Editing Talk:2149: Alternate Histories
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In *my* alternate history, Al Gore loses the presidency, but it is to Bill Nye. As a result, Bill Nye causes sweeping educational reform. However, this causes the U.S. to buckle in comparison to the world economy, as the lowered military power (about a 3% decrease by the end of his presidency in comparison to the "true" timeline) means that Indonesia is able to push their limits a little, leading to Kuwait, West Timor and Luxembourg doing the same. Also, because of the lack of a Haliburton loophole, the Everglades are larger than today. Unfortunately, when David Tenant tried out for the role of the Doctor, this results in a live alligator attacking him. This throws the show biz industry into a tailspin, and so... - SD [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.196|162.158.78.196]] 19:54, 13 May 2019 (UTC) | In *my* alternate history, Al Gore loses the presidency, but it is to Bill Nye. As a result, Bill Nye causes sweeping educational reform. However, this causes the U.S. to buckle in comparison to the world economy, as the lowered military power (about a 3% decrease by the end of his presidency in comparison to the "true" timeline) means that Indonesia is able to push their limits a little, leading to Kuwait, West Timor and Luxembourg doing the same. Also, because of the lack of a Haliburton loophole, the Everglades are larger than today. Unfortunately, when David Tenant tried out for the role of the Doctor, this results in a live alligator attacking him. This throws the show biz industry into a tailspin, and so... - SD [[Special:Contributions/162.158.78.196|162.158.78.196]] 19:54, 13 May 2019 (UTC) | ||
| − | :''Un''fortunately? ... I think we disagree on our choice of practitioner. ] ; > [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 23:36, 13 May 2019 (UTC) | + | :''Un''fortunately? ... I think we disagree on our choice of practitioner. ] ; > |
| − | Something of the meme must have leaked through the æther, one way or another. Just yesterday I was involved in intensive discussions about how world history would have turned out with a different power-structure had the Darien Scheme not gone totally wrong, Scotland had cornered the Pacific/Atlantic trading markets, had been in a position to accept ''England'', et al, into ''its'' parliamentary structure in a differing version of the Union, and created a particularly caledonially-influenced New World and Scottish Empire (provisionally titled the 'gaelosphere') from where the future (or at least contermperaneously alternate) history of the world developed out of. There was no mention of hovercraft, admitedly, but I now imagine they'd have been terribly useful upon certain parts of the isthmus, or particularly in dealing with the treacherous tides running through Caledonia Bay by Fort St Andrew. So, GOOMHR! If it's not we who should get out of his, of course [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.119|162.158.158.119]] 22:44, 13 May 2019 (UTC) | + | :[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 23:36, 13 May 2019 (UTC) |
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| + | :Something of the meme must have leaked through the æther, one way or another. Just yesterday I was involved in intensive discussions about how world history would have turned out with a different power-structure had the Darien Scheme not gone totally wrong, Scotland had cornered the Pacific/Atlantic trading markets, had been in a position to accept ''England'', et al, into ''its'' parliamentary structure in a differing version of the Union, and created a particularly caledonially-influenced New World and Scottish Empire (provisionally titled the 'gaelosphere') from where the future (or at least contermperaneously alternate) history of the world developed out of. There was no mention of hovercraft, admitedly, but I now imagine they'd have been terribly useful upon certain parts of the isthmus, or particularly in dealing with the treacherous tides running through Caledonia Bay by Fort St Andrew. So, GOOMHR! If it's not we who should get out of his, of course [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.119|162.158.158.119]] 22:44, 13 May 2019 (UTC) | ||
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| + | Let's assume that any given alternate history has a 1% chance of being detailed enough to consider the alternate history's alt-history, and (for simplicity's sake) that no alternate histories develop in such a way as to eliminate interest in alternate histories. Given these assumptions, reaching the 500th level would require...um, my calculator isn't giving me an answer, let's just say a LOT of top-level alternate histories where the Nazis won WW2 to get anything that reached that deep. Even if each alt-history had coinflip odds of reaching the next level, you'd still need something like 3.3e150 alternate histories to get that deep; even 90% odds need 7.5e22 alt-histories. | ||
| + | This sort of infinite regression is only practical if some aspect of an alternate history makes it and its descendants more likely to generate further alt-histories. At this point, evolution would kick in and before you got more than a dozen levels deep nearly all alt-histories would be from well-adapted alt-histories. It seems likely to me that alt-histories with lots of little details and weird contrivances would be more likely to spawn alt-histories, so this comic seems pretty accurate in that regard. [[User:GreatWyrmGold|GreatWyrmGold]] ([[User talk:GreatWyrmGold|talk]]) 16:56, 14 May 2019 (UTC) | ||
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| + | == Hands == | ||
| − | + | The hands on the 500 deep versions are quite different. Does anyone have an idea of what that might refer to? ~ ''Please sign your posts with'' "<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>" | |
| + | :I thought they were big bangly bracelets. [[User:Yomikoma|Yomikoma]] ([[User talk:Yomikoma|talk]]) 19:54, 13 May 2019 (UTC) | ||
| + | :I think they are puffy shirt sleeve cuffs: [http://effortlessgent.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/seinfield-660x474.jpg] [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 22:31, 13 May 2019 (UTC) | ||
| + | : Let's compromise and say "big circle shapes on their arm connectors." | ||
| + | The hands changed because history changed. DUH! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.100|162.158.214.100]] 12:41, 14 May 2019 (UTC) | ||
| + | == Hat == | ||
Is there a name for the hats Cueball and Megan are wearing, or is it just a top hat that Randall added a ball to to make it look different? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 22:35, 13 May 2019 (UTC) | Is there a name for the hats Cueball and Megan are wearing, or is it just a top hat that Randall added a ball to to make it look different? [[User:Herobrine|Herobrine]] ([[User talk:Herobrine|talk]]) 22:35, 13 May 2019 (UTC) | ||
:I imagine the Nth-Alternate Universe version of the page https://theoutline.com/post/868/why-do-we-all-have-pom-pom-balls-on-our-hats might mention them. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.86|162.158.155.86]] 22:51, 13 May 2019 (UTC) | :I imagine the Nth-Alternate Universe version of the page https://theoutline.com/post/868/why-do-we-all-have-pom-pom-balls-on-our-hats might mention them. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.155.86|162.158.155.86]] 22:51, 13 May 2019 (UTC) | ||
| − | + | There has never been a hat that wasn't ridiculous.[[Special:Contributions/172.68.65.210|172.68.65.210]] 23:38, 13 May 2019 (UTC) | |
| − | + | EVERYONE looks better wearing a hat. DUH! [[Special:Contributions/162.158.214.100|162.158.214.100]] 12:41, 14 May 2019 (UTC) | |
| − | + | == Created by <nowiki>[thing]</nowiki> == | |
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Is there a category or history filter or something to specifically list all of the "created by a [thing]" tags that have appeared over time? CYBERNETIC HORSE EMPEROR is the best phrase I have heard all day. It is going straight into my Robotech\Rifts RPG campaign. | Is there a category or history filter or something to specifically list all of the "created by a [thing]" tags that have appeared over time? CYBERNETIC HORSE EMPEROR is the best phrase I have heard all day. It is going straight into my Robotech\Rifts RPG campaign. | ||
[[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 23:36, 13 May 2019 (UTC) | [[User:ProphetZarquon|ProphetZarquon]] ([[User talk:ProphetZarquon|talk]]) 23:36, 13 May 2019 (UTC) | ||
: Thank you very much, and not that I know of, sadly. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.102|141.101.105.102]] 11:13, 14 May 2019 (UTC) | : Thank you very much, and not that I know of, sadly. [[Special:Contributions/141.101.105.102|141.101.105.102]] 11:13, 14 May 2019 (UTC) | ||
| − | + | == Plausibility of scenario == | |
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I have a few issues with the current explanation saying it is impossible for such a scenario to arise, though I'm not sure how exactly to restructure it. First, past events can be altered as an explanation for alterations to the timeline, demonstrated clearly in-comic ("the pajama craze never caught on" explains the future of "truman becomes god-emperor"). So, things could be changed before the world war, and thus anything is theoretically possible. Second, it's clear the humor and understanding of the comic doesn't require a judgement of how likely the scenario is. So that section of the explanation is at best unnecessary and at worst wrong, I think. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.31|172.68.189.31]] 09:13, 14 May 2019 (UTC) | I have a few issues with the current explanation saying it is impossible for such a scenario to arise, though I'm not sure how exactly to restructure it. First, past events can be altered as an explanation for alterations to the timeline, demonstrated clearly in-comic ("the pajama craze never caught on" explains the future of "truman becomes god-emperor"). So, things could be changed before the world war, and thus anything is theoretically possible. Second, it's clear the humor and understanding of the comic doesn't require a judgement of how likely the scenario is. So that section of the explanation is at best unnecessary and at worst wrong, I think. [[Special:Contributions/172.68.189.31|172.68.189.31]] 09:13, 14 May 2019 (UTC) | ||
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