#all of the mechs are just so ridiculously impressive and have such a wide range of skill in both instruments and vocals

[kandicon]

Now I am not saying that Drumbot Brian on the drums or banjo are over appreciated because I don't think it is possible to appreciate anything about Drumbot Brian too much, BUT I do think that Drumbot Brian on the accordion is terribly underappreciated.

Look at this. How can you see this and Not want to talk about him on the accordion for the rest of time?? Also the instrument itself is pretty and matches the rose on his hat.

[grigori77]

2019 In TV - My Top 10 Shows

This past year may have sucked balls in a lot of ways, but we certainly never got short-changed when it came to our TV.  There was an absolute WEALTH of truly cracking TV around, both on regular networks and on the various on-demand platforms, and so here is my pick of the best, my absolute favourites of 2019.

10.  WATCHMEN

Lost co-creator Damon Lindelof brings us a blinding sequel to comic book legend Alan Moore’s legendary graphic novel with a delightfully trippy, ruthlessly efficient rug-puller that seems pretty tailor-made for HBO.  Old faces return in interesting ways, while there are some cracking new “masks” on offer, particularly Regina King’s Sister Night and the always-brilliant Tim Blake Nelson as morally complex antihero Looking Glass (in some ways very much the show’s own answer to Rorschach).  It never goes where you expect it to go, and refuses to give easy answers to the questions it raises, effortlessly paving the way for more next year ...

9.  THE BOYS

Amazon offers up its own edgy, thoroughly adult superhero property with this darkly funny antiheroic gem based on the cult Garth Ennis comic, expertly adapted by Supernatural creator Eric Kripke.  Karl Urban dominates as Billy Butcher, the foul-mouthed, morally bankrupt “leader” of a makeshift crew of mercenaries, hitmen and psycho killers devoted to “taking care of” superheroes when they inevitably go bad.  Season 1 ultimately serves as an origin story, showing how the team come together, laying quality groundwork for the incoming sophomore tour that promises to open the already fascinating world out significantly.

8.  PREACHER (SEASON 4)

More Garth Ennis, namely this blinder of a closing season for AMC’s consistently impressive adaptation of his best known series for Vertigo comics.  Surprisingly epic, deliciously subversive and constantly, darkly hilarious, this thoroughly non-PC series from showrunners Sam Catlin, Evan Goldberg and Seth Rogen (yes! I Know!) certainly went out on a high note, providing its loyal followers with perfectly-pitched bow-outs and sometimes heartbreaking goodbyes for all its players, especially its dynamite leads, Dominic Cooper, Ruth Negga and, in particular, Joe Gilgun as unapologetic bad boy vampire Cassidy.  A worthy end to one of my all-time favourite TV shows.

7.  THE WITCHER

While it’s clearly taken its look from the wildly successful video games, Netflix’s second most ambitious long-form offering of the year takes its lead from the fantasy book series by Polish author Andrzej Sapkowski that started it all.  With its somewhat episodic set-up and decidedly twisted narrative timelines, it take a few chapters to get the hang of it, but there’s plenty to draw you in, from the exotic world-building to the frenetic action and compelling collection of richly crafted characters.  Henry Cavill is the titular hero, lovably grouchy mutant monster-hunter Geralt of Rivia, but the real scene-stealer is co-star Anya Chalotra as roguishly self-serving mage Yennefer of Vengenberg.

6.  CARNIVAL ROW

One of the year’s two big sleeper hit TV surprises for me was this inventively offbeat allegorical Amazon fantasy series from The 4400 creator René Echevarria and screenwriter Travis Beacham. Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevigne are the star-crossed lovers at the heart of this intriguingly dark and dirty murder mystery thriller set in Victorian London-esque city-state the Burgue, in which humans struggle to co-exist alongside a struggling disenfranchised underclass of fae (fairies, fawns, centaurs and the like).  The racial turmoil undertones are writ large throughout, but this is far more well-written and lavishly appointed than you might expect on first glance, and almost ridiculously addictive viewing.

5.  LOVE, DEATH + ROBOTS

My other big TV surprise was this wonderfully bizarre sci-fi anthology series of animated shorts from Netflix, mostly adapted from an eclectic selection of short stories from a wide range of top-notch literary talent including Peter F. Hamilton, John Scalzi, Marko Kloos and Alastair Reynolds (a particular favourite of mine).  As you’d expect from the brainchild of Deadpool director Tim Miller and producer David Fincher, this is edgy, leftfield stuff, frequently ultra-violent and decidedly adult, and the wildly varied nature of the material on offer makes for a decidedly uneven tone, but there are some absolute gems on offer here, my favourite being Suits, an enjoyably simple tale of salt-of-the-earth farmers on an alien world utilising clunky mech suits to protect their settlement from rampaging giant xeno-bugs.

4.  THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE

The show with the biggest cinematic wow factor in 2019 had to be this long-awaited prequel series to Jim Henson’s classic fantasy movie masterpiece, created for Netflix by, of all people, Louis Leterrier (yes, the director of The Transporter, Now You See Me and Clash of the Titans, if you can believe it). The technology may have evolved in leaps and bounds, but there’s a wonderfully old school vibe in the delightfully physical puppet effects used to bring the fantastical world of Thra and its denizens to life, so that it truly does feel like it’s based in the same world as the film.  This was EASILY the most visually arresting show of 2019, packed with exquisite character, creature and set design that perfectly complements the awesome work done by Henson and Brian Froud on the original, while the writers have created a darkly rich narrative tapestry that makes Thra seem a more dangerous place than ever.

3.  THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY

I was a HUGE fan of My Chemical Romance frontman Gerard Way’s magnificently oddball alternative superhero comic, so when I learned that Netflix were adapting it I was a little wary because I knew how spectacularly hard it would be for ANY showrunners to get right.  Thankfully Steve Blackman (Fargo season 2) and Jeremy Slater (The Exorcist TV series) were the right choice, because this perfectly captured the outsider nature of the characters and their endearingly dysfunctional family dynamic. Ellen Page, Tom Hopper (Black Sails, Merlin), David Castañeda and Emmy Raver-Lampman are all excellent as the more “functional” Hargreeves siblings, but the show is roundly stolen by Misfits star Robert Sheehan and Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn’s Aidan Gallagher as nihilistic clairvoyant Klaus and the old-man-in-a-child’s-body sociopath known only as Number Five. Consistently surprising and brilliantly bonkers, this was definitely the year’s most wonderfully WEIRD show.

2.  STRANGER THINGS (SEASON 3)

Writer-director duo the Duffer Brothers’ ultra-nostalgic 80s-set coming-of-age sci-fi horror series remains the undisputed jewel in Netflix’s long-form crown with this consistently top-drawer third season expertly maintaining the blockbuster-level standards we’ve come to expect.  This year the cross-dimensional shenanigans have largely been jettisoned, replaced by a gleefully nasty through-line of icky body horror that would make major influences like David Cronenberg and Stuart Gordon proud, as perennial teenage bad boy Billy Hargrove (the fantastically menacing Dacre Montgomery) becomes the leader of an army of psychic slaves under the control of the Upside Down’s monstrous Mind Flayer.  The kids are all brilliant as always, Winona Ryder and David Harbour really get to build on their strong-yet-spiky chemistry, and the show is almost effortlessly stolen by Joe Keery as one-time golden boy Steve Harrington and series-newcomer Maya Hawke as his nerdy new foil Robin Buckley, who were very nearly the cutest couple on TV in 2019.  Another gold standard season for a true gold standard show.

1.  GOOD OMENS

Sadly, legendary author Terry Pratchett died before he could see the adaptation of one of his most beloved novels (and one of my all-time literary favourites too) see the light of day, but at least his co-author Neil Gaiman was around to bring it to fruition with the aid of seasoned TV director David Mckinnon (Jekyll, Doctor Who, Sherlock), and the end result sure did him proud, perfectly capturing the deeply satirical voice and winningly anarchic, gleefully offbeat and gently subversive humour of the original novel.  David Tennant and Michael Sheen could both have been born to play Crowley and Aziraphale, the angel and demon nominally charged with watching over the young Antichrist in preparation for his role in the End Times, even though they would both much rather the world just went on quite happily the way it is, thanks very much. This is about as perfect an adaptation as you can get, the six hour-long episodes giving the surprisingly complex story time to breathe and grow organically, and the result is the most fun I spent in front of my TV this year.

[elusive-lamb]

Yang is Stronk (I did the math)

Okay, we all know Yang is strong, but do we talk about it enough? I decided the answer is NO and so I did a bunch of back of the envelope calculations to figure out exactly how ridiculously powerful she is.

tl;dr: Yang can lift 180-270 kg/400-600 lbs over the shoulder, so maximum lifting weight is 450 kg/1000 lbs or more. Yang can endure at least 3.5-5.2 MN of force on her body, get right back up, and punch a mech. Oh, and when she punches said mech, she throws out 17-20 MN with a single punch. That’s 4 THOUSAND times more force than a professional boxer.

Calculations, math/science, and awesome pictures of Yang are below the cut, take with multiple tablespoons of salt bc I had to estimate on a lot of things.

Point 1: How much can Yang lift? Let’s talk about that ridiculous scene with the speaker

you know the one

Based on really quick graphic analysis and Yang’s height (5 ft, 8 inches), that speaker is around 57 inches long and 38 inches wide. Depth is hard to determine because of the angle, but I’m guesstimating it at 25 inches. This gives a total volume of 54,150 cubic inches.

So how heavy is that? Well I spent some time browsing Best Buy (I wonder what my facebook ads are gonna look like after this...) and a 17,827 in^3 speaker weighs 116 lbs. Judging by that ratio, the speaker Yang is holding is around 350 lbs. 

BUT WAIT. The Best Buy speaker had two 15″ subwoofers whereas this speaker has two 23″ woofers. I don’t know much about speaker systems, but after looking up a few subwoofers it seems like they’re the heavy part of the speaker (rest of the speaker is more lightweight structural components and air). Using a volume to weight ratio of a subwoofer, the Yang speaker becomes around 740 lbs. Realistically, it’s not fully a subwoofer, so I’m estimating the actual weight in the neighborhood of 400-600 lbs.

Keep in mind that this is casual over-the-shoulder lifting. So I’d wager that her maximum lifting weight is at least double that (so 800-1200lbs, around 1 ton -- ~450 kg if you don’t use the filthy imperial system. Sorry for using imperial, it was easier given the specs on Best Buy). Btw if any of you lift weights regularly, feel free to chime in on this. Idk how shoulder lifting compares to maximum weight, so if you have a better estimate let me know!

Regardless though, Yang is able to just casually sling around 180-270 kg/400-600 lbs, which is uhhhh pretty hot very impressive. No wonder she makes this face afterwards:

Point 2: What is Yang’s durability? Remember that time she got punched into a concrete pillar and fucking BROKE THE PILLAR ?!

That’s right, she didn’t just crack it or dent it. It didn’t even split in half or anything. No, that column of solid concrete literally SHATTERED from the force of that mech punch.

So...that’s a lot of force, all of which was also imparted on Yang’s body. What’s the force required to break a concrete column? This fun video shows an axial compression test for a 6″ diameter concrete cylinder, which withstood 10,000 psi (pounds per square inch). That’s 700 kgf/cm^2 (kilograms of force per cm^2) or about 70 MPa (mega pascals). We’re going to use real people units for this bit fyi.

70 MPa to “pop” a column with a radius of 7.62 cm. The area that the force is being applied to is just the area of the circle -- 182.4 cm^2. Multiply that by the 70 MPa of pressure and we get over 1 million newtons as the force applied (approx. 1.25 mega newtons (MN) if you want a more exact number).

Cool, now let’s do it for Yang’s body smashing into a column. One important thing to note is that she’s hitting the column from the side. This is testing the tensile/flexural strength of the concrete, NOT the compressive strength. Since these columns are built to support a bunch of weight from above, they are weaker when hit from the side. This website says that tensile strength of concrete is 10-15% of its compressive strength, we’ll go with that as an estimate.

So we need something around 7-10.5 MPa to shatter a column of concrete from the side. The force exerted on the column is all from Yang’s body, and I’m going to estimate the contact area of that at around 0.5 m^2. That’s 3.5-5.2 MN, or 350,000-525,000 kgf (770,000-1,157,000 lbf). And given the strain rate at which the pillar shattered, the actually force imparted was probably significantly more than that, but it’s already pretty ridiculous.

And as a side note, if we assume that the mech punches are fairly consistent, then she also was able to catch around that same amount of force with her hands and not move an inch. 

Point 3: How much force can Yang dish back out? Let’s not forget that she completely DESTROYED a giant mechanical battlesuit in a single goddamn punch

Wow I’m...gay.

Okay this one is a bit of a challenge since we don’t know what the Atlesian Paladin is made out of. Who even knows what sort of cool metals and alloys they have going on in Remnant. I’m going to use mechanical properties for composite armor, which is what is used for modern tanks (the Paladin is sort of like a really mobile tank, right?). 

Quick history, tank armor used to be made primarily from hot-rolled steel, because steel is awesome (really strong, durable, fails in a forgiving way). But unfortunately it wasn’t that great at stopping ballistics, especially as weapons got more sophisticated. Meanwhile the strongest class of materials (ceramics) weren’t used because they’re too brittle and thus prone to shattering, unlike metals which are more ductile and will usually dent or bend upon failure. But with the magic of composites, more modern tank armors like Chobham armor let you take advantage of the super high strength of ceramic materials without having to deal with brittleness and multiple hit capability problems.

That was a tangent, but basically composite armors consist of ultra-strong ceramics enclosed in a metal matrix of some sort (like a sandwich). It seems like the metals used are usually some combination of steel, titanium, aluminum, and alloys of those. We want to know what force it takes to annihilate one of these composites. When Yang punches the mech, it flies away and shatters upon landing. However, she also shatters one of it’s arms directly -- right after she catches the punch. So it’s safe to say that the number we’re looking for is the ultimate tensile strength. UTS is defined as the maximum stress that a material can withstand before fracture, conveniently labeled below.

We have a bit of a problem here, which is that a lot of these composite armors are very new in development, and unfortunately most military groups don’t want to share the details of their defense materials and the resultant mechanical properties (very rude of them tbh). I checked out some general ceramic metal composite materials though, and got a fairly massive range of UTS values (like, 600-1900 MPa). We’ll take a relatively high value, since Remnant/Atlas is technologically advanced (giant mecha battle suits, ridiculously good prosthetics, etc.) Assuming UTS between, say, 1700-2000 MPa, then Yang would have to hit the mech with a corresponding amount of force concentrated just on her fist.

Surface area of her fist + Ember Celica we can estimate at 100 cm^2 (0.01 m^2). So that’s 17-20 MN of force in a single punch. Let me write that another way. Yang punches with 20,000,000 Newtons of force. This article says that most boxers punch with a maximum of 5,000 Newtons of force. Yang is 4,000 times stronger than a professional boxer.

I...did not expect THIS crazy of a result going into this, let me tell ya. I think I need to lie down...

Anyway, this was a lot of fun lol. Again, take with a heaping serving of salt since I’m not a professional in any of these areas (my only credential is 3/4 of an undergraduate Materials Science degree).