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Author Topic: miscellaneous musings  (Read 532479 times)

LeeC

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2950 on: 09 Apr 2019, 09:16 »

It's mildly fascinating to me. How do you *do* that?
Emulate the joker? Its so common in the states to smile that way that to not do so seems off.

This may explain a few things, including the smile:
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2951 on: 09 Apr 2019, 10:56 »

It's more common in the US to fail to wait for acknowledgement than it is to skip a greeting entirely.  The classic approaching-an-employee-in-a-store script in the US usually starts with the customer saying something like,

"Hi, where do you keep the widgets?"

Without stopping after saying "Hi" for an acknowledgement or return greeting.  It abbreviates the greeting to the point of something you can do without the acknowledgement or cooperation of the other party, which is to say it completely undermines its purpose.

Another thing that's common in the US is to abbreviate or omit *responding* to a greeting, especially in "customer service" type situations.  In fact, the usual "script" for restaurant interaction with serving staff usually has the customer responding to a full greeting by simply saying "Yes," and then going straight to their order, as in:

server:  "Hello, welcome to our establishment!  My name is Michael, and I'll be your server today!"
Customer:  "Yes, we'll have the green eggs and ham..."

Which I've been told is considered astonishingly rude in other cultures.
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cybersmurf

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2952 on: 09 Apr 2019, 11:20 »

It's more common in the US to fail to wait for acknowledgement than it is to skip a greeting entirely.  The classic approaching-an-employee-in-a-store script in the US usually starts with the customer saying something like,

"Hi, where do you keep the widgets?"

Without stopping after saying "Hi" for an acknowledgement or return greeting.  It abbreviates the greeting to the point of something you can do without the acknowledgement or cooperation of the other party, which is to say it completely undermines its purpose.

Another thing that's common in the US is to abbreviate or omit *responding* to a greeting, especially in "customer service" type situations.  In fact, the usual "script" for restaurant interaction with serving staff usually has the customer responding to a full greeting by simply saying "Yes," and then going straight to their order, as in:

server:  "Hello, welcome to our establishment!  My name is Michael, and I'll be your server today!"
Customer:  "Yes, we'll have the green eggs and ham..."

Which I've been told is considered astonishingly rude in other cultures.

Well, for the sake of brevity I don't say hello to a grocery store employee I interrupt restocking just to ask where the chips are located.

As for the server thing - over here the servers usually don't introduce themselves like that. You all just say your hellos and goodbyes in a brief manner, because you're not there to make small talk. That's what bars are for  :-P
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Case

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2953 on: 09 Apr 2019, 11:32 »

Another thing is proper goodbyes, including in written conversations or conversations over the phone - though it appears that Americans omitting the latter is a trope fuelled by Hollywood.

Germans will usually enter a sort of 'singsong' before saying their goodbyes, to indicate that they'd like to end the conversation - but they'll always say goodbye, and will be very astonished if you don't. And yes, more than a few will take up to 10 minutes to say their goodbyes to a friend or relative - my mother & sister do that.

Written conversations, including e-mail (!), are always ended with the one or other closing formula - the most common formal sign-off is "Mit freundlichen Grüssen" ('with friendly greetings' - roughly 'kindest regards'), which is sometimes abbreviated to "mfg" in certain settings.


Yes, people will use standard greeting and closing formulae even in conversations via email. It's just customary. You may omit them if the conversation then expands into a rapid-fire thread of mails, but it's highly recommended to use proper greetings and closing formulae at least in the initial mail.

And there's no Germany equivalent to the phrase "To whom it may concern" - I've had serious difficulties using that one in a mail or letter, even after assurances that this wasn't rude at all, as it feels so weird to me. It feels like I'm saying that I don't care how the recipient takes my message, like I'm saying "Use the following as toilet paper if you can be bothered". The common headers are "Sehr geehrter Herr/Frau [Surname]" ('Very honoured Sir/Lady [Surname]') if the name and gender of the recipient are known, or "Sehr geehrte Damen und Herren" ("Very honoured Ladies and Gentlemen") otherwise.



Well, for the sake of brevity I don't say hello to a grocery store employee I interrupt restocking just to ask where the chips are located.

But you will say 'Excuse me, could you tell me where I can find the chips?' rather than just saying 'Chips?' or something?

As for the server thing - over here the servers usually don't introduce themselves like that. You all just say your hellos and goodbyes in a brief manner, because you're not there to make small talk. That's what bars are for  :-P

Same in Germany; but you do acknowledge talking to a human being - by using some kind of greeting formula or other?
« Last Edit: 09 Apr 2019, 12:01 by Case »
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cybersmurf

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2954 on: 09 Apr 2019, 11:42 »

"To whom it may concern" is one of the weirdest things for me to use. I mean, how hard can it be, especially for applications. Over here, at least somewhere in the body, the job ad says something like "please direct your application towards [XY]". Or is that a US sieving mechanism?
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oddtail

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2955 on: 09 Apr 2019, 11:44 »

"To whom it may concern" doesn't register as rude for me, but it does kinda sound like you're crashed on a desert island and are putting a letter in a bottle.
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Case

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2956 on: 09 Apr 2019, 11:48 »

It's mildly fascinating to me. How do you *do* that?
Emulate the joker? Its so common in the states to smile that way that to not do so seems off.

Well ... it depends with the 'Joker-i-ness': Obama looks like 'An American being American' (still a lot of teeth by German standards, but 'different strokes ...'), while Ms. Witherspoon appears as if she's failing to hide the fact she's in excruciating pain. And Ms. Clinton looks like she's had rather a lot of some really good stuff.

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2957 on: 09 Apr 2019, 11:56 »

People in the US waste a *lot* of money on cosmetic dentistry.  Of course they want to show it off.[1]


[1] Spoken as a USian who still has crooked teeth.
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Case

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2958 on: 09 Apr 2019, 12:15 »

American expat examining the topic for national broadcaster Deutsche Welle:

Quote
In that way, I guess you could say I've integrated. After over a decade of living in Germany, I now lack "Begeisterungsfähigkeit" — the ability to get excited, as the Germany-based American writer John Doyle calls it in his book, Don't Worry, Be German.

Why don't Germans smile more?

Yes, a whole nation afflicted by bitchy-restface-syndrome.  :wink:
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2959 on: 09 Apr 2019, 13:59 »

When studying French in high-school, I was taught that in France it is rude to just walk into a shop and ask for what you want, and that one should first greet the person behind the counter, or respond to their greeting if they got in first. However, I have never actually visited France, so I have no idea how far this is true "on the ground", as it were.

Not so much in large department stores, but in small stores such as boulangeries and patisseries, it certainly is true, or at least has been when I've been there.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2960 on: 09 Apr 2019, 14:02 »

"To whom it may concern" doesn't register as rude for me, but it does kinda sound like you're crashed on a desert island and are putting a letter in a bottle.

It's pretty outmoded now. It's better now to address the letter as specifically as possible. If you can't find out who to address your letter to, go with "Dear hiring manager" or something.
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Akima

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2961 on: 10 Apr 2019, 05:07 »

Formal settings - and written conversation count as highly formal, as they cannot transport gesture & mimics - require more adherence to proper protocol, not less. As I said above, I vividly remember the first exchange that omitted the greetings & goodbyes years after the fact, and wondering what I'd done to offend the offender.
A complication I have encountered when using French on the internet, is offending some French people by being too formal. Learning French purely in a formal, classroom situation (and often only getting speaking practice addressing the teacher), I am much more at home in the formal "vous" form of French than the intimate "tu". Also, I was taught that prematurely attempting to tutoyer was just asking for a snub*, but some French internet people insist on it, even on first encounter. With my French being as bad and rusty as it is, half the time I can't remember the tu form of the verb. Culture is complicated...

*Par exemple:
"Peut-on se tutoyer?"
"Si vous voulez..."
« Last Edit: 10 Apr 2019, 05:29 by Akima »
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LTK

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2962 on: 23 Apr 2019, 07:23 »

As Recursive Oscar Wilde once said: "Everything in moderation, including moderation, including moderation in moderation, including moderation in moderation in moderation, including..."
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Grognard

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2963 on: 24 Apr 2019, 21:34 »

The department which encompasses my IT team has been contracted out.
the quintuple x5 layers of useless government civilians will be replaced by General Dynamics IT.
So my company will become a subcontractor on a contract to which we are the Prime.
*makes my head hurt*
but in an effort to save money, you'd think the DoD would thin out all the Gov Civ overhead.
Nope.  My team, who are in the trenches, doing ALL the work... is getting cut by HALF.
fuck these people.
I'm so outta here.
I spent the last two years to get here.
I'm NOT starting from scratch again.
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Cornelius

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2964 on: 24 Apr 2019, 22:56 »

Welcome to government services, where your management has absolutely no idea what you're doing, and only looks at the numbers they like to decide on savings.
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Grognard

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2965 on: 26 Apr 2019, 18:34 »

looking at numbers to find savings wouldn't be so bad...
IF they didn't LIE to themselves, make up their own numbers and IGNORE 45% of all the work we do.

of the 40 GovCiv IT specialists who are supposed to 'provide oversight' and 'generate solutions' and 'maintain a corporate knowledgebase' ... EIGHT actually work.  the rest are just drawing white-collar welfare and obstructing the WORKERS' progress.

...ggrrrr.....
32 people w/ average salary of 80K USD + full benefits = 2.5~3 times the maximum value of my contract when I was running maximum allowable staffing.

.... Grrrr.... small wonder America is 22 Trillion in debt and a military toilet seat costs $600.

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Cornelius

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2966 on: 28 Apr 2019, 23:32 »

My experience so far is, you make a realistic estimate, based on benchmarking in both the public and private sector, round down, and when it comes back from the political level, They promise a third of what you need, to be delivered in next year's budget. By the time the budget's made, that's halved again.
Meanwhile, there are departments, where some functions are extremely essential to be maintained. One of which is ranked higher than a prison director. His function? Distribute paper copies of incoming invoices to be treated. Where a fully digital system exists.

I've got a fair few ideas to reduce overhead, but they're not politically palatable, as some measure their own importance in terms of people working under them, rather than in terms of their results.

Above is formally my personal opinion.
« Last Edit: 29 Apr 2019, 03:34 by Cornelius »
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Case

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2967 on: 29 Apr 2019, 07:16 »

Formal settings - and written conversation count as highly formal, as they cannot transport gesture & mimics - require more adherence to proper protocol, not less. As I said above, I vividly remember the first exchange that omitted the greetings & goodbyes years after the fact, and wondering what I'd done to offend the offender.
A complication I have encountered when using French on the internet, is offending some French people by being too formal. Learning French purely in a formal, classroom situation (and often only getting speaking practice addressing the teacher), I am much more at home in the formal "vous" form of French than the intimate "tu". Also, I was taught that prematurely attempting to tutoyer was just asking for a snub*, but some French internet people insist on it, even on first encounter. With my French being as bad and rusty as it is, half the time I can't remember the tu form of the verb. Culture is complicated...

*Par exemple:
"Peut-on se tutoyer?"
"Si vous voulez..."

That's a ways above my French, I have to admit. So take the following with truckloads of salt:

I would guess (!), based on German conventions about pronomial address, that it's not merely about familiarity/intimacy, but primarily about rank. Those conventions were originally used at court, in order to express respect, as an acknowledgement of hierarchy. During the enlightenment, they increasingly became the default for any interaction (bit like Mr./Ms derive from Master/Mistress), but this didn't mean social rank and power-structures disappeared.

Usage varies with age (more importantly: differences in age), gender, difference in rank (esp in occupational hierarchies), there's probably a rural/urban divide, geographic variations, etc.etc. - and there's considerable confusion even amongst native speakers. Interaction with the Anglosphere also plays a role.

When I google 'Siezen' (the practise of using the 3rd person plural for formal address) in the Germanophone internet, I get tons of current articles, each of whom will confidently express diametrically opposed stances on the appropriateness of using the formal or the intimate address e.g. in professional context. Some of my compatriots think that using the informal address in a working environment also fosters flat hierarchies and an egalitarian culture. Personally, I think that's an excellent way for people with direct, hierarchical power to keep their privilege on the one hand, without having to acknowledge it on the other. Just because your boss encourages you to use their given name doesn't mean you get to call the shots, does it?

German convention is that the intimate address is offered by the higher-ranking person (not at all sure about the French conventions on social rank - my impression is that they're generally pretty serious about l'egalité). When someone refuses your offer to switch to the intimate address, it could be a snub - that they refuse the offer of intimacy because they don't like you - or it could mean they see themselves as the higher-ranking and want to put you in your place. Or they might find it inappropriate, because there is a power-imbalance in play, and they want to keep their distance - I've done that with students I was grading, as a kind of warning: "I'm not allowed to be your friend, and I have to grade you, and whether I like you or not mustn't make a difference". It could also mean they see you as a the socially higher-ranking person, and feel uncomfortable about implicitly addressing you as an equal. Or, if they know you're a stranger to their culture, they might be unsure about conventions in your culture and anxious about upsetting you - they could be trying to adapt to you. They could be making a mess of trying to adapt to you. They could be playing with clichés about their own culture - or yours. Etc.Etc. Then there's ways of transporting a message by deliberately subverting a convention - some of them a snub, others could even be a compliment.

Or ... tons of reasons for people to insist on a convention or not.
« Last Edit: 29 Apr 2019, 08:21 by Case »
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Cornelius

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2968 on: 29 Apr 2019, 08:17 »

My promotor back at university was a Dutchman, who insisted we call him by his first name, and forget about titles.
This same person resigned his position as program manager in a hissy fit at the suggestion that some segments might not be used optimally. Tables were flipped. Really.

In my experience, it doesn't hurt to start out with the vous/Sie/u; People will tell you if you can use the other. Especially if it's not your first language. The tricky part is finding out where you can actually take them up on that. But then, the distinct chill in the conversation is usually clear enough.

It's best not to take it personally. Unless their behaviour tells you, you should.
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cybersmurf

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2969 on: 29 Apr 2019, 10:24 »

Over here in Austria it gets even worse. Not only do we stick to the German formalities, no, we even take it a step further: a lot, especially older folks insist on being addressed with their titles/degrees. Not doing that is considered a faux pas. And to a certain degree it doesn't matter, as long as you have a degree your actual qualifications don't count.
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hedgie

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2970 on: 29 Apr 2019, 11:20 »

I got ordained online, so I use the title "reverend" when writing to congresscritters, in hope that they're more likely to listen.
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Case

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2971 on: 29 Apr 2019, 12:45 »

I got ordained online, so I use the title "reverend" when writing to congresscritters, in hope that they're more likely to listen.

You what?

Errrrrh, I mean to say:

You what, Reverend?
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2972 on: 29 Apr 2019, 13:02 »

The Universal Life Church offers free online ordinations.  I did it so that I could officiate a wedding if need be.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2973 on: 29 Apr 2019, 13:05 »

We have, somewhere downtown, a place that purports to be a temple of Inanna. 

Whatever.  Religion is weird and neopagans are happy that way.

Inanna, as a little history tidbit, was the Goddess of Love and War for the ancient culture of Sumer.  Her rituals included temple prostitution and the duties of her clergy included the care of injured soldiers.  Nothing wrong with that, I guess, it sort of makes sense.  And to be clear I don't really know what the local devotees are up to, so this is very likely not to be relevant to them in any way.  But I can imagine a modern interpretation of this where they operate a brothel and contribute a share of the income to, say, the Veterans' Hospital.

One would probably be able to defend prostitution under US law as an exercise of religious freedom - first-amendment federal guarantees of rights are considered superior to state laws, and there is no federal law against prostitution.  As a charitable institution it would probably be organized as a subchapter S corporation under the law.  Subchapter S means they would be able to accept tax-deductible payments and, among other things, that if the employees or principals of the corporation engage its services or purchase its products that is also a tax deductible expense for them. 

All of which leads to the question:  If a pair of their employees have sex with each other, has a tax-deductible event occurred even though the net payments (assuming their services are charged at the same rate) total zero?

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2974 on: 30 Apr 2019, 01:29 »

Probably falls under "informal exchange of similar services on a noncommercial basis." So not taxable or tax deductible.

Disclaimer: I don't know what I'm talking about, that was just the result of an idle google.
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Akima

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2975 on: 03 May 2019, 06:38 »

That's a ways above my French, I have to admit. So take the following with truckloads of salt:
My French is rusty and fairly terrible. I took it to satisfy a high-school requirement that I study a foreign language, and never mind that I was already studying English as a second language, and spoke Chinese (but the DoE barred native-speakers like me from using Chinese to meet the foreign language requirement). But I think your comments about the use of formal mode to emphasise rank or social status in German apply to French too.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2976 on: 03 May 2019, 17:49 »

Akima, doesn't this connect to your previous thoughts about managers inviting subordinates to be on a first name basis?

At least I think that was you.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2977 on: 03 May 2019, 18:23 »

Regarding "vous" vs "tu" in French on the Internet - for what it's worth, I don't recall seeing much "vous" in Reddit's r/France (which I read, but do not post in. My French is good enough to read it, but certainly not good enough to write in it).

In case it's in any way helpful by way of analogy: it's pretty damn rare to see the formal version of "you" in Internet conversation conducted in Polish. The stereotype, I think, is that only old people use the formal form (and only very un-Internet-savvy people, the kind whose online presence is limited mostly to Facebook. Y'know, the kind that would forward chain letters a few years back).

I think it has to do with the fact that the social protocols of the Internet evolved among early adopters, and those were initially college students (who would not use the formal "you" in everyday conversation amongst themselves, anyway). By the time the tone of the Polish Internet developed, it'd seem awkward to address someone any other way. Plus, in early days of the Internet, you didn't usually know much about the other person, and that included their age. So people defaulted to the informal form of address.

I did hear a few stories of how awkward it can be to meet a person you barely know online in meatspace. You've talked to that person using the informal address, but you don't necessarily know them well enough for that to work in face-to-face conversation. But arbitrarily dialing it back to the formal "you" would be weird as well.
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LeeC

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2978 on: 31 May 2019, 13:40 »

If Marvel's Thor met Wonder Woman do you think they'd get along? I don't mean this in a shipping way, but do you think their personalities would conflict with each other or would they become friends?  I'd like to think they would be friends but in a friendly competitive manner like Gimli and Legolas at Helms Deep.
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Ignominious

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2979 on: 31 May 2019, 14:28 »

I think he'd treat her the same way he treats Sif but with the added respect of being a member of another ruling family.

Alternative question. Thor regularly uses his hammer to trap things or people because they lack the character to wield it. It clearly isn't a weight thing because trapped people don't get injured. If Thor puts his hammer down on something like the SHIELD aircraft carrier, is it also trapped and unable to move?
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LTK

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2980 on: 31 May 2019, 15:34 »

If he locks it down relative to a ground speed of zero while the aircraft is moving, it'd just rip a hole straight through it, because a moving aircraft has far too much momentum to simply stop when it encounters an immovable object. It won't do that to a person if they're already stationary relative to the ground.

This doesn't mean he can't ever let go of his hammer while on a moving vehicle, because he decides whether the hammer stays still or not. This is how he uses it to fly, too. Normally he has it follow his movements if he wants to swing it like a weapon, but it travels of its own accord when thrown. You can see that it never arcs, so it's not just a thing that obeys the laws of physics when asked. Whether moving or stationary, it has to be directed as such.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2981 on: 04 Jun 2019, 17:07 »

This doesn't mean he can't ever let go of his hammer while on a moving vehicle, because he decides whether the hammer stays still or not. This is how he uses it to fly, too. Normally he has it follow his movements if he wants to swing it like a weapon, but it travels of its own accord when thrown. You can see that it never arcs, so it's not just a thing that obeys the laws of physics when asked.

Oh, it does obey the laws of physics alright - it just has its own ideas about the magnitude and conservation of inertial mass.

F=ma=d/dt(p)
« Last Edit: 04 Jun 2019, 18:03 by Case »
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2982 on: 04 Jun 2019, 17:59 »

The Hammer seems sentient enough to know when to be heavy and not so as to not rip a hole in an airplane that would endanger innocent lives. Call it magic or AI, but it is aware on a level we may not comprehend.  A Dwarf may, but not us midgardians.  I'd argue it may have been too complex to explain to the Asgardians and so the Dwarves may have explained it to them in simpler terms by saying you have to be worthy of it. Mjolnir works in mysterious ways.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2983 on: 10 Jun 2019, 07:47 »

How do you think the Avengers from the first Avengers movie would handle a Godzilla (2014/2019) attack on New York? Do you think they could? Sure Hulk likes to smash big monsters and seemed like he could handle Surtr to a degree (but not Thanos I guess), but Godzilla is radioactive, massive, and a force of nature himself. Thor could smack him a few times but I'm not sure he could do much, same with Ironman. Cap, Widow, and Hawkeye would be useless short of helping in the evacuation. I'm not convinced they could handle it.
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TheEvilDog

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2984 on: 10 Jun 2019, 10:11 »

Well if we are going with Legendary Godzilla, honestly the Avengers would be screwed. Godzilla is a force of nature, not only in terms of brute strength, but the fact that its a walking nuclear battery.

Hulk might have a chance to stun Godzilla, but I'd imagine that one blast of Godzilla's breath would render the Hulk out of action for a time.
Thor might also have a chance to hurt it, but I'd also imagine that on creature that big, lightning might only have a minor effect on Godzilla. (As an aside, Toho Godzilla traditionally had a weakness to electricity. Which is why high tension wires gave him so much trouble and why King Kong had lightning powers the last time they fought).
Iron Man could possibly be out of the fight before he even got into it, assuming that Godzilla's natural EMP field would have an effect on Stark's armour. And let's be honest, would Tony Stark really have an armour that could withstand what is a walking nuclear epicentre?
Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye would probably be several miles away, or at least of the hot zone.

I'd be more interested in Legendary Godzilla vs Shin Godzilla.
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2985 on: 11 Jun 2019, 15:45 »

I think it would depend on if it's an Avengers film or a Godzilla film. If it's an Avengers film, then Tony would have a suit for surviving high-radiation areas, Hulk would be powered up by the radiation, Cap's shield would be able tank Godzilla-breath (but might get damaged in the process) and Thor would do Thor-ish things. Hawkeye/Black Widow would be well away from the fighting.

If it's a Godzilla movie, Godzilla steps on them.
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TheEvilDog

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2986 on: 11 Jun 2019, 17:16 »

Tony destroyed his armours at the end of Iron Man 3 for the sake of his relationship with Pepper. Therefore we can't assume that he rebuilt it.

Hulk isn't powered by radiation. Yes, he's was created by a gamma bomb, but the Hulk gets stronger as he gets angrier. The problem with the radiation emitted from Godzilla isn't so much powering the Hulk, but rather the old adage that too much of anything is poisonous, even to the Hulk. In fact, it might even be a case of the Hulk powering Godzilla.

And Cap wouldn't be able to tank Godzilla's blast if he gets stepped on. Likewise the shield would only protect him from a small cross section of Godzilla's breath. Even if Cap hid behind the shield, the flashover would fry him.

Again, Thor would probably have a slight chance against Godzilla, but even then the lightning blasts to end all lightning blasts didn't do much to stop his own sister.

I like the Avengers, but it doesn't matter if it was an Avengers film or a Godzilla film, the Avengers would still lose. (Unless MCU Tony had built the Red Ronin mech without telling anyone)
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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2987 on: 11 Jun 2019, 17:25 »

If its Avengers 1 timeframe, as I had specified, I don't think Tony would have had time to build such a thing, unless Shield got data from Monarch about Godzilla and worked overtime to get Tony to build it pre Avengers 1. But I think the scenario would be the avengers were not prepared. Just chilling in NYC at the Stark building when all hell lets loose. Knowing Stark though, if he survived he'd be the first to try to develop Jaegers a la Pacific Rim. But NYC would be wrecked and Godzilla would be fine IMHO.
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de_la_Nae

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2988 on: 14 Jun 2019, 11:48 »

I hear Arranmore is advertising to American immigrants

quick who's Irish around here again?  :angel:

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2989 on: 21 Jun 2019, 15:54 »

On St. Patrick's Day, they say, everyone is Irish, to which I respond: "What? Even me? Um... begorah?"
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de_la_Nae

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2990 on: 22 Jun 2019, 22:15 »

Mostly I was thinking, honestly, about when I'm ready to give up here on the evil empire. Truth told, I can't imagine the island would take me, I'm a health burden anywhere I go.

But it's a nice thought, isn't it?

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2991 on: 23 Jun 2019, 16:53 »

Aye and begorrah, I'd be able to claim Irish citizenship. I can trace my ancestry back to County Longford through my dad's mother. (Helps her last name was "Kelly", of course.)
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celticgeek

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2992 on: 23 Jun 2019, 17:17 »

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2993 on: 23 Jun 2019, 19:31 »

a 'dèanamh nan saighdean airson cinneadh MacLeòid
We Wear Woad When We Write Code
Ní féidir liom labhairt na Gaeilge.
Seachd reultan, agus seachd clachan, agus aon chraobh geal.

You know, I just got the joke of the highlighted line...
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celticgeek

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2994 on: 23 Jun 2019, 19:54 »

Finally...
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a 'dèanamh nan saighdean airson cinneadh MacLeòid
We Wear Woad When We Write Code
Ní féidir liom labhairt na Gaeilge.
Seachd reultan, agus seachd clachan, agus aon chraobh geal.

TheEvilDog

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2995 on: 23 Jun 2019, 20:17 »

On St. Patrick's Day, they say, everyone is Irish, to which I respond: "What? Even me? Um... begorah?"

To be fair, the oldest non-Irish community in Ireland would be the Chinese, to the point where its fourth generation now.

Aye and begorrah, I'd be able to claim Irish citizenship. I can trace my ancestry back to County Longford through my dad's mother. (Helps her last name was "Kelly", of course.)
Jwhouk, you can claim an Irish passport if at least one of your grandparents were Irish.


And to everyone else, you'd be more than welcome to come here, you'd have a friend to welcome you at the gates.
« Last Edit: 23 Jun 2019, 20:24 by Castlerook »
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Pilchard123

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2996 on: 24 Jun 2019, 10:37 »

On St. Patrick's Day, they say, everyone is Irish, to which I respond: "What? Even me? Um... begorah?"

You really should check that. Just to be sure.
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JoeCovenant

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2997 on: 25 Jun 2019, 04:45 »


Just throwing it our there that Scotland is similarly welcoming.
And will be even MORESO (when!) we become Independent.

:)

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TheEvilDog

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2998 on: 25 Jun 2019, 09:18 »

On an unrelated note, rereading old threads from before the "Like" button got installed. Kinda makes me wonder what kind of numbers we would have gotten during stories such as the Breakup, or Dora firing Faye.
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TheEvilDog

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Re: miscellaneous musings
« Reply #2999 on: 25 Jun 2019, 09:31 »

I hear Arranmore is advertising to American immigrants

quick who's Irish around here again?  :angel:

Just saw this. And I am :P. And I charge €1000 per fraudulent wedding to get people into the country.
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