arctanthrope

what do you call it when you put the seed in the pot if not “planting”?

I don’t understand why they removed Denethor’s Palantir from the movies, it’s like the whole point of his character, without it nothing he does makes sense

it’s nice, but it’s been over a decade since people started talking about needing a $15 minimum wage, with inflation that same value is more like $20 now

I used to work for a company that supplied powertrain components for most major auto brands, all the guys who worked with Ford said they would never buy a Ford. maybe that’s just what happens when you see the sausage get made, but on the other hand I never heard the same from the guys who worked with other companies

roughly 68°F btw

I think equally important as teaching these things to begin with is letting students know when they’re being taught a simplified model, and that serious academic discourse of the subject is still evolving and/or involves much more nuance (which is pretty much always). some people who do pay attention in science classes nonetheless think that what they learned is gospel and never re-examine it, or stubbornly refuse to acknowledge when said nuance is relevant because it seems to contradict the simplified model they’ve cemented in their brain as the whole truth. the kind of people who say things like “I know there’s two genders because I learned it in high school biology” and apparently never considered why there would be collegiate and post-graduate studies on biology and gender (or why those are two entirely different fields of study) if we all already learned everything there is to know in high school.

live SpongeBob reaction

Lobelia Sackville-Baggins be like

I kinda feel bad for deep sea fish who get filmed by submersibles for nature documentaries. imagine you’re just chilling doing whatever the fuck you do down there, and suddenly a fucking robot whale monstrosity is shining the brightest light anyone in your entire evolutionary line has ever seen directly into your eyes. that shit is more Lovecraftian than anything that lives down there

I do that and I have a BS in mathematics. and in 4th grade I literally used to write “I hate math” at the top of my math homework. as much as primary education systems want it to be, computation speed is not mathematical aptitude. you can memorize multiplication tables up to 20, that’s not gonna help you understand Cantor’s theorem

you might enjoy this video (Angela Collier - the most important material in science) https://youtu.be/1eUI38MpiYo

apparently the ancient Greek word being translated as “soup” doesn’t actually mean soup in general, but specifically a sort of pea porridge

isn’t 165 safe for poultry?

I don’t know for sure actually. definitely Sauron would have commanded the Balrogs during the Years of the Trees when Morgoth was imprisoned by the Valar. but then the Balrogs fled and scattered during the War of Wrath when Morgoth was defeated at the end of the first age. and then my knowledge of the 2nd and 3rd age history is pretty fuzzy, so I don’t know if Durin’s Bane (or any other Balrogs) would have been in contact with Sauron, or if he tried to regather them (which I imagine he would if he knew of any that still existed), or if they were all just isolated in hiding for thousands of years. but in any case, if the confrontation with the Fellowship had gone differently, Durin’s Bane might have been flushed out of hiding, and gone out into the world to discover that Sauron was regathering his forces, and in that case I don’t see any reason why he wouldn’t agree to ally with Sauron

good points but I have a nit to pick. I don’t think Flame of Anor refers to Narya, the Ring of Fire. keeping the 3 rings secret was imperative, so much so that Aragorn chides Frodo for mentioning that Galadriel has one, even though that’s a pretty obvious guess, and they were completely alone in the wilderness when it was said, and assaulting Lorien to get it would be difficult for Sauron’s forces. so for Gandalf to say directly to one of Sauron’s highest captains that one of the 3 is directly in front of him, carried by someone unexpected, as easy to take as defeating a single enemy (powerful as that enemy may be), just doesn’t make sense

Anor is the sun, so I think Gandalf is just saying “we both wield fire, but mine is bright like the sun, and thus superior to yours which is dark”

well mostly it’s explained by the fact that it didn’t happen.

"In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.

All save one. There waiting, silent and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dínen.

‘You cannot enter here,’ said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. ‘Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!’

The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.

‘Old fool!’ he said. ‘Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!’ And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.

Gandalf did not move."

and then the Rohirrim arrive and the Rider leaves.

shloon

the square-cube law is the fact that a larger object has a lower ratio of surface area to volume than a similarly-shaped smaller object; i.e. as the scale of an object increases linearly, its surface area increases as a square function, and its volume increases as a cubic function.

thermodynamically, this means an object twice the size has 4 times the heat transfer (which occurs at the outer surface), but 8 times the heat capacity (since heat is stored throughout the volume). so it’s heat loss is by raw numbers greater, but lower as a percentage of the total, i.e. the internal temperature is more stable

you are allowed to stumble on the first line. and it may come off poorly. and if it does the other person is perfectly valid for not wanting to engage further. therefore if you want the other person to continue to engage, you should try not to come off poorly. this isn’t some newfangled social phenomenon, it’s how basic human interaction has worked for millennia

would it be possible to solve this problem by making different inks? or would any ink that doesn’t have this problem just inherently be non-permanent