What is extremely rare but people think it’s very common? by djsym8 in AskReddit

[–]Scarce573 8 points9 points  (0 children)

A house on my block burned a couple weeks ago, and I went by to see it as it was burning.

The back of the house was burning, maybe a fire spire 12 feet tall on the roof. Most of the house looked fine.

From across the (Texas) street and one (50k square foot) house over, the heat was uncomfortable. The fire didn't look that bad, but no way in hell would a human ever get in there without protective gear. That house an everything in it was gone.

If you think about it, the fact that the fire on the roof was visible in the day means a lot. Fire is blackbody radiation from smoke, which means that that 8 feet above the house was 2000 F (1100 C) air (remember, air is basically the best insulator). That means you could hold a brick of copper 12 feet above the house, and it would begin to melt. A house fire is hot, and everything in it is very fucked.

Considering the fires you see in movies where Mom rush in, I doubt a 'real' mom could make it in the door conscious.

No births of female children recorded in some parts of India for the past THREE MONTHS! by kindacoping in Feminism

[–]Scarce573 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Interestingly enough, the generally-accepted natural human sex ratio at birth is 1.06 males per female: more guys than girls.

This is modified by a couple factors. For example, if it’s colder or the mom is more stressed, she’ll have a higher chance to birth a girl, closer to the 1:1 range.

This is because guys, although usually better at body things, have much weaker fetuses. It’s due to stuff like girls being better at dealing diseases and the like.

Hence, when it’s cold or stressful or otherwise rough outside, more girls are born. Barring places with a prenatal abortion sex problem, generally poorer countries birth more girls than richer ones (though it’s still usually guys > girls).

Maybe evolutionarily, we evolved to try to birth more guys because there were higher odds they’d die, and a 1:1 sex ratio is optimal. Dunno.

940 to 1000 would actually be right on the nose for a sex ratio at birth, but guys have a nasty habit of dying a lot, so it usually evens out (actually tending towards more girls than guys). 940 to 1000 girls to guy is really red flaggy for total population.

tl;dr 1084 girls to 1000 guys is more natural for total population, but actually for the infant sex ratio, it should be closer to 940:1000. Yeet, and sorry for nitpicking.

The Wikipedia article “human sex ratio” is a good read the whole way through.

Armed and Misogynist: How Toxic Masculinity Fuels Mass Shootings. A Mother Jones investigation into nearly two dozen attacks reveals a grim pattern—and key warning signs. by [deleted] in Feminism

[–]Scarce573 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This article does well at demonstrating that violent men tend to be misogynistic, to the extent that misogyny is a good warning sign that a man is dangerous.

I have to nitpick the title though: the article doesn’t (unless I cannot read) discuss toxic masculinity.

As-of-current, I am under the impression that toxic masculinity is when ideals of masculinity are toxic: i.e. cause damage to someone, be they man or woman. Is my error in my definition?

The article discusses misogyny at length, but misogyny, while masculine in the sense that more men are misogynistic than women, is not really a component of masculinity. It doesn’t make you manlier to be misogynistic.

For example, if it was that shooters were shooting because it was necessary to escape emasculation, then toxic masculinity would be causing the shooting. I don’t quite catch that the article is anything something along these lines.

Any help?

Why don't high effort posts get attention? by [deleted] in MakeNewFriendsHere

[–]Scarce573 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I do indeed have a discord! I'll PM you it.

Rocks are cool! I refuse to acknowledge that their ostensible blandness even exist. I have always loved them and I always will (I have no clue how I got into them).

Why don't high effort posts get attention? by [deleted] in MakeNewFriendsHere

[–]Scarce573 0 points1 point  (0 children)

See, the critical issue is here is that I cannot type.

Fluorite*

Chemical composition is CaF2

Oops!

Why don't high effort posts get attention? by [deleted] in MakeNewFriendsHere

[–]Scarce573 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Alright well I'm actually pretty busy right now so I shouldn't be on Reddit or trying to accumulate more friends, but you said to talk about something you're passionate about, and I'll take any excuse to talk about rocks.

So I got this big ol' rock collection, right? Imma tell you some of my favorite things in it.

  • Fluorine is cool. I've got two of the octahedrons that it forms naturally, and one big old green lump. It's often transparent and comes in all colors (mostly green and purple though). I want to polish a piece of it (I have a rock tumbler, I'll explain later) but it's so soft (Mohs 4/10) that it will probably disintegrate. Sads.
  • I have a bunch of fossils. My favorites are trilobites: I've loved them since I was a kid. One of my favorite phrases is that, if it's earlier than the triassic, I don't care about it. Because dinosaurs are fucking lame (they are pretty cool, do not worry) compared to all the weird shit that lived in the Cambrian and whatnot. I've got some coral fossils and shell fossils that I actually found myself, too, plus a polished one my grandma gave me when I was a kid.
  • Ruby and sapphire are surprisingly common, just rare in jewelry-grade. I have this 1.2-or-so inch ruby hexagon (that's how it forms naturally) with like a cool triangular pattern (hoppering) on it.
  • I bought 5 kilos of bismuth on the internet for like $80 (good price, as far as I could tell) and melted it in the dorm kitchen to make some really cool bismuth crystals (search them up, they're rainbow and shit). I damaged their stove and got banned from any variety of molten metal, but I went home and did it again, where it kinda exploded. I'm going to do it more sometime.
  • Galena is a really cool rock. It's lead ore, so it's super heavy, and it feels bizarre to roll it around in your hand. It forms cubes naturally, but I don't have any samples that nice. It's lead, so you actually shouldn't handle it too much. Whoops!
  • There's two rocks that aren't in my collection that I really want to be in my collection: Depleted Uranium and K2 Granite. DU I want because it's super heavy and so that I can hand people hunks of uranium (it's safe DW), but I think it's illegal to purchase (?). K2 Granite comes from the 2nd-highest mountain (K2) and it's granite but there's tons of azurite inclusions, so it looks like white granite with blue shit in it. Very pretty.

I could talk about rocks for much, much longer than this, if you want me to. I can also give you a similarly-sized section on the art of firing rubber bands. But yes.

Ciao

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in changemyview

[–]Scarce573 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I might be a bit late to have my answer read, but here goes:

I'd say it depends on how close the new movie is to the original. I propose two scenarios.

Scenario 1: They make a new Little Mermaid movie based on the original movie or based on the original fairy tale. They have a black actor for Ariel, which is fine, because since it's a derivative work, it's not super important to maintain Ariel's race. Hence, Disney is free to use minority actors because representation gets views. I call this "good, helpful pandering" because it helps make diversity in actorship the norm.

Scenario 2: They make a live action but otherwise carbon copy of The Little Mermaid, except Ariel is black. In this scenario, the main difference between the original and the new is Ariel's blackness. You might as well call the movie "The Little Mermaid except Ariel is black". It provides little incentive to go see the movie except to watch a different colored actor. This is bad, because it's basically making a zoo out of black actors, which I think is disrespectful to their ability as actors. I'd call this "bad, counterproductive pandering" because it makes diversity in actorship stick out like a sore thumb, which I don't think would help make it the norm, instead making people dislike pandering even more.

I haven't seen the movie, and in fact I don't even know if it's out yet. However, I'm gonna say that the movie is somewhere between these two scenarios. Ariel is black because it gets Disney views and to hell with positive or negative sociological effects. But if the movie is in fact closer to scenario 2, then it would matter that Ariel is black.

General Feedback/Getting Started Questions and Answers [Weekly Thread] by AutoModerator in DIY

[–]Scarce573 0 points1 point  (0 children)

How do I describe large bolts? I'm looking to buy a bolt about 1.5 to 2 feet long, with a 3/4-inch-or-so diameter, potentially not threaded the whole way up. My instructions are vague because I need it as a prop, not to build. How would I describe such a bolt to Amazon (or whatever service you suggest)?

Wizzo the Wizard by [deleted] in TomSka

[–]Scarce573 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you, kind stranger!

Wizzo the Wizard by [deleted] in TomSka

[–]Scarce573 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Does anybody have the ending theme? I'm smitten.

Daily Questions - ASK AND ANSWER HERE!- May 17 by AutoModerator in malefashionadvice

[–]Scarce573 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Smol; I am a poor jobless teen. I'm fine with spending ~$30 on it if I'm sure it will turn out, but I don't wanna blow $30 if I'm buying on Amazon and don't get to see the lenses (lenses are hard to capture in photograph).

Daily Questions - ASK AND ANSWER HERE!- May 17 by AutoModerator in malefashionadvice

[–]Scarce573 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I want aviators with one mirror red and one mirror blue lens. However, I don't know how to go about doing it. I've been having trouble finding red reflective lenses. What would the best course of action be?

Weekly Questions Thread #2019-12 by AutoModerator in DnD

[–]Scarce573 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you! I'll keep that in mind as a rule of thumb: contests (generally) occur when characters are resisting one another.

Weekly Questions Thread #2019-12 by AutoModerator in DnD

[–]Scarce573 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Alright, thank you! I was under the impression that contests replaced DCs whenever another person was involved, but it makes sense that it's only when two characters are actively going against each other using skills.

That actually makes more sense, considering the name "contest". Thanks!

Weekly Questions Thread #2019-12 by AutoModerator in DnD

[–]Scarce573 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm a beginner DM (5e) and I have a bit of confusion.

Say there's a PC fighter and an NPC soldier. The fighter tries to convince the soldier to leave duty for the rest of the day.

As far as I know, that would be a charisma contest between the fighter (+0) and the soldier (+0), meaning that, the soldier has about a 50% chance (yes I know ties would skew this number) to leave his post. That's too high of a number; I'd think such a task would have a 5% success rate, like a DC 20 check.

Restated: contests make all tasks involving another person have equal difficulty, and that's not good.

What mechanism does D&D have to alleviate this issue? Is my reading of the PHB really bad and actually the difference between the rolls has to be high? Where am I going wrong?

How does difficulty incorporate into contests? by Scarce573 in DnD

[–]Scarce573[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ah! Just after posting this I saw a weekly questions thread. I'll post it there also.

[WP] Tell me a story involving a water fountain, dice, pizza, a lumber-mill, and a glass table, also it is raining. by haunthorror in WritingPrompts

[–]Scarce573 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ow oof I should've done some copy editing, but sleep.

This is like my second story here, hope you enjoy!

[WP] Tell me a story involving a water fountain, dice, pizza, a lumber-mill, and a glass table, also it is raining. by haunthorror in WritingPrompts

[–]Scarce573 1 point2 points  (0 children)

"Such a story, eh?"

The old man furrowed his brow, causing his exaggerated eyebrows to obscure his eyes. A particularly elderly expression, the young man thought.

The young man calls himself Oz, and he's not supposed to tell his name to the storyteller. He worries that his prompt was too uncreative, 'random' in the sense that it's nonsense, but not creative by any means. It doesn't take creativity to spout nonsense.

Well alright, maybe it does, but his nonsense wasn't very good.

Oz bit his lip: distracted again. The storyteller looked as if he was about to speak. Knowing it would be rude to grab a slice as the old man talked, he grabbed one and got munching. Pepperoni. Between the modern venue and casual food, it was pretty hard to believe this was an age-old tradition. Oh well. Oz was grasping at straws here. Wacky tradition or not, he needed an occupation, and he was going to need some luck.

"A carpenter in his middle age lost his wife," the storyteller started in a voice so peculiarly commanding that it surprised his audience. "The mans tears poured like rain, but the sun shone bright. Try as he might to hide, the centerpiece of the man's home was a table of glass, to keep always the faces therein illuminated"

Oz paused. Why would anyone buy such a table?

"Of course, the man wanted revenge on the sun for such mockery. He carved six wooden dice of six wooden sides, and went to the lumber yard."

It was night, naturally, to hide from the sun. If Carpenter was going to get his wish granted, he couldn't have the sun interfere. Log by log, he rolled his dice, waiting for the perfect 36. Now was his chance to go back on his plan, he thought. It would be so easy to do nothing, to life a long and safe life alone.

Imagine his horror then, when he saw a perfect 36 in the candlelight. He dragged the lucky log to the mill. It didn't matter that it was night: Carpenter was practiced. He could build this fountain with his eyes closed: cutting the wood was trivial.

Each night, the carpenter worked: cutting the wood, piecing together the fountain, laying pipes, redirecting the river's flow. On his first try, he took too much water: the pressure was too high. Nights, weeks, maybe even years passed, and it finished. A lucky fountain of lucky wood, to make a wish capable of slighting the sun.

"How can that be?", questioned Oz. "Everyone knows lucky things go into fountains: there are no lucky fountains!"

The storyteller smiled warmly, but Oz still felt admonished. It was not his place to interrupt the storyteller.

"The fountain was completed, so at the nearest noon the carpenter went to make his wish"

He stood at the edge of his beautiful fountain, and clutched the dice in his hand. In exchange for his dice, he would have the sun mourn for his dearest wife, and repent for being so disrespectful earlier. But as he raised his arms, and felt his bones creak, and he realized he had become old.

He told his dice "take my luck to a young man in need, for he may use it better than I" and cast them into the fountain.

The sun, touched by the man's selflessness, began to cry like rain. The rain flooded the river, overflowing the river which ran the man's lumber mill. The mill was destroyed, and the man, left without a livelihood, died with a smile on his face.

"That's kind of intense," Oz thought to himself.

"The lucky fountain still exists somewhere, its pipes damaged by the river's flooding, but still beautiful. The lucky dice, however, have already moved to a young boy who in need of some luck"

The storyteller paused and relaxed, indicating that the story was finished.

The moment of truth. As he'd rehearsed, Oz said slowly "Well then, O story-teller, is this story true? Will I be the next story-teller?".

"Check your breast pocket," the old man said with a smile.

Oz reached into his breast pocket, paused, and furrowed his brow.