TIL: Today I Learned

[Birdjaguar]

I wish that after we died, there was an afterlife where we could find out exactly how everything worked out for all time. That way, we could make predictions and bet two bottles of afterlife juice that things would go some way or another. I say this because I'm generally pessimistic about the technological potential of humanity and would bet lots of afterlife juice bottles against humanity's power production exceeding 1.00 on Sagan's expanded Kardashev scale at any point in its future [K = 0.1*(log10 P - 6), where P is power consumption in watts]. It seems like a tall order to even keep our K = 0.724 civilization going indefinitely without wrecking the biosphere even worse than we already are, although I'm much more optimistic about that than the K>1 stuff.

If you accept reincarnation as true, then you will likely see the future. You will be reborn into the bodies of the future throughout the universe. The only catch being that you will not remember any life except the one you are currently living. But, hey, it's a start; an immortality of a sort.

 

[Hygro]

I wish that after we died, there was an afterlife where we could find out exactly how everything worked out for all time. That way, we could make predictions and bet two bottles of afterlife juice that things would go some way or another. I say this because I'm generally pessimistic about the technological potential of humanity and would bet lots of afterlife juice bottles against humanity's power production exceeding 1.00 on Sagan's expanded Kardashev scale at any point in its future [K = 0.1*(log10 P - 6), where P is power consumption in watts]. It seems like a tall order to even keep our K = 0.724 civilization going indefinitely without wrecking the biosphere even worse than we already are, although I'm much more optimistic about that than the K>1 stuff.

My god, get out of my brain. My friend and I have discussed this exact thing. We also wanted to be able to travel at will to different points in the timeline of the universe, and we wanted life statistics to see how many times we did things.

This was directly part of my faith back when I had it.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Apparently, a book on dirty jokes about various races in TES exists.

 

[Arakhor]

Daggerfall had several books in that vein. Like Morrowind, the libraries in Daggerfall were a significant part of that game's fun by themselves.

 

[Farm Boy]

That game was so massively glitchy and weird. Way ahead of it's time.

 

[Arakhor]

Surprisingly good graphics for the era too.

 

[Farm Boy]

Nipples if you disrobed too!

Saucy.

 

[Phrossack]

TIL that Romania has an abnormally powerful river navy.

For some reason.

 

[Samson]

TIL that Romania has an abnormally powerful river navy.

For some reason.

I had to look it up, and it consists of 3 River monitors, 5 Gunboats and 12 Patrol boats. I am not sure that sounds stupidly powerful. But then we spent over 6 billion on 2 aircraft carriers to protect us against immigrants or something, so I may have a high bar for this sort of thing.

 

[Kyriakos]

You know which other nation had a powerful river navy?
Paraguay

 

[Phrossack]

I had to look it up, and it consists of 3 River monitors, 5 Gunboats and 12 Patrol boats. I am not sure that sounds stupidly powerful. But then we spent over 6 billion on 2 aircraft carriers to protect us against immigrants or something, so I may have a high bar for this sort of thing.

It's very impressive by the standards of river navies, especially considering that Romania is small, not very rich, and has no conceivable enemies at the moment along the Danube. And they built the monitors after the Cold War, so I really don't know what they were planning to use them for.

Plus, the river monitors, while awesome, have neither the firepower nor the armor to deal with tanks on the river banks.

 

[dutchfire]

(Long) river borders with Bulgaria and the Ukraine, which sound perfect for smuggling and other related criminality (pre-Schengen). I can imagine they act as a glorified border patrol

 

[Phrossack]

(Long) river borders with Bulgaria and the Ukraine, which sound perfect for smuggling and other related criminality (pre-Schengen). I can imagine they act as a glorified border patrol

The Ukrainian river border is very short, and the monitors are armed with enough firepower to flatten anything short of a modern tank. Two 100mm guns lifted off of old T-55s, two forty-tube 122mm rocket launchers, two twin 30mm autocannon turrets, two quad 14.5mm HMG mounts, and a squad of marines, and all this on a fairly small vessel.

I prefer to imagine that Romania is plotting to mount Viking-style river raids on Serbia and Hungary.

 

[Kyriakos]

They do have an eternal issue with Hungary anyway.

 

[Leonel]

Well I didn't learn this today but the other day, I learned that not only is one of my oldest childhood friends is gay, but married Simon Callow, the antagonist in Ace Ventura 2, in a private ceremony in Greece.

It's ah quite interesting to know one that the friend you tried to start an environmentalist club in Hong Kong and argued about whether or not to apologize for stepping on ants is not only married to an actor but an actor twice his age.

 

[Takhisis]

@Kyriakos: do you think the Magyars would try to recover Transylvania?

 

[Arakhor]

Well I didn't learn this today but the other day, I learned that not only is one of my oldest childhood friends is gay, but married Simon Callow, the antagonist in Ace Ventura 2, in a private ceremony in Greece.

To those of us in the UK, Simon Callow is considerably more than just a video game voice actor. I remember him chiefly from Four Weddings and a Funeral.

 

[Kyriakos]

@Kyriakos: do you think the Magyars would try to recover Transylvania?

Can't say i care, Takhi :\ And no, not currently anyway. But they have a fascist party which got 17% of the vote.

 

[Leonel]

To those of us in the UK, Simon Callow is considerably more than just a video game voice actor. I remember him chiefly from Four Weddings and a Funeral.

Ace Ventura 2 is a movie too but yeah I know he was in that too.

 

[Zkribbler]

TIL that Romania has an abnormally powerful river navy.

For some reason.

When Washington crossed the Delaware, the most powerful navy in the area belonged to the colony of Pennsylvania. Much of its fleet consisted of slave galleys, powered by Tory slaves.