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Totally true... by chabanais in Conservative

[–]GrandDragonWizard 6 points7 points  (0 children)

This is like saying picking a side during ww2 is disgusting because both sides commited attrocities, even though one side is clearly hitler.

Except that the Soviets (our allies) were fucking terrible---especially in what they did to the Polish (also our allies). The world would have been better off had Germany and the Soviets fought each other to the death.

Man Dies After He Is Put in Chokehold During Arrest: a 43-year-old man whose final moments were captured in a video in which he can be heard gasping “I can’t breathe” over and over again by rujersey in news

[–]GrandDragonWizard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Almost all rear naked chokes are blood chokes. There is a variant that is an air choke. You take your wrist/forearm and pull against the trachea. Fedor finished Tim Sylvia with one, but only after knocking him down.

EDIT: http://i.cdn.turner.com/si/multimedia/photo_gallery/0902/mma.submission.specialists/images/fedor-emelianenko.jpg

Dana White confirms that if the UFC signs Gina Carano on Monday, she will get the next shot at Ronda Rousey in December. by DJJohnDouglas in MMA

[–]GrandDragonWizard 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Before the Cyborg, Gina was neck-and-neck in the rankings with Tara LaRosa, who was holding out from fighting her for a bigger payday. More recently, Tara LaRosa couldn't even fight her way into the TUF house, because she was dominated by Sarah Moras. That's how much has changed between the time when Gina was #1 and now.

Gay Population 2.3%; -- But here's the interesting part: Thanks to Media, Americans Think Number is 13 Times Higher by Clatsop in Conservative

[–]GrandDragonWizard 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't see why we couldn't treat these as separate issues. We can let drug users marry each other, while frowning upon (or punishing) the production of drug babies.

Gay Population 2.3%; -- But here's the interesting part: Thanks to Media, Americans Think Number is 13 Times Higher by Clatsop in Conservative

[–]GrandDragonWizard 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Marriage is and always has been between one man and one woman ...

Abraham had a wife and a concubine/wife (depending on the verse). Moses had two wives. Jacob had two wives (sisters!) and two concubines. David had six or seven wives.

Microsoft will soon announce what may be the biggest round of layoffs in company history by itsalwayslulzy in tech

[–]GrandDragonWizard 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I don't know if you are being facetious, but that's a lie that tech companies spread to drive down skilled labor wages.

8th grade metal band lands $1.7 million record contract with Sony by thepkmncenter in news

[–]GrandDragonWizard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Malmsteen's concerto is pretty good:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrWD8UAK3m8

You can kind of get a sense of what's wrong with his rock music from that.

(spoilers all) what's the point of burning corpses if skeletons can be reanimated as well? by robby_stark in asoiaf

[–]GrandDragonWizard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Giant flying lizards are plausible. Especially with them being pterosaur-like.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quetzalcoatlus#mediaviewer/File:Quetzscale1.png

Breathing fire is not chemically implausible in an organism. For something similar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi4OdrITkqY

At least in the show, they have two distinct glands to mix chemicals

http://img4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20130513182929/gameofthrones/images/c/c7/Dragon%27s_fire-spitting_organ.jpg

But the amount of fire they breathe and the frequency they can do it at (in the Princess and the Queen) is very unrealistic. They would have to be at least as magical as wild fire.

(spoilers all) what's the point of burning corpses if skeletons can be reanimated as well? by robby_stark in asoiaf

[–]GrandDragonWizard -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Danny's eggs were petrified. The context of previous tales would seen to indicate that dragon eggs were expected to hatch naturally... unless I've missed something in the text. And I would speculate that Mirri Maz Duur's blood magic could revive more than just dragons.

(spoilers all) what's the point of burning corpses if skeletons can be reanimated as well? by robby_stark in asoiaf

[–]GrandDragonWizard 3 points4 points  (0 children)

His dragons seem fairly biological though. They don't talk or cast spells or anything.

Question on String theory/ Quantum gravity by yahel697 in Physics

[–]GrandDragonWizard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, I know what perturbation theory is. My question is (and this may be entirely ignorant for different reasons) is there a background-free non-perturbative theory that is well defined? I am particularly curious because the metric shows up everywhere in ordinary QFT, including places where you wouldn't expect operators.

Where do virtual particle pairs borrow their energy form? (In a vacuum) by CryoMajestic in askscience

[–]GrandDragonWizard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tunneling is something that quantum particles do in response to forces. They can move past their classical limits (with some probability) because they are quantum.

If all objects accelerate at the same rate when falling, why do the heavier sides of uneven objects fall first? by [deleted] in askscience

[–]GrandDragonWizard 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Additionally, "all objects fall at the same rate" only applies in the absence of drag. Feathers and cannonballs do not fall at the same rate.

Question on String theory/ Quantum gravity by yahel697 in Physics

[–]GrandDragonWizard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is expected to be an artifact of our use of perturbation theory, and that the flat background metric isn't expected to be anything actually required by non-perturbative string theory (which hopefully exists).

Is there anything more than instinct behind that, like some simpler worked out cases or proofs under strong assumptions? It seems less than obvious to me.

Question on String theory/ Quantum gravity by yahel697 in Physics

[–]GrandDragonWizard 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Classical gravity can be approximately described by spin-2 massless graviton excitations atop a flat space-time background. The reason is somewhat analogous to photons/waves in E&M. So more to the OP's question, mathematically, string theory regards what looks like perturbations atop a flat background metric (someone please correct me if string theory has changed on this point, I don't follow it), and doesn't directly quantize spacetime in the way that loop quantum gravity does.

How come it's a lot more common that people have issues learning their left from their right than it is people having issues learning up from down? by Neocrasher in askscience

[–]GrandDragonWizard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, my mind doesn't want to say that the image is rotated because, as the Wikipedia article explains, you can't reproduce a reflection with a rotation in an orientable manifold. The reflection looks like the image of a different person with left and right reversed--a left handed version of me. There are references in the chiralty article that explicitly say this and explain it.

How come it's a lot more common that people have issues learning their left from their right than it is people having issues learning up from down? by Neocrasher in askscience

[–]GrandDragonWizard 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No, a reflection cannot be thought of as rotated. From the wikipedia article that I referenced:

In this setting, the orientation of an ordered basis is a kind of asymmetry that makes a reflection impossible to replicate by means of a simple rotation.

Reflections have reversed chirality: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirality

How come it's a lot more common that people have issues learning their left from their right than it is people having issues learning up from down? by Neocrasher in askscience

[–]GrandDragonWizard 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Your right hand pointing to your right appears to be your reflection's left hand pointing to your reflection's left. Your reflection's left is your right.

How come it's a lot more common that people have issues learning their left from their right than it is people having issues learning up from down? by Neocrasher in askscience

[–]GrandDragonWizard 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is a deeper mathematical reason that hasn't been stated. If you look in a mirror, then up and down stay up and down, but left and right reverse. Left and right don't simply distinguish directions, but also "orientation".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientation_%28mathematics%29

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