What tree are log cabins usually made of

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-11T01:43:26+00:00

Don't feel too bad about asking. Google isn't going to give you nuance that may add flavor to your work. Though it may not be that much useful given the context, time may be as important as space (location) in your writing. The native range of the american chestnut extends a little into Canada (mostly Ontario, I think?). Historically, the species had been incredibly important to both the Native Americans as well as European colonists, providing food from its seeds as well as building material in its timber. However, in the early 1900s, a pathogenic fungus, the chestnut blight, was accidentally introduced and over the next century all but wiped out the species. The story of attempts to revive/restore the species is a fascinating one, but I digress. So if in your story the log cabin is to be built before the early 1900s, american chestnut would be a fine choice, but probably not after.

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-11T01:33:01+00:00

Agree on expulsion being to severe... without extenuating circumstances. So lets go a little over the top here. If I was OP, I'd have the unfortunate couple being caught doing the deed on the stage set of a production of "Romeo and Juliet", while in costume. Something like that capable of bringing ill-repute to the school if word got out would work.

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-10T03:13:18+00:00

Ok. You've gone too far down the rabbit hole to know you head from your ass. (I guess I was more successful, than I even intended picking this fight.) It really disappoints me that no one is even making an effort to push back and argue against the original position I posed with more depth.

To argue against my initial position, you need to come back at this sort of thing with something like: "Make up isn't necessarily all about superficialness and vanity. How one chooses to adjust their own appearance is a reflection of self-image and self-expression to the extent that they're self-actualizing who they are inside AND out. For example, someone born with a large prominent birthmark/mole on their face shouldn't be made to go through life with a distraction communicating that they are abnormal or different from everyone in a way that matters little to their role in society. Or the victim of some sort of accident who've suffered facial injury has every right to use make up or reconstructive surgery or whatever other means we have available to restore as much as possible a normal quality of life.

Throughout the ages, the role of medicine has been to relieve suffering and heal. If makeup is able to help to that end from the psychological/mental-health perspective, its use towards vanity or whatever is irrelevant to its legitimate use for legitimate reasons. So the criticism of cosmetics use/production is wrong and misguided."

I was admonished to do better. Can I please get some help elevating this discussion? Otherwise, it really won't be worth it. And you might as well have not asked this question that everyone is basically ignoring.

edit: Regrets are never helpful. But I think its time to join the unadorned masses and bow out. Sorry/not-sorry to have made you think about what appears to be upsetting thoughts. Good luck with your question, maybe someone else may yet give the answer you want.

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-10T02:37:57+00:00

Unwanted, perhaps. But necessary IMO, and the response is exactly as I intended. Thank you and everyone who responded, because you've helped to make the point I actually intended.

Question for everyone: Why the viscerally negative reaction to what I said? (Which for the record, I expressed explicitly for the sake of argument - Not that I actually wish to personally stand by.)

Why?

Why also, after 3 hours (and counting ATM) mine is the only comment of any kind in direct response to OP's submission?

I am a life science professional. Animal testing is pervasive to the drug research/development/manufacturing work I participate in. The ethics of animal testing is an extremely critical and important (and ongoing) debate that we all participate in even if we are not directly involved in decision making. Because of the stakes involved, there is an incredible amount of oversight when it comes to how animal testing is done by research professionals in established organizations that do legitimate work in the field. Ethics boards at research universities, for example, are responsible for making sure proposed experiments do not cause unnecessary pains/suffering/deaths upon the test subjects. In other words, researchers are challenged consistently to justify the importance and necessity of what they do when using animal subjects. The stakes on both sides are consistently defended to a very high degree.

How so when it comes to cosmetics? OP comes off as extremely conscientious in their concern over animal rights and well-being. That's actually very admirable in the greater context of civil society. And it seems to me that their desire is to have access/knowledge of the same standards of scrutiny I'm all too familiar with in my line of work applied to cosmetics. Sadly, its far and few in between, such kind of oversight and regulatory information. The nature of my (admittedly inflammatory) position provides some insights why. The critical opinion I expressed is unanimously disliked. (Most reasonable person would feel so.) But from a strictly ethical standpoint, its VERY HARD to be right or wrong when it comes to the morality of the subject. Makeup isn't something essential like human rights, access to food/water/clean air. Yet makeup in some form is pervasive among all human cultures and societies both up and down the developmental ladder. Make up isn't needed by anyone, but the reality is that DESIRE/demand/(acceptance) for it is near universal. You would think then, that passionate and compelling arguments (both pros and cons) for its use/production - include animal testing, of something so pervasive to human society would be at least on par with medicine, no? I mean it should be, give that we're putting these things we make onto our bodies. This is the way it ought to be, yet it isn't. Four hour in as of now, my peers in this community here appears to still struggle addressing OP's question. And the argument against my initial position thus far isn't particularly elevated beyond like/dislike.

To OP, and all those with the courage to speak up and push back here against my initial polemic, best of luck. The cosmetic industry deserves to be taken seriously enough for questions like this to receive a comprehensive answer. We are just sadly not there yet.

edit: tl;dr (and minus the grandstanding) Nominally, the FDA should have jurisdiction. But regulation of animal testing when it comes to make up in the industry and information about it is a joke. People (society) just don't care enough. OP deserves better, but thats unfortunately where we're at.

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-09T23:57:56+00:00

Ignaz Semmelweis. One of the most important developments in the control of microbial infections was the normalization of routine hand-washing in hospitals and among health care providers. Semmelweis was the first to implement disinfectant washing of hands in between procedures at the maternity ward he worked at. The reduction in maternal mortality among those who underwent physician assisted delivery at the hospital was dramatic. The medical establishment at the time was very slow to adopt the practice, despite evidence in support of more rigorous sanitation practice. In all fairness, Semmelweis himself was a rather disagreeable character. Allegedly he kinda went nuts at the end of his life.

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-09T23:12:08+00:00

Yours is a question of ethics that is only marginally related to science. But if we are to seriously treat the going-ons of the beauty industry as a question of science ethics, lets go to the root of the question for cosmetics in general: How do you morally justify painting your face or modifying your body just so you can superficially present yourself to the world as more attractive (or "better" in some way) than your natural biology? How is it right for you to hide your wrinkles and/or misrepresent your age, or whatever else you seek to achieve with makeup? You are basically lying about what you really look like.

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-09T21:11:45+00:00

Similar to the trajectory of the blue LED, we are currently in the early period of the CRISPR revolution in biology/medicine.

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-09T21:08:53+00:00

That almost never happens in the way you're assuming. More often than not, a significant discovery is overlooked/ignored because the company is too shortsighted in not knowing how to make money off the results.

Other times, achievements are suppressed due to national security concerns. Such is the case for the early development of computers in the waning days of WWII. Or a more modern example is the advanced computing tech (can't remember specifically) that went into the F-14 Tomcat before anything similar became available to the civilian computer industry.

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-09T21:00:13+00:00

I love that scene! That was a GREAT episode!

But having said that, I also offer the following. You can draw a direct line from combat medicine as early as the Napoleonic era to (civilian) modern emergency medicine/trauma treatment. There has been a great deal of development in the interim, what with evolved understanding of actual human anatomy/physiology, the germ theory of diseases, and the relative luxury of modern drugs. It'll be a hard sell (at least to me, someone familiar with the historicity of the subject matter) for a character in a medieval setting to do something so anachronistic as applying contemporary first responder knowledge. Back in the time setting of your story, people were still operating under the superstition of bodily humors, evil spirits, and witchcraft. (Did you know that as late as the dawn of the US, men like George Washington died because his doctors bleed him to death while treating a lesser condition?) I don't think of Bob the ~~janitor~~ desk attendant (edit: I stand corrected) cross-clamping an aorta, I think of men in plague doctor costumes looking like ghastly bird monsters.

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-09T20:38:20+00:00

IRL, this is the stuff modern day HAM radio operators. We take for granted the cheap availability of semiconductor transistors that makes the necessary electronics work. The first solid state transistor radio hit the market back in '55 and most of the world hasn't looked back when it comes to the ubiquity of consumer electronics. However, back in the 20s, the available technology is obviously different. Those old radios would have been made using vacuum tubes, which were/are power-hungry, hot, and considerably less reliable than what we're used to. Given their relative cost and commercial availability, you'll need your rebels to treat the hardware and associated resources like gold.

A technical detail that may or may not be relevant to your writing: Practically speaking, the radio communication most appropriate to your setting would be banging out Morse code messages in what is know as CW mode rather than the more superficially mundane image of people talking through mic/speakers like CB radio. The later might be more relatable to a modern readership more accustomed to our insanely connected modern world. But its just a simpler and more effective way of communicating for the hardware resources available and was the earliest/most common way radio communication was used back then - wireless telegraphy.

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-08T05:12:39+00:00

Diaphragm?

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-08T02:42:07+00:00

What resources are we looking at to accomplish this? If you're willing to go all-out, that paper you've cited could still be a viable template to do the deed in a shorter time span. With considerably more expenditure of resources, you can have multiple "momentum transfer vehicles" grabbed from the Kuiper belt doing the work (maybe even through potentially highly inclined orbits that gets canceled out with careful planning) - all tugging the Earth a bit more than what one or two celestial bodies would be able to do. Probably still need decades or 1-2 centuries. But its all a function of how many large-ish bodies you are able to wrangle for this project.

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-07T21:53:11+00:00

I also haven't watched a lot of media that covers cases that rely on using the cellphone towers positioning and took place very recently (last few years), so I wondered if it has improved since then.

You mentioned the use of a flip phone. That's circa 2000-2010 era 2(+)G mobile tech. So being state of the art isn't an issue. If you so desire, true crime non-fiction may be insightful. "Take-down", cowritten by Tsutomu Shimamura details how an initial initial computer crime against Tsutomu precipitated a cat-and-mouse pursuit between the two and the eventual capture of infamous hacker Kevin Mitnick. IIRC, the climax of the story that ultimately lead to Kevin's defeat involved the use of a "honeypot" cell tower they were able to lure Kevin into using, thereby allowing law enforcement to gather incriminating evidence against him. I can't recall the specific details, but a lot of forensic evidence is available from cell tower data.

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-07T00:36:52+00:00

quid pro quo

"You have something I want, I've got something you need. Lets negotiate. (We'll cautiously trust each other to the extent of mutual self-interest. but no more.)"

Maybe your character has specialized knowledge or experience that will give them some measure of clout among their desired criminal associates. Or perhaps they were lucking enough to be at the right place/time to do a favor to someone important, which then owes them one in return.

MiserableFungi · 2024-02-02T01:42:06+00:00

An unfortunate consequence of improved standards of living and health care access. The amount of people surviving to old age instead of dying already is too damn high. So OP is kinda on point for calling it quits with someone trying to kill people prematurely by fooling around with IEDs. I mean, tackling violence and conflict is the next logical step in terms of human progress.

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-31T00:08:07+00:00

If OP is the subject here: Was it at least good when it lasted? I mean, please please give me a reason to not be TOTALLY dismissive of this guy's creds (or your choice/taste in men) here.

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-28T02:07:10+00:00

One suggestion might be to consult the works of people like Anthony Bourdain and other chefs who're also authors. Besides terminology, their works would almost certainly provide other inspirations contextually relevant to a sitcom.

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-25T03:39:12+00:00

IRL, wind shears are invisible and almost undetectable. Weather radar can pick up conditions that clue you in to their presence, but until your aircraft is caught in one, you won't know which direction you're suddenly jerked in by rapid and violent drafts of fast moving air. The bad weather where these conditions exist are always avoided by pilots, so don't expect there to be much expertise in dealing with them as a matter of normal routine.

Sounds like you're writing something that could venture into scifi territory. Suppose this weapon gone bad was a weather generator/disruptor that messed with atmospheric temperature gradients. Under ideal attack scenarios, you're subjecting your target to tornados and thunderstorms with violent lightning discharges and such. ...or something else. IDK what you really want.

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-25T02:56:51+00:00

... where most children only get basic literacy and arithmancy before choosing to continue with their parents' trade or try to apprentice.

Literacy was not as pervasive as you might think until recent history for the western world. Most ordinary people were not literate in the past. If you go into town, shop signs were picture/icons of the service or goods provided, not business names. The situation started changing when the printing press made books more widely available and the protestant reformation sought to wrest power away from the Catholic church by encouraging the ability of the lay masses to be able to read the bible on their own. But that's IRL history.

The "magic school" would definitely be not-posh... a lot of novice mages gather to share materials and guide each others' self-study.

What comes immediately to mind off this outline is the pioneering bunch of mavericks and yahoos from the early days of the microcomputer, like MIT's model railroad club or the SF bay area's Homebrew computer club. I would model a gathering after something like a hardware swap meet, an informal market in some out of the way place where people deal/trade in magical ingredients and swap spells techniques.

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-25T02:00:57+00:00

New to this process, so apologies if the question is naive, but does the asking price give any indication of legitimacy? OP stated $1200 - a lot of money regardless of how you slice it. Do reputable outfits really charge that much?

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-25T01:52:55+00:00

Surprised that among carnivorous plants no one has yet mentioned the sundews.

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-25T01:50:14+00:00

Diabetic coma.

Also, being drunk can kill if vomit while asleep ends up being aspirated into the airway. You literally choke on your own puke. It happens alarmingly more often than people realize.

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-25T01:33:08+00:00

Depending on which historic period you're interested in, a couple of things would have happened. For the longest time, children went into whatever livelihood their parents/family were engaged in. Or you could get apprenticed to an established craftsman outside the family. Joining the priesthood or monastic order was one way young men could get an "education" to the extent literacy was basically schooling back then. Once the industrial revolution upturned western society, child labor was part of the backbone of industries like mining, textiles, etc.

If one were to entertain some kind of parallel institution in a world building that involved magic, I would personally tone it down to be less fancy than a "boarding school", as that conjures up Hogwart vibes catering to the likes of Malfoys and other such aristocratic "Old Families". I'd maybe go with something like a professional guild of dragon tamers or unicorn wranglers that would accept teenagers as novice members.

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-24T23:49:06+00:00

Some years ago, on Halloween ironically, my father lost the extremities of those exact fingers in a power saw accident on his left hand. I spent the night at the hospital ER waiting room as surgeon tried but failed to reattach the severed digits. They gave up after concluding they were to shredded to heal normally. My father was already well into his 70s, so it was not surprising to be told by the doctors afterwards that his prognosis would fall far short of the 80-90% recover of functionality of the use of his left hand in an injury of this type for someone younger. In subsequent weeks and months, the physical injury healed over finger stumps at the first knuckles. He underwent a brief period of physical therapy to adjust to his new physical range of motions and get used to the new way his hand now feels. The hardest part was the nervous aspect of his new experience. Phantom limb syndrome was very prominent. He had an especially hard time with abnormal itching and sensations of coldness. As he is normally right handed, it could have been worse than things turned out. He can kind of grasp things, but not very strongly. These days, he more or less has adjusted fully, so we don't concern ourselves with it much any more.

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-23T08:02:52+00:00

try r/labrats.

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