Random Questions Thread

Is there any free e-book format literature that explores sports (real ones or e-sports) betting and its effects on the sports themselves?

What's the German version of a CSI team? What would they call themselves, and what do they look like?

So Ko perhaps? (Abbreviation for Sonderkommission, meaning special commision) There's a whole series of crime dramas with spinoffs in different cities (the original was SOKO 5113, but there's now SOKO Leipzig, SOKO Wein, SOKO Hamburg, etc.) It isn't specifically just forensics though, it's more like a team of police detectives with the amount of forensics involved varying based on the show.

Another notable series of crime dramas is Tatort, which means crime scene.

Anyway, you can watch various SOKO episodes for free on ZDF's site though it's all obviously in German. For example

edited 16th Mar '15 8:19:32 PM by storyyeller

People of the forum! Given what you know of your own personality, what would be the worst* super power/magical ability for you to have? The power would be entirely voluntary in its use.

* In this case worse means you would be tempted to / actually would abuse it very quickly.

edited 24th Mar '15 6:37:45 AM by MCE

That's such an open ended question that it's impossible to answer.

Invisibility. Ooh, the shit I'd be tempted to steal.

edited 24th Mar '15 8:27:48 AM by Phoenixflame

Seems more like a yackfest topic tbh.

Seems right. had kind of forgotten about that one.

Telepathy. You dont want to know (but I do!).

From a biological standpoint, would it make more sense for a vampire's fangs to be on their upper jaw or lower jaw (or does it even matter)?

I'm a fan of doing the latter, partially just to be different and partially because the lower jaw is a bit more flexible and would possibly allow the vampire to actually draw blood easier. On the other hand, vampire bats have their fangs on their upper jaw, and there's a bit more weight on the upper jaw to make biting through skin easier.

Most animals have elongated teeth on both jaws, but the upper ones tend to be longer (google some pictures of animal skulls).

Dunno if these needs to go in physics:

So there are heavy objects dangling off a cliff, with rope keeping them tied up and dangling. Rope gets cut and person grabs.

So they're weaker than gravity, so they give first and go flying, but then they hit a more solid object, another tree or a rock.

At this point, the rope gives next, and the friction would cause the rope to burn through their hands.

This is...sensible yeah? Like I'm not thinking of anything else that will give first?

I'm not really parsing that. When you say "the rope gives", I hear "the rope breaks", but the very next thing you say is that "the friction would cause the rope to burn through their hands", implying that the rope hasn't given, it's the person's own hands that aren't strong enough to hold onto the rope.

Is that right?

Because if these objects are heavy enough to break a rope, I don't see how a mere human being could be strong enough to hold them up by that rope for any length of time. If they could, they would need to be strong enough to literally pick up the rope and pull it apart with their bare hands.

Oh sorry, by "the rope gives" I mean that's the thing that would cause it to be an unstalemate. It would rapidly move pass the person's hand because they are not strong enough to hold it.

It certainly sounds plausible.

Oh, yeah. They grab the rope, which is attached to objects way too heavy for the person to support, so they get dragged along until they are able to brace against something, at which point they're still not strong enough to support it, so the rope starts burning through their hands. Makes sense to me.

murazrai, you might want to try Google Scholar: [1] Some articles will be subscriber only, but others are not - and if you can't get at the content there's always the abstract/summary.

Really stupid question about English and measurements units: is it ok to use "a fraction of inch" when talking about a length of a few milimeters (an inch is 25.4 milimeters) ?

I don't quite know where to ask this (I'm not a native speaker and use metrics, yet for some reason I decided to write something where people use the imperial system).

edited 27th Mar '15 4:01:25 AM by C105

Yes, it is. Inches are frequently used in fractions (1/4 inch is roughly 5mm^note 6.35mm to be more exact.; 1/2", 1/4" and 1/8" are the most frequently used for things like sewing).

edited 27th Mar '15 4:58:40 AM by Bisected8

OK, thank you Google had been unable to help on that one (apart from finding me a lot of conversion sites).

edited 27th Mar '15 4:49:05 AM by C105

Also, "a fraction of an inch" is a common way to describe anything of esp. small size.

...Well, it's also borderline Cliché. However, that length is technically a "fraction of an inch", as is literally any length of less than an inch (and, technically, over an inch, but that requires a lot more pedantry to justify).

Unless the length is irrationally short.

"Fraction of an inch" is used in Oz, even though we use metric. It's just an idiom here, and if you were actually to ask an Aussie how much 5/8ths of an inch is they'd probably look at you funny.

I'm trying to think of materials (natural ones, not magical) to represent each of the four classical elements in my story. Specifically, it's the material most of their clothing and weapons are made of. I've already got wood for earth, ice for water, and glass for fire, but I'm drawing a blank on air. All I've got so far is bare flesh, which would mean they're barefoot Bare Fisted Monks (not naked, though probably lots of very loose and flowing silk).

edited 31st Mar '15 5:50:24 PM by Discar

Spider silk.