Old Man

Re: Musings on Random Musings No, fruitcake would be built as a killing attack.

Re: The cranky thread Wry neck?

Re: Musings on Random Musings How many active points is a twinkie built on anyway?

Re: The cranky thread That's pretty brave. Dunno if I'd be able to do that. Kudos.

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life. Wife: Look, there's a searchlight up ahead! Me: Yeah, they're having the tree lighting ceremony today. Older boy: What's the searchlight for? Me: It's a celebration thing they do when they have an event, like fireworks but quieter. Older boy: Then why do they call it a searchlight? Me: They used to use them to find planes at night. Younger boy: Oh no! Is Santa Claus lost? Me: What? No, Santa has GPS, and it's not even Chr-- Younger boy: Santa Claus is lost! Santa Claus is lost! Older boy: Can't they use the searchlight to call Batman? Younger boy: Batman! Batman will save Santa Claus!

Re: A Thread for Random Musings My coworker tells me that today is Genghis Khan Appreciation Day. He's probably full of it, but still, I do appreciate Genghis Khan and everything he did for the survivors of central Asia.

Re: More space news! Yeah, I don't know if the Seven Minutes of Rube Goldbergian Terror Reentry Method is going to work a second time.

Re: The cranky thread I think the Holiday Blues are coming on, since I just had the first Christmas fight of the year with my wife. It won't be the last. Sorry, what was the point of this damn holiday again? This is why, to me, Rage Against the Machine is Christmas music.

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life. Armadillos kicked my dog and keyed my car.

Re: Google Map of Our Local Cluster of Stars I was able to zoom in on named stars by clicking upon their names. Pulls up the wikipedia info on them too, including some exoplanet info. Excellent time waster.

Re: What Fantasy/Sci-Fi book have you just finished? Please rate it... Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (graphic novel). I grabbed this on impulse at the library. I had never read it or seen the movie or even had the ending spoiled, so 25 years after publication, I figured I'd finally see what all the fuss was about, and then let my seven-year-old read it. Well, it was certainly good enough to make it hard for me to put down. I have to say that it was hard to follow, especially with the parallel pirate story, and the irrelevant newstand guy, and the background documents at the end of each issue. Honestly if I had been reading this one issue per month I doubt I'd have understood what was going on at all. That said, the story was brilliant, if dark, and there were some chillingly prescient moments relevant even to modern politics, let alone the '80s when it was published. And I give the creators credit for ending the story in such an unconventional way. It certainly gets you thinking. I'm glad I finally read it, especially since some of the quotes and sigs I see around here make so much more sense now.

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life. (As I drove the kids home from camping, when we were almost home, a chicken darted out into the road, forcing me to brake before it kept going.) Me: (shouting at the chicken) "Why?! WHYYYYYYY"

Re: "Neat" Pictures Looks like an African snail to me, so it'd be maybe 5 inches long at most.

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life.

Re: "Neat" Pictures

Re: More space news! Skylon!!

Re: More space news! I think there was a geometry change in the ring plus the idea that the drive could be rapidly pulsed rather than continuously on.

Re: More space news! A day late, but: Methods of cooking turkey using NASA equipment

Re: The cranky thread I admire your restraint. My next sandwich would have been spiced with polonium-210.

Re: The cranky thread Petty? No. I've been laid off three times since 2010, I have no money, my car is literally falling apart, we got burglarized earlier this year, and I don't think any of those things would drive me into a homicidal rage faster than someone stealing my sandwich. Who does that? Someone deserves a nice face stabbing.

Re: The cranky thread So force lightning the jury. Problem solved!

Minas Tirith, because I always found Tolkien's description of it to be confusing, and I'd like to see the "real" version so I know for sure what it looks like. Hyrkania, because the open steppe, a fleet horse, and the wind in my hair sound pretty good even if it's only second best in life. Mithil Stonedown, because hurtloam. Did I miss anything?

Re: I have a dream. (and MAN was it wierd!) I pulled the car off onto the grass at the freeway interchange and got out to wait for the others to catch up. The weather was crummy, with a thin overcast that created a lot of glare. Still, we were making good time, or we would have been except for the stragglers. I watched as small breakers rolled in onto the shore nearby. Most of the others had arrived when the earthquake hit. We struggled to maintain our footing as the cars rocked back and forth and a low pitched rumble shook the air. The shaking only lasted a minute, but it was enough. As soon as the shaking stopped I sprang into action. The ocean was only a few hundred feet away, and even if we got back into the cars, the freeway ran parallel to the shore. We were going to have to move uphill behind the freeway, on foot, right away. Naturally the others were slow on the uptake despite my shouting and pushing, and they'd only just started moving in the direction we needed to go when the tsunami appeared. The first breaker crashed against the stone seawall. The second did too, raising the sea level to the very top of the seawall--and there were more breakers behind that one. Finally the others got the picture and began to run. As did I, but having been pushing the others to get moving, I was bringing up the rear. The third breaker caught me, trapping me against a fence. Fortunately the whitewater was very bubbly and I was able to breathe in it with some difficulty. I waited for the water to recede slightly and was able to get free, around the fence, and up the embankment before the next breaker came. I stood, along with the idiots, atop the embankment, watching as breaker after breaker rolled in. Each one raised the sea level and before long it was clear that they were going to top the thirty foot embankment as well. Behind us there was no more high ground, but we were among a stand of trees, so we started to climb. The rushing water wasn't violent, but it rose relentlessly, and we kept climbing. Eventually the water stopped rising, but now there were about a dozen of us up in these large trees. That was when it occurred to me that the sun was going down, and we were going to have to spend the night. I started shouting at the others again, to take stock of what we had and how we were going to get everyone a secure position among the branches so we could stay up here safely overnight.

Re: I have a dream. (and MAN was it wierd!) I watched as the scientists hurriedly offloaded the last of their supplies from the truck. I didn't envy them--the island was barren, just fine gravel and larger stones, and the oncoming storm had already blackened the sky. The wind whipped at their clothes as they struggled to set up their tents. One of them asked if I wanted to shelter with them, but I said I'd take my chances with the truck. I fired up the truck, wheeled around, and floored it back down the road. Almost immediately the rain came, and as I watched the road began to flood. Before long I was struggling to keep track of where the road was under 2-3 feet of water, and not long after that the waves swept the truck off the road. With the truck afloat in 10-foot seas, and water flooding in through the windows, I realized that I should probably have stayed with the scientists. My choices were not good--I could stay with the truck, and drown, or I could abandon the truck, and drown. Then I realized that the large cargo compartment was watertight and would probably keep the truck afloat. I braced myself in the cab so that I could reach the pocket of air trapped against the roof, and waited. After a while the truck ran aground as the storm subsided. I was right back at the island with the scientists, so I got what little equipment I had out of the truck and walked over to join them.

Re: I have a dream. (and MAN was it wierd!) I cruised comfortably in the cockpit of my Corsair, casually looking for enemy aircraft among the puffy white clouds. Far below, the brilliant blue sea rippled in the bright summer sun. It was a beautiful sunny day that fit my mood. The war was almost over, and we knew it. A flash of white caught my eye off to the right--an enemy Zero. I turned to attack, but then I saw that one of my patrolmates, some eager young kid, had already jumped in. I'd already shot down more than my share of planes over the course of the war. I just circled lazily overhead as I watched them swoop and flip in their duel, ready to intervene if the kid got into trouble. He didn't, and close to the surface he managed to get a good shot off. The Zero sprouted a bright orange ribbon of flame and plunged into the sea. But the kid had overpursued, and a small white splash showed where he'd followed his kill into the water. That would have been the last of the enemy planes. I turned my Corsair, still bristling with weapons, for home, thinking that I might as well complete my patrol at home base. Before long I was back over the base. The weather here was less pleasant, with a dull gray overcast, and so was the base itself, strewn with twisted scrap metal and other detritus of a long war. I entertained myself by flying my plane at appallingly low altitudes among the scrap and over the greenish-brown still water of the harbor. I was an ace pilot many times over, and we'd won the war. Soon it would be time to go home.