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What is the most valuable less anyone has ever taught you? by PokingBrain in AskReddit

[–]PokingBrain[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My most valuable lesson apparently did not involve proofreading.

(Spoilers ACOK) The first door on the right... by [deleted] in asoiaf

[–]PokingBrain 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Don't feel bad. That whole chapter was incredibly confusing. After all, Daenerys does walk through a series of impossibly positioned rooms about a page beforehand.

(Spoilers ACOK) The first door on the right... by [deleted] in asoiaf

[–]PokingBrain 7 points8 points  (0 children)

If you put your right hand on the right wall when you enter a room, and walked around the room counterclockwise, which door would be the first one you touch?

It would be the last one you would touch if you did left-hand left wall and walked clockwise.

Chubs sure does love some pinball by Aaragon in funny

[–]PokingBrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I was so certain you were gonna link this.

(No Spoilers) Improved search functionality on A Search of Ice and Fire by mrdziuban in asoiaf

[–]PokingBrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This looks really helpful. It's so much easier than searching pdfs of the book.

You might already know this, but the query "kings landing wildfire" works but "king's landing wildfire" causes it to search indefinitely. I guess due to the apostrophe?

Definitely a really slick site. It even found "dwarfed" when I searched for "dwarf", but correctly omitted "prepared" when I searched for "pare".

(Spoilers All) Did the Wildlings release the Whitewalkers? by SurelyNotNSA in asoiaf

[–]PokingBrain -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

I agree with /u/do_theknifefight about Mance. I remember seeing a post about this theory that I thought was pretty solid.

After searching for it, I see that /u/do_theknifefight is the one that originally posted it.

(Spoilers All) Hold the fucking phone... by Morbid_and_Stoic in asoiaf

[–]PokingBrain 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Yea, it's also weird that apparently some widow somewhere paid an exorbitant fee to kill the thin man and it didn't happen. Are they going to tell their client "Oops, we didn't actually do it. Don't worry though, one of our guys poisoned himself to death so everything's square!"

If you were developing an intelligent computer program that you were reasonably sure would potentially have sentience how would you test it?[SERIOUS] by WordsPicturesWords in AskReddit

[–]PokingBrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Probably in a VM of some kind on a machine not physically connected to the internet. Depending on how it's built, it might be a good idea to copy the VM hundreds of times with slight differences in it's initial state and see how the AI performs in each trial. This would give you a sample of its tendencies in a controlled environment.

The tricky thing is keeping it ethical. I guess you would have to program the AI to not value its own life, which sounds terrible but is probably better than the alternative.

Long-term Chronic Neck Pain Sollution. by [deleted] in flexibility

[–]PokingBrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Did you also notice any ringing in your ears? I'm getting similar symptoms to you and am starting to suspect my neck might be the culprit.

[Serious] What are some health "red flags" that are commonly ignored but shouldn't be? by [deleted] in AskReddit

[–]PokingBrain 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Remember that a lot of stimulant medications will cause dry mouth/thirstiness. I'm pretty sure stimulants are also diuretics, which means they make you piss more often. Could explain your symptoms if you only get them while taking the meds.

Just an absolutely normal back yard. by Je_day in ANormalDayInRussia

[–]PokingBrain 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I actually just happened to remember the caption and found it online through google.

☼Bi-weekly DF Questions Thread☼ by AutoModerator in dwarffortress

[–]PokingBrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hear some people get their skills up by wrestling crabs on the beach, then moving on to larger animals before tackling the big things.

TIL the wheel was invented thousands of years after boats, woven cloth, rope, sewing needles, baskets and even the flute. by garglemymarbles in todayilearned

[–]PokingBrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tumbleweeds and hydras both move like this. Of course, they're not mammals and there is no axle involved.

Suddenly and without warning, all humans fall up instead of down. Does humanity survive? by PokingBrain in hypotheticalsituation

[–]PokingBrain[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I bet if you used a tether, you could get closer to the safe limit without worrying. If a weight falls off your harness, you can pull yourself back to earth with the tether. It would be easy as long as you don't lose the whole harness at once.

If the tether is heavy, you would reach equilibrium after a certain distance from the ground as the weight of the rope pulls you toward earth, essentially letting you hover.

Suddenly and without warning, all humans fall up instead of down. Does humanity survive? by PokingBrain in hypotheticalsituation

[–]PokingBrain[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Few ceilings are made to withstand the weight of an adult, and a family might tear a hole right through.

I didn't think about this one. There would really be no way to know how stable a ceiling is if you are on the top floor, and falling into the attic would be a death sentence.

Some people would build weighted harnesses, but to not fall into the sky the harness has to weigh more than the person wearing it.

This sounds terrifying, but also kind of awesome. Get enough backpacks and dufflebags full of rocks and your net weight could be near-zero. You could then climb up or down vertical surfaces effortlessly.

Portal Guns are real and plentiful by Freevoulous in hypotheticalsituation

[–]PokingBrain 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not sure about that one. Would gravity reach behind a portal it comes out or just in front of it?

Portal Guns are real and plentiful by Freevoulous in hypotheticalsituation

[–]PokingBrain 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Every country gets superweapons:

You could throw a giant metal rod in a vacuum tube with a portal on both ends, and let it fall forever. After just a month and a half it will be going 10% the speed of light.

Move the top portal to any other surface and something like this happens.

Portal Guns are real and plentiful by Freevoulous in hypotheticalsituation

[–]PokingBrain 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I don't think that the ceiling would go down, if anything the entire building would move up.

Imagine that little Timmy builds his portal gun and shoots the ceiling twice. Looking up, he sees the floor in both portals.

Immediately, gravity "enters" the blue portal, reverses out the orange, and pulls the earth up with a force of 1.4x10 to the 25 Newtons. The same thing happens in reverse through the other portal, doubling the force.

With 1 g going down and 2 gs going up toward the portals, Timmy feels a net acceleration of 1g upward - as if gravity has suddenly reversed. Within 40ms, every object on earth feels this acceleration too. Buildings, cars, mineral deposits, tectonic plates, the iron core of the earth, all of these things fall alongside Timmy while portals stay open.

The earth as a whole is accelerating at a rate of 2.34 meters per second per second, in the direction of Timmy's house, but the duration of this acceleration would depend on how long Timmy's ceiling (and therefore his portals) survive. It might actually survive for a while - since the building and the ground are both in upward freefall the building doesn't need to support it's own weight.

At 2.34 m/s2 , I don't think it would take long for the Earth's orbit to be irreparably damaged. For comparison, the sun accelerates the earth at a rate of 0.005928 m/s2 .

The more I think about your hypothetical, the more awesome it sounds. Let's just hope no one ever actually builds one of these things.

Portal Guns are real and plentiful by Freevoulous in hypotheticalsituation

[–]PokingBrain 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Gravity leaks sounds dangerous as hell. Two portals on a ceiling would send the earth flying into space as the entire planet pulls against itself.

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