Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjavík, Ísland
So I created this thread because of the recent "ask me" threads. This one is a little bit similar, but different in the way that anyone can answer a question instead of just one person. Feel free to ask any question about any topic about anything, but please don't ask a stupid question about nothing, just to get a reply. Sucky and stupid questions should be ignored. What I mean by that is questions that make no sense. "What is the prime number of a pizza" is an example. The question "what is your favorite color" can actually be answered, therefore it is not stupid.
Another thing, since this is an ask anyone thread, you are free to dispute the opinion of anyone else here (i.e. give a different answer), but if you disagree with an opinion of a member, please try to explain explain in a rational and logical manner instead of just saying "you suck". If you say something like that, your input will be regarded as invalid. Thanks!
To answerers:
Please don't answer a question unless you have at least a little knowledge of the subject matter being asked upon, or can at least make an educated guess based on your current knowledge. Do not just make up an answer from nothing, unless of course the question is such that it enables that kind of reply. This is meant to be a topic where someone with a legitimate question can (in theory) get a somewhat legitimate answer. At least I think so, I haven't followed the "ask me" threads very closely.
This may seem like a trivial question, but I've seriously wondered about it many times. The pages and ink used in many of my textbooks have some weird reflective properties that basically make them unreadable if the light source is within a certain distance or at a certain angle to the book. This is quite inconvenient, as you may imagine. Does anyone know why such paper and ink is used?
EDIT:
BTW, there's already a religion topic.
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjavík, Ísland
Dacicus wrote:
This may seem like a trivial question, but I've seriously wondered about it many times. The pages and ink used in many of my textbooks have some weird reflective properties that basically make them unreadable if the light source is within a certain distance or at a certain angle to the book. This is quite inconvenient, as you may imagine. Does anyone know why such paper and ink is used?
Do you mean like magazines, or am I misunderstanding? If it's the former, yes, I've actually wondered the same thing. I often have to adjust the page so the light isn't reflected into my eyes, just so I can read the page. I don't know why this reflective quality is desirable, so it would be nice if someone could give a legitimate reply to this question.
The name of the thread is "Ask a question, get an intelligent answer." Now, I have a 2 part question. The thread title doesn't say "Ask an intelligent question, get an intelligent answer." Therefore, are you required to intelligently answer any ridiculously dumb question I can come up with? And if so, What is the square root of a pizza with cheese, sausage, and anchovies?
Sage advice from a friend of Jim: So put your tinfoil hat back in the closet, open your eyes to the truth, and realize that the government is in fact causing austismal cancer with it's 9/11 fluoride vaccinations of your water supply.
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjavík, Ísland
DarkKobold wrote:
The name of the thread is "Ask a question, get an intelligent answer." Now, I have a 2 part question. The thread title doesn't say "Ask an intelligent question, get an intelligent answer." Therefore, are you required to intelligently answer any ridiculously dumb question I can come up with? And if so, What is the square root of a pizza with cheese, sausage, and anchovies?
1. No, the thread assumes you have an actual question and aren't just trolling for replies. Read the original topic again.
2. 36. (btw this topic isn't supposed to be for stupid questions that don't have anything to do with anything)
Do you mean like magazines, or am I misunderstanding?
I mean textbooks that I buy for my classes in school. I don't read magazines much, but the paper is similar to that used for magazines. It might not be quite as reflective as magazine paper, though.
I have a bag of salt, and a bag of sugar. They are of arbitrary size (the sizes of the bags do not matter). I mix the two bags vigorously. What is the best way re-isolate the salt and sugar without changing the state of either (i.e. you can't use melting points to your advantage)? Is this possible without analyzing each grain of salt/sugar?
I have a bag of salt, and a bag of sugar. They are of arbitrary size (the sizes of the bags do not matter). I mix the two bags vigorously. What is the best way re-isolate the salt and sugar without changing the state of either (i.e. you can't use melting points to your advantage)? Is this possible without analyzing each grain of salt/sugar?
Well, off this is off the top of my head. Using a colynder (sp) that has holes shaped of triangles that are exactly one half the size of a grain of salt (salt is square) you should be able to get the sugar slowly strained out of the colynder (sp) and into another bag. This is assuming, of course, that a grain of sugar is smaller than a grain of salt.
adelikat wrote:
I very much agree with this post.
Bobmario511 wrote:
Forget party hats, Christmas tree hats all the way man.
If you can fully recover each individual salt and sugar crystal to what it was before the bag was mixed, I say go ahead and dissolve to your heart's content. (If you didn't get the hint, the answer is no).
Yeah, well, I was also going to say you should be able to extract the salt and sugar from the solution, but then I thought, hey, then they'll just be in an air solution like the rest of us land-dwellers! So what's the difference!
put yourself in my rocketpack if that poochie is one outrageous dude
The name of the thread is "Ask a question, get an intelligent answer." Now, I have a 2 part question. The thread title doesn't say "Ask an intelligent question, get an intelligent answer." Therefore, are you required to intelligently answer any ridiculously dumb question I can come up with? And if so, What is the square root of a pizza with cheese, sausage, and anchovies?
1. No, the thread assumes you have an actual question and aren't just trolling for replies. Read the original topic again.
Well, the reason I asked was the normal line "Ask a stupid question, get a stupid answer."
Since no restriction were put on the question, and a restriction was put on the answer, it seemed like a chance for entertainment. I don't understand why everything has to be so serious on this board.
Sage advice from a friend of Jim: So put your tinfoil hat back in the closet, open your eyes to the truth, and realize that the government is in fact causing austismal cancer with it's 9/11 fluoride vaccinations of your water supply.
I'm designing an Ogre Battle-style strategic-but-not-tactical tabletop wargame, played at the campaign level where skirmishes are resolved nearly automatically (at least in theory), and I'm trying to get that resolution mechanic as streamlined and decision-free as possible (to represent that most of the point will be in forcing favorable match-ups - this is a strategic game, not a tactical one, so the mechanics of combat should be super simple).
So far I've decided the following, which could change:
Armies:
-Armies are made of units
-Units form two ranks, front and rear
-At least half of the units must be in front; if this is ever not the case, a rear unit moves up
-Rear units have 'range' attacks, front units have 'melee' attacks
Units:
-Units have statistics - Front attack, Rear attack, Soak, wounds, and some others
-Each statistic can have tags like "fire" (on an attack) or "weak to fire" (on soak)
-The attack value is how many dice get added to an attack
-The soak value is how many hits are absorbed before wounds must be assigned (see combat)
Rolls:
-Rolls are made with FUDGE dice (d3)
-A value of + (or 3) is a hit
-Hits minus soak is wounds
-Wounds are assigned by the defender
Combat:
-One wave of range plus two waves of melee
-Both sides roll for attacks simultaneously, so a combat is decided in three paired rolls
-Whoever takes the most wounds is routed
-You may voluntarily rout after any roll
-The winning army gets a round of range against the routing army
-If both sides rout, neither gets the free range attack
Combat steps:
1. Choose targets for range
a. Valid options are "front", "rear", and "concentrate fire"
b. If the target is a rank, roll total range dice against that rank's total soak
c. If the target is "concentrate fire", name a signle unit as target and roll half round-down range dice against that single unit's soak
2. Range attacks; defenders assign wounds; dead units are removed; option to retreat
3. Melee attacks; melee is always "front" target and folows the same rules for rank target above; defenders assign wounds; dead units are removed; option to retreat
4. Second melee attacks; exact same as step 3
What I -don't know- is if this will actually be as quick and decision free as I think, and what values to use for any numbers. Right now I'm thinking armies should be about 5 units, attack skill should be around 4 +/- 2, and soak should be around 1 +/- 1. Tags apply to a whole attack and use the lowest soak value (by which I mean if some archers with no element and some fire mages with "fire" attack some wood golems with "weak to fire" (which is like I dunno -1 soak or whatever) then since all the range dice are rolled all at once even the archers' dice get the "fire" benefit). A mechanic like healers would be a rear unit with 0 dice and a special ability "the front rank has 2 soak", etc. But I don't know how quickly this makes damage happen - it should be impossible to avoid damage even if you're the winner in a skirmish, but also the loser shouldn't be outright destroyed from a single battle against even an overpowered foe - or how many wounds to give each unit or whatever.
So, does any of this suck entirely super too much? Is there a huge flaw I'm forgetting, or some easier way to do it? Does anyone have suggestions, or should I just make some random units with whatever numbers I feel like and test it and test it and test it until it does what I want?
someone is out there who will like you. take off your mask so they can find you faster.
I support the new Nekketsu Kouha Kunio-kun.
This has puzzled me for long time:
A piece of paper with some text written on it is nothing more than paper (which is made of wood and other materials) and ink. There's nothing else there than paper and ink.
Yet that paper can contain information which someone can use to do something, eg. something he didn't know. Think about a recipe: Someone writes a recipe on paper (eg. a book) and some time later a completely different person who he has never met and who has absolutely no connection with him, can take that piece of paper and act according to the instructions in the recipe and do something he didn't previously know how to do. Is amount of knowledge and experience increased.
Clearly something *more* than just paper and ink was transmitted. It caused a reaction which paper and ink alone, all by themselves, cannot cause.
But what exactly is what was transmitted? It's certainly not any form of energy. The amount of energy in the paper and ink only depends on their amount, and it has no relation to this information which was transmitted from one person to the other.
If it's not energy, then what is it? Something *was* transmitted, but what? How can you measure it? How can you describe its physical properties?
Normally a reaction is the direct consequence of a force or some other form of energy (such as heat). However, in this case the reaction was not the direct consequence of any form of energy because there was no particular form of energy which would cause this particular reaction. Something else was transmitted and caused the reaction.
If it's not energy, then what is it? Something *was* transmitted, but what?
My guess: Information. Or if that answer is disqualified, then: Entropy.
But I have no idea as for how to measure either or to describe its physical properties.
I think entropy is a fine answer though: it is a cumulative product of human culture, which can only arise as the entropy in the universe increases.
Joined: 3/11/2004
Posts: 1058
Location: Reykjavík, Ísland
Warp wrote:
If it's not energy, then what is it? Something *was* transmitted, but what? How can you measure it? How can you describe its physical properties?
I guess information or inspiration, do also keep in mind that the same "stuff" is being "transmitted" between humans all the time, in a conversation, through music, etc, and also through the internet. So it's definitely just information, and in some cases, inspiration. It is of course impossible to measure the "amount" of information contained within a message, since it's not a real thing or force, it is only an interpretation. (Interestingly, some people erroneously regard the simplest things to be messages from a higher power, such as vague patterns on a sandwich, the wood patterns on doors, and other such things. This doesn't make the question easier to answer.)
Joined: 11/18/2006
Posts: 2426
Location: Back where I belong
Warp- Very, very interesting question. After thinking about it for a while, it becomes clear that simply having the words on paper isn't the important aspect, it is that the originator of the message and the receiver both speak the same language. Therefore similar things can occur with the spoken word. Say there are 3 people standing in a white room, and two of them speak some version of Cherokee, while the other speaks only Chinese and has never heard of American Indians. Because the two languages are entirely dissimilar, if one of the Cherokee speakers said something, both of the other people will hear it, but it will have meaning for one, and not the other (assuming things like intonation and body language do not play a role). He could just as easily say "I really like the color scheme in this white room" as "I'm going to kill the one of you who doesn't raise their hand right now". Some information was conveyed to one person, but not the other.
So the question now becomes less about the vehicle information is transfered in, and more about how language works.
What is information? Clearly it's not a form of energy. If it's not a form of energy then it's nothing. How can you transfer nothing from one place to another in such a way that it will have an effect on the destination?
Or if that answer is disqualified, then: Entropy.
What is entropy and how do you transfer it from one place to another? What is the physical mechanism by which entropy causes a reaction?
Blublu wrote:
I guess information or inspiration
What is "information" or "inspiration"? Clearly not a form of energy. How can you transfer nothing from one place to another and still have an effect?
"Information" is generally thought to be connections between neurones in the brain. These are created as necessary to learn new things; no energy is transferred from writer to reader. The only energy transfer is in the writer's food -> writer's muscles and the reader's food -> reader's brain.
Warp: Think of your question like this. You have a paper on which a message is written in INVISIBLE ink. This ink only shows up after some special light or chemical solution is poured on it.
Now, someone hands you the otherwise blank piece of paper. This is all he transfered to you. But then you modify the piece of paper by pouring the chemical solution on it. You see, you're modifying the paper.
Now, just replace "invisible ink paper" with "regular letter" and replace "chemical solution" with "human pattern recognition and cognition." You see, there is not a message on the paper until a human pours his cognition all over it.
To emphasize. Imagine you had a machine which made random pen marks on papers all day. You would agree that most papers have no message on it. But maybe one random mark comes out to look like "Hello world." Was the message intentional? No. I would argue the message isn't on the paper, only random pen marks are. It's your brain which incorrectly finds meaning where there was none. (It just so happens, most of the time our brain finds meaning where there is some.) But the point is, the message isn't there without our brains.
I have a bag of salt, and a bag of sugar. They are of arbitrary size (the sizes of the bags do not matter). I mix the two bags vigorously. What is the best way re-isolate the salt and sugar without changing the state of either (i.e. you can't use melting points to your advantage)? Is this possible without analyzing each grain of salt/sugar?
Do salt and sugar have different magnetic properties? If so, here's what I'm thinking. Divide the pile into say, 2 piles. Then measure the magnetic field or whatever of both piles. You should be able to detect whether they have a higher concentration of sugar or salt. Then split those 2 piles into two piles (such that you have 4 piles.) Keep doing this binary search procedure until you coincidentally get big piles (several grains) of entirely one of them. This will let you ultimately separate them without having to result to measuring every single one. Although, worst case scenario is you do have to measure every one, this way.
I guess you could also randomly split the big pile in two, and coincidentally do it perfectly. So it is possible to do so without analyzing each grain, but not reliably.
If you can fully recover each individual salt and sugar crystal to what it was before the bag was mixed, I say go ahead and dissolve to your heart's content.
Easy. Centrifuge the solution (salt and sugar have different densities), then evaporate the separate parts.
Borg Collective wrote:
Negotiation is irrelevant. Self-determination is irrelevant. You will be assimilated.
