Ponythread LV:55 Ponythread learns Agility!

[Kyouhen]

Reviewers, Quick!

My story for the EqD Nightmare Night contest is done, and needs a quick review from anyone who cares to give it a quick read. I have to send it to EqD in less than 20 hours, and I need to submit it for approval from FiMFiction very soon, so I'd love some feedback, anything at all, no matter how small, before that.

It's fairly short (3000 words) and doesn't contain any blood or much of that nature. It should be readable by anyone who doesn't mind a slightly spooky story of corruption and possible ghostly possession.

Squeak! (I think the link should work, even though it's not published yet)

Gave it a read.

Spoiler

Show

I thought it was pretty good. Loved that you came back around to the 'eat their hearts' thing. It was kind of an odd part until the end there. Just noticed a few grammar problem things.

Right near the beginning you had "road winded its way through the fog." It should probably be "road wound it's way through the fog." You used winded again somewhere later too. Otherwise I don't see anything wrong with it.

[t209]

In a couple more years maybe they'll develop magical rocketry?

Season 3

Spoiler

Show

The ponies will (re)colonize THE MOON! I hope the last episode doesn't have to do with financial disaster from failed recolonization of moon.
Note: I used re in colonization since the preview said "Luna's Abandoned Moon Colony". It will revive Spelljammer and giant space hamsters.

P.S-

Spoiler

Show

Can anybody guess which crystal ponies arc will fit in with LOTR characters?
Twilight- Gandalf
Spike- Samwise
Fluttershy- Pippin
Pinkie Pie- Merry
Fluttershy- Frodo
Rarity- Legolas
Applejack- Gimli
Shining Armor- Aragorn

[Trixie]

...Where were these? Apart from fanart, I mean.

Okay, there was that one pony with the robot cutie mark. So there's the possibility of sci-fi writers. Which doesn't get us significantly past... probably about the forties.

Computers: valentine episode, kid playing 3D game, indicating lots of computing power. Headset: multiple times, most notably Flying Competitions. NVG: obvious. So, less than 20 years behind.

Totally possible, and I'm sure a nice shielding spell would handle the resultant explosion just fine. Followed by a de-irradiation spell, although as far as ways to end up with the Fallout: Equestria setting this is one of the most plausible I've seen.

You're daring me to compute Changeling's kilokick kiloton equivalent

Whoa there let's hold our metaphorical tiny horses. The development of nuclear power was a historical coincidence and I am strongly convinced it would never have become a bomb had there not been a war going on.

Let's look, shall we?

HISTORY

Spoiler

Show

First off, I'm not going to argue about the exact date of the discovery of fission, but it was 1938-39ish and I credit Otto Hahn and Lise Meintner with the discovery. The results were published in 1939 as were several other experiments from different teams and it took 6 years give or take a few months to end up with a bomb.

No. Discovery of fission is meaningless. It's just a quirk, curiosity, nothing more. Real important thing was cheap Italian marble, thanks to which Fermi discovered some atoms hit by neutron give away another neutron. From this moment fission ceased to be trying to light wet concrete with match, and become trying to do it with wet newspaper.

Then, people noticed while investigating the above that some rare, pesky metals give away more than one neutron while split... meaning it was possible to light atomic fire and let it burn freely. Now, it was actually useful thing.

At the same time they postulated the possibility of nuclear reactors using the same kind of chain reaction with mediators, and the use of particle accelerators at the UC Berkeley Lawrence labs were also getting running in the same period, which were able to manufacture U-235 safely. All of this put together set the stage for Los Alamos National Laboratory and heavy government funding, which vastly accelerated the creation of both bombs and reactors thanks to the huge number of collected scientists and money.

Um, you're wrong here. What was produced was Plutonium, Uran-235 is in natural ore all along and needs only to be separated.

Strike one against peaceful energy - most obvious reactor design relies on heavy water as moderator... And it so happens it is very difficult to produce, entire Europe's worth of heavy water production was far too little for Nazi weapon project, while USA had to build huge plants specifically devoted to it. Who will give scientists that didn't promised military the bomb resources to build entire useless industry just to get some prerequisite? It took USA 400 mln of today's $ to produce the water purifying plant, where peaceful science not acting for military will get that?

However, even when they were intent on developing a bomb, the creation of a nuclear reactor, up in Washington State iirc, was required first in order to refine enough uranium to make the fissile material for a bomb.

No. As above, you don't manufacture uranium, they needed reactor to A) confirm chain reaction is indeed possible, B) study moderators, C) calculate critical weight of the material. First reactor did nothing than burn uranium; it didn't produced energy, even. Second one burnt uran to produce plutonium. In fact, first nuclear power plant to produce energy for civil uses started in June 27, 1954, in Soviet Union - Obninsk NPP, mere 5 megawatts.

That's how long it took to produce something safe once 'WE NEED BOMB FIRST!' mode was disengaged. 10 years of accelerated Cold War tech race to go from bomb to civilian power.

Fission reactors and fission bombs were invented almost simultaneously. It took another decade to get thermonuclear bombs, and it's unfair to compare that to controlled fusion because the issue with fusion is that it requires such high temperatures that it takes too much power to get it started and its incredibly difficult to control.

How about we compare it to fission? 10 years. And it was in Soviet Union, with speed cared more than safety. EURATOM and USA will produce theirs years down the line. The reactors you're talking of were just piles of dirty metal where they tried to produce plutonium for bombs, at huge costs and of little use to science. Fact is, bomb reactor, while more difficult to produce than bomb, is far easier than civilian reactor.

As for fusion, amount of energy to get it started doesn't matter. We would pay is as long as one critical problem, paying less to keep fusion going than we get from it was solved. It isn't. Starting reaction is easy - we did it 60 years ago. It's keeping it contained so it won't explode like a bomb and burns hydrogen controllably while giving net energy positive is stumping us.

But back to nuclear reactors, the development of light water reactors was done before 1950 and by the 1960s there were several types of reactors and several countries around the world (mostly UN security council) were already beginning to build their own nuclear industries.

And all of them were copying industry that costed 25 billion $ to produce and was possible only because largest industrial power on Earth grabbed all possible scientists from entire world and went (due to Einstenin's letter) into panic mode that Axis will mitigate economic weakness by producing bomb first. That was to develop the bomb - over 5 years. It will take us 10 years more and countless billions of $ to produce first weak civilian plant - how it will be possible without state paying huge sums for... what?

Promising bomb is one thing, promising expensive power you can well produce in coal plants is another.

Many of them also acquired the bomb, but not all. Japan, for example, accepted American engineers and in exchange they built a system of pressured light water reactors that do not produce fissile material suitable for use in a bomb, although their nuclear waste could be turned into a bomb through refinement in some other type of reaction.

Um, maybe you missed 1945 - Japan doesn't have a bomb due to being forbidden from having any kind of military (not that their "coast guard" isn't really 6th or 7th military in the world...) - but Japan can produce their atomic bomb in 6-8 weeks. Exactly due to fact how trivial it is for anyone capable of producing reactor to do a bomb.

In all cases of practical nuclear power obtained via fission, however, the reactor and refinement process predated the development of weaponry.

As above, reactor, no. Refinement is done in centrifuge cascades - and while you can make nuclear power with uran refined to lesser degree than bomb material, refining is just simple industrial process and actually making bomb is far simpler than making reactor.

By the way, cascade centrifuge that purified U-235 cost 5 billion $. Hardware alone, never mind buildings or workers. Again, without largest military in the world paying bills, you won't build it and they want results now. Not in 10 years.

This continues to be true in today's political climate, with nations such as Pakistan and Iran developing reactors as a prerequisite to obtain nuclear bombs.

Let's look at dates. India, Smiling Buddha, bomb test, 18 May 1974. First Indian research/energy reactor, Dhruva type, 8 August 1985. Again, 10 years of lag, and that was 40 years after all needed components were discovered.

Even in France, that specifically said they would make civilian program only, culminating in reactor in late 1962, first bomb test ("Gerboise bleue") took place on 13 February 1960. That's right, if you try to build reactor for civilian purposes, and devote little time to bomb program, bomb is possible as mere afterthought years before main plant...

One additional point - making bomb reactor is so much easier than making civilian one that UN has to bully people into making worse (but slightly safer) reactors incapable of making bomb material. It's stupid when you consider breeding reactors (that happen to be excellent bomb makers) could have killed energy mining/pollution due to making energy from the same piece of radioactive metal for up to 60 times longer - but alas, making bomb from them is too easy which scares everyone to death

In sum. The fact that history focused on a bomb was a total coincidence and proper development of nuclear reactors was prerequisite of and independent of the development of a bomb.

Sorry, can't really something you can trivially do decade before for much less a "coincidence". Even if you happen to never build a bomb, once you can make safe, working reactors, you had capability to build it for years.

Really, we would never have nuclear power if not for the fact someone was capable of paying huge bills, had all the good scientist safely grabbed, and at the same time fought in war where development was strategic necessity. Try to build reactor in peacetime and refining alone in cheaper centrifuge cascade will take decades, it's only after all the money was spent we could have begun refining designs into cheaper, smaller plants. Not before. Not only is military too important to pay bills and provide secrecy/manpower, there is literally no way to not run into viable bomb before you make anything remotely useful in peacetime.

[Kindablue]

So, quick poll: how many of you would watch this show?

Spoiler

Show

And some more cool water color art:

Spoiler

Show

[Kd7sov]

Computers: valentine episode, kid playing 3D game, indicating lots of computing power.

I see no indication that they aren't arcade games, on the order of Space Invaders or Asteroids. c. 1970s

Headset: multiple times, most notably Flying Competitions.

...All right, when you mention that much I do recall one instance. So, wireless headset allowable... Neil Armstrong, 1969.

NVG: obvious.

... ... ... Um... um... Well, there's the aviator goggles Rainbow Dash occasionally wears... there's occasional fanart... there may be occasional fanfic, I don't look at as much of that... Either way, that can go back at least as far as the Vietnam War, so 70s again.

Your argument fails to convince me.

[Kyouhen]

Whoa there let's hold our metaphorical tiny horses. The development of nuclear power was a historical coincidence and I am strongly convinced it would never have become a bomb had there not been a war going on.

I'mma just going to do that thing where I point out that virtually every major technological advancement we've made was made with the intention of killing someone we didn't like or making it easier to kill someone we didn't like, eventually adapted to more peaceful uses when we were done killing people we didn't like with it. The military kind of likes doing that thing where it hijacks any technology that could potentially kill someone we don't like until they're done having their way with it.

So, quick poll: how many of you would watch this show?

Spoiler

Show

Not likely I. I was massively turned off from the original MLP because of the animation style. The animation in FiM was what originally got me to check it out. The ponies are just too damn cute.

Also, random aside, I seem to be having odd issues falling asleep right now. This is odd because I got a whole 4 hours of sleep last night and woke up at 2:30 am to get ready for work. It is now almost 9 pm and it was a very long day.

[Ravian]

Season 3

Spoiler

Show

Can anybody guess which crystal ponies arc will fit in with LOTR characters?
Twilight- Gandalf
Spike- Samwise
Fluttershy- Pippin
Pinkie Pie- Merry
Fluttershy- Frodo
Rarity- Legolas
Applejack- Gimli
Shining Armor- Aragorn

Spoiler

Show

If you're talking about casting Lord of the Rings with ponies I've had a few thoughts on the subject:
Frodo- Applebloom
Bilbo- Granny Smith
Samwise- Spike
Merry- Sweetie Bell
Pippin- Scootaloo
Gandalf- Princess Celestia
Aragorn- Twilight Sparkle
Boramir- Rainbow Dash
Gimli- Applejack
Legolas- Rarity
Tom Bombadil- Pinkie Pie
Galadriel- Fluttershy
Sauron- Discord
Saruman- Chrysallis
Balrog- Iron Will
Golum- A really messed up Diamond Tiara (with Silver Spoon as Deagol)
Treebeard- Big Macintosh
Isildur- Shining Armor
Orks- Diamond Dogs
Uruk-Hai- Changelings
Barrow Wights- Windigos
Nazghul- Shadowbolts
Witch-King- Nightmare Moon

Not complete yet, but most of the most major characters are figured out

[Forum Explorer]

So, quick poll: how many of you would watch this show?

Spoiler

Show

Well I wasn't expecting to watch this show and yet here I am.

So yeah I imagine I would've ended up watching that show.

[Pokonic]

Spoiler

Show

If you're talking about casting Lord of the Rings with ponies I've had a few thoughts on the subject:
Frodo- Applebloom
Bilbo- Granny Smith
Samwise- Spike
Merry- Sweetie Bell
Pippin- Scootaloo
Gandalf- Princess Celestia
Aragorn- Twilight Sparkle
Boramir- Rainbow Dash
Gimli- Applejack
Legolas- Rarity
Tom Bombadil- Pinkie Pie
Galadriel- Fluttershy
Sauron- Discord
Saruman- Chrysallis
Balrog- Iron Will
Golum- A really messed up Diamond Tiara (with Silver Spoon as Deagol)
Treebeard- Big Macintosh
Isildur- Shining Armor
Orks- Diamond Dogs
Uruk-Hai- Changelings
Barrow Wights- Windigos
Nazghul- Shadowbolts
Witch-King- Nightmare Moon

Not complete yet, but most of the most major characters are figured out

Spoiler

Show

Zecora could also pass as the Mouth of Sauron, if only to give her a role and to cement the existance of Zebras. Also, for whatever reason, I cannot get the idea that Steven Magnant would be a amusing Treebeard, if he does not end up being the lake monster before Kazad-Dum

Also, Elephants would probably fill in there fancy-sounding counterparts. Alternitivly, Ursas, if there not a option for the Balrog.

[erikun]

So, quick poll: how many of you would watch this show?

Spoiler

Show

Given that my first impression of Friendship is Magic was that it was the cartoon my little sister watched and was about pastel ponies eating cotton candy - and still sat down and watched it by recommendation on a friend - I don't think I would have a problem watching this. I doubt I would enjoy the fanart as much - I do like the simplicity in the FiM art - but I wouldn't have a problem if the story was still as good.

And some more cool water color art:

Spoiler

Show

I definitely like these two. Very nice, and I especially like the first one.

[Dirtytabs]

So, quick poll: how many of you would watch this show?

Spoiler

Show

I never thought I'd watch FIM and enjoy it, but it happened. So if that show's good, I'll watch it. They're so realistically shaped that I've decided that they neigh and make horse sounds instead of speak, though. Oh wait, I just noticed Pinkie isn't pink.

[Aotrs Commander]

My natural cynicism makes me wonder if a short 13-episode season, if it is the only one in a year, will spell the beginning of the end of Pony's run. As notably this year, the interest-die off between seasons was much higher than last year.

Well, that morbid thought will accompany me to meditation as I while away the last hours of my thirty-second year, and begin the thirty-third upon the morrow...

[Soras Teva Gee]

I'mma just going to do that thing where I point out that virtually every major technological advancement we've made was made with the intention of killing someone we didn't like or making it easier to kill someone we didn't like, eventually adapted to more peaceful uses when we were done killing people we didn't like with it. The military kind of likes doing that thing where it hijacks any technology that could potentially kill someone we don't like until they're done having their way with it.

Yeah umm you can point that out but it wouldn't be terribly umm accurate.

The steam engine first used to pump water out of mines. The first buildings with electric lights were private homes and a theater. Heck even gunpowder was by all accounts an accident by alchemists.

[t209]

So, quick poll: how many of you would watch this show?

Spoiler

Show

Too Uncanny Valley. I would rather watch g1,g2 and g3 instead of this.

[Tiki Snakes]

IIRC, Treefoil is combination of two military warning signs - Propellers! (found on airports) and Electricity! (found in radars/power generators) chosen for military personnel familiarity with them and has little to do with symbol of atom.

Except that arguably it does.

The three-bladed radiation warning symbol, as we currently know it, was "doodled" out at the University of California Radiation Laboratory in Berkeley sometime in 1946 by a small group of people. This event was described in a letter written in 1952 by Nels Garden, head of the Health Chemistry Group at the Radiation Laboratory: "A number of people in the group took an interest in suggesting different motifs, and the one arousing the most interest was a design which was supposed to represent activity radiating from an atom."

It may arguably have been inspired by the existing icons, but it was explicitely at it's creation a reference to the Atom.

[Kyouhen]

My natural cynicism makes me wonder if a short 13-episode season, if it is the only one in a year, will spell the beginning of the end of Pony's run. As notably this year, the interest-die off between seasons was much higher than last year.

Well, that morbid thought will accompany me to meditation as I while away the last hours of my thirty-second year, and begin the thirty-third upon the morrow...

It is going to be interesting to see what Hasbro decides to do to keep the brony community interested. We are kind of relentless in our consumption of new content after all. If they keep putting out things like those comic books that still seem to be coming out soon they might just keep enough fresh content coming out to make up for the lack of episodes.

Yeah umm you can point that out but it wouldn't be terribly umm accurate.

The steam engine first used to pump water out of mines. The first buildings with electric lights were private homes and a theater. Heck even gunpowder was by all accounts an accident by alchemists.

And how long did it take for the military to hijack those technologies for their own purposes? They may have started peaceful, but I'm willing to bet that most of the advancements with those technologies came when the military took an interest in them.

[DigoDragon]

I'm going through the Mysterious MareDoWell episode and I just noticed something I didn't see before--
BonBon is a member of the Rainbow Dash fan club.

Isn't there astronaut pony costume anyway?

There is, but could it be based on an in-universe fictional tale rather than an actual astronaut? Maybe Equestria has a writer like Joules Verne among its ranks?

Also, I found this awesome reverse comic!

Spoiler

Show

Boy that'll wreck havok with people's eyes when they look up to see the face of the sun.

isn't it entirely possible that, in Equestria, the nuclear trefoil originated as the cutie mark of the pony scientist to begin actual study of nuclear physics, i.e. the pony equivalent of Marie Curie?

Huh... didn't think of that.

Computers: valentine episode, kid playing 3D game, indicating lots of computing power. Headset: multiple times, most notably Flying Competitions. NVG: obvious. So, less than 20 years behind.

They definitely got electronics. Probably magically powered, but i'd count it.

[otakuryoga]

My natural cynicism makes me wonder if a short 13-episode season, if it is the only one in a year, will spell the beginning of the end of Pony's run. As notably this year, the interest-die off between seasons was much higher than last year.

Well, that morbid thought will accompany me to meditation as I while away the last hours of my thirty-second year, and begin the thirty-third upon the morrow...

awww, no comment on my pre-emptive strike?

A pre-emptive "HUZZAH" before the Commodore gets to it.

[Gadora]

I know I've not been around much of late, but I just got my commission in from Inkwell. Thread? Meet White Wind.

"Wait, what?" Wind stands, awkwardly hopping from hoof to hoof. "Oh wow, th-there are a l-lot o-of ponies here..." The mare takes a deep breath and closes her eyes for a moment, then opens her eyes and smiles. "Hello, I'm White Wind, it's nice to meet you all. I do weather delivery for Cloudsdale."

Spoiler

Show

I'd like to recommend Inkwell to anyone wanting a commission. ^.^

[Kyouhen]

So ponythread! I have an idea. It's a beautiful idea that will make so many people cry and/or facepalm in disgust.

I'm going to make my next Magic: The Gathering deck white, blue and black. Then I'm going to alter the art on every single card to have Scratch or something related to her. WUB WUB WUB.

For those of you who don't play MTG, white = W, blue = U, black = B. WUB. :P

[t209]

Speculation on Season 3

Spoiler

Show

How would Shining Armor and Cadance's kids will turn out to be?
A. Baby Alicorn (half god more trouble for pinkie)
B. Just a unicorn.
Were Celestia and Luna baby unicorn royalty kidnapped by Discord and turned them into alicorns against their will? Did it have to do with Luna's nightmare moon (i.e- like WH40k Blood Angel's Black Rage)?
How will Mane 6 colonize the moon? It has no air, soil maybe good or not, and zero gravity.
Will there be any more cross pony romance and marriages, other than Caramel and his pegasus girlfriend?

[asdflove]

Spoiler

Show

Stupid Skeleton! Uhhhhggg! http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...ykon-325366154
http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...loak-325351301 Redcloak
MITD-http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/M...fied-325332744
and The one and only Belkar Bitterleaf! http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...-WAR-325000257
Haley-http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/H...fied-324734385
Elan-http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...Elan-324688093
+-http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/E...ddle-324748159
And now V. But I'm not super happy with this one. Not androgynous enough.
http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...vius-324948639 Aaaand Roy's turn http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...-Roy-324959487
Durkon- http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...rkon-324984292
http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/Group-Shot-325193295 They be all together!
Nale:http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...Nale-325503348
Sabine- (That mane... never again) http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...bine-325531589
Thog. http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...Thog-326115038
Zz'dtri-http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...dtri-326283734
The Oracle of Sunken Valley-http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...acle-326500495
2nd group shot of the order http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/G...ot-2-326751190
Tsukiko Ponifed- http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...kiko-327612112
Ponifed Celia- http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...elia-327832857
CeliaXRoy Cuddle-http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/C...ddle-327849281
ponified Eugene Greenhilt-http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...hilt-329026439

(Find the rest through here)

Hello Pony thread, long time no see. I return with Ponified Miko Miyazaki.
Normal-http://asdflove.deviantart.com/art/P...Miko-334024578
And Fallen-http://sta.sh/01uj2wl0de14

[PhantomFox]

Okay, so I think I'm going to need some help with a special project of mine.

You know that project that I'm working on that I always said I'd get around to eventually? Well, as you may already know, I've been asked to judge in a fanfic contest for charity. And the judges are allowed and encouraged to participate too (there's a special prize for best judge entry as well). So I'm going to be finishing that project I said I'd always get around to.

Thing is, I'm going to need help with editing and reviewing it as it goes. HOWEVER! One of the rules says I can't publish it before the contest is over. I asked, and they said I could recruit friends to help with editing and such, as long as I don't make the story publicly accessible.

SO!
I'm working on it scene by scene, and would like some help editing and reviewing it as I write it. But since I can't post a link here... anyone interested in helping me out with this would need to PM me so I can share the link privately. I like to talk things over with people live, so if you have AIM/MSN/Yahoo/Whatever that would be helpful too. My info is in my profile.

[Thanqol]

So ponythread! I have an idea. It's a beautiful idea that will make so many people cry and/or facepalm in disgust.

I'm going to make my next Magic: The Gathering deck white, blue and black. Then I'm going to alter the art on every single card to have Scratch or something related to her. WUB WUB WUB.

For those of you who don't play MTG, white = W, blue = U, black = B. WUB. :P

Must see before I determine if you need to be punched or brohoofed.

Okay, so I think I'm going to need some help with a special project of mine.

You know that project that I'm working on that I always said I'd get around to eventually? Well, as you may already know, I've been asked to judge in a fanfic contest for charity. And the judges are allowed and encouraged to participate too (there's a special prize for best judge entry as well). So I'm going to be finishing that project I said I'd always get around to.

Thing is, I'm going to need help with editing and reviewing it as it goes. HOWEVER! One of the rules says I can't publish it before the contest is over. I asked, and they said I could recruit friends to help with editing and such, as long as I don't make the story publicly accessible.

SO!
I'm working on it scene by scene, and would like some help editing and reviewing it as I write it. But since I can't post a link here... anyone interested in helping me out with this would need to PM me so I can share the link privately. I like to talk things over with people live, so if you have AIM/MSN/Yahoo/Whatever that would be helpful too. My info is in my profile.

I have 1 month left of university and, as much as I'd like to, I can't read or review anything until graduation.

[PhantomFox]

I have 1 month left of university and, as much as I'd like to, I can't read or review anything until graduation.

Fair enough. Deadline, by sheer coincidence (it was decided before the announcement) is Nov. 10th. If you can't you can't. It's all cool.

[t209]

Spoiler

Show

Bill Amend is both Game of thrones fans and a brony.
Cupcakes (Bolton x Pinkie Pie with my fat brother as 1000 cupcaked edition) anyone?

[Forum Explorer]

So I just finished reading Squeak

Spoiler

Show

The biggest problem is the sudden jump to using Trixie instead of Lunamoon. Mouse should have had a suggestion of how Lunamoon doesn't roll off the tongue or something. As is it's just a random jump.

Still that's a pretty minor problem. I'm not entirely sure what age Trixie is in this story either. When I started I had her pegged at around Diamond Tiara's age.

Some changes did seem random like the turn to a white mane instead of sapphire blue.

Over all it's pretty cool and I did enjoy it though.

[Eakin]

So, quick poll: how many of you would watch this show?

Spoiler

Show

I wouldn't. Aesthetics matter. Yes, MLP is somewhat simplified compared to live action footage of horses. That's intentional, the same way every other animated character ever is a distinct abstraction from their real-life counterparts

It is going to be interesting to see what Hasbro decides to do to keep the brony community interested. We are kind of relentless in our consumption of new content after all. If they keep putting out things like those comic books that still seem to be coming out soon hey might just keep enough fresh content coming out to make up for the lack of episodes.

I honestly doubt that bronies by themselves are a profitable target. We aren't that relentless in our pursuit of new content either. Sure, we'll all fall upon any new episodes like a plague of locusts, but we're also happy to wait months upon months for new stuff if it isn't forthcoming. I hate to admit it, but Hasbro could totally get away with one 13 episode season every 9 months or so, with only miscellaneous merchandise released in between them.

I also doubt we really get factored into Hasbro's long term plans for MLP. At all. Compared to the target audience of little girls we're only just past being a rounding error in the grand scheme of things.

[Kindablue]

The animation in FiM was what originally got me to check it out.

Ol' Dirty Bastard for me.

Some more fan art:

Spoiler

Show

This one's such a big spoiler that if you open this tag you might as well never watch the show again, you will have been so spoiled:

Spoiler

Show

[Anarion]

HISTORY

Spoiler

Show

No. Discovery of fission is meaningless. It's just a quirk, curiosity, nothing more. Real important thing was cheap Italian marble, thanks to which Fermi discovered some atoms hit by neutron give away another neutron. From this moment fission ceased to be trying to light wet concrete with match, and become trying to do it with wet newspaper.

Then, people noticed while investigating the above that some rare, pesky metals give away more than one neutron while split... meaning it was possible to light atomic fire and let it burn freely. Now, it was actually useful thing.



Um, you're wrong here. What was produced was Plutonium, Uran-235 is in natural ore all along and needs only to be separated.

Strike one against peaceful energy - most obvious reactor design relies on heavy water as moderator... And it so happens it is very difficult to produce, entire Europe's worth of heavy water production was far too little for Nazi weapon project, while USA had to build huge plants specifically devoted to it. Who will give scientists that didn't promised military the bomb resources to build entire useless industry just to get some prerequisite? It took USA 400 mln of today's $ to produce the water purifying plant, where peaceful science not acting for military will get that?



No. As above, you don't manufacture uranium, they needed reactor to A) confirm chain reaction is indeed possible, B) study moderators, C) calculate critical weight of the material. First reactor did nothing than burn uranium; it didn't produced energy, even. Second one burnt uran to produce plutonium. In fact, first nuclear power plant to produce energy for civil uses started in June 27, 1954, in Soviet Union - Obninsk NPP, mere 5 megawatts.

That's how long it took to produce something safe once 'WE NEED BOMB FIRST!' mode was disengaged. 10 years of accelerated Cold War tech race to go from bomb to civilian power.



How about we compare it to fission? 10 years. And it was in Soviet Union, with speed cared more than safety. EURATOM and USA will produce theirs years down the line. The reactors you're talking of were just piles of dirty metal where they tried to produce plutonium for bombs, at huge costs and of little use to science. Fact is, bomb reactor, while more difficult to produce than bomb, is far easier than civilian reactor.

As for fusion, amount of energy to get it started doesn't matter. We would pay is as long as one critical problem, paying less to keep fusion going than we get from it was solved. It isn't. Starting reaction is easy - we did it 60 years ago. It's keeping it contained so it won't explode like a bomb and burns hydrogen controllably while giving net energy positive is stumping us.



And all of them were copying industry that costed 25 billion $ to produce and was possible only because largest industrial power on Earth grabbed all possible scientists from entire world and went (due to Einstenin's letter) into panic mode that Axis will mitigate economic weakness by producing bomb first. That was to develop the bomb - over 5 years. It will take us 10 years more and countless billions of $ to produce first weak civilian plant - how it will be possible without state paying huge sums for... what?

Promising bomb is one thing, promising expensive power you can well produce in coal plants is another.



Um, maybe you missed 1945 - Japan doesn't have a bomb due to being forbidden from having any kind of military (not that their "coast guard" isn't really 6th or 7th military in the world...) - but Japan can produce their atomic bomb in 6-8 weeks. Exactly due to fact how trivial it is for anyone capable of producing reactor to do a bomb.



As above, reactor, no. Refinement is done in centrifuge cascades - and while you can make nuclear power with uran refined to lesser degree than bomb material, refining is just simple industrial process and actually making bomb is far simpler than making reactor.

By the way, cascade centrifuge that purified U-235 cost 5 billion $. Hardware alone, never mind buildings or workers. Again, without largest military in the world paying bills, you won't build it and they want results now. Not in 10 years.



Let's look at dates. India, Smiling Buddha, bomb test, 18 May 1974. First Indian research/energy reactor, Dhruva type, 8 August 1985. Again, 10 years of lag, and that was 40 years after all needed components were discovered.

Even in France, that specifically said they would make civilian program only, culminating in reactor in late 1962, first bomb test ("Gerboise bleue") took place on 13 February 1960. That's right, if you try to build reactor for civilian purposes, and devote little time to bomb program, bomb is possible as mere afterthought years before main plant...

One additional point - making bomb reactor is so much easier than making civilian one that UN has to bully people into making worse (but slightly safer) reactors incapable of making bomb material. It's stupid when you consider breeding reactors (that happen to be excellent bomb makers) could have killed energy mining/pollution due to making energy from the same piece of radioactive metal for up to 60 times longer - but alas, making bomb from them is too easy which scares everyone to death

Sorry, can't really something you can trivially do decade before for much less a "coincidence". Even if you happen to never build a bomb, once you can make safe, working reactors, you had capability to build it for years.

Really, we would never have nuclear power if not for the fact someone was capable of paying huge bills, had all the good scientist safely grabbed, and at the same time fought in war where development was strategic necessity. Try to build reactor in peacetime and refining alone in cheaper centrifuge cascade will take decades, it's only after all the money was spent we could have begun refining designs into cheaper, smaller plants. Not before. Not only is military too important to pay bills and provide secrecy/manpower, there is literally no way to not run into viable bomb before you make anything remotely useful in peacetime.

I'm not even sure what we're arguing over now. I thought it was about you saying that the symbol for radiation has to be associated with a bomb, and I'm saying no that's not true because they developed the idea and a whole bunch of other stuff including plans for reactors and refining materials before they actually got to the bomb, and that on a project deeply focused on the bomb.

People had postulated ideas for reactors back before Los Alamos started, so if you want to say that it wouldn't have gotten funded without the war, that's possible, but there's no logical reason that the nuclear symbol needs to be associated directly with the bomb as opposed to radiation in general.

I'mma just going to do that thing where I point out that virtually every major technological advancement we've made was made with the intention of killing someone we didn't like or making it easier to kill someone we didn't like, eventually adapted to more peaceful uses when we were done killing people we didn't like with it. The military kind of likes doing that thing where it hijacks any technology that could potentially kill someone we don't like until they're done having their way with it.

I uh...okay? Again, I'm not saying that nobody would try to make a bomb, I'm saying that making a bomb isn't logically necessary to come first.

I wouldn't. Aesthetics matter. Yes, MLP is somewhat simplified compared to live action footage of horses. That's intentional, the same way every other animated character ever is a distinct abstraction from their real-life counterparts



I honestly doubt that bronies by themselves are a profitable target. We aren't that relentless in our pursuit of new content either. Sure, we'll all fall upon any new episodes like a plague of locusts, but we're also happy to wait months upon months for new stuff if it isn't forthcoming. I hate to admit it, but Hasbro could totally get away with one 13 episode season every 9 months or so, with only miscellaneous merchandise released in between them.

I also doubt we really get factored into Hasbro's long term plans for MLP. At all. Compared to the target audience of little girls we're only just past being a rounding error in the grand scheme of things.

Agree with Eakin on the aesthetics of the drawing. For all the talk we do about "no really, it has good writing and deep characters" I think the reality is that the art and the aesthetic in Friendship is Magic are actually really good and appealing. If the show had been terrible, the art wouldn't have kept people, but the cute flash animation style definitely attracted people to start and spawned most of the memes.

Also, I disagree about bronys being factored in Hasbro's grand schemes. We weren't originally, to be sure, but I think there is some active effort at brony marketing right now. Not with the show (though it's possible that adequate demand could get them to go back to 26 episode seasons), but some products like the Hot Topic stuff, anything We Love Fine is selling and the blind bags and vinyl figures are directed at requests made by adult fans.