What-if: chat thread

[cellocgw]

What if the mods dumped all non-what-if-specific chatter to a single thread?

Normally, I wouldn't allow this, as created threads should only be about new What If? articles, as per dem rules, but as a small but dedicated What-If community has arisen within the confines of this subfora, keep all your chat in here, will ye's all?

I've taken the liberty to smoosh every chit-chat thread into one already.

So just because GLR is on break doesn't mean we can't chat a bit.

What if everyone posted the most absurd What-If question they could think of to this thread?

[january1may]

Not my most absurd probably, but one I wanted to post for a long time - and just couldn't bring myself to send because it's just too absurd

"In Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly ever happen", claimed a song in the musical My Fair Lady.
So how often do hurricanes happen in Hertford, Hereford and Hampshire, and what would've happened if there was a hurricane in one of these three British places?

[davidstarlingm]

If a humanzee was created, what rights would it/he/she deserve?

[Tyndmyr]

The right to be loosed from the mad scientists lab, accompanied by the sound of cackling in glee, wielding laser guns.

[Flumble]

I can't stand this any longer

RULES FOR POSTING A NEW "WHAT-IF" THREAD

[list=I][*]Title subject should always be: What-If ####: "Title"

[WHAT-IF][SPACE][DIGIT][DIGIT][DIGIT][DIGIT][COLON][SPACE][QUOTATION MARKS][TITLE][QUOTATION MARKS]

[*]See the title of every other thread for clues. Note capitalisation, correct spelling, etc. and include quotation marks! This is purely for aesthetic reasons. I am an aesthetic paerson.

Call it 'What-If 007⁶: "Merry Xmas"' or whatever, just make sure the number sign is gone and the colon is included and the title is inside double quotes and the spacing is correct. Think of the children!


What if unicode had a set of combining superscript and subscript digits?

[cellocgw]

I can't stand this any longer

RULES FOR POSTING A NEW "WHAT-IF" THREAD

[list=I][*]Title subject should always be: What-If ####: "Title"

[WHAT-IF][SPACE][DIGIT][DIGIT][DIGIT][DIGIT][COLON][SPACE][QUOTATION MARKS][TITLE][QUOTATION MARKS]

[*]See the title of every other thread for clues. Note capitalisation, correct spelling, etc. and include quotation marks! This is purely for aesthetic reasons. I am an aesthetic paerson.

Call it 'What-If 007⁶: "Merry Xmas"' or whatever, just make sure the number sign is gone and the colon is included and the title is inside double quotes and the spacing is correct. Think of the children!


What if unicode had a set of combining superscript and subscript digits?

I guess what you're actually asking is "What if 'What-If' was as likely to have a hyphen as 'anal-compulsive'?"

[Zowayix]

I've always wondered what a insanely extended Mercator projection would look like. The North Pole would probably be pretty boring (IIRC there's no physically visible landmark there) but at the South Pole, how far down would you have to go to see things like visible buildings, people, dust particles, atoms, Planck lengths, etc.?

If the area around the South Pole is too boring when zoomed in, you could always reorient the map so that one pole is at some landmark location or something.

[bachaddict]

What if every keyboard became a leopard?

[Envelope Generator]

What if What If wasn't on holiday this week?

[Copper Bezel]

I can't stand this any longer

RULES FOR POSTING A NEW "WHAT-IF" THREAD

[list=I][*]Title subject should always be: What-If ####: "Title"

[WHAT-IF][SPACE][DIGIT][DIGIT][DIGIT][DIGIT][COLON][SPACE][QUOTATION MARKS][TITLE][QUOTATION MARKS]

[*]See the title of every other thread for clues. Note capitalisation, correct spelling, etc. and include quotation marks! This is purely for aesthetic reasons. I am an aesthetic paerson.

Call it 'What-If 007⁶: "Merry Xmas"' or whatever, just make sure the number sign is gone and the colon is included and the title is inside double quotes and the spacing is correct. Think of the children!


What if unicode had a set of combining superscript and subscript digits?

I guess what you're actually asking is "What if 'What-If' was as likely to have a hyphen as 'anal-compulsive'?"

It's the odd thread out. The entire page follows proper format, save this thread. = P It's not OCD to ask you to keep tidy....

Edit: What's the total carbon footprint of one standard Star Destroyer?

[Jackpot777]

If every "#1 Movie In America" this year was actually a documentary instead of a work of fiction, what state would the world / universe be in right now?

Take into consideration that films set in the future would still happen, but not yet. Movies set in the past would have impacted our world at the time they were set. Films set in alternate realities would affect those realms, unless those realms intersected with our reality in the film.

For a start: parts of London would be in a bit of a mess right now (Thor: The Dark World).

[Jackpot777]

I can't stand this any longer

RULES FOR POSTING A NEW "WHAT-IF" THREAD

[list=I][*]Title subject should always be: What-If ####: "Title"

[WHAT-IF][SPACE][DIGIT][DIGIT][DIGIT][DIGIT][COLON][SPACE][QUOTATION MARKS][TITLE][QUOTATION MARKS]

[*]See the title of every other thread for clues. Note capitalisation, correct spelling, etc. and include quotation marks! This is purely for aesthetic reasons. I am an aesthetic paerson.

Call it 'What-If 007⁶: "Merry Xmas"' or whatever, just make sure the number sign is gone and the colon is included and the title is inside double quotes and the spacing is correct. Think of the children!


What if unicode had a set of combining superscript and subscript digits?

What-If # 0076½: "Merry Xmas" ...?

[Klear]

If every "#1 Movie In America" this year was actually a documentary instead of a work of fiction, what state would the world / universe be in right now?

Take into consideration that films set in the future would still happen, but not yet. Movies set in the past would have impacted our world at the time they were set. Films set in alternate realities would affect those realms, unless those realms intersected with our reality in the film.

For a start: parts of London would be in a bit of a mess right now (Thor: The Dark World).

Hmm... by 2077, Earth is pretty much done for (Oblivion), but by 2086 it's fine (Ender's Game) and mankind eventually survives to found the Federation of Planets more than hundred years in the future... (Star Trek).

Now that I think of it, if Star Trek: Into Darkness is true, that means the previous Star Trek movie must also be true, since the continuity is an indelible part of the movie, and arguably all the Star Trek movies and series preceding the reboot as well, since it is a divergent timeline, but one which changed far into our future. The events of, say, The Voyage home, have happened as depicted.

Anyway, to answer your question, the state of the world? Beastie Boys never recorded "Intergalactic" and "Ch-Check It Out" and therefore I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

[DiEvAl]

What if every leopard became a leopard?

Your post looks pretty funny with s/leopard/leopard/g browser extension

What-if there was no what-if today?

[mathmannix]

or today? (there isn't one yet...)

[eran_rathan]

or today? (there isn't one yet...)

They generally post at noon on Tuesdays (GMT-5).

[deusrex]

What if I'd invented a fing-longer?

[The_Alchemist]

What's the total carbon footprint of one standard Star Destroyer?

I like this one. It rather immediately begs the question "what does a non-standard Star Destroyer look like?"

But I'd up this to:

"What is the carbon foot print of the completed Death Star?"

[Mikeski]

What's the total carbon footprint of one standard Star Destroyer?

I like this one. It rather immediately begs the question "what does a non-standard Star Destroyer look like?"

But I'd up this to:

"What is the carbon foot print of the completed Death Star?"

Zero, and zero, as both star destroyers (standard and super) and death stars operate in deep space, which has no carbon ecology to leave a footprint in.

You could also argue "infinite" for a death star, q.v. Alderaan.

[Pfhorrest]

Questions about the carbon footprint of things that operate in space are still sensible questions, even if they're not very relevant. The question is how much carbon do they release into a gaseous form that wasn't previously that way (minus any that they might absorb as well). That deep space doesn't much care how much carbon gasses you're spewing into it doesn't negate the question.

Also, if (as is likely) there are planet-based industrial processes that go into the construction of these ships (or their fuels, or whatever), then there is still a relevant question of their total carbon footprint on planets with a carbon ecology to care about.

Of course this is the same universe which has an entire planet covered with nothing but city and all the problems that entails conveniently swept under the rug, so...

[mathmannix]

OK, so "carbon footprint" is defined as the amount of carbon dioxide that an object adds to the environment, right? From what I know about the Death Star, it had a rather small thermal exhaust port - the size of a womp rat, right? So... they must be pretty energy-efficient. Environmental-friendly.

[The_Alchemist]

"What is the carbon foot print of the completed Death Star?"

OK, so "carbon footprint" is defined as the amount of carbon dioxide that an object adds to the environment, right? From what I know about the Death Star, it had a rather small thermal exhaust port - the size of a womp rat, right? So... they must be pretty energy-efficient. Environmental-friendly.

Rephrase:

'What is the energy requirements to build (optional - and operate) a Death Star"? More what I would like to know as I suspect that it uses fusion power and not fossil fuels.

car·bon foot·print
noun
noun: carbon footprint; plural noun: carbon footprints

1.
the amount of carbon dioxide and other carbon compounds emitted due to the consumption of fossil fuels by a particular person, group, etc.

Although that in of itself is interesting I think to know what the 'equivalent carbon footprint would be.

[CharlieP]

OK, so "carbon footprint" is defined as the amount of carbon dioxide that an object adds to the environment, right?

I always get confused by that - is the carbon in "carbon footprint" sloppy shorthand for carbon dioxide, or specifically the number of moles of carbon atoms?

[EpicanicusStrikes]

OK, so "carbon footprint" is defined as the amount of carbon dioxide that an object adds to the environment, right? From what I know about the Death Star, it had a rather small thermal exhaust port - the size of a womp rat, right? So... they must be pretty energy-efficient. Environmental-friendly.

To be fair, they never claimed that to be the only thermal exhaust port. Just a thermal exhaust port.

"The target area is only two meters wide. It's a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system."

And by the way. This was not a design flaw as Family Guy liked to harp upon. Without thermal exhaust, the reactor would overheat. They did have enough sense to ray-shield it and protect it with both defense towers and flights of Tie Fighters.

It took the greatest living Jedi in the universe to actually tag it with a torpedo, with the help of a lot of meat-shields. And Han Solo. You know a plan is solid if Solo has to help take it down.

[cellocgw]

Apparently we still have to wait.

[Eutychus]

...for it

[ricketybridge]

AGHGHGH!!! Randall, you liar!!

At least the comic was updated. >:C

[Krealr]

AGHGHGH!!! Randall, you liar!!

Wednesday isn't over yet. (For Randall at least)

[Djehutynakht]

I guess it is true that we do have a snow day here in MA. He could be stuck shoveling all day.

Maybe this is one hell of a What-If to the extent that it's been taking extra time to complete.

Or maybe he's just busy.

[speising]

or this is the End!

[Prosthetic_Lips]

:whistling: ... still waiting for it ...

[Djehutynakht]

Is this going to become a trend?

Not complaining, just curious.

[Flumble]

It's still hours from midnight at the east coast of the USA, so Randall has a whole evening left. (it's wednesday already for CET and beyond)

[ricketybridge]

Is this going to become a trend?

Not complaining, just curious.

I'm complaining! (Because I love this blog, but still.)

It's still hours from midnight at the east coast of the USA, so Randall has a whole evening left. (it's wednesday already for CET and beyond)

Previously, Randall has tended to post these Tuesday at midnight (i.e. 16 hours and 20 minutes ago).

[bachaddict]

Is GLR's clock a day slow?!

[Evadman]

To be fair, it is Wednesday and Snowing again.

FUNCTION WillWhatIfBeLate() as Boolean
WillWhatIfBeLate = False 'Default
If DayofWeek(now) = 3 THEN
IF CheckUserWeather("GLR") = "Snowing" THEN
WillWhatIfBeLate = True
END IF
END IF

END FUNCTION

[Envelope Generator]

Randall's really been drifting west lately.

[cellocgw]

Randall's really been drifting west lately.

Must be more sand there (see 0084, just out)

[cellocgw]

Used to be that Randall would post a note warning us there'd be a late (or no) new What-If , but nothing at all for a couple weeks now?

What, one appearance on Colbert and a few book-signing events and it's all over for the webcomic .

Well, then, here goes: What If... every NFL player who committed an assault or other crime were kicked out of the league?

[ramblinjd]

Used to be that Randall would post a note warning us there'd be a late (or no) new What-If , but nothing at all for a couple weeks now?

I was wondering the same thing...

What If... every NFL player who committed an assault or other crime were kicked out of the league?

I was actually wondering this too...