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Everyone who calls themselves "wolf-something" or "something-wolf" almost inevitably turns out to be an irredeemable shitneck.

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Messages - Mesozoic Mister Nigel

#61
Literate Chaotic / Re: Consistently Overcast Skies
June 13, 2017, 06:34:37 PM
Quote from: Hoopla on June 13, 2017, 04:48:52 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 13, 2017, 04:13:14 PM
There are a lot of considerations. One of them is that without plants in the first place, you wouldn't ever be likely to have a cloud cover in the first place. Basically, if this is an imaginary planet, you have to design the planet, and then you can build life with a backstory. For example, you might have a warm planet with a constantly-cycling thin cloud cover around the equator due to all the plant life. Light and heat still get through the clouds, and they can act as a pretty effective greenhouse layer.

The planet is very earth-like, and the constant cloud cover is basically over a landmass the size of the UK. The rest of the planet has regular weather, more or less. It is thought that this one landmass has been cursed by the gods, and has been covered by clouds for at least a few hundred years. Presumably it had more regular weather beforehand.

So I would assume whatever regular crops they had pre-cloud cover would start to yield less and less each harvest, with some of the heartier crops holding on.

The crops aren't a huge part of the story, though the cloud cover eventually would be. Basically wondering if it would be possible for this land to grow its own crops or whether they would have to be imported in from more hospitable lands.

It sounds to me like it would be possible, though the results would be meagre and they would likely depend on imports quite a bit.

Is it just sort of that typical misty-grey light cloud cover that sprinkles occasionally? Lots of crops grow fairly well under those conditions. You'd be looking at a lot of greens, root vegetables, not so much fruit, not a lot of grains. Rice might be OK. If we're talking thick dark clouds and heavy rain, you would have a serious problem; seeds couldn't get hold, you'd end up with severe runoff and erosion.
#62
Color me unsurprised. Weren't we saying this all along?
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2017/06/new_research_on_role_of_sexism_in_2016_election.html
QuoteMaxwell's gender-based analysis of the Blair Center Poll's results for this year has just been released, and it shows that sexism absolutely did matter. Trump's voters were more sexist than Clinton's (and Ted Cruz voters were even more sexist than Trump voters). Republicans were far more sexist than Democrats. White respondents were more sexist than black Americans and Latinos. Female respondents, not to be outdone, were also quite sexist! And Bernie primary voters who didn't vote for Clinton in the general were more sexist than those who did.

Maxwell's report: https://blaircenter.uark.edu/the-impact-of-modern-sexism/
#63
Literate Chaotic / Re: Consistently Overcast Skies
June 13, 2017, 04:13:14 PM
There are a lot of considerations. One of them is that without plants in the first place, you wouldn't ever be likely to have a cloud cover in the first place. Basically, if this is an imaginary planet, you have to design the planet, and then you can build life with a backstory. For example, you might have a warm planet with a constantly-cycling thin cloud cover around the equator due to all the plant life. Light and heat still get through the clouds, and they can act as a pretty effective greenhouse layer.
#64
Quote from: Hoopla on June 12, 2017, 08:47:25 PM
Quote from: Freeky on May 27, 2017, 04:04:10 AM


There's just so much here to point at. It's like a piece of art.

A recent episode of Silicon Valley had a great bit about mansplaining.

I got the best mansplain from an undergraduate this morning, who heard that I'd been in Manitoba researching the snakes and was being Very Helpful like "To learn more about those snakes you should contact Dr. Bob M and this other guy and blah blah blah" which was priceless because Bob was there in Manitoba, because OF FUCKING COURSE HE WAS. 
#65
Quote from: Chelagoras The Boulder on June 12, 2017, 08:56:36 PM
I remember reading somewhere that a major sign of being an evil bastard is never stopping to worry you might be one. Obviously worrying about it doesn't make you a saint, but you're less likely to fuck up if you're stopping to check your moral maths.

Yep! This is where self-checking comes in. People tend to be very resistant to self-checking, though, as the "dig your heels in and screech" principle illustrates.
#66
Only Maybe Arts Lab / Re: Lao Tzu, Wandering
June 12, 2017, 07:37:02 PM
Quote from: Bobby Campbell on June 09, 2017, 03:11:09 AM


I feel like this sums up the inner feelings of every scientist ever.
#67
Thanks, QG. I've made a decision to write about this more, and the only place I really feel like I can post about it is here, so I apologize in advance because some of my upcoming posts are gonna be real bummers.
#68
Quote from: Nephew Twiddleton on June 12, 2017, 01:34:35 PM
Quote from: Mesozoic Mister Nigel on June 10, 2017, 04:07:57 PM
I taught my last class of the term and formally accepted my RAship for the summer. I'm excited because 50 hours a week is so much less than I've been working, but also kind of bummed because technically I'm only supposed to be working 15 hours a week and my advisor is formally violating university policy and State and possibly Federal law by demanding that I work 3x the hours I'm being paid for.

Whoa

Yeah, in fact I just looked at my contract again, and I am approved at 57.5 hours PER MONTH. I'm not enrolled in any credits this summer either, so it's not like I'm working to earn credits. I'm just  flat-out being illegally exploited, but it's a time-honored tradition and I'm not sure there's anything I can do about it without derailing my program.
#69
The first time someone told me I had a "Type A" personality, I was offended.

I had always associated the so-called type A personality with the sorts of people I held in the lowest regard; stockbrokers, CEOs, bankers, high-power sales. Mercenaries, in my mind, out to make a buck at the expense of the naive and the optimistic.

Over time, though, and after pursuing an education that included deep analysis of the origins of personality and temperament, I came to understand what "Type A" is shorthand for, and I realize now that the person who called me that is completely correct. I understand and acknowledge that I am one of those high-energy, ambitious, nonstop control freaks. I also understand why, and what the consequences are for those of us who fall into this unfortunate bin.

Type A people are driven, to start with. Where other people deal with anxiety by withdrawing and feeling drained or powerless, we deal with it by PUSHING AS HARD AS WE CAN against whatever makes us anxious. We are convinced that if we flinch or look away, That Thing will win, so we engage our natural propensity toward hypervigilance and NEVER LOOK AWAY. We are convinced that if we stare hard enough, we can win.

RELAX, the articles tell us, TYPE A PERSONALITIES ARE MORE PRONE TO HEART DISEASE AND HYPERTENSION AND STROKE.

Relax? Are you shitting me? That's how they get us, we know that! If we relax everything will fall apart. If we look away, we will lose and That Badness will win. OK, yeah, I know that I will die younger and more horribly than I need to, but if I can stay on top of everything, then the people I care about will be safe, and isn't that the point? Isn't that why I do all of this?

If we falter in our vigilance, SOMEONE WE LOVE WILL DIE. I have proof. I know this firsthand. I failed in my vigilance, I let my control slip, and I lost my son. I failed. I looked away. And the consequences were everything I ever feared, they were what I became this way to prevent in the first place.

So you go on and relax, you kick back and have your blanket-fort days. Indulge yourself by doing nothing, take care of your heart and your beloved, fragile spirit. We will be watching. We will always be vigilant. We will kill ourselves with the sheer will to protect you, because we love you, and we know the consequences of failing in our duty.
#70
WTF why

https://welovemanfood.com/

Best excerpt:
QuoteCreated by Andre Dang, a former buyer for Harrods and Selfridges, Manfood came about as a direct result of family complaining about a lack of properly crisp, chunky pickles.

So I guess only men care about food being not garbage?
#71
There's an interesting phenomenon with cults; typically with most cults, there is a moment of truth when the cult predictions don't come true, or the cult leader is exposed as a fraud. At that time, a large proportion of the cult's followers become disillusioned, and leave the cult, often forming deep hostility and resentment toward the cult that wasted their time/money and/or caused them to engage in behavior they believe they would not normally have done. The remaining proportion, however, develop an even deeper faith, and an unshakeable resolve to support and believe in the cult no matter what evidence indicates it is an unwise choice, or that they are being misled and even defrauded.

Scott Adams is probably going to be the latter, and it will be an interesting thing to watch unfold as his attempts to rationalize become increasingly shrill and disjointed.
#72
I taught my last class of the term and formally accepted my RAship for the summer. I'm excited because 50 hours a week is so much less than I've been working, but also kind of bummed because technically I'm only supposed to be working 15 hours a week and my advisor is formally violating university policy and State and possibly Federal law by demanding that I work 3x the hours I'm being paid for.
#73
Propaganda Depository / Re: Multifold Megathread
June 10, 2017, 04:00:32 PM
This is so perfect for using up the rest of my print allowance! Yesss.
#74
<clusterfuckery intensifies>
#75
Very excellent! I gotta take advantage of my print allowance before the end of the term...