Search found 207 matches
- Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:00 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1982: "Evangelism"
- Replies: 99
- Views: 2349
Re: 1982: "Evangelism"
... I'm immune to these banana wars because I make a point of not eating them. I don't know how something can impart such great flavor to everything else (that is to say, most banana-flavored stuff is great, including dried banana chips) and yet itself be so nasty and have an ok-to-eat window of li...
- Wed Apr 18, 2018 3:35 pm UTC
- Forum: Gaming
- Topic: If you could combine two(or more) games
- Replies: 221
- Views: 31292
Re: If you could combine two(or more) games
So... Dwarf Fortress? I've been meaning to try that out. It does seem like a resource management game that lends itself to emergent narrative, but it doesn't seem like it's character or story oriented, more of a virtual ant farm, sim city game. RPG games, and I guess Animal Crossing games are in th...
- Tue Apr 17, 2018 3:43 pm UTC
- Forum: Gaming
- Topic: If you could combine two(or more) games
- Replies: 221
- Views: 31292
Re: If you could combine two(or more) games
Some of the animal friends in DF will steal your stuff. Monkeys and Keas are well known for it, and those birds don't care about your walls. You can send some of your Dwarves out to make appointments in other cities as of recent versions. Quite a few animal friends will bring you crafting materials,...
- Mon Apr 16, 2018 10:20 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1980: "Turkish Delight"
- Replies: 71
- Views: 2745
Re: 1980: "Turkish Delight"
Does that include Snickets? You only get offered that if you suffer a series of unfortunate incidents. I am under the impression that they require a series of unfortunate incidents as part of the recipe to make them. Either as the process or the ingredients, I'm not quite sure. Either way it explai...
- Mon Apr 16, 2018 6:38 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1981: Rickrolling Anniversary
- Replies: 25
- Views: 1131
Re: 1981: Rickrolling Anniversary
He's wrong, anyway. I say it goes back to 2006 if you count comic 87 and others that precede Randall's own probable assertion of 891 as the start of these things. Seems a bit pessimistic (or would that be optimistic?) to say that the peak was the start... Hipster! That's the term. You're saying it ...
- Tue Apr 10, 2018 6:17 pm UTC
- Forum: Fictional Science
- Topic: Most creative way to manipulate boundary
- Replies: 5
- Views: 630
Re: Most creative way to manipulate boundary
So, basically it is an arbitrary wish fulfillment.
Somewhat like a game of Jeopardy, phrase your wish in the form of the boundary between it happening and not happening... and then scootch that over a notch.
Somewhat like a game of Jeopardy, phrase your wish in the form of the boundary between it happening and not happening... and then scootch that over a notch.
- Mon Apr 09, 2018 8:31 pm UTC
- Forum: Gaming
- Topic: Great Steam Deals (And other Online Distribution Systems)
- Replies: 2582
- Views: 442247
Re: Great Steam Deals (And other Online Distribution Systems)
Daggerfall taught me to savescum for the quests that are just "wait here until nightfall, kill 3 guys." Fastest way to increase or maintain your rep with all the factions. I mean, on paper, having your rep decline over time sounds good, until you have to do it. Seems to me that a nice mec...
Re: 1980s PCs
Here's mine, pretending to run a game over 20 years too new for it.

We had two from that era, and sadly my Dad threw out the wrong one after its brother died, and thus none remain.

We had two from that era, and sadly my Dad threw out the wrong one after its brother died, and thus none remain.
- Wed Apr 04, 2018 1:20 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: The Darker Side of the News
- Replies: 3650
- Views: 441857
Re: The Darker Side of the News
[We must do something!] + [This is something!] => [We must do this!] It's marginally better than the "arming students with rocks" idea. I don't know, he looks serious to me. I think it would be more obvious sarcasm if he had gone with a ream of paper and every classroom, you know, so the ...
- Tue Apr 03, 2018 5:24 pm UTC
- Forum: Fictional Science
- Topic: Magitech society needs a heat engine
- Replies: 41
- Views: 2553
Re: Magitech society needs a heat engine
There should be a MIST organization that arranges to broadcast a standardized magical time signal to synchronize clocks/timers to, amongst other projects.
- Mon Mar 26, 2018 8:13 pm UTC
- Forum: Fictional Science
- Topic: Integrating Superpowers into Society
- Replies: 5
- Views: 492
Re: Integrating Superpowers into Society
I'm a bit curious as to where the economic/superpower margin is, such that Electro is worth hiring to save the occasional costs during surge demand, but not worth replacing the whole power system? Would it be worth keeping a normal engineer to drive, and paying minimum wage (and unlimited wifi?) for...
- Mon Mar 26, 2018 6:21 pm UTC
- Forum: Fictional Science
- Topic: Magitech society needs a heat engine
- Replies: 41
- Views: 2553
Re: Magitech society needs a heat engine
But the technology seems adequate, it should develop quickly with so much energy, and as jseah said, "In general, a magic engineer has to worry more about how to power the spells rather than how much action the spells can do. If the power can be gotten, using the power isn't too difficult.&quo...
- Mon Mar 26, 2018 5:32 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1969: "Not Available"
- Replies: 38
- Views: 2493
Re: 1969: "Not Available"
If you REALLY want to piss people off, use https. I've been unable to reach xkcd since #1890. Had to upgrade to this toy "Yosemite" system to open half of the sites I was happily reading a few weeks ago. My old netbook has that issue too. Can't agree on a common encryption, huh? Not even ...
- Fri Mar 23, 2018 2:01 pm UTC
- Forum: Science
- Topic: Free floating "gas dwarf"?
- Replies: 8
- Views: 636
Re: Free floating "gas dwarf"?
From that article, if I understand the intro correctly, it is the non-gaseous core that is 0.2 Earth masses minimum, and the actual atmosphere would be extra on top of that. It also says proportional to T^1.5, so the small gas planets would have to be bitterly cold, and nowhere near the sun. I imagi...
- Fri Mar 23, 2018 1:44 pm UTC
- Forum: Science
- Topic: Quantum Question
- Replies: 110
- Views: 5830
Re: Quantum Question
As an alternate interpretation of the discussion;
We are given an isolated system that has recently gone from low to high entropy.
What transformations need to be applied in order to have the system evolve back to its initial state over positive time?
We are given an isolated system that has recently gone from low to high entropy.
What transformations need to be applied in order to have the system evolve back to its initial state over positive time?
- Mon Mar 19, 2018 5:27 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1964: "Spatial Orientation"
- Replies: 77
- Views: 4031
Re: 1964: "Spatial Orientation"
... a wind of aether ... scientific man ... 1927 hm. fail. I'm sure he was just downplaying the twisted vortex of spacetime itself near this planet to avoid causing a panic. These days we also have to worry about the gravity waves distorting even our best measuring devices. Not to mention the cross...
- Mon Mar 19, 2018 5:09 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1969: "Not Available"
- Replies: 38
- Views: 2493
Re: 1969: "Not Available"
jozwa wrote:cellocgw wrote:https://www-s.acm.illinois.edu/sigmil/
Oh wow, it just goes on forever. But that's pretty funny.
I waited for it, and it does end:
Marvin the Webserver wrote:Now, please let me sulk alone.
I'm so depressed._
- Fri Mar 16, 2018 5:13 pm UTC
- Forum: General
- Topic: Lucky Ten Thousand (TIL)
- Replies: 13359
- Views: 1369986
Re: Lucky Ten Thousand (TIL)
Today I learned... Or; It finely sunk in: The Polar Vortex has become unstable; ok..I knew that. The Jet Stream is dipping farther down to the mid latitudes. The Jet Stream is bringing COLD air. That's the Weird part. Because the Arctic is gettin warmer, I am getting spells of Cold Weather. There a...
- Fri Mar 16, 2018 4:43 pm UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: More efficient airplane boarding protocols
- Replies: 65
- Views: 2388
Re: More efficient airplane boarding protocols
Technology: You sit down in the terminal, put your carry-on luggage into an overhead locker, and then the whole shebang is motorized and moves into the plane on its own. It doesn't matter where you sit, you can do it in the open where there's no congestion. Just go one step further; sit down in the...
- Wed Mar 14, 2018 9:00 pm UTC
- Forum: General
- Topic: Sleep-time holodeck experiences
- Replies: 3299
- Views: 617411
Re: Sleep-time holodeck experiences
I was 30 minutes later to work than usual because I was stuck in traffic on the highway amidst a bunch of honking. I ended up abandoning the car, loading my Dad and a co-worker on a convenient plank of wood and taking to the sky to follow the highway into town and reach the office. Then I woke up an...
- Wed Mar 14, 2018 8:38 pm UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: More efficient airplane boarding protocols
- Replies: 65
- Views: 2388
Re: More efficient airplane boarding protocols
First Class should board first and into the back of the plane. Important people shouldn't be subjected to the parade of filth. Departure is trickier; They need a rear exit to depart first AND avoid the riff-raff. There *is* a rear exit. More than one even. If they were willing to utilize all of the...
- Wed Mar 14, 2018 3:40 pm UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: More efficient airplane boarding protocols
- Replies: 65
- Views: 2388
Re: More efficient airplane boarding protocols
I would treat the toddlers+parent cluster as a single unit needing assistance and thus be taken out of the main boarding sequence.
Ucim:
They know in advance, so the schedule already pads for inefficiency.
Ucim:
They know in advance, so the schedule already pads for inefficiency.
- Wed Mar 14, 2018 1:57 pm UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: More efficient airplane boarding protocols
- Replies: 65
- Views: 2388
Re: More efficient airplane boarding protocols
There has to be a separate boarding call for people who need assistance in general, so a couple toddlers are covered with staff assistance.
If toddlers make up a significant percentage of the plane's passengers, an efficient boarding process is a lost cause no matter what you do.
If toddlers make up a significant percentage of the plane's passengers, an efficient boarding process is a lost cause no matter what you do.
- Thu Mar 01, 2018 4:49 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1936: "Desert Golfing"
- Replies: 24
- Views: 3267
Re: 1936: "Desert Golfing"
Reminded me of this . I wonder if it's intentional. One of the reviews for (one of) the Desert Golfing games mentioned Scorched Earth. Many's the hours I've played that in early-'90s university PC labs, against AIs usually (useful in the quiet hours, when I could claim two or three machines in a ro...
- Fri Feb 23, 2018 5:18 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1958: "Self-Driving Issues"
- Replies: 114
- Views: 5582
Re: 1958: "Self-Driving Issues"
I'm one of the worst murderers in the world: Kill count: 0 Hey, at least you tried, right? I won't do it, because it's unsafe. I am not a professional rally driver, it's unlikely that he is a professional rally co-driver, and the road is definitely not cleared of bystanders. Besides, I won't trust ...
- Thu Feb 22, 2018 9:18 pm UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: Are patents/IP good for innovation?
- Replies: 67
- Views: 3370
Re: Are patents/IP good for innovation?
And what I've been trying to say is that it's not a very effective workaround. If it's one company that creates a shell and "buys" its own license, then there's no difference to just keeping it. The difference from keeping it, is that there is now a 'market price' for the license accordin...
- Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:35 pm UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: Are patents/IP good for innovation?
- Replies: 67
- Views: 3370
Re: Are patents/IP good for innovation?
Shell companies aren't going to sue their true master because that's the point of the scheme. The shell company is the only one that owns the IP, licenses it for one beeelion dollars, and only the two companies that are each holding 50% stock ownership get their money back. Limited only by taxes an...
- Wed Feb 21, 2018 4:12 pm UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: Are patents/IP good for innovation?
- Replies: 67
- Views: 3370
Re: Are patents/IP good for innovation?
Shell companies aren't going to sue their true master because that's the point of the scheme. The shell company is the only one that owns the IP, licenses it for one beeelion dollars, and only the two companies that are each holding 50% stock ownership get their money back. Limited only by taxes and...
- Tue Feb 20, 2018 2:09 pm UTC
- Forum: Serious Business
- Topic: Are patents/IP good for innovation?
- Replies: 67
- Views: 3370
Re: Are patents/IP good for innovation?
If they register that IP with a separate company, they'd need to buy a license to use the IP. Then there's a price set for it that any competitor can pay and selling the company really doesn't do any good. One... hundred... beelion dollars! </pinky> If they have purchased the company that owns the ...
- Fri Feb 16, 2018 5:17 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1956: ‘Unification’
- Replies: 25
- Views: 2342
Re: 1956: ‘Unification’
The paradigm shift that happened with the unification of smilies, emojis and unicode is not to be underestimated either.
- Thu Feb 15, 2018 6:47 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1955: "Robots"
- Replies: 25
- Views: 2125
Re: 1955: "Robots"
Old Bruce wrote:I watched the video and thought they were cute. Yes I said it. Cute. What is wrong with me?
Do you like to sprinkle energon cubes on your food? If so,there's nothing wrong; that's a normal reaction. But you should be aware that we've seen through your disguise now.
- Thu Feb 15, 2018 3:58 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1954: Impostor Syndrome
- Replies: 13
- Views: 3175
Re: 1954: Impostor Syndrome
I wonder frequently whether I have imposter syndrome, or if I only wish I did because that would mean my insecurities are unfounded and everyone else thinks I’m more awesome than I think I am, which would be nice. It is hard to say without knowing what you and the other forumites think, but if you ...
- Wed Feb 14, 2018 8:40 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1955: "Robots"
- Replies: 25
- Views: 2125
Re: 1955: "Robots"
You may be more familiar with the less modern wooden ones.
- Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:24 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1955: "Robots"
- Replies: 25
- Views: 2125
Re: 1955: "Robots"
Wow, these high tech rubber triangles we have at the office have already been rendered completely obsolete!
- Fri Feb 09, 2018 5:27 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: The Thread To Remind Me We're Living In The Future
- Replies: 1742
- Views: 250337
Re: The Thread To Remind Me We're Living In The Future
It is definitely a good thing it was a Tesla put up there. Can you imagine how hard it would be to have to change the oil every 15000km?
Also keep an eye out for ads which will soon be able to mention that their cars, on average, have a very impressive range on a single charge.
Also keep an eye out for ads which will soon be able to mention that their cars, on average, have a very impressive range on a single charge.
- Wed Feb 07, 2018 10:26 pm UTC
- Forum: News & Articles
- Topic: The Thread To Remind Me We're Living In The Future
- Replies: 1742
- Views: 250337
Re: The Thread To Remind Me We're Living In The Future
Wasn't it supposed to go towards Mars, but is now en route to the asteroid belt?
They'll need to have a fix for the car's SatNav before the next launch.
They'll need to have a fix for the car's SatNav before the next launch.
- Mon Feb 05, 2018 10:15 pm UTC
- Forum: Mathematics
- Topic: Elevator problem
- Replies: 14
- Views: 1605
Re: Elevator problem
Also, is this one of those buildings that mislabel every floor above 12, so you've actually got 20 choose 5 chances?
- Tue Jan 30, 2018 6:05 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1948: "Campaign Fundraising Emails"
- Replies: 34
- Views: 3368
Re: 1948: "Campaign Fundraising Emails"
Like a forum thread; I do agree it'd be madness to not sort chronologically there. You'd end up having to read each post top-down (with rather few exceptions; Even when languages are written vertically, it's still usually top-down), but then go between posts bottom-up to follow the sequence. Years ...
- Fri Jan 26, 2018 3:42 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1946: "Hawaii"
- Replies: 28
- Views: 3397
Re: 1946: "Hawaii"
Also lol'd at "Presidential Alert". Yeah. My country totally has a president. Uh huh. That sounds like a very important thing to be alerted about. "Presidential Alert! An incoming president has been detected. This is not a test; seek shelter immediately!" The USA already has a p...
- Wed Jan 17, 2018 7:32 pm UTC
- Forum: Individual XKCD Comic Threads
- Topic: 1943: "Universal Dreams"
- Replies: 39
- Views: 2948
Re: 1943: "Universal Dreams"
Surely almost everyone has a variant on the "gotta pee, but can't because of reasons which are totally not because you're still asleep in bed" thing.