Random Questions Thread

Coronal Mass Ejections, in a worst case scenario, can cause auroras to turn night into day and be visible as far south as Florida. And cause everything to go to shit on the side of the Earth to get hit. In most instances, you get increased aurora activity, radio and satellite disruptions, and cosmic radiation in the upper atmosphere.

There might be a connection between sunspot cycles and El Niño/La Niña events.

edited 24th Mar '17 5:15:00 PM by WillDeRegio

Well, all weather on Earth is ultimately a result of energy from the Sun becoming trapped within the atmosphere unevenly (due to the rotation of the Earth and various landmasses). Any major change in that energy could have massive effects on our weather and climate.

What's the correct way to type a long dash (em dash? en dash? I'm talking about these—things) in a correctly formatted manuscript? I'm talking double-spaced, 12-point Courier New, the works.

Is it like - this, or like--this? Or something else entirely?

Based on past critiques I've gotten on my stuff, the accepted way seems to be "like - this". The Purdue OWL states it should be "like—this", and the Chicago Manual of Style seems to, as well. I prefer to do mine "like- this" for mostly artistic reasons- I see the em dash as a pause. To me, sticking the dash to the word on its left sort of visually conveys the act of stopping that part of the sentence, while the one space just after it is the pause proper. But throughout all of high school and college, I've never had a teacher or professor so much as note the way I do dashes, much less tell me that I was doing them improperly. Of course, I suppose it makes more of a difference if you're trying to get traditionally published.

edited 24th Mar '17 8:07:55 PM by CrystalGlacia

"Like - this" is how I tend to do it, too. "Like—this" is how it's supposed to ultimately look, but apparently that messes up the spacing and publishers don't like it.

I mostly do it like- this as well.

Oh, and sorry if I'm asking again, but my previous question got skipped. Mind if I ask again?

The hyphen is used to combine words, not separate them. That said, writers and publishers may happen to use "--" to denote the same thing as a dash. The thing about publishers not liking the actual em dash is fair to say, but the spacing issue goes away if you (a) hug the em dash with space characters, or (b) use an en dash, or (c) use an en dash hugged by space characters.

However, if you want to use a single hyphen for your writing, note that "this- method" is confusing. It looks like you left out a space character for "this - method," that you inserted a space character for combining words, or that you were trying to use a hanging hyphen.

Re this post: If someone were to try to murder Tom, the last thing on his mind would be "death" in a general sense. He would be more concerned with the person trying to murder him, how to survive the situation, or something in the "here and now" so to speak. For Randolph to think being straight up murdered would serve Tom right... that would probably make Randolph anti-social (ASPD) and possibly a sociopath.

Concerning the characterization in the scenarios: I think you're spot on for their reactions to death. A young child who was already exposed to death would react differently than a child who was not exposed to death when they were young (eight years is young but not "young child" young). I think the scenario of Randolph writing about the experience makes sense if we're talking about a teenager, however. An older adult would have already tried to process the trauma in some expressive way, and there isn't enough to go on in this scenario in order to determine whether or not Randolph would or wouldn't have wrote about it as a teenager. (We only know that he is a member of the upper-middle class as an adult.) I also think that Randolph's reaction to Tom's rude comment is realistic. However, I'm not sure how to interpret Tom's rude comment. If he understands death in general, then why would he try to make fun of someone who is trying to cope with a traumatic event involving death? I'm not sure I see the logic of that particular characterization.

edited 25th Mar '17 11:00:36 PM by WaterBlap

Just wondering, if it preferred to bump an old topic or make a new topic with the same subject when it comes to posting about a topic you like?

I see a thread from four years ago with an interesting subject called "List all your named characters". I want to do that, but I don't know if I should bump that or make another topic about it.

that is called necromancy. It's not encouraged here.

But it happens anyway, and no one's ever been banned for it. The best compromise is to quote the original thread OP into the new thread OP and also any important posts that came after it.

edited 26th Mar '17 8:29:37 AM by DeMarquis

say i got a job as a bagger with a wage of 9 dollars an hour. i work there everyday, 3 hours a week. after working a entire month, could i afford the following things:

toon boom premium (on a annually subscription)

storyboard pro (permanent or annually)

(if you don't know what they are, just google the pricing of each)

Not enough information about general living expenses, or what portion of that income will be going into them.

Also yes, "everyday, 3 hours a week" is unclear, if its 3 hours over the whole week, how is it every day? Is it perhaps "3 hours daily" for a week?

edited 27th Mar '17 6:42:31 AM by Adannor

I'm waiting for our IT guy to fix my computer's VPN, so I'll bite.

Based on the level of detail you've given us, this looks like a fourth grade math problem- I looked up the prices and just had to multiply three numbers to figure out what you'd make per month. Assuming you actually meant three hours a week and you don't have anything else you might want to use that money for (you're living at home, your parents are covering all of your expenses except this, this is just pocket money for your own personal use), you could probably afford either program from the get-go depending on the income tax rate in your workplace's area, and that's without even using the student discount.

Also, this thread is for questions about writing and storytelling. While asking for recommendations on software that helps you organize your stories is well within the scope of this thread, animation software is something that visual arts people would know more about, not a writing topic. Asking about personal finance is not what this thread is for, and is better suited for Quickie Questions in Yack Fest. But considering that it's not hard to calculate your weekly, monthly, and annual earnings and subtract all of the income and social security taxes (which vary by state and municipality) there's no reason why you shouldn't have tried this yourself. Or asked your parents, who probably know a bit more about income tax than I do.

edited 27th Mar '17 6:42:47 AM by CrystalGlacia

i almost forgot, i'm 17 years old and i am currently living with my parents. also, i'm working during the summer and maybe either at food lion, Kroger or Walmart.

and i honestly didn't know. i'll ask elsewhere.

edited 27th Mar '17 6:52:08 AM by ewolf2015

I dunno if this belongs here, but what if you're an illustrator (+ co-author) and the author of your work is your abusive partner?

I know this is an odd and unhealthy situation, but just deal with me here.

edited 28th Mar '17 10:18:08 PM by fdiaperhead

You get help outside of a forum that is not streamlined to deal with abuse.

Ideally you get out of there, but I highly doubt anyone here is equipped to deal with that, especially since this is a thread about random writing questions that can be answered in one post, like "how much do warheads go for on the black market or has it never happened before" or something.

Depends on what you mean by "abusive". Is he abusing the partnership, by taking credit for your work, or something like that? That, sadly, is a relatively common situation, though I'm not sure this is the right thread for it.

If you mean physically abusive, then what MR Ahr said.

For the record, he was previously emotionally abusive. He's gradually growing less so, but well...

Credit is not much of a problem, though. We take credit for our respective aspects of the story.

edited 29th Mar '17 8:32:28 AM by fdiaperhead

If he's "previously" been emotionally abusive, there's a chance he's no different and your perception of his abusiveness is what changed.

Oddly enough, I had a similar experience with a video editor and I can tell you it is not a fun situation to be in. If you want my advice, get out of it as soon as possible.

But obviously I (and the rest of us here) don't know the full details of the situation — for privacy's sake, I'd recommend not divulging them — so this is something you'll have to solve with people in your life and/or a professional.

So, how much authority do cops/fbi have? Like can they go to a school, say "hey we need to pull out Johnny Random Student for the day and bring him in for questioning" and have it done?

Absolutely and without question.

Not quite the same, but a few years back in my theater class, two officers just walked up and cuffed one of my classmates before walking him out. No talking to the professor, no talking to HIM, or ANYTHING. If it matters, he was black, and he didn't fight them at all. A whole lot of black families in Oakland tell their children not to question the cops, because they'll just get hurt/killed.

I don't know what the legal laws ARE regarding "policemen taking out a student for questioning/arrest," but we didn't argue with them because cops have guns.

Edit: Oh joy, they DO have the legal authority to just walk in and take a student out of class.

edited 30th Mar '17 10:11:57 PM by Sharysa

Well generally they cooperate with the administration beforehand but like, they can't say "No you can't take him."

Well that just sounds ripe for plot devices. Thanks!