AliceTheOwl Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER *groans* Both of you . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savinien Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER All of the above. On another note... I find myself the GM to two new HC campaigns. I have good players but a poor GM. We'll see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER On May 5 one year I was lecturing to my solar system astronomy class, and quite by accident we were covering the surface features of Venus. Among these are some large, odd, round features called coronae; some have speculated that they are the result of a convection-cell upwelling in the planet's mantle that got to the (thin, weak) crust and buckled it in a more-or-less round pattern several hundred km across. At one point in the middle of the lecture I looked up into the class (this was in the large, steeply-raked lecture hall, about 200 students in the class) and said, apropos nothing, "Somehow it seems appropriate to discuss Coronas on Cinco de Mayo." There was no reaction that I picked up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Anomaly Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER There was no reaction that I picked up. Peasants, the lot of them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Similarly, I get very few reactions to my statement, "Tidal locking is the final absolution of original spin," too. A few more rueful head-shakings here at the Jesuit university (where there's the theology requirement) than at the state universities, but fewer than I would have guessed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER I don't get it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER It's a pun on Original Sin. Despite that, it's valid scientifically. None of the moons in the Solar System and very few of the planets currently rotate at the same speed as when they were newly formed, 4.5 Gyr ago. Tides from their nearby neighbors raise bulges; when a planet rotates at a different rate than the bulge, then there's continuous flexing of the planetary material as it rises and relaxes from the tidal pull. That causes friction, and the frictional heating converts the rotational kinetic energy of the body into heat. The end state, when no more energy is dissipated, is "tidal locking", where the rotation period or the body is the same as the orbital period of the body making the tides; in such a case the body has one face permanently locked to face the other (as is the case for Earth's Moon). It's an important process in the dynamical evolution of a planetary system. As a result, the initial rotation ("original spin") is slowed, and ultimately is removed in the final tidally-locked state. Use of the word "absolution" serves to amplify the pun's effect. I know, I know ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Ah. I knew about the tidal locking, but I'd never heard the word "absolution" used in conjunction with it. I get it now. Thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Oh, and if anybody cared about the Fantasy Hero world I was creating (Via), I've posted the super-secret (and very silly) origin up on the thread now. That's what Josh's random musing of last night is about. And we started in on a world map last night. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ghost-angel Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER I have to get to reading that when I've got some moments free to actually read it and not skim it... likely this evening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Oh, it's worth it. Y'know, in my not-so-humble opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER . . . Bad puns galore! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Yeah, and so few get acknowledged. I'm not sure anyone picked up on "bulgeoisie" in the Free Ice Cream thread. Either that, or no one voiced their desire for reinstitution of negative rep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted April 26, 2006 Report Share Posted April 26, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER I'm kind of glad I missed that . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bazza Posted April 27, 2006 Report Share Posted April 27, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER me too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savinien Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Why didn't any of you guys tell me about the paintball gun build question in Hero Discussion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted April 28, 2006 Report Share Posted April 28, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER . . . We thought you'd find it yourself. And you did! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER The more I know about the nature of rep, the more it puzzles me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savinien Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Puzzles are worthless. What do they do, give you some sort of satisfaction for earning their completion? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Yes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savinien Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER My wife was officially promoted today! Yippe for her! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AliceTheOwl Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Having one's spouse promoted is good. I just wish I knew why it was so cold in my office today. I'm pondering turning on the space heater. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Just make sure it won't pop the circuit breaker your 'puter is on. (This is a perennial problem at home ... the clod who did the wiring extended the kitchen sockets line down into the basement, which is where the gaming table and computers are. It gets cold down there. So we have a space heater. But if you run the space heater and the microwave oven upstairs at the same time, POP! And the computers are on the same circuit. Grr.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L. Marcus Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER . . . Makes the 'puters go "Doi?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted May 1, 2006 Report Share Posted May 1, 2006 Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Exactly. At least the lights downstairs are on a separate circuit, so it doesn't plunge the whole area into darkness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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