Random Questions Thread

Good idea, thanks.

A quick search tells me that a spider's walking (and presumably running) gait is basically like two quadrupedal animals in series; at any given time, four of the eight legs are on the ground and the other four are raised up.

Now, suppose that the fantasy hero Adam has a Giant Spider as his Horse of a Different Color; what would the mount's running gait be like? For example, would Adam have with twice as much shaking, or would it be actually worse than that?

is it possible to introduce 5 characters in a 30 min script?

IIRC, Avatar: The Last Airbender's first episode introduced nine recurring characters - Katara, Sokka, their grandmother, Appa, Zuko, Iroh, Zhao, Aang's mentor and Aang himself. The average ATLA episode lasts just over 20 minutes.

Nothing is impossible. It's all in the execution.

See this video (mild arachnophobia warning).

It all depends on the species of the spider, but four pair of legs mean that the spider's torso is generally more stable in motion than the horse's, but there's still some wobbling present. If you enlarge a spider the wobbling will be felt more intensely, but compared to riding a horse it'll probably wobble with less amplitude, but with higher frequency.

P.S. On second thought, the bases of spider legs are located in a very close proximity to each other, so the spider will probably wobble a lot.

Edited by Millership on Sep 5th 2018 at 5:35:16 PM

So more wobbling then with a quadrupedal mount?

The brown recluse spider's torso on this video (medium arachnophobia warning, a closeup of a real spider) on 0.25 speed doesn't seem to wobble a lot...

Depends on the species, but definitely with higher frequency, perhaps?

Depends on how coordinated the giant spider is. If it can pull off a near perfect 4-point landing with each stride, it would be a very steady ride indeed. If, however, the legs are slightly off, then the rider would experience some up and down motion.

Bear in mind that you guys are talking about regular spiders whose size is measured in mere inches, while I'm talking about giant spiders that are measured in meters. Maybe real spiders don't wobble so much because they're so light in comparison to their size and muscular systems, whereas a "spider"^note Quotation marks used because we all know that due to the Square-Cube Law, spider biology generally doesn't really scale well past a certain size. My conception of a giant spider, for example, imagines them with an actual endoskeleton as well as a closed circulatory system, and their exoskeleton is probably more like an armadillo's or a turtle's, e.g. it has its own blood supply, sweat glands and other skin features. big enough for a human to ride may be too heavy for its size to not noticeably shake with every step. Square-Cube Law, you know?

Edited by MarqFJA on Sep 5th 2018 at 6:51:33 PM

It's your story, dude. Make whatever handwaves your plot requires.

We can only speculate about the anatomy of spiders of such size and what kind of walk they'll walk, since terrestrial arachnids didn't even approach such sizes in the Earth's history.

Or we can extrapolate, but that wouldn't be right, right?

@Millership I asked this question somewhere else where the person suggested it be in media res if i wanted to introduce 5 characters. i didn't know why they suggested it though.

& Look, I came here because I am very unfamiliar with the physics that govern an animal's gait, especially the stability and shaking aspects. And I do like trying to stick to reality whenever I have no need to make things up.

All I'm trying to say is that maybe we should base such extrapolations the other way around — like, start by postulating a "horse" whose body is shaped like that of a spider (including the general structure of the limbs), and then work out what the gait of that would be like. I'm sorry if I accidentally came across as disrespectful towards your feedback.

Edited by MarqFJA on Sep 5th 2018 at 3:16:36 PM

Not to sound unproductive but would it be reasonable to assume that most viewers/readers would view the wobble physics of a giant spider mount to be a somewhat inconsequential detail?

I say this because nearly all people would not have a frame of reference to compare against as nothing similar exists in the Real World. As such, whether or not there is a lot of shaking that a rider has to deal with is something the creator can easily handwave and the average viewer/reader will accept.

Put it another way, if a particular viewer/reader is the type to take issue about this detail, they are also likely to complain about how giant spiders are unrealistic due to square-cube law.

The thing is, it was never about viewer/reader response. I am genuinely interested in the subject, both out of simple curiosity and for the potential applications in a narrative.

Edited by MarqFJA on Sep 6th 2018 at 4:46:09 PM

If you examine the famous movie clip of a galloping horse, you will notice (as have many others) that the horse doesn't actually land with more than one leg at a time. The horse spaces it's leg's strides such that there is more or less continuous force being applied to the ground, except for one space in the sequence when the entire horse is suspended in midair (this lasts a fraction of a second). It is this action that creates the "clustered vibration separated by quick pauses" effect that riders on a galloping horse experience. You will have to decide for yourself if an eight legged creature manifests the same pattern, with a cluster of eight vibrations followed by a lead into the air, or if the gait is more evenly spaced out, such that there are no pauses at all but just one continuous vibration produced by the legs hitting the ground.

I see. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Have a few questions:

1. When is a joke more than just a joke? What are the differences between the jokes as characterizaton or jokes as entertainment? How do you read jokes in general?

2. Let say you have a story with a bizarre setting and characters but one of the main criticisms of your story is that it takes itself too seriously. Should you try to tone down "seriousness" or should you be wacky? How do you know when a story needs to be serious or when to be silly?

3. How do you get people to take your work seriously?

I do not know which movie clip you're talking about, but if I did find this, which does illustrate what you're saying quite well.

If you personally ask me, I'd actually go for both patterns, because a combination of gut feeling and vague impressions from things I've probably read in the past on the topic tells me that an evenly spaced gait is probably trading top speed (or maybe acceleration?) for overall stability of motion, while the clustered pattern focuses on maximizing top speed/acceleration at the cost of increasing the potential severity of injuries should the motion be "disastrously" impeded ^note as in, the creature is sent hurtling down to the ground at the speed they were moving at, rather than them managing to remain "standing" on their feet but forced to lose speed or even brake to a standstill in order to successfully re-stabilize. So basically, my Giant Pseudo-Spider species would use each pattern when the circumstances dictate said pattern is most optimal.

Fun fact: Horses have a lot of possible walking and running patterns, including the tölt, which has the same pattern as a horse's normal walk, is often said to be unique to the Icelandic horse and has the distinction of rivaling a full gallop in sheer speed yet being practically bounce-free (it's said the rider could drink a pint without spilling a drop).

Edited by MarqFJA on Sep 10th 2018 at 12:47:34 PM

I was actually referring to this one, which I believe may be the very first motion picture ever made, but the one you found is just as good. Glad to help.

Edited by DeMarquis on Sep 12th 2018 at 12:02:46 PM

When is a joke more than a joke? What is the differnece the "Joss Whedon" style bathos humor that utilizes characterization and something that feels "random"?

That is such a broad question its really impossible to answer. What people consider "funny" is so context dependent, and changes so frequently, there really is no way to know short of exposing yourself to a lot of humor. What sort of jokes are you most interested in?

I am refering to the Bathos, the use of butt monkey, witty dialogue, misdirection, expectation subversion and black comedy. I am not familiar with all forms of comedy but those are the ones that I am somewhat familiar.

Edited by GAP on Sep 13th 2018 at 6:43:41 AM

Are there any colonial/modern landmarks in Latin America that incorporate a large degree of native influence in its architecture?

This is a question that involves knowledge of politics, law, economics, and God knows what else that I haven't thought of.

Using our modern world as a starting point, what would be the requirements for ushering in an era where Mega Corps that can stand toe to toe with political governments and, if lucky enough, control some of said governments (not that it's easy when you're not the only big boy trying to eat the pie) are a fact of life rather than blatant violations of anti-trust laws, in the vein of Shadowrun?

Any threads we have on games of chance like poker and bacarrat?