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[timferius]

Are there actually people in Canada who have French as a first language, speaking/writing it noticeably better than English?   

Yeah, the people from Qebec, why? Although ofc, they all speak pretty good English after school. Also they got an hilarious accent in French.

Not all of them speak well in english even actually. French is the only official language of Quebec. Even eastern Ontario has a fair amount of people who don't speak particularly strong English. Also, many who do speak English well in Quebec will deny it until they get frustrated with your massacring of their language...

[Yoink]

Yeah, the people from Qebec, why?

Earlier I was just reading social media posts from a French-Canadian band, and was surprised to see their posts in English were rather, well, Engrish.
I always thought even the most outrageously French of French-Canadians still spoke English first and foremost. Crazy stuff.

[Neonivek]

Are Komodo Dragons Venomous?

I remember that for the longest time the belief was that they had such a infectious bite that they could kill you simply through that... I also remember not only a science documentary getting a sample and finding that a human bite was more bio hazardous but didn't know why.

Then I heard/read that the whole infection thing is a myth and that Komodo dragons actually ARE venomous.

Yet articles are still being pumped out that push the whole infection thing.

Ps. Yes Human bites are probably one of the more infectious bites in the animal kingdom. At least more so then dogs, cats, and most everyday animals.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The answer is basically "we're not sure, but mostly neither". They don't have particularly infectious saliva, and while glands are found in their jaws the exact function isn't clear. Given how small their range is, it's not a major focus.

The truth is that having a giant chunk of flesh ripped out by a lizard is plenty fatal on its own.

[itisnotlogical]

Why do pants that don't have a zipper still have a flap sewn as if they did?

[itisnotlogical]

Does anybody remember Age of Ultron? Remember Iron Man's repeating punch-fist thing that was essentially a piston attached to his hand?

If that device could exist and you could wield one without destroying your arm, how would it work?

snip

Also I found something for this, somebody made a real life power fist. The construction videos suck and don't actually explain anything about how it works, but it looks like it uses gas pressure to force a big piece of metal out along with your actual punching force. He didn't test it very comprehensively, but it broke some concrete blocks.

[Arx]

Why do pants that don't have a zipper still have a flap sewn as if they did?

Stylistic convention. There has to be a seam there anyway.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

It's probably convention for women, but if you've got junk there then the seam provides necessary shape, especially if the material is a more inflexible one like denim. If you get pants tailored and are in possession of a penis, they'll ask you "which way you dress" i.e. which direction your penis normally falls in, because well-tailored pants will have slightly more slack on that side.

[Parsely]

Does anybody remember Age of Ultron? Remember Iron Man's repeating punch-fist thing that was essentially a piston attached to his hand?

If that device could exist and you could wield one without destroying your arm, how would it work?

Use springs to exert force that wants to keep the fist retracted. Load ejecting explosive cartridges into a breech behind the fist and set them off with a self-arming hammer mechanism as in an automatic firearm. Pull the trigger, hammer sets off cartridge, expanding gas pushes the fist forward, springs are compressed and push the fist back. Hold down the trigger for rapid fire, powerful punches. To avoid recoil being transmitted straight into your arm either have the fist attached to something more durable than your arm, like a powered exoskeleton, or use gas diverting techniques to dampen the recoil enough so it's tolerable. The fist would probably tend to yank you forwards if you fail to connect with your target, or the target is very fragile.

[BorkBorkGoesTheCode]

Has anybody tried to make something like the Aarne-Thompson classification system for memes?

[Frumple]

Uh. Considering the aarne-thompson classification system is classifying memes...

... as a more general thing, not that I've heard of. I wouldn't be surprised if someone in academia has tried, though, probably in some kind of meta-literature/communication/etc. program (study of the study itself and how it's organized, rather than whatever the field is focused on), at least assuming I'm not misremembering the correct prefix for that sort of thing (which is entirely possible, mind you). The more public/casual attempt would probably be projects like TVTropes and the few other sites of similar nature.

The problem with making one that covers memetics as a whole is that at the core of them memes are incredibly broad -- they're basically just concepts related to communication and media that have been identified as sufficiently discrete to stand on their own in some way or another and to varying degrees. Modern discussion, particularly casual discussion, is largely focused on internet centered stuff, but memes are a lot older than the internet, we've just started using the terminology relatively recently (inspired by attempts to apply concepts related to genetics to human communication, near as I can recall). Generally you have attempts to classify a subset (such as folklore, yes) instead of all of it in one go, because all of it in one go would be trying to make a classification system for pretty much the entire spectrum of human communication. Which, uh. Is a little daunting, ehehe.

People have been working at it but they tend to break things up, and by the time someone's done(ish) with one thing they're usually too old or invested to go back to trying to integrate what they've done with everything else, and probably either them or their colleagues are highly resistant towards letting the field of study they've developed get folded back into some other one. All of which makes integrating everything... slow. Given the time frames involved (we've only really been doing this sort of thing for a century or three), it's almost certainly going to be a while before you see a full framework of some sort starting to be pieced together. In the mean time, you'll just want to identify specific field equivalents and peruse as appropriate, if you're looking for that sort of classification system.

[Neonivek]

Alright because I am the easiest person to answer

In parenting is there a concept behind threatening your child with punishment too much?

As in... You get them a game, they like the game... So you use the game as blackmail all the time.

My brother had that happen to him as a child and his defense mechanism was simple... He ended up hating whatever it was. Which is something he does to this day in different ways.

[Putnam]

I mean, your brother's defense mechanism sounds like textbook sour grapes to me. I'm not entirely sure what you mean with the actual question, though, are you asking about terminology?

[Neonivek]

I mean, your brother's defense mechanism sounds like textbook sour grapes to me. I'm not entirely sure what you mean with the actual question, though, are you asking about terminology?

Yes.

And not sour grapes... He doesn't actually lose it and go "Well I didn't like it anyway"... If you go "Well If you keep misbehaving I'll take away your baseball bat" eventually leads to him not liking the baseball bat at all.

[Neonivek]

Is it true that Human meat tastes bad not only to us (which is more of a defense mechanism) but other animals as well?

And if so why?

Also yes some humans (typically psychotics) like the taste of humans (though their description of the taste is... weird...). Though most "Religious" Cannibals (ones who are cannibals for religious reasons) find the taste pretty bad.

Edit: Nevermind, the taste is... Really oddly mixed. I get a lot of reports that it tastes inherently bad, and others that it tastes good but in different ways... and some that creepishly describe how good it is in that it is basically a high-class meat if it ever caught on.