Quinch

I would have... the executioner.

Overall, I think the usual error with trying to deal with the Fermi paradox isn't space - it's time.

Whether planets exist that can support life in our galaxy is a non-question, answered by sheer brute force statistics. There might even be planets or satellites that support life in our immediate stellar neighborhood, if not the very solar system. There might even be planets that have life.

So what?

The thing is, we tend to conflate "life" with "civilization", and while you certainly can't have the latter without the former, there's a major difference between algae and spaceships.

According to an admittedly lazy search, the first cells as we know them kicked off about two billion years ago. Reptiles showed up about 350 million years ago, then mammals 160 million years ago. Hominids showed up on the scene a whopping two and a half million years ago and, let's be generous, we've had civilization in some form or another for the past ten thousand years. So, if we assume a roughly same rate of evolution and development as Earth, there'd be about one in two hundred thousand chance that we'll hit upon someone at roughly same level of evolution as ourselves, and that goes the same for any alien civilization looking for someone like us.

If we find a planet that has life on it, odds are that it will be nothing more than self-replicating organic soup. Maybe there'd be some simple organisms. But, speaking on that scale, the moment sentience and selection pressure through social structures thought start to develop, a species has become a civilization and will either have destroyed itself, transcended such simplistic concepts as space exploration or developed to such Lovecraftian degree that beings on our technological and biological level are not meaningfully different than the aforementioned algae and worth about the same amount of curiosity.

So, in short, there is life out there and it is either uninteresting, or uninterested.

Huh, that's pretty cool. Even though it's just a work in progress, it does a pretty good job of, for lack of a better word, representing the tree, at least visually.

Would this be a bad time to say that I think that Fallout 2 is by far the worst of all the Fallouts? {except possibly Tactics, I need to get around to playing that one}

I'd go with Bioshock. After finally trying it out to see what the hype is, the biggest plot twist I was expecting was the game would turn out not to be so bland and predictable.

My expectations were...

Disappointed.

In all honesty, while the rhythm is good, in this form, to me the song unfortunately feels very monotonous. While your foundation is solid, because the song depends so much on the flute, it also requires a great deal more embellishment and detail in its sounds. In a lot of places, the notes of identical pitch actually blend together. I would recommend adding variations in the timing and duration of the notes, followed by embellishments in actual notes. In my experience, in any given instrumental piece, because one lacks words, with their own intonations and sub-rhythms, instruments have to be that much more expressive to carry the same level of impact.

I guess it was an inevitable trade-off.

It bears remembering that, back in the olden days of Season 1, long before - or so it felt - the growth that followed the would-there-be-Season 2, there was next to no worldbuilding. We saw tiny bits and snippets of Equestria and, as far as we knew, Equestria was the world. It didn't help that, by and large, all of the settlements we saw were small communities, with the sole exception of Canterlot. Dragons existed, but Dragonlands didn't. There's a reason why a lot, if not the vast majority of fanon from the time portrays Celestia and Luna as sort of god-creators of the Equestrian universe - apart from this small island of knowledge, the world was a blank canvas, and that fueled the sense of mystery.

So, as the show continued and more of the world began to exist, that undiscovered space slowly diminished. Big cities sprouted, other lands appeared, the princesses became, if not more mundane, then less fantastic. The world became more grounded, more fleshed out, but with every bit of information we got, another piece of the map that simply said "Here be dragons" got replaced by "Here be this" and "There be that".

It feels much more thinking about one's childhood, with countless uncertain possibilities being replaced by fewer certainties. Neither are good nor bad by themselves, some of the things that are are just as good as things that could have been, but in the end, we can't have both. Or, appropriate a quote, season one is the cradle of possibility, but one cannot stay in the cradle forever.

Hey, congratulations! I don't remember if we ever talked, but from your posts you seem like a cool dude.

"Childhood."

"Call Of Duty."

Welp.

-goes to grab his cane and rocking chair-

Hmmm, depending on who you're talking to.

Rainbow would probably try to pump her for useful information.

Fluttershy would probably just keep her distance at the beginning.

Pinkie Pie would try to make her feel welcome because Pinkie Pie.

Applejack would probably offer help with settling in, but keep on her horsetoes for shenanigans anyway.

And Rarity would probably still welcome her, but might throw a fit if rebuffed by grumpiness.

All right, consider me hyped. However it turns out, it looks like you're coming out strong.

PS: I'd be up for helping with voice acting, but with no experience and no high-quality mike, I'm not sure what I'd be able to contribute.

Still by far my favorite melody.

Pretty much all of Battle Bugs.

It's cool. Myself, I'm just hanging in the wings for an opportunity for Comfort to rejoin the thread.

Does a pre-wings Twilight count?

{probably not, tho}

So, here's a question - if one wanted to learn another language on their own, not necessarily well enough to speak like a native, simply... "good enough", what would be the most efficient way to do it?

I like it. It's eerie and spooky, but I feel like it lacks a certain... either complexity, or simplicity, one or the other. I'm not a music expert, but that's the best I can describe it.

I'd be more partial to 2D - while 3D is cheaper to produce nowadays and allows smoother and more consistent graphics, 3D models also tend to be more rigid, whereas 2D can get away with sacrificing physical consistency for flexibility and expression.

If my wife wanted to come, in a heartbeat.

If not, I'd refuse, probably feeling unfairly angry that it was just a one-time, one-way trip.

1 minute ago, Califorum said:

I think it's a solar system much like ours. I believe Celestia and Luna aren't actually moving the sun and moon, just manipulating the light flow of the sun and moon, making it look like they do, aswell as the heat and effects from them. Unless, they are just doing a stunt and aren't actually doing anything.

It's all a trick! It's not really magic! It's all done with mirrors!

If that were the case, wouldn't it affect the positioning of the stars as well? Plus, wouldn't the sorcerers Celestia took over from notice?

I think it might work if we're working with the whole medieval "celestial spheres" concept, with Celestia and Luna's power {and unicorns in the past} being very specialized telekinesis that lets the two objects, whatever their size or distance be, just rotate around the world, whether that one is flat or spherical.

3 hours ago, Loud Opinion said:

I have another question. Is Equestria flat? and if it is, then is it infinite?

It's procedurally generated.

1 hour ago, SnekEater said:

The Dictator. 

"I may not be a man of God, Reverend, but I know right, and I know wrong, and I have the good grace to know which is which."

"Oh... f*ck off, grasshopper!"

Hot Fuzz?

"Gentlemen. You can't fight in here. This is the War Room!"

So.... be careful what permissions you grant and don't just click "yes" on everything?