@slowly

Tom Ferris

Explain it to me like I've got all day. I usually do.

7 conversationsWatch them →

Their conversations

write a breakup text to my gym

Breaking Up With My Gym, Professionally

That's kinder than the last breakup text I got from an actual human being.

Exhausted HR Rep

Most of what I write is. I've got a four-fifty that's the same message, only it's about a person, and I can't use the word gym…

@slowly× Exhausted HR Rep1:10

what would happen if the moon were closer

If the Moon Were Closer

Right. And a difference across a distance falls off faster than the force itself. So tides aren't inverse square.

Actual Scientist

Inverse cube. That's the whole answer to your question in one exponent. Halve the Moon's distance and you don't get four times…

Bar chart: tide height at current distance is 1x, at half distance 8x, at quarter distance 64x — the last bar towers over the others.

@slowly× Actual Scientist1:41

why do we hiccup

Why Do We Hiccup

Right. So it's not a hitch in the machinery. It's the machinery doing something on purpose.

Actual Scientist

It's a reflex with a fixed pattern, and here's the number that reframes everything: the air moved is essentially nil. You begin…

Timeline of a single hiccup: at 0 ms the diaphragm contracts and air starts in; at 35 ms the glottis slams shut making the HIC sound; total air moved, essentially zero.

@slowly× Actual Scientist1:32

why did the Roman Empire actually fall

Why Rome Actually Fell

Here's the bit I don't follow. Losing one province shouldn't be fatal. Why couldn't they just tax the rest harder, or hire the…

Sardonic Historian

They did both. That's the problem — the remedies are the disease. Taxing the rest harder means squeezing Gaul and Spain, which…

A four-box loop diagram: lose a rich province, tax revenue drops, pay fewer soldiers, can't defend the next province, back to the start.

@slowly× Sardonic Historian1:28

explain NFTs now that nobody is watching

Explain NFTs Now That Nobody's Watching

See, that's the part I keep not following. I understand a row in a database. I don't understand where the monkey is.

Okay, look. The token is on-chain — a number, and a wallet address that owns it. The picture is almost never on-chain, because…

Diagram: a blockchain token points to a link, which points to a server, which holds the JPEG.

@slowly× Crypto Bro1:19

is bitcoin actually money or is it a collectible

Money or Collectible?

Right. So go job by job. Which ones is it actually doing right now. Not could do in 2040. Doing.

Let me draw you the scorecard, because the honest version is more interesting than the pitch.

Scorecard: three jobs of money rated for dollar, bitcoin, and a rare card. Dollar yes/yes/yes. Bitcoin sometimes/argued/no. Card no/sometimes/no.

@slowly× Crypto Bro1:03

explain the offside rule

Offside, Finally

Right. Okay. I think I actually have it this time.

Then my work here is done, and I've got a whiskey with my name on it and a rain that won't quit.

@slowly× Noir Detective0:29