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General chat thread

Reader mode
Finished rewatching the second season of Dexter. The later seasons are such shit in comparison. The first two seasons were the best and everything just got worse from there. I'm going to rewatch seasons 3, 4 & 5 and stop there since 6,7,8 are just terrible. Though I admit I never really liked seasons 3&4. I did like season 5 though most people apparently didn't.
 
Priapus said:
You made a Dragon Quest? Who do you think you are, Akira birdmountain Toriyama? :V
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I... Have no idea what you were just referencing.

So the answer to your first question is "yes", and to your second question:
3elIUW3.jpg
 
I failed an anal circumference check. Now I feel terrible.



(Not in the literal sense of an anal fissure, thankfully, but my haemorrhoids went off like a literally bloody faucet.)

EDIT: Did I mention it took me over four hours to get up this morning? Today has been a really shitty day.
 
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And now today, I figured out that the problem with the printer I took back to the vendor as defective was in fact suffering from the dreaded "ID ten T" error, a.k.a. "Problem exists between chair and keyboard cartridge".

After getting a refund for it. Because the tech support couldn't figure out what I'd done wrong either and they certified it as defective.

I don't know whether to be mad at myself for not spotting it, the manufacturer for the perfect-storm of unhelpful product that made it so hard to figure out, or the tech support for missing it when I rang them. Oh, well.
 
If tech support can't figure it out, it isn't just pebcak.

:c That's horrible either way...

{{{{{{HIIII}hiiii}hihihi}hihihihihihihihihihihiiihihihiihi}heyahahyahyaeai}*glompcuddles*}
 
Eliwan said:
If tech support can't figure it out, it isn't just pebcak.

:c That's horrible either way...

{{{{{{HIIII}hiiii}hihihi}hihihihihihihihihihihiiihihihiihi}heyahahyahyaeai}*glompcuddles*}
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Or at least that a Problem Exists Between the Developer's Keyboard And Chair as well.

Also, Heya, Eliwan. Not seen you much at all since the wDiaspora.

Fake Edit: although you knew me by a different name then. I once drew one of your characters astride a warDango, but got her magic thing wrong, if that helps you narrow it down.
 
Priapus said:
Or at least that a Problem Exists Between the Developer's Keyboard And Chair as well.
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I know this so well it hurts

Also, Heya, Eliwan. Not seen you much at all since the wDiaspora.
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Haven't been here nor there except to consume. :c

Fake Edit: although you knew me by a different name then. I once drew one of your characters astride a warDango, but got her magic thing wrong, if that helps you narrow it down.
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I already called you out on this because you're just so incredibly distinctive with your split and skew. :V

Itaywex said:
Hey Eliwan, how have you been?
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Pretty poor, Archer; though recently quite better

Doing things I like to do is great; i guess I should share some?

unknown.png

most recent new project and it involves shenanigans of the exploration kind

need_intro.gif

(spells are hard and the engine is broken in other ways (it was fun finding out exactly how broken the CSAE was.))

bb.gif

(though for this one I didn't do the face and I had quite a bit of help getting the hair to be nice, somebody else started it, I finished, then somebody else made better that hair)

unknown.png

top left was a huge group effort by a bunch of people ♥
top right was for fun but then I personalized it for somebody before showing it to them because i'm a silly
bottom is just turns//ideas because I can't make decisions to save my life

Not-small image pair:
idoru.png

unknown.png


because reasons ok sh. they're super rough and I'm horrible at cleaning things up.

Older things that I only somewhat recently actually got around to scanning (well, now, actually, they've been scanned for quite a while ehe...) ..
Compilation, Lestra, Blume, Mary, a "tiny" mistake.

And then uh
Headpats, thunderbolt.

I got a small present and have made two supremely fantastic cuddlebugfriends and it is the best (one of whom bought me things after I explicitly asked them to not. Three times. Still not sure if I should be happy or angry).

and unfortunately through the course of all of this been getting actually annoyingly little ability to write the stories I still am blessed with and it's just obnoxious because I want to get them going but every time I start I am greeted only by the bitter constancy of the ground that demonstrates my failure to fly.
 
Eliwan said:
I know this so well it hurts

Haven't been here nor there except to consume. :c

I already called you out on this because you're just so incredibly distinctive with your split and skew. :V

Pretty poor, Archer; though recently quite better

Doing things I like to do is great; i guess I should share some?

unknown.png

most recent new project and it involves shenanigans of the exploration kind

need_intro.gif

(spells are hard and the engine is broken in other ways (it was fun finding out exactly how broken the CSAE was.))

bb.gif

(though for this one I didn't do the face and I had quite a bit of help getting the hair to be nice, somebody else started it, I finished, then somebody else made better that hair)

unknown.png

top left was a huge group effort by a bunch of people ♥
top right was for fun but then I personalized it for somebody before showing it to them because i'm a silly
bottom is just turns//ideas because I can't make decisions to save my life

Not-small image pair:
idoru.png

unknown.png


because reasons ok sh. they're super rough and I'm horrible at cleaning things up.

Older things that I only somewhat recently actually got around to scanning (well, now, actually, they've been scanned for quite a while ehe...) ..
Compilation, Lestra, Blume, Mary, a "tiny" mistake.

And then uh
Headpats, thunderbolt.

I got a small present and have made two supremely fantastic cuddlebugfriends and it is the best (one of whom bought me things after I explicitly asked them to not. Three times. Still not sure if I should be happy or angry).

and unfortunately through the course of all of this been getting actually annoyingly little ability to write the stories I still am blessed with and it's just obnoxious because I want to get them going but every time I start I am greeted only by the bitter constancy of the ground that demonstrates my failure to fly.
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@_@

Wow, you were busy!
Good luck on your projects :)
 
Itaywex said:
Wow, you were busy!
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not busy enough C: I have hardly done any writing at all and it sucks because I keep having these ideas but they just don't flow out at all

The one thing I've cared most of my life about doing is the one thing that I can't do, and that is share...
 
Eliwan said:
How is ahrteest askew???
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Kind of overwhelmed, to be honest.

I have taken to saying "within tolerances" whenever anyone asks how I'm doing, neither wanting to lie by saying I'm doing well, nor to worry them overmuch.

Basically, I am grappling with some very challenging and conceptually difficult stuff in my final semester of Uni, (Quantum mechanics, relativity, and Japanese focussing on their complex, hierarchy-driven business/formal/polite form of speech), and for the first time in some time I feel at serious risk of failing a course. That's hard enough, bit I'm also having to find a job for the first time in 5 years, to support myself through the final stages of my degree (my government will support students while studying up to a point, but no further than a semester longer than their degree's minimum completion time and my schedule got bollixedup by extra prereqs.)

So while I work on those, I have to figure out What The Fuck I'm Doing With The Rest of My Life, and start lining things up for it.
Complicating all of this is the fact that I have a home loan, having bought a house in partnership with my father and his partner, and renting it out room-by-room.

Neat in principle, and all, but even when fully-tenanted, the rent would probably not be enough to cover much more than the interest, so it is currently not being paid off. Add to that the fact that it was not the original plan for my father to have been actual partners, and they would prefer it if I was able to take over the loan as soon as possible. which means I feel like I am under pressure to score a paying graduate gig as soon as possible, and don't have the luxury of taking time off between uni and a capital-J Job.
Then there's the fact that my sleep patterns, diet and exercise, and ability to carry out asocial life, let alone love life could be charitably described as "completely fucked", as has been increasingly preying on my mind.
So, yeah, I have to be trying to deal with some weighty shit while feeling both long-term and short-term financially insecure, trying to keep up with difficult studies, and trying to cobble together some semblance of humanity from the very limited tools at my disposal, and in general not really being able to muster the time or the proper mindset to think about it properly. The whole thing leaves me in nigh-constant stress and anxiety, which is not helping my ability to get anything at all done.

I remain unbroken, if abraded, so I am doing within tolerances, but I am not doing well.
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The good news is that I have been able to keep my quest going despite this. The bad news is that my update speeds have slowed to ~1/month. -_-
 
Finished rewatching season 3 of Dexter and actually it was a lot better than I remember it being. I did however dislike Deb's romantic side plot with the CI.
 
On the way home today, I found that the road had been cut by a creek not fitting under the bridge. I had heard bad things about what happens when you attempt to wade through floodwaters, so I found a fallen tree and walked across, which in retrospect while safer was still pretty risky. And to get to said fallen tree I had to climb a non-fallen tree to get over a barbed-wire fence running along the side of the road.

Adventure close to home?

Eliwan said:
If tech support can't figure it out, it isn't just pebcak.

:c That's horrible either way...

{{{{{{HIIII}hiiii}hihihi}hihihihihihihihihihihiiihihihiihi}heyahahyahyaeai}*glompcuddles*}
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Basically, the printer cartridge has to be pushed in until it clicks, then pushed really hard in a different spot until it clicks again. The instructions tell you to push it in and to make sure that the cartridges all line up, but they line up after the first click and the printer's response was to merely fail to recognise that the cartridges had been inserted.
 
I'm wondering if the One Piece self-insert 'This Bites' is worth reading. I remember taking a gander through the first three chapters or so when it first came out, but was incredibly annoyed by everything. From the snail getting some fruit, to eating the self-inserts phone to well, just the general 'tone' of the story. Immediately dropped it.

Now there's like 300k words with several thousand favorites and reviews on fanfiction.net... And I find myself sneering in distaste. So, did I judge the fic wrongly when I read the first few chapters, or is it utter shit? (Like I expect it to be).

I'd like someone to explain to me why this fic is so good. Just note what direction it heads into and such, does the SI learn Haki or get a fruit of his own? Will he continue to be the spineless pathetic worm that allows a god-damn snail to bully him?
 
Apparently I am immune to implicit association tests.

I took one and got a result that I had a strong preference for the USA over Australia. I read in the FAQ that order effects are somewhat significant despite their best efforts, and that if you think it could be relevant you should take the test again with another order. I did, and got a result that I had a strong preference for Australia over the USA. I can only conclude that order effects are substantially stronger than any real effect, at least for me.

I'm not particularly surprised, though. I'm an aspie, and the highly categorical nature of my thinking probably drastically reduces the detected size of any real effect. On top of that, their aforementioned best efforts to eliminate order effects include statistical corrections (as well as test design); the calibration is likely thrown off by Asperger's.
 
Priapus said:
Have you tried this, and is it any good? It talks big, but talk is cheap, and it would hardly be the first low-budget thing to make grandiose claims.
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I am one of the play testers and people who help the creator. Said creator is a long time tabletop player, GM and game creator. Recently helped with a session of Pets Vs Zombies and it was fun. Played a parrot named Argos in that session. So yes, I have tried it and liked it.
 
It has occurred to me that "Rods from God" don't actually give things in low orbit an advantage over things on the surface. Here's why.

Imagine there is a spaceship in circular orbit 130 km above the Earth's surface. It is, by definition of "orbit", travelling at about 7.8 kilometres per second relative to the Earth's centre. Imagine also that there is an installation on the ground. It is, by virtue of being attached to the Earth, travelling at (depending on latitude) somewhere between 0 and 465 metres per second relative to the Earth's centre.

If the spaceship were to simply "release" some form of kinetic impactor, of course, the released object would remain in orbit. The spaceship must propel the impactor in the opposite direction, slowing it down, so that it will fall to Earth. In theory, a small decrease in velocity would be sufficient to make the impactor's orbit intersect the Earth, causing it to impact at roughly 8 kilometres per second; in practice, however, the thousands of kilometres of atmosphere in the way will not permit anything remotely resembling that impact speed. A more sensible scenario involves fully cancelling the impactor's orbital momentum and allowing it to fall; this would require, of course, 7.8 kilometres per second of "muzzle velocity", and impact at only about 1.6 kilometres per second (minus air resistance, which will still be somewhat significant).

However, the installation on the ground can also fire impactors upward. If they fire projectiles straight up at 1.6 kilometres per second (plus compensation for air resistance), the spaceship will slam into them at somewhere between 7.5 and 8 kilometres per second on its orbital trajectory. The orbital momentum of the spaceship has negated its position further up in the gravity well; it is in fact somewhat disadvantaged in the KKV department.


Note, however, that this inversion is only true for low orbits. As the spaceship gets higher, its orbital velocity decreases, while the impact speed of a de-orbited impactor increases. By the time geosynchronous orbit is reached, the orbital velocity of the spaceship is only 3.1 km/s, while a de-orbited impactor will strike at 10.3 km/s minus air resistance.
 
magic9mushroom said:
It has occurred to me that "Rods from God" don't actually give things in low orbit an advantage over things on the surface. Here's why.

Imagine there is a spaceship in circular orbit 130 km above the Earth's surface. It is, by definition of "orbit", travelling at about 7.8 kilometres per second relative to the Earth's centre. Imagine also that there is an installation on the ground. It is, by virtue of being attached to the Earth, travelling at (depending on latitude) somewhere between 0 and 465 metres per second relative to the Earth's centre.

If the spaceship were to simply "release" some form of kinetic impactor, of course, the released object would remain in orbit. The spaceship must propel the impactor in the opposite direction, slowing it down, so that it will fall to Earth. In theory, a small decrease in velocity would be sufficient to make the impactor's orbit intersect the Earth, causing it to impact at roughly 8 kilometres per second; in practice, however, the thousands of kilometres of atmosphere in the way will not permit anything remotely resembling that impact speed. A more sensible scenario involves fully cancelling the impactor's orbital momentum and allowing it to fall; this would require, of course, 7.8 kilometres per second of "muzzle velocity", and impact at only about 1.6 kilometres per second (minus air resistance, which will still be somewhat significant).

However, the installation on the ground can also fire impactors upward. If they fire projectiles straight up at 1.6 kilometres per second (plus compensation for air resistance), the spaceship will slam into them at somewhere between 7.5 and 8 kilometres per second on its orbital trajectory. The orbital momentum of the spaceship has negated its position further up in the gravity well; it is in fact somewhat disadvantaged in the KKV department.


Note, however, that this inversion is only true for low orbits. As the spaceship gets higher, its orbital velocity decreases, while the impact speed of a de-orbited impactor increases. By the time geosynchronous orbit is reached, the orbital velocity of the spaceship is only 3.1 km/s, while a de-orbited impactor will strike at 10.3 km/s minus air resistance.
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If you were exerting the level of acceleration necessary to cancel its orbital momentum, you'd be better off using it to just propel the impactor down, leaving its horizontal momentum alone, and adding a like amount of momentum downwards.


This puts it on a ballistic trajectory, and it will hit with more speed than its counterpart due to gravity.

The real advantage of a thing in low orbit is that it does not need nearly as much delta-V to hit ground targets, so long as you accurately plot the trajectory.
 
Priapus said:
If you were exerting the level of acceleration necessary to cancel its orbital momentum, you'd be better off using it to just propel the impactor down, leaving its horizontal momentum alone, and adding a like amount of momentum downwards.


This puts it on a ballistic trajectory, and it will hit with more speed than its counterpart due to gravity.
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Eh, I suppose (although you still need large muzzle velocity and the angled entry stretches out aerobraking). Point remains; you don't get a particularly large strengthening effect, but the peeps on the ground do when shooting at you.
 
magic9mushroom said:
Eh, I suppose (although you still need large muzzle velocity and the angled entry stretches out aerobraking). Point remains; you don't get a particularly large strengthening effect, but the peeps on the ground do when shooting at you.
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Yeah, the gains on final energy aren't going to be huge, if both have enough energy floating around.

As I said, though, the minimum energy to drop an impactor from orbit is immensely lower than that needed to hit something in orbit from the ground.
At a bare minimum, you're going to get them hitting at terminal velocity, which is pretty significant energy for sonething decently massive, and you can do it for a relatively small energy outlay.
 
magic9mushroom said:
Point remains; you don't get a particularly large strengthening effect, but the peeps on the ground do when shooting at you.
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That's true, but I think that you're ignoring two aspects of this kind of orbital strike in favor of just energy calculation:

magic9mushroom said:
However, the installation on the ground can also fire impactors upward. If they fire projectiles straight up at 1.6 kilometres per second (plus compensation for air resistance)
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1. Firing something that fast is either impossible or really, really hard and expensive. While you can release a rod from orbit that can be as big and as heavy as you want. Gravity works no matter the mass of the object you're using, but trying to use another method to achieve the same amount of kinetic energy is going to be much harder (You can drop a 100 ton rod from orbit, but I don't think that we have any kind of cannon that can launch this kind of mass at the same speed).

2. Another advantage of striking from orbit is that you can easily strike at any part of the world (well, a single satellite will only be able to target some parts without having to relocate, but my point stands), an installation on the ground doesn't have that kind of mobility.
 
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