keithcurtis

Re: Killershrike.com temporarily offline

tinyurl is similar and perhaps better known, if you are thinking about trying it out.

P.S. Keith: I tend to use http://tinyurl.com also.

See, I find something I think is cool and it's old news to everyone else. I missed the memo.

root forwarding...snip

 

remote domain forwarding,...snip

Thanks, It sounds like remote forwarding is what my Brother in Law set up for me on his server for savageearth.net.

 

I purchased KACurtis.com and used GoDaddy to point to a directory (/CCD) within savageearth.net wherein I keep my portfolio stuff. That doesn't work so well. Calls to KACurtis.com look fine, but if I post a URL to a graphic hosted therein, it appears broken, and must be listed as savagearth.net/CCD/image.jpg.

I know my Brother in Law could fix it in a minute or two, but he has been so incredibly generous with the server space that I only bother him when something is actually broken.

 

Keith "Living off the intelligence and beneficence of others" Curtis

Re: Killershrike.com temporarily offline

I wasn't suggesting it as a solution for your problem, just mentioning a Cool Thing.

Keith "Still don't know the difference between remote domain forwarding and root forwarding" Curtis

Re: Killershrike.com temporarily offline

Wow, in looking up the difference between the two types of forwarding I came across this neat service.

Basically, shrtn.us allows you to input any wordy URL, such as a Google map, and shorten it to something you can easily type into an email or a webpage. You could even use it to make a personal shorthand, or to mask a URL that might contain private info such as a username or password.

shrtn.us is basically a free redirect library.

Keith "Got so distracted I never did find the answer to my original question" Curtis

Re: Seacouver, Washington

Well, considering the time-lag on updating topo maps, it's quite possible the railshave been pulled up since the maps were made, and the railbed turned into a public trail.

 

Quite possible; after all, it happened to the old CMStPP railroad through the Snoqualmie valley. The railbed/trail runs a stone's throw---well, a catapult's heave---from where I live, so I'm familiar with the process.

It happened right next door to my old house. The city turned an old rail corridor into a biking/walking path that reaches through Fresno to Clovis. Largest public tree-planting in US history. 7000 trees in one day.

Keith "We planted 7 of them." Curtis

Re: Seacouver, Washington

This site has historical info about railroads in Washington, including the incorporation of several PA railroad companies. I suspect these are logging railways and not connected with any major lines, though.

Keith "Still feels this to be niggling detail for a superhero city" Curtis

Re: Seacouver, Washington

BTW, I did some research, using a program I have that is, essentially, topographic maps on CD-ROMs.

 

There is, in fact, a railroad in Port Angeles. Westward from there, the topos show "Old Railroad Grade" as far as Tyee. Eastward, there's a railroad to Port Townsend. Curiously, there is neither railroad nor (marked) old railroad grade south from Port Townsend (Discovery Bay, actually) to Olympia, which would be needed to link Strait-of-Juan-de-Fuca-Seacouver (henceforth SoJdFS) to the rest of the world.

While there is no rail in PA that I know of, there are old railbeds. A rather popular trail uses one of them, the Spruce Railroad Trail. Also, the Olympic Discovery Trail uses old railbeds in parts I believe. I can't verify, because the official site is having spasms right now.

I suspect there was once a railroad that would've worked for SoJdFS' date=' but that US 101 took over its old railbed. If you wanted a good railroad (double line at least) [u']and[/u] a freeway to SoJdFS, you are going to be cramped for space between the mountains and the sea. BTW, Keith, the real cramped space is not where the lines would be next to the Straight of Juan de Fuca, but along Hood Canal. Judging by the topos, US 101 has problems squeezing in. And I am guessing that US 101 is a 2-lane road north of Shelton (or at least Hoodsport): Keith, can you confirm or deny?

This is very true. Parts of it are similar to coastal Highway 1, barely enough room for the roadway. However, as I hinted at before, adding another fifty feet of usable space shouldn't cause anyone's suspension of disbelief to come toppling down. Players rarely obsess over this as much as GMs.

Keith "At least mine never do" Curtis

Re: Seacouver, Washington

I lived in seattle for 27 years. In the absence of a viable place for a port of notable scale (not a good section of coast)' date=' being literally on the edges of a rain-forrest, having rough seas, high winds, and very wet weather most of the year), and being off the beaten track in terms of land travel: you have the olympics and a rain forrest as natural obstacles and the coast there is the end of the line as opposed to a crossroads or potential trade point, what economic factors are driving this cities development? Logging and fishing? While both are viable in terms of building townships - and did result in the emergence of townships on that stretch of coast - they aren't viable in terms of building cities. Cities have to have more economic factors in play for them to really grow. There's a reason there isn't a city there today - its not a good place to build a city. I know, I'm being a stick in the mud, but if you're going to drop a city down somewhere you need to provide a rational explanation for its development and continued existence, as well as have some idea of what drives its economy (though you certainly don't have to crunch too many numbers). I guess my point is: if you do decide to do this you need to do some fancy footwork to explain the city's success.[/quote']

 

By those criteria though, there should be a city anywhere there is one in the real world. Cities develop logically for economic reasons. If there's not a city in place X in the real world, then there's a reason. You can come up with reasons why there should be a city by changing key factors, but that's kind of the point of this thread.

I agree this is not a good place for a major city. But why is Gotham where it is? (Wherever that may be).

Fictional cities exist primarily so that the creator is spared laborious research and has artistic freedom to create settings to match the needs of the story.

It would be pretty easy to solve most of the problems you mention above with a bit of geo-engineering and hand-waving. Example:

30,000 years ago, a large meteor struck near the mouth of the JdF Strait. This caused it to become slightly more landlocked. This forms a natural breakwater for the Strait. This meteor contained significant amounts of valuable metals: Iron, copper, whathaveyou. This created a mining surge in the area and formed the basis (along with timber) for heavy industry. Railroads were built along what would be the (widened) Highway 101 corridor. The area posited for Seacouver actually receives significantly less rain than Seattle, so that's not an issue.

As the years went on, Seacouver began to grow at the expense of some of Seattle's growth. Refineries were placed in nearby areas to service the big tankers that come down from Alaska.

(If you want to go more fantastic, have the meteor contain significant amounts of Unbelievium or Mutigenium and you have more outlandish stories with flying cars or neighborhood mutants.)

 

Yeah, it's fancy footwork, as you said, but it's really not all that fancy for what is essentially a comic book city. It's a darn sight more work than is presented for Star City or Gateway City in the DC universe.

 

Keith "In a comic book universe, disbelief is not suspended so much as hung out to dry" Curtis

Re: UNTIL Uniforms - Now I know why they BUG me so much.

If the movie "Titanic" would have been named something else' date=' anything else. It would have been an extremely well made romantic drama. The story centered around the love affair. But when they named it "Titanic" and promoted the "Titanic" angle in every commercial, I and everyone I knew expected it to be ABOUT the ship and the sinking with the whole De'crapeo and the girl being the token love bit. I remember grumbles and WTF from half the theater when it became apparent that the Titanic was just a stage backdrop and we were in for nothing but De'crapeo and the slut. Some people even walked out. After the opening day the audience became mostly teenage girls and couples. In my mind it will always be one of the worst movies ever made, because it was a switch and bait. [/quote']

Strangely enough, though this bothered many people, I didn't find it annoying in the least. It was pretty apparent by the set-up (Heart of the Ocean) that this was going to be a fictional love story set against the backdrop of the Titanic disaster. It's like getting upset because somebody set a love story during WWII.

 

Keith "Oh, waitaminute..." Curtis

Re: UNTIL Uniforms - Now I know why they BUG me so much.

But isn't that exactly what the Bugs did with that meteor that wiped out Rio de Janeiro? They were capable of launching it through space within a tactically-effective time frame, which argues for some type of FTL capability.

 

I was willing to assume that that was why the humans didn't just bomb Klendathu with nukes - the Klendathu had their own WMDs to retaliate with.

That's what we must infer. There is nothing in the film to support this other than our own understanding of relativity and the distance of space. We never see a warp effect or hear mention of FTL capability. Everything is real time and feels conventional.

The military hardware and tactics in the movie is just totally unconvincing.

How about, oh I don't know, some tanks? Maybe some missiles? Poison gas? Smart Bombs? I don't get the feeling that the bugs were holding back or negotiating. They certainly never surrendered or gave quarter. There is nothing but the implication of total war.

Keith "But there was lots of cool 'slplosions" Curtis

Re: Seacouver, Washington

What's the source of the name? Was Captain Vancouver named Seacouver in this universe?

Keith "just curious" Curtis

Re: UNTIL Uniforms - Now I know why they BUG me so much.

On the other side of the issue, if the Klendathu could breed giant specimens capable of firing orbital-range balls of plasma out of their butts, they could easily have bred their ground troops with ranged weaponry.

 

The logic gaps in that film are more like black holes.

If we go too far, we come up with stuff like:

"OMG! The bugs have just launched killer bombs from their backsides! They're using chemical propellent! Take cover everyone! We only have like 400 million years to shoot them down before those things cross the galaxy and hit us!"

Keith "You may think it's a long way down to the chemist, but that's just peanuts compared to space" Curtis

Re: UNTIL Uniforms - Now I know why they BUG me so much.

The only problem I really had with the movie was that with the exception of the lack of space travel, we could have defeated the bugs if only we had used the tactics, strategy and technology developed by WWII.

Keith "Where is my frikken air support???" Curtis

Re: Seacouver, Washington

Port Angeles itself has relatively little buildable land. It is one of the reasons Sequim is growing far faster. They have a lot more flat area to encourage new construction. Most of the flat area in PA is already being used. Of course, a real metropolis would cover both...

Keith "PA harbor is a supertanker parking lot" Curtis

Re: Genesis of +5 = 2x power REVEALED

Even if 15 INT were twice as intelligent as 10 INT, I'd still challenge anyone to come up with a solid definition for what "twice as intelligent" means, either in real world terms or game terms.

Keith "pointless sophistry" Curtis

I'm having trouble gathering from the description of "Long-Lasting" for Change Environment, as to whether it can be turned off immediately if the owner of the power so chooses, or if it must run its full duration.

This is assuming no mitigating special effects, common sense or GM ruling.

Keith "Say hi to everyone at DDC for me" Curtis

Re: What the well-dressed native princess is wearing....

I would like to breathe, but if I do so these wings will puncture my lungs. Same for any sudden movements. send help.

 

P.S. bring a coat.

I always thought that about the pointy bracers that John Byrne put on Wonder Woman. She's lucky she never punctured the backs of her hands.

Keith "That, and he gave her a pencil-neck..." Curtis

Re: Genesis of +5 = 2x power REVEALED

Let's just call it a soft rule and walk away.

Look! Steve bought pie!

Keith "mmm... pie" Curtis

Re: Seacouver, Washington

Oh, and although it's spelled Sequim, it's pronounced "Skwim".

Keith "FYI" Curtis

Re: Seacouver, Washington

There are lots of areas that aren't logged as you go deeper into the park. And even loggers will balk at terrain in which it is too difficult or costly to build roads.

Keith "Nuclear-powered hovercraft-enhanced sharks with frikkin' lasers on their heads, however..." Curtis

Re: Sonof Secret Origins! When did you start reading superhero comics?

When we moved back to the States in '65 we got TV again and I stopped reading comics until we moved back to Germany in 1968. For the three years we were there' date=' again I read comics, though drop the Disney, add some Marvel titles (FF, Spider-man). And, again, once we went back stateside in 1971 I stopped reading them.[/quote']

 

Hey, where in Germany? We might have been shopping in the same BX at the same time. Of course, I would have been about seven years younger, but you would have been my brother's contemporary, and he got me into comics.

 

Keith "Ramstein AFB, Wiesbaden" Curtis

Re: Seacouver, Washington

Here's a Port Angeles tidbit for you that might well tie in with placing a major city in this area.

From Wikipedia

Port Angeles was the second town site (after Washington, D.C.) to be planned by the federal government; President Lincoln called it the "second National City," in case Washington, D.C. fell to the Confederate Army, even though the town's population at the time was only 10. The real reason for creating a national city was to provide money from land sales to support the war effort, but that effort was a decided failure. With all the free land in surrounding areas, the government finally gave up in 1891, opening the town for settlement.

What if the plan had succeeded? This would be a good start time for the founding of the city, and could possibly work it into the federal government system in some way. Good for superhero-in' stuff.

Keith "National city with Pop. 10. Heh." Curtis

Re: Seacouver, Washington

Sequim has a lot of flat land. It is currently undergoing a growth spurt and the city council is debating building up instead of out. There's a herd of elk in the area that area constant source of contention with farmers. An elk preserve might be nice.

Keith "just don't knock over my house" Curtis

Re: Challenge Lists

A traveller with a message to deliver

A fire in a public building

A family torn by sibling rivalry

A sandal that turns up in a compromising place

A faithful servant

Keith "Will we see some of the results?" Curtis

Re: Seacouver, Washington

Once you've gotten that far west, you've lost the rain protection of the Olympics. Storms out by Neah Bay can be pretty fierce.

It might also be a bit hilly; but that's true of PA, too.

Keith "Mile and a half from the beach but 500 feet up" Curtis

Re: Seacouver, Washington

Well, seeing as that is pretty much exactly where I live, I can tell you a couple of things. The next closest metropolis would be Victoria BC. Since Seacouver would be a lot bigger than Port Angeles, Sequim and Port Townsend combined, there would likely be ferry service to there, Seattle, and some of the San Juans.

Rainfall would be about 2/3 of Seattle. This area is in a slight rain shadow from Mount Olympus and associated peaks, primarily from Hurricane Ridge. Particularly good for a superhero campaign, the word "Olympus" and "Olympic" would be in a lot of names.

There would be a big interest in conservation and pollution control. The Olympic National Park is a World Heritage Site. That means federal tax dollars, if nothing else.

Keith "Glad there is no real Seacouver, or I'd have to move" Curtis

PS. Juan de Fuca