Random Stuff V - The Adminpire Strikes Back

[Guest]

That's what I'm saying, it's not a conscious reason. It's not malice. It's not a debate. It's people who feel uncomfortable based on their gender, and are asking for that to be recognised and accommodated. If I feel uncomfortable, it doesn't matter if you think I'm justified in feeling so. That's how I feel. Of course your perspective is equally valid, but any discussion has to be based on hearing and accepting the other persons view as completely valid as well. I guess a healthy discussion would be for the "aggressor" to accept the "victims" opinion and for the "victim" to accept that it may not have been intentional.

There's a difference between ascribing a motive, and saying that the action itself was hurtful. A person can easily be sexist by accident; I think it takes more effort for *everyone* to not be sexist (or racist etc) myself very much included.

Re death threats: true. Bullying is horrible. Women also get death threats for expressing opinions. That people feel free to issue death threats is possibly a separate social issue entirely.

I'm not addressing whether you have a right to feel uncomfortable. It's enough that you do.

 

Where we differ is this: I view a healthy discussion as one where the "aggressor" accepts the "victim's" opinion and the "victim" accepts that it may not have been sexism. It's not enough to "accept that it [sexism] may not have been intentional." For a healthy discussion, the "victim" must not begin by assuming that the "aggressor" was sexist. The "victim" should start from "I was offended by x" and let the "agressor" give their case, rather than starting immediately from "that was sexist," and denying the "aggressor" even the smallest of conversational footings.

[Delightful]

I see. You're saying it's not sexism and I'm saying it might be unintentional sexism, a random act of you will, and not a judgement of any kind on the "aggressor" who is not necessarily a sexist person. I don't think we're going to get closer to agreement than that.

Hi Kobold!

And I swear, this CPU is snoring.

Edited December 15, 2015 by Delightful

[Guest]

I see. You're saying it's not sexism and I'm saying it might be unintentional sexism. I think either is possible, and I don't think we're going to get closer to agreement than that.

Hi Kobold!

And I swear, this CPU is snoring.

Yes 

[Orlion Blight he/him]

Wake it up! It's got work to do!

[Kobold King he/him]

Hi Delightful!

 

 

I want to say that it's awesome that this big argument ends with both of you posting smileys and upvoting each other instead of getting banned. The 17th Shard truly is a magical place.

[Delightful]

Must be all the pugs and ponies.

[Kaymyth she/her]

I see. You're saying it's not sexism and I'm saying it might be unintentional sexism, a random act of you will, and not a judgement of any kind on the "aggressor" who is not necessarily a sexist person. I don't think we're going to get closer to agreement than that.

Hi Kobold!

And I swear, this CPU is snoring.

 

Check out the cooling fan; it may need cleaning and/or replacing.

[Delightful]

Thanks Kaymyth

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

Cat Story:

I was in my room, struggling over a math multiple choice problem, when Maddie came in. She climbed up on the desk and tapped her paw on answer A. It was the right one.

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

"Oh, Harry! We don't send people to Azkaban just for blowing up their aunts! We do, however, send people there on circumstantial evidence planted fifty years ago by Voldemort himself in a case wholly unrelated to this one. So if you commit a crime, be human while you do it. Yay racism!"

--Cornelius Fudge, the most ethical Minister of Magic ever

[Curious Anamaximder he/him]

"Oh, Harry! We don't send people to Azkaban just for blowing up their aunts! We do, however, send people there on circumstantial evidence planted fifty years ago by Voldemort himself in a case wholly unrelated to this one. So if you commit a crime, be human while you do it. Yay racism!"

--Cornelius Fudge, the most ethical Minister of Magic ever

That makes too much sense.

[Kobold King he/him]

Watch and be entertained as Kobold struggles with applying theoretical technology for his sci-fi setting!

 

 

Mass Driver: A device which uses magnetism to accelerate a metal projectile to high speeds, potentially reaching far greater velocities than gunpowder could reach. Railguns are a version that uses a long pair of magnetic rails to achieve this effect, while coilguns propel the projectile through a long coiled tube. Easy enough to understand.

 

EMP: Electromagnetic pulse. Can be used to disable the electronics over a continent-sized area on a planet; without an atmosphere to distribute the pulse, it can be used as a devastatingly efficient weapon against starships. I think.

 

Lasers: High intensity wavelength of light that can punch through metal and people alike... or something like that, I guess?

 

Antimatter Propulsion Drive: Combine antimatter and matter, use the resulting energy gain to kaboom yourself deep into space. The hardest part is making and containing the antimatter, I believe... I'm not a hundred percent sure how this works.

 

Alcubierre Drive: Much faster than antimatter propulsion. Generate negative mass, which then causes space-time to warp in a way that allows a vessel to swiftly cross between one point and another millions of light years away. The problem is that it causes a bunch of highly energized particles to envelop the ship because... reasons, and, uh... what the sparks is negative mass, anyway?

 

 

...You know what? Scratch all that.

 

 

Plutonic Engine. Magic glowing device that does magic stuff when you flip the 'On' switch. Occasionally explodes or overheats when the plot demands it. Possibly haunted.

 

 

I always thought science-fantasy was a criminally underexplored genre anyway.

Edited December 15, 2015 by Kobold King

[Delightful]

Watch and be entertained as Kobold struggles with applying theoretical technology for his sci-fi setting!

Mass Driver: A device which uses magnetism to accelerate a metal projectile to high speeds, potentially reaching far greater velocities than gunpowder could reach. Railguns are a version that uses a long pair of magnetic rails to achieve this effect, while coilguns propel the projectile through a long coiled tube. Easy enough to understand.

EMP: Electromagnetic pulse. Can be used to disable the electronics over a continent-sized area on a planet; without an atmosphere to distribute the pulse, it can be used as a devastatingly efficient weapon against starships. I think.

Lasers: High intensity wavelength of light that can punch through metal and people alike... or something like that, I guess?

Antimatter Propulsion Drive: Combine antimatter and matter, use the resulting energy gain to kaboom yourself deep into space. The hardest part is making and containing the antimatter, I believe... I'm not a hundred percent sure how this works.

Alcubierre Drive: Much faster than antimatter propulsion. Generate negative mass, which then causes space-time to warp in a way that allows a vessel to swiftly cross between one point and another millions of light years away. The problem is that it causes a bunch of highly energized particles to envelop the ship because... reasons, and, uh... what the sparks is negative mass, anyway?

...You know what? Scratch all that.

Plutonic Engine. Magic glowing device that does magic stuff when you flip the 'On' switch. Occasionally explodes or overheats when the plot demands it. Possibly haunted.

I always thought science-fantasy was a criminally underexplored genre anyway.

Sounds legit.

I reckon it could do with some extra sparkles, and cookies for the road.

Edited December 15, 2015 by Delightful

[Kobold King he/him]

Sounds legit.

I reckon it could do with some extra sparkles, and cookies for the road.

 

 

Space cookies... exactly what the setting was missing.

 

 

Though I deliberately chose to make it... sans sparkles.

[The Honor Spren she/her]

via Imgflip Meme Maker

 

And here is a hilarious video:

https://youtu.be/Dach1nPbsY8

[Young Bard he/him]

Memes and Jokes? Or deep heavy discussion about sexism?

 

Relevant.

[Delightful]

Memes and Jokes? Or deep heavy discussion about sexism?

Relevant.

Up vote for quoting El Dorado!

"You're not a god?!"

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Space cookies... exactly what the setting was missing.

Though I deliberately chose to make it... sans sparkles.

Doesn't count if it's not twilight.

[Kestrel she/her]

Is it even worth studying physics anymore

I know I'm going to fail the semester anyway so what's the point

[Seonid he/him]

Watch and be entertained as Kobold struggles with applying theoretical technology for his sci-fi setting!

 

 

Mass Driver: A device which uses magnetism to accelerate a metal projectile to high speeds, potentially reaching far greater velocities than gunpowder could reach. Railguns are a version that uses a long pair of magnetic rails to achieve this effect, while coilguns propel the projectile through a long coiled tube. Easy enough to understand.

 

EMP: Electromagnetic pulse. Can be used to disable the electronics over a continent-sized area on a planet; without an atmosphere to distribute the pulse, it can be used as a devastatingly efficient weapon against starships. I think.

 

Lasers: High intensity wavelength of light that can punch through metal and people alike... or something like that, I guess?

 

Antimatter Propulsion Drive: Combine antimatter and matter, use the resulting energy gain to kaboom yourself deep into space. The hardest part is making and containing the antimatter, I believe... I'm not a hundred percent sure how this works.

 

Alcubierre Drive: Much faster than antimatter propulsion. Generate negative mass, which then causes space-time to warp in a way that allows a vessel to swiftly cross between one point and another millions of light years away. The problem is that it causes a bunch of highly energized particles to envelop the ship because... reasons, and, uh... what the sparks is negative mass, anyway?

 

 

...You know what? Scratch all that.

 

 

Plutonic Engine. Magic glowing device that does magic stuff when you flip the 'On' switch. Occasionally explodes or overheats when the plot demands it. Possibly haunted.

 

 

I always thought science-fantasy was a criminally underexplored genre anyway.

 

That's excellent! Mine always went along the lines of:

 

Wormholes: Some sort of hole in space? That connects two parts of the universe together so that you can get there much faster than if you just walked the long way around. Requires exotic matter to hold open...what is exotic matter? Negative energy? What the devil?

 

Hmmm...obviously I need to go and be a physicist.

 

6 years, much pain, and a senior research project later...

 

Wormholes: General relativistic objects similar to black holes, but ideally lacking singularities and event horizons. The equations can be tweaked to arbitrarily low levels of tidal gravitational forces, allowing for easy travel through. Unfortunately, all known wormhole equations are unstable against small perturbations, leading to the wormhole closing faster than even light could possibly travel through. This can be counteracted with the use of some type exotic matter, specifically matter with a negative energy density. Such matter has not been observed in nature, but cannot be conclusively ruled out, because some regions of space can be shown to have negative energy density - especially as indicated in the Casimir effect....blah...blah...blah

 

Alcubierre Drive: Crap. Not again.

 

Story of my life ^^

[Delightful]

So I just re watched the first five minutes of El Dorado. Relevant quote:

"You fight like my sister!"

"I've fought your sister. Thats a compliment".

[Kaymyth she/her]

That's excellent! Mine always went along the lines of:

 

Wormholes: Some sort of hole in space? That connects two parts of the universe together so that you can get there much faster than if you just walked the long way around. Requires exotic matter to hold open...what is exotic matter? Negative energy? What the devil?

 

Hmmm...obviously I need to go and be a physicist.

 

6 years, much pain, and a senior research project later...

 

Wormholes: General relativistic objects similar to black holes, but ideally lacking singularities and event horizons. The equations can be tweaked to arbitrarily low levels of tidal gravitational forces, allowing for easy travel through. Unfortunately, all known wormhole equations are unstable against small perturbations, leading to the wormhole closing faster than even light could possibly travel through. This can be counteracted with the use of some type exotic matter, specifically matter with a negative energy density. Such matter has not been observed in nature, but cannot be conclusively ruled out, because some regions of space can be shown to have negative energy density - especially as indicated in the Casimir effect....blah...blah...blah

 

Alcubierre Drive: Crap. Not again.

 

Story of my life ^^

 

Yeah, my recipe for this for my sci-fi series is mostly, "Take some bit of realish physics, add a dash of alien handwavium, bake at 350,000 degrees for however long it takes to write the book, and serve."

[Allomancy she/her]

My room is a black hole.

My backpack is an abyss.

Why the difference?

My room is dark, no light enters it, and what goes in rarely can go out, or is ripped to shreds. I am the exception.

My backpack looses most things I put in it, and to get anything out of it, I have to summon them from its depths. Oh, plus, anything that goes in comes out a bit... different. And possessed.

Edited December 15, 2015 by Allomancy

[Kobold King he/him]

That's excellent! Mine always went along the lines of:

 

Wormholes: Some sort of hole in space? That connects two parts of the universe together so that you can get there much faster than if you just walked the long way around. Requires exotic matter to hold open...what is exotic matter? Negative energy? What the devil?

 

Hmmm...obviously I need to go and be a physicist.

 

6 years, much pain, and a senior research project later...

 

Wormholes: General relativistic objects similar to black holes, but ideally lacking singularities and event horizons. The equations can be tweaked to arbitrarily low levels of tidal gravitational forces, allowing for easy travel through. Unfortunately, all known wormhole equations are unstable against small perturbations, leading to the wormhole closing faster than even light could possibly travel through. This can be counteracted with the use of some type exotic matter, specifically matter with a negative energy density. Such matter has not been observed in nature, but cannot be conclusively ruled out, because some regions of space can be shown to have negative energy density - especially as indicated in the Casimir effect....blah...blah...blah

 

Alcubierre Drive: Crap. Not again.

 

Story of my life ^^

 

 

Ha. It's comforting to know that even accomplished physics students can get lost in heavy Wikipedia articles.

 

But yeah. I like to think I'm pretty good with alien races themselves, but theoretical technology always eludes my comprehension. I decided to just use alien handwavium for most things, because if I want to imagine my race of eusocial pink rodents flying around in anti-gravity tanks, what right do the laws of physics have to stop me?

[TwiLyghtSansSparkles she/her]

Can we all take a moment to appreciate how hardcore Sirius Black must've been? He turned himself into an Animagus, and the form he got wasn't just A dog. No, he got THE dog that happened to perfectly resemble the Grim.