I think you missed a step or two there.

First you have to buy your butler as a Follower.

Then the butler buys the Galactica, then the Galactica buys its Vipers, then the Vipers buy their pilots as followers.

6 hours ago, megaplayboy said:

I do kinda wonder what happens when the military (eventually) comes up with something superior to a slug-thrower, and a decision has to be made over whether to make it available for sale to the public.  Even a hand weapon, more powerful and accurate than any pistol, able to discharge dozens or hundreds of times before "recharging", would be immensely disruptive in the hands of the civilian population.  

Yeah, that's a whole can of worms of its own.

It's never been against federal law to own your own muzzle-loading cannon (which has always been undeniably a weapon for military use rather than home defense or hunting). Even today, if it was made before something like 1890, you can buy and own it without any restriction.

If it was manufactured after that, you have to buy a $200 permit to legally own it. And that's only due to a law from the 1920's which was written before the invention of a background check.

Now your state might have some law on the books which would prevent you from owning it (without first winning a lawsuit overturning the state law).

But the federal government doesn't stop you from owning one.

17 hours ago, Pattern Ghost said:

Stumbled upon this. Looks like some movement toward viable smart gun technology for limited use cases:

 

 

That's an interesting subject. 

I've heard, proposed, to have a voice match system such is used to activate Siri on an iPhone. A problem I have with that is that idea is that my daughter and my wife can use each other's Siri, even though my wife has a mid-west accent and my daughter has a muddled mess of an accent which isn't very similar.

Amusingly, they can also unlock each other's iPhone through facial recognition (though I don't think that look very much alike).

7 hours ago, Pattern Ghost said:

 

Read that guy's post. While I agree with him on the racism, he's wrong on the stand your ground aspects. Stand your ground laws were not misapplied in either case. Just because the governor is squawking about stand your ground laws in this case, or because the press was in Zimmerman doesn't mean the laws were really relevant. Here's the crux of both cases: Self defense does not apply if you provoke the conflict that leads to the killing.

 

This was correctly applied in both cases, according to the evidence at hand. In the Texas case, given the evidence of intent and the fact that the moron was driving through a crowd, it was very clear the killer was seeking to provoke a confrontation. It doesn't matter if the victim did point his weapon at the shooter. The killer provoked the confrontation. In the Zimmerman case, simply following his victim was not illegal. Zimmerman was attacked, regardless of the size disparity, with physical evidence that supported that part of Zimmerman's story (being on his back with the victim on top of him, smashing his head into the ground. (And the weight advantage is a non-starter when the smaller guy is fit. Martin was the same size I was when I was in the Army, and I could have easily overwhelmed Zimmerman when I was that age.) The missing piece in the Zimmerman case was a witness to Zimmerman provoking the confrontation. I firmly believe he provoked the confrontation and should have been severely punished, but the law was not misapplied, nor was it "wrong." The system sometimes lets human filth loose because there are strict standards of proof. That's working as intended, no matter how distasteful the results often are.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Can you stand your ground when you're committing a drive-by shooting?

Enquiring minds in Texas want to know.

1 hour ago, Sociotard said:

https://www.npr.org/2023/03/30/1167195255/idaho-trafficking-abortion-minors-interstate-travel-criminalize

 

After clearing both legislative chambers, Idaho could become the first state in the country, according to Planned Parenthood, to criminally charge those who help pregnant minors get an abortion across state lines without parental consent.

6 hours ago, Duke Bushido said:

 

As for Duke's Hero System, that dream vanished in the 90s, when I first got on the internet. 

 

The first thing I did was spend some hours researching the status of Hero Games, became very sad, and then excited by the possible opportunities, gathered several potential backers, and learned that Steve and Company had acquired the rights already

 

Now I am sad....

On 2/7/2023 at 6:09 PM, Cygnia said:

 

It was well within the upper limits of what is internationally recognized as a country's airspace...and well below what anyone has ever considered to be outer space.

You're not allowed to violate other country's airspace without express permission (barring a declared emergency of a manned craft). The choice on whether to shoot down the offending craft or not is at the discretion of the country whose airspace is being violated. From the Chicago Convention of 1944 that forms the treaty forming the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). It's Article 1 states “The contracting States recognize that every State has complete and exclusive sovereignty over the airspace above its territory.” Both China and the US, along with almost all other nations, are part of that treaty.

The balloon was bopping along between 60,000 to 90,000 feet, which is well inside the ICAO agreement.

To be an illegal target, the balloon would have had to be in outer space and be qualified for coverage under the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (OST), which allows for free passage there for any country.

Outer space is generally considered to start at 100 kilometers, which is 328,000 feet.

No matter how generous anyone would want to be to the Chinese side in the matter, the balloon wasn't traveling anywhere close to outer space.

4 hours ago, Pariah said:

Hey, Margie, I have a solution to both problems....

 

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene complained about her low salary and said that working in Congress has made her 'miserable'

You want to put all the mentally-ill people into Congress then raise their salaries???

Bill That Would Allow Inmates to Trade Their Organs for Less Prison Time Introduced in Massachusetts

https://www.complex.com/life/bill-would-inmates-trade-their-organs-less-prison-time-massachusetts

"the controversial legislation is sponsored by two state Democrats, Reps. Judith Garcia, of Chelsea; and Carlos Gonzalez of Springfield...The representatives argued it would be especially beneficial for people of color, who are at higher risk of organ failure, but tend to have trouble finding a match."

I'd be more worried about desperate. impoverished, and poorly-educated prisoners permanently compromising their health by giving away their organs due to pressure by what amounts to "salesmen not making the risks fully transparent"...

8 hours ago, Bazza said:

(PG don’t watch 😛)

The reason no one has the same actors do animation as their feature films is that feature film actors get paid many multiples of the amount of money that voice actors make. There's no way I can see that a cash-poor company is going to be able to make that happen.

I'm a big fan of continuity when it comes to stories.

But frankly, I don't care whether Thor is voiced by Chris Hemsworth or Travis Willingham or whether Dr. Strange is voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch or Liam O'Brien. The skills of an actor and a voice actor overlap to some extent. But trying to cram every actor into an unfamiliar box looks to me to be a losing proposition to the point that Marvel didn't even try. So even if DC can come up with the money for equal pay, I'm skeptical that it could be an easy transformation to their way of doing business.

Next, how the hell is HBO going to do a scripted Green Lantern show when HBO has fired that vast majority of their writing staff and has publicly committed to doing unscripted programming, rather than scripted, because they're bleeding money? Ditto for Booster Gold (who I'd love to see in a series).

I'd pile the team on either side of the door, ready cantrip attacks for anything that looks hostile, then rush in.

Hopefully it's something like the Indeterminate Inn which wanders around and tends to appear to travelers in need.

There's things way more weird than that in most fantasy settings.

Police perimeter to keep civilians from investigating

Call in team

Super-scientist and/or mystic specialists to evaluate the situation

On 1/23/2023 at 3:48 AM, Lord Liaden said:

There is another origin concept which I derived from the history of the current Champions Universe, but didn't want to put it in the main list on this thread because it's never been officially published. But I do think it has intriguing potential, so is worth at least bringing up.

 

In the mid-1980s Dr. Sebastian Poe, founder of the villain group PSI, inventor of the Psi Serum, and father of Kevin Poe of the New Purple Gang, began his criminal career using his Psi Serum to create superhumans serving organized crime, in exchange for funding for his research into psionic mutations. In 1995 Poe was betrayed to law enforcement by his underlings Psimon and Medusa, who took control of PSI; and was sentenced to twenty years in Stronghold. Sebastian Poe was officially not one of the prisoners who escaped Stronghold in the major breakout of 2009, and remained in prison. Obviously, though, his sentence was up in 2015, so barring other unrevealed circumstances he should have been released.

A few years ago I asked Steve Long what he would have done with Dr. Poe in that situation if he was still making those decisions for Champions. He suggested that Poe would return to his original line of creating superhumans for pay, becoming a sort of "psionic Power Broker" (to reference a character from Marvel Comics). Only this time he would use refinements to his treatments devised over his years in prison (and not disclosed to new clients) to enable him to take mental control of the supers he creates, and/or build in ways for him to negate their powers. His ultimate goal would be to build an "army" of supers with which to destroy Medusa and Psimon and regain control of PSI.

For those unfamiliar with it, the Psi Serum amplifies even the smallest amount of latent psionic potential in a person, sometimes to a significant level of superhuman power. (The serum gives no benefit to the majority of human beings, who lack that potential.) The range of possible powers extends far beyond just some variation of telepathy. For example, Psimon can surround his body with powerful psychokinetic force in the shape of a translucent humanoid "giant." Current PSI member Soulfire has the power of "pyrokinesis," mentally exciting air molecules until they combust. He can also resist the effects of extreme heat and "see" gradations of heat. The possibilities are only limited by what someone can logically justify using "psionic energy" as its Special Effect.

 

The history of PSI is most recently written up in Champions Villains Volume Two: Villain Teams.

I'd be shocked if Dr. Poe hadn't been exploited during his 20 years in prison, whether by the authorities or by some criminal organization.

Or both.

I've visited Portland 4-5 times over the last 25 years and it's never struck me as being the slightest bit touristy.

https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/community/fishing-in-england-your-guide-to-the-best-fishing-spots/

Technically, if I left my wallet in a restaurant, someone could take my credit cards, shove them down someone else's throat, and choke them to death.

I shouldn't be held responsible for that person's homicidal action because my wallet and credit cards weren't designed to be physical weapons.

Offer a man a plane ticket and he can fly for a day.

Push a man off a plane and he can fly for the rest of his life.

Q: Why is gravity so cheap?

A: It's mass produced.

5 hours ago, Pariah said:

 

There was a story a few years ago about how a mountain lion (they never call them "cougars" in Salt Lake City) had made its way down from the hills and started wandering around the campus at the University of Utah. By the time animal control officers captured the cat later that afternoon, it had racked up $20,000 in student loan debt.

At my college, it was said that a man-eating tiger once escaped there...but subsequently died of starvation.

35 minutes ago, Pattern Ghost said:

This isn't the first time they've played chicken with the debt ceiling. I think it's political grandstanding for the ignorant among their base, and they'll cave in after they pushed it as far as the holders of their purse strings will allow.

That's been precisely what's happened in the past. 

The problem they face at the moment is that they've been electing ignorant people from their base to become Congressmen.

So it's really an open question over when they'll reach the tipping point of not being ABLE to swerve at the last moment when playing chicken with the debt ceiling.

21 hours ago, unclevlad said:

 

Had no problem reading it.  The gist:  Spain is trying to sell arms they obtained from Switzerland.  They're on a list of export-restricted items by Swiss law...why, wasn't stated, but one plausible case would be "only to NATO countries."  Ukraine isn't a NATO country.  IIRC, it wasn't so much "blocking" in an active sense, it was passive...they haven't said "yes."

 

So, yes, I get your concern, and it could be fake news, but I'm more inclined to treat it as an overly terse --> misleading headline.

It's not uncommon for a country selling arms to stipulate that those arms can't be resold without express permission.

And Switzerland has refused permission for other countries to resell Swiss armaments to Ukraine earlier in the war. So this refusal sounds pretty legit.

1 hour ago, Logan D. Hurricanes said:

 

5 could be fun, if it was one of those smart toasters that was connected to the internet. Now I'm envisioning a killer robot with the toast function built in. 

If you grew the second nose upside down on someone else, they'd be in danger of drowning every time they went out into the rain.

It'd make for a dastardly hit-man in some parts of the world....

2 minutes ago, Cygnia said:

Dallas Police Join Search For Zoo's Missing Clouded Leopard

I'm available for hire.

Whenever I sit down, cats come running for a chance to sit on my lap.

I always tell the bartender the brand I like: "I'll have Another."

17 hours ago, unclevlad said:

 

By and large, that would amount to the same thing, and it's contrived.  Leave it alone.

 

 

A Schrodinger's Cat solution.  Even if the Ravens beat the Bengals, the Bengals could've clinched the division by beating the Bills...so you can't just give the division to the Ravens.  Raves beat Bengals:  the Bengals are the #3 seed, and would play the #6 seed.  If the Chargers win, they have the tiebreaker with the Ravens, so the Chargers are the #5 seed, and the Ravens #6...thus, triggering the coin flip substituting for a clear-cut result from Bills-Bengals.  If the Chargers LOSE, then the Ravens are the #5 seed and would be playing the AFC South winner, not Cincy.  

 

And yeah, OK, the Chargers are playing the Broncos...but the Broncos are playing better, and even more significant, the game means little to the Chargers.  They may sit starters fairly quickly...or, perhaps, not.  Because if they beat Denver, they get the AFC South winner.  Hey, if nothing else, would you rather travel/play Cincy or Baltimore...or Jacksonville/Tennessee?

Coin flips make sense.

Potentially playing at a "neutral" site, on the other hand, just guarantees that both teams in question are punished (rather than one being rewarded and another punished).

I'd also like to point out that it's difficult to find a truly "neutral site" since there's not going to be a site which is equally-distant from both teams' fan base and with equally efficient, or miserable, travel options.