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Zeropoint

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  1. Like
    Zeropoint got a reaction from cbullard in Balanced Starships   
    All of that is true, but to some extent (just how much, I can't say) the need for an increased proportion of structural mass will be offset by the reduced surface area, and also by mass savings through economy of scale on various ship's systems.
     
    The real problem that large ships face isn't linear acceleration, but rotational acceleration, i.e. turning. Winchell Chung, our very own Nyrath, describes the problems here.
  2. Like
    Zeropoint got a reaction from cbullard in Civilians on a Starfleet vessel: what do they do?   
    My take on it, based off of watching what they DO in the shows and movies, is that Starfleet is very much a military organization, BUT they have exploration and research as part of their job to a much greater extent than our current Earth navies do. By way of example, the US Navy--clearly and definitely a military organization--operates research vessels. It would make perfect sense for a research vessel operated by a military to have civilian science specialists on board. It would be kind of silly to try to combine defense and research roles into one ship, but that fits Roddenberry's vision of a more peaceful future.
     
    I won't pretend that I've answered the debate, or that anyone is obligated to accept my opinion. I'm just relating how I've settled the question in my own mind so I don't have to keep gnawing at it.
  3. Like
    Zeropoint got a reaction from cbullard in What FTL Drives do people use in their campaigns? And what techno bable do you use?   
    Re: What FTL Drives do people use in their campaigns? And what techno bable do you us
     
    I will use the Bachman-Turner "Overdrive".
  4. Like
    Zeropoint reacted to Clonus in "Neat" Pictures   
  5. Like
    Zeropoint reacted to Cygnia in "Neat" Pictures   
  6. Like
    Zeropoint got a reaction from drunkonduty in Dungeons and Dragons to eliminate concept of "inherently evil" races   
    I'm with you, Michael. Social justice is worth fighting for.
     
    It's hard for me to look at this thread's topic and not think about racism in our world. I see people in this thread who want to be able to, in game, designate whole groups of people as other, as less than, and as without the right to life, based only on their race, utterly without regard for their personal qualities. When I see someone who wants to be able to, in a game, kill people with impunity and no moral qualms because their skin is green, I can't help being reminded of the people who, in the real world, want to be able to kill people with impunity because their skin is brown.
  7. Like
    Zeropoint got a reaction from tkdguy in Dungeons and Dragons to eliminate concept of "inherently evil" races   
    I'm with you, Michael. Social justice is worth fighting for.
     
    It's hard for me to look at this thread's topic and not think about racism in our world. I see people in this thread who want to be able to, in game, designate whole groups of people as other, as less than, and as without the right to life, based only on their race, utterly without regard for their personal qualities. When I see someone who wants to be able to, in a game, kill people with impunity and no moral qualms because their skin is green, I can't help being reminded of the people who, in the real world, want to be able to kill people with impunity because their skin is brown.
  8. Like
    Zeropoint got a reaction from Cygnia in Dungeons and Dragons to eliminate concept of "inherently evil" races   
    I'm with you, Michael. Social justice is worth fighting for.
     
    It's hard for me to look at this thread's topic and not think about racism in our world. I see people in this thread who want to be able to, in game, designate whole groups of people as other, as less than, and as without the right to life, based only on their race, utterly without regard for their personal qualities. When I see someone who wants to be able to, in a game, kill people with impunity and no moral qualms because their skin is green, I can't help being reminded of the people who, in the real world, want to be able to kill people with impunity because their skin is brown.
  9. Like
    Zeropoint reacted to Michael Hopcroft in Dungeons and Dragons to eliminate concept of "inherently evil" races   
    I liked that blog post -- or, at the very least, I understood where they were coming from. Orcs do tend to be a cheap cop-out in many cases. I wonder why the Tolkein estate barred Gygax from using terms like "hobbit" but kept "ent", and "orc". Since so much fantasy gaming is built around the D&D concepts, we're always going to have orcs. But they seem to be a lazy way to write at times unless they are so thoroughly deconstructed that we might as well not call them Orcs anymore.
     
    Yes, I knwo if wouldn't be D&D without orcs, but we're not playing D&D (at l;east not that often, and not here). We're playing Hero. We don't need Orcs, and they raise too many extremely troubling questions. Human history is bloody enough without Orcs, thank you very much.
     
    If D&D does, in fact, still need Orcs, then that's a problem with the world-building of D&D.
     
    (And I see no problem with being called an SJW. Were the term not so pejorative I would wear it as a badge of honor like Antifa. Who can rationally be opposed to justice?)
  10. Like
    Zeropoint reacted to drunkonduty in Dungeons and Dragons to eliminate concept of "inherently evil" races   
    I'd like to say I'm surprised that there are people who think that making a game more inclusive and less offensive to people is bad in some way. I'm not, but I wish I was.
     
    There are people who think that Political Correctness is some evil thing, akin to the removal of their basic human rights. It's not. It's what my Nanna would have called Good Manners. So the next time you see something that makes you think "Argh! No! Polical Correctness!" maybe instead try to think "Good Manners." After all, they cost nothing.
     
    So any way, here's links to Parts 1 & 2 of a very well written article about the issue of inherently evil races in games and how the language used to describe them in gaming parallels the language used by real world racism.
     
    https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/1/13/orcs-britons-and-the-martial-race-myth-part-i-a-species-built-for-racial-terror
     
    https://jamesmendezhodes.com/blog/2019/6/30/orcs-britons-and-the-martial-race-myth-part-ii-theyre-not-human
     
    I am sure that those who need to read them the most will not bother to, but I can hope.
  11. Thanks
    Zeropoint got a reaction from Lord Liaden in "Neat" Pictures   
    Dynamite, specifically, is an explosive composed of nitroglycerin absorbed in diatomaceous earth. It's actually well known for being unstable and subject to shock detonation. According to Wikipedia, "Dynamite is moderately sensitive to shock. Shock resistance tests are usually carried out with a drop-hammer: about 100 mg of explosive is placed on an anvil, upon which a weight of between 0.5 and 10 kilograms (1.1 and 22.0 lb) is dropped from different heights until detonation is achieved.[8] With a hammer of 2 kg, mercury fulminate detonates with a drop distance of 1 to 2 cm, nitroglycerin with 4 to 5 cm, dynamite with 15 to 30 cm, and ammoniacal explosives with 40 to 50 cm."
     
    This is a huge improvement over raw nitroglycerin, and is enough to make dynamite "safe enough" for peacetime use, especially with the lower workplace safety standards of the past.
     
    If you think that dynamite is very stable and shock-INsensitive, you're probably thinking of TNT, which popular culture commonly confuses with dynamite since they're both high explosives available in stick form. TNT is so stable that . . . well, here, let me quote Wikipedia again: "TNT was first prepared in 1863 by German chemist Julius Wilbrand and originally used as a yellow dye. Its potential as an explosive was not recognized for three decades, mainly because it was too difficult to detonate and because it was less powerful than alternatives. Its explosive properties were first discovered by another German chemist, Carl Häussermann, in 1891. TNT can be safely poured when liquid into shell cases, and is so insensitive that it was exempted from the UK's Explosives Act 1875 and was not considered an explosive for the purposes of manufacture and storage."
     
    TNT and dynamite are considered synonyms by Looney Tunes, but they're different substances with different characteristics. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle!
  12. Like
    Zeropoint got a reaction from slikmar in "Neat" Pictures   
    Dynamite, specifically, is an explosive composed of nitroglycerin absorbed in diatomaceous earth. It's actually well known for being unstable and subject to shock detonation. According to Wikipedia, "Dynamite is moderately sensitive to shock. Shock resistance tests are usually carried out with a drop-hammer: about 100 mg of explosive is placed on an anvil, upon which a weight of between 0.5 and 10 kilograms (1.1 and 22.0 lb) is dropped from different heights until detonation is achieved.[8] With a hammer of 2 kg, mercury fulminate detonates with a drop distance of 1 to 2 cm, nitroglycerin with 4 to 5 cm, dynamite with 15 to 30 cm, and ammoniacal explosives with 40 to 50 cm."
     
    This is a huge improvement over raw nitroglycerin, and is enough to make dynamite "safe enough" for peacetime use, especially with the lower workplace safety standards of the past.
     
    If you think that dynamite is very stable and shock-INsensitive, you're probably thinking of TNT, which popular culture commonly confuses with dynamite since they're both high explosives available in stick form. TNT is so stable that . . . well, here, let me quote Wikipedia again: "TNT was first prepared in 1863 by German chemist Julius Wilbrand and originally used as a yellow dye. Its potential as an explosive was not recognized for three decades, mainly because it was too difficult to detonate and because it was less powerful than alternatives. Its explosive properties were first discovered by another German chemist, Carl Häussermann, in 1891. TNT can be safely poured when liquid into shell cases, and is so insensitive that it was exempted from the UK's Explosives Act 1875 and was not considered an explosive for the purposes of manufacture and storage."
     
    TNT and dynamite are considered synonyms by Looney Tunes, but they're different substances with different characteristics. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle!
  13. Like
    Zeropoint got a reaction from Lawnmower Boy in "Neat" Pictures   
    Dynamite, specifically, is an explosive composed of nitroglycerin absorbed in diatomaceous earth. It's actually well known for being unstable and subject to shock detonation. According to Wikipedia, "Dynamite is moderately sensitive to shock. Shock resistance tests are usually carried out with a drop-hammer: about 100 mg of explosive is placed on an anvil, upon which a weight of between 0.5 and 10 kilograms (1.1 and 22.0 lb) is dropped from different heights until detonation is achieved.[8] With a hammer of 2 kg, mercury fulminate detonates with a drop distance of 1 to 2 cm, nitroglycerin with 4 to 5 cm, dynamite with 15 to 30 cm, and ammoniacal explosives with 40 to 50 cm."
     
    This is a huge improvement over raw nitroglycerin, and is enough to make dynamite "safe enough" for peacetime use, especially with the lower workplace safety standards of the past.
     
    If you think that dynamite is very stable and shock-INsensitive, you're probably thinking of TNT, which popular culture commonly confuses with dynamite since they're both high explosives available in stick form. TNT is so stable that . . . well, here, let me quote Wikipedia again: "TNT was first prepared in 1863 by German chemist Julius Wilbrand and originally used as a yellow dye. Its potential as an explosive was not recognized for three decades, mainly because it was too difficult to detonate and because it was less powerful than alternatives. Its explosive properties were first discovered by another German chemist, Carl Häussermann, in 1891. TNT can be safely poured when liquid into shell cases, and is so insensitive that it was exempted from the UK's Explosives Act 1875 and was not considered an explosive for the purposes of manufacture and storage."
     
    TNT and dynamite are considered synonyms by Looney Tunes, but they're different substances with different characteristics. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle!
  14. Thanks
    Zeropoint got a reaction from Cygnia in "Neat" Pictures   
    Dynamite, specifically, is an explosive composed of nitroglycerin absorbed in diatomaceous earth. It's actually well known for being unstable and subject to shock detonation. According to Wikipedia, "Dynamite is moderately sensitive to shock. Shock resistance tests are usually carried out with a drop-hammer: about 100 mg of explosive is placed on an anvil, upon which a weight of between 0.5 and 10 kilograms (1.1 and 22.0 lb) is dropped from different heights until detonation is achieved.[8] With a hammer of 2 kg, mercury fulminate detonates with a drop distance of 1 to 2 cm, nitroglycerin with 4 to 5 cm, dynamite with 15 to 30 cm, and ammoniacal explosives with 40 to 50 cm."
     
    This is a huge improvement over raw nitroglycerin, and is enough to make dynamite "safe enough" for peacetime use, especially with the lower workplace safety standards of the past.
     
    If you think that dynamite is very stable and shock-INsensitive, you're probably thinking of TNT, which popular culture commonly confuses with dynamite since they're both high explosives available in stick form. TNT is so stable that . . . well, here, let me quote Wikipedia again: "TNT was first prepared in 1863 by German chemist Julius Wilbrand and originally used as a yellow dye. Its potential as an explosive was not recognized for three decades, mainly because it was too difficult to detonate and because it was less powerful than alternatives. Its explosive properties were first discovered by another German chemist, Carl Häussermann, in 1891. TNT can be safely poured when liquid into shell cases, and is so insensitive that it was exempted from the UK's Explosives Act 1875 and was not considered an explosive for the purposes of manufacture and storage."
     
    TNT and dynamite are considered synonyms by Looney Tunes, but they're different substances with different characteristics. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle!
  15. Downvote
    Zeropoint reacted to Vanguard in Dungeons and Dragons to eliminate concept of "inherently evil" races   
    Why am I not surprised?
     
    Everyone else is bowing and scraping to the SJW and PC Police (which are, apparently, the only police that are allowed to exist now).
     
    Well as mentioned, at least there's still the older material for those of us that don't actively seek "injustice" in everything we look at.
     
  16. Downvote
  17. Like
  18. Like
    Zeropoint reacted to Dr. MID-Nite in Political Discussion Thread (With Rules)   
    I plan to vote. My main gripe is that voting just doesn't seem to matter anymore. We're hand fed candidates that the 1% deem acceptable and then expected to be happy that we've gotten the "honor" to be part of the process. If it isn't plain by now how our current political system isn't working...I don't know what else to tell you.
     
  19. Like
    Zeropoint got a reaction from tkdguy in More space news!   
    We've known that this is how planets form for some time now, but it's still awesome to finally have pictures of it!
  20. Like
    Zeropoint got a reaction from BoloOfEarth in "Neat" Pictures   
    I'm kind of more impressed by the thousands of dollars worth of Heroscape tiles.
  21. Haha
    Zeropoint got a reaction from Ragitsu in "Neat" Pictures   
    I'm kind of more impressed by the thousands of dollars worth of Heroscape tiles.
  22. Like
    Zeropoint reacted to Joe Walsh in Coronavirus   
    At the same time, essential workers should be paid accordingly and given every reasonable protection.
  23. Thanks
    Zeropoint got a reaction from Lord Liaden in In other news...   
    Are you familiar with the principle of conservation of energy?
     
    What you're describing violates it quite badly.
  24. Confused
    Zeropoint got a reaction from Iuz the Evil in Coronavirus   
    It's time to stop asking nicely and start making the government do its damn job of caring for the citizens.
  25. Like
    Zeropoint got a reaction from Old Man in Coronavirus   
    It's time to stop asking nicely and start making the government do its damn job of caring for the citizens.
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