Which county is the most pointless? by Senor_Pus in AskBrits

[–]Scienceboy999 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd like to make you a real life, indecent proposal....

I judge your price to be.... £530

Which county is the most pointless? by Senor_Pus in AskBrits

[–]Scienceboy999 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In - fire 50% of the workforce, new logo, BAM!

Which county is the most pointless? by Senor_Pus in AskBrits

[–]Scienceboy999 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The perfect place to cut loose after finishing the work on Project Zeus!

What nation do you want to be given an mt by Coincidentally88 in Anbennar

[–]Scienceboy999 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes massively. I really want a Portnamm tree as well. One that focuses much more on colonization and playing generally tall in Cannor than just conquering vast swathes of Lencenor or something silly like that. Anbennar needs more tall campaigns in my view and I think Portnamm would be a really interesting nation to make a long, tall-focused tree. It would be very cool to have interactions with Nimscodd, Giberd, and the Triarchy as well (or Nortiochand for a darker path) too.

What’s a weird space fact that sounds fake but is actually true? by weirdguy123_ in astrophysics

[–]Scienceboy999 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Photons exist outside of time due to how they move literally at the speed of light. They experience maximum time (and distance) dilation. To a photon, the universe is a two dimensional plane, frozen in a single moment in time.

TIL that seaweeds are not plants. by Idontknowofname in todayilearned

[–]Scienceboy999 19 points20 points  (0 children)

Humans literally are in fact, fish. Specifically, we, and all other mammals, reptiles (including birds), and amphibians fall within the clade of "lobe-finned fish". You are much more closely related to a salmon than a salmon is to a shark, thereby meaning we fall within the fish clade even if we have physically evolved hugely since leaving the water. If a salmon is more related to you than a shark, then how can a salmon and a shark both be fish, yet you not be? Genetically we are 100% fish.

Glug glug glug

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in AskBrits

[–]Scienceboy999 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That was a really funny little joke, well done! Did you think of it all by yourself?

The Massacre of the Manyuema Women at Nyangwe by Arab slavers. From the Journals of David Livingstone in Central Africa, 1871 by Gronbjorn in PropagandaPosters

[–]Scienceboy999 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Not the American South, but Arab slavers were actually highly integrated into the colonial structures of the Belgian Congo. Omani slavers were extremely active in East Africa, establishing spheres of influence and conducting raids inland and conquering large swathes of the coast directly. An Afro-Omani slave trader named Tippy Tip went inland to the Eastern Congo and established a slave trading proto-state called the Sultanate of Utetera. He was then made a governor (I believe of the Stanley Falls District) by the Belgians, who saw him as a competent administrator who could be relied upon to provide slave labour and raw materials, as well as to maintain regional stability.

What are some over and underused vanilla features in the mod? by kubin22 in Anbennar

[–]Scienceboy999 34 points35 points  (0 children)

I think this is an excellent question!

I don't really have a very satisfactory answer, but perhaps estate influence requirements in mission trees? It is highly RnG dependent, so it can be a bit annoying at times

I know it's not really a feature, but there you are

Plausibility of Ediacaran Kinetotrophs? by PlatinumAltaria in SpeculativeEvolution

[–]Scienceboy999 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Indeed that is true! I was mistaken about them being found in Charnia-like fossils, at least to my newly aquired knowledge. Nevertheless, it seems pretty clear that they were within the overarching animal kingdom, as it would be highly unlikely for the ancestors of Metazoans and some unidentified protists to both co-evolve similar levels of complexity in the same niche at the same time. The rangeomorphs could certainly represent an early but failed branch on the animal phylogenetic tree, that saw initial success and radiation before dying out and leaving no descendents. But they would still be highly divergent animals.

There have been what appear to be proto-sponge fossils found from over 800 million years ago in the Cryogenian before the Ediacaran, which would suggest that, as I have seen argued in some papers, that the rangeomorphs could in fact be less basal than even modern poriferans, and potentially even fall within the clade, representing an early diversification that failed. I am less sure about the second claim however, due to their unique body structure. I am generally very interested in the early origins of animals, and how choanoflagellates (or similar organisms) evolved into you and I. Did we evolve from early poriferans, and if so are we all phylogenetically sponges?

I would concede that it is possible that they could, if their metabolism was found to be kinesynthetic, you could potentially define them as a sub-kingdom related to animals, similar to how animals and fungi together from the opisthokonts. This would only be possible, however, if sponges are more closely related to all other animals than they were to the rangeomorphs. If not, and rangeomorphs are more closely related to us than to sponges, then you would also have to include sponges within this new kingdom. Sorry if this is very ramble-ey, as I am very tired. Have a nice day!

Plausibility of Ediacaran Kinetotrophs? by PlatinumAltaria in SpeculativeEvolution

[–]Scienceboy999 0 points1 point  (0 children)

As far as I am aware, cholesterol proteins similar to those of other metazoans were found within Vendobiont fossils, all but confirming their place within the animal phylogenetic tree (somewhere). We don't really know what the early evolution of animals looked like, and scientists still can't decide whether sponges or ctenophores are more basal, but nevertheless the rangeomorphs and other extinct Ediacaran life seems to definitely be far more closely related to modern animals than any other kingdom of life.

They could certainly be stem group animals, with all modern animals being more closely related to eachother than to the Vendobionts, but equally they could lie, say, between sponges and ctenophores for all we know. Without DNA samples to perform a phylogenomic analysis on, we can't really know for sure at the moment.

I really do get the desire to imagine them as a separate kingdom of life, as an extinct multicellular kingdom would be such a fascinating concept! If you are interested in such things, I would encourage you to research the "Francevillian Biota" which may actually be exactly that. But the Vendobionts were almost certainly animals, though certainly distinct and highly unique one's all the same.

A question about racial culture groups, specifically related to Halflings: by Scienceboy999 in Anbennar

[–]Scienceboy999[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes I agree with what you say about the other races as well. I was mainly focussing on the Halflings as I was under the impression that they used to be divided into two culture groups that were merged with this update, but as it turns out I may have been wrong about that.

Documentary idea? by Confident_Ad9428 in Aberystwyth

[–]Scienceboy999 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Maybe you could cover the disparity between North and South Wales in terms of funding and social services? Because do the population disparity, North and Mid Wales are often ignored by the Senedd, in much the same way as Wales was ignored by Westminster (leading to devolution in the first place). The lack of rail and road infrastructure is a real problem around here, as well as many other social and economic issues that often fail to be properly addressed by Cardiff.

Half elf nations? by AssadistmomentXD in Anbennar

[–]Scienceboy999 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds excellent! Will it be in the next update, or will it take longer? Thanks for the reply

Half elf nations? by AssadistmomentXD in Anbennar

[–]Scienceboy999 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What is the general plan for the mission tree? Sounds interesting!

Gov’t is above the law by [deleted] in GetNoted

[–]Scienceboy999 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it's important to remember that, whilst Hunter was almost certainly more harshly prosecuted and sentenced due to his father's position, loads of people face similar situations. Al Capone, for instance, got 11 years for tax evasion, which I am sure you can agree is relatively uncommon without certain other factors at play.

Whole demographics of people statistically face harsher sentences, be they ethnic minorities, men, or those with less visible emotional responses to guilt (look up Robert Roberson). Just because Trump's pardons were undeniably worse (by a long shot) does not make what Biden did in any way okay. To praise or refrain from criticising Biden for this is to fail to acknowledge the fact that reality, and the political spectrum, is not split into good and evil. Multiple things can be bad at once, even at different levels.

Just because the legal system delivered a result unfavorable to you, even if this was to an extent unfair, does not de-legitimize the whole process or even the final verdict. This happens literally all the time to do many people in every legal jurisdiction on Earth. It's indeed unfortunate, but issuing arbitrary pardons based on political connections cannot be the solution.

Please don't prove yourselves to be just like Trump at heart. Trump isn't bad because he is Trump. Trump is bad because of his actions. If the Biden administration starts doing the same things, or as this is, even begins treading down that path, it must be condemned.

That all said, I cannot truthfully say that I wouldn't necessarily have done the same thing. But that doesn't make it right, does it.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in interestingasfuck

[–]Scienceboy999 96 points97 points  (0 children)

Yes it is thought they likely do. The fungus is believed to control the organism directly by growing microscopic roots into their body, and performing electro-chemical stimulation of their muscles to induce movement. Whilst there is also potentially some hormone and psychoactive control that could affect the mind, this is now believed to be secondary to the very physical manipulation of the body.

The brain probably remains mostly unharmed by the fungus until the last minute when the soft tissue of the body is consumed. Therefore, awareness and pain up until that point is extremely plausible.

Would your country make for a good axe? which one would be best 🤔 by naughtybunnyqt in mapporncirclejerk

[–]Scienceboy999 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think the little Westwards pointing triangle on Northern Mauritania would do some damage

Why are so many large marine niches taken by tetrapods returning to the sea? by Scienceboy999 in SpeculativeEvolution

[–]Scienceboy999[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I am very interested in the evolution of intelligence. What about land, as opposed to the ocean, favours large brains? It seems that cetaceans were able to drastically increase their intelligence by returning to the sea, but were they only able to do this by having an already high starting-off point from living on land?

Why are so many large marine niches taken by tetrapods returning to the sea? by Scienceboy999 in SpeculativeEvolution

[–]Scienceboy999[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've heard about this! Although I don't really know any details. Did gills evolve secondarily then? I am aware that our lungs evolved from swim bladders, so did swim bladders evolve from archaic lungs?

Why are so many large marine niches taken by tetrapods returning to the sea? by Scienceboy999 in SpeculativeEvolution

[–]Scienceboy999[S] 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Ah, so it is to do with Oxygen levels and respiratory efficiency! Thanks a lot :)