Old Man

Re: "Neat" Pictures

Re: Cybernetics and Bioengineering: what are YOUR limits? That's why you set up shop in Mexico or Baluchistan.

Re: The cranky thread It's always terrible when life forcefully reminds you just how unfair it can be. If it helps, though, at least she presumably died from some unforeseen natural cause as opposed to human carelessness or malice.

Re: How (un)realistic are Street Samurai? Lawless third-world ones, certainly.

Re: Blasters: why? Which I thought was a going a little too far; spears would have been a better alternative. I'd love to see them have a slings event.

Re: Blasters: why? So the Star Wars universe is a Hero campaign?

Re: "Neat" Pictures I remember flipping channels a while back and coming across the Mythbusters moon landing special. If I ever come across those guys in real life I might actually hug them.

Re: More space news! That isn't the link you're looking for.

Re: The cranky thread

Re: A Thread for Random Musings I met Ron in the computer lab my first year at the university. He may have been the first friend I made there. He was easy to notice because he was always in there--and by always, I mean always, afternoon, after dinner, after midnight. He was certainly having more fun in the lab than I was. One day I leaned over and asked him what game he was playing. "Nethack," he grunted. After that, well, I found myself spending a lot of time in the computer lab too. Ron and I suffered through the computer science curriculum together, as well as Nethack and Conquer and many games of SFB and Car Wars. Through him I met most of the people that today are my best friends. He was always kind of a punk, prone to little practical jokes. He liked to get a rise out of people, including me. But he always knew when to break it off, too. I got in the habit of bumming rides from Ron on Friday afternoons, because otherwise I'd have to take a city bus that was full of private high school kids that were, frankly, awful. He always said it was on his way, but it really, realy wasn't. I never pressed the point, though, because I needed the ride. So we'd talk for half an hour about photon torpedoes and Nethack Random Dick Factor and whatever the plan was for that evening. I think, or hope, that Ron liked the company. But he also got a kick out of dropping me off, because the A/C in his car was set to "Arctic", and when I got out of his car, my glasses would fog up. He thought that was the funniest thing. Well, if that was the price of the ride, I thought, so be it. It was early on Friday morning when the civil defense sirens announced the approach of Hurricane Iniki. I froze up for a few minutes, wondering what to do. Then I glanced at the clock--Ron was due to end his graveyard shift in a few minutes. There weren't going to be any classes today. I got my stuff together and hurried up to the computer lab. I actually got there a couple of minutes late, but there he was, as always, as though nothing out of the ordinary was going on. He didn't even look up, and before I could say anything, he said, "I was wondering when you were going to get here. Give me five minutes to finish up and we'll go." That was Ron: I didn't even have to ask. So once again Ron drove way the hell out of his way to take me home, this time as a major storm was bearing down. I don't remember what we talked about other than that it wasn't the hurricane. But thanks to him I got home in 30 minutes rather than two hours, which was a big deal under the circumstances. It's hard to believe it's been over six years since Ron died. We had gradually drifted apart after he dropped out of school, and he spent an awful lot of time in bars. Hardly anyone knew he had high blood pressure, and I really don't think he told anyone just how bad it was. The resulting stroke and brain hemorrhage were devastating. I remember looking at his monitor in the ICU; his blood pressure was so high the line was transposed on the readout above it. I tried to be casual about leaving, shaking his hand and making some comment about seeing him later, but my voice cracked as I said it, because I knew he was already gone. I rushed out of the room, and that was the last I saw of him. Now and then something, or nothing, will remind me of Ron. I often wonder where he'd be now, and what games he'd be playing, if he hadn't been killed by Nethack Random Dick Factor. And I'll always remember the way he laughed when my glasses fogged up, that day when Iniki hit.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings It's just so wrong that, now that I have a job, I am having to look for a second job.

Re: God of Redemption I would expect the rituals of this religion to have an overriding theme of cleansing, rebirth, and/or penance. I imagine a ceremony where you change into new garments and burn the old ones, or another where individuals imprison themselves and fast for a day. Customs might involve hand washing or returning "stolen" items to others. I think certain sects of this religion would be oddly popular with the criminal element.

Re: How (un)realistic are Street Samurai? Leaving aside the guns vs. swords debate, I wanted to make a comment about cyberware. Today the military is already pursuing plenty of soldier-enhancement technologies such as exoskeletons and sleep pills, and I believe laser eye surgery is free for just about any service member who warrants it. "Contractors" have a further documented history of PED use, especially steroids and HGH as well as (to a lesser extent) amphetamines. None of these are cyberware per se, but between these two movements there is no doubt in my mind that if a cyberware technology ever gets close to mainstream, it will be applied to soldiers and mercenaries. I'm expecting bioware (such as muscle augmentation or bulletproof skin) to be the technologies in real life, as opposed to cyber, but I still see a role for cyber, especially when it comes to prosthetics. As it happens this was the background story for the street samurai I ran in Shadowrun--a forcibly-retired UCAS special ops guy who was heavily modded during the wars. Now to return to the silly gun vs. sword debate, I note that the typical question is whether the swordsman can run down the gunman before the latter can draw. This is an unfair comparison unless the swordsman has to draw too. If weapons are drawn I can't think of any realistic circumstance in which I would rather use a sword than a gun in any terrain, urban or otherwise, against armored or unarmored targets.

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life. Sounds as though you need to have a lady friend nuke your veggies for you.

Re: The cranky thread Between the one neighbor who refuses to fix his fan belt and the other neighbor who decided to start mowing his lawn at 615 A.M., my Labor Day is off to a fantastic start.

Re: "Neat" Pictures It reminds me of Big Trouble in Little China. Which seems strangely apt.

Re: More space news! I'll just hop over to the Subaru telescope and use that.

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life. "Eew, you drooled on your teddy bear and now it stinks." "Well, Daddy stinks too!" "What? I don't--" "He smells like he's in the dump!" (everyone laughs except me)

Re: The cranky thread I'm actually not underwater on the house. Sometimes I wish I were so I could justify walking away. But OTOH I'm not having spinal fusions or dialyses or trips to the hospital for mystery abdominal pain. Thanks for the offer on the phone number, by the way. Just the offer means a lot.

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life. So you work in 2001 A.D.?

Re: A Thread for Random Musings Vader screamed first.

Re: More space news! What tkd said. I haven't got time to hunt all over teh intertoobz for a diagram of where the thing is in relation to surrounding stars.

Re: Musings on Random Musings I tried to rep that, but I failed.

Re: The cranky thread I am seriously starting to wonder whether keeping the house is worth putting up with this job.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/01/world/middleeast/01iraq.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss