Old Man

Re: The cranky thread So, they won't mind being barefoot in the kitchen?

Re: Mass Combat System and Archery Units I think Agincourt was won by mud, actually. And Crecy was won by trou-des-loup. For archers to really be decisive, they need either a terrain advantage (as they had in these battles) or a mobility one (as mounted archers had at Carrhae).

Re: I have a dream. (and MAN was it wierd!)

Re: "Neat" Pictures That means Batman will crash through it anytime now.

Re: "Neat" Pictures I'll call her whatever she wants me to.

Re: The cranky thread When you have kids you are not allowed to give up. That's how.

Re: Make Your Own Motivational Poster Hell, that oughta be an American holiday.

Re: "Neat" Pictures See! I knew he was an alien! The birth certificate is fake!

Re: Make Your Own Motivational Poster I lent Cancer $1000 for Lent. At 400% interest.

Re: The cranky thread

Re: The cranky thread

Re: The cranky thread And, another of my engineers just gave notice.

Re: The "Nice Happy" Thread Yeah, that seems like kind of a rookie mistake.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Ask almost any economist what would have happened without the stimulus. Maybe it wouldn't have if the GOP had passed the size of stimulus he asked for.

Re: Musings on Random Musings A successful attempt, I might add. Compared to what unemployment would have looked like without it.

Re: History of Space Opera, aka Finally an io9 article that doesn't suck. I'm... not sure that level of rant was warranted. Anyway... the only SF game I played that I'd describe as space opera was Star Frontiers. The mechanics and background were pretty squarely space opera, if relatively low-powered. I never got into some of the later expansions--those might have increased the scope and power level. All it was really missing was psionics and martial arts.

Re: The cranky thread You know what makes me cranky? Double posting. (Kidding.)

Re: Ultra-Tech Punishments? I remember seeing a similar Twilight Zone episode (this was the new series that ran in the eighties).

Re: The cranky thread It's okay, you don't have to lie to us. Can you remind me why we're avoiding surgery here? I mean, it's surgery, obviously, but you've been dealing with this for a really long time, nothing else seems to be working, and life is short.

Re: The cranky thread What if you wore it all day long to try and get used to it? Would that help at all? Because you've been fighting this for a really long time.

Re: Musings on Random Musings You are definitely not seeing Uranus, which would be below and to the right of the sun, and so close to it that I don't see any way you could actually observe it. Depending on how far over 'a way over' is, I suspect you're seeing Aldebaran, Betelgeuse, or Sirius. I think the latter is most likely--almost a direct line leftward of Venus right now, and slightly higher up in the sky. Alternatively, it's possible you saw the ISS or Hubble, either of which can be quite visible to the naked eye under the right conditions.

Re: Musings on Random Musings The real emission that nuclear plants give off is radioactive waste. They may also give off some waste heat and a little steam, but these are negligible compared to the energy being generated.

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life. Three year old: "Dad?" "Yeah?" "I'm sad that someone broke into our house." "I know, kid. Me too."

Re: Musings on Random Musings That explains a lot, actually. Huh.

Re: Blueprints/Maps for sailing or oared ships Plans are one thing, but does anyone have a link to a good, very basic guide to ship operation for gaming purposes? As in when to raise or furl which sails, how to deploy a jib, trimming sails depending on wind direction relative to the boat, what rope to cut to drop a yardarm, which ropes you might be able to swing from, where you might find a peg or axe handy to bash your enemies with...