The Very-Many-Questions-Not-Worth-Their-Own-Thread Thread XXXVIII

[TheCleanerDragon]

With traditional RTS, that's partly because the genre has fallen in popularity since its heyday in the late 90s/early 20s, so the market just isn't there, or isn't perceived by publishers to be there, unless you have the name-recognition and nostalgia-appeal offered by one of these franchises. If a producer was going to sink big bucks into a wholly new franchise, they'd expect something more in the vein of Total War than Total Annihilation.

I don't think that a similar dynamic can describe the Disney remakes, because animated children's films are probably at their all-time commercial peak.

What I said earlier was a bit too wide of a statement, there are plenty of new or RTS games, just not traditional ones like Command and Conquer. I forgot to mention, Microsoft is making Age of Empires 4 so they are doing something new even if it's part of an established franchise. I have to agree that the dynamic definitely isn't the same, Disney has a massive consumer base to sell their movies to so there's no need to innovate. on the other hand there aren't that many people who play traditional RTS games, so unless they spend a ton of money on marketing it's not going to sell all that well.

 

[shadowplay]

I'm starting to suspect aoe4 is in development hell, as it was announced years ago and we've got no new information since then.

 

[Mouthwash]

How possible is it to return developed areas to a natural or agrarian state? Like, if we bulldoze a suburb and uproot all the cement, does the land actually heal? What about New York City?

Would underground infrastructure (cables, pipes, sewage) have any long-term effect, or can we just ignore them?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

How possible is it to return developed areas to a natural or agrarian state? Like, if we bulldoze a suburb and uproot all the cement, does the land actually heal? What about New York City?

Would underground infrastructure (cables, pipes, sewage) have any long-term effect, or can we just ignore them?

Nature is pretty resilient: http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20160421-the-chernobyl-exclusion-zone-is-arguably-a-nature-reserve

 

[Synobun]

Large swathes of the exclusion zone surrounding Chernobyl have been relatively reclaimed by nature. It would be far more straightforward in your hypothetical, since there'd be no concrete and structures to contend with.

Toxic chemicals from things left behind that can't be maintained or repaired will be an obstacle, but I doubt one that makes it a total deal-breaker.

Edit: x-post with Aimeeeeeeeeeeeeee

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Edit: x-post with Aimeeeeeeeeeeeeee

I think your keyboard is stuck.

 

[Synobun]

We're all stuck in this Hell.

 

[Mouthwash]

How expensive would it be, though? What is recyclable and what goes in the trash heap?

Also, the question of farming wasn't answered. Is such land arable?

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

There's been some land reclamation done on coal mines that turned it back into farmland:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mine_reclamation
https://civileats.com/2018/01/12/th...ppalachias-mountaintop-coal-mines-into-farms/

That's not cities though it might be a place to start looking.

 

[Birdjaguar]

How expensive would it be, though? What is recyclable and what goes in the trash heap?

Also, the question of farming wasn't answered. Is such land arable?

After 1200 years of being left to the Jungle, Tikal was uncovered:

 

[Mouthwash]

Do malicious software companies target people close to their geographical region? I got 'Babylon search' installed on my laptop around 2012/2013, when I was living in Or Yehuda. I was buying a salad at a store and happened to spot their headquarters within walking distance of my house. It's a pretty strange coincidence that I happened to live in the one town on the planet where the malware company that just invaded my computer was located.

The only explanation I can think of is that they find it easier to target people closer to them, or maybe just within the same country. But you'd think they'd do the opposite to avoid backlash, no?

 

[Birdjaguar]

Do malicious software companies target people close to their geographical region? I got 'Babylon search' installed on my computer around 2012/2013, when I was living in Or Yehuda. I was buying a salad at a store and happened to spot their headquarters, within walking distance of my house. It's a pretty strange coincidence that I happened to live in the one town on the planet where the malware company that just invaded my computer was located.

The only explanation I can think of is that they find it easier to target people closer to them, or maybe just within the same country. But you'd think they'd do the opposite to avoid backlash, no?

I think you just got lucky.

 

[The_J]

There can be both exclusion and inclusion, depending on geographical location (approximated by IP, or if phone GPS), time zone, and languages installed on the computer/active on the keyboard.
There were e.g. certain malware families, which would only get active if the person would not type in cyrillic.
Or some only get active if the users system language is set to a language which the malware is distributed in. Not much point trying to phish out someone with a threat of getting searched by the FBI if the person is not living in the US, right?
This doesn't break down to the exact city, but rough locations can be used.

 

[Birdjaguar]

I have a friend from China who is looking for an international capable phone service that:

• Offer free incoming text
• Disabled data service
• No monthly charges
• Charges phone calls per minute
• Can/will have a US phone number
• Can be "refilled" if appropriate

Any Ideas? Any experiences with such services?

Thanks

 

[Synobun]

I have a friend from China who is looking for an international capable phone service that:

• Offer free incoming text
• Disabled data service
• No monthly charges
• Charges phone calls per minute
• Can/will have a US phone number
• Can be "refilled" if appropriate

Any Ideas? Any experiences with such services?

Thanks

OneSimCard caters to international travelers specifically and you can pick a US number. I believe it covers all those bases, but they do have data. You can just disable data on the phone, though.

 

[Birdjaguar]

OneSimCard caters to international travelers specifically and you can pick a US number. I believe it covers all those bases, but they do have data. You can just disable data on the phone, though.

Which one?

Thanks.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

If you leave an open container of grape juice sitting on the counter long enough, is there any chance it'll ferment and turn alcoholic?

 

[tjs282]

If you leave an open container of grape juice sitting on the counter long enough, is there any chance it'll ferment and turn alcoholic?

Maybe a little, but the result is unlikely to be drinkable, because wine usually needs to be fermented anaerobically. That's what fermentation-locks are for

*

Your open juice-container will likely grow mold (aerobic fungi) faster than it ferments.

(*Image downloaded from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermentation_lock )

 

[The_J]

Very likely. Also bacteria will contribute to it going bad.

The setup tjs282 is showing is neither complicated nor expensive, so if you really want to make your own wine, you could do it.
Might not be the very best one though.

 

[GoodSarmatian]

There's been some land reclamation done on coal mines that turned it back into farmland:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mine_reclamation
https://civileats.com/2018/01/12/th...ppalachias-mountaintop-coal-mines-into-farms/

That's not cities though it might be a place to start looking.

I live pretty close to one such area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marienfeld

Most of it is farmland now, but there's also small nature reserve.