Nevelon

Re: Would you marry a near-human alien? Heck, Men and Women are practically different species as it is. Relationships are not just about procreation. If there are two individuals, who have a lot in common, Sure, why not. And then there is the old adage about opposites attracting. Sometimes your heart tells you who you are going to love, rational thought often plays little role. I think there would be a lot of social pressure against it. But when you start talking about aliens, there are a lot of variables in play. From a gamiest it's an old trope, and one what shows up pretty much every time aliens encounter earthlings.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Conan the Barbarian. James Earl Jones-Puting the EVIL into the BBEG.

Re: Star Trek: How dangerous are phasers? I'm sure people more versed in the lore of Trek could give you a better answer, but combat in any of the series struck me as a game of rocket tag. Shoot first, hit your target, and win. There wasn't a lot of getting wounded and returning fire. They took cover (after the red shirt went down) I'm not sure if the hit/miss ratio was from a technological or cinematic restriction. Hard to have fight scenes when it's over right after it starts. I know at some points there were phaser rifles, rather then just the sidearms we saw most of the time. With the destructive power of the pistols, one could assume that shoulder arms were designed either for larger ammo or better accuracy at range. From a hero mechanics standpoint, combat characters would be focused on going first and combat values, either to accurately hit your target first, or be nimble enough not to get hit (so you get the chance to shoot back) I am not a Trek nerd, but am geek enough to have watched a broad spectrum of it and absorb enough to posit theories.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore In a restaurant I could see it. For home use, the time to takes to dig that out of the pantry and clean it after use does not justify the time saved forming patties. Consistency I'll give you, but that's not a big deal on the backyard grill. If I was making these often enough to warrant a gizmo, I suspect my accuracy and proficiency in hand forming them would go up. I'm not saying there isn't a time and a place for kitchen gadgets, lord knows I've got enough cluttering up my kitchen drawers, I just don't see the need for this one. I have a springily rolling pin. It makes cookies with little embossed shapes on top. I make them once a year, every year, for Christmas. They are a pain to make, but traditional. Is it a one job kitchen gadget? Heck yes! Will I ever get rid of it? Never. Somethings are worth it. Everyone can decide what level of clutter they are willing to put up with. Obviously, hamburger patty presses don't cross my "need" threshold.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares The irony of a rebel flag on an imperial walker is priceless. I want to hear it hit the horn as it jumps over the trenches around ECHO base!

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares Shouldn't this be a NCIS spin-off?

Re: Anti-matter weaponry From a mechanics POV I see AM as just a big RKA (explosive) One of its properties is that is reacts with the first real matter it comes into contact with. So having big, thick walls of armor should help. Yes, the outer layers are going to boil away when the beam hits, but no more then any other sci-fy ship-to-ship weapon. As others have pointed out, it's how much energy you can pour into your target. How to stop anti-mater beams: Any beam based on charged particles can be dispersed/deflected with magnetic fields. Ablative armor: special armor designed to boil/break using the most energy possible, so less reaches the hull/important bits Active systems: Seeing that AM converts and releases it's energy on the first thing it hits, if you vent atmosphere, or spray a cloud of some sort between you and the source, the energy will be dispersed at some distance from your hull, rather then a direct impact. You get some of this for free when your ship is being blown apart. The problem with this is it's hard to do while under power. In space opera, this is something light craft can do to protect capital ships Just some random thoughts. A lot depends on what ground rules you are using.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore I've seen them made on a few cooking shows, you cook them just like a regular burger. Might take a little practice to learn the new signs for how well done they are. While I'm a big fan of food, and experimenting in the kitchen, you don't need the fancy gismos 9/10 of the time. That filled hamburger press is a prime example. I've been hand-forming burger patties my whole life. What does that extra piece of junk do that my hands won't? I'm a firm believer in Alton Brown's philosophy that the only uni-tasker in the kitchen should be your fire extinguisher. And throw some mushrooms in that stuffed cheeseburger, or bacon. Mmmmmm. If we Hadn't just been hammered with another foot and a half of snow, I'd be grilling tonight. I like the concept, just don't need the gizmo.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore I prefer my green eggs scrambled. (for one, they are a lot easier to make)

Re: I need recommendations for a whiz-bang portable power source my group's gadgeteer While probably a little too high tech for what you are looking for, here is what my gadgeteer is using in a game I'm playing now. Extra-dimentional quantum differential power. You basically keep a pinhole Ex-D portal open and take advantage of the different quantum levels, sorta like geothermal power on handwavium steroids. Most of the hardware is kept on the flip side, so you can have forcefield watches and other such gismos. Yes, it's Star Trek level technobabble, but damned if it doesn't keep my blaster firing.

Re: "Neat" Pictures Nice batch

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Doom Yeah, it's a kinda cheesy action romp, but it's honest about it. You got your guys with guns, your monster/mutant things to shoot, and a fun place to do the shooting. As a game-to-movie translation I think it was quite good, but then we know where the bar is set for that genre...

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore If that's not laced with LSD it should be. After eating one slice it turns into a plain yellow cake.

Re: Undead Labor: why not? Undead are the epitome of unskilled labor. They require constant supervision, for every action. Using them would skew your workforce, needing less laborers, but more supervisors. How many undead that can be controlled per person would make a huge difference, and depends on the job at hand. Overall productivity would probably go up. A lot of the ugly jobs would be done by the undead, so the living workers would have nicer jobs, and probably be happier.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore I expected more sawdust and horse meat.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore What scares me about that is the bit on the corner: "From the makers of Baconnaise and Bacon Salt" One quick web search gets us: http://www.baconnaise.com/

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Highlander (the first [and only] one, directors cut) Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief The French Chef w/ Julia Child (disk 2) Highlander is a classic, been a while since I've seen it. Some of the SFX are a little dated and cheesy, but otherwise fine. Percy Jackson was not a bad film. Pretty full of tropes, nothing particularly ground-breaking, but worth netflixing. I continue to enjoy watching Julia cook. Fun tips, and a window to history. Some of the recipes I would never make. When was the last time you made tripe using pigs feet that took 12 hours to cook in a crock. Also starring in another episode was a lobster big enough to have its own '50s radioactive horror movie.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Predators The French Chef with Julia Child: Disk 1 Predators was about what I expected, not a bad action flick. It was fun to watch the mother of all cooking shows. Bringing haute cuisine to the average american kitchen. She used more heavy cream and butter in one episode than I use in a year, not heathy by todays standards, but looked yummy. One camera, live (with mistakes made) filming. Not the slick, refined, modern cooking show. But real, practical recipes and tips. Sometimes it's more useful to see them screw up. She was making potato pancakes, flipping them in the pan, and didn't wait long enough for a good crust to form. It was nice to see what not to do, and hear tips for salvaging a dish by adding a little something, or how to recover. Modern TV chefs are so polished, with multiple takes and assistants helping them off-screen, it can be hard to learn techniques from them.

Re: Where do gangsters get pool babes? Mail order catalogs (Or probably on the web these days) Just pick up a few BPMs from Tyrell and the pool is good to go.

Re: Quote of the Week from my gaming group... "Only the insane have strength enough to prosper. Only those that prosper may truly judge what is sane." --Imperial Proverbs and Thoughts For The Day, On Thought

Re: Order of the Stick While amusing for him to be gulped down like a tasty snack, it would violate the rules of drama. Would be fine in a comedy though. I hope he doesn't get eaten; he's too awesome to die before his time.

Re: Order of the Stick Looks like "Miron Shewdanker" From the letter is the guy with the scarf around his face. Or it looks that way to me.

Re: Foods for those that just don't care anymore Which begs the question: What would you dip in gravy fondue? Chunks of bread Cubes of meatloaf Potato wedges (steak fries) Rolled up sliced meats (I'm thinking turkey and roast beef would do well) If you baked stuffing in mini-muffin tins, it should have the integrity to hold up to a dip without disintegrating. This has potential...