#(which is 1000% correct)

[lotus-pear]

the dialogue choices in this game should be more diabolical

[sexynetra]

I haven’t stopped thinking about this post since I saw it btw

[summergoodwife]

Gonna say it again, "Just stop consuming the genre" is THE WORST POSSIBLE RESPONSE to someone complaining about the lack of representation in their preferred genre!! And "Consume other stuff too" is not much better!!! I don't care how much you think varying media consumption is a Good and Holy lifestyle, not everyone wants to do that! There is no obligation to do that and there should not be! Because it's fucking entertainment. It's not a college major.

And! And and and. I would be remiss to not point out that when you tell someone, "If you want well written (minority) just get out of (genre fandom)" you are, regardless of your motivations, rhetorically aligning yourself with the exact same bigots who just want the pro-representation crowd to shut up and go away.

[forcebookish]

"the anime did no justice to ih at all" it literally gave you more scenes than the manga what the actual fuck are you smoking. K*BO HIMSELF DIDN'T DO JUSTICE TO THEM.

[network-rail]

Why are obstacles on the tracks a problem?

Previously, I mentioned that when a train encounters an obstacle on the line such as a tree branch, what happens is a complicated physics process that results in the train pushing the branch along the line. Here I will explain that process, but be aware that complicated physics things are about to happen. There are some pretty diagrams to look at though, so if you want you can look at those and then skip to the end for a summary. They're even in color!!

First of all, some basic setup (before putting some numbers in):

We have a train travelling at an initial velocity u, with mass M, and an engine capable of producing a constant power P (we will use this to restore the train's velocity to u if it decreases for some reason).

The train encounters an obstacle on the line, such as a tree branch of mass m. We will assume (for now) that the collision is elastic - that is, no energy was lost (for instance, as sound).

We are also assuming a frictionless vacuum, cylindrical tree branch, and rectangular train.

To start with, we look at conservation of momentum (figure 1):

Since the train has elastically collided with a branch, its speed is reduced, given as Vtrain . As trains are typically much heavier than a single tree branch, we take M >> m, and so Vtrain ≈ u.

However, this is somewhat unrealistic, as when a train hits an obstacle, energy is lost –as a crunch sound, for instance– so it may be more appropriate to assume an inelastic collision. Since I said that the branch sticks to the train (and I am right), we should assume a completely inelastic collision, where as much kinetic energy as possible is lost.

Again, we look at conservation of momentum (figure 2):

In this case, if we again assume M>>m, we still get v ≈ u.

Since we know from reality that problems will happen if the train collides with the branch, this tells us that we have made an unrealistic assumption somewhere. In this case, it must be the assumption that the train's mass, M, is large enough that the branch's mass m can be ignored. So, without this assumption, we look at how long it takes the train to get back to its initial speed, using the equations for motion under constant power (equations derived from Taylor, 1930 and shown in figure 3):

To find how much energy is used in each case, simply multiply the time by the power.

By now, you may be wondering what the point of all this is – after all, I haven't actually shown you if this is meaningful. So let's add some numbers to this and see how reasonable all of our assumptions were!

If we take the train's mass to be M=30 tonnes (30,000kg), its power P=1500kW, and its initial speed u=40 m/s (144 km/hr) respectively; and assume the branch has a mass m=5kg (that seems reasonable, right? Trees are mostly water, which is 1kg per cubic meter, and if it has a radius of 0.5m and a length of 1.435m, it should be about that much), we can calculate all the various things we need:

First, the final velocity of the train and branch in the inelastic case (see figure 2 for the equation):

v≈39.99m/s which is pretty close to the initial velocity.

The time taken to return to speed (fig. 3) for the train/branch system is:

t≈0.0053s

This is quite fast, but hold on: the energy used to do this is about 8000 joules, which is probably quite expensive at current electricity prices, but those are given in kWh and I really don't feel like converting between them. (8000 is a big number, right?)

For the elastic case, things are a little bit more complicated, as we have two different velocities to calculate (figure 4):

If you were just looking at the pictures and are upset that the last two have been equations, don't worry, the next one isn't.

Vbranch ≈ 79.99 m/s

Vtrain ≈ 39.98 m/s

The time taken to return to speed:

t≈0.0094s

This is almost double that of the inelastic case, resulting in the energy used increasing to the enormous –and probably expensive– value of 14 kJ. (I even needed to use an SI prefix this time! And one of the ones that makes things bigger!)

However, both of these cases also reveal some interesting things about the situation: the elastic case has the tree branch launched away from the train at 80m/s, which is about 288 km/hr. Since the train and branch are likely irregularly shaped, the branch probably won't be pushed along the tracks at 290km/hr, and could instead be launched into the air space towards you. Nobody wants to be in the situation where a tree branch is flying towards you at almost 300 km/hr. I could do some math to see how much it would hurt, or if you could reasonably expect to dodge it, but I think we can just assume it will be quite painful.

Historically, trains avoided flinging branches at nearby passengers at almost 500km/hr (that's half the speed of sound) by employing a triangular device on the front of the train to deflect objects such as cows off the tracks. These were particularly common in North America, where lineside fences have yet to be discovered outside of the Northeast Corridor and it is easy for things to wander onto the tracks. However, thanks to innovations by the Budd company and others, more recent american trains are basically indestructible, rendering obstacle deflectors unnecessary. The effects of the obstacle deflector are shown below (figure 5):

This device is known in America as a burgerizer, since it can provide an easy meal for the train crew –two of the five ingredients for a cheeseburger right on the front of the train, more if you're lucky– although since usually the obstacle is shoved off the track, the British name of "cowcatcher" is misleading, especially if you hit a truck instead. The burgerizer's physics can easily be calculated using conservation of momentum, but this involves vectors, and I don't want to deal with vectors right now is left as an excercise for the reader.

In the inelastic case, we note that the branch sticks to the front of the train. Since the inelastic case is more realistic (I will not justify this statement), this means that other things will also stick to the train. By the time the train reaches the end of the line, the mass of the things stuck to it may end up not being negligible (figure 6):

If the train is electric, this will strain the power grid and could lead to power cuts elsewhere as more energy is given to keep the train running at speed. If the train is diesel, it will be unable to provide constant power and could slow down (an electric train has access to every power station in the country if the need arises, a diesel train just has its onboard generator or motor AND a limited amount of fuel).

This mess is also difficult to clean up, and could damage the track as it is pushed along. Also, although we have been ignoring friction (since trains have very little rolling resistance) this pile of stuff will cause friction to be very noticeable, and could even obstruct the driver's visibility – potentially leading to more collisions.

–//–

Now that you have read through all of the calculations (or looked at the pictures and skipped the rest), you should have a thorough understanding of why we have to stop trains to clear things off the line, and can't just plow through them like in the movies. (I assume this happens in movies, I have not checked)

TL;DR: When the train hits a branch, either the branch goes flying towards you really quickly, at basically 1000km/hr, which is approximately the speed of sound; or it sticks to the front of the train and becomes part of a massive pile of things that gets in the way and slows down the train.

Finally:

I put the images together using the shapes in my computer's word processor (except the various rail logos); while the equations of motion under constant power are from this paper by Lloyd W. Taylor (published in 1930, I believe). Also thanks to @cosmos-dot-semicolon for peer reviewing this, any errors are not my fault.

[kirby-the-gorb]

[pixelpaladin24]

Other players: oh use this big sword or that huge axe to defeat the strongest enemies-

Me: ...I defeated Laxasia the Complete using the Salamander Dagger.

[danielnelsen]

well this is what ive been doing for the past 2 weeks

[coffeeastronaut]

my shitass problem . power outage killed, possibly permanently, my old ass desktop comp that i run my server off of. ive been planning to buy a dedicated server box BUT i dont wanna buy a fucking server rn!!!!! that was supposed to wait till at LEAST next year!! i cannot justify that price tag unless i forfit buying a desktop in a few months after i move and i dont WANT to. and i dont wanna buy a new desktop and run it off that bc its BAD FOR IT! and i dont wanna buy the new desktop now and forfit my laptop to the server bc i like you know. having a fucking laptop! ! ! ! ! and its loud as fuck when its running i cant sleep with that! meanwhile this stupid ass server is like 80% of my mental health when not actively in the presence of another human person. its only been down since last night and i am going absolutely fucking bananas.

[undyinglantern]

my hot take is that bouncy is horseshit and everybody just loves the chorus because every verse sounds absolutely horrible and on the rare moment that it would sound good otherwise their voices have been altered to the point of sounding like robots

[lottieratworld]

whats the point of lying that ur crawfish turned blue lmao

[worstsequence]

[mefilas]

AH SHIT I FORGOT GUZMA NASH IS RIGHT

[chekhovsdisconnectedwormbell]

I hate filing my taxes >:(

[oh-look-car-horns]

Wondering what boop count your 3 letter word corresponds to? I gotchu:

Using a python script I wrote, I booped myself 50,000 times, saving an image of my boop-o-meter every 500 boops. Before we get into the results, there are two important limitations to this study that I should mention:

Firstly, because I only recorded the boop-o-meter every 500 boops, if a message appeared for less than 500 boops it may not have been caught.

Secondly, every now and then my computer would lose a boop or two when a click wouldn't register. This is seen in the 500 and 1000 boop images below, which in reality read 498 and 994 respectively. Because of this, boop values are slightly lower than they appear.

With that out of the way, lets dig in.

0-999:

From boops 0-999, the boop-o-meter displays your boop count, and changes color as you boop

Boop count: 0 Boop count: 500 Boop count: 1000

Boop fact: the colors do not change after 1000

LOL:

Between boops 1000 and 1500, the boop-o-meter changed to display 'LOL'. This likely took place at 1000 boops, but maybe it said 'MAX' or sumn for awhile at first? Idk this is already the misinformation website so not my problem.

Boop count: 1500 (actually more like 1490 ish)

More results below the cut

OMG:

Between 1500 and 2000, the boop-o-meter changed to display 'OMG'. Again, this probably happened at 1500 but who knows. Maybe staff made it 1523 for the bit or something.

Boop count: ~2000

WOW:

The boop-o-meter remained at omg until the 3500 boop readpoint, when it switched to 'WOW', meaning this transition happens somewhere between ~2980 and ~3480.

Boop count: ~3500

Boop fact: 'WOW' is the second longest reigning message

*-*:

Between 5000 and 5500 the boop-o-meter switched to '*-*'. You get the idea at this point so I'll speed it up.

Boop count: ~5500

WHY:

The boop-o-meter changed to 'WHY' between 6000 and 6500 boops. For science. That's why.

Boop count: ~6500

PLZ:

Next was 'PLZ', switching between 7000 and 7500.

Boop count: ~7500

AAA:

I'm not sure what bloody urine has to do with anything, but for some reason staff felt is was important to display, switching between 7500 and 8000.

Boop count: ~8000

;_;:

Huh the colon makes that one look weird. 8000-8500.

Boop count: ~8500

Boop fact: That fucking cat haunts me in my dreams

0_0:

I realized after I set my pyautogui script running that my computer wouldn't turn off its screen because of the clicking, so there was a strobing blue light in my room all night. This encapsulated my expression while trying to sleep (8500-9000).

Boop count: ~9000

MAX:

After 9000 it displayed 'MAX'. This was cap. (9000-9500 switch).

Boop count: OVER 9000 (9500)

<33:

I miss my wife. 9500-10,000.

Boop count ~10,000

TUM BLR:

THE HOLY GRAIL. The boop-o-meter switched to displaying 'TUM BLR' between 10,000 and 10,500 boops. Because my actual boop count was slightly behind my theoretical, I'd guess that this change happened at 10,000 boops.

Boop count: ~10,500 (likely switched at 10,000)

Summary:

When charted the boop curve looks as follows:

Boop curve: 0 - 10,000 boops

My script continued to run until 53,000 boops, but no further changes were observed. Again, there were quite possibly more messages at lower boop values, but my ass is not checking. Maybe I should have scaled my sampling accordingly, but it is what it is. Thank you for joining me on this journey, and if you have any corrections or more information, please add it to this post.

Boop fact: Terfs DNI

[cyrsed]

=_= a neighbor complained to our landlord bc there were trash bags next to our bin & we hadn't mowed the lawn yet and part of me is trying to be cool about it but part of me gets so mad about snitches lghdjflkds also it made me pretty embarrassed bc i would never put bags next to the bin like that but someone did while we were moving stuff in and i was like i guess i just have to leave them there until trash day bc they got rained on so i can't bring them back in, but they were driving me nuts the entire time TT_TT. plus like. we Just moved in last wednesday and you're already complaining that we haven't mowed the lawn? it's not even the weekend yet