Christopher

One of the things we looted from the were-rats is an old journal, written in some kind of code that Harshal can't decipher - it appears to be incomplete.

Harshal: Although that might just be all the bloodstains.

On the other hand, it could also be a binary code with some of the book only readable by those with low-light vision, probably by moonlight.

Harshal: That's what I'd do.

It's apparent Ghost-ink - it's visible in the light of firebeetle glands or sunrods. Either possibility works, if all Harshal needs to do is transcribe all the contents to decode later. Useful stuff, ghost-ink - especially if you're faking your financial records and expect to be questioned in a Zone of Truth later. You just put the real numbers in ghost-ink.

GM: 'Are these your real books?' 'Yes'

Ys: I'm calling this the Silver Rodent Decimation Caper.
Gillert: I'm half-regretting missing it now.
Harshal: About that - exactly where were you last night? We did wait for you.
Gillert: I was ill
Harshal: Oh really? Hands up which of us had Ghoul Fever?
GM: He wasn't sick, he was 'tired and emotional'

The adamantium boarding axe is also impressive, but being ungrateful swine we do wonder if it will be even more effective if silvered. At least we don't have to worry about money for a while - our little enterprise re-opening the northern docks is proving so lucrative we could live comfortably on that alone. On the other hand, we could also use it as a profitable front operation for even MORE profitable illegal shenanigans. Guess which we go with.

GM: Do any of the rest of you worship a particular god?
Zin: I pay lip service to about 4.
Harshal: The afterlife isn't something I spend much time thinking about - since it's not likely that I'm going anywhere nice.

GM: aw, we missed Tax-fest. Because that's the only day of the year anybody can enter the Temple of Abadar and voice their complaints about the current situation - and the current ruler can't do a damn thing to them.
Harshal: Would have been entertaining to see what kind of complaints are made.
GM: Would have been entertaining to see how many complaints you lot have engendered.

Harshal: I wonder if I can afford to move into a nicer place now. On the other hand, these down market apartments do offer certain benefits, such as when I'm defending someone who is obviously guilty in court. We can kidnap one of the servants of the plaintiff, disguise one of you as him, have the 'servant' knock on the wrong door at my apartments, then stage a scuffle in my rooms. Having the opposing counsel stabbed won't help the plaintiff's case.
Gillert: You live such an interesting life.
Harshal: Lucrative, too.

After thirty years it is, in fact, time to rule out stupidity and insanity.  Stop giving them the benefit of the doubt.  They're taking advantage of it.

"Trickle down economic only never worked in the last 2000 years, when kings owned all the wealth. That does not mean it will not work this time!" - everyone still believing in Trickle Down economics.

You know that is one of those things that is only a problem because the USA somehow do not get their head around federal programms. You are propably the only nation on the Planet that does not get that.

Bombers:
If you stay out of range, speed is not an issue. In this case, Poe and BB-8 killed all the guns on the Mandator 4 class. That and they utteraly failed at deploying their fighters right away (as the Mandator Captain noted).
 
Flagship Weapons:
After the mandator 4 had been killed, those were the only weapons even capable of reaching the Radus. At all.
That they could not punch through the shields at such extreme ranges made sense.
 
Escorts doing nothing:
Moving away the escorts could have allowed the Rebels to pull some other trick. So why risk it? They had this chase in the bag (or so they thought). Even if the rebels escaped in transprots, those transprots were not hyperspace capable. So where could they go that a Mega-Starsdestroyer + several escorts worth of ground forces could not kill them?

Cloaking devices:
Optical cloaking is unessesary. Sensor cloaking is enough. We do know exactly where Voyager 1 is - because it actively sends signals to us.
Do we still regulary use binoculars for spotting aircraft? Or did we switch to using wide angle IR cameras and radar for that?
 
The Shuttle:
"Windows are Structural weakpoints. Geth do not use them." I mean they had a seriously powerfull security shield, so it is not like just anyone could have approached there.

Where to land:
A cut scene was them someone getting in via a washery. So I asume there is a umbillical connection to recieve clothing supplies or something they could force open without raising alarm? This ship is 60 Kilometers wide. They had a security shield because they could not protect all the small entraces at effectively.
 
Ramming Speed:
The Radus was 3 km long, so it was actuall remotely in the same weight class as a Mega-star destroyer (60 km Wingspan). A fighter ramming the deathstar or even a star destroyer at lightspeed would barely have made a scratch. There was simply way too much material between the impact point and anything remotely relevant.
The imperials saw that Hyperdrive charging minutes away. But they choose to ignore it as "a distraction". By the time they realised the Radus had turned for ramming, it was to late to refocus fire or start dodging (both of wich would have ruined that maneuver).
It is possible Admiral Holdo even waited a bit longer with turning, to made sure the Supremacy was distrated by killing the transports. It was not a easy choice, no doubt. But she only had one shoot and it was important to make it count.
 
Rebel Cruiser ramming:
Those cruisers were way smaller. Propably would not have made a dent. Asuming they could have even turned around withount being vaporized first. Again, the enemy was to focussed on the transport sto notice the turning. Back when they lost the smaler rebel ships, there was no such advantage.
 
How did Finn and Rose get there?
Everyone was kind of distracted by that epic battle betweel LUKE SKYWALKER and KYLO REN (those are titel crawl caps).
The Tie Fighters had all been drawn off by the Falon ("they really hate that ship"). And the remaining weapons were not exactly designed to hit infantery sized tragets with allies nearby engaged in a epic melee.
 
 
So as you see, finding a reason for this to work out is not that hard.

"However, the city’s homeless are also associated with higher rates of crime, violence and sometimes episodes of psychosis, leading to safety issues that many feel San Francisco has not had an adequate handle on. "
Wait, people with no access to regular food, shelter and healthcare are more prone to crime and illness? What a twist! Who could have imagined that???[/IRONY]

Fool me once? Shame on you.
Fool me twice? Shame on me.
 
It happened often enough that we can see it as a pattern.
If we think really low of the Republicans, we might say they did not even notice it.

I saw ANH in the theater in 1977 and probably have watched it once every year or two since.  In ANH, it was mentioned that Luke's father had been a pilot in the Clone Wars.  So, at best, it was a generation prior to ANH.  That's less far in the past than WWII is to us now. It would be equivalent to the first Gulf War from our 2017 perspective.  Beyond that, there's nothing else detailed about the Clone Wars in the OT. 
 
In AotC, at the end of the film, Yoda states that this war has just begun.  The war doesn't end until RotS, which takes place several years later. 
 
The prequel trilogy didn't retcon anything from the OT in regards to the Clone Wars simply because the OT had no real detail about them to retcon.

There's roughly zero chance this is a good faith inquiry into the FBI, so much as an effort to discredit the agency and the special counsel in advance of any findings by the latter regarding the president's conduct during the past 2-3 years.  

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/20/house-republicans-quietly-investigate-doj-fbi-310121
 
As a historical matter, this is extraordinary: a secret working group in the House running interference for the President, working hard to undermine and discredit the Steele dossier, the FBI and the Mueller investigation, even though they are supposed to be conducting a national security investigation and performing oversight of the WH.  

Your heart is in the right place
 
 
even if it sounds like your liver might be in danger 
 

I should probably re-read a thread before I assume I went on a drunken rant-bender last night...

I have barely been banned ever, yet I am still making conversation here.
It is not a mater with you being to political. It is a mater with you being to bannable. That is a property of your personality you can work on.
 
Doing stuff that get's you banned only results in entrenching people agaisnt your position. So it is not even like you archeive anything for your goal.
 
Looking from across the ocean, I do not understand how anyone could ever think Trump was the "lesser" of anything.
What would have needed to do for those people to get this. Actually murder someone on 5th Street? He was winked with teh lamppost so energetically, he was about you busts someoens head in. And you still elected him.

Maybe looking at it too much from the action part is a mistake? What if we look at what every character did/how they developed?
 
Poe Dameron:
While he was just awesome in Force Awakens, his record this time is very mixed.
 
Finn:
He seems to be on the Heroes Journey. Particular "refusing the call".
 
BB-8:
He has big tracks to fill with being the new R2, but he does it well.
 
Kylo Ren:
If anything, this was his proper introduction.
 
Luke Sykwalker:
 
Leia Skywalker/Organa:
 
Rose Tico:
 
Admiral Holdo:

There is apparently a huge difference. I only learned it this year myself.
Indeed the only reason Passenger Transport even exists in America is legal obligations:
 

Ben Skywalker goes by his Darkside name Kylo Ren nowadays. So that era is over.
 
What they are doing is called "passing the torch". A core part of it, is that members of the original cast are around to give the new show "legitimacy" with the fans.
They did something similar with Jurassic World.
It is all over the Star Trek Series: From McCoy being in the TNG Pilot, Picard in the DS9 Pilot, Quark and DS9 in the Voyager Pilot, Zephram Chochran in the ENT Pilot, Lenard Nimoy in the JJ Trek Pilot, Sarek in the Discovery Pilot/Storyline (using the Kelvin Timeline actor).
 
Considering the actors age, it was high time they did it for Star Wars. Harison Ford had a serious accident. Carrie Fisher just died. Mark Hamil is not getting any younger either.
 
One thing I thought since first hearing the name of Rey, the new main Jedi:
Could she be a "Ray of Hope" for the future of the franchise?

So is the prohibition against incest. It is pure eugenics regarding their potential children and the increased chance of heriditary diseases.
 
If they were raised together, I could see some argument that they might have a social problem that leads them to think only a related person is a suiteable mate.
But with assisted reproductive technology, there is a chance that two people who happen to have the same sperm donor but lived completely different lives fall in love. Under the current law, this is prohibited just because they share 50% of their DNA.
 
I do not think it is selfish. It is healthy.
Trying to force yourself to do something you are not ready for (be it a disabeled child or a unexpected pregnancy) is bad for you, your family and the child. That is why I am pro-abortion in the first place. Forcing yourself into a role you are not suited for is not healthy.
 
And I know a person with down syndrom. She is a nice person and all. She might even have a positive effect on society around her. But she is not somebody I would think many parents are able to raise.
Indeed her genetic father left the mother once it became clear she was disabeled. The mother was lucky there was another man willing to marry her.
 
Not to mention that the next Democrat will have to deal with it, resulting in a less then optimal solution.
As I said before: The US needs a Republican to mess up things. So the next Democrat will not be a perfecrt president. So the next Republican is voted into office.
They are securing their re-election by f**king up the economy.

Titling this "complaint box" poisons the well of discussion from the outset.
 
I will pass on participation beyond saying "haters gonna hate."

Maybe looking at it too much from the action part is a mistake? What if we look at what every character did/how they developed?
 
Poe Dameron:
While he was just awesome in Force Awakens, his record this time is very mixed.
 
Finn:
He seems to be on the Heroes Journey. Particular "refusing the call".
 
BB-8:
He has big tracks to fill with being the new R2, but he does it well.
 
Kylo Ren:
If anything, this was his proper introduction.
 
Luke Sykwalker:
 
Leia Skywalker/Organa:
 
Rose Tico:
 
Admiral Holdo:

Tribalism is jsut Egoism that includes teh surrounding Tribe.
Someoen can be egoistical and still care for their Family. Maybe even their neighbourhood. But they do not care for society as a whole.
 
You could propably sell the ACA and Gun Control to these people by saying: "You are less likely to die."
 
I only ever hear of those "Insane Democrats". I never actually saw one.
 
Every single time there appeared to be an issue within the party, they quickly reacted sensibly to the issue:
One guy wrote anti-Trump political message? Out of the Russia Probe team and investigating his activity during Hillaries Email probe.
Candidate suspected of sexual predatory behavior? Dropped after the evidence became clear.
One guy saying something nonsensical about gun control? Nobody even cares about that opinion but republicans who will bring that guy up 2 years after he is no longer with the party.
 
Every piece of evidecne thus far indicates that the Democrats are teh mature, grown ups.
And every piece of Evidence thus far indicates that the Republicans and large parts of their supporters are between Childish and bordrline insane (see people making shit up about the legality of Hillaries Emails in this very thread).

So we have. The conservatives have defied the law in order to harm minorities and disadvantaged people, and the liberals have defied the law to HELP minorities and disadvantaged people. Not exactly equivalent, in my eyes.

I have barely been banned ever, yet I am still making conversation here.
It is not a mater with you being to political. It is a mater with you being to bannable. That is a property of your personality you can work on.
 
Doing stuff that get's you banned only results in entrenching people agaisnt your position. So it is not even like you archeive anything for your goal.
 
Looking from across the ocean, I do not understand how anyone could ever think Trump was the "lesser" of anything.
What would have needed to do for those people to get this. Actually murder someone on 5th Street? He was winked with teh lamppost so energetically, he was about you busts someoens head in. And you still elected him.

I think I figured out what hte issue with diehard Republicans and swingvoters is: They are egoistical to a unhealthy degree. And they can not fathom a world were not everyone else is as egoistical as them.
 
Womens march against Trump? Conspiracy!
Negative things about
The only way they can explain why so many people are against repealing the ACA all of a sudden? Protesters beign shipped in from out of state (when they themself are from out of state) of course!
People for removing the ACA? "Finnally I get to keep more of MY money"
People against usefull Weapons Regulations? "Do not take away MY gun"
The reason so many people in Federal agencies are moderate to demicratic? Egosim, of course : "Schultz, the Hamline professor, said “self-preservation”— particularly for workers engaged in public sector unions — probably motivates their political giving.
“This means support for their jobs,” he said. “Clinton, for the most part, is going to be probably a continuation of more or less what Obama is.”
Federal government employees, he said, are likely “more willing to give to somebody who would be more predictable in terms of supporting their livelihood, their jobs, as opposed to somebody who might be less predictable.”"
 
Federal Agency Workers? Longtime Democratic Voters? Protests agaisnt Trump?
All happens because people care for their society as a whole, not just their little corner.
Do you really think people work in Federal agencies for the Money and Power? The money and power that does not exist?
 
Obama had to basically force the ACA onto Republican Voters. Now their brains realised: Shit that is good for me. Suddenly their Egoism starts being used productively at defending it! Republican Voters have to be dragged kicking and screaming into a better world.