Tim B

general recent conversations

Discussion on question by Darth Biome…

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Tim B

Nov 28, 2020 07:18

Not done the math but you could investigate having a binary planet (or planet as moon of a gas giant) and the fluctuations in the orbit from that could cause seasons. Getting the timing right while keeping sizes and positionings reasonable is not trivial though.

Tim B

Nov 28, 2020 07:18

@S.R.Martin I'd go one step further. Just don't use years. Call them "cycles" or whatever. "How old are you?", "5 Cycles" reduces the possibility of confusion greatly.

Discussion on answer by bdb484: Is th…

Imported from a comment discussion on law.stackexchange.com/qu...

Tim B

Nov 25, 2020 02:22

@vsz There is a risk that if you do not consent the police would take that as non-compliance and they would then look for ways to get you in trouble or give you grief. In any encounter with the police they have all the power and some are not above abusing that for whatever reason and while cameras have improved things they have not stopped the abuse completely.

The Factory Floor

Main chat room for worldbuilding.stackexchange.com

Tim B

Jan 29, 2020 10:15

I just made it official too, I was hoping for signs of improvement, instead all we see is the good ones going.

Tim B

Jan 29, 2020 10:15

Q: So long, and thanks for all the fish

Today I'm sending an email to Stack Exchange resigning my moderator position. That's less dramatic than it sounds as I've been essentially retired for the past year but I have been helping out occasionally. I've considered resigning several times since things really started going crazy but inste...

discussion

Tim B

Mar 1, 2019 16:35

google is your friend :)

Tim B

Mar 1, 2019 16:35

me neither off hand

Tim B

Mar 1, 2019 16:35

yep

Tim B

Mar 1, 2019 16:25

but I guess maybe the blood could have special qualities chemistry speaking :s

Tim B

Mar 1, 2019 16:25

Yep. It feels like the answer is "magic" at which point without constraints we're in anything goes territory

Tim B

Mar 1, 2019 16:21

^How is that not broad/opinion based? - discuss :)

Tim B

Mar 1, 2019 16:21

Q: Quenching swords in dragon blood; why?

Imagine a typical fantasy world. Elves, goblins, dragons, magic. If you were to equate it to a D&D campaign, you would be close enough for proverbial government work. That said, thanks to time and magic, their knowledge of science is more advanced than usual. The people understand germ theory...

science-based weapons dragons

Tim B

Aug 7, 2018 20:41

Q: Worse than zombies, part 1

At university my peer group started to use the saying "it could be worse, there could be zombies" as a way to tell people to keep things in perspective. The statement always implied two things: There is no situation that cannot be made worse by adding zombies. If there are zombies the situatio...

apocalypse zombies

Tim B

Aug 7, 2018 20:41

While amusing how is this question not too broad/opinion based?

Tim B

Jul 30, 2018 16:20

worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/help/badges/43/legendary

Tim B

Jul 30, 2018 16:20

@Gryphon Mortarboard, Epic and Legendary. Legendary is the rarest badge we have (ignoring tumbleweed) with only 2 people having it

Discussion on answer by AlexP: How mu…

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Tim B

Nov 28, 2019 12:30

Hmm, in light of that evidence I don't think the resistance to FTL would be as universal as you suggest.

Discussion on question by T. Sar - Re…

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Tim B

Nov 25, 2019 12:20

If you already know this person is an untrustworthy scammer then you should consider any promises to pay you as .... untrustworthy and possibly scams.

Discussion on question by justthisone…

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Tim B

Nov 8, 2019 05:20

@justthisonequestion Piercing the atmosphere is not the problem. The problem is gravity and efficiency of rockets vs the size of the gravity well. Atmosphere can even be used to help you - see for example rockets launched from planes or balloons.

Theory of Magic

For all discussions related to very in depth discussion on the...

Tim B

Jun 3, 2019 13:36

By definition", I begin,
"Alternative Medicine", I continue,
"Has either not been proved to work, or been proved not to work.
Do you know what they call 'alternative medicine' that's been proved to work?
Medicine."
"So you don't believe in any natural remedies?"
"On the contrary Storm, actually
Before I came to tea, I took a remedy derived from the bark of a willow tree
A painkiller that's virtually side-effect free
It's got a weird name, Darling, what was it again?
M-masprin? Basprin? Oh yeah! Asprin!

Tim B

Jun 3, 2019 13:34

metrolyrics.com/storm-lyrics-tim-minchin.html

Tim B

Jun 3, 2019 13:34

In the real world there is a difference though because magic doesn't work. Anything which is reproducible can be studied and is science. Stuff we don't understand you can describe as "magic" but only until we work out how to try and understand it.

Tim B

Jun 3, 2019 13:32

But beyond that any understandable and investigatable magic is a science. Wizards researching in their tower are scientists just as much as chemists in their lab. They are just scientists studying magic which becomes a branch of science much like chemistry, physics etc are.

Tim B

Jun 3, 2019 13:30

The distinction between magic and science is a modern conceit. Look at alchemy which these days we'd consider to be an attempt at magic but actually is also the foundation of chemistry and physics.

Tim B

Mar 4, 2019 14:22

It's very common in RPGs though to have a random element on how effective a spell is because then the narrative drama builds up around the roll of the dice

Tim B

Mar 4, 2019 14:22

or your hero may do everything right but not get the result they need - unsatisfying story

Tim B

Mar 4, 2019 14:21

If the result is random then you always can get the result you need - unsatisfying story

Tim B

Mar 4, 2019 14:21

Random magic isn't a great idea if it's being used for storytelling and you are intending to have people use it for storytelling. Connected to Sanderson's first law in a way.

Discussion on question by Jaybee72: H…

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Tim B

Mar 15, 2019 04:17

I don't think the word insinuated means what you think it means... merriam-webster.com/dictionary/insinuate Did you mean instigate?

Discussion on answer by Amadeus: Is t…

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Tim B

Jan 20, 2019 02:47

In the film Commando (80s Schwarzenegger action film) the kidnapped little girl attempts to make her own escape and even gets out of the room they are holding her in. That actually makes the difference in timing as the bad guys come to get her and her actions delay them just enough. Even that little twist is a nice touch.

Discussion on question by Snah: Poten…

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Tim B

Jan 17, 2019 05:01

@teego1967 If someone has lied on their CV and I as a company have wasted time and money flying them out and interviewing them based on those lies....then I still wouldn't pull such a nasty move but I can understand why some people might.

Discussion on answer by Jared Smith: …

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Tim B

Jan 16, 2019 23:59

Because the person you are talking to has decided to believe the people who's job it is to know this stuff is a perfectly valid reason for them to give. You're demanding an unrealistic level of knowledge in a world where no-one can know everything about everything. I could answer yes to that question, but I have a science background. How about I turn it around on you? Have you read the recent IPCC report or even just the summary? If not then why not?

Discussion on question by SKKennell: …

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Tim B

Jan 10, 2019 15:41

The problem is that what you are asking is very vague and very broad. I could easily write a book just trying to answer what you've asked here.

Tim B

Jan 10, 2019 15:41

The portal is entirely irrelevant to this - you are just describing any colonization/evacuation effort and there are plenty of historical references for that so you can choose whichever you think best fits what you want.

Discussion on question by Loid Thanea…

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Tim B

Jan 10, 2019 04:11

Giving the skeletons bows makes things substantially harder since as soon as they have ranged capabilities one arrow will end things. Your hero may well need to summon a tank.

Discussion on answer by Phil Frost: W…

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Tim B

Nov 30, 2018 15:39

@chaslyfromUK This answer goes into far more detail than mine and covers things mine does not, please feel free to change the tick mark. It earned it :)

Discussion on answer by Tim B: Would …

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Tim B

Nov 29, 2018 15:19

@Nathaniel Great minds think alike :)

Tim B

Nov 29, 2018 15:19

@Nathaniel And the moon's gravitational field is likely too weak to hold the atmosphere for long. In fact the long term effects are likely that we see a lot of the water transferred to earth!

Tim B

Nov 29, 2018 15:19

@Flater 'fraid so, added a bit on that.

Tim B

Nov 29, 2018 15:19

@chaslyfromUK Your edit looks good, and didn't invalidate anything thanks :) I had already ignored the duplicate bit and just focused on the new thing anyway

Discussion on answer by szulat: Would…

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Tim B

Nov 27, 2018 11:16

This is really interesting, thanks for explaining it. I learned something new today - and it does make sense once I really thought about it but it's a bit counter-intuitive so not immediately obvious.

Tim B

Nov 26, 2018 16:29

In other words if the moon is between the sun and the earth then the energy hits the far side of the moon, gets focused into a small area on the earth...then burny hot times begin.

Tim B

Nov 26, 2018 16:29

I don't think this answer can be right. You can't focus moonlight to start a fire (what-if.xkcd.com/145) but the sun's surface is very hot. You can focus the incoming sunlight to create something much hotter in a small area.

Discussion on question by Sava: Can t…

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Tim B

Nov 19, 2018 16:14

You should read a book "The Redemption of Christopher Columbus" which has a lot of interesting ideas along the lines of alternate histories etc.

Discussion on question by Robus: Prer…

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Tim B

Nov 16, 2018 19:28

There are interesting concepts here but right now this feels very story based/too broad/opinion based. worldbuilding.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3300/… You will need to provide more details before good and specific answers can be written

Discussion on answer by Paul Johnson:…

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Tim B

Oct 18, 2018 17:44

@Richard In fact a number of leave campaigners are on record as saying "norway option", "not leaving the single market", etc etc. So at least some leave voters voted thinking we would be staying in the market.

Discussion on answer by Carduus: What…

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Tim B

Oct 1, 2018 13:56

@Dunk You clearly haven't been paying attention...got any evidence to back these wild assertions?

Discussion on answer by wetcircuit: T…

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Tim B

Aug 1, 2018 00:49

On the other hand there are many reasons to like the show. For example multiple realistic depictions of zero-g physics and space combat in general. Convincing newtonian mechanics and zero-g manouvers. Realistic depiction of loss of life support, unlike the star trek rubbish where everyone is about to die in 20 minutes because life support failed, etc.

Tim B

Aug 1, 2018 00:49

@wetcircuit I haven't watched season 3 but that certainly isn't the case for either the first 2 seasons or the book. The author made 2 tweaks and extrapolated from there: 1. the development of engines far more efficient than anything we currently have. 2. The existence of the melding plague which by definition is beyond anything the humans on the show can understand.

Tim B

Aug 1, 2018 00:49

I agree with a lot of what you wrote (enough to upvote) but I think you missed a lot of the point of The Expanse, it's a lot closer to hard sci-fi than you are giving it credit for. All the human tech is very realistic, and the fact that they are encountering a black swan event that seems to break all the rules is a pivotal plot driver. Another interesting example (in books not TV) is the Night's Dawn trilogy which I would definitely class as science fiction (maybe not super hard admittedly) and yet has superficially supernatural elements.