Old Man

Re: Musings on Random Musings To briefly digress into a discussion of Avatar: yes, its core premise is anti-technological, but it undermines its own premise when it portrays the technology that created the hero's smurf body, the technology that got it to Pandora, and the technology that could presumably sterilize Pandora from orbit. And I have noted elsewhere on these boards that Pandora is sorely lacking in level 1 trauma care facilities.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Well, yeah, it is. My sales reps absolutely must be that reachable because our competitors are. That's sort of an unintended consequence of the technology; customers now expect an unreasonably fast response time for inquiries. But it's still nice to be able to talk on the phone in the car when necessary, to be reachable when a close relative is in poor health, and to be able to make emergency phone calls from anywhere, including the wilderness (if you're lucky). That's just cellphones; smartphones are another matter entirely. I routinely am able to look up information on the internet from my phone and, when I had a data center to run, was able to run it--with limitations--from the beach, freeing me from my desk. And I can, and have, posted here while seated in a public bathroom. It's not all upside, of course. Just today my wife called me thirteen times, and only one of those was even remotely important. Constant interruptions drive me up the frickin' wall. But the increase in communication capability, to me, justifies the increase in interruptions.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Instant gratification!

Re: Musings on Random Musings Me too, if you're really giving out actual Hannah Montanas. I guess I'd have to wait a year or two to make sure it was properly aged, but that's not a problem.

Re: The cranky thread That's the bunneh's department.

Re: Musings on Random Musings I sat in a presentation the week before last where there were three of us resellers being presented to. The other two guys were on their smartphones the whole time, and one left early. I had already seen the presentation and was there mainly for political reasons. I helped the presenters get their demo past a sticking point.

Re: Musings on Random Musings Fixed.

Re: Musings on Random Musings But meetings are soooo booooring....

Re: The cranky thread We'll have to amputate.

Re: NASA astrobiology discovery conference 12/2 I seem to remember extraordinary consumption of alcoholic beverages starting around then...

Re: Musings on Random Musings I tend to not mind changes in technology if only because technology is the only thing about humanity that seems to progress and stay progressed. Politics, male-female relations, economics, culture, and so on haven't advanced greatly for a thousand years, except where technology forced them to.

Re: The cranky thread I get those. They suck.

Re: WWE Non-Snark Free Zone Perhaps you should not have titled it the Non Snark Free Zone then...

Re: NASA astrobiology discovery conference 12/2 So cancel class, dude, aren't you the prof? Or wheel a TV or laptop in there. Executive privilege and all.

Re: A Thread for Random Musings Life on Titan? http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_M10-167_Astrobiology.html Hope, hope, hope...

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2010/nov/HQ_M10-167_Astrobiology.html No details yet, but there is speculation elsewhere that this has to do with unusual chemistry found on Titan. Could be a hell of a nice Christmas present. Can we scrape up the cash for another (unmanned) mission there to confirm?

Re: New Monster: Introducting the Ever-Combustible Purple Jelly Living napalm. Cool. Sick and demented, but cool. Bonus points if it's sapient and can talk. "AAAAAHH! I'M ON FIRE!! IT BURNS!! AAAAAAAAAHHH!!"

Re: Looking for story ideas They were summoned back to the fleet because of an internal political conflict among the Amazon ship captains' council. There is sharp disagreement as to whether they should join the rebellion against Queen Ming, or submit to her rule. The PCs must travel to meet with the captains from each faction to prevent the fleet from splitting or even engaging in civil war. There are several attempts on the princess' life in the process. The adventure culminates in a meeting of the highest-level captains on one ship, whereupon the traitor(s) are revealed, a general melee breaks out, the ship is attacked, the traitors flee after sabotaging the ship, Shasta's true forbidden feelings for Raven are revealed, and the Queen's real plans for the Amazons are discovered. That's probably more than one session worth.

Kevin's Watch-- I really hated Thomas Covenant, but I could sure use some hurtloam. Minas Tirith-- Because the description in LotR confused me. I know there's been plenty of art and even a movie or two, but I'd still like to visit the real thing. Tanelorn-- Who doesn't need a safe haven? I'm sure I've missed a couple. Thoughts?

Re: Real Locations that should be fantasy Get that god some botox!

Re: The "Nice Happy" Thread Well played, Oddhat. I tip my hat to you.

Re: Real Locations that should be fantasy

Re: I have a dream. (and MAN was it wierd!) I actually had that dream like a year ago. I sort of didn't want to post it, but for some reason I keep thinking about it. My dreams aren't usually that emotional.

Re: The cranky thread I had that on friday. The wife insisted that I go down to Home Depot way too early in the morning so that I could pick up the advertised wreath for $5. Of course it was the usual advertise-a-super-low-price-and-stock-only-twelve scam. I did get to marvel at the line of people waiting to get in to the adjacent Costco, however. The line went 3/4 of the way around the store, and it's not a small Costco. Really not looking forward to the whole buying a tree, wrapping and mailing, paying the bills routine. After what I went through this year I really would like some time off from my life.

Re: Harpy questions Sorry, from the thread title I thought you wanted to know about my wife. Carry on.