u/Sophont27

This is a long shot. This is one of those things where I saw a glimpse of it when I was very young, so I don’t have many details.

I just remember that there were these black phantom dragon looking things flying around what seemed to be modern day Earth (England maybe, by the architecture?). They kind of looked like a xenomorph mixed with a dementor, and there were a bunch of them, flying around and perching on buildings and stuff. Humans didn’t seem to be able to see them.

I remember one scene vividly: there was a father pushing his kid on a swing, and then in the blink of an eye the father had disappeared and the swing kept going. Pretty sure one of the phantoms took him.

I mention England because one of the buildings they were perched on kind of looked like the lower half of the Big Ben clock tower.

Probably not any later than 2012

Just saw a post asking how digestion works in space, with lots of good answers explaining how the body can still function without gravity helping it.

So my follow up question is whether scientists knew about any of that before sending the first living thing up there. Did anyone even try to figure out if we could survive in no gravity, or did we just observe that an animal could survive for a time, and only later ask why?

I LOVED Farcry primal, and I haven’t played a game quite like it since. I loved the beautiful graphics and world and the exploration thereof. I loved the challenge of having to fend off vicious beasts with torches, and how much strategy went into deciding how/when to avoid confrontations. I loved that the best weapons available to me were spears and clubs which were liable to break at any moment. I loved being a caveman making his way through the world, simple as.

Any other games that capture some of this feeling? Good graphics are nice, but not a dealbreaker. I played Ark, and I’m installing Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey as I type this.

Thank you!

When I talk, write, or think (using my internal monologue), I can’t help but count out all of the syllables I’m using to make sure the number’s divisible by three.

Sometimes I’ll manage to ignore it, or simply just forget to count them, but when I’m thinking about it, it becomes a bit of an obstacle.

— To illustrate it, I wrote the above two paragraphs with the syllable count in mind, but for the rest of this post I’ll try to ignore it, because it’s cumbersome. —

Anywho, I’ll often have to edit a sentence in my mind to make sure it has the right amount. If I ever misestimate and end up saying an extra one or two syllables instead of landing on a perfect three, I’ll add a filler word/sound to even it out.

It changes my speech because I end up repeating parts of my sentences, adding a stutter, or ending my sentence with random words like “get me?” or “right?” I’ll also sometimes punctuate a perfectly divisible sentence with a final set of three syllables. My favorite phrase to use for that is “or something.”

It’s gotten to the point where I have a small repertoire of versatile phrases whose syllable counts I have memorized, so I can seamlessly fix any discrepancies without my communication suffering for it.

I’ll also pronounce certain words in a way that changes how many syllables it has, to serve my goal. For example: “I’ll be there in three hours.” Normally, I say “hours” with two syllables, but that makes the phrase seven syllables. So in that case, I would shorten “hours” into one, almost saying “airs,” to make the phrase have a perfect six syllables.

In my mind, every (the word ‘every’ can be two or three syllables depending on what I need) syllable corresponds to two opposite sides of a cube-like shape. Three syllables completes a cube. Not sure how many cubes I’ve collected.

When I was a kid, I needed to get six syllables, one for each side of the cube, but now each one counts for two, so I only need three per cube. Hopefully, one day, every syllable will fill its own cube and I won’t have to think about this crap.

I have some tricks, too. If I ever lose count, especially on a long sentence, I know that I can just repeat the uncounted part three times in my head and it will always end up on a multiple of three.

I’m bothered by the fact that even if I could keep track of all the syllables without any error, I didn’t even think to start counting until I had already spoken. I’ll never know what number I’m really on, much like how I’ll never know if it’s REALLY Saturday.

Anyone else do this?

There was a scene (maybe a few scenes) where Nikki was stood in a dark corner and it looked like her face was distorted and morphed. When I saw it, I thought it was just expert lighting taking advantage of the angles on her face, but then I saw a picture of the actress wearing makeup/prosthesis or something to give her face that morphed look.

So, my question is if her face is meant to have literally changed shape in the world of the movie, or if that was just a storytelling thing. Is that just how Bear saw her in that moment, or was the magic affecting her physically? And is that related to the scene where she hid her face with the flowers?

I’m trying to be more discerning than I’m used to, and I watched this movie through the cracks in my fingers so apologies if I missed some important context and if these are dumb questions. What do you all think?

Hi all. Just saw the movie last night, very good, very scary. Some things that didn’t make sense to me:

Why did wish-Nikki make a cat shrine? Then, why did she cook it and feed it to Bear? Then, why did she write “not me” on the picture?

My understanding is that wish-Nikki is only a few days/weeks old, and literally doesn’t know anything regarding Sandy other than “Bear likes this cat,” and takes that the wrong way. I don’t know how well that explains it, but that’s what I have.

And for the “not me” note, I wonder if the real Nikki popped in to write it. What do you all think?

Hi all! I’m a university student in a class called “the ethics of activism,” and for a group project we’ve put together a guide for any would-be activists, specifically door-to-door canvassers. Part of the assignment is to have it read by an actual activist for feedback.

So, if there’s any experienced activist here who wouldn’t mind reading it and sharing some constructive thoughts, please let me know! Our guide is only about 2-3 pages long, so hopefully it won’t be too time-consuming.

Thanks for considering!

Hi all! I’m just getting into my first alcoholic beverages, and I find that I really don’t like how alcohol tastes. Tried a beer, and it tasted to me like how imagine pee tastes. Then I tried wine, same thing. It’s bitter and it burns, and I can hardly taste the grapes.

But, people seem to love alcoholic drinks a lot, and I know there’s a big wine-tasting community.

So my question is if A. It’s an acquired taste, and I have to acclimate my taste buds, or B. I have some genetic feature, like the one that makes cilantro taste like soap, and everyone else tastes alcohol completely differently than I do, or C. I’ve just been drinking low quality stuff/drinking it wrong. For reference, it was a Victoria cerveza beer from a can, and La Vieille Ferme wine out of a box.

What’s your experience with the taste of alcohol?

Hi all. When I think of sci-fi cloaking technology, two kinds come to mind:

1. The kind employed by the Predator and the Halo elites, which is only visible by a slight shimmer in the air. I really like this.
2. The kind where the cloaked thing is completely invisible and there’s no indication at all.
3. Well, that’s all I can think of, but I feel like there should be more!

Are there any other ways that cloaking is represented that you know of? What’s your favorite representation of cloaking that you’ve seen?

I’ve been trying for a high-level award. Yet, akinator seems to give up halfway through his line of questioning and just guesses some random thing that’s never right. I know that the things I’m thinking of are in the database because I checked, but akinator just doesn’t ask enough questions before guessing. How is anyone supposed to get a high-level award if the program doesn’t even try to think of the most obscure things?

I’m thinking about the word “consider.” To say that something can be considered, we call it “considerable” with the “able” suffix. Is there a different suffix (or other word) to say that something *must* be considered?

Or do I just have to say plainly that “something must be considered,” using all those words?

Thank you!

Got a notification that just says “this account has been suspended” 8 hours ago. When I click on it, it just brings me to a vague information page about Xbox enforcement options, which doesn’t help me.

As far as I can tell, *my* account is NOT suspended! Everything is completely functioning as normal. I can send messages, play any game, multiplayer, talk in parties, etc.

So, I’m wondering if it’s just a glitched notification, or if I should be worried about this, or if the notification means something else entirely.

Thanks

Hi all, I love dyeing my armor a certain way, but it’s a little tedious to do it every time I make new armor. Is there a way to save a paint pattern so I can just paste it onto future armor?

Hi all. I’ve written a couple short stories straight on a word document before, but I wonder if anyone would recommend a particular app or website or something designed specifically for creative writing.

Maybe something that helps you organize the different parts of your story, or keep track of certain characters and details?

Or, maybe, you would recommend to not use such an app at all and just write everything on a single document.

I’m open to any suggestions or ideas, thank you!