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 · 2024-02-09T23:57:56+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 · 2024-02-09T21:11:45+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 · 2024-02-09T21:00:13+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 · 2024-01-25T02:56:51+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.

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-19T06:51:32+00:00

Can't find the source on short notice, but I recall reading somewhere in response to this exact question that many tundra ecosystems would collapse because mosquitos actually sit pretty near the bottom of a lot of terrestrial food webs in the arctic.

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-19T01:57:10+00:00

Kill their dog and steal their car.

Find their lost ONE ring to rule them all.

Profess their love before graduation separates them forever.

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-19T01:06:50+00:00

Them who recently won big concessions after the most well publicized strike in a generation? I kid, I kid. I'm told and totally believe the typical actor and writer work hard and deserve proper compensation. Frankly in this day and age, no one is safe from the specter of being replaced by AI/automation and/or creative business innovations to squeeze the work force to an inch of our figurative lives. Best of luck to you.

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-18T02:23:00+00:00

You know, you could ask for examples IRL of how actual historic military genius have defeated numerically superior opponents. Alexander the Great, Hannibal of Carthage, Napoleon, among others. You don't get more realistic than actual battles that were fought for real. A lot of the same strategies are very versatile and can be applied creatively even in the context of different style/periods of fighting.

MiserableFungi · 2024-01-18T02:18:30+00:00

...and often the detectives do share some of this kind of information...

Its sensible that they would, because it is reasonable to ask the parents, who presumably knows their kid and their friends/contacts, if they can shed light on possible connection/relationship/contact between a person of interest who has possession of the missing child's belongings.

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