Question The way off topic thread.

I watched Season 1 of that, it was intriguing with a few really funny parts, but couldnt' keep my attention.

It was a shame that it got shut down.

Tinier Tim?

www.foxnews.com/tech/2016/12/29/this-gia...h-korean-border.html

So very Whateley;

RAIL GUN JUSTICE!!!

Just when I thought anime couldn't get stranger...

They took Assassination Classroom, the story of a superhuman octopus teaching a class of middle school students how to kill him, and are retelling it as a video game rpg .

Arcanist Lupus wrote: Just when I thought anime couldn't get stranger...

They took Assassination Classroom, the story of a superhuman octopus teaching a class of middle school students how to kill him, and are retelling it as a video game rpg .

Okay...probably won't have anywhere never the emotional character building and finale which Assassination Classroom had and that was one of its major draws.

Well, no. This one is a series of comedy shorts. But it's still really entertaining.

Features include Karma getting washpans dropped on his head (and falling down pit traps!), Nagisa briefly becoming super buff, and a sparkly Terasaka

-grumbles- Why does my gaming laptop's fan have to start screeching just before the STO's month long Anniversary grind? Last time it did that it was two damn months before I got it back! And the ship is sweet this year.

Murph. Maybe I can tolerate the noise/keep things from going blewy! long enough to dump my saved up Lobi into Qmidations or what ever the currency is this year.

I found a thing.

What do you call an angry gorilla with its fingers in its ears?

Arcanist Lupus wrote: What do you call an angry gorilla with its fingers in its ears?

Warning: Spoiler! [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

Anything you want! It can't hear you!


I'm sorry. I was feeling juvenile today.

Well, I've got to admit that wasn't what I was expecting. I thought it would be "Donald Trump" or something.

Idle Thoughts
A while ago after seeing some of the 2014 movie, "The Book of Life," something one of the primary characters was given sparked speculation on how such a thing would actually work.

What the character in question gained was an enchanted object which gave them Courage.
But how would that be achieved?

Isn't courage acting despite being afraid?
Does that mean someone with something which gives them courage will be in a constant state of terror?
What motivates them to act?
Is something explaining what they'll gain by overcoming this implanted fear?

Is it courage in all aspects of their life?
To stand up for what's right?
To work for a goal they may never reach?
Not let the possibility or certainty of looking foolish stop them from attempting/mastering/exploring new things?
Acknowledge to themselves they've made a mistake or been bad?
Etc.

Is it courage to do the wrong thing simply because they've been given the ability to not let their fear stop them? (No, that would still be courage. The question here would be, does courage automatically mean Good Person?

What do you think?
Yeah, it's a bit of an unfair question.
I've been able to consider this on and off for months and am asking you for your answer in let's face it, a matter of hours or at most days.

Still...heh...I'll appreciate the courage of those who share their thoughts despite this.

Phoenix Spiritus wrote:

Arcanist Lupus wrote: What do you call an angry gorilla with its fingers in its ears?

Warning: Spoiler! [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

Anything you want! It can't hear you!


I'm sorry. I was feeling juvenile today.

Well, I've got to admit that wasn't what I was expecting. I thought it would be "Donald Trump" or something.

Heh. All political interpretations (however accurate) are the personal property of the reader.

I got this joke (and many others) from a Tarzan computer game in elementary school. I'm fond of it; partially because it's stupid and partially because it's a joke which could be told using any number of disparaging stereotypes, but instead chooses a stereotype that won't offend anyone (at least until we uplift the apes)

Being Lancer is suffering.

www.ilona-andrews.com/the-spam/

Kettlekorn wrote: I found a thing.

Ceci n'est pas un thing.

That's a picture of two things.

(Edit.) Sorry. Three things. Missed the one in the background.

(Edit 2) Make that four things. I really need to get some more sleep.

Technically speaking, a picture of a thing is also a thing (just a different kind of thing), even if a picture of a pipe is not a pipe.

I was rereading Dragonflight today in ebook form, and in books as old as this one sometimes typos creep in during the digital translation. Which is probably where this gem in the glossary came from:

Agenothree: a common chemical on Pern, HNO2

And the LORD said, "Let there be tools!" And Lowe's there were.

So, tonight I was brainstorming some potential company names when I accidentally discovered something awesome. So, before we get to that, let's briefly talk about frogs. Frogs are pretty cool. They hop around, stick to stuff, make cool sounds, eat annoying bugs, and look good doing it. Another animal that's cool is the turtle. But that wasn't enough; Mother Nature was not satisfied with mere turtles and frogs. So, this brings us to Australia, home of the Turtle Frog .

Because clearly Australia wasn't cool enough already.

That... is pretty strange.

Kettlekorn wrote: So, tonight I was brainstorming some potential company names when I accidentally discovered something awesome. So, before we get to that, let's briefly talk about frogs. Frogs are pretty cool. They hop around, stick to stuff, make cool sounds, eat annoying bugs, and look good doing it. Another animal that's cool is the turtle. But that wasn't enough; Mother Nature was not satisfied with mere turtles and frogs. So, this brings us to Australia, home of the Turtle Frog .

Because clearly Australia wasn't cool enough already.

That is adorable. It being from Australia, the next question is "how does it kill you?", of course...

Arcanist Lupus wrote: That... is pretty strange.

Turtle shaped frog?

Nope, this is Australia. Mammals that lay eggs still win.

Phoenix Spiritus wrote:

Arcanist Lupus wrote: That... is pretty strange.

Turtle shaped frog?

Nope, this is Australia. Mammals that lay eggs still win.

Not until you start farming them and having them with bacon for breakfast.

Valentine wrote:

Phoenix Spiritus wrote:

Arcanist Lupus wrote: That... is pretty strange.

Turtle shaped frog?

Nope, this is Australia. Mammals that lay eggs still win.

Not until you start farming them and having them with bacon for breakfast.

Both of the have spines, one of them has venomous spines.

You can farm your own mammal eggs, I'll stick with the avian varieties.

If Professor Oak was based out of Wisconsin, where would his lab be found?

And it's time for another edition of Rename that horrible book cover! . Once again drawing from the treasure trove that is 70's SF/F, we bring you Michael Moorcock's The Eternal Champion.

Arcanist Lupus wrote: And it's time for another edition of Rename that horrible book cover! . Once again drawing from the treasure trove that is 70's SF/F, we bring you Michael Moorcock's The Eternal Champion.

"Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore: Can't Imagine Why"

better than "Raaarrggh! and the Flight of the Boobies"

Wrath of the One-Legged Auto-Barber from Planet Peacock

Kettlekorn wrote: Wrath of the One-Legged Auto-Barber from Planet Peacock

Once there was tails, now all that is left are the tales.

Oh, I am a little barber and I go my merry way
With my razor and my basin I can always earn my pay
Though your skin be smooth as satin you will need me soon I know
For the lord protects his barbers and he makes the stubble grow

If I slip while I am shaving you and cut you to the quick
You can use me as a doctor for I also heal the sick.

I can't read Russian, and I don't even know how to type Cyrillic to enter the text into one of the various translating tools around, so...

...can anybody tell me what's written in the sign in today's Bloom County ? I feel like I'm missing part of the joke.

Sir Lee wrote: I can't read Russian, and I don't even know how to type Cyrillic to enter the text into one of the various translating tools around, so...

...can anybody tell me what's written in the sign in today's Bloom County ? I feel like I'm missing part of the joke.

A very loose and Putinesque translation of the original sign's English

Collect flowers: Bullet

or,

"Dandelion pickers will be shot!"

I found the Minoriteam and as it has a Lawyer named Loophole, and started in 2005... Thought there might be some snickers in-universe...

Actually, this would make Lainie very happy. She not only would prefer a different codename for her adult/permanent MID, but she would have a strong legal argument against any attempt to railroad her into keeping the Loophole moniker.
"No, you CAN'T make me take the name Loophole. It's trademarked, see? Totally against the rules. And it's owned by Time-Warner, not some rinky-dinky outfit. Now, let's talk about the name I actually WANT..."

Well, even earlier, there was a lawyer nicknamed Loophole in the Wild Card books. GRR Martin may not be quite as big as Time Warner, but still not somebody you want to argue with.

Just seen this:
www.xkcd.com/1814/
and now I want to hear the whole song... any filkers around?

(Additional line available here: www.perspicuity.com/?lightbox=image_104h )

Sir Lee wrote: Just seen this:
www.xkcd.com/1814/
and now I want to hear the whole song... any filkers around?

(Additional line available here: www.perspicuity.com/?lightbox=image_104h )

Callahan's Crosstime Saloon by Spider Robinson, or at least one of the books in the series had several alternate lines for that song. They included references to Fay Wray, and Morey Amsterdam.

No, I know the original, and of course there are likely to be numerous filks on various themes. What I'm wondering is if anybody did full lyrics for a Moiré-themed filk of "That's Amore."

secretshipfic.tumblr.com/

For some reason I could see the Lit Chix playing this before the clique exploded (imploded?)

Cryptic wrote: secretshipfic.tumblr.com/

For some reason I could see the Lit Chix playing this before the clique exploded (imploded?)

Well, MLP:FiM started in 2010, so that's happening a bit too late to be possible, unless you mess with dates.

How did you find it, anyway? I got there via TVTropes...

Malady wrote:

Cryptic wrote: secretshipfic.tumblr.com/

For some reason I could see the Lit Chix playing this before the clique exploded (imploded?)

Well, MLP:FiM started in 2010, so that's happening a bit too late to be possible, unless you mess with dates.

How did you find it, anyway? I got there via TVTropes...

Ok true on the dates, and TVTropes.

Cripes.... I just wanna say the ads that comes up on this forum when you're on a library computer are very disturbing. How many people have to search for overseas brides/girlfriends to get those kinds of ads to come up here?

Cryptic wrote: Cripes.... I just wanna say the ads that comes up on this forum when you're on a library computer are very disturbing. How many people have to search for overseas brides/girlfriends to get those kinds of ads to come up here?

Well, how many mentions of brides are there? We've got the Troll Bride, Jobe's Betrothal... And I guess that's it?

How many Eastern European girls are there? Eisenmadel, Trow, The Secret Lab...



I guess Google doesn't have a lot of sites like ours, to make a good ad profile or something... Well, I haven't seen any pop-ups and stuff, so I'm happy on that front...

I seem to mostly get ads for Indian wedding clothing and salvation army...so...I have no idea what metadata google picks up, but it makes no sense.

I'm guessing Kayda (despite being the wrong continent) and Seraphim stories? I've reread both recently.

I tend to have French adds (obviously) about subject as diverse as pet food, insurance/bank (mostly these category) and the army. And the english adds are about the eastern european brides yes.

Right now, I'm getting Dell laptop ads on both sidebars and on top banner -- and ALL the eight slots in the ad zone in the bottom are occupied by links to threads in the forums (usually it's about five of the eight, with three linking to some clickbaity site). The Dell ad is not unusual -- yesterday I got ads for an HP server. I guess that Google figures that I'm in the IT business (which I am). I get a number of ads for Brazilian companies, which again, not unexpected since I'm in Brazil. But I did get the "Russian mail-order brides" ads a while ago. But that was back when I used a more aggressive privacy tool, I think. Oh, and it's quite common to get ads for those "3-D" animal print T-shirts, for some reason.

Maybe... it depends on how good a profile Google has of the *user*? If you go all-out with the privacy tools and keep them from making a profile of you, well, the ad-serving engine pretty much is left with your approximate geographic location and the nature of the website, which I would put in a general category of "adult themes, but not outright porn." So... non-porn sexually-suggestive ads?

I get a lot of European bride ads, as well as Muslim and Asian dating sites (I am neither of those things). Occasionally I'll search for something on Amazon or Target or something and get flooded with ads for that thing for a while.

I've been trying to figure out why Jessica Rabbit is Ukranian.
Two new ads, one for something called Flaghouse, and ReadyRefresh by Nestle.

I tend to get ads from places I do shop at, and do my best to click through to them from here. I can tell when Sir Lee spends too much time here, I get Brazilian Women ads. I see an ad for metal tops often, and Amazon.

Sir Lee wrote: No, I know the original, and of course there are likely to be numerous filks on various themes. What I'm wondering is if anybody did full lyrics for a Moiré-themed filk of "That's Amore."

Don't know about a full song... I know my Graphic Arts teacher used to sing the words to it... something along the lines of "When two screens hit your eyes *something something something* that's a moire" to remind us to be careful in trying to re-shoot art with halftone screens in them and not to apply a new screen to it... but that was 25+ years ago and that little bit's all I remember.

I like science, news articles about science not so much.
Here Comes The "Sun"

Please note that that is the corrected article. Part of the original.

Many consider hydrogen to be the fuel of the future because it produces no carbon emissions when burned, meaning it doesn't add to global warming. But since hydrogen doesn't occur naturally, it first has to be made by splitting water into its two components — the other being oxygen — in a process that currently requires large amounts of electricity.

I love me some artificial Hydrogen.

Hah! Because that's how the sun's powered, right? They have a whole bunch of water at the core, and a powerful electrical current!

My Fubar brings all the girls to the pool
And they're like, "He's totally cool!"
Damn right, I'm totally cool
I could teach you, but I'm not that cruel

My Fubar brings all the girls to the pool
And they're like, "He's totally cool!"
Damn right, I'm totally cool
I could teach you, but I'm not that cruel

I know you want it
The phlegm that fills me
What the girls go crazy for
They lose their minds
The way I wind
It's bathing time

La la la la la
Foob it up
La la la la la
Tendrils are writhing
La la la la la
Foob it up
La la la la la
Elo is rising

My Fubar brings all the girls below ground
And they're like, "He's adorably round!"
Damn right, I'm adorably round
I could teach you, but you'd gain some pounds

My Fubar brings all the girls below ground
And they're like, "He's adorably round!"
Damn right, I'm adorably round
I could teach you, but you'd gain some pounds

I can see you're plotting
You think to deceive the
Techniques that read these minds
I can't be tricked
Just know, snot gets spit
Dodge if your quick

La la la la la
Foob it up
La la la la la
No point in lying
La la la la la
Foob it up
La la la la la
My phlegm is flying

My Fubar brings all the girls nosebleeds
And they're like, "He's sugoi!"
Damn right, I'm sugoi
I could teach you, but you'd look like me

My Fubar brings all the girls nosebleeds
And they're like, "He's sugoi!"
Damn right, I'm sugoi
I could teach you, but you'd look like me

'Cuz once you get evolved
Your face will look this way, so
You must maintain morale
Same time maintain your Elo
Just push past your red line
Gain GSD like mine
Then next her eyes will shine
'Cause she's slipped on your slime

La la la la la
Foob it up
La la la la la
Tendrils gyrating
La la la la la
Foob it up
La la la la la
My slime is Grade-A

My Fubar brings all the girls to Hawthorne
And they're like, "It's better than porn!"
Damn right, I'm better than porn
I will teach you, and you'll be reborn

My Fubar brings all the girls to Hawthorne
And they're like, "It's better than porn!"
Damn right, I'm better than porn
I will teach you, and you'll be reborn

Kettlekorn wrote:

for reference [ Click to expand ] [ Click to hide ]

My Fubar brings all the girls to the pool
And they're like, "He's totally cool!"
Damn right, I'm totally cool
I could teach you, but I'm not that cruel

SNIP

I don't know what to say...

I was typing away on my tablet, which suggests words for auto-complete, when I accidentally typed "thar" and I got the suggested word: Thargomindah.

Confused, because I had no idea what a Thargomindah was, I had to save the word and look it up.

My tablet pays way too much attention to what I do on it.

Question:
Does anyone know what stealth dancing is called so I can look up some examples of it?

Explanation
A quick look defines Dance as to move or a series of movements set rhythmically to match the speed and rhythm of a piece of music, typically following a set sequence of steps.

Dancing is generally visually obvious. Ballroom, Break Dancing, etc.

What I'm looking for is when people are following the definition of dance, but it looks like they're acting normally. Moving to music, following the beat and/or varying their movement by speeding up in the beat's divisible points or slowing down to it's over-arching rhythm.

It's probably obvious if you can hear the music itself, but likely difficult to see or invisible if they're wearing earbuds or playing it in their head.

Reason
I personally use this method to dance, and am curious just how stealthy it is.
...And would enjoy seeing what it looks like, along with how others have used it so I can add their skills/techniques to my own.

Summary
Does dancing while intentionally looking like you aren't have a name?

a-d wrote: Does dancing while intentionally looking like you aren't have a name?

Modern dance.

Drill (e.g., The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo 2015 , Drum Corps , Silent Drill )

Pareidolia, it sucks when you can't unsee something. Like when you think someone hacked the Whateley crest and replaced it with a cross-eyed turkey looking thing. The two headed eagle formed the wattle (that bit that hangs from the neck), the bottom triangle of the book made by the keys is the beak, the keys make up the eyes. The black opening of the arch the top of the head, and the lines between the stones of the arch stringy head feathers like on a bald eagle. It's easier to see at a smaller resolution as the real parts of the crest are less clear and things blur together.

If you see it and can't unsee it, my apologies. I can't unsee it.

Hah! I can see the turkey now!

I don't know about seeing, but if you want to ruin the Lion King's Stampede, all it takes is to notice that the atmospheric chanting is merely repetitions of the word "Yona"

If he was only wearing a labcoat.

I just got done writing a bit of an essay about guns. The fact that I don't actually own one led to an amusing mental image: A PSA featuring Megatron saying, "I don't own a gun, but I play one on TV..."

R2D22

I suppose that there's some sort of pun in the "22" alteration of R2's name, but not being really a native speaker and/or not being in direct contact with current US slang/pop culture, I missed the joke. Could someone explain it to the dumb foreigner?

What's a tutu to do?

Sir Lee wrote: I suppose that there's some sort of pun in the "22" alteration of R2's name, but not being really a native speaker and/or not being in direct contact with current US slang/pop culture, I missed the joke. Could someone explain it to the dumb foreigner?

R2D2 in a tutu is R2D22.

I didn't make up the pun, I just passed it along...

<groan>... I missed it because I kept reading it "Ar-Two-Dee-Twenty-Two."

I did the same thing until you mentioned the possibility of a pun, which gave me the hint I needed. I'd thought maybe it was a reference to section 22 of some hypothetical bill pertaining to the wearing of skirts or something.

Irish beach washed away reappears with a freak tide

Candidate for Coolest Dad ever.

Saw this today. Thought it was neat.

Goodbye, Area 51/Roswell conspiracy theories (and a number of other ones too):

www.leasticoulddo.com/comic/20170605/

I was looking at the results of the UK elections and something came to mind...
...with a party named Plaid and an independent MP whose birth surname was Paisley , maybe Jericho should emigrate to Britain and enter politics.

Sir Lee wrote: I was looking at the results of the UK elections and something came to mind...
...with a party named Plaid and an independent MP whose birth surname was Paisley , maybe Jericho should emigrate to Britain and enter politics.

better form of government.

Sir Lee wrote: I was looking at the results of the UK elections and something came to mind...
...with a party named Plaid and an independent MP whose birth surname was Paisley , maybe Jericho should emigrate to Britain and enter politics.

Given that it's been 7 years since he graduated, he just might have.

It can be hard trying to live with a family as a probability warper. Most W_ps we've seen don't seem to be aware of how much chaos they can cause over time. The one in the song is all too aware of what can happen.

An interesting example of how information is accidentally falsified.

While I was looking up details about invasive snails for the International Teleportation thread (which seems to have drifted slightly off topic?), I found this article, which describes the snail Achatina fulica as being ranked #2 in the list of most invasive species by the Global Invasive Species Database. Which is... sort of true? Here is the list being referred to, and Achatina fulica does in fact appear in the second spot on that list. But the list isn't ranked internally, it's merely in alphabetical order.

I think I've located The Bastard. He's hiding in south-eastern Utah

I don't know. That looks like a fox to me. Maybe a lion cub.

Just don't point it out to the Ancient Alien Guys.

I would like to say that I am glad it is taking me so long to catch up on what has been posted on the forum in the last 10 days. It shows the forum is quite active.

And I am still only at the start of the second "Recent topics" page ! (or the end of the second page depending on how you want to look at it, technically).

I figure this belongs here at least once.

68.media.tumblr.com/c95dac63b3687a789c47...g5E1vj6r0no1_500.jpg

Iwasforger03 wrote: I figure this belongs here at least once.

68.media.tumblr.com/c95dac63b3687a789c47...g5E1vj6r0no1_500.jpg

I'm sorry!

for what?

Iwasforger03 wrote: for what?

I'm Canadian! I'm contractually obligated to be overly apologetic!

Not really, but it can be fun to enforce the stereotype.

Speaking of which, I don't remember Captain Canada at Whateley being as polite as he should be. He's an insult to Canadians everywhere!

Angeldude wrote:

Iwasforger03 wrote: for what?

I'm Canadian! I'm contractually obligated to be overly apologetic!

Not really, but it can be fun to enforce the stereotype.

Speaking of which, I don't remember Captain Canada at Whateley being as polite as he should be. He's an insult to Canadians everywhere!

Note that he has been accosted, Canadians don't really attack, by the other Canadian students at least once, and it seemed to be implied that it happens on a semi regular basis.

Note that Captain Canada should have a UN Blue Helmet.

Angeldude wrote:

Iwasforger03 wrote: for what?

I'm Canadian! I'm contractually obligated to be overly apologetic!

Not really, but it can be fun to enforce the stereotype.

Speaking of which, I don't remember Captain Canada at Whateley being as polite as he should be. He's an insult to Canadians everywhere!

And here I was explaining just how crazy Canucks can be when the situation calls for it.

Just because the Canuck's crazy doesn't mean he stops being polite.

Phoenix Spiritus wrote: Just because the Canuck's crazy doesn't mean he stops being polite.

True, we'll apologize after breaking your teeth with a hockey stick.

It is 20 degrees warmer tonight than it was last night. Blech.

So, yesterday I noticed that they're selling Jolly Rancher flavored Pop Tarts now, so I grabbed some. They're edible, but I prefer the normal strawberry ones or the cookies and cream. The Jolly-Rancher-ness doesn't quite mesh properly. YMMV.

the Cinnamon brown sugar are the best pop-tarts, IMO

I favor the S'mores Pop Tarts, myself. For those mornings when I'm running late and need something to eat while running for the bus.

I just found out about inspirobot.me , which auto-generates inspiring quotes. It's pretty hilarious.

I like random character generators, myself.
for example

This charming, ordinary-looking teenager with thick glasses comes from an alternate dimension and just arrived here.

sounds like a certain Whateley attendee...

Kettlekorn wrote: I just found out about inspirobot.me , which auto-generates inspiring quotes. It's pretty hilarious.

I just got: "Embalmers become embalmers out of animal instinct."

Rose Bunny wrote: I like random character generators, myself.
for example

This charming, ordinary-looking teenager with thick glasses comes from an alternate dimension and just arrived here.

sounds like a certain Whateley attendee...

This vicious, cute teenager with a strange rock and a strange ability comes from a quaint little town by the plains and lives with a grandfather in a camper.

This shy, striking girl with bionic implants and the knowledge to save the world comes from England and lives with an uncle in a large house.

I could turn both of these into a story. Good link.

Another one that's just odd.
This outgoing, ordinary-looking teenager with a strange hat and a love for good food comes from a primitive world and lives with an enchanted prince in an old warehouse.

Domoviye wrote:

Rose Bunny wrote: I like random character generators, myself.
for example

This charming, ordinary-looking teenager with thick glasses comes from an alternate dimension and just arrived here.

sounds like a certain Whateley attendee...

This vicious, cute teenager with a strange rock and a strange ability comes from a quaint little town by the plains and lives with a grandfather in a camper.

This shy, striking girl with bionic implants and the knowledge to save the world comes from England and lives with an uncle in a large house.

I could turn both of these into a story. Good link.

Another one that's just odd.
This outgoing, ordinary-looking teenager with a strange hat and a love for good food comes from a primitive world and lives with an enchanted prince in an old warehouse.

Maybe there should be a rule for writers that they are banned from such sites... or these characters might just start showing up in the student body.

I got these three from the random character generator... oddly, the first 2 could be connected...

This calculating, disfigured old woman with a talent for playing the guitar comes from a magical little town by the desert and lives with a friend in a bungalow.

This shy, odd-looking old man with a knack for strategic thinking and a habit of daydreaming comes from the east and lives with a love interest in a bungalow.

This disgruntled, ordinary-looking young man with a mysterious box and a nervous tic comes from the world under the bed and is here for a short visit.

Honestly you could combine all three into a story.
Just add, "and they fight crime" and you're good to go.

Domoviye wrote: Honestly you could combine all three into a story.
Just add, "and they fight crime" and you're good to go.

I'm sensing a topic... just add the link and "involving Whateley", and chuck it into the tunnels or somewhere... LOL

You don't fight crime in a town next to the desert, that's a setting where you hide from a past.

Phoenix Spiritus wrote: You don't fight crime in a town next to the desert, that's a setting where you hide from a past.

Or where you plan your next crime fighting activity against the mob who lives sveral hours away and control a city with an iron fist.
Or travel through the portal under the bed to defeat the evil crime lord that has taken control of the magical fairy gangs and is planning on taking over the human world.

Domoviye wrote:

Phoenix Spiritus wrote: You don't fight crime in a town next to the desert, that's a setting where you hide from a past.

Or where you plan your next crime fighting activity against the mob who lives sveral hours away and control a city with an iron fist.

I believe that's called 'suburbia', and it's only allegorically a desert.

Or travel through the portal under the bed to defeat the evil crime lord that has taken control of the magical fairy gangs and is planning on taking over the human world.

And that's what cabins in the woods are for.

Gees Dom! Get your stock fantasy tropes correct!

Phoenix Spiritus wrote:
Gees Dom! Get your stock fantasy tropes correct!

you say that, but you are using a character generator to write your next story at this very moment, no doubt...

"Hmm, I need an adversary for Wondercute"

This charming, ordinary-looking young man with a mystical artifact and a bad foot comes from Stockholm and lives with a troll in a cardboard box.

"perfect!"

Phoenix Spiritus wrote:

Domoviye wrote:

Phoenix Spiritus wrote: You don't fight crime in a town next to the desert, that's a setting where you hide from a past.

Or where you plan your next crime fighting activity against the mob who lives sveral hours away and control a city with an iron fist.

I believe that's called 'suburbia', and it's only allegorically a desert.

Or travel through the portal under the bed to defeat the evil crime lord that has taken control of the magical fairy gangs and is planning on taking over the human world.

And that's what cabins in the woods are for.

Gees Dom! Get your stock fantasy tropes correct!

I live in Canada, outside of Toronto and Vancouver there is a very clear cut off for cities. You have the city, a small suburb and then either farms or howling wilderness full of man eating bears, moose and bison.

And deserts are freaky, perfectly acceptable places to have portals to other worlds, especially in box canyons where the rocks shift around when you're not looking.

If you want story ideas, here's a few headlines from an old Writing Excuses brainstorming episode :

Wary of Iguanas, Bored Germans Finally Venture Out
Heroic Mailman Saves Three Lives While On the Job
Dolphin Charged With Battery Against Girlfriend
Austrian Power Company Tells Customer She is Dead

(It's a great episode - four different stories seeds, each of which incorporate all four headlines. It's hilarious.)

Here's an even older episode with even more headlines.

Honestly, ideas are easy. It's writing that's hard.

Arcanist Lupus wrote:
Honestly, ideas are easy. It's writing that's hard.

I can attest to that. I am a BAD technical writer. Ideas, great. All that technical knowledge, story structure, grammar, etc? forget about it.

Rose Bunny wrote:

Arcanist Lupus wrote:
Honestly, ideas are easy. It's writing that's hard.

I can attest to that. I am a BAD technical writer. Ideas, great. All that technical knowledge, story structure, grammar, etc? forget about it.

Well, there's your problem. You need to remember about it, not forget about it.

Domoviye wrote:
I live in Canada, outside of Toronto and Vancouver there is a very clear cut off for cities. You have the city, a small suburb and then either farms or howling wilderness full of man eating bears, moose and bison.

And deserts are freaky, perfectly acceptable places to have portals to other worlds, especially in box canyons where the rocks shift around when you're not looking.

I was unaware that moose and bison were man eaters.

Valentine wrote:

Domoviye wrote:
I live in Canada, outside of Toronto and Vancouver there is a very clear cut off for cities. You have the city, a small suburb and then either farms or howling wilderness full of man eating bears, moose and bison.

And deserts are freaky, perfectly acceptable places to have portals to other worlds, especially in box canyons where the rocks shift around when you're not looking.

I was unaware that moose and bison were man eaters.

They need the protein to survive the winter. They're vicious killers.

Valentine wrote:

Domoviye wrote: I live in Canada, outside of Toronto and Vancouver there is a very clear cut off for cities. You have the city, a small suburb and then either farms or howling wilderness full of man eating bears, moose and bison.

I was unaware that moose and bison were man eaters.

Oh, Domo wasn't talking about the wilderness. That was regarding the Church and Wellesley neighborhood.

Admittedly, while I'm familiar with Bears (having been eaten by some before), Bison and Moose are new ones on me. At least, I wouldn't mind getting a few of them on me. Do I have to go to Canada to find some?

So Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium, and Chappie) started his own studio and has been releasing a bunch of short films on YouTube for free. All of them are only about 30 min long. The three that have been released are all NSFW . Two of them deal with a kind of eldritch horror, and one deals with an alien occupation.

I -bleeping- hate getting my eyes checked and they need to dilate my eyes. Between the reason I went in for new lenses (the old ones had the layers pealing off) and the drops, I can't see for -bleep- right now.

Cryptic wrote: I -bleeping- hate getting my eyes checked and they need to dilate my eyes. Between the reason I went in for new lenses (the old ones had the layers pealing off) and the drops, I can't see for -bleep- right now.

Ack! Eye dilation, hate that. When they used the old puff of air it would take 3-4 tries as I would reflexively blink.Hope it wears off quickly, it would last 5-6 hours for me each time.

I had to update my prescription recently, too. Fortunately, the doctor didn't think pupil dilation would be required this time. Now I'm looking into buying my first set of progressive lenses... and let me tell you, considering how much they cost, the information available is very confusing. I man, a few months ago I had to buy a new phone (prices are about in the same ballpark), and the cost-to-benefit analysis was MUCH easier.

Dreamer wrote:

Cryptic wrote: I -bleeping- hate getting my eyes checked and they need to dilate my eyes. Between the reason I went in for new lenses (the old ones had the layers pealing off) and the drops, I can't see for -bleep- right now.

Ack! Eye dilation, hate that. When they used the old puff of air it would take 3-4 tries as I would reflexively blink.Hope it wears off quickly, it would last 5-6 hours for me each time.

Seems to finally be wearing off after three hours. Sucked for the first hour as some of the drops got on the skin around my eyes and itched like hell and I couldn't go rinse my face.
And yeah the Puff test sucks. I jump big time when they do it. And i am a blinker to boot.

The doc had to dilate cause my retina or what ever is a bit flatter then normal so it was hard to get a good look.

I think when it is time for me to get the 'old folks' lenses, it would be easier to get an eye patch and a monocle.

Oh, and apparently I have a big head, cause we had to go through all of the frames to find I think three that fit me nice. But that is what I get for going to a Walmart optometrist. Price was decent though, under 300 bucks.

Blind and cant see! Lets hope your not like this woman!

Yolandria wrote: Blind and cant see! Lets hope your not like this woman!

That was exactly the news story that i was thinking of...

Cryptic: I'm currently wearing a pair of glasses that has a universal joint where the legs attach to the frames, giving 180degrees of movement in the horizontal axis, with another 180degrees in the vertical axis. And they fit underneath a welding mask.

https://en.specsavers.es/glasses/flexi-82

This is a different model to mine, but if you focus on the joint, you'll see how they are put together.

I don't know if you can find something similar where you are based, but they would be worth a look. They're the most comfortable pair i've had in years.

Yeah, that kind of hinge is available in a number of frames nowadays. I'm looking to get one with that, because I have a history of bending my frames, and that should help...

Questions from a traffic school test:

A pedestrian with a white cane ____
a) is blind and should always be give (sic) the right-of-way
b) is partially blind and should wait for someone to help them across the street
c) is missing their seeing eye dog, and you should help them
d) should wave their cane into the air as a gesture that they are going to cross

What can a pedestrian do if there is no sidewalk?
a) walk along the shoulder facing traffic
b) walk along the shoulder in the same direction as traffic
c) drive
d) use another street to walk on

Yep, thats why I leave my glasses within arm reach and in the same place.
I have to have the (expensive) thin option for my lenses, otherwise they are so thick they wont fit into modern frames.

Wow, 20/750 sounds at least as bad as mine. I'm not sure where I'm at on the 20/20 scale, but my last prescription was for around -6 diopters on the spherical and another -1 diopter on the cylindrical, give or take a quarter by eye. On the plus side, my current pair sticks to my face well enough that losing them in a bout of unplanned sleep isn't a serious concern. Bending them up in said sleep, on the other hand, is something I worry about.

There are a lot of things I don't like about living in a city, but being within walking distance of a grocery store is pretty handy for when my glasses or vehicle break.

It's been long enough since my last trip to the eye doctor that I don't remember any of my numbers, but you guys sound like you have it way worse than me. My eyesight is worse than the average glasses wearer I think, but not nearly in that range.

My claim to fame is that I lost a pair of glasses once when one of the lenses separated and the bottom cord started pulling through the middle of the lens.

Only -6?My left eye is -6.7, the better right eye is -4.2

Normalopticians visit:
"Please read the first few lines on the chart."
"What chart?"

OD: -7.25 sph, -1.75 cyl
OS: -8.25 sph, -1.25 cyl

top those numbers if you can.

See, now you guys have no comeback when we make spelling mistakes and stuff in our stories.
It's because we're blind!

You people make me feel like a fighter pilot... -3.25 spherical, -2 cylindrical in both eyes. But now I wandered into middle-aged presbyopia, and I'm currently in the process of adapting to my first multi-focal glasses.

Astrodragon wrote: See, now you guys have no comeback when we make spelling mistakes and stuff in our stories.
It's because we're blind!

Easily solved by co-opting some of us to sweep the stories for bugs ahead of time should you so choose.

Ametros wrote:

Astrodragon wrote: See, now you guys have no comeback when we make spelling mistakes and stuff in our stories.
It's because we're blind!

Easily solved by co-opting some of us to sweep the stories for bugs ahead of time should you so choose.

That might work... if we could see you when you raise your hand. Even now, my seeing eye dog Roflcopter is the one actually typing this.

Reading Right: Sphere: +1.75 Cylinder -.25 Axis 165 Prism: 1.00 out 2.00 DN
Reading Left: +1.75 -.50 160 1.00 out 2.00 UP

Distance Right: -.25 .25 165 1.00 out 2.00 DN
Distance Left: -.25 .50 160 2.00 out 2.00 UP

And I can't wear bifocals so reading stories as with writing is .... well... interesting. For those that don't know what prism is, it means I see double.

This is pretty neat:


And this is clever:

About two weeks ago I lost a contact lens. We are talking Ridged Gas Permeable, lens, here so it's a hard bit of something or other, not water based gel. I have keratoconus, so no soft lenses for me, that and glasses are becoming less effective.

Afterwards, my eye was hurting so off the optometrist I went He examined my eye, put high contrast drops in, flipped my eyelid. It took about 20 - 30 minutes, conclusion definitely nothing in there. By the next day the pain was going away, and the day after that it didn't hurt at all.

This morning, I rubbed my eye and found myself holding my missing contact lens. I've been walking around with an RGP lens floating around the edge of my eye somewhere for two weeks.

@konzill: Ouch! all around. If I even take a nap in gas-permeable soft lenses, my look like a suburban roadmap.

However, I have managed to lose the glasses I was wearing (had to wait for the ADHD "What was I looking for? reset), and once they ended up in the refrigerator.

People sometimes neuter pet rats. Which is normally not a very interesting thing to know, but it becomes much more entertaining when taken in the context of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

It's a wonderful life for a goldfish...

www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/12/goldfish_carp_oxygen_ethanol/

Makes you wonder what a biodevisor could do with one.

Kettlekorn wrote: This is pretty neat:

This is a really nice design that i came across, when looking at building a new bike trailer. My original design can be found here, https://wiki.london.hackspace.org.uk/view/Project:Bicycle_Trailer

Have you looked at the Tiny HouseBoat? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DE2WdjS6rRY

Or the Hexayurt? http://hexayurt.com/

Or the version that is designed for Canadian winters... http://dylantoymaker.net/toybox/hexayurt/

.

Kettlekorn wrote: And this is clever:

Wow.

have you seen this one? http://goodenoughcnc.eu/hybrid-cnc/

With a home-built plasma-cutter, you can cut sheet steel...

Web-search for "Plasnator.pdf"

The thing I find attractive about the handheld solution is that it has a very small footprint and yet can work on arbitrarily large projects. As somebody who currently lives in an apartment, that's an important factor. If I were actually in the market for a CNC machine, I'd be a lot more likely to get one like that than a more traditional kind.

That boat is cool. If I didn't hate getting wet and dislike swimming, I would find the idea of a house boat very appealing. And if I enjoyed sea food, it would be a done deal. Unfortunately, I just don't seem to be a water person.

I would be more interested in a house airship.

I just had to share this.
I'm at work right now and looking over the notes left for the day and this popped out at me.

"'Workers name' please put the full address in, not just Africa - especially for the only Black lawyer in the whole hotel."

I can understand not wanting to type in a long foreign address, but for a lawyer. Ouch.

Ebola wrote:

Are we talking real life, serious Hollywood and anime, or fun Hollywood and anime?

Real life, bye bye children.

Serious Hollywood, most of them die, but the main character and his best girl stop the plan and escape, or the girl escapes as the guy sacrifices himself.
Serious anime, one whole season where everyone is picked off brutally after getting a detailed backstory and the bad guy wins. Maybe one or two escape but for season two after they've recovered from the psychological trauma it all starts again.

Fun Hollywood, the hero rallies. The school, maybe a friend dies, bad guy is blasted into a million pieces, girl kisses guy.

Fun anime. The school is actually built on an alien base, magical castle. The students get awesome robots/magical powers/magical pets after the school is attacked. There is a love triangle, and the power of love/music/cool wins the day.

Domoviye wrote:

Ebola wrote:

Are we talking real life, serious Hollywood and anime, or fun Hollywood and anime?

Real life, bye bye children.

Serious Hollywood, most of them die, but the main character and his best girl stop the plan and escape, or the girl escapes as the guy sacrifices himself.
Serious anime, one whole season where everyone is picked off brutally after getting a detailed backstory and the bad guy wins. Maybe one or two escape but for season two after they've recovered from the psychological trauma it all starts again.

Fun Hollywood, the hero rallies. The school, maybe a friend dies, bad guy is blasted into a million pieces, girl kisses guy.

Fun anime. The school is actually built on an alien base, magical castle. The students get awesome robots/magical powers/magical pets after the school is attacked. There is a love triangle, and the power of love/music/cool wins the day.

I think they were talking about Whateley, Halloween 2006.

And your point is?

Domo, you forgot an option for who wins that fight.

The mythos option, where Yog-sothoth is drawn to the fight and eats both sides, then covers the world in young.

tekili-le! tekili-le!

Nagrij wrote: Domo, you forgot an option for who wins that fight.

The mythos option, where Yog-sothoth is drawn to the fight and eats both sides, then covers the world in young.

tekili-le! tekili-le!

Not to worry. It was a school for baby shoggoths to begin with; their Elder Things were just waiting for a good time to explain some other Things to them.

null0trooper wrote:

Nagrij wrote: Domo, you forgot an option for who wins that fight.

The mythos option, where Yog-sothoth is drawn to the fight and eats both sides, then covers the world in young.

tekili-le! tekili-le!

Not to worry. It was a school for baby shoggoths to begin with; their Elder Things were just waiting for a good time to explain some other Things to them.

Like how plasma cannons always give a metallic after-taste to the meat...

sigeel.deviantart.com/art/I-had-to-continue-it-701978071

ps238.nodwick.com/comic/2017-08-30/
When turning yourself into a hat is the right idea.

I hereby give everyone here the permission to slap me silly (virtually) next time I have a 'poor pitiful me' meltdown.

I now know two musicals that use the word 'peripatetic'. I need to start using it in daily life.

I think I ran into a flagrant case of Trope Abuse. The abused trope being "Meaningful Name."

I got my hands on Shaman's Tears, an old Mike Grell comic that I hadn't read at the time it was being published. So I sat down and started reading and stumbled into it...

There is this pair of villains who are attempting to patent Soviet biotech (one of them was the former research head, before the end of Communism; the other is your average American corrupt capitalist). Their names:

Patrick Pending (Pat. Pending)
Regus Patoff (Reg. US Pat. Off.)

Yes, REALLY. After this, names like Victor Von Doom, Otto Octavius, Roy G. Bivolo and T.O.Morrow look perfectly reasonable in comparison.

Happy Halloween all. For your viewing pleasure I present ... me!

scontent-atl3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/23...fe0d1bbf&oe=5A792214

Also, I know the paint is not period correct. But it makes for a fun night handing out candy to kids and chili to parents.