Annoying Questions I'd Like Answered...

[Sarandosil]

I seem to be falling for a very flirty bi..... curious? hetero-flexible, married lady in an open marriage of some sort.

Is there any good that can possibly come from this, or should I be running away screaming right about now?

[angelfromanotherpin]

Well, be careful about falling too hard, because she's married. But I know people who are happy sexbuddies of open-married individuals, so it certainly can be a positive experience. I can't speak to how frequently it works out, though.

I think the most important thing is to sound out the spouse. Confirm that the marriage is indeed open, and see what kind of a relationship they'd want with you. Maybe they don't want to know, maybe they'd want to be friends, that's something that could fall anywhere on a wide spectrum.

[Sarandosil]

I don't know either of them that well, but I know her husband a bit better than I know her, actually. He's a lot more extroverted (and flirty himself) so he's easier to get into conversations with. I'm pretty fond of him.

I guess my biggest warning sign was that he's only ok with his wife messing around with other women. Usually guys say this not realizing how threatened they'll be when the other woman actually shows up . Doesn't seem to be the case with this guy though. I wouldn't be the first, and she doesn't seem shy about flirting with me in front of him.

Still leaves a bad taste in my mouth though.

[angelfromanotherpin]

I guess my biggest warning sign was that he's only ok with his wife messing around with other women.

This is fairly common in my experience. The only person who's explained it to me said: 'I have sausage. If she wants sausage, I expect her to come to me. If she wants fish, I'm not competing in that market.'

[Kaelik]

Figure out what you want from the relationship before you try to figure out anything else.

If you are really going to fall in love with her/expect a long term relationship... that is not good, because you probably won't have that.

If you want a sex buddy for awhile as a placeholder for the next year, that is probably doable.

[downzorz]

That can totally work, I've been in a similar situation before. But yeah, double-ensure that every party involved is A-OK with what is going on; some types of "open relationships" are really only nominally so, and jealousy still happens a lot. But if they both seem cool with it, nothing stopping you.


What are some cool extinct animals at some point between dinosaurs and now that occupied similar roles to the modern-day "giant apex predator" like sharks, tigers, and whatnot?

How likely is it that within my lifetime (another ~55 years) the human race could A: start colonization of things that aren't Earth, B: make Antarctica a habitable region without extreme support or C: clone a Neanderthal, Homo Erectus, or other human ancestor?

[Grek]

But I know people who are happy sexbuddies of open-married individuals, so it certainly can be a positive experience.

I have been said sexbuddy and can confirm that it is (or at least can be) awesome.

And yes, definitely talk to the partner. As in, do not have any sex with the spouse until the other partner in this relationship has explicitly said to you, in person "I know about and approve of you and my wife having sex."

[RobbyPants]

It could be in the air system and related to when I do and don't use the AC. When I run the AC, I set the vent to recirculate, and when I turn it off, I open it to outside air.

I'm pretty sure this is the issue. My last vehicle also had a rotting smell that appeared at random--it turned out to be mould in the vents. Blasting the AC at least once a drive took care of it.

Well, whatever caused it, it seems to have taken care of itself. I haven't noticed it in four or five days.

I'll keep this in mind if it happens in the future.

[Heath Robinson]

My younger sister wants to read Shadowrun TTRPG books because she's been following a Shadowrun Returns LP online. Which edition would be best to introduce a young woman to?

[hyzmarca]

My younger sister wants to read Shadowrun TTRPG books because she's been following a Shadowrun Returns LP online. Which edition would be best to introduce a young woman to?

Second, obviously.

But pull out those classic First Edition novels and Shadowbeat.

[Koumei]

So, often enough you'll get mail with postage-paid envelopes inside so you can send a reply or whatever. Are those pre-paid and if the envelope ends up heavy enough to put the cost over one stamp they just bin it, or does the receiver pay upon receipt?

Because the main political parties send these things out "on behalf of the AEC, honest", for postal vote enrolment, and they have all been caught out hoarding them, recording information for their databases and passing the info on. And mailing them 1kg lumps of lead that they then have to pay for sounds hilarious.

[Cynic]

Koumei: You used to be able to do that in America. I once took part in a giant prank where you would take one of those mailer envelopes and tape onto a box and then put random junk in the box and mail it off.

I assume that Amex got the 50-odd AOL cds that I sent them in the box.

[Sigil]

I've seen similar things before, and the answer seems to be "yes, usually". In fact, such a story is the first google result for postage-paid envelope brick. If I recall there are some limitations, it essentially needs to be a normal package sized thing (you couldn't, lets say, paste it to a furnace and try to make them pay for shipping). Granted, this is from a US source, and in Australia your mileage (and postage) may vary.

A question of my own, I was reading arguments on the internet (on this very forum!) and saw something that made me think "That isn't a valid criticism!". But I realized, I don't know of any formal rules regarding the art of criticizing things. I know there are resources for how to argue, and on logical fallacies and the like, but is there a resource that spells out what sorts of criticisms are 'valid', and which are not, and how to spot when people try to mask their criticisms as something else? I'd expect things like "It does not fulfill its function" or "It is aesthetically displeasing" to be there.

[ishy]

Koumei: You used to be able to do that in America. I once took part in a giant prank where you would take one of those mailer envelopes and tape onto a box and then put random junk in the box and mail it off.

http://xkcd.com/325/ ?

[Cynic]

Koumei: You used to be able to do that in America. I once took part in a giant prank where you would take one of those mailer envelopes and tape onto a box and then put random junk in the box and mail it off.

http://xkcd.com/325/ ?

I forgot about that. But I'm fairly sure that I did this in like 1999/2000 when AOL cds were still being sent in the mail. I had to get the help of a lot of people in my high school to get additional cds.

[DSMatticus]

Yeah, that prank is older than XKCD. It is older than the internet. If it is clearly not a legitimate item, it might be tossed instead of delivered, so I recommend at least making it look like a reasonable response. An envelope stuffed to the brim with whatever is a good way to go.

[Koumei]

Koumei: You used to be able to do that in America. I once took part in a giant prank where you would take one of those mailer envelopes and tape onto a box and then put random junk in the box and mail it off.

http://xkcd.com/325/ ?

I had a brief idea involving wasps, but there are multiple problems. Besides, if the people of Australia all act as one in mailing weights, the postal service gets a lot of money (which can then go to postal workers, who spend it on things, and Keynes smiles) and the major parties can get fucked.

[DSMatticus]

Koumei: You used to be able to do that in America. I once took part in a giant prank where you would take one of those mailer envelopes and tape onto a box and then put random junk in the box and mail it off.

http://xkcd.com/325/ ?

I had a brief idea involving wasps, but there are multiple problems. Besides, if the people of Australia all act as one in mailing weights, the postal service gets a lot of money (which can then go to postal workers, who spend it on things, and Keynes smiles) and the major parties can get fucked.

Stop hating job creators. Every dime our patriotic corporations have to pay receiving your bricks is a dime they could be using to turn down investment opportunities due to low aggregate demand.

Wait. Fuck. That didn't come out right.

[Sarandosil]

Well, be careful about falling too hard, because she's married. But I know people who are happy sexbuddies of open-married individuals, so it certainly can be a positive experience. I can't speak to how frequently it works out, though.

Update: I flirted with her for a week, then ascertained that there was no possibility of a real romantic entanglement, then continued flirting with her for another week before I broke it off. Now I'm heartbroken.

It's good to know I didn't do what you guys told me to do. Now I remember why I hate giving people advice.

Why'd she have to be so bloody charming.

[Chamomile]

Let's ask the Gaming Den for some setting ideas again! This time I need predictions for what the Earth would look like if, starting in 1996, multiple alien empires used it as a battlefield with one another, mostly ignoring the native inhabitants whilst waging destructive war across the surface which bubbles under for about a decade before exploding into a devastating global conflict in 2006 that leaves cities ruined and governments decapitated until finally the aliens give up and leave at around 2016 (with the greater war still unresolved), thanks in part to resistance from what is basically the X-COM project, which then decides to declare itself world government.

Specific questions:

-I want a scenario wherein major recognizable nations like the USA, Russia, and China have been split into multiple smaller nations, most of which are city-states built out of a vast metropolis and the nearby area controlled by it. The X-COM guys are struggling to get these city-states to acknowledge their authority de facto as well as just de jure. How long after 2016 (when the aliens leave and Earth starts picking up the pieces) would it realistically take for the world to go from being one giant warzone to this situation? Weeks? Years? Decades?

-Is it reasonable to assume that after two decades of perpetual warfare all across the world, all major governments would have basically collapsed, or would there be survivors? Which governments would likely have survived, and how would they have been changed?

-How would the advance of technology both up until 2013 and on into the future have been altered by the invasion, ignoring the alien technology that falls into human hands (which is intentionally limited)?

-What's the most reasonable explanation for relatively large amounts of alien tech falling into human hands, but none of it being reverse-engineered and used to convert the world into a post-scarcity utopia or equip all armies with blaster rifles? The default answer is of course "it's too advanced for us to even reverse-engineer" but if someone has something cooler, that'd be nice.

-The X-COM guys have claimed exclusive ownership of everything that's made of, altered by, or reliant upon alien technology, including people. In the late stages of the war, they began slaughtering these people (including cyborgs, genetic experiments, etc. etc.) indiscriminately because Earth was going to shit and these sorts of people are on the side of the aliens who powered them up more often than not. But in the present day there needs to be some re-establishment of trust such that my powered protagonist will not immediately assume the X-COM project will actually murder her immediately if they discover she has powers. So far I've been assuming that a half-decade or so of rescinding the KoS policy should be enough to convince people that they're for serious about playing nice(r), but I'm not sure if that's really believable and more importantly, if the best time to set the story such that the situation with the city-states will be set up how I want it is within weeks of the alien departure, the X-COM guys won't have had nearly enough time to establish any trust at all with the remaining superhumans. So what's the best way for X-COM to establish that they no longer consider alien augmented humans KoS?

[Grek]

would it realistically take for the world to go from being one giant warzone to this situation?

2008 at the latest. What you're looking at in terms of a timeline is

2006: Aliens kill all/most of the governments in their decapitation strike.
2008: Central power has finally been unified in the United Earth Central Command, which is lead by a panel of the top surviving generals/heads of state from all the world powers.
2010: Alien tech integrated into the resistance effort. Alien efforts turn toward converting the populace.
2011: First alien cyborgs found, tech stolen for use by resistance. Both types of cyborg turn against the resistance.
2012: Alien cyborgs purged, mostly. So is everyone who is even remotely allied or affiliated with the invaders.
2013: Aliens retreat, needing to get reinforcements.

Which governments would likely have survived, and how would they have been changed?

Only the governments who have the ability to whisk their leaders away into cold war fallout bunkers would survive in their current form, and only then if the aliens can't teleport into the bunker or destroy it with an Independence Day-esqe laser cannon. The dictatorships would be largely unchanged, and the democracies would become defacto dictatorships given that there wouldn't have been any elections for over 20 years.

-What's the most reasonable explanation for relatively large amounts of alien tech falling into human hands, but none of it being reverse-engineered and used to convert the world into a post-scarcity utopia or equip all armies with blaster rifles? The default answer is of course "it's too advanced for us to even reverse-engineer" but if someone has something cooler, that'd be nice.

X-COM came up with a reasonable enough excuse: All of the alien tech is made out of materials which Earth does not have the capability to synthesize or to work. In order to get a part made from alien materials, you have to capture intact one the aliens worked into the correct shape.

So what's the best way for X-COM to establish that they no longer consider alien augmented humans KoS?

Would it be sufficient to establish that just the protagonist isn't KoS? Because you could easily do that by having X-COM interrogate all the superhumans they catch before executing them, and then have the announcement that the aliens have retreated come just as he's about to get executed.

[Meikle641]

Fucking google drive, man
Won't sign in at all in the program. Just a blank window. I don't have 2-step verification set up, so that shouldn't be doing it. And when I sign in via browser I can't seem to upload files either. I uninstalled it and tried again; same deal, blank fucking window. What the hell, man?

[DragonChild]

Does anyone have a good suggestion for a pdf creator? I want to write a word document with a cover made in photoshop and make a nice looking pdf out of it. What can I use?


Also, does anyone have any suggestions for using Latex text editing? I hear it's pretty good for writing stuff and formatting after the fact, but googling it just gives me a ton of confusing info and I am not very code-savvy.

[Maxus]

Open Office has a 'convert to PDF' button, if you want to deal with it.

[Red_Rob]

http://www.primopdf.com/

Free PDF creator that works as a printer - just print your document as normal and select it from the printer list.