05-22-2023, 01:10 PM | #2811 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
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I'll also note something that ammonium nitrate was involved in much more recently, for those who weren't around for the Oklahoma City Bombing (I assume nobody here remembers the Texas City disaster) - the massive port explosion in Beirut in 2020 was apparently complements of around 3,000 tons of ammonium nitrate being stored alongside fireworks.
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05-22-2023, 07:49 PM | #2812 | |
Join Date: Sep 2007
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
Of course. It's our job to make the actual mundane event into something more interesting :) So, thank you for your additions; good observations all around.
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I do remember talk of restrictions after Oklahoma City, but I'm not sure if they actually changed anything. There are restrictions on the sale of the stuff in the US, required records of purchasers, and multiple Federal agencies to keep happy. But some of those laws and regulations came about around ten years later. I don't remember if there was any actual immediate change. |
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05-23-2023, 07:24 AM | #2813 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
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05-24-2023, 11:29 PM | #2814 | |
Join Date: Feb 2007
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
Quote:
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05-26-2023, 06:44 AM | #2815 |
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
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05-26-2023, 07:34 AM | #2816 | |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
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For my own contribution, apparently there's a group of orcas that has started to attack boats off the coast of Spain. Researchers aren't certain if this is a response to a negative interaction with a boat in the past or a new fad (which orcas are apparently prone to; apparently a group in 1987 was found to have opted to start wearing "hats" made of dead salmon for a few months).
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05-31-2023, 08:55 AM | #2817 |
Join Date: Jun 2013
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
Something I came across today, apparently back in the 1970's a Florida Man (of course) sold off some thin strips of metal for refacing the strike plate of frizzens (for black powder rifles). Called D-38, it produced more sparks than a typical steel strike plate, allowing one to use even fairly-blunt flint to fire such weapons.
Unfortunately, it turns out D-38 is a synonym for U-238, also known as depleted uranium. In addition to being mildly radioactive, DU is also extremely toxic if it gets into the body. Most people have the sense not to chew on chunks of uranium, of course (although ceramics coated with uranium-based paint can be problematic), but you can't really help but breathe it in if it's been aerosolized - like, say, if someone decided to use it on the frizzen of a black powder rifle. For gaming purposes, I could see an After the End scenario where people scrounge uranium (depleted or otherwise) from ancient battlefields and similar and use it in place of steel for fire starters, particularly if it's no longer known what it is (in which case, perhaps calling it something like "sparksteel" would work?). With how harsh the wastes can be, and with how much radioactivity may still be in play from the War (particularly if the setting is strongly inspired by Fallout), it may take some time before anyone realizes the dangers of this material. EDIT: This is probably cinematic, but in GURPS terms I could see a sparksteel strikeplate giving a +1 Malf for flintlock weapons and reducing the time needed to ignite a fire using flint and sparksteel in half; I forget if there's an FP cost for trying to start a fire with flint and steel, but if so using sparksteel should similarly cut this in half (as each attempt only takes half as long). Price would depend on the setting, but it's not going to be cheap (by weight anyway; you don't need much for a strikeplate or similar, so overall it might be relatively-cheap).
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GURPS Overhaul Last edited by Varyon; 05-31-2023 at 09:06 AM. |
06-02-2023, 09:11 PM | #2818 |
Join Date: Apr 2005
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
Amazon's _Jury Duty_ -- the whole concept behind it -- raises so many questions about what one accepts as reality.
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06-07-2023, 12:32 PM | #2819 |
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
Crocodile Messiah
A captive crocodile laid a clutch of eggs, one of which developed into a fully formed (but stillborn) baby crocodile, despite not having had contact with any other crocodiles in 16 years. This is the first known case of crocodilian parthenogenesis (they will lay eggs, but they usually do not develop at all). Life, uh, finds a way.
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06-10-2023, 01:58 AM | #2820 |
Join Date: Mar 2008
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Re: Real-Life Weirdness
And since crocodile sex is based on incubation temperature you can get both sexes to develop a breeding population.
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blueberry muffin, fermi paradox |
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