Silver Glow's Journal

by Admiral Biscuit

May 14 [Saturday]

May 14

I hadn't noticed it when I came up to the room last night, but my dreamcatcher was hanging above the other window in his room—he has the one that goes to the backyard and then he has another that looks at his neighbor's house and the curtains are always closed on that one. I asked him if he liked it, and he said that it was working and had caught him a dream.

I asked him what it was like, and he said it had blue eyes and a white tail and furry ears that felt like velvet. And he said that she was cute and funny and I bumped him with my hoof 'cause he was embarrassing me. Then I kissed him and told him how sweet he was.

That's when he told me that he'd made something special for me, and he said to look out the window. There was a little sign hanging next to the bird feeder that had a shadow-pegasus with a red circle and slash across it, and he said that meant no pegasuses in the birdfeeder.

I told him that he couldn't stop me; I knew he was tired after sex and he demanded that I prove it. So I did. And then I went and ate some more of his sunflower seeds. Not too many, just enough to prove that the sign wouldn't stop me.

He was standing at the window looking at me so I held a couple in my lips and flew back up to the window and spit them out in his hand and said that they'd give him strength. He said that there was an ancient Greek metaphor about gifts and horses' mouths, so he would have to refuse them.

I said he was being silly and pushed my way back into the room, then I told him that if he ate the sunflower seeds it might give him enough energy to have sex again and he said that was worth trying, so he cracked them open and ate the seeds (I like the shells, too) and then we got back in bed.

The grumpy man was directing airplanes today, so I told him I was going to keep low and to the west over Kalamazoo, and he said that was okay and to be careful because it was overcast and raining off and on. I promised I would be and flew off, waving to Aric one last time as I went over the trees around his backyard.

I went all the way down to the building where I'd taken the radio test, and Sienna was sitting in the parking lot up against the building. I wondered if that meant that they were there, or if they had their own cars and just drove Sienna when I was going for a ride.

That was a good place to turn around and head back to school, I thought, so I did. And then I took a shower and went to breakfast. Peggy hadn't been in the room and she wasn't at breakfast either, so she must have been spending the weekend with her boyfriend.

Christine asked me if I'd been in the rainstorm last night and I said I hadn't. It had only been raining a little bit when I went to sleep.

She said that it got a whole lot heavier after that and she was curious if a heavy rain would wake me up.

I said it usually did, but that human buildings messed with the sound and if the windows were closed I couldn't always smell it, either. Plus I'd been distracted. But it was a bit worrisome, just the same. What if I got back to Equestria and I'd lost my instincts for the weather? I didn't think I was, but how would I know? There weren't any other pegasuses here to compare with.

I spent all morning in the library, looking through the list and trying to come up with an idea. The problem was that I'd see one thing and think that it might be a good topic, then I'd go down to the computer that said where all the books were and have a library page look up what I needed, and then I'd take them to a little study desk and skim through them to see if anything caught my interest and then I'd wind up more confused. So when it was time for lunch I hadn't found a single thing, and I'd filled half a cart with books to be re-shelved because the library page got mad when I put them back myself.

So I went to lunch with no topic chosen, and I must have been more stressed about it than I thought because Christine asked if all I was having for lunch was a small salad.

I told her, and she asked to see the list of topics because she bet she could find one that I'd like. I wasn't so sure, but I had nothing to lose, so I gave it to her and she read over it and asked me how I'd feel doing a paper on marriage.

I said that I didn't know anything about that; I didn't know of any ponies in our village who were married. Then she said I'd be the perfect neutral observer, because to me I was walking in to a subject that I had no biases on.

Well that actually seemed like a pretty good idea, and I guess I'd just been too blind to see. So I thanked her and went right back over to the library to get some more books. The library page wasn't too happy to see me but I promised this would be the very last time that I would be in today, and I intended to keep that promise.

Since I didn't know what I'd need for sure I checked out as many books as would fit in my saddlebags and then stumbled back to my dorm room with them. They made a nice pile on my desk, right alongside the World War One book I hadn't read yet and the Bible that I hadn't finished reading.

And that was when I realized that I'd forgotten to meet with Liz on Thursday. So instead of starting to read right away, I went over to her office but she wasn't there, so I went back to my room and wrote her an apology on the computer. And I promised myself that I'd remember to go to the service tomorrow to apologize in person, because a letter's nice, but it's not the same as a muzzle-to-muzzle apology.

I completely lost myself in the first book, which was about the history of weddings. Then I heard a knock on my door and I just called out that it was open, and Meghan came in and asked me what I was reading, so I told her it was a book about weddings.

She said that she didn't think things were that serious, and at first I didn't understand what she was saying, then I realized that she thought I was thinking of marrying Aric, and I told her that this was just research for my final Anthropology essay.

Meghan was kind enough to wait until I finished the chapter I was reading, and then we went to the dining hall together. She said that Amy was going to be gone all weekend, and I laughed and said that I thought Peggy would be, too, although she hadn't said anything to me about it.

When we were done, she called for an Uber-Car (she'd decided that they were okay again) and we walked over to Hoben to wait for it, since there wasn't a road in front of Hicks, and the back smelled a little like garbage all the time.

This car was a yellow Scion and it was kind of boxy and felt a little cheap inside, but it was still nicer than Winston or the yellow Taxi-car that we'd taken to the spa once.

Besides, just like the airplane, this wasn't about the trip, it was about the destination. So I leaned up against Meghan and she brushed her hand through my mane.

When we got there she got out and I followed her around the back. It was kind of muddy 'cause of the rain so I flew—she'd be taking off her shoes, but I wouldn’t have a good way to get the mud off my fetlocks and hooves unless I rinsed them in the stream.

She was less hesitant this time; once the cover was off the spa, she just started getting undressed and set her clothes into the little cubicle. I would have already hopped in, but it wouldn't have been polite, so I waited until she got into the water and then I joined her. She reached back and turned on the water jets and then I sat right next to her.

It felt strange to be up to my shoulders in hot water and then have a gentle drizzle coming down on my head, and she said that if it got worse maybe we'd have to go inside, so I said that I hoped it wouldn't.

For a little while, neither of us talked, and I think that's one of the signs of a good friendship—you can just be with each other, and that's all you need.

Then it did start raining more and Meghan looked up at the sky (although it was too dark to realy see much) and said maybe we should get out of the tub, and I told her that I thought it would pass pretty quickly, which was really more of a guess than anything, but it did, and so we giggled about the rain and we talked about college and then after a while she said that it was actually pretty relaxing to just sit in the hot tub with me.

And when the spray jets stopped, it was quiet but for the rain splashing on leaves and we both just listened to the music of nature until it was time to get out of the tub.

I went first so that I could shake myself off and then she got out and dried herself off and got dressed, but she left her panties and bra off because she said that she was feeling rebellious.

We waited under the overhang for the roof until an Uber-Car arrived to pick us up—it wasn't much shelter, but it was better than none. When the car finally came, we'd both gotten wet enough again that we probably could have not bothered to dry ourselves off.

Even with the heater in the car on, Meghan was a little shivery when we got back to campus, so she went back to her room and dried herself off and put on a robe and then sat down on the bed and wrapped a blanket around herself.

I said that I could curl up on her lap if that would help—I would have done it right away but my coat was still damp and she had just put on fresh clothes. She didn't mind at all; so I got up and stretched out on her lap and she moved her robe away so it wouldn't get wet.

She asked if I wanted to see the Harry Potter movie now, but I told her that I didn't really feel like it. I was too relaxed already.

Comments

[Alaborn]

but it did, and so we giggled about the rain and we talked about collage

I didn't know Silver Glow was interested in that style of art!

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

You really should not be in an outdoor hot tub in a storm , there is a danger from lightning. I'm not sure how immune a Pegasus is, but humans can be electrocuted.

[Cynewulf]

At this point I want Silver or Meghan to jump each other just to relieve yhe narrative tensionnnnbnn

And Aric was sweet. Aww

[High_Fidelity]

7388691 you pointed that out better than my just-awake self could have.

[arancaytar]

I asked him what it was like, and he said it had blue eyes and a white tail and furry ears that felt like velvet.

Awww, Aric's such a sweet-talker.

Then she said I'd be the perfect neutral observer, because to me I was walking in to a subject that I had no biases on.

Silver has no biases regarding marriage?!

a muzzle-to-muzzle apology

That sounds like a very... intimate way to apologize.

She said that she didn't think things were that serious, and at first I didn't understand what she was saying, then I realized that she thought I was thinking of marrying Aric, and I told her that this was just research for my final Anthropology essay.

Meghan: [punches the air internally]

[Conflicting views]

Does Aric uses air conditioner? It could be what interfered with her perception of the weather...

It felt strange to be up to my shoulders in hot water and then have a gentle drizzle coming down on my head

Did something like this a few years ago during a travel in the Rocky Mountains; went to an outdoor thermal pool during a rainstorm It does feel stange.

[Conflicting views]

7388853

a muzzle-to-muzzle apology

That sounds like a very... intimate way to apologize.

Not much more then face to face, no?

7388699 True, but from the sound of it, it was just raining, there was no thunderstorm.

[FanOfMostEverything]

Yeah, the social sciences are funny like that. A subject you know nothing about can be the perfect choice to research, though you have to be careful not to absorb the biases of the research materials.

Also, good to see Silver keeping up both of her more intimate friendships. She really has made them work... though that may be one more thing to worry about when she goes back to Equestria. More than a little bittersweet to have to leave them behind, and it's not like her hometown's going to have very good Internet access. Still, it's not the pegasus way to worry about the future like that. She'll enjoy it while it lasts.

[Hurgusburgus]

They made a nice pile on my desk, right alongside the World War One book I hadn't read yet

rs1ci.memecdn.com/78/2210078.gif
She totes needs to read it. She already had a culture shock with seeing actual horses, so why not go for two?

7388734

relieve yhe narrative tensionnnnbnn

u ok

[Conflicting views]

7389071 Wikipedia linked to a very detailled article (https://web.archive.org/web/20070823212601/http://www.npi.ucla.edu/sleepresearch/p05_nature_review.pdf) about the mammal's sleep.
It appear that carnivore usually are the biggest sleeper and herbivore the lightest. Also, the more an animal have to eat, the less it would sleep.
Plus their are exception.
And weird stuff, like apparently, Platypuses sleeps for 14h, most of it in REM sleep and the main cause would be their diet.

[MrZJunior]

7388903
They stopped it around the time cell phone cameras started becoming ubiquitous.

[arancaytar]

7388900

The muzzle is technically the forward part of the face - ie the nose and mouth. "Muzzle to muzzle" sounds more like "mouth to mouth" than "face to face".

[CCC]

7388200

...true.

[jxj]

7388979

It depends on what the major is. For example, assuming that Gusty is going for an Equestrian theatre degree, she can have nearly 100% overlap at U of W; whereas Kalamazoo College (or any Earth college for that matter) doesn't offer too many classes in advanced weather modification, so Silver Glow's picking up more of a general education. On the other hand, what I've found from one data point (me) is that a general, liberal arts education gives you the basis to pursue whatever you want . . . like, it gives you a way of thinking rather than rigid constraints.

yeah, i'm just used to looking at technical fields which colleges don' like accepting as much, even on earth. My school has a few really good exchange programs set up and they limit what classes you get credit from. I can see how liberal arts might be a good starting point, but a lot of jobs require a lot of book learning (ie engineering) but in my opinion there are better ones.

The biggest problem, and one which the show doesn't really address, is getting them clear of her wings. Traditional saddlebags, especially on a barrel as short as a pony's, wouldn't clear the wings at all, so they'd have to be pushed back over her rump, which would make her tail-heavy. Or I suppose they could be under her barrel; that would limit leg movement when she was on the ground but might not interfere too much with her flight.

I'd say they'd probably lay the wings over the bags. Although considering they fly mostly through magic, they might have different flight mechanics.

At K-College, when I was there, there were no theatre classes before 10am, and the 10am classes were a rarity. Usually they were afternoon classes, since it was assumed that theatre students would be up late at night.

on the flip side, I had a class that was only offered at 7 a.m. I'm not a morning person so I try not to schedule classes before 10 a.m. Engineering classes go all day though.

Hydraulics are amazing. So much on a modern car uses them: Fiat's multi-air system even uses oil valves to open the intake valves, which means that in theory they could develop an engine that didn't have a timing chain or camshafts.

That's pretty neat. my professor suggested hydraulics for a masters, although i'm not really onboard with that idea. I think electronics will take over at some point.

[Talon and Thorn]

I asked him what it was like, and he said it had blue eyes and a white tail and furry ears that felt like velvet. And he said that she was cute and funny and I bumped him with my hoof 'cause he was embarrassing me. Then I kissed him and told him how sweet he was.

Dawwww!

I wonder what Aric's response would be to seeing Silver's current reading matter.

[jxj]

7389431

I think that's more in theory than in actuality, though, isn't it? Like the kind of graphing that Silver's experiencing in Professor Sir Doctor Banerjee's class. I can't see how in a measurable sense it can ever be imaginary.

you can actually be charged for it (although that is rare for home power use). Mathematically AC systems are shown using complex numbers. For example the impedance (AC resistance) of a real inductor is given by r+jwL where j is sqrt(-1) (i is used to show current) w is the frequency of the signal and L is the inductance of the inductor. An AC signal will cause complex voltages and currents. Physically it means two things. First it shows a phase change from your signal. Components such as capacitors and inductors will cause a signal lag or lead. As an example if your voltage is at its peak at the source a capacitor won't be at it's peak voltage yet. The imaginary part of your voltage/current shows how much signal leads or lags behind the source. It can also be energy that is temporarily stored by the system. if you apply an AC signal to a capacitor it will charge during part of the cycle and discharge during the second part. The net result is zero since it discharges all the energy it absorbs (ideally). However, you have to put this energy into the system to start it and this is what power companies can charge for. For home use, it wouldn't be significant, but industrial plants it can actually be a lot.

[jxj]

7389431

So did I . . . except for a five-year period, which included the time I got my license. My first on-road driving experience was partially on an eight-lane road during rush hour.

\
ouch. my first on road experience was a rural private road. But as a result of this, I still don't do super well.

[Shachza]

7388990

"Isn't Romeo supposed to be the more masculine one?"
"Naw, this is Romeo and Juliet 2: Revenge of the Capulets. Romeo gets kidnapped and Juliet has to shoot and stab her way through the corrupt ranks of her own family. We'd've gone for Neesan(sp?) but Biscuit was more affordable."

[Shachza]

7389431

Winston does have a name. All the other cars, not so much.

Not naming your car?! Who does such a thing? That's just... not human.

(The only reason you didn't get to meet Grace was because poneh.)

[Conflicting views]

7389584 My uncle choose to use a air rifle to chase the some too agressive blackbirds and the squirrel. Apparently worked.

As for the squirel, I think that placing the bird feeder on top of a greased pole would work if there is nothing close enough to jumo from.

[readsponies]

The only thing that comes to mind as reasonably effective (for some definitions of 'reasonably') would be to have the bird feeder suspended between several powerful magnets.

There's always the Yankee Flipper. I'm sure there'll be a market for a pegasus-proof version in the near future.

[Lancerlot]

7389519 To avoid the wall-o-text effect, here's a link for any interested parties.
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/alternating-current/chpt-11/calculating-power-factor/

(That's not much of a party, silly!>
Sure it is, Pinkie! A resistive load is like blowing on a pinwheel to make it spin, while a reactive load is like blowing up a balloon!
(Oooh! Now I want to go play with electricity!>
What. Have. I. Done...

[bloons3]

7389676
Birdstrikes takes on a whole new meaning ... And the possibility to take down an airliner...

[MrZJunior]

7389714
Yup, that's the point.

[SWEETOLEBOB18]

I'm a little surprised that SG does not realize that clouds are fractal.

I remember reading an autobiography of Fienman (Nobel prize winner, Manhattan Project physicist that had a nervous breakdown). He said he always tried to point to real world examples of text book stuff because it was important to be able to relate theory to the real world. For polarized light, SG sees it all the time, reflected off water.

[Dan]

7389661
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanch%C5%8D
s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/cd/96/f8/cd96f8ce6ba6cd04c04d7e64466edcd8.jpg

[Dan]

7389912
In many ways, Woodrow Wilson was a spineless prick.

To quote Shao Kahn, "There is no knowledge that is not power."

[Alaborn]

7390199

anybody who read that would probably be too embarrassed to ask what an Ornithopter was

It's a 0/2 artifact creature with flying for 0. Duh!

[TheTownCrier]

[Lord Legion]

7390371 Oh Im going to have to find that story then. I have read a few of his stories already.

[Blitz the Dragon]

7389714 Hey me too!

[jxj]

7389912

hat's true. But for our purposes, it's usually close enough.

true, especially in application

Here's some more: the sum of all natural numbers is (by one proof) -1/12.

that's great. My favorite is that e^(i*pi)=-1. So a pair of fundamental constants are related to each other by a factor of nonexistance.

Hmm, that's interesting. I'd think that there would be some definite answers, but I suppose that there is more than one way to skin a cat.

well, kind of. Analysis always has definite answers but design doesn't. If you create something to do a task, all you know is that you found a way to do it. Is there a better way? Maybe. Are there even any other ways? Maybe. It might be that there is only one way to do it. There might be more than one way to skin a cat, there might not be. Stuff does tend to get optimized over time though.

Yeah, while you could certainly get some bad classes, I didn't regret very many of the ones I took.

I only regret english lit. I haven't learned anything in that subject since junior year of high school. Psychology was pretty good, I almost minored in it.

[Lord Legion]

Aww yeah I knew he would like it! And that small sign on the bird feeder, priceless!

[TheTownCrier]

7389685 It's called "Pussy cat song". I'd link it but then the powers that be would have apoplexy.

[yrfoxtaur]

I saw this video about the V1 bomb used by the Germans in WWII, and I thought of how Silver hasn't read the book on the first one yet. I kinda almost hope she doesn't read it, or if she does, that she doesn't then go on to read about the second one.

---

7389368
That Fiat system probably only uses the hydraulics to couple/decouple secondary valves to the otherwise conventional valvetrain. Which is cool and all, but kinda an evolutionary dead end on the path to camless engines. Bunch of companies have done work towards that goal, though some have kinda shelved it. Best I have seen is Freevalve, formerly known as Cargine, started by the people at Koenigsegg (who make some pretty awesome supercars) they've been working on camless technology for several years, and actually have a car with the setup which they have put thousands of miles on. It's an electronic/pneumatic/hydraulic actuator with fully variable valve lift and duration, and the reason it's not straight hydraulic is that in the end, hydraulics are not fast enough on their own.

[jxj]

7391224 huh. I'm not a car person so my opinion doesn't carry a lot of weight, but it does seem like Fiats system is going to dead end. I can totally see hydraulics being to slow, although i'm surprised pnuematics was used.

[Talon and Thorn]

7390152

Who are you and what are you doing writing in Silver's journal?

You can't have sex all the time.

To quote Farscape

Crichton: Furlow, is it always about the money?
Furlow: Is there anything else? I mean... how much sex can you have?
Crichton: I don't know... I haven't maxed out yet.

[Snakeskin Ducttape]

7390171

If anyone ever figures out that Silver don't like unicorns, I hope they show her The Last Unicorn. Or make her read the book, I suppose, but watching movies is faster.

The Equestrian Class had to translate passages from it (January 20), but she's never read the whole thing.

On that subject, I think they should watch Clash of the Titans (the old movie). I wanna know if that scene where what's-his-name breaks Pegasus (or some other winged horse) comes across as raunchy to Silver

[Admiral Biscuit]

7388691

I didn't know Silver Glow was interested in that style of art!

Correction made; thank you!

7388699

You really should not be in a hot tub in a storm , there is a danger from lightning.

It wasn't a thunderstorm, so they should have been all right.

We know that in canon, ponies can take hits from lightning and be okay, but I feel that on Earth that wouldn't be the case, so she should probably avoid it. And regardless of whether or not Silver Glow would be okay, Meghan very much wouldn't.

7388734

At this point I want Silver or Meghan to jump each other just to relieve yhe narrative tensionnnnbnn

And Aric was sweet. Aww

7388746

you pointed that out better than my just-awake self could have.

My spelling errors are legendary.

[Admiral Biscuit]

7388853

Awww, Aric's such a sweet-talker.

Silver has no biases regarding marriage?!

Perhaps 'preconceived notions' would be a better choice?

That sounds like a very... intimate way to apologize.

Intimate apologies are the best apologies, right?

Meghan: [punches the air internally]

7388886

Does Aric uses air conditioner? It could be what interfered with her perception of the weather...

No, he doesn't, but he does keep the windows closed at night (most of May was pretty cold), so she's feeling stale, inside air, possibly with a furnace as well.

Did something like this a few years ago during a travel in the Rocky Mountains; went to an outdoor thermal pool during a rainstorm It does feel strange.

I've done it before, as well, although only a really light rain. I think it would be a lot different in a heavy rain, and I'd like to try it someday.

7389090

Yeah, the social sciences are funny like that. A subject you know nothing about can be the perfect choice to research, though you have to be careful not to absorb the biases of the research materials.

That's always the trick. I actually run into that a lot in stories when I'm trying to get across a viewpoint that's not my own, because I need to be very careful to not let my biases creep into the story.

Also, good to see Silver keeping up both of her more intimate friendships. She really has made them work... though that may be one more thing to worry about when she goes back to Equestria.

That's always the hard thing about leaving--even with internet, it's never the same as it was. But the world moves on, and I suppose all that we can do is enjoy it while we have it.
.

[Admiral Biscuit]

7389111

She totes needs to read it. She already had a culture shock with seeing actual horses, so why not go for two?

Agreed. She'll get to it, she just hasn't yet.

7389134

It appear that carnivore usually are the biggest sleeper and herbivore the lightest. Also, the more an animal have to eat, the less it would sleep.

Yeah, I noticed that too--makes sense, really. Large, prey herbivores had better sleep really lightly and not for too long, or else . . . although to be fair, the amount of time a horse has to spend grazing to survive is probably a factor as well. I would think that a nice, realistic take on the ponies is that maybe with their increased sapience, maybe they have to sleep four or five hours a night to get a full night's sleep (and maybe it varies by tribe).

7389158

They stopped it around the time cell phone cameras started becoming ubiquitous.

I'm not surprised, but that's kind of a shame.

7389368

yeah, i'm just used to looking at technical fields which colleges don' like accepting as much, even on earth.

I think a lot of colleges have figured that out for their official exchange programs, at least. What classes are equal to the ones they have. But I do remember that there were a lot of fine points about what counted for transfer credits, and there was stuff that you could (potentially) test out of (like foreign language).

I'd say they'd probably lay the wings over the bags. Although considering they fly mostly through magic, they might have different flight mechanics.

Yeah, that's one way to address it. I don't think the straps would clear, though, if they were over the wings (certainly they wouldn't the way they're pictured in the show). I suppose they could have fore and aft diagonal straps that would clear the wings.

That's pretty neat. my professor suggested hydraulics for a masters, although i'm not really onboard with that idea. I think electronics will take over at some point.

From what I've seen, the hydraulics are for places where electricity can't do the required amount of work. Like in some modern diesels, where the fuel rail pressure might be 20,000 psi, they use electronically-controlled oil flow to open the injectors, because an electrical solenoid can't cut it. There are also places where it's difficult or impossible to put electronics, like in the gear at the end of a variable cam. So you've got a solenoid controlling the oil flow to get what you want, but the oil does the work.

[Admiral Biscuit]

7389453

I wonder what Aric's response would be to seeing Silver's current reading matter.

Like any man, he'd scream like a little girl and run away.

7389519

you can actually be charged for it (although that is rare for home power use). ... For home use, it wouldn't be significant, but industrial plants it can actually be a lot.

Huh. That's interesting, to be charged for imaginary power. Math is weird.

ouch. my first on road experience was a rural private road. But as a result of this, I still don't do super well.

My real education came later, driving old, unreliable cars that could break at any moment. But I don't like cities at all; I liked the pace of rural driving much better.

7389547

"Isn't Romeo supposed to be the more masculine one?"

Depends on the director, now doesn't it?

Not naming your car?! Who does such a thing? That's just... not human.

I'll confess that I stopped naming mine after the first dozen or so.

7389601

As for the squirrel, I think that placing the bird feeder on top of a greased pole would work if there is nothing close enough to jump from.

That does, or the little saucers that you can put on the poles. That's about it, though. Squirrels are clever little bastards.

[Admiral Biscuit]

7389682

There's always the Yankee Flipper. I'm sure there'll be a market for a pegasus-proof version in the near future.

That's awesome!

7389710

Birdstrikes takes on a whole new meaning ... And the possibility to take down an airliner...

That's definitely a concern. Besides the airliner, there would certainly be an Incident as a result of a pegasus getting sucked into a jet engine. Birds, you can't really do much about except to try and avoid places where they congregate. Pegasi, on the other hand, you can hopefully teach to stay out of the way of aircraft.

7389936

I'm a little surprised that SG does not realize that clouds are fractal.

She kind of knows it, but she hasn't made the connection yet, if that makes sense.

I remember reading an autobiography of Fienman (Nobel prize winner, Manhattan Project physicist that had a nervous breakdown). He said he always tried to point to real world examples of text book stuff because it was important to be able to relate theory to the real world.

That is something that I wish my math professor had done. When I took Calc 1, it felt like we were solving problems for the sake of solving them, not because there was some reason calculus was useful. And I haven't taken a math class since.

7390093
Ah. No, he aimed a bit lower, and it was less poking and more fondling.

In many ways, Woodrow Wilson was a spineless prick.

Not particularly related, but he'd just become president when my grandfather was born.

7390224

It's a 0/2 artifact creature with flying for 0. Duh!

One of my favorite MTG cards, made better with equipments and enchantments. Really good in a ninja deck.

7390407

Oh Im going to have to find that story then. I have read a few of his stories already.

I sent him a PM about it, and he thinks it's actually Off the Beaten Path by PingSquirrel.

Aww yeah I knew he would like it! And that small sign on the bird feeder, priceless

orig05.deviantart.net/e8f5/f/2012/324/6/6/pony_free_zone_by_edwardwonghau-d5lncm6.png

7390489

If you create something to do a task, all you know is that you found a way to do it. Is there a better way? Maybe. Are there even any other ways? Maybe. It might be that there is only one way to do it. There might be more than one way to skin a cat, there might not be. Stuff does tend to get optimized over time though.

There's a lot of that in automotive engineering, and I can see (from what I work on) that there must be trade-offs); Saturns used a a unique front suspension that combined the sway bar and radius arm, but the fact that no one else did that suggests that there was a flaw in that design. Apparently, Bosch has an engine Bible, and there are some engines that were conceived on paper in the 1800s that no one's been able to build yet. I guess there's one GM's been working on for 30 years or more (a combination spark/compression engine). 'Cause if you're actually building it, there's cost, production, and reliability that all have to be factored in, not just whether or not it works.

I only regret english lit. I haven't learned anything in that subject since junior year of high school. Psychology was pretty good, I almost minored in it.

I think that a lot of the humanities classes are more about the professor than anything. You can make poetry really interesting like Conrad, or you can make it a task, like an unnamed professor I had in college.

[Admiral Biscuit]

7390731

It's called "Pussy cat song". I'd link it but then the powers that be would have apoplexy.

No matter; that was enough to find it on YouTube. And it was worth finding.

7391224

I saw this video about the V1 bomb used by the Germans in WWII, and I thought of how Silver hasn't read the book on the first one yet. I kinda almost hope she doesn't read it, or if she does, that she doesn't then go on to read about the second one.

It's really hard to say which was the more horrible war. I'd almost say WWI, because I think it could be argued that WWII was at least justified after the Axis powers started attacking.

>> jxj

That Fiat system probably only uses the hydraulics to couple/decouple secondary valves to the otherwise conventional valvetrain. Which is cool and all, but kinda an evolutionary dead end on the path to camless engines.

It doesn't; it's the sole thing that runs the intake valves. With VVT, you can change when the valves open, but you can't change lift or duration; with Fiat's system, you can do all three.

It does use a HP oil pump off the exhaust cam. I'm not sure what it does on startup, because they were only covered briefly in our class on new vehicle technologies, and that was a couple of years ago, before Fiats had even started appearing in the US again.

7391260

I can totally see hydraulics being to slow, although i'm surprised pnuematics was used.

Hydraulics aren't, depending on how you use them. I'd have to check the numbers, but PowerStroke injectors open pretty fast, and they're electro-hydraulic (at 5,000 RPM those suckers have to open at least 83 times per second, and IIRC, they're multi-strike, so they open multiple times per injection event). [and on variable displacement engines, they disable a cylinder on a particular point of its cycle, regardless of RPM.]

7391261

Furlow: Is there anything else? I mean... how much sex can you have?
Crichton: I don't know... I haven't maxed out yet.

A good point. A very good point.

7391498

On that subject, I think they should watch Clash of the Titans (the old movie). I wanna know if that scene where what's-his-name breaks Pegasus (or some other winged horse) comes across as raunchy to Silver

Hmm. She would have words about that. I'll have to watch it--what's the release year (to make sure I find the right one)?

[Alaborn]

7401801

One of my favorite MTG cards, made better with equipments and enchantments. Really good in a ninja deck.

Since you're not attacking until Turn 2 anyway, I prefer the one drop unblockable creatures (Tormented Spirit or Triton Shorestalker) in a ninja deck.

[Walabio]

7390481

> " > Here's some more: the sum of all natural numbers is (by one proof) -1/12."

> "that's great. My favorite is that e^(i*pi)=-1. So a pair of fundamental constants are related to each other by a factor of nonexistance."

The 1 true CircleConstant is τ (Tau):

τ = c / r ≈ 6.28318530717959

( e ^ ( i τ ) ) = 1

[Walabio]

7478511

7481766

It is very simple:

τ (Tau) is the 1 True CircleConstant. In Trigonometry, One does not have to multiply and divide by 2. Eurer's Identity clearly relates to rotation. The area of circles points to the proof by integration. As an engineer, you must be aware of the engineering disasters caused by assuming that the volume of sphere is πr^3:

With τ (Tau), is is easy to remember:

Interior of an n-sphere:
( ( ( n - 1 ) / ( n τ ) ) ( r ^ n ) ) = interior

Circle:
( ( τ / 2 ) ( r ^ 2 ) ) = a

Sphere:
( ( ⅔ τ ) ( r ^ 3 ) ) = v

Hypersphere:
( ( ¾ τ ) ( r ^ 4 ) ) = hypervollume

Basically, any equation with wavelength or periods has τ (tau) in it. Think about all of the Trigonometric Errors one can prevent by using τ (Tau) because of all of the multiply of dividing by 2 in the wrong direction of forgetting to do so or by not doing so when one should do so or doing so when one should not. Ditto for all equations with wavelength periods. The reason why τ (Tau) works while π (Pi) has these factors of 2 (the area of a circle has the 2s canceling) is because how one defines a circle:

A circle is all points equidistant from the origin on a 2d-plane. The radius defines the circle. c / d does not even work as an alternate CircleConstant:

c / r is a CircleConstant, but c / d can vary; ¿have you heard of curves of constant width?:

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Reuleaux_triangle_Animation.gif

Curves of Constant Width

Curves of constant with can have any number of odd sides. Like circles, these have constant width.

[ibeachu]

7483093 Um... Not exactly simple...

[Vitae]

7483093

7390481

Why in the hell are you people bringing the Tau into this?
This isn't Warhammer 40k.

Also, enough alien languages you foul demons!

[Admiral Biscuit]

7854153

Also, enough alien languages you foul demons!

Math letters are evil.