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Paul TIKI

 Discussion on question by Globin347: …

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Paul TIKI
Apr 8, 2021 02:42
for the bonus, Air travel will develop a lot like it has in our world. Airships will of course be limited by prevailing winds and such, just as they are on earth. Heavier than air solutions will change from the limits of single pilot stuff very quickly into travel available to the wealthy, then upper middle class, then as a common travel solution for most folks. We now have aircraft that are capable of getting a goodly way around the globe with one or two stops. you might have to route around the great desert, but it's certainly doable.
 

 Discussion on question by MolbOrg: Bo…

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Paul TIKI
Mar 20, 2021 09:54
I know you mention basalt as an example source of Iron, but to clarify, metallic iron is not readily available. Basalt contains iron oxides, but those aren't useful without smelting them into a bloom and that will take lots and lots of controlled heat. google bloomery iron. The reason there is so much mythology around meteorite swords and such is that meteorites were the only easy source for metallic iron.
 

 Discussion on answer by A.bakker: Why…

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Paul TIKI
Mar 20, 2020 14:02
@AdrianColomitchi They already have more than they need to survive, and yet will still fight for more. Also, "greed" is an emotionally charged word as it denotes a moral failing. In the case of dogs, obviously there is no moral failing, but you still see the behavior. Hell, if you care to look, you see the same exact mechanism everywhere. Territoriality in all kinds of predators. Even in plants! Taller plants will grow and crowd out and kill other neighboring plants for the resources of sun or water. In the end, humans are animals.
Paul TIKI
Mar 20, 2020 14:02
@AdrianColomitchi You've never observed toddlers, have you? Or dealt with anxious puppies? Even in puppies, lack of food can cause aggression until you train it out of them.(citation, working and volunteering in an animal shelter)
 

 Discussion on question by Incognito: …

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Paul TIKI
Feb 13, 2020 11:19
@StarfishPrime That was funny. Thanks for the chuckle!
 

 Discussion on question by Alexandra E…

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Paul TIKI
Jan 30, 2020 09:56
@AlexandraEagle see what I mean about waiting to accept. I saw some great answers in here :)
Paul TIKI
Jan 30, 2020 09:56
@AlexandraEagle Distances in Europe always throw me off. In the Area of the US where I live, The Distance from Antwerp to Paris is almost nothing. We will often give a distance in terms of time of travel rather than in km or miles. Antwerp to Paris would be equivalent to Wichita Kansas to Oklahoma City, which is a fairly common day trip. Heck, My daily Commute to work over three days is more.
Paul TIKI
Jan 30, 2020 09:56
@Trish True, then a short overland Trek to Paris. What I am suggesting is trying to keep with the idea that Paris is pretty Isolationist, so there might be some barrier there. Seems like more of an adventure coming in from the West coast of France to me :)
Paul TIKI
Jan 30, 2020 09:56
@AlexandraEagle Think about things like the destruction of coastline between England and France along with No Fish, poisonous fish, dangerous fish in what used to be the channel and with a wasteland on the northern coast of France. A combination of reasons not to go looking in that direction. Someone might, given incentive, sail out kind of into the Atlantic and then head south past the mouth of the Channel and along the western coast of France, maybe even as far as Spain.
Paul TIKI
Jan 30, 2020 09:56
@AlexandraEagle That gives us something to work with. I'm assuming that England has been knocked back to the bronze age? Or just to the early Renaissance? Just wondering why an Island, even one as large as GB, would lose ship or boatbuilding ability. Or can they build wooden sailing ships?
Paul TIKI
Jan 30, 2020 09:56
@AlexandraEagle I would say add some specifics rather than just generalities. The problem you are referring to is that a wall of text turns some folks off. I write far more answers than I do questions, so I know there is a balance point, but I can't articulate exactly what that is. Try to give us at least a few solid boundary conditions like "Paris is isolated because of the wastelands and the Thames has been irrevocably altered" Or "Dover is now filled with toxic waste so no one goes there where they can see the coast of France" Whichever fits the story
Paul TIKI
Jan 30, 2020 09:56
You may want to give some reasons why boat travel between the two civilizations has halted. Since this is a future/post apocalyptic story you might want to share at least a vague reason why the coastline of France is not inhabited or why boats aren't a really big thing along the coasts, like new storms, shattered coastlines making landing nearly impossible, or radioactive wastelands. Those kinds of details really help us create awesome answers.
Paul TIKI
Jan 30, 2020 09:56
Hey there, I really appreciate your accepting my answer, but you may want to undo and wait a while (24 hours or maybe more) before accepting. That is because the site is world wide and even if you you think mine is the best right now, you may get a bunch of even better answers later. Some really good folks may not even come on the site until later today. Thanks again for your confidence though.
 

 Discussion on question by mammiferevi…

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Paul TIKI
Jan 30, 2020 09:44
@RonJohn copper wires and electrical motors?!?!?! you mean Mom lied to me?
 

 Discussion on answer by TitaniumTurtl…

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Paul TIKI
Jan 25, 2020 19:36
@TitaniumTurtle You would be surprised at the level of training most firearm owners have in common. There is no real discernable difference between NRA training and the firearm safety every soldier in boot camp gets. A great many legal firearm owners have had or teach NRA firearm safety, and I have never been to a gun shop or range that does not strongly endorse NRA sanctioned classes.
Paul TIKI
Jan 25, 2020 19:36
@AlexP One thing to think about is exactly how the US Constitution works. It is a really (surprisingly) short Document that gives a basic structure for the government and then has 10 amendments (the Bill of Rights) that specifically calls out what the government CANNOT do. It is very hard to alter the Constitution, and there is a long history of various laws that get struck down because they go against the Bill of Rights. It's an interesting bit of history and philosophy.
Paul TIKI
Jan 25, 2020 19:36
@AlexP The platform advanced by most prominent Democrat party members has a very strong lean towards gun control and confiscation. This gets muddled somewhat because of the way our representation is divided out by States and Districts. A Democrat in most of Kansas would be committing political suicide with a pro gun confiscation stance while in San Francisco, not so much. Anyway, the Bulk of Democrat Party leadership is pro Gun Control, but they can't just push it too hard too fast because there is actually something in the constitution and that is VERY hard to change (second amendment)
Paul TIKI
Jan 25, 2020 19:36
Also bear in mind that there are roughly 90 Million lawful firearm owners in the US. That is one hell of a militia. Combine that with a lot of Veterans in any given area that have become familiar with asymetrical warfare thanks to long involvement in the Middle East and the fact that any War Material may well be commandeered by local militias, an all out civil war would be terrifying.
 

 Discussion on question by Daniel Poir…

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Paul TIKI
Oct 23, 2019 19:25
@John I know about that as it applies to the 5.56 since I did exactly that in ROTC many years ago. The thing about the .50 BMG is that you are talking about orders of magnitude more energy so the engineering is going to be Non-Trivial to keep it within a 7 lb mass. Many modern sniper rifles are Bolt action and could be more easily reduced in weight, but all of that recoil goes right into the shoulder. One could reduce weight by shortening the barrel, but that sacrifices accuracy. I like the idea of being able to hit the target from 2 miles away.
Paul TIKI
Oct 23, 2019 19:25
@user1717828 A lot of us gun nuts don't have any truck with your weird space points :) Seriously, the conversion would be from foot pounds to joules. .50 BMG would likely be around 16000 Joules hitting the target. compare to a 9mm with less than 500 joules. middle of the road 7.62 would have around 3000 joules.
Paul TIKI
Oct 23, 2019 19:25
@John, I would NOT want to try to shoot a .50 BMG from a rifle that only weighed 7 or 8 lbs. A .308 hurts bad enough on the shoulder. Unless you have extra padding or support a .50 would be tremendously painful.
 

 Discussion on answer by Paul TIKI: Mo…

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Paul TIKI
Oct 5, 2019 11:39
@user28434 that does not make any sense. Why would a strong monarchy and a feudal system be mutually exclusive?
Paul TIKI
Oct 5, 2019 11:39
@Bilkokuya, he treats them well and fairly. That would be step one. Step 2 is to keep the steel weapons under lock and key when not being used for training. One does not need to be an absolute tyrant to keep the rabble in line.
Paul TIKI
Oct 5, 2019 11:39
Also true. In this I have had to assume a kind of economic baseline where division of labor can happen beyond the level of straight up survival. And yes, the traders and merchants would be absolutely critical for information gathering and transmission methods. Maybe he could give them incentives to spend some time developing better methods for communication over distances.
Paul TIKI
Oct 5, 2019 11:39
@vsz The concept of Meritocracy can be blended in with a feudal system with a strong enough or ruthless enough monarch. Local lords supply the levy and will go off to war in a leadership kind of position but you take away the starting rank. Your earl and your duke starts as a young man in campaigns as the equivalent to a 2nd lieutenant and only advances if he is effective. likewise your baronet and marquise. Add the proviso that if he is not effective, he will be dismissed and not invited back to play warrior in future campaigns.
Paul TIKI
Oct 5, 2019 11:39
@user28434 What I was referring to was the larger potential pool be training on a weekly or monthly basis. Allowances could be made for the planting and harvesting seasons. Daily training is not required of the larger population. It's only the active military that trains daily. That way fields get plowed and the harvest goes without a hitch. This would be similar to the Hundred Year War requirement on english yeomen.
Paul TIKI
Oct 5, 2019 11:39
@AlexP this is true, and it's not an easy thing to overcome. Heck, in Medieval Europe the primary concern of any semibenevolent leader was keeping people fed each year. I'm making the assumption that Lord Gary's domain has enough resources to rise above subsistence agriculture and can rise to a level where a lot of division of labor is possible. Food security becomes part of the supply chain.
 

 Discussion on question by Demigan: Li…

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Paul TIKI
Jan 31, 2019 10:52
@Demigan, not necessarily. A weapons loadout would be dramatically different, as would armor and other equipment. Example, a Medieval setting would mean use of blowguns and poisons and modern would be more intelligence gathering and jumping in a tiny escape quadcopter. Yeah, there is overlap, but you can do a lot with a more specific setting
Paul TIKI
Jan 31, 2019 10:52
What is the time frame? The use of lightweight humans would differ in a future setting vs. 1066 AD.
 

 Discussion on answer by Paul TIKI: An…

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Paul TIKI
Aug 30, 2018 14:14
@DennisWilliamson a Green Deaths head, of course :)
Paul TIKI
Aug 30, 2018 14:14
@TylerS.Loeper That's why I suggested it as an environmental factor, not as any sort of weapon. Though a frog that, when squished, yielded a 1 kiloton blast would be amusing as hell.
Paul TIKI
Aug 30, 2018 14:14
@vsz How about Radon or Radium, natural products of decay? I'm no expert on that sort of stuff, I was just thinking that all kinds of minerals get mixed up in rain runofff and such.
Paul TIKI
Aug 30, 2018 14:14
@K.Morgan That's kind of what I was going for.
Paul TIKI
Aug 30, 2018 14:14
I can't neccesarily see a reason why that would benefit the creature though.
Paul TIKI
Aug 30, 2018 14:14
True. I get that. I read the OP in such a way that the mechanism is irrelevant, only the outcome. I'm not an evolutionary scientist by any means, but I can't see any reason why radiation would benefit the creature. Yes, radiation can kill or make something sick, but it's too slow. The creature already has a toxin for defense and Electrical shock for hunting. Why on earth would it have a much slower weapon in being radioactive?
 

 Discussion on question by gaazkam: Is…

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Paul TIKI
Mar 15, 2018 17:02
@can-ned_food The companion tower is the the city of Wonder, constructed by Emperor Steve. He was the staunchest ally of the McCartneyites, builders of the Ivory tower
 

 Discussion on question by Snow: What …

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Paul TIKI
Dec 11, 2017 17:51
I don't see this as plot generation. We have the plot already, just missing the step between Point A, prime people to Point B, at least one is broken. Vote to reopen on this basis.
 

 Discussion on answer by adaliabooks: …

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Paul TIKI
Dec 8, 2017 04:48
@Selenor...love the magic working like an induction cooker (I'm somewhat obsessed with them, they are fantastic kitchen devices) I am now imagining a NuWave (tm) Plate Mail Human cooker set for only $99.99 plus S&H!
Paul TIKI
Dec 8, 2017 04:48
@adaliabooks Thank you!
 

 Discussion on question by Ash: Airshi…

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Paul TIKI
Oct 6, 2017 14:09
@dot_Sp0T I agree on those two. Thing is it looked like all answers got downvoted, which makes little sense.
Paul TIKI
Oct 6, 2017 14:09
What's with the drive by downvotes on all the answers.
 

 Discussion between Alexander O'Mara a…

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Paul TIKI
Sep 12, 2017 15:28
How about treating people as Individuals, treat each other decently. Stop trying to play the statistical matching group game and then make assumptions based on that. I cannot control anyone else, and would not even if I were able to do so, because that is a violation of your freedoms. What I can do is to try to control myself. I can treat people as individuals. I judge people according to the content of their character rather than the color of their skin.
Paul TIKI
Sep 12, 2017 15:20
You can also look into the murdered police Officers in Baton Rouge, tied to BLM. That is why I find BLM every bit as repugnant and vile as I find the KKK. I always come back to the words of Dr. Martin Luther King. "I have a dream when they will be judged by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin." Yet All we hear anymore from the Left is that it's all tied to Race, to Minorities, To the Protected group Flavor of the week.
Paul TIKI
Sep 12, 2017 14:55
Re read the statment and BLM is very clearly "Them". It is also painfully clear from the article
Paul TIKI
Sep 6, 2017 21:01
died very quickly, while crap about Charlottesvile is still going 3 weeks later.
Paul TIKI
Sep 6, 2017 21:01
By the way, the story about en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_shooting_of_Dallas_police_officers
Paul TIKI
Sep 6, 2017 21:00
All ambushed by a Lunatic up to his eyeballs in BLM.
Paul TIKI
Sep 6, 2017 20:59
DPD Officer Patricio "Patrick" Zamarripa
Paul TIKI
Sep 6, 2017 20:59
DART Officer Brent Thompson
Paul TIKI
Sep 6, 2017 20:59
DPD Sgt. Michael Smith,