Old Man

Sympathies, tkdguy. I was in a similar situation with the MIL three years ago. Not much the survivors can do except be there for each other.

Yes, one should always strive to use an ethical means of assassination whenever possible.

Speaking of which, when does your order of polonium arrive?

I think my pile starts at 88. I might have one or two from before then. I wore a few issues out though.

119 is about when I stopped collecting.

Fortunately, I am not a woman! So Cancer is free to work his subliminal charms in seducing me!

....Nope.

Note to self: Don't date Cancer.

If you see one planet, there are 200 more that you don't see? So planets are like... roaches?

Do you put the rohypnol on the same purchase order?

Oh and since this is the cranky thread, it's two months to Christmas and the biggest mistake of my life maxed out all her credit cards.

Meanwhile, I have been avoiding all discussion of Episode VII for months now because I want to avoid any and all possible spoilers. One of my biggest problems with the prequel trilogy was that the trailers gave all of them away, so I'm trying not to have that happen again. But I think it may be impossible when I can't even go into the Lego aisle of a Target without seeing more Star Wars stuff. Seriously, the movie is getting spoiled by merchandise.

I'll nominate the Tribble. What could possibly go wrong?

So what percentage of planets is Kepler actually able to detect at this point? 5%? Less?

Ah, but are you President of the NGD?

Chicago police disappeared over 7000 people

Okay someone is going to have to explain to me how Kepler works. Stars dim as planets pass in front of them, I get that. But doesn't the system have to be edge on to us in order to observer that? Are we just not seeing systems where we are close to the orbital axis? And if Kepler's only been running for a few years, how do we observe planets with orbital periods greater than that? Are we missing those planets too?

What happens if she's out past midnight? Gremlin?

40mm laser guided missile has 2km range, can be fired from grenade launchers

Yeah, I'm not sure it's possible to be overpowergunned with the Borg and Dominion on your doorstep. It was so ineffective against the former that Worf ordered it into a kamikaze attack in a hopeless attempt to inflict some damage. (Which is why Worf is not on my list of "Trek captains I'd like to work for".) @Spence: I've read those tech manuals, but they still don't really explain the ship's form factor. I get that bits can separate, but why a saucer? Even if the warp drive is in the secondary hull, why is it hung way below the ship? Things like that. I know the real answer is "because Roddenberry thought it looked cool", but the Enterprise is so weird that you have to ask for an in-universe justification.

With the result that the Defiant is a shockingly ugly ship. I've always wondered what the technobabble explanation for Federation ship layouts is supposed to be. I can buy that the nacelles have to be hung out on struts because warp field, but why the saucer section? Why are the secondary hull and main deflector slung under the ship? And why are the ships of other races shaped the way they are?

I know too much about cybersecurity to ever use a debit card anywhere besides an ATM. And I always have to check the ATM for skimmers.

I'm saddened by my own lack of surprise at your saddening due to your lack of surprise.