Vanguard00

Re: Robert E Howard or J.R.R. Tolkien? I can't tell you which one I like better right now. When I was much younger and read Conan books (and comics) it was easy to say. Then I read Tolkien, and my #1 favorite was found. Then I read a few thousand other books, and reread Tolkien and Howard both. If I had to choose between the two right now I'd say "Howard", because I can read his books and still thrill to the adventure. I'll probably never read Tolkien again because of the movies (not that that's a bad thing!). But my favorite fantasy author right now is probably David Gemmell, who resembles Howard in style much more than he does Tolkien. So...um...what was the question again?

Re: The Fox and Vixen Good ideas thus far. If you haven't seen it already, you should watch "To Catch A Thief" with Cary Grant to get a good feel for the whole 'gentleman thief' feel. That's the first thing I thought of when I read this. Oh, and I like 'Kitten' for the daughter's "working" name, or maybe 'Princess'. It sounds like a continuation of cute family nicknames.

Re: Penalty of Death You know, as I read the premise the first thing I thought of was "Suicide Squad", DC Comics kinda-sorta version of the same thing (but without the robot bodies). Then I got to thinkin' about the robot bodies, and how silly an idea that was... ...until I thought about Ender's Game. Don't ask me why it popped into my head, but it did. So bear with me a second while I see if I can babble my way through this. What if the 'volunteers' were simply put into some sort of hypersleep mode? What if, instead of robot bodies, there were genetically created living organisms specifically bred to have a variety of super powers? What if said genetic creations were created without a conscious mind? All the wetwork is there, but they're essentially brain dead. And what if, instead of inhabiting robot bodies, your 'volunteers' mentally controlled these genetic creations? They essentially inhabited the bodies mentally, for all intents and purposes becoming these genetic creations. Their own memories, their own personalities, their own quirks and foibles...everything, but in these new bodies? Now what if they didn't know it was happening? What if, while in hypersleep, they never actually woke up in their own bodies, but were instead 'awakened' inside these creations? The creations have had minor plastic surgery to give them the same facial features as the 'host' so that they don't know what's going on. Even scars and tattoos are recreated to preserve the illusion. They don't know that their real bodies are in storage somewhere, kept alive by advanced technology, the same technology that allows them to mentally inhabit these creations. Will they ever find out? What will they do if they do discover the truth? Is there a way to get their bodies back? Would they even want to trade bodies after days/months/years inside the creations? What happens if the host bodies die? Do they simply continue to inhabit their creations, or do they die as well? The safety controls by the government include those little microchips you mentioned, but also the simple expedience of being able to 'switch off' the transmission that connects the host to the creation. Of course, if that switch doesn't work who knows what'll happen? Anyway, excuse the rambling, but I had the thought and ran with it.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Well, there are two different kinds of rowing machines. This is the one I bought. While there really isn't an exercise that doesn't impact the joints at all (with the possible exception of swimming), I've had few problems with my knees and lower back since I restarted rowing. Edit: the other kind of rowing machine is this kind, which, while okay, isn't as good IMO. I guess it depends on the actual problem. My issues stem from being big even when in shape. My lower back problem is actually an acute lumbar strain, so I have to be careful with exercise as a whole. As long as I maintain my posture while rowing, and stretch before and after, I'm good. I still need to work up to the point where I can row for 30-50 minutes a day (the better to lose weight), but I'm already noticing the benefits in terms of sleep and energy and reduced stress.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: The Kandris Seal I remember playing in a PBEM run by either Chris or Lisa Hartjes (whichever ran it, the other was in it). It was darn good writing then. I might have to check out the PDF in spite of not playing supermage games very often.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings Finally hooked up and programmed my timer-included coffee machine. A bit of Gevalia, cocoa and Irish cream creamer is a good way to start the day. Better than that sludge they serve at work, anyway.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: Erg! How to describe powers? Doesn't explain wattage very well, but here's a start (found on some random utility company's site). I'll keep looking, cuz now I'm curious, as well. Measuring Electricity Adapted with permission from Community Energy Workbook, Rocky Mountain Institute, 1995 Measuring Electricity Watts describe the rate at which electricity is being used at a specific moment. For example, 100 watts describes the amount of electricity that a 100-watt light bulb draws at any particular moment. Watt-hours measure the total amount of electricity used over time. Watt-hours are a combination of the how fast the electricity is used (watts) and the length of time it is used (hours). For example, a 100-watt light bulb, which draws 100 watts at any one moment, uses 100 watt-hours of electricity in the course of one hour. Kilowatts and kilowatt-hours are useful for measuring amounts of electricity used by large appliances, such as refrigerators, and by households. Kilowatt-hours are what show up on your electricity bill. One kilowatt (kW) equals 1,000 watts, and one kilowatt-hour (kWh) is one hour of using electricity at a rate of 1,000 watts. New, energy-efficient refrigerators use about 1.4 kilowatt-hours per day, and about 500 kilowatt-hours per year. Megawatts are used to measure the output of a power plant or the amount of electricity required by an entire city. One megawatt (MW) = 1,000 kilowatts = 1,000,000 watts. The average size of US power plants is 213 MW. A 1000 MW power plant is a large plant. Gigawatts measure the capacity of large power plants or of many plants. One gigawatt (GW) = 1,000 megawatts = 1 billion watts. In 1990, if all US electrical generating plants were operating at full capacity at the same time, they would have produced 690 GW. Measuring Energy Btu. A British Thermal Unit is a measure of energy content, usually used to describe the energy content of fuels. Because a Btu is so small, energy is usually measured in millions of Btus. For example, a "therm" of natural gas, such as you would find on your gas bill, is 100,000 Btus of gas. * 1 Btu = the amount of energy required to increase the temperature of one pound of water (which is equivalent to one pint) by one degree Fahrenheit, roughly the heat produced from burning one match. * 1,000 Btu = four-fifths of the energy contained in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. * 100,000 Btu = one therm. Roughly the energy contained in 80 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. * 1 million Btu = 1.1 days of US per capita energy consumption. * 277 million Btu = US per capita energy consumption in 1990. * 1 quadrillion Btu = quad. The US consumes more than 80 quads annually.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: A Thread for Random Musings eBay auction won four weeks ago. Item not received yet. Sent seller an email (and yes, it was polite) asking for status of item, including approximate date shipped and method used, just to let him know I hadn't received it yet. Received email back calling me names, accusing me of lying, and basically saying "Oh, well. You should've bought insurance." I don't even care about the books, or the twenty bucks. I wanna stick this guy. Hard.

Re: Who is the best Archaic/Anachronism/whatever in comics? Who was/is your favorite Cowboy in comics? Ghost Rider for image, Jonah Hex for content, overall winner Gideon Brood from 'Desperados'. Who was/is your favorite Ninja in comics? Although not technically a ninja, I've always enjoyed Shi. Shaido, from 'The Longbow Hunters', would be a close second, with Elektra being third. Who was your favorite Knight in comics? I still like the Black Knight, I think. I always thought they ruined his potential. Who was your favorite Archer/Robin Hood type? Big Hawkeye fan for the longest time, but when Kevin Smith reinvented Green Arrow in 'The Longbow Hunters' I crossed over. I crossed back when they brought GA back from the dead. Literally. I also kinda like Quarrel from 'Astro City' and wouldn't mind seeing her featured in an issue or three. Got any other favorites? (Samuraii, Cavemen, etc) Conan, for favorite 'fantasy' character.

Re: waiting for a good roll That is one helluva first post, dude.

Re: Ground speed math Well...um...wow. That's, uh, fast. Heh. Thanks for the breakdown, Bloodstone.

Re: UNITY 2010: A New Champions Campaign Just wanted to pipe in and say, "I can't believe I haven't been following this!" Well, I'm gonna from now on, I can tell you that. Good stuff, BunnyMan.

Re: Ground speed math Wow...if that spreadsheet is correct (and I have my doubts, no disrespect to the author), then someone with flight of 13" MegaScale (1"=10km) and a SPD of 6 can fly at 145,400 mph. That, um, doesn't seem right....does it? Gawd, I hate math.

Re: Ground speed math Righteous!

Re: Ground speed math Um...actually...how does one figure megascale movement? Not that the above doesn't help immensely, but I see that I need the megascale translation, as well.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat George W. Bush and Mike Tyson.

Re: Can Anyone Point Me To A PSP Tutorial? And another.

Re: Can Anyone Point Me To A PSP Tutorial? Here's a whole list of links. You'll have to try 'em out to see which one you like, though.

Re: Ground speed math Thanks!

Don't have the book handy but I could really use the math to figuring out ground speed (in either MPH or KPH), either running or flying. I've seen it here before but couldn't find it. Anyone have it handy?

Re: Sin City movie question Robert Rodriguez used the actual comics as his storyboard. He filmed pretty much what was on the page. In Hollywood's defense, most comics aren't as cut'n'dried as Sin City and are much harder to storyboard. But yeah, I feel ya.