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Thread: xkcd
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2018-09-03, 04:35 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2016
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- The Lakes
Re: xkcd
The "rate of traffic deaths per 100000 people" doesn't really account for how many out of that 100000 drive at all, how often they drive, how many miles they drive, what sort of conditions they drive in, etc.
It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.
Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.
The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.
The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.
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2018-09-03, 04:54 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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- Watching the world go by
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Re: xkcd
Wikipedia to save the day! Sorting by fatalities per billion km driven, the UK has 3.6, germany has 4.9, and the US has 7.1. Only 20-ish countries have values for that statistic, and I don't know the state of their driving tests, so I cannot comment on general trends.
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2018-09-03, 05:04 PM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2016
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- The Lakes
Re: xkcd
It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.
Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.
The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.
The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.
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2018-09-03, 09:12 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jan 2015
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- On the tip of my tongue
Re: xkcd
I regard this as an increasingly fatuous exercise, considering how many times information has been met with some hitherto-unconsidered complicating factor or alternative measurement. Also, there's no way the gaps in average speed are large enough that (1) is going to differ massively from fatalities per passenger mile. That said, the answer to (2) is "utterly negligible compared to driving".
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2018-09-04, 02:06 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Feb 2007
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- Manchester, UK
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Re: xkcd
Japan has one of the strictest driving tests in the world, AFAIK, but it scores 8 on that scale. So, as we could probably have figured out a page or two ago, the difficulty of the driving test on its own isn't sufficient to tell you how safe a country's roads are going to be--there are many other factors which affect that.
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2018-09-04, 04:02 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Mar 2009
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- Japan
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Re: xkcd
To be fair, Japan has a lot of old drivers. Also, they need to get those isekai protagonists from somewhere...
Editor and playtester for Legend.
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2018-09-04, 07:33 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2008
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- Germany
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Re: xkcd
I feel like we should drop the debate but on the other hand...
Clearly somebody who has driven for ten years is pretty independent of their actual driving test, the more relevant question is how young / new drivers perform. Sadly I can't find lots of data on that (also, of course there are many factors that also influence the matter. Still, the idea that someone with hardly any training can be as good as someone with thorough training seems unlikely to me, singular cases excluded)
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2018-09-04, 09:03 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2016
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- The Lakes
Re: xkcd
The point of #1 was to try to see if there was anything interesting to be found regarding driving risks depending on the urbanization of an area being looked at.
The point of #2 was to see where things shake out when taking into account the hours spent driving per year, vs the hours spent flying. Hours driving per year for the average American is something like 295; hour flying for same is proving harder to find, but evidently the average is something less than 2 flights per year, which often gets rounded up to 2 because the journalists presenting the information don't like decimals and don't understand averaging less than a flight and a return.Last edited by Max_Killjoy; 2018-09-04 at 09:12 AM.
It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.
Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.
The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.
The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.
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2018-09-04, 03:00 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2016
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- Sector ZZ9 Plural Z Alpha
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Re: xkcd
I've read the "Museum of Dad-Trolling" comic more times than I can count, and I just now realized you can click on the exhibit blocks to make more panels of the comic appear.
https://xkcd.com/826/Human beings, who are almost unique in having the ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so.
- Douglas Adams
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2018-09-15, 03:48 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Jul 2007
Re: xkcd
I feel the need to point out that Andrew and Lyndon Johnson shared a whole last name, and weren't any more closely related than any two random people of European descent.
Play your character, not your alignment.
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2018-09-15, 03:52 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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- Watching the world go by
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Re: xkcd
According to a brief internet search, they were 13th cousins twice removed, which is impressive partly because they live a whole century apart. Oddly, despite both having done extensive genealogy, my parents haven't yet figured out how they are related to each other. I think my father doesn't have any royalty yet, so the easy way to be related is out.
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2018-09-15, 01:11 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2013
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- Bristol, UK
Re: xkcd
Last edited by halfeye; 2018-09-15 at 01:12 PM.
The end of what Son? The story? There is no end. There's just the point where the storytellers stop talking.
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2018-09-15, 01:49 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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- Watching the world go by
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Re: xkcd
I have a cousin who is younger than his oldest nephew. My mom has a 5th cousin twice removed who is the same age as her. Maybe I should have stated that my surprise was that they were only 2 generations apart. I guess the later one's cotemporaneous ancestor could have been 2 generations up and then 100 years is about 4 generations (really it is between 2 and 6 depending on when people reproduce).
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2018-09-16, 10:44 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2016
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- The Lakes
Re: xkcd
Last edited by Max_Killjoy; 2018-09-16 at 10:44 AM.
It is one thing to suspend your disbelief. It is another thing entirely to hang it by the neck until dead.
Verisimilitude -- n, the appearance or semblance of truth, likelihood, or probability.
The concern is not realism in speculative fiction, but rather the sense that a setting or story could be real, fostered by internal consistency and coherence.
The Worldbuilding Forum -- where realities are born.
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2018-09-16, 12:33 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
Re: xkcd
We are all something like 4000 or so generations related :-).
Not "fire at". I never used the word "at"
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2018-09-16, 01:05 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2008
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- Germany
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Re: xkcd
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2018-09-16, 01:27 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jun 2013
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- Bristol, UK
Re: xkcd
It's not about that so much as inbreeding being bad for the local genepool, if there's a lot, in the long term that's very bad. With a large population as we have now, it's not usually much of a problem, but in small isolated communities it matters a lot more, there first and second cousin marriages may have to be banned.
The end of what Son? The story? There is no end. There's just the point where the storytellers stop talking.
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2018-09-16, 10:37 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
Re: xkcd
Hmm, then the only real solution is to import all our spouses.
Immigration: Good for the gene pool.
... Naah, that will never sell in a nation that doesn't believe in evolution, and thinks ... guuuurrrk [scrubbed by author to avoid getting a second strike. Please excuse the gurgles as his throat chokes to prevent his continued discussion in this manner. Now, I shall put him down, as I have learned I get twice the effort for half the choke, on my path back to the light side.]Not "fire at". I never used the word "at"
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2018-09-17, 01:24 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2008
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- Germany
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Re: xkcd
Sorry, I forgot to make my Tongue-in-cheek-Ness more obvious. I think I'm pretty clear on the biological reasons behind avoiding incest.
Also, thank you Mr Munroe for another weird thing to worry about after today... But since I usually don't ex a bottle of liquid I think it's more little gulps.
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2018-09-17, 12:28 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2011
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- Sharangar's Revenge
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Re: xkcd
A girl I dated in highschool was the youngest in her family. Her oldest sister had a baby before the girl I dated was born, so she was an aunt who was younger than her niece.
Did anyone watch the You've Got Mail remake with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks? Tom Hank's character has an aunt and a (half) brother who are both about 4 years old, while he's in, I'd guess, mid-to-late thirties.Warhammer 40,000 Campaign Skirmish Game: Warpstrike
My Spelljammer stuff (including an orbit tracker), 2E AD&D spreadsheet, and Vault of the Drow maps are available in my Dropbox. Feel free to use or not use it as you see fit!
Thri-Kreen Ranger/Psionicist by me, based off of Rich's A Monster for Every Season
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2018-09-17, 01:25 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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- Watching the world go by
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Re: xkcd
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2018-09-26, 09:53 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Apr 2008
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- Germany
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Re: xkcd
Okay, I want to ask if this is actually a thing people do but it's the internet, so of course they do. But are there enough of them to warrant a comic? I know a lot of my faults Mr Munroe has pointed out over the years (oh you infamous 386) but this is something I cannot even see myself do..
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2018-09-26, 10:53 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2007
Re: xkcd
Interested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
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2018-09-26, 12:05 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Nov 2006
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Re: xkcd
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2018-09-26, 12:15 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2011
Re: xkcd
I use braces (also known as "curly brackets") to indicate sarcasm. If there are none present, I probably believe what I am saying; should it turn out to be inaccurate trivia, please tell me rather than trying to play along with an apparent joke I don't know I'm making.
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2018-09-26, 01:33 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2007
Re: xkcd
Interested in MitD? Join us in MitD's thread.There is a world of imagination
Deep in the corners of your mind
Where reality is an intruder
And myth and legend thrive
Ceterum autem censeo Hilgya malefica est
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2018-09-26, 01:57 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2017
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- France
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Re: xkcd
The logical next step is him finding, and getting mad at, an old post he himself wrote long ago.
Forum Wisdom
Mage avatar by smutmulch & linklele.
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2018-09-27, 10:16 AM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Aug 2009
Re: xkcd
Are you saying you get mad at every post you write? Why would you even do that? How could you even make so many posts knowing you will be mad at every single post you've written? You have a terrible opinion about getting mad at posts written by yourself, and now I'm mad at you for your terrible opinion that you totally have
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2018-09-28, 01:58 PM (ISO 8601)
- Join Date
- Nov 2006
Re: xkcd
ExplainXKCD:
However, on the 2007 anniversary, Eliezer Yudkowsky wrote a blog post for LessWrong suggesting that "Wherever you are, whatever you're doing, take a minute to not destroy the world.".
Remember, all you scientific wizards, do not transmute a strangelet pair.Not "fire at". I never used the word "at"
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2018-10-01, 04:24 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2007
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- Switzerland
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