Day: May 18, 2011

Deano’s answer to: “In Thor, what are the 9 realms? How do they inter-relate? What’s the deal with the tree that Thor draws for Jane?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

The Nine Realms, or Nine Worlds, or Nine Planes are:

Alfheim, Asgard, Hel, Jotunheim, Midgard (Earth), Muspelheim, Nidavellir, Svartalfheim, and Vanaheim(*).

The Big Tree is called Yggdrasil.

As for explaining what they are, and their inter-relation – especially in the context of the Marvel version of Thor – I could grab my crayons and do my best, or simply link to the excellent Wikipedia entry on the subject here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asg…

(* Am I really the only one who had to memorize this in the third grade?!? )

This answer originally appeared on Quora: In Thor, what are the 9 realms? How do they inter-relate? What’s the deal with the tree that Thor draws for Jane?

Deano’s answer to: “How do you maintain user identity integrity on new websites?”

Posted on by Deano in Q & A
  • Do not mistake “real names” and “integrity of identity” as being the same thing.

Many users, even some of my friends, use fake account names on facebook – all their actual friends know the alias, and any undesirables would never figure it out…

Facebook asks for various types of “real world” verification (working email, phone number) in order to set up an account… The bar is raised just high enough to make it a little annoying for spammers to bulk-create fake accounts (since they then also need to “friend” people to spam in the traditional sense). The point is, these secondary “verifications” are what end up making Facebook users real, not the expressed identification

Most users don’t want to entrust their real identity with an unknown quantity like a new website… And while they may acquiesce to various verification steps, they are also often concerned with having unwanted identity data shared with people they don’t know. The extent of that concern varies widely (social networks, community blogs/forums, and online dating all have very different perceived “danger” levels among users, for example).

So, in order to maintain “identity integrity”, a website must do the following:

  • Make the users feel safe enough to “be truly themselves” – even when that ‘self’ is not the persona they portray at home or in the workplace (some carry just as many masks into the real world, or even more than they do online);
  • Make users feel that the other members are all “real” – within the context of the site, at least. It doesn’t have to be perfect (every sex club has a few corner-wankers, after all), but it has to be good enough to “maintain the vibe” and not creep people out;
  • Make everyone feel that the people running the site, are “real” – Everyone knows Mark Zuckerberg does not respect their privacy one iota, and that use of Facebook requires, essentially, ceding privacy in exchange for “integrity”. For a large number of folks, that is a deal worth making – and in part, because they “get” that Zuck’s complete lack of integrity is what enforces everyone else’s use of it. Genius!

Pretty much following the three above rules should do you well in maintaining a community that “feels real”, wherein users have something to lose should they stray from the rules. What form that takes (up to and including full anonymity of identity, by the way) is up to the site Designers, Maintainers, and Users.

This answer was originally published on Quora: How do you maintain user identity integrity on new websites?

Deano’s answer to If you ate poop, what would actually happen?

Posted on by Deano in Q & A

I’d like to ask in reply, “Whose poop are we talking about?”

(Photo courtesy http://amzn.to/jW0WXC)

Cats

(Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/exp…)

Cooked properly, something like domestic cat poop – which usually has high protein content – could actually be quite nutritive (though still not healthy to eat)… Just ask any local dogs what they think – it’s better than dog treats!

Civets

(Photo courtesy of http://www.fotopedia.com/items/a…)

More reasonably, you might try searching the internet for “Kopi Luwak“, which is a special (and extremely expensive) coffee made from Civet Feces, and generally regarded as one of those eccentric delicacies, rather than an overt health risk. Okay, I’m cheating there, because it’s a drink, but you could always brew up a batch, and turn it into Kopi Luwak Chip Ice Cream!

Camels

(Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/the…)

If you’re ever suffering from bacterial dysentery in the desert, you may ask a local Bedouin for some fresh camel feces – the stuff contains Bacillus Subtilis, which is a natural antibiotic. I do not (wait for it…) make this shit up: German soldiers fighting in the African Campaign during WWII used this homeopathic solution when supplies ran low, with great efficacy(*). In fact, using feces as a medium to ingest foreign bacterial flora when one is deficient in same can be a viable treatment of certain ailments. Still, you’re probably better off sticking to yogurt.

Humans

(Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/jos…)

But, of course, you don’t really care about animal poo, do you? Let’s just cut to the chase, then: If you eat human feces, the most likely outcome is that you will become extremely ill from bacterial or viral infection by one or more of the following:

  • E. Coli
  • Hepatitis A
  • Hepatitis E
  • Viral Pneumonia
  • Polio
  • Influenza

When in doubt, stick with the excretions of herbivorous animals, eat in small quantities as a survival-stage technique only, and if you have a microwave or other bacteria-killing device handy, use it!

(* Carved from the interesting Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cop…)

If you ate poop, what would actually happen?