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What If? 2
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What If? 2: Additional Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions (What If? #2)[October 28, 2022]
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Yanique, Thread Master
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Oct 14, 2022 05:00PM
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As it's only the two of us, we could start today? :) Mind you, I don't think I'll be able to read more than 2-4 questions a day, depending on the length
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Oh no, I hope you'll get better soon! Not sure about the weather over there, but here flu season is in full swing, even with the temperature being around 18°C still...
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Also never listened to Authors & Dragons, I think it was... but I'm halfway through season 1 of Fantasy High, a D&D show from College Humor, with some actors/comedians I've watched on youtube in the past... the premise of the show is described as "if John Hughes DM'd a D&D game"...
I've found it pretty hilarious... I kinda stumbled into it... almost started watching Critical Role, instead... might loop around to authors & dragons eventually...
There was a point, a few months ago, where I was listening to Welcome to Nightvale, one of those fictional podcasts parading as a documentary and/or real radio show in this case... for a fictional desert town where crazy stuff happens all the time...
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Gonna listen to the first chapter or 2 tomorrow...
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And chapter 1, question from a five year old… (view spoiler)
Oops, sorry for disappearing 😅I never heard of Fantasy High, I might take a look at it. But you said it's a show right? Not sure if that's for me then, as I listen to audiobooks while doing other things and most of the times that includes using my eyes for other stuff 😂 But you really should try out Authors and Dragons, I think you'll like it. I myself have only listened to the first Season, as other things came up, but I still plan to continue sometime... Not really in a hurry tho
I started What if? 2 sometime last week I think, but haven't made it very far 😅I really, really like it tho, the humor is just great and you are right, the start was perfect :)
1. Soupier (view spoiler)
2. Helicopter ride (view spoiler)
3. Dangerously cold and 4. Ironic Vaporization
(view spoiler)
I think I'll send you some pictures on discord :)
5. Cosmic Road trip (view spoiler)6. Pigeon chair (view spoiler)
As in the first book the short answer are among my favorites, not all are great, but I really like when the author is out of words. I think I should send you pictures of some of those as well :)
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I never heard of Fantasy High, I might take a look at it. But you said it's a show right? Not sure if that's for me then, as I listen to audiobooks while doing other..."
Turns out, the show isn't Fantasy High... it's Dimension 20... Fantasy High freshman and sophomore year makes up 2 of the seasons, but there are like 15 seasons now... half the seasons use a core of 6 players that play a variety of characters, sometimes recurring sometimes new (and obviously new if their character dies)... they apparently alternate between main cast seasons and special guest cast appearances for "side quests"... some take place in same world as main seasons, some in unique locales... the seasons also vary in genre/theme...
I'm still in season 1, since I suck at making time for TV, but I think you could theoretically just listen, as well... the first 2 seasons have unique minis and tabletop locations, but later seasons go the "imagine it yourself" route... probably partially to save money... this started as a College Humor thing (and still kinda is) but College Humor downsized a few years ago... this is their most successful show, tho, and airs on Dropout.tv, a streaming service I don't have... I've only been listening to the stuff available on youtube...
The structure and variation of the seasons has let the DM be a player a few times, and some big names from Critical Role have been guest players and DMs for a season...
I should definitely check out Authors & Dragons sometime... like I said, I suck at making time for things... I mostly started Fantasy High as a thing to watch when going to bed, and because I'm a fan of some of Brennan Lee Mulligan's other work (the rest of the cast is new to me, but have definitely grown on me)... I've watched half the first season of the show, and some highlight clips of other seasons that have kinda hyped me to keep going... maybe even get the streaming service, if I have to...
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I really, really like it tho, the humor is just great and you are right, the start was perfect :)
1. Soupier One o..."
Agree with everything you said here... also... are the questions & answers shorter in this book compared to the first book?... I feel like the first book mostly had longer complicated answers, like with what would happen owning samples of the entire periodic table... except those chapters with the engineer specialist, where he asked a bunch of follow-up questions....
In comparison, it seems like this book has more questions with shorter answers... I ended up getting tired early and laying down shortly after talking on Discord yesterday, and sleeping the day away, so I did chapter 2-4 this morning, and managed to finish all 3 in about 8 minutes at double speed... less time than it took me to get in my car and drive to work...
That being said, agree the pair of iron-cube related questions were very interesting/fun, and wonder if the book has any more "question pairs/series"...
Yeah, I think the answers were all a little shorter than the ones from book 1. I also think there are a lot more in general, I might be completely of, but in my memory there were something around 20 questions and here we've got more than 30 I honestly don't mind, especially in the "How to"-book I remember getting bored when the answers where to long 😅
Timelord Iain wrote: "Anni wrote: "Oops, sorry for disappearing 😅I never heard of Fantasy High, I might take a look at it. But you said it's a show right? Not sure if that's for me then, as I listen to audiobooks whil..."
Sounds really interesting, especially since the the concept sounds pretty similar to A&D. As it's more ore less professionally done (at least it sounds that way, never heard of dropout.tv) the audio quality might should be better than it's for A&D. That's the only negative aspect for me, especially when you listen to the podcast with headphones, you have to turn up the volume to understand 2 of the player, but then 2 of the other players will constantly screem directly in your ear 😅 But this will get better with later episodes, maybe they realized at some point that the podcast is more than a stupid idea and there are people actually listen to it
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Instead, this is my "Car Read"... I'll listen to as many questions as I can before getting to work each morning, and maybe on the drive home as well... I did both today, and reached question 15 or 16, Star Sand (haven't read this one yet)...
There were some interesting questions in here, and ALOT of short ones... and some he wasn't even willing to answer (the drone question :D)
My favorite was the caloric intake of dinosaurs... felt like a companion piece to the newest Jurassic World movie...
The Jupiter one was interesting, tho... and the paint one...
Timelord Iain wrote: "New Plan... if I only read 2 chapters a day... and do a terrible job of maintaining on my days off (Tuesday/Wednesday), I'll be reading this book forever...Instead, this is my "Car Read"... I'll ..."
Mpf... I was waiting for you to catch up, while you already read half the book :D
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Still where I paused... i'm still under halfway, I think... altho I'm getting close... at least 1/3 through...
7. T. Rex Calories - short but good :) 4.5 stars8. Geyser - I'm not familiar with geysers at all, so I found this one really interesting :) Even tho, I wouldn't have leaned over a geyser anyway, even without the knowledge of this chapter :D 4 stars
9. Pew, pew, pew - it was ok, but definitely not my favorite... But the author included the drawing of the boy asking the question, that was kinda cute :) - 2.5 stars
10. Reading every book - a little boring - 2 stars
Loved the "weird and worrying" tidbit :)
11. Banana Church - I think what I liked most about this one is the backstory :D That this was a question two friends are arguing about for years :) - 3.5 stars
12. Catch! - American and their guns... Of course there are enough studies he can use as reference :D - 3 stars
13. Lose Weight - Yay, back to more catastrophic scenarios, I like that :) - 4.5 stars
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I agree the Banana Church one was good for the backstory... the same with the billion story building, and the seagull elevator...
14. Paint the Earth - I actually didn't like this one as much as you did... For me there were too many assumptions... - 2.5 stars15. Jupiter came to town - but I really liked this one :) Maybe again, because we get more destruction. But what you said before is true, the answers are a lot shorter. I somehow expected him to go on and talk about what the gas, that has been Jupiter before, would do to our atmosphere or something... - 4 stars
16. Star sand - some more "good to know"- facts :) I liked this one - 4 stars
17. Swing set - I really like swings, so this was interesting :) - 4 starsAnd that's it for me for now 😅 have to put the book down, but I'll read a little more tomorrow :)
Anni wrote: "17. Swing set - I really like swings, so this was interesting :) - 4 starsAnd that's it for me for now 😅 have to put the book down, but I'll read a little more tomorrow :)"
Well... A bit later than "tomorrow", because stupid Corona finally got me, but I'll update in a bit. How were you doing?
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This book is great for reading in small doses... no worries about forgetting plot...
I'm healthy again, cough / etc 99% gone... sad to hear corona caught you... I dunno how it is over there, but over here, 99% of people don't mask up anymore... I do, and occasional people do, but that's all I see, outside of hospitals that require it...
I haven't read anything since your last post, but I was still a few chapters ahead of you... I'll read some more when I see your next post...
In the meantime, I've been doing some Buddy Reads, read the new Mistborn Lost Metal (amazing), and participating in the Goodreads Choice Awards Buddy Read Marathon (we're reading any that catch our interest and sharing thoughts to be informed voters)
18. Airliner catapult - really weirdly complex question :D okayish answer - 2.5 - 3 StarsYay, more short answers! I liked most of them really much :)
19. Slow Dinosaur Apocalypse - That's more on the level I expected from "What if?" :) Funny, informative and a weirdly accurate, hypothetical Szenario - 4 stars
20. Elemental Worlds - this one reminded me a little of your favorite question, the periodic table :) I hope you also liked it? - 5 stars! I especially liked how he couldn't left the question answered with a Szenario that wouldn't effect us much and instead ended with an unstable isotope and a boom :D
21. One-second day short but good - 4 stars
22. Billion Story Building - I bet he explained it way better than her dad to Keira :D a good one again - 5 stars
23. Star ownership - 3 stars
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Yay, more short answers! I liked most of them really much :)
19. Slow Dinosaur Apocalypse - That's more ..."
That's about where I left off... and yea, I liked Elemental Worlds... just forgot to mention it, the day I read so many...
Timelord Iain wrote: "No worries... I just waited for you... I know you don't have the same availability you once had... just glad to have you back around... don't want to scare you away / burn you out :DThis book is ..."
I'm glad you're feeling better and thanks for waiting, you never know if you had scared me, maybe I would disappear for another year :D
I also started The lost metal, but only listened to two chapters so far, still I'm so glad to be back in the Mistborn World, love all those characters :) The Choice Award Buddy Read sounds quite Interesting, any new favourites? Maybe I will take a look at that thread later. Not that I'd have time to read any of them.
But I continued with the Super Powereds Buddy Read, I'm doing with a friend of mine we're currently reading Corpies and will then end the series with Year 4, oh, those books are so good as well, I really don't know why the series isn't more popular
Timelord Iain wrote: "No worries... I just waited for you... I know you don't have the same availability you once had... just glad to have you back around... don't want to scare you away / burn you out :DThis book is ..."
Ah and masks... I think it's not that different, you have to wear masks in hospitals, at doctor's in general and sometimes in some stores as well and of course on public transportation like trains or busses, otherwise most of the people here also don't wear masks.
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Was this a re-read, or did you never finish our SP Buddy Read?
I haven't found anything new and amazing, yet, but I have some stuff queued up to try... early on, I just read things I didn't know existed by authors I already like, like Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher and Upgrade by Blake Crouch...
The only new author on the list I'd already read this year, was Legends & Lattes, a cozy fantasy by narrator turned author/narrator Travis Baldree... I look forward to what he writes next...
I'm now trying The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches, which looks/sounds like The House in the Cerulean Sea... and I've heard good things from the others that have tried it already...
Lost Metal is so good... I finished it the other day, and started gushing... called it Sanderson's best work ever... I was riding the high... Wayne has so many good moments in this book, right from the prologue... Marasi has come so far... I love Wax/Steris relationship (I think it's Sanderson's best written romance)... and then there's the Cosmere stuff... some reviewers are comparing it to Avengers: Infinity War, in scope...
message 32:
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Timelord Iain, Tech Support
(last edited Nov 23, 2022 03:27PM)
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rated it 4 stars
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I wear it for health... I get sick less, and it keeps me from breathing frosty air in winter... but I also just like the hidden mouth area... I have a naturally frowny face, and would always be asked "what's wrong?" by bosses/coworkers, and probably scare away people, being big/tall... the mask hides all that, and it's nice... makes me more approachable when customers need help?...
I started this today, though I only got two chapters in. That disclaimer in the intro LOLTimelord Iain wrote: "And chapter 1, question from a five year old… black hole of planet soup with noodles… from science to philo..."
Um yeah. Definitely everything ends in death :D
Anni wrote: "Well... A bit later than "tomorrow", because stupid Corona finally got me, ..."I hope you're starting to feel better Anni. Being sick is no fun.
Also, whenever you get back to it you should join Iain and I on The Lost Metal thread :)
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Maybe it's the impetus we need to finish... I've been paused for awhile while Anni caught up... we're around the same spot now, been waiting for her next comment dump...
A Narilka is never late. She arrives precisely when she means to ;)Technically I'm early. I thought I wouldn't get to this one until December :P
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True but the liquid on a windshield is ultra thin. Not like a glass of water lol He needs to do a follow up to that question and not just about vaporizing iron haha
Ch 7 (view spoiler)I am loving Wil Wheaton's narration. You can tell he's enjoying himself immensely.
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Iain, this got moved to the Retired folder. Could you reactivate it pretty please? :)
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Timelord Iain, Tech Support
(last edited Dec 04, 2022 04:42PM)
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I think in the mod guidelines, given to us in an email, it was recommended to move non-series threads to the Archive folder 1 month after the start date of the Buddy Read... but also to just leave it to Niki, to avoid "too many cooks in the kitchen"... (I dug through my emails/DMs to check and found that at the end)...
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I laughed out loud at one of the questions on my drive to work... then the next question distracted me from it, when I tried to remember...
And I liked the shorties chapter, too... commented on top/bottom lip kissing each other... and a D&D dispute about a wind spell made it into the book...
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It is definitely easy to just zoom through and get distracted with each question because they're all interesting in some way :D I'm through Ch 30 now. Ch 27 Suction Aquarium was fascinating. I've seen them before but never knew how they worked. I also liked Ch 29 Build Rome in a Day a lot - not possible lol
Fantasy Buddy Reads
Books mentioned in this topic
Nettle & Bone (other topics)Upgrade (other topics)
Legends & Lattes (other topics)
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches (other topics)
The House in the Cerulean Sea (other topics)
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