Random Questions Thread

Aerogel!

^ That.

Or maybe some sort of heavy wool or other material which keeps the wearer warm (and protected from the wind) by trapping layers of air as insulation.

Feathers?

Pumice. Smoke (and Vapour Wear). Ventifacts (wind-carved rocks).

I think spider silk is the greatest, though.

Thanks! Aerogel clothing would be... interesting.

Fun fact: people can make gorgeous cloth out of spider silk. You just need either the patience to keep trapping a million wild spiders or some means to breed/domesticate them.

edited 2nd Apr '15 9:19:02 AM by Sharysa

Or you can just GM a few goats.

That works too.

I totally read that as "Game Master", as in, the Pathfinder version of a Dungeon Master, and for a few seconds before my brain started working properly, I had the most hilarious image in my mind.

Lots of games use it besides Pathfinder, y'know.

I, er, don't know, actually. Pathfinder is the only place I've ever encountered it. I don't play a lot of tabletop roleplaying games.

Dungeon Master (and DM) was invented and trademarked by TSR, and I believe Wizards of the Coast got the trademark when they bought out TSR. So every other game tends to come up with their own version.

So um

I was really just making a remark about how I amusingly misinterpreted an acronym

I'm sorry I mentioned Pathfinder, I didn't realize it would be so offensive

It wasn't. I was actually attempting to be semi-educational; Game Master is so common a term I was genuinely surprised you'd attach it to one system.

I understand, just countering with the observation that D&D and Pathfinder are the only tabletop roleplaying games I have any experience with, and even my knowledge of those is very limited. I guess it was the "y'know" that came off as "You should know this already". Call it Poe's Law at work yet again. Sorry I got defensive.

About how long would it take to develop film from a consumer camera in the early 1960's?

Actual processing time spent, or how long before the customer would get the pictures after they dropped it off at the photo counter/camera store?

Actual time spent developing is about 4 hours of work, with drying time for both the negatives and the prints bringing it to about 18 hours total. If you had the dryers for them, like a camera store would have, and if the developing was done on-site so no time was spent transporting it to the lab and back, and it was started immediately, about 6 hours.

Taking it to a cameras store or the photo counter in another type of store, it would be unlikely that you'd get them back in under 2 days — 3 to 4 would be more likely and at times of heavy demand (after the Christmas holidays, around graduation, during the summer when people were getting their vacation pictures developed) it could go as high as 5-7 days.

Fotomat offered 24-hour turnaround, beginning in 1965, but didn't hit its peak of business until 1980.

In general, how much leeway would a bodyguard have in dealing with police (barely legally to straight-up illegally) harassing their client?

Off hand? I'd say next to none. Their only option is to try official channels or remove the client from the harassment. Most pamphlets and websites on dealing with the police advise you never to antagonise an officer; if, for instance, you are stopped on the street and offer resistance, that can be used as a reason to arrest you (which will damage your chances against any other charges they might bring).

Yeah, and it's kinda hard to guard someone when the police just hauled you off in a cruiser.

Something I've been thinking when writing an adult story, when isn't gore and nudity gratuitous, in other words, unnecessary?

When it's important to the plot and has meaning beyond itself. I.e., if you're writing a bunch of gore just for gore's sake, then it's gratuitous. If you're writing a bunch of gore because a later plot point requires a character to have PTSD as a result of watching his friend get ripped apart limb from limb, then it's not (necessarily) gratuitous.

Likewise with nudity. If there's a reason for a sex scene or a nude scene beyond Fanservice, then it's plot relevant.

edited 15th Apr '15 10:12:37 AM by SolipSchism

I feel like I want to share my ideas and written outlines of stories (not really completed works, because I need somebody to look at it as a beta watcher, before I upload it), just to get some opinions, but there seems to be a problem. What if your story has perverted stuff and/or based on a fandom that the person has no interest in?

edited 15th Apr '15 3:03:32 PM by DokemonStudios

Incidentally, this is why I've never felt the need to improve on my personal inability to write sex scenes - it's extremely unlikely that I'll ever actually need to write one that can't just be boiled down to letting the readers know it happened.

Upfront disclosure?

Just ask people if they want to read an unfinished work to help critique/proofread/edit/whatever it, and tell them what the story is about. If there's anything in the story that would be idiosyncratic to a specific fandom, or offensive to some people, etc., just tell them upfront "It's a Pony fanfic" or "it has a lot of gore" or "there's a rape scene" or whatever you're concerned about. Let them decide if they're okay with that.

Aye. I have read some decent sex scenes, but I have never read a sex scene that felt like it was necessary. Likewise with film and video game—I have never seen a sex scene that served any purpose that couldn't have been just as well-served by having the characters embrace, fall into a bed, fade to black.

Not that sex scenes are bad. I've just never seen a non-pornographic work that really needed them.

Porn/erotica notwithstanding, of course. For obvious reasons.

Edit: Actually. Shortbus is a non-pornographic movie that wouldn't have worked without its sex scenes. But, well, the movie is about sex and sexuality, so yeah. It's the exception that proves the rule, for me.

edited 15th Apr '15 3:13:50 PM by SolipSchism

Arguably, the sex scene in the Terminator was the least gratuitious scene in cinematic history, since not only the movie, but the entire series couldnt have happened if it hadnt happened. Of course, it wasnt very explicit.