Cancer

Re: Musings on Random Musings We have a cat who must have a big chunk of Maine Coon Cat in him; he's a great big (9 kg) loveable doofus. When he jumps into your lap and demands a pet while you're at the computer desk, you don't have any other option; when he head-butts your mouse arm it just about dislocates your wrist. We had to stop feeding him dry because he started having urinary tract problems that the dry food aggravated. He wasn't real pleased with that, being something of a carb junkie. THEN he showed up with the congenital heart problems that run in Maine Coons. He's still with us, but it's unclear for how long.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings Five bypasses and some additional angioplasty is more than I like thinking about, but it seems better than the alternative.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: A Thread for Random Musings The Three Laws of Stupidynamics First Stupidity Theorem: The probability of predicting correctly in total ignorance is zero. Second Stupidity Theorem: The only thing you can learn is something you don't know. Third Stupidity Theorem: You can't tell a man something he doesn't understand and expect him to make use of it. Thanks to Dr. Wayne Batteau, Harvard Speculative Society From Astounding Science-Fiction, July 1953, p. 151 (vol 51, number 5) N.B.: this item is not listed in the issue's table of contents. It appears as a space filler on the last page of the final installment of Hal Clement's "Mission of Gravity" in that issue.

Re: Musings on Random Musings

Re: Musings on Random Musings Snicker. Actually, I assume that anyone running the boards could (and would, if the situation was as bad as it seems to have been) sniff out IP numbers of posters and do some real-world verifications.... And, bluntly, I am not motivated enough to do the pseudo-identity thing at any level of sophistication. I'm a fat, straight, repressed, 48-year-old male geek with a PhD and a depressingly normal lifestyle, and I have no intention of pretending otherwise. I chose "Cancer" as my handle because it tickles my sense of absurd coincidences for at least three different reasons, the astrology thing being the least obscure of them. My "Location" and avatar are broad clues toward another coincidence. Also, I lurked here for a while sniffing out gaming threads. My brother (The_Monster) co-runs a Champions campaign, and I am spying out on his nefarious plans against the players. For instance, I know why he asked what he did when he started the thread "Dispel/Suppress v Multiform", and as the player of the character whose power is a Multiform based on a quartet of short-duration "power pills", I am not looking forward to when he uses that.... So, in short, it is a conspiracy, but not the one you thought it was. Rats. And I hate having to send the Secret Were-warthog Death Ninja Assassins after people for stumbling on the wrong things, too.

Re: Updates... Wild cheering from the grandstands. There's always the time-honored metatheme, "You got flushed down the cosmic toilet and here's where you ended up." Empire of the Petal Throne did that, and your description reminds me of it, since that was the first time I gamed with that mechanic.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Actually, one of my deep, dark secrets is that I actually did apply for a job with the CIA once, and it was offered to me, pending completion of security clearance. Fortunately, VERY fortunately, less than a week before that offer I had been offered another job that I liked much more, so I politely withdrew my interest in the Agency. (I had been up front with them from the outset about my preference in that regard.) The interview process was about as normal as it could be, considering the employer. No matter what, it feels really weird to get into a cab and say, "CIA Headquarters, please." And when you get there, there are DOZENS of cabs in line waiting to get in. But I would have gone nuts there. The work would not have been bad, but the environment would have killed me. The dominant impression I had from the second interview is that the stereotype of intelligence types as being humorless drones ... understates the reality.

Re: What's the most outrageous plot your PCs have ever been subjected to Hmm. I haven't gone for true sillliness in overarching plots, but near-term threads, certainly. There was one session (in a medieval fantasy-type setting) where the PCs had to kidnap an NPC. It was decided the best way to do this was to go in pre-dawn in the guise of the collectors of night soil. Things got a little scatological.

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Idiocy Financial Planning! We can advice on ALL our Pure Idiocy means of handling your money! State lottery tickets ... dog & horse race tracks ... pyramid investment plans ... dirt cheap stocks of bankrupt companies ... short-term speculation in merchandise of questionable origin ... fund transfers from Nigerian banks ... MAKE MONEY FAST, and other forms of financial Idiocy! A wholly-owned subsidiary of Halliburton, Inc.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings On a completely different note ... At least where I am, there'll be unusually low tides for the next few days. If you have a beach near you, could be a great time to take the kids -- mine have their last day of school today -- out there and look for critters. US tidal predictions can be had from http://140.90.121.76/tides05/ (and despite the numeric URL, that's a NOAA official site).

Re: NGD Scenes from a Hat Hi, we're from Sixty Minutes...

Re: Musings on Random Musings Thanks folks ... we'll see what happens. It turned out to be just "for observation", but it sounds like congestive heart failure to me, from the information in the phone calls I got.

Re: The Last Word

Re: A Thread for Random Musings It's never a good night when your mother is in the hospital.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Things have advanced in the last few years. It's evidence of conspiracy, but conspiracy rumors now are promulgated by opposing groups in order to "out" their enemies. So Old Man is not with the Feds; that's what they want you to think.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER I recently was told that at the last part of the Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, when USS Washington opened fire on Kirishima with her 16-inch rifles, the elevation angle was 1.5 degrees. If true, then one could have looked through the barrel of one of the guns and seen the target, neglecting that it was nighttime, of course.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings I had a conventional but good Middle American Father's Day yesterday. Went bowling with my son and my father-in-law, both of whom are more enthusiastic about bowling than I. (The women in the family were present, but among them only my step-mother-in-law bowled as well.) Strangely, the bowling alley was almost empty. I suppose the nice weather can be blamed for that. The prime rib at the bowling alley's attached restaurant was quite good, and also it was cheap: between a third and half the price it would have been at steak house.

Re: What are some interesting disadvantages you have used? I haven't used it yet in Champions, but an "imaginary friend" psych lim can be HILARIOUS to roleplay. Gotta know when to put a cork in it so it doesn't bog down the plot, but if used properly, it can be a huge amount of fun. I haven't yet used the "shrew" ploy with it, either. If the activation roll really goes bad, then the guy could end up having a three-way argument with himself, out loud. "HAVE YOU BEEN SEEING ANOTHER HALLUCINATION!?!" "No, no, it was just that last attack." "THAT'S WHAT THEY ALL SAY! You don't fool me. Hmph. You're seeing another hallucination. Is she pretty? Purple spots, just as you like 'em?" "No! It was just Freakout's mind attack!" "Oh, so you're seeing someone else's hallucination! Does the other guy know he's being two-timed as well?" ...

Re: Most Feared Disadvantage We take Unluck, but buy it off quickly, for a strange reason ... our GMs don't take advantage of it often enough. To me, that means you're just "storing up trouble" and when it comes home to roost, the screws will be applied in a long, slow, powerful way. We have one guy playing a really weird character whose main power is a variable-effect Aid, bought with a Berserk disad. It's a really low-threshold Berserk, too, so it is common for him to wig out and keep buffing up the same friendly character in the same way for big chunks of a fight. With our GMs, for me, it's Vulnerability. Guaranteed, it'll show up every time it matters, and when it does, forget it. You might as well turn your back on the table and play Minesweeper, or do a run up to Canada to buy more good hard cider. Or deliberately try to get your character killed so you can create a new one that won't get turned into a boat anchor every adventure.

Re: Longest Running Thread EVER Just between us, I would recommend you start putting resumes out there. An outfit that cheap cannot afford your level of expertise. If they could, they'd take your advice and come out ahead in the long run. Also, that sort of goobers are ripe for the first fast-talking offshoring representative to walk in the door, and that's an even better reason to give the exits some serious inspection.