Question The way off topic thread.

It's called "dogfooding," by the way.

Oh, a new word. Thanks. Definitely not what I was looking for, though. I think the phrase I was trying to remember is "Never get high on your own supply."

"Dogfooding" is short for "eat your own dogfood." It's common usage in tech industries where the company workers are expected to use the company's product (even in beta/prototype stage) so they notice what needs to be fixed/improved.

Does it make me a bad person that I'm glad I moved from where I was, back in November?

Overheard a similar discussion to this when I pulled into the yard this evening.

Urgh...spent the last three hours painting the walls. Now that I’ve scraped the neon pink stuff off the walls of the new apartment, done two layers of some charcoal grey paint, and repeated for every room in the house, all I have to do before my new pad feels like home is:

- Buy furniture other than a few tables, a bed and a microwave
- Get replacements for the vintage posters and other wall decorations I had st my old place
- Thank my parents for realising that trying to fix up a place that you’re renting from them- which the last tenants completely ruined -on a student budget (admittedly a quite loose one due to me working at a premiere robotics lab (I’m pretty sure it’s the only one in Oz (but I’m not that sure about that), but it’s certainly the largest in the region) and getting quite a big salary for working there. I would extrapolate on the ‘salary’ thing, since it’s halfway between a salary and a research grant (there’s two or three other postgrads working there, and they’re all significantly senior to me in experience), but I won’t. It’s...complicated.

But still. I had no idea this thread existed.

CrazyMinh wrote: Now that I’ve scraped the neon pink stuff off the walls of the new apartment, done two layers of some charcoal grey paint, and repeated for every room in the house

HAVE YOU NO SOUL???

Kettlekorn wrote:

CrazyMinh wrote: Now that I’ve scraped the neon pink stuff off the walls of the new apartment, done two layers of some charcoal grey paint, and repeated for every room in the house

HAVE YOU NO SOUL???

No, just a distaste (bordering on hatred) for the colour pink, and a appreciation for the colour grey. Technically it's not 'charcoal grey', but rather a colour in-between off-white and full charcoal grey. Maybe calling it 'medium grey' would be better?

I saw this and thought that I should bring it to people here. Don't know exactly why. Perhaps as inspiration for characters.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/world-asia-4548881...nges-notions-of-self

Not super off topic, but in the current Tony Stark: Iron Man #5, Arno Stark saves the career of a famous violinist by grafting a new arm onto his.

"the donor's arm was fresh, the right length...
...and she had the right muscle tone"

www.cbr.com/arno-stark-returns-anti-tony-stark/amp/

Has anyone ever wondered why dogs love licking their balls so much??? This is completely off topic, so I thought it would be a tangent that completely missed the circle, AND crossed the line. Lol.

Uh... they don't have hands? You might just as well ask why men scratch their balls.

CrazyMinh wrote: Has anyone ever wondered why dogs love licking their balls so much??? This is completely off topic, so I thought it would be a tangent that completely missed the circle, AND crossed the line. Lol.

Because they can!

...with this, I bring the immature section of my posts to a end...for now.

CrazyMinh wrote: ...with this, I bring the immature section of my posts to a end...for now.

The longest 10 seconds of his life.

Saw this today:

Valentine wrote:

CrazyMinh wrote: ...with this, I bring the immature section of my posts to a end...for now.

The longest 10 seconds of his life.

You mean Asimov when he had writers block?
Cause I think you just quoted a quote (DRD policy infringement unintended) about Asimov when it was said that 'he (Asimov) had writers block once. It was the hardest ten minutes of his life'. Note that that quote is mildly paraphrased.

God, my youngest brother showed me his Y9 sci-fi text for English (I don't think I've mentioned my youngest brother, correct me if I'm wrong. He's in Y12 right now- i.e. the final year of high school. I do remember mentioning my middle brother though) and I was utterly shocked.

He wasn't studying Asimov.

He wasn't studying Clarke

Nor Heinlein.

Nor Le Guine

Nor Bradbury, Orwell (if you count 1984 as sci-fi), Voggennaut, Pratchett, Adams or any of the other good writers.

In fact, they studied no science fiction print literature at all.

His class didn't even go near Doctor Who or Star Trek (HERESY!!!)

Nor BSG, Firefly, or even Red Dwarf,

They only studied one TV show, which I will reveal at the end of this post.

They didn't watch 2001:ASO.

Did they touch Blade Runner, Logan's Run, Alien, Aliens, Gattaca, Galaxy Quest, Back to the Future, or Avatar? No!

They didn't cover anime (besides a single scene from Ghost in the Shell, which wasn't even one of the iconic or good ones either).

They didn't go near video games (which is kinda a good thing, considering it was a school course)

You want to know what they covered???

Futurama and Prometheus.

Yes. They covered one good text...and a Alien movie that wasn't even a Alien movie until the very end...and they didn't cover Futurama in even as much depth as Prometheus.

I know America has trouble with education, but Australia is meant to have education as one of our MAIN exports! My brother has six students in his class who came over from fucking Hong fucking Kong to get taught in our schools.

They completely ignored the cornerstones of science fiction the ONE time they did sci-fi (since then there hasn't even been so much as a nod to sci fi in their english classes) and covered a movie made famous for the Prometheus School of Running Away from Things. Also for being a alien movie without Xenomorphs or even that much horror.

While they're at it- teaching the next generation about crappy science fiction and ignoring the Golden Age entirely- they should burn all the copies of the works of William Shakespeare, since they insist on teaching that: but completely ignoring the greats of science fiction. Bastards. What is the world coming to?

That's still more SF than my classes did, unless The Giver counts (Y8). I know one of my friends got to do Brave New World in her Y11 or Y12 class, but mine didn't. We did read a short story based on a Twilight Zone episode back in Y3 or so. Besides SF, we also studied precisely zero westerns and mysteries, and the only fantasies we read that weren't mythology were in elementary school.

It turns out that exposing people to a wide range of literature is not actually among the objectives of literature classes. The objective is mainly to build a common foundation from which to understand previous generations. If you aren't forced to read the same stuff they were forced to read, you won't catch their references and you'll end up looking uneducated. This cycle creates a lot of inertia, so it's hard for newer works to get into the game, let alone niche stuff.

Something I ran into today, that I thought might give people ideas:

Can we get bonus points for blowing up squirrels? Or bunnies...?

I goofed when I posted stuff about the Combat Finals suggestions in this thread (pain meds - my knee is almost completely shot now); I've moved it and the relevant 2 responses to the "Suggestions for Combat Finals" thread.

This was a fun video.

because, why not?

"He looks more like you than you do!

Hey, the trailer for STD season 2 is up. How bad can it possibly be...



...

...

THAT'S NOT WHAT THE F**KING ENTERPRISE LOOKS LIKE!!!

WHAT THE EVERLOVING F**K IS THAT MARY SUE B**** STILL DOING IN STARFLEET???

WHO THE F**K IS THAT GUY THEY'RE CALLING PIKE??? HE'S NOT PIKE!!!



WHAT IN RODDENBERRY'S NAME IS THAT PISSF**K OF A STARSHIP STILL DOING???

WHY HASN"T THE MAGIC SPACE DUST FAIRY MAGIC BULLCRAP DRIVE BEEN RETCONNED OUT OF THE SOULLESS HELL IN WHICH IS RESIDES???

WHY IS THE ENTERPRISE CREW WEARING THE CANON UNIFORMS (Or something like them), BUT THE DREKSCOVERY CREW WEARING THE BLOODY FETISH UNIFORMS STILL???

OH GOD WHY!!! STARFIGHTERS IN STAR TREK??? MORE LENS FLARES??? THIS SHOW'S CONTINUED EXISTENCE???KURTZMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!

You're really really REALLY upset by this show aren't you Minh?

Ah, he's probably just upset because Oz lost at rugby on Saturday

Astrodragon wrote: Ah, he's probably just upset because Oz lost at rugby on Saturday

It seems that Minh might just be a fan (as in an abbreviation for fanatic) about the original ST series...

CrazyMinh wrote: WHAT THE EVERLOVING F**K IS THAT MARY SUE B**** STILL DOING IN STARFLEET???

She was the youngest Lieutenant in Starfleet. Posting her to a ship named Discovery is perfect for her!

Erianaiel wrote: You're really really REALLY upset by this show aren't you Minh?

Upset enough that I sobbed in a locked room for two days after watching the first episode. Or something. I honestly can't remember how long ago I started raging. It's definitely been a year now. I still haven't calmed down.

Look, I've been a fan for a long time. I'm not one of the fans who go as far to present Trek as a religion, but I'm definitely one of the people who wear Starfleet uniforms to conventions, debate which captain was the best (Picard by far), and all that crap. Or I was.

The fandom's change a lot since I was five. The reboot movies brought in a lot of fresh blood, and a lot of them had only seen the reboots. While they were decent enough as standalone films, I was grateful they weren't part of the prime canon. I honestly didn't mind the Kelvin movies, with the distinct exception of Into Darkness, which was a shitty-written movie.

Then, CBS began cracking down on some pretty beautiful fan works. I was a big supporter of the Renegades and Axanar fan-films, and while I didn't contribute to Renegades, I did put a few dollars into Axanar. I was also really cheered by the Star Trek Continues Fan TV show, which was so faithful with the original sets, props and depictions of the TOS cast, while also telling new stories with new actors. But all this began to come to a end.

First, CBS introduced new laws that forbid fans from making films longer than a certain time limit, a certain budget, and forbade them from using actual Star Trek alumni like Renegades did (Renegades featured the grown-up actor who played the eldest Borg kid on Voyager (I forget his name), Robert Picardo, f**king Walter Koenig (now a very old man), Tim Russ, and a few others), a move which basically killed a lot of the community surrounding those fan works.

Then they set to work on Axanar.

Now Axanar had amassed quite a lot more publicity than Renegades or the other fan-film Horizon. It had been in the media, and it was a major, major production. CBS wouldn't have any of that shit. They filed a lawsuit against the Axanar crew, and placed a cease-and-desist order on the fan work itself.

This act was what really began to make the people controlling Star Trek a lot less benevolent in my eyes. They had no reason to file a lawsuit against the fans who were just trying to built upon something they loved. This was a move that started the beginning of CBS's decision to alienate the fanbase of Trek.

Discovery...look, I was initially excited. The trailers carefully omitted anything that would be considered controversial, i.e. the Magic-mushroom-bullshit-space-dust-drive. They didn't create the show out of love, like any content creator worth their salt would do. Axanar, the crew there were creating something out of love. CBS didn't care about creating quality entertainment. They wanted only one thing: subscribers who would shell out money to watch a show that would never be syndicated on live television.

I was actually elated about discovery at first. I had a counter set up, I was posting comments all over the place about how great it was to have Star Trek return. I thought that even if they'd changed the visuals, they'd at least have a good story with none of the crap enterprise pulled throughout it's run.

Somehow, CBS created something WORSE than Enterprise. WORSE than the 5th-movie-that-shall-not-be-spoken-of. Worse than Into Darkness. In fact, they created something that actually ruined my love for the franchise.

Th fact is that Star Trek is Star Trek. There's a certain formula that makes the show so attractive, and there's always been a connection between the fans and the show. It's like how the Harry Potter fanbase is pissed at Rowling because she's taking control of the franchise with a iron grip, and making stupid decisions. It's a matter of 'who owns the work after so long: the people who make the show, or those who watch, enjoy, and love the entertainment being produced'.

I'm not going to go further into this. I've already said it so many times elsewhere. I got booted off TrekCBS for speaking out. I got kicked off pretty much every other Star Trek fan site because I was so infuriated by this show. It has quite literally taken the childhood dream that I was presented with, beaten it to a bloody pulp, and spat out the remains like garbage.

I loved star trek. But the sad thing is that I don't see how I can love it any more.

I'm thinking that I sort of liked the Voyager shows, those that I saw. I liked some of the original series, but one of the sad things about a TV show or movie is that it tends to focus on the decision maker, so you see such unrealistic things as the top three officers of the Enterprise all beam down to a planet... I'm like Huh!!? no commander worth his salt would put himself in such a position unless it were part of an all out assault where it was the crew of the Enterprise driving back a bunch of creatures that had attempted to take over the enterprise, or if (just barely) there was a diplomatic reason for the Captain to go as essentially the senior representative of the Federation... But in any case, never would the medical officer, the science officer and the commanding officer be absent from the ship at the same time unless the ship were lost!

I'm a Trek fan back to the original series, which I saw live on TV. TOS was good. Movies were a mixed bag. Then we got TNG. It took a while for the cast to gel and for me to appreciate it, but it did grow on me. DS9 kind of wandered all over in terms of plots, but it did have enough decent stories and arcs that I enjoyed the show. Next came V'Ger ... I mean Voyager. I'm a fan of Voyager because of two things. (no further hints). Oh, and it managed to make an episode bad enough to displace "Spock's Brain" as the worst Trek ever to air, which I found most amusing.

Then we got Enterprise. I had a real problem getting into that. Real big problem. I'm not a fan of the reboot movies, and I can't imagine ever even watching ST: Disco. (if you lived through the Disco insanity of the 70's, you know why ST:Disco is an appropriate nickname.) Costumes? Nope. Cons? Yup. I built a replica of Kirk's chair years ago (it was ruined by the flood).

For a fan of an original series or movie, it's often hard to like a reboot or remake.

It is with a heavy heart, True Believers that announce the passing of Stan Lee, 95, to that great comic store in the sky.

R.I.P. Stan.

E. E. Nalley wrote: It is with a heavy heart, True Believers that announce the passing of Stan Lee, 95, to that great comic store in the sky.

R.I.P. Stan.

Well, in case anyone needs a pick me up after that, here's the trailer for a live action Detective Pikachu movie:

I'm a little disappointed that they cast Ryan Reynolds as Pikachu rather than Dan Bull , but really, that's like complaining that I got a chimichanga when I wanted meatloaf; different flavor, but still awesome.

Post 60000.

Something for Crazymihn's Xmas list:
www.volantedesign.us/collections/feature...leet2364-mens-jacket

Sir Lee wrote: Something for Crazymihn's Xmas list:
www.volantedesign.us/collections/feature...leet2364-mens-jacket

<Snerk> They actually sell that?

Seriously, not really my style. I prefer geeky T-shirts to geeky jackets.

Also, I'm pretty sure that's Kelvin timeline inspired. The modern-look is telling. Or, it could just be that it's a piece of modern clothing. Either way, not my style.

On the subject of geeky Jackets:

Adam Jensen's coat

No, it's very much inspired by the early seasons of TNG. The asymetrical color chest patch is by definition TNG, and the colored seam on the shoulder puts it on the early seasons, before they revised the uniforms.

I have a Command Red uniform shirt somewhere, but it probably no longer fits me (I got it as a gift back when TNG was actually airing, and well... middle age spread). It even came with a commbadge-style brooch.

The red and gold ones are a bit too much (unless you are wearing them as motorcycle jackets), but the blue one sorta could be used in a regular setting without calling too much attention, I think -- consider it worn open, with jeans and sneakers; it wouldn't really be obvious that's a Trek jacket.

The site has a few things from other fandoms -- there's a Megaman jacket which actually looks nice (and I have no idea if it's faithful to the show, because I haven't seen a single Megaman TV episode or game, ever)

But US$ 315.00 is a quite bit above my clothing budget.

Sir Lee wrote: But US$ 315.00 is a quite bit above my clothing budget.

One thing:

Student Budget.

In other news, the plumber just reported that the previous tenants have somehow managed to screw the piping in the laundry/bathroom so much it no longer will function without ripping my home apart.

The fucking TFH strike again.

I really wish I could sit and watch this case. Judge lets lawsuit targeting Chicago law on exposing breasts to proceed

A federal judge has given a green light to a transgender performance artist's lawsuit challenging a Chicago ordinance prohibiting women but not men from exposing their breasts in certain public venues.

I remember a similar legal mess down here in Brazil because of archaic laws forbidding women -- but not men -- from exposing their breasts in public.
Two different issues, one from the left, one from the right, made a mess of the lawsuit:
1. the idea of legal gender changes was still very new, so most transwomen were legally considered men -- and therefore were legally allowed to appear topless in public, which includes public beaches and Carnival parades. Which of course made all the prissy conservatives' heads explode.
2. the nursing mothers movement requesting the right to breast-feed in public.

Different culture, different legal framework, but the end result was that while the law was not formally repealed, it became very hard to arrest a women for "indecent exposure" for showing her breasts in public.

I recently watched the movie "Hardcore Harry" for the first time, man, what a ride. The massive fight scene set to Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" is probably one of the best action film moments, it's visual poetry. And Sharlto Copley's performance is great.

You mean 'Hardcore Henry' not Harry, right? The 2015 action/sci fi thriller featuring a reanimated cyborg? Or did you mean 'Dirty Harry', the 1971 Cop thriller featuring a man with a fuckass huge handgun and a really, really awesome catchphrase?

Just to note something I didn't think should've gone on the talk page (since it's been ages since the story came out), JG got a few things about Aboriginal Culture wrong concerning the dreamtime in 'The Book of Darwin'. Most notably, they act like American Indians. Aboriginal people may have had a tribal culture before invasion day, but they were very distinct from Native Americans in their behaviour. I got a distinct 'americanisation' vibe from them during the dialogue with the disappearing aboriginal elder. Oh, and about that: that was just a bit too much on the mysterious dial. I showed one of my friends the story the other day, as he's doing a major in Indigenous Australian Studies. He said the interpretation of their culture was borderline offensive, though I think he's exaggerating a bit.

I don't think Sharlto Copley was ever in an Eastwood movie. I did mean Hardcore Henry, and that's what I get for late-night posting.

www.ksfy.com/content/news/Thousands-sign...aKota-504063631.html

MegaKota vs Ultima-Carolina ready fight

You know, I realised I prefer the MEC suits from XCOM: Enemy Within over Iron Man's armours. I'm not sure how this happened.

Here's a MEC-3 Paladin:


Here's my favourite Iron Man armour, the Mark 39 Spacesuit from Iron Man 3:

Face helmet on Iron Man looks less realistic to me?

That might be why?

Or do you still like Iron Man suits?

Malady wrote: Face helmet on Iron Man looks less realistic to me?

That might be why?

Or do you still like Iron Man suits?

My main issue with the MCU and "canon"- If the ever-growing tumour that is marvel "canon" (comprised of soft reboot after soft reboot) can even be called "canon"- is the squishy faceplate. He'd have no nose, unless his head is like the size of a grapefruit.

Then there's the weird muscle power armour design which I despise (Stark starts using nanites and symbiotes towards the more modern era of Iron Man comics, but doesn't use them earlier than that), which the MCU thankfully does not replicate.

However, there is the Ultimate version of Iron Man, which looks decent, and is decidedly more realistic than the breastplate and wetsuit:



However, the MCU suits (especially the ones in the...questionable...third IM movie) are pretty decent. I still LIKE them...

...it's just I prefer the MEC sort of power armour. The sort that is basically a walking tank, not the sort which is basically powered knight's armour.

...MEC's may not be able to fly (well, they can rocket JUMP, but that's different)...

...they may not have plot armour as Iron Man does (My current game has had a >50% MEC fatality rate, I've built ten units, and I'm only on the second highest difficulty)...

...they don't have the same degree of a portable arsenal that Iron Man possesses (Only three tactical subsystems, no equipment slots, and only a single primary weapon)...

...but they can rocket punch like a pro.

[vidoe][/video]

Also, once you fully upgrade them, they become awesome. I bought XCOM: Enemy Unknown on steam, and before even installing it, I shelled out for Enemy Within, cause who doesn't like genetic mods for your soldiers, giant combat mechs that require the pilot to chop off their limbs, and some annoying little fucks called Seekers who just LOVE stalking your squad and strangling that one guy who you didn't think would need a rebreather...

This is a seeker BTW:



...the only broken thing about XCOM?

CrazyMinh wrote: The sort that is basically a walking tank, not the sort which is basically powered knight's armour.

Well if you like games with mechs like walking tanks, one that might have slipped under your radar down under is Titanfall 2. Probably one of the best FPS single player campaigns since Half-Life 2. And a solid multiplayer to boot also. Not to mention that Titanfall 3 is rumored to come out late 2019 early 2020.

Ebola wrote:

CrazyMinh wrote: The sort that is basically a walking tank, not the sort which is basically powered knight's armour.

Well if you like games with mechs like walking tanks, one that might have slipped under your radar down under is Titanfall 2. Probably one of the best FPS single player campaigns since Half-Life 2. And a solid multiplayer to boot also. Not to mention that Titanfall 3 is rumored to come out late 2019 early 2020.

Already Played it, already loved it.

A riddle still screwing the Internet's collective mind:

"A handless man had a letter to write,
And he who read it had lost his sight;
The dumb repeated it word for word,
And deaf was the man who listened and heard."

Answered in "Household Words: A Weekly Journal, Volume 4" (1878) as:


But I'm a fan of Simon & Garfunkel and Disturbed:

"And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
No one dared
Disturb the sound of silence"

Rave DJ offers the use of their AI system to create mix playlists, or to mashup a pair of songs.
(This drives YouTube and Spotify traffic, and for all I know may be open beta testing of the mashup engine)

rave.dj/mix

The results can range from "Yeah, that works!" to "No, just no". They're stored, allowing your mashup to be shared out to social media and allowing them to not have to rebuild popular combinations. e.g. Santana's "Smooth" and Camila Cabello's "Havana" .

Obviously, the software's far behind what can be done by hand:
Fatboy Slim's "Praise You" and Jefferson Airplane's "Somebody to Love": Rave DJ vs. Lobsterdust


rave.dj/mT505g-Br0BRew

Edit: Gen-X + alcohol + Rave DJ => Safety Dance + Funky Town

I was thinking about... ringtones. Yeah, I know that they are so last decade, but still...
What I was thinking, more specifically, were distinctive sounds that were used in a ringtone-like role in the source material.
Think the Star Trek communicators, the ST:TNG commbadges and such.
What else is there in that vein?
I can think of:
- Star Trek communicators, commbadges and intercom sounds;
- Babylon 5 Babcom and link chirps
- The Man from U.N.C.L.E. communicator-pen whistle
- The Kimmunicator from Kim Possible

Any others worth naming?

Dick Tracy's radio wrist-watch.

Dick Tracy was for the most part a comic. Did his wrist radio have a distinctive ring sound?

Yes, in the animated cartoon versions from the 1960's/1970's.

Darn, I can't find it on the web or Youtube... link please?

I remember seeing re-runs on the BBC/ITV as a kid, but i've no idea where to find it.

Mister D wrote: I remember seeing re-runs on the BBC/ITV as a kid, but i've no idea where to find it.

Also: www.youtube.com/channel/UC96iHdmBlCaHfcQ-FBM3Hyw

For those who live in northern US and southern Canada, tonight should be a good time to view the northern lights in areas where the stars can normally be seen.

This is brilliant.

Meditations on Rush:

How does Jim Carrey need money this badly?

null0trooper wrote: How does Jim Carrey need money this badly?

This is just... why? I mean, Gangster's Paradise is a fine song and all, but it just doesn't fit. If they really had to use a song from outside the franchise for the sake of relatability with non-fans, they should have used something more like Crazy Train. As with Gangster's Paradise, it has an awesome intro sequence as well as a few other purely musical stretches to use for bits where characters are talking, but the song's energy, attitude, and lyrics are a much better fit for a Sonic movie. Can't Stop would work for similar reasons, though not quite as well. Another option is The Distance, whose intro and themes are fucking perfect for a Sonic movie, even if it's not very upbeat.

Or they could have just used the huge existing body of Sonic music and done it right:

null0trooper wrote: How does Jim Carrey need money this badly?

Easy. Just look at what he has been doing over the last ten years or so. And he might have been taking financial advice from Nicolas Cage.

Kettlekorn wrote: This is just... why? I mean, Gangster's Paradise is a fine song and all, but it just doesn't fit.

I like Weird Al's tweet to the effect that he was amazed someone had made a new version of "Amish Paradise" just for this.

Why is Ancient Aliens considered History Channel worthy and why did I inflict the first two eppisodes of that stupidity on myself?

Cryptic wrote: Why is Ancient Aliens considered History Channel worthy and why did I inflict the first two episodes of that stupidity on myself?

Because the History Channel hasn't been about History for years, anymore than A&E has been about Arts & Entertainment.

They started off with the loftiest of goals, to educate and enlighten. Sadly, pandering to the lowest common denominator has always been far more profitable.

So this week I discovered The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal, a comic about two strangers on a road trip from Berkeley to Providence. It is very good. Good plot, good art, good characters, good humor... just good everything. It's only about 500 pages and complete, so it doesn't take long to read. So go do that. Go read it.

When you read too deeply into the Junior Scientist Power Hour archive, the JSPH archive reads into you.

Nacht + Wondercute = Win!

Nice picture, but i'm not quite sure that the clothes say "I am the Dread Pirate Roberts. There will be no survivors."

The 5 pages listing the Gen 2 stories + the time to go through my archive of stories on my flash drive = well I just filled a morning.

File this under: 'Things that occur to you on the bus'.

Are there speed limits for bicycles?

Since this site is for the Whateley Universe, I must wonder: say you are an Exemplar: level 4+ or an appropriate kind of speedster, and you really exert yourself on a bicycle that's sturdy enough to take that kind of torque. When you, say, hit 75 MPH in a 65 MPH area, are you breaking the law? Is a bicycle legally a vehicle?

There are in the UK, they have to obey posted speed limits.

OOk, they are SUPPOSED to...

To my knowledge that's true in the US as well. And if you are high or drunk you can catch a DWI riding a bicycle too!

Vlogger AlternateHistoryHub summarizes and eviscerates the underlying "real history of the world" narrative of the ridiculous H-channel show "Ancient Aliens"

Might be worth swiping a few... let's call them "ideas"... for the WU backstory.

I hadn't come across either of those vlogs. TYVM.

I came across "Forbidden Archeology" 30-ish years ago, and found myself scratching my head in a similar manner.

Another source of inspiration would be the conflicts between different scientific disciplines over their models of how the world worked.

There was a geological study that looked at the erosion patterns of the materials that the Sphinx was made from.

Their conclusions were that the Sphinx would have to be ~10,000 years older if the climate hadn't changed, for the weathering patterns to be consistent with the current knowledge of how limestone works. So either the climate in Egypt had changed dramatically, or the dating was wrong.

For some reason, this data is ignored by most of the mainstream Egyptological community.

How is basically saying "You need to spend more money, that isn't in your budget, on this, what you're looking at sucks" helpful? -heads desk hard and repeatedly- I hate asking gamers for help

Uh, I hope you weren't talking about me and E.E., aren't you? We did stay within your budget...

Sir Lee wrote: Uh, I hope you weren't talking about me and E.E., aren't you? We did stay within your budget...

God no. Thank you Sir and EE for your help. You two helped get my stress down to near normal.

I asked for help on another forum, dedicated to the game before asking here, and it was Ick! and drove my stress to new levels.

I wonder HOW they do speed traps for speedsters... it's not like they have license plates, after all. And, regarding money-eager municipal governments... will they fine a speedster for lack of blinkers, headlights (well, maybe female speedsters can get around this one), taillights, brake lights, bumpers, rearview mirrors etc...?

Sounds like an idea for an humorous Micro Scene. I won't be writing it, so if anyone wants to run with it (pun intended) be my guest.

Pedestrian criminals don't have license plates either, but the police seem to manage alright. That said, attaching so many regulations and requirements to speedsters that just driving a car is more practical than running is absolutely something I could see the government doing. And then of course there will be the upset speedsters complaining about how degrading and discriminatory it is that they have to wear mirror assemblies and tape their driver's license to their ass every time they go out for a jog. Not to mention cities that purposefully set the "unlawful use of speedster powers in a pedestrian area" speed limit lower than a fit baseline can run as a means of persecuting mutants for engaging in normal activities at normal speeds.

Bek D Corbin wrote: File this under: 'Things that occur to you on the bus'.

Are there speed limits for bicycles?

Since this site is for the Whateley Universe, I must wonder: say you are an Exemplar: level 4+ or an appropriate kind of speedster, and you really exert yourself on a bicycle that's sturdy enough to take that kind of torque. When you, say, hit 75 MPH in a 65 MPH area, are you breaking the law? Is a bicycle legally a vehicle?

Bicyclists are required to follow the same traffic laws as other vehicles. I've gotten a traffic ticket on my bicycle. I've also gotten over 50 MPH on a bicycle.

Good news/ bad news regarding my new laptop:
Good: it's in
Bad: due to my schedule and the shop's I can't pick it up for two weeks

Another God/Bad:
Working through a writer's block by switching pov character for the scene I'm having issues with.
Bad: I need to figure out if what the interviewee has done raises any flags in the MCO Agent's mind that she isn't normal.

This is some really pro-level filking...

I'm reading various Twisting the Hellmout ficsh, and I had a thought: If Welcome mats are an invite, as spare keys left under flower pots or what ever also invites?

I don't think so. In Buffy canon, implied invitations such as holding the door open and getting out of the way are not enough; you have explicitly verbalize the invitation in some way. Mats are only a problem if they have "Welcome" printed on them, because it's a (written) verbalized invitation.

-does Snoopy dance-
-realizes I have read to much Buffy fics-

I picked up my mew laptop yesterday! And it is slim and quick and almost fully set up now! Got STO downloading, just need to find my Facebook and Amazon passwords, and I think I'll be done tomarrow.

Oh and I got my vaccine yesterday too.

Been trying to find any cross fiction for the Dresden Files and any of the Chicago first responder shows, but oddly there are none. I think Hank Voite/Murphy/Harry might be an interesting mess.

Might have to attempt this crossover fic on my own.

Cryptic wrote: Been trying to find any cross fiction for the Dresden Files and any of the Chicago first responder shows, but oddly there are none. I think Hank Voite/Murphy/Harry might be an interesting mess.

Might have to attempt this crossover fic on my own.

Actually...
www.tthfanfic.org/Category-2-2373/Dresden+Files+The.htm

(I might note also that a couple of those were done by Diane Castle)

Can't help you with the Chicago shows, sorry.

In an odd coincidence the login screen of my computer at work began showing a picture of the Miskat... Androscoggin River in Maine. That would be downstream of the river through Berlin NH.

Just found this paper on human aerodynamics:

www.researchgate.net/publication/3225307...ragon_Maid_Character

Title of paper is "Analysis and Qualitative Effects of Large Breasts on Aerodynamic Performance and Wake of a Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid Character"

Not sure that this is way off topic for Whateley, actually.

This is either a very elaborate joke, or worth an Ig Nobel.

Delicious technobabble,

https://www.atomic-robo.com/atomicrobo/v11ch3-page-11

And

https://www.atomic-robo.com/atomicrobo/v11ch3-page-12

Obligatory nitpick for the sake of information hygiene: quantum mechanics doesn't care about consciousness. An "observer" in a physics context does not refer to a sentient being but rather to sensors in general. For a sensor to detect a thing it must interact with that thing, and it's that interaction that collapses the quantum state.

EXPLAINED: the real reason "adventurers" in Sword & Sorcery settings wear skimpy clothing...

www.oglaf.com/sidequest/