up for the universe expanding.

Which confirms a long standing theory; the universe is a water balloon. We're ok as long as it keeps expanding. If it suddenly stops then that means the balloon is full, and we're probably going to be thrown at something.

2:41 PM

LOL.

Reminds me of the story ID I saw once on Sci Fi. Where there's a story about a world that has to evacuate before a massive projectile hits. Turns out the "planet" they were living on was a baseball glove.

@kingledion Also raises hand. The only reason she knows anything about it is because I recorded those episodes of the podcast with James and Green. She never listened to them though. I shared a little thing I wrote with her shortly after we got married. She didn't really seem all that interested, so I stopped... Maybe once I have something a lot longer, or published, I'll try again.

2:59 PM

@AndyD273 That is such a wife response...oh, you're going to the basement to do your nerdcast again, ok, fine.

I have a work friend who has been kicked into this walk-in closet at home to do work

So whenever we do work-related conference video chats, he's always surrounded by coats like he is on his way to Narnia.

@Hosch250 There's another one, where it is a story about a planet that had a civilization spring up and spread all over, building giant mega cities, and then the planet started breaking up and falling apart, and so the people had to get into these little suspended animation pods to be flung away to the stars, with the hopes that they'd one day land on a new planet. Then they zoom out and the "planet" is an orange that has been molding, and the escape pods are spores.

@kingledion Thankfully I got to use the living room, but that's mostly because the bedroom has a tv.

I used to have an office, but then I had children, and now it is a bedroom... So I hooked my computer up to the living room tv instead.

@AndyD273 Having the head of the group write it isn't a problem; overstating the odds of the theory being right is.

3:15 PM

Should there even be estimates of the odds of it being right?

We simply don't know until we know if it is right or not...

@AndyD273 I posted to the SGR.

When should we stop? When they get back to the village? When they board the void ship?

@Hosch250 Well, in the tradition of Karl Popper, no one has proven that it isn't right yet.

Yeah, but we still don't know the odds.

@Hosch250 'Tis a good question. I think once they get back and are welcomed.

Good, that's what I was thinking too.

3:33 PM

One or two more posts could finish it up I'm thinking. I'm half tempted to just do it, but I'll at least wait till the 6 hours is up

@kingledion That's just some high quality sound dampening right there. None of that bumpy foam for him!

@AndyD273 6hrs?

It was 7 days...

The 6hrs is just for me, IIRC?

No. One of the original rules was to have a cool down period between posts, so that one person doesn't keep writing and dominate the story. It's rule 1 on the room star board.

Ohhh, I didn't see you'd posted.

Ah, yeah

Now that makes more sense

3:49 PM

@AndyD273 My wife never expressed interest in the podcast either. It was just one of those things I did by myself.

4:00 PM

@Green Well, could be worse. I was talking to coworker this morning about his weekend, and he was telling me about his brothers polka band. I asked if he was married. The reply was "No, I think he's hosed."

4:11 PM

@AndyD273 True. A love of workbuilding isn't as strong a removal from the gene pool as playing in a polka band.

I love polka.

Strauss wrote the best ones.

@Green My advice was to wait until after the honeymoon to confess. I imagine it going something like this: "Honey, now that we're married, I have a deep, dark secret to tell you... I play the accordion in a polka band." "Oh, no... Is there a cure? Maybe you can learn an instrument that doesn't sound like you're molesting a cat? And maybe find a different style, something less disgraceful... Like a Coldplay cover band?"

@AndyD273 HahahahhaHAH!!! Coldplay cover bands. groan.

@Hosch250 Doesn't tone deafness run in your family? That might help... ;D

(The ;D means it's supposed to be a joke, not mean.)

Actually, we're reasonably musical.

Old dance music is some of the best.

Along with old folk.

4:21 PM

Ah, I thought you said something about your dad being tone deaf, but maybe that was someone else.

Oh, yeah, my dad is pretty close.

The rest of us are reasonably OK.

I try to avoid singing, though, because I can hear that I sing badly out of tune. I used to be able to sing in almost perfect tune when I played the clarinet.

1 hour later…

5:26 PM

Breaking news: Voyager 2 is in interstellar space: phys.org/news/…

2

I bet @HDE226868 already knew this, though :)

@Hosch250 That's super cool!

5:42 PM

Especially since they were only supposed to go 5 years, to Saturn and Jupiter... though, if that's true, why include the golden record?

They went to Neptune and Uranus too.

> Neither Uranus nor Neptune has been visited by a probe other than Voyager 2.

@James !

Ok am I being difficult or are the answers to this question not actually answers to the question?

10

Q: Standardized building materials across a Roman style empire

I am working on an empire that exists in my world. I want to know if it makes sense for said empire to standardize the materials they use for construction across the empire. In the heart of the empire important buildings are constructed using a particular local granite and the roofs are made of...

reality-check transportation city-design

With one exception.

@Green Buenos dias senor verde

@Hosch250 Right. I just mean the original mission. Did they plan to extend it all along, or was it kind of a "well, it's still going, lets see what happens" kind of thing.

@James Mue Biene! Danke!

und du?

5:49 PM

I don't know.

I think the engineers kind of planned it, but management didn't so much.

You just misspelled two Spanish words and then inexplicably switched to German.

@James so?

:)!

@Green LOL.

> The Voyager spacecraft are expected to be able to operate science instruments through 2020, when limited power will require instruments to be deactivated one by one. Sometime around 2025, there will no longer be sufficient power to operate any science instruments.

@James chasly from UK's answer kind of looks like an answer too

user image

5:54 PM

1

A: Standardized building materials across a Roman style empire

It depends what you mean by standardisation. If you mean of identical size such as in making standard bricks then probably no. However Transport of building materials was certainly carried out in the ancient world and in Egypt all efforts would have been made to standardise the colour of stone ...

@AndyD273 True, I forgot that one. I actually upvoted it.

And the first link on the next one down, jboulter11, talks about roman bricks being something of a standard, with legions using mobile kilns to make bricks across the empire.

@AndyD273 Yeah but thats for legion forts. I was asking about temples, palaces, places of import. + granite specifically.

@Hosch250 I did! It's pretty awesome.

6:11 PM

checks WB.se I got an upvote on an answer... wait, where's my answer? Oh, it was my question, I got an upvote on my question. I don't remember this question, but it's pretty good...

@AndyD273 Yeah after a couple years you forget some of the stuff you wrote.

@James years? This old man forgets in a few weeks. Youngesters with their long memories ;)

@Green Fair. Some answer are pretty memorable though.

Did you all know that end of year sucks really hard for project managers?

@James Like, can a Jesus who can't do miracles be recognized as the Messiah?

@James Nope, didn't know that. Why do you say so?

Lots of pressure to finish projects that can't be finished by year end?

@Green Cause it is. Budgets, wrapping up projects, closing project plans, plans for the new year. :barf:

all my least favorite parts of the job become important at the same time...

6:22 PM

What kind of project manager are you?

@James gross.

@Hosch250 IT.

Are you a good PM? :P

@Hosch250 It probably depends on who you ask.

LOL.

6:25 PM

@James We're asking you. Do you think you are a good PM?

Projects done on time? Check. People have the requirements they need? Why can't they just do the bloody work! :P

@Green Eh. I am ok. I do not like the paperwork/tracking stuff, and some people really care about that crap. As far as getting things actually done, yeah, pretty good.

@James Then I'd enjoy working with you. The paperwork/tracking stuff is less important than actually getting the work done.

People who care about that crap usually actually need it, TBF.

@Hosch250 True, but I think processes can be changed to minimize that.

6:28 PM

Devs need requirements. Upper management needs costs and timelines so they can give estimated deadlines to their next client.

@Hosch250 This is why agile is, in most situations, so much better than traditional waterfall methods. Give the right data as needed. Don't just track and document a bunch of crap because you can

Waterfall is better in some circumstances.

I've never done agile, TBH.

I just do waterfall so fast it becomes agile.

@Hosch250 In a few very specific situations it is better.

Yes.

@Hosch250 You make scrum masters cry.

6:30 PM

Why?

I just start writing code as soon as I get the basic requirements, and I can turn code around really fast.

@Hosch250 Alot of people believe that is what agile is...its not ;)

Oh, I know that.

I've not done agile, as I've said.

I just do waterfall so fast that we get a lot of the benefits of agile, like early feedback, etc.

TBH, I don't know if I would work well with agile. At the daily standup, it would be like:

> What did you do yesterday?
I don't know. ABC with the XYZ, then N interrupted me and put me on bug 234, then I worked on big 345, then I did a bit more on XYZ.
> What will you do today?
No idea. I plan on doing QWE on XYZ, but I can't promise I won't get interrupted with another bug that has to go to prod next release.

The "I don't know" because I literally don't remember much what I did the next day.

I have to go back and see what I checked in.

@Hosch250 Developers are both the bane of and reason for my existence.

LOL.

They probably say the same about you.

lol yeah. Its not a perfect system but it works.

6:40 PM

Like pretty much everything in this world.

2 hours later…

8:25 PM

@Hosch250 We need not systems of Platonic Ideals, merely Aristotelian systems that work.

8:51 PM

@Green Philosopher kings are unfortunately myths.

9:24 PM

@James Reading through those old greek utopias raises my eyebrow. They assume so much about how people work; not accounting for people who absolutely must be the alpha and will kill everyone on the way.

@Green Same--only for the English ones, LOL.

And the modern utopias are even crazier.

Or, assuming that the leaders won't have families, as if a simple leadership position is going to successfully and completely supress the human sex drive.

@Green That's what the Eunuchs were for.

I've heard castration is a pretty effective suppressant.

@Hosch250 But eunechs don't make great generals either.

LOL.

I don't know if it reduces their ability, though. I think great generals are just a rarity.

9:26 PM

Philosopher eunuch kings? The job perks are great, but there are surprisingly few takers.

3

@Hosch250 Very true.

@AndyD273 HHAHAHAHHAHAH!!!

Worldbuilding Meta

9:45 PM

0

Q: Additional review tools?

I've been doing some reviewing lately, and I think two additional features in the review queue would be very helpful. First, enable the "see vote counts" from within the review tools, normally enabled with the "established user" privilege. As of right now, when I'm reviewing questions from the r...

feature-request vote-to-close closing-questions reviews

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Dec '1810

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