Annoying Questions I'd Like Answered...

K · Post by K » Thu Sep 20, 2012 12:36 am

Cats also like to be around people who are physically warm.

So it might not be you per se, but the BTUs coming off your body.

...You Lost Me · Post by **...You Lost Me** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 2:33 am

I read somewhere on the internet that cats like to be near things that don't move very much, which is why they gravitate to the allergic (people trying to avoid something tend to freeze).

I have a similar problem, with the enmity of dogs. Dogs get all up in my face, either to attack me or to cuddle me. The only exception is when they're too busy doing something like sniffing poop or chasing each other. Dunno why.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 2:38 am

...You Lost Me wrote:I read somewhere on the internet that cats like to be near things that don't move very much, which is why they gravitate to the allergic (people trying to avoid something tend to freeze).

Mostly it's because cats are assholes.

All dogs seem to like me (and vice versa). Maybe they know I'm a bitch (dohohoho).

Amethyst_Butterfly · Post by **Amethyst_Butterfly** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 4:35 am

Koumei wrote:Mostly it's because cats are assholes.

Great answer! I have definitely noticed that my cats prefer to lay on the unmoving more often. Makes sense, really. Cats can definitely be assholes sometimes.

Hicks · Post by **Hicks** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 8:03 am

Hey, a while back I heard you could have people datamine the internet for money. I have 5 bucks and want to have my Chimera material data sheet filled out; how can I make this happen?

K · Post by K » Thu Sep 20, 2012 8:14 am

Amazon's Mechanical Turk is the name of a common site for that kind of thing.

Hicks · Post by **Hicks** » Thu Sep 20, 2012 7:09 pm

Thanks

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:19 am

What are people's opinions here on dice rolling techniques, Practised Rolling and such? Personally, I form a ball with both hands and let all dice rattle around together so I can't possibly know what the result will be, and then drop both hands, opening from below to flatten out - it results in a properly random dice roll without the dice bouncing across the table. Play 40k for a while and you start developing ways to roll dice where your dice stay in a small pile rather than getting lost in terrain, knocking minis over, getting confused with the dice people use to mark Wounds and such.

I'm aware that gambling establishments require people to use dice cups - does the same thing, but there's no possibility that you're holding a die in a crease in your hand.

I know roleplayers are some of the most superstitious people in the world - lucky dice, special dice rolling techniques that have nothing to do with the way the dice roll but involve dancing and chanting, executing dice in front of the others like a Sovjet Commissar etc. They're as bad as sports fans ("When I wear matching socks and stand up, our team wins!") and religious people ("If I oppress minorities and give my money to really rich people, I go to DevonHeaven!")

But do you consider it cheating to just develop a natural rolling method that tends to give good results? (Easiest with few dice rolled, and with smaller die sizes - in other words, playing Warhammer and rolling your lascannon shots separately to your bolter fire.) What about practising your rolling at home so you can deliberately develop a method of consistently rolling well?

K · Post by K » Sat Sep 22, 2012 6:27 am

Most people who game tend to believe in their powers of dice-rolling.

erik · Post by **erik** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 9:24 am

d10's make it easy to cheat in a game like WoD where rolling 0 is awesome and 1 is horribad. All the odd numbers are on one hemi-decahedron and all the evens are on the other and it is not hard at all to roll where you decide to only have 2,4,6,8,10 as your possible rolls so long as you aren't rolling a ton of them at once. In just any system where you want a higher number you will average better rolls than random, and in WoD, not ever getting 1's is a big boon.

And yes, I consider that cheating.

RadiantPhoenix · Post by **RadiantPhoenix** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 3:58 pm

I try to make sure the dice actually roll, because few things are more disappointing than having a die fall straight down out of your hands with the "1" facing up and just sit there.

Post by **fbmf** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 7:57 pm

Koumei wrote:But do you consider it cheating to just develop a natural rolling method that tends to give good results?

Yes.

Game On,
fbmf

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 2:21 am

So, I have problems hearing/understanding voices when ambient noise starts up, which is a problem since I work in a busy cafeteria where I need to be able to hear orders. I'm missing about 40% of my hearing in each ear, largely due to childhood ear infections. In the vast majority of situations I can hear just fine, but I'm starting to think I need some help from SCIENCE in order to do better at work and in life.

So, when I saw in PopSci or PopMech a noise cancelling ear... thing... for relatively cheap, I and many others rejoiced. Only to find out it stalled out or was in reality vapourware- verdict still appears to be out on that. But yeah, I don't need things LOUDER as much as filtered, to remove white noise from equipment in the background and crowds. What are my options and how much am I gonna have to pay?

Username17 · Post by **Username17** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:09 am

Meikle641 wrote:So, I have problems hearing/understanding voices when ambient noise starts up, which is a problem since I work in a busy cafeteria where I need to be able to hear orders. I'm missing about 40% of my hearing in each ear, largely due to childhood ear infections. In the vast majority of situations I can hear just fine, but I'm starting to think I need some help from SCIENCE in order to do better at work and in life.

So, when I saw in PopSci or PopMech a noise cancelling ear... thing... for relatively cheap, I and many others rejoiced. Only to find out it stalled out or was in reality vapourware- verdict still appears to be out on that. But yeah, I don't need things LOUDER as much as filtered, to remove white noise from equipment in the background and crowds. What are my options and how much am I gonna have to pay?

You can wear noise canceling headphones. You have to charge them with electricity to make them function and they seem to cost north of two hundred and fifty dollars. I have heard from real people that they work, but I've never tried them myself.

-Username17

Grek · Post by **Grek** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:32 am

Noise cancelling headphones work great for crowds, birds and more sorts of equipment. What it won't do is cancel out any sort of constant humming sound.

Koumei · Post by **Koumei** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:52 am

Grek wrote:What it won't do is cancel out any sort of constant humming sound.

Especially if that humming sound is your own tinnitus, I imagine.

Cynic · Post by **Cynic** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:34 am

Does anyone know of HUD rulings about the amount of people allowed to live in a owned home. The home is in a condo complex.

Grek · Post by **Grek** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:18 am

A quick search of hud.gov seems to indicate a maximum of 2 persons per bedroom.

Koumei wrote:
Grek wrote:What it won't do is cancel out any sort of constant humming sound.
Especially if that humming sound is your own tinnitus, I imagine.

I was thinking more along the lines of a ceiling fan, but tinnitus would also not be stopped by noise cancelling headphones.

Meikle641 · Post by **Meikle641** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 11:43 pm

FrankTrollman wrote: You can wear noise canceling headphones. You have to charge them with electricity to make them function and they seem to cost north of two hundred and fifty dollars. I have heard from real people that they work, but I've never tried them myself.

-Username17

Well yeah, I used to have some Seinheisser active-noise cancelling headphones for my mp3 player, but I guess I'm looking for something more like a hearing aid? The gun magazines I read often have similar devices for shooting; stick in your ear and it cancels the noise, lowering your effective db by like, 30. Problem is that those are both expensive and not quite what I'm looking for.

Found the link: this thing is what I really want, but the date they gave is long pas- OH WAIT. Seems they finally came out with them after all, what a difference two months make. Hell yeah, gonna see if my health insurance through work will cover these; should since hearing aids are covered...

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:15 am

If a kilo of crack is a 48 cubic inch roughly spheroid mass, how big would a 9-ton crack boulder be?

Sir Neil · Post by **Sir Neil** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:48 am

The boulder is about 907 times heavier, so 25 cubic feet?

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:48 am

double post

virgil · Post by **virgil** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:50 am

Sir Neil wrote:The boulder is about 907 times heavier, so 25 cubic feet?

That's for a 1 ton boulder. A 9 ton boulder is 7.5 feet tall, exactly.

Prak · Post by **Prak** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 3:50 am

How sure are you, virgil? When I posed the question on Facebook, I got this:

Facebook wrote:Density = m/V = 1kg /48 in^3, thus the volume of a 9-ton spheroid mass would be
V = m/d = (9 tons * 907 kg/ton)/ (1/48 kg/in^3) = 390,000 in^3

The Vigilante · Post by **The Vigilante** » Sun Oct 14, 2012 4:23 am

Prak_Anima wrote:How sure are you, virgil? When I posed the question on Facebook, I got this:
Facebook wrote:Density = m/V = 1kg /48 in^3, thus the volume of a 9-ton spheroid mass would be
V = m/d = (9 tons * 907 kg/ton)/ (1/48 kg/in^3) = 390,000 in^3

First of all, using imperial measurements is retarded, learn metric.

48 cubic inches = 787 cm3 roughly, which gives us a density of 1,27 g/cm3. I assume you use US tons, which are equivalent to 907kg roughly, or 907 000g. Since V = M/D, this gives us a volume of 714 173 cm3 for a one US ton boulder, or 6 427 557 cm3 for a 9 ton boulder ; which translates to roughly 227 cubic feet. This would make it a 7.5 feet high boulder.

EDIT : There's also the easy way : 907kg to a ton, 9 tons to your boulder, 48 in^3 * 907 * 9 = 391 824 in^3