Hello, fellow writers! Got any question that you can't find answer from Google or Wikipedia, but you don't think it needs a separate thread for? You came to the right place!
Don't be shy, and just ask away. The nice folks here, writers and non-writers, experts and non-experts, will do their best to help you.
The folder below contains links for special interest threads, mostly at OTC, but also from Yack Fest and Troper Coven.
- Aircrafts and Aviation
- Computer
- Economics
- General Religion, Mythology, and Theology
- General Science Thread
- Chemistry
- Earth Science, including Meteorology
- Medicine
- Physics
- Space
- Just don't talk about space warfare over there; use Sci-fi Warfare thread below instead.
- Chemistry
- History
- Martial arts
- Military
- Police and Law Enforcements
- Politics
- The opening post of the linked thread includes links to political threads on specific countries as well.
- Philosophy
- Psychology
- Sci-fi Warfare
Also take a look at Useful Notes on various topics. They can be pretty useful.
Now, bring on the questions, baby!
edited 11th Apr '18 6:31:51 PM by dRoy
Let's say that there's an anti-gravity technology that works by designating "zones" of space, and applying a constant force vector on everything in that zone. You could easily have two zones right next to each other with different directions.
Now, let's say that there are two roads that are perpendicular to each other. One of the roads is up and down, and one of the roads is normal. [1]
◊ Use this image to visualize where the zones are. In the blue "zone", cars are pulled towards the up-and-down road, and in the red "zone", cars are pulled towards the normal road, so on each road, the other road appears as a vertical wall that cars are stuck to. Now, here's my question:
Would it be possible to design a car (a wheeled car with four wheels under the car, not some kind of Spider Tank) capable of moving from one road to the other? Would putting the wheels at the corners of the car, sticking out significantly in front of the hood and behind the bumper, be a valid solution?
edited 10th May '13 11:17:34 PM by DAStudent
I'd say I'm being refined Into the web I descend Killing those I've left behind I have been EndarkenedIt seems valid, though the intersection would have to be more gradual than a single 90-degree sharp turn for the car to make the transition successfully. You may have problems with everything unsecured in the car falling forward, though.
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.Unless the setting has localized Artificial Gravity devices in the cars, of course.
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.I think that there will be a small "zone" centered on where the two roads meet in which neither force is dominant. In that case, a car moving along one road toward the intersection of the other is in danger of losing all gravitational attraction to either road, and just drifting off into space, before falling randomly toward one road or the other.
Might need to guard against that.
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.How do I figure out laws that are state specific if my setting isn't in a specific state? Should I just take laws for the states in the region I think it's set in and make an average based on that?
By state specific laws I mean things like the age of consent, what you have to do to get a license, gun laws, things like that. Some of it might end up being relevant in my story, some of it is just stuff I'd like to know. I'm avoiding putting the setting in a specific state because it's a fictional city.
Certainly; that'd work. Or just baseline everything off an existing city. It's generally possible to figure out what laws are state-specific or federal on the Internet.
Charlie Stross's cheerful, optimistic predictions for 2017, part one of three.Question: could anyone maybe suggest a city that:
- Is fairly large, well-developed and historically/economically prominent, but isn't packed to the brim with skyscrapers,
- Would make a reasonable location for an international art/archaeology-related conference, and
- Is (preferably) located in a country where English is widely spoken but not legally an official language?
Thank you very much in advance!
Equipped with his five senses, man explores the universe around him and calls the adventure Science.And it's technically the tongue that does most of the hard work regarding forming words/letters out of the air being ejected from the lungs, with assistance of the jaw and lips of course.
edited 12th May '13 1:04:51 PM by MarqFJA
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.In the 1920s, how plausible would it be for a large business owner * to train his son to take over the company when he retires?
If that's possible, what would the training consist of? Would the son be sitting at a desk figuring out business acumen over paper? Sitting at meetings over business decisions? What else?
1) Very
2) It would depend on the business owner. He might make his kid work his way up in the company, he might simply have him observe the executives, he might drop him into a high-level job from the get-go (with or without sending him to college first).
edited 12th May '13 8:20:20 PM by Madrugada
What a fun way for a person with super strength to stop a car going about 30 mph? Note that they don't have super anchoring abilities but can fly, but not while carrying a car. The person inside the car is slight more robust than a normal human and needs to survive. They are driving the car towards the character at the time, exiting a multi story car park.
Depends on the magnitude of the super strength. Requiring that the driver survive puts a cap on the acceleration that the car can experience, which in turn puts a minimum on the distance over which the force must act. If the person can exert a lot of force in their flight, they could just hover in its path and push against the car that way; if not, they could try to run alongside it and pull, or something.
Shinigan (Naruto fanfic)

Well, I don't want to destroy your scenario, but families often have strategies for buying in bulk such that one extra child doesn't really hurt all that much...
I'm done trying to sound smart. "Clear" is the new smart.