Drunkard's Walk Forums

Road Trip: http://what-if.xkcd.com/113/
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"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV

Quote:In other words, he suddenly found himself flying along at Mach 3.18... without his plane.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

"%[link=http://what-if.xkcd.com/114/]But—unlike most scenarios involving the word "antimatter"—the end is surprisingly slow and drawn-out.]"

(And, since Shepard and Bob forgot to mention it: http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/top ... ts-What-If]previous thread is previous. At least the link is still on the first page.)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

"I'm going to hijack this note to ask another question: How does this transporter work, anyway?
When you teleport somewhere, presumably it does gets rid of the matter that was in the way, so you don't end up combining yourself with whatever was there. A simple solution is to have the teleporters swap matter between the two locations. Kirk gets teleported down to the planet, a Kirk-sized chunk of air gets teleported up to the Enterprise.

"So what would happen if an AJ-shaped chunk of Sun-interior gets teleported to snowy Colorado, then we just left it there?

"The protons inside the Sun bounce around at speeds of about 350 km/s (about half of the Sun's escape velocity at that depth, for weird and deep reasons.) Freed from their crushingly hot neighborhood, the whole collection of protons would burst outward, pouring light and heat energy into their surroundings. The energy released would be somewhere between a large bomb and a small nuclear weapon."

Or:

"There's some good news: .. Looking back, I notice that I started this paragraph with "there's some good news." I don't know why I did that."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Extreme NASCAR racing:
http://what-if.xkcd.com/116/
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"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV

"The track is littered with mesons, exotic particles, and a few more newly-created drivers."
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

"A full 500-mile race is about 4 million laps, depending on your screen size."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

"You mean more death-related than usual?"
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

"I suddenly want a bowling ball."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

It does sound awful.

Not one of the "What if" series, but I thought it appropriate to post it here nonetheless. 

HA! Take THAT Moon Landing deniers! Stupidity KILLS! ^_^

Stopping rain with a laser is one of those ideas that sounds totally reasonable, but if you—
[No it doesn't. Why would that sound reasonable. Why would you say that.]

While the idea of a laser umbrella might be appealing, it—
[It isn't. What's wrong with you?]

Ok. The idea of stopping rain with a laser is a thing we're currently talking about.
[Fine. But we shouldn't be.]
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Quote:robkelk wrote:

---

Stopping rain with a laser is one of those ideas that sounds totally reasonable, but if you—[No it doesn't. Why would that sound reasonable. Why would you say that.]
While the idea of a laser umbrella might be appealing, it—[It isn't. What's wrong with you?]
Ok. The idea of stopping rain with a laser is a thing we're currently talking about.[Fine. But we shouldn't be.]

I prefer: Lots of possible causes. Smoking in bed. Dryer lint. Induced currents. Sunspots. Neap tides. COX-2 inhibition. eBay. A reverse fire extinguisher. One of the ghosts from Pac-Man got loose and got into your house and knocked over a candle. Could be anything.
  
-People may die, but ideas are forever. Je suis Charlie.

Did you follow the Craigslist link for "Autoclaves you can live in" in the Boston area? There are three now, all listed on November 14, no doubt thanks to "What if" readers.

Also: "I've been suggesting that for years!"
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

What if we skipped a week and passed on the Alternate Universe questions?

What if Randall Munroe skipped a week and gave an interview?
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

"We spent a while debating whether, if Lake Meade froze (and expanded), the Hoover Dam would burst due to the expansion. My gut feeling is that it wouldn't, but I'm really not sure. I think we should just try it."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

This is a surprisingly reasonable idea, by What If standards.

...

Even if we ignore the impurities from the hot lava that would probably cloud the glass, we're going to have a problem. [ NOTE: And later, when the school board finds out, we'll have another. ]
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

Image text: "Why did you spray your students with steam, broken glass, and molten rock?"  "If we are to teach them, they must fear us."
Sounds reasonable to me.
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Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

... okay, was it just me, or was there no Alt text on any of those images?

Oh, and loved the antiRickRoll at the end.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Just you?
I had alt text on everything. Maybe it was a temporary server hiccup?
-----

Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

Might have been. I just went back to the page and there it was now.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Bob Schroeck Wrote:... okay, was it just me, or was there no Alt text on any of those images?

Oh, and loved the antiRickRoll at the end.

Not just you. I didn't see any ALT text when I made the earlier post ... but it's there now.
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

I, as well, didn't see any ALT text.  I wasn't sure whether that text was a "most-of-the-time" or a "should-be-always" thing.
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

Maybe he forgot to include it at first, then went back and added it. The world may never know.

In other news, John "Skitz" Frieler got a copy of the What If book as a gift at our holiday get-together this weekend. He was reading it continuously, so I didn't get a chance to look at it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

"J. M. Barrie introduces a fairy-killing mechanism in Peter Pan; any time anyone says "I don't believe in fairies", a random fairy dies. In a world of immortal fairies, this could serve as an effective feedback. If no one has heard of fairies, no one will say they don't believe in them, and their population will grow. As fairies start to be common enough to be noticed, people will have a reason to say they don't believe in them, and their population will drop.

Eventually, civilization would start documenting the existence of fairies, and then no one would have any reason to disbelieve their existence, and the feedback loop would break down."
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012