Bay 12 Games Forum

Aww yeah Hans! Getting groped by people who probably have no interest in you, but sure as hell don't act like it!

Speaking of awkward situations with people of no romantic interest, I had to practice placing EKG electrodes on my coworker the other day. Apparently bone conducts the signal the best, so we place the electrodes just under the clavicle and then down where your hip bone is. So basically it involves pulling down someone's shirt and pants, then spending time applying gel and rubbing a sticker while attempting to be as professional as possible.

Quote from: greatorder on November 01, 2012, 10:09:08 pm

more relevant image for my previous post:

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

EDIT: also, I've accepted that in all likelihood, if we do explore out of our system, it'll be via generation ships or, if possible, cryostasis.

A friend of mine pointed out a flaw with generation ships that I never thought of before. By the time the ship reached it destination, or at least by the time the colony was able to send people back for trading, the colonists would have diverged evolutionary so much that they might not be recognizable as human. Humans evolved to live on a rotating planet with gravitation acceleration equal to 9.81 m/s/s downwards at sea level, and gradually decreasing as altitude increases. We did not evolve to live on a spaceship, potentially with artificial gravity that would not imitate Earth's gravity well, but probably with near-zero gravity, flying though space, not rotating. Just those differences alone would create some distinct adaptations in the people on the generation ships.

And then there's the fact that they will inevitably be horribly inbred, unless occupants are carefully selected to ensure that the gene pool is as diverse as possible. But, that would cause other problems, namely the fact that the occupants' life partners and future families are being picked for them, instead of by them. People tend to not like that.

India seems to have no problem with the whole arranged marriage thing, and if I recall correctly some studies done on relationship satisfaction have actually shown that those relationships are pretty decent. The being inbred problem would certainly arise, but the main concern I have about generation ships is how long they would have to last. Oxygen causes a lot of problems when it's around anything, and I find it hard to believe that we as a species could create something built to last for that long.

Don't worry Kaijyuu, it's close enough to Halloween that no one will really notice. Hell, you could probably chainsaw someone in half before they realize you're not just a day late.

Quote from: Shinotsa on November 01, 2012, 09:59:44 pm

He's already head and shoulders above Romney and Obama.

No he's not, he just hasn't received the glare of public attention that would expose his every flaw, real or imagined.

To clarify that was not a serious statement. My sole criteria for the decision were jokes involving his television career and the similarity of his name to something dwarven. I still believe firmly that it is possible for him to be better than them. Not probable of course, but the current system for selecting the president seems to select based on criteria that may not be the most important. Like financial wealth and connections rather than intellect and experience.

Romney did endorse civil unions back in the 90's, but these days he has someone holding his leash.

He's endorsed everything over the course of his life. I hate to mimic the media, but it really is true that he's changed his views drastically from public appearance to public appearance. I know that tends to be the norm during presidential elections, and perhaps my observations are skewed by the fact that this is the first election that I can vote in and thus I have paid more attention to it, but it honestly seems that his "flip-flopping" is far worse than that of past candidates.

Also, is Ben Stein for giving more tax rebates? If so I'd vote for him purely so I could "win Ben Stein's money." Jokes aside, his name also associates with a fairly dorfy drinking apparatus. He's already head and shoulders above Romney and Obama.

Despite how common it is in everyday speech, when you resort to making wide generalizations about a specific group in a serious argument, you've just lost all your credibility. There are intelligent people on every side of an argument (even if a side is wrong, a prime example being the scientific process) and saying that you can spot an X because they do Y is tantamount to outdated stereotypes vilifying the poor or minority groups. I rarely post serious comments that are off-topic and I very much apologize for doing so, but I just have to say that if you are going to dismiss the other side of an argument as below you then you may as well stop arguing your point.

Anyhow, on the topic of whether or not sides get things done, how many filibusters have their been for each party in the past decade? Being a college student I mainly hear about Republican filibusters, but I feel that there must have been democrats stonewalling legislation as well.

Math makes me rage. All the time. So I'm working out my rage with you guys!

36/45, MCAT style

Very good, but there is a strange absence of hugs