Lawnmower Boy

I'm helping! I'm helping!

OOh! Ooh! When you Youtube the tabletop session with the 100 carrier fleet and the 300 fighter squadrons against the 11,000 suicide pinnaces, I want a link!

Coming back from breakfast, I saw a dead rat in the middle of the (quiet) intersection. A crow was doing his level best to be Nature's Recycling Solutions Provider, despite being interrupted every thirty seconds or so by pedestrians and traffic. Hop up, take a peck, take two pecks, take a third if you're luck. Hop back out of the way of car/pedestrian. Hop up. . . I feel your pain, little buddy.

Disabled superheroes aren't a new thing. Daredevil is an excellent example and also points to a fine balance. He's blind, but his other senses are enhanced to compensate. So the question is, at what point do those enhancements shift over to making him something better than sighted? And does this matter to the blind people who might look at him as a role model? In the TV series, Matt is definitely a better fighter because of his senses and notwithstanding his disability; but as a lawyer, he is overcoming his disability by persevering in reading Braille. I've played with this, although in fan fiction, and not in campaigning. The character, the Dark Ninja, is mentally challenged, but has a vaguely defined phone-with-client-AI to help him out. (Well, vaguely defined in terms of its function. In Hero System terms, its additional INT bought through a focus.) I have no idea whether the phone takes away from the reality of his disability or not. Frankly, I just liked the dynamic of having a teen speedster supehero who is one of the smartest people on Earth fall in love with him. After all, from her point of view, every normal person is "mentally challenged."

So let's get this straight. You know what happened at the end of Three Against the Witch World? You're my new god of reading stuff. On topic, the 5th Edition "Human child of Empyrean parent" package deal gives +3 STR, +1 Dex, +3 Con, +5 Int, +3 Pre, +4 Com, total cost, 22 points.

I think that it's a dirty secret of GMing that your average GM is not unaware of this approach to getting their players out of paper bags. It's certainly an open secret of the tabletop RPG kibitzing community, although the question of intent arises. There's considerable precedent for whatchacall your "controller" as a model of the master tactician. Didn't they do that in D&D 4th Edition? I probably shouldn't ask, considering that no-one ever played it, but I gather from the Order of the Stick spoof that that was what the "Warlord" was all about. Now, it's not a very satisfactory solution (cf. "D&D 4th Edition, Jokes About No-One Ever Playing It"), but it is a solution, and Combat Skill Levels, Usable By Others is a much more graspable mechanic than an area-wide Int Drain or such.

Speaking for left coast heathens, pancakes ain't much, but if you put Granma's chokecherry syrup on them. . .

I don't know. I guess we're trying to model effects? The Maple Leafs are the Maple Leafs, but if you spot them two goals a game, their record will make them look like the Sharks.

No need to fight, zslane, Chris, you're both right. We know tactical mastery when we see it. You can't simulate it, because it's about making the right decisions in a chaotic environment. Sure. But combat skill levels usable by others will put those passes through.

You can't even use them to turn people into stone. It's just a sad disappointment all round.

And, as Chris would say, back on topic, the idea of Britain as a CCTV surveillance society is a bit overblown, as the technology has not worked out well in practice, and individual cameras and even networks are being shut down as practically useless.

"Gyspy" is "not politically correct" for all the usual reasons of negative connotations associated with an identifiable minority group (cf: "to gyp"), but also because it is inaccurate even in its own terms. Traditionally, migratory communities in the British Isles were referred to as "tinkers" or "Travellers," and "Travellers" (or "Irish Travellers") is still in use. The arrival of Romani people had something to do with the addition of "gypsy" to the linguistic mix, although not as much as is sometims suggested. The usual explanation of the name is from "Egyptian," and while I'm not up on the ethnohistory, this seems to reflect the minorities of immigrant former sailors from the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean in London and the southwestern English port cities which have grown with the steady expansion of ocean commerce over the centuries. So by far most "gypsies" in England are not Romani, and not everyone we label as "Romani" is, in fact, Romani. There's at least one recognised cognate group, the Sinti; and who knows what was lost in the Holocaust, when Romani and Sinti were targetted along with European Jewry (and homosexuals, and Communists, and Jehovah's witnesses, and the disabled ... Wow. It's like bigotry and prejudice is an incoherent mishmash of prejudices, and not some rational response to the world.)

I'm not arguing that the weaponisation of space isn't an important and ongoing problem. I'm arguing that pre-orbited "kinetic strike weapons" are a dumb idea. I mean, just beyond stupid. This artificial meteorite concept is often nicknamed ‘the rods from God’ even by its supporters, who usually claim it would be relatively cheap to set up (indeed some claim it already exists). They give the impression that at the press of a button, these rods will just fall from the sky on their victims. However it is not that easy. As each rod circles the Earth it is moving at least 7 km/s, to make the rod fall from orbit under gravity, we need to adjust its orbit to intersect the Earth’s surface. To do this each rod therefore needs to be attached to a rocket motor and its fuel tanks (or solid propellant), suddenly each cheap 100kg rod has ballooned into a multi-tonne vehicle, perhaps the size of a Soyuz spacecraft. At least it does not need a heatshield, a tungsten projectile could reasonably be expected to survive the expected heat of re-entry. The ground-penetrating effects of such projectiles is grossly over-stated too- do falling meteorites of this sort of size always bury themselves hundreds of metres under the ground? Laboratory experiments show that objects striking the surface at speeds greater than 1 km/s are melted by their own kinetic energy before they penetrate the ground, effectively liquefying on impact. Rather than slamming into the target at 20 times the speed of sound, the rods may need to be slowed down to fast aircraft speeds to prevent them disintegrating on impact. The problems of guiding each rod is usually dismissed with handwaving references to GPS, although some armchair space marshals also follow Pournelle’s fictional lead to suggest each rod would have its own imaging sensor to find and steer onto moving targets like tanks or warships. I have no doubt that the electronics are feasible but the rod now needs control surfaces hooked to its guidance system and sounds more like a missile than a cheap metal rod. Do these now complex projectiles require maintenance in orbit? Finally, it is said that the rods can hit any target on Earth minutes after the KILL button is pressed. Once again, this doesn’t seem properly thought out. The rods can only hit targets on or near their orbital track, for weeks at a time some parts of the world would be invulnerable as their potential attackers would never come within hundreds of kilometers from their positions. The only way around this limitation is to have hundred of rods waiting ready in multiple orbits, requiring a ludicrous number of launches. Even if the target is directly under the rod’s orbital track, the attack may not be instantaneous, as those who order the attack wait perhaps 90 minutes for the rods to move around the Earth into position. Even the Joint Chiefs of Staff cannot overrule Sir Isaac Newton.

It's traditional when making deliberately inflammatory comments to include a misleading link. (In the absence of a misleading link, an accurate one will do, as most people won't click through.) It's also very important, when making derogatory comments about identifiable groups, to use "dog whistles" instead of the traditional ethnic slurs used by our grandparents. In a spirit of helpfulness, I'll point out that "Romanian" seems to be preferred currently.

At first, it was kind of cute, the way they followed me around and asked my opinion about everything. But somewhere between loaning the Black Rider "a twenty till pay day," driving Dr. Malvols home that time he decided to try every kind of vodka at Dennessey's Irish Bar, and kicking Iagon The Cruel off the couch so I could watch Game of Thrones, this whole "elite cadre" thing began to pall. I tried unleashing the Omega Force on them, first for somehow erasing all my Chrome bookmarks, and, later, just because they were there. (Although Baatan the Blaster tonguing his girlfriend while I was trying to talk about my master plan didn't help my mood.) The problem is that it turns out that unmaking an elite cadre with the Omega Force just impresses the rest of them more. In fact, I think it might actually be good for recruiting. Which is only a nice up until you hit the limits of the hot water tank. Now I have to shower at the Municipal Centre. At which point I'm suddenly I'm suddenly the carpool for the only daycare in the city that will enroll the Sisters of Armageddon. (I think it's the name? Or possibly that dog cavalry sheds so much.) It's no way for an evil mastermind to live.

"n other cases, however, space-based warfare will not be so subtle. One of the most widely discussed celestial weapons systems is known as the “rod from God.” This is a non-explosive tungsten cylinder launched downward from orbit and capable of obtaining speeds of up to Mach 10 as it descends." Seriously? This makes it into The Atlantic?

Because I am very, very lazy, I usually look for "good enough" builds in the books. Sure enough, there is a villain race in Galactic Champions with these kinds of powers. The Nibu Gemani are weak individually, but get steadily more powerful as more Nibu "gather together." The Nibu Gemani are primarily a psionic menace, and the scale suggested is +1Int, +1 Ego, +1 DC with psionic powers for every hundred additional Nibu Gemani, counting in thousands once you hit the thousands, and adding in an Aid Mental Powers 1d6 and a Cosmic VPP (20+15) at 10,000 Nibu Gemani, incrementing at 1/2d6 and 5 points base for every additional 10,000, etc. You would have to adapt this for a different power set, but, other than that, it's good to go. Now, the trick is that the build isn't costed. I guess Darren Watts thought it would be too much work, and there are worse things than following Darren's example.

I'm pretty sure that Neal Adams turned in the script for "The Guy Who Wanted to Fight Superman With Kryptonite, Except He Couldn't Get Any Kryptonite Because It's So Rare, So He didn't Actually Do Anything, And That's Why This Story is Twenty-one Blank Pages" in 1985.

Four hours of vacation down, 179 to go.

For the benefit of those coming in late: The York Factory Express, usually called "the Express" and also called the Columbia Express and the Communication, was a fur brigade operated by theHudson's Bay Company in the early 19th century connecting York Factory and Fort Vancouver. It was named "express" because it was not used only to transport furs and supplies but also to quickly move departmental reports and letters. It was the main overland connection between the Columbia Departmentand the Hudson's Bay Company's headquarters at York Factory (bulk cargo from England to the Columbia Department was shipped by sea around South America). The express brigade was known as the York Factory Express on its eastbound journey in the spring, and as the Columbia Express or Autumn Express on its westbound journey in the fall. The same route was used in both cases. Its length was about 4,200 kilometres (2,600 mi). To expedite messages the express messengers would often speed ahead of the main bodies carrying supplies and furs. Contents [hide] 1History 2Transport 3Route 4References History[edit]The York Factory Express evolved from an earlier express brigade used by the North West Company between Fort George (originally Fort Astoria founded in 1811 by John Jacob Astor's Pacific Fur Company), at the mouth of the Columbia River, to Fort William on Lake Superior.[1] In 1821 the North West Company was forcibly merged (at the behest of the British government) into the Hudson's Bay Company after armed conflict in the Red River Colony between the two companies.[2] George SimpsonGovernor of Hudson's Bay Company, visited the Columbia District in 1824-25, journeying from York Factory. With the help of John Rowand, the Chief Factor at Fort Edmonton, George Simpson investigated a quicker route than previously used, following the Saskatchewan River and crossing the mountains at Athabasca Pass. This route was well known by the North West Company and was being used in 1811 but after the forced merger with the Hudson's Bay Company many of the Northwester's were loyal to the North West Company and refused to share this route with the Hudson's Bay Company. It wasn't until John Rowand beat George Simpson to Fort Assiniboine by nearly a month and Simpson threatened to shut down Fort Edmonton that Rowand let Simpson know about this route.[3] This route was thereafter followed by the York Factory Express brigades.[4] By 1825 there were usually two brigades, each setting out from opposite ends of the route, Fort Vancouver in the Columbia District on the lower Columbia River and the other from York Factory on Hudson Bay, in spring and passing each other in the middle of the continent. Each brigade consisted of about forty to seventy five men and two to five specially made boats and travelled at breakneck speed (for the time). Indians along the way were often paid in trade goods to help them portage around falls and unnavigable rapids. An 1839 report cites the travel time as three months and ten days—almost 26 miles (40 km) per day on average.[1] These men carried supplies in and furs out by boat, horseback and as back packs for the forts and trading posts along the route. They also carried status reports for supplies needed, furs traded etc. from Dr. John McLoughlin head of the Oregon CountryHBC operations, and the other fort managers along the route. This continued until 1846, when the lower Columbia district was ceded to the United States by the Oregon Treaty. The bulk of supplies and trade goods for the Columbia District were brought from Britain to Fort Vancouver every year by ship around South America, not overland via the York Factory Express route. They tried to maintain one year's extra supplies on hand in case a shipment might be lost at sea or attempting to cross the bar at the mouth of the Columbia River. The furs acquired by trading and trapping during the previous year were sent back on the supply ships and sold in London in an annual fur sale. James Sinclair followed the southern portion of the route in 1841, when he brought nearly 200 HBC settlers from the Red River Colony (located near the junction of the Assiniboine River and Red River near present Winnipeg, Canada) into the Columbia District. This attempt at British settlement failed because HBC reneged on its promise to settle them. Some of the families did settle at Ft. Nisqually and other HBC sites; others eventually joined the American Oregon settlers for the promise of free land in the Willamette Valley south of the Columbia River. Transport[edit] York boat replica at Fort Edmonton Park, Edmonton, Alberta York boat under construction showing use of heavy materials. An inland boat, the York boat, was used to carry furs, trade goods along inland waterways in Rupert's Land east of the Rocky Mountains. The express brigades also used these boats, although they did not carry bulk cargo. The boats were named after their destination: York Factory, headquarters of the HBC, and were modeled after Orkney Islands fishing boats (themselves a descendant of the Viking long boat). York Boats were preferable to the canoes, used by North West Company Voyageurs as a cargo carriers, because of its larger size, greater capacity, and improved stability in rough water. The boat's heavy wood construction also gave it an advantage in travelling through rocks or ice; it was more resistant to tears and punctures. That advantage became a disadvantage, though, when portaging was necessary. The boat was far too heavy to carry, and it was necessary instead to cut a path through the brush, lay poplar rollers, and laboriously drag the boat overland. The mountainous terrain of the Pacific Northwest necessitated the regular use of pack horses over significant portions of the fur brigade routes. Boats similar to the York but lighter and somewhat smaller were made specifically for use in the Columbia District and constructed on the Columbia River, especially at Fort Colvile. In 1811David Thompson of the North West Company introduced the use of batteaux (French for boat, modern spelling "bateaux") on the Columbia River, made of split or sawn cedar planks. The NWC and the HBC continued the practice of using batteaux, as bark canoes proved too fragile for use on the rivers of the Pacific Northwest and birch bark was in short supply west of the Rockies. In the 1830s John Dunn of the HBC described the Columbia boat as "made from quarter-inch pine board, and are thirty-two feet long, and six and a half feet wide in midships, with both ends sharp, and without a keel—worked, according to the circumstances of the navigation, with paddles, or with oars."[1] Route[edit]From west to east, Fort Vancouver to York Factory, the express route ran as follows. Up the Columbia River past the posts of Fort Nez Perces, Fort Okanogan, and Fort Colvile to Boat Encampment (today under Kinbasket Lake), then over Athabasca Pass to Jasper House, down the Athabasca River to Fort Assiniboine, then overland 80 miles (129 km) along the Athabasca Landing Trail to Fort Edmonton. Thence down the North Saskatchewan River and Saskatchewan River to Lake Winnipeg and via Norway House on the Nelson River. Finally the brigade would travel down the Hayes River to York Factory on Hudson Bay.[5][6]

I'm not sure I'd want to wish another kickstarter on Rich, considering the amount of work he took on for the last one.

I don't think that there's any question that a huge part of the appeal of the modern Captain Marvel is that she is a Woman of a Certain Age, saying something about how there's life after 40 (50, etc). Charlize Theron (41) would be perfect to play her now. The problem is the multi-movie contract, and I see Marvel's point. It's not necessarily that big of a deal, in that Downey was 43 when he played Iron Man for the first time. So Theron's timeline works for Marvel, assuming that the superhero craze lasts as long as the Western one, although it might be argued that Captain Marvel is inherently a more stunt-heavy role than Iron Man. The question is whether Marvel wants to take that risk with another headliner when it can look to a woman in her 30s. Given Hollywood's unrealistic beauty expectations and movie magic, 30-something and 50-something will both pass. I'm sure that sixty-something will, too. i guess the question comes down to money and stuntwork.

. . . And Lucius is officially disinvited from visiting our "Medieval Dungeon" display, which, incidentally, is closing next week so, come and see it while you ....Hey, you! In the clown makeup! Stop trying to put Flying Mammal Girl in the iron maiden! This is a family museum!

Get an idea of what the art might cost you, and something might happen.