Zeropoint

This is the point in the discussion where I like to point out that the word "paladin" has a long history and originally referred to a high-level government official. The word originates in Rome, referring to people who worked for the agencies on Palatine Hill (from whose name the word "palace" also derives). The concept of paladins as chivalrous warriors more or less started with the Twelve Peers of Charlemagne, who were mostly warrior types (like the famous Roland) but were a diverse lot and even included a sorcerer. Yeah, back then, a wizard could be a paladin, because "paladin" referred to your place in the org chart, rather than your abilities and proficiencies. Having said that, I have to agree that the strongest distinction in my mind between a "cleric" and a "paladin" is that I picture a cleric in robes and a paladin in plate. I can't really generalize beyond that without having more information about the nature of magic and divine powers in the setting (which hasn't been specified). In my homebrew fantasy setting, there's no such thing as divine magic. Lots of members of religious orders are also mages, but that has more to do with their access to an institution of higher learning and nothing to do with power of the gods. Divine intervention is either much more subtle than that or much, much LESS subtle. There's also no reason that a mage can't wear armor, so you could certainly have a warrior monk who knew magic, and that would look a lot like the D&D Paladin class. I guess in my world, a "paladin" is just a priest who knows magic, is rich enough to run around in plate, and plans to get into enough trouble to make wearing plate worthwhile. So, I rambled a bit, but there's your answer.

Yes, I can.

And if it's the same story that I'm thinking of, he runs through a psychic death field, with no result other than . . . psychically sensitive children of other races nearby wake up crying.

I just want a Nerf blaster with a detachable box magazine that can match the ROF of a conventional firearm. Heck, I'd even settle for one that used a fore-end pump like a shotgun. Meanwhile, all ACTUAL Nerf blasters seem to either require moving your hands away from the firing position in some awkward way, or they're motorized but grossly underpowered. Maybe I'll just have to create my own . . .

M14, you say? I just happen to have a SOCOM 16 here, and they come out of the stock really easily . . . . . . about seven pounds, although that includes the handguard and also a scope.

I'm glad it's not just me.

First: yes, cool mini. Second, I find the artist's comments on the themes presented to be interesting, because I interpreted the piece very differently. My initial read of the piece was that the woman is someone (probably a witch or demon) trying to lure the man into some sort of trap. The elements that the artist intended to present an image of purity and innocence, I instead read as an attempt to project as much sex appeal as practical in the medieval culture. What he meant to come across as a comforting sanctuary, I saw as a trap.

The EM Drive weirds me out, because if I understand things correctly, non-Newtonian propulsion violates conservation of energy. Still, it would be . . . a very important discovery if it DOES work.

BEHOLD THE POWER OF STEAM!! Edit: Oh, poo, it looks like external combustion is also out.

And this provides an excuse to make your spaceships streamlined and cool-looking.

My current Champions character dresses like a classic 1930s film noir detective, because he IS a licensed private detective, and finds that looking the part is good for business. His magical protective aura also protects his clothes, and if they do get damaged, they're not hard to replace.

This is why I advocate erasing the line between humans and machines as quickly as possible--the machines will inevitably take over, and we want the machines and ourselves to be the same thing before that happens.

Which bathroom does a transgender lion use? Whichever one she he wants!

There was a young poet from Dunn.

There's nothing you can give that can't be given; Nothing you can sing that can't be sung; Nothing you can say, but you can learn how to play the game. It's easy.

Ooh, the Terror! I've read about that ship and her doomed crew in the Dan Simmons novel, "The Terror". It's a good book, if awfully grim.

Indeed, is it not written: "None of us is as smart as all of us."?

That's much better than my idea.

Pff. Why would a mischievous spirit restrict itself to asking riddles that actually have answers?

Well, as I understand it, John Dillinger was viewed as a sort of folk hero in his own day. It helped a lot that he greatly preferred not to kill anyone (although he wound up with associates who were trigger-happy later in his career). He also stole only from banks, not ordinary people, and did this during an era when most people would have associated banks mainly with foreclosing on poor farmers and depriving them of their homes and livelihood. In other words, banks were the bad guys (I guess times haven't changed a lot in THAT regard!). Folks saw him as a modern-day Robin Hood who robbed from the rich and . . . well, the important part is that someone was sticking it to the rich. Edit: You know, if someone were to steal a big pile of cash from the Koch Brothers or Rupert Murdoch without hurting anyone, I'd have a hard time coming up with any outrage.

Fuel and reaction mass are the same thing in a chemical rocket, like we're used to, so it's very easy for people to start conflating the two concepts. Technically, "fuel" is the substance that supplies the energy, and "reaction mass" is the substance that gets ejected from the rocket. The EM drive, if it works, will obviously require fuel, but not requiring reaction mass is the huge, huge advantage that it would have over any other form of space propulsion.

Did the kid who brought in the peppers actually do anything wrong? The article says that he/she was "disciplined". I guess maybe middle school kids haven't yet developed the judgement to be held responsible for what they decide to eat? I normally figure that anyone who eats something like that deserves what they get.

Tsk. You don't get supernovae on ocean floors in a properly run universe.

For a point of reference, the gravitational binding energy of the Earth is around 2.5 x 10^32 J, or a mass equivalent of 2.8 x 10^14 kg. Your one-kilogram slug has enough energy to destroy the earth 10^(21-14) = 10,000,000 times.

I was going to calculate it for you, but it turns out that I don't have access to anything that will calculate results to 43 significant figures. Edit: I found an arbitrary precision calculator online, and if I did the calculations correctly (no promises here) the answer is about 3.05 x 10^21 kg, which seems a little low, since it's about 1/1000 the mass of the Earth. I've been going over the math and it looks right. I'll admit to being surprised and I would welcome a second opinion.