SSgt Baloo

Re: I have a dream. (and MAN was it wierd!) 26 FEB 2011 Sometimes my mind folds together just about everything I thought about during the day. I was part of a team of four American agents in a country resembling a generic, cinematic sort of “Middle-East”. We had been discovered, but our captors mistook us for tourists who had ignorantly blundered across the border, so we were prisoners, but they were calling us “guests”, which meant we were being used as hostages. I assume this was sparked by news of general unrest in many Islamic autocracies. Security was pretty lax at the place we were being held, so we were allowed to wander about the place so long as we didn't leave the compound. The others came up with a plan. Since I was mechanically-inclined, they would have me cobble together an ultralight airplane from pieces they found around the base. I would then fly the plane to a friendly country and get a rescue mission started. I watched the end of Fly Away Home last night, so I think that's where the ultralight came from. Once we had the plane constructed, I flew as far as I could in the direction of a friendly country, but I ran out of gas and had to land near a military-run convenience-store and hope I could connive some fuel from their reserves. When I arrived, they mistook me for the new mechanic they had been waiting for, and as a test, they had me locate the solenoid in their ancient Chevy Blazer. I easily located it, and they were convinced that I was the real guy they had been waiting for. I watched a lot of episodes of How It's Made on the Science Channel, which I think sparked that chapter. I was puzzled that no-one, neither my captors nor the military guys who thought I was their new mechanic, thought it was odd that I looked like a European and only spoke English, with an American accent. I was also puzzled that everybody not only understood English, but spoke it with a cinematic, generic Middle-Eastern accent. When I had a chance, I snuck away and continued on my journey. I wound up at a beauty salon run by Europeans. They put me to work. At one point two wolves showed up at the door to the business, and I remembered “No Eye Contact, No Talking, No Food” from the Dog Whisperer, so we were able to safely exit the shop without being attacked. The European beauty salon came outta nowhere, but I watched part of The Dog Whisperer and And Man Created Dog on the National Geographic Channel yesterday. This had somehow angered the locals, and were challenged to a game like rugby, but played with a soccer ball. I came up with an escape plan that I don't remember clearly, except at some point it involved some sort of fantasy card-game that enabled me to obtain a disguise that would not only conceal my identity, but project an aura of unquestionable authority that would prevent people from even thinking about questioning my actions. I have been recording and watching Rugby on BBC America. The game part I think came from, in part, playing The Sims 3 for a few hours prior to going to bed. Another part of the plan was to fool the GME's (Generic Middle-Easterners) into thinking I was at one part of the field when I was actually at another. While they were distracted, I would don my disguise, halt the game, take the Europeans into “custody” and arrange for transport to a friendly country. When it came time to make the switch, however, I was so caught up in the game that I continued playing rather than execute my escape plan. I was rather annoyed with myself, but figured I might have a chance to change into my disguise once the game was over.

Re: "Neat" Pictures Spoilered for size. ETA: Odd. It appeared much, much bigger in preview. *shrug*

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares Harry Potter and the Order of Cheeseburgers to Go (Hold the Onions) and Do You Want Fries With That?

Re: A Thread for Random Videos Newsflash! Guys check out women's asses. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xq0JcQ1dOwU Well, DUH! Oh yeah, some women do, too.

Re: I have a dream. (and MAN was it wierd!) 4 FEB 2011 I was part of a crew of a Star Trek(ish) starship. We met up with a lost colonization vessel from a new, paranoid/aggressive culture. When they attacked us, we quickly scanned the surrounding systems to find them a world to colonize, then stayed just far enough ahead of them to ensure they followed us to the new planet. When they detected the planet, we beamed a covert away team aboard the colony ship and had our starship retreat well beyond their sensor range. I was part of the away team. For some reason, our initial mission was to steal their technology, but we began to realize their aggressive behavior was born of desperation, as their supplies had run low. Their paranoia stemmed from having been attacked by pirates and having much of their supplies stolen and destroyed. We decided to aid them in establishing their colony, and infiltrated their society to be in a position to render aid as necessary. They gradually became aware that there were aliens living among them and began taking precautions to try to identify and capture us. I was making friends among the colonists and was spreading information about the wonderful planet below. Meanwhile, my Captain was attempting to covertly repair the colony ship's damaged landing apparatus. As he was finishing up, I was gathering my things preparatory to beaming out of the ship. I remember packing a toothbrush and other items when I heard that an “alien” had been captured (my Captain) while trying to “sabotage the landing equipment”. Before he was discovered, my Captain had initiated the automatic landing sequence. By the time we landed, all the “aliens” but myself had been captured. They were preparing to throw them out the airlock when I stepped forward and opened the doorway to a fantastic, wild landscape. The ship had landed at the bottom of a fertile valley flanked with steep, incredibly tall mountains covered in greenery. I explained that although we “aliens” had been acting covertly, we had only been trying to ensure that they safely arrived on a colonizable planet. 23 FEB 2011 I was a superpowered member of a terraforming team on a distant planet, preparing it to receive colonists. Our commanding officer had developed a dislike for a large native creature that lived in the soil. It bore a striking resemblance to a golden sea turtle. It swam in the soil, eating from the roots of the great, sequoia-like trees that covered most of the land. Our commander had us systematically removing the trees so he could more easily shoot the dirt-turtles when they surfaced for air. I began to realize that these were intelligent creatures and tried to stop the commander from shooting more of them when hordes of them arose from the ground and began counterattacking. The commander was hysterically ordering me to kill them all, but I wouldn't, since they were only defending themselves.

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? Two of the finest made-for-TV movies I have ever enjoyed: The Colour of Magic and Hogfather, in that order, over two days. Not until later did I learn that they were released in reverse order, but fortunately, with few exceptions, most of Pratchett's works are self-contained.

Re: "Neat" Pictures This is a no-sh*t real street near where I live:

Re: A Thread for Random Videos http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2ODomg_fs0&feature=related And possibly the best fan film ever (note that this film runs over 50 minutes): http://www.myspace.com/larryfilmmaker/videos/the-greatest-fan-film-of-all-time/48696182

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares Jungle Book of the Dead

Re: Jokes Sounds like a win to me! I had a thought the other day: Do masochists eat Slappy Joes?

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? I didn't become aware of the series until I'd missed a lot of episodes and I really hate trying to figure out what I missed. Perhaps when it goes into reruns? Watched NOVA Science Now (How Smart are Animals?) and NOVA (Making Stuff Smarter) about "smart materials".

Re: Jokes Speaking of dense teachers, In High School, I had a math teacher who asserted that the number "two" was the only even prime number we knew of, but one might eventually be discovered. I tried to point out that higher even numbers could never be prime, but could not articulate that if it was divisible by any number other than itself and one, it was by definition, "not prime". I can now, of course, but my young mind had never before encountered an authority figure that stupid, and was baffled by her B.S.

Re: Quote of the Week From My Life. You reminded me. One time I wasn't feeling well, but was recovering: "I'm still not myself today, but I'm getting close enough to see me from here." Another, when I came in to work with the beginnings of a cold: "I woke up a little hoarse this morning, but he rolled over and went back to sleep."

Re: What Have You Watched Recently? I'm getting caught up on all the episodes of Being Human (American version) that I recorded since the series began. I also watched Mutant Planet (about Japanese animals, especially their snow monkeys) and the final episode of Pioneers of Television (PBS - about locally-produced children's programming).

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares Spoilered for innuendo.

Re: Pulparize It! True, but with Andy Hardy there wasn't as much singing.

Re: I have a dream. (and MAN was it wierd!) A few weeks ago, I dreamed I accidentally killed someone. I got all my friends to help cover it up, but we were planning to take it on the lam, when it suddenly occured to me that I was dreaming. One of my friends was distraught over being part of the cover-up, so I explained to him that he'd be alright, since it was only a dream. That cheered him right up.

Re: A Thread for Random Videos Avenue Q (a Sesame Street parody) performing: The Internet is for Porn Spoilered for adult language If you're likely to take offense you shouldn't go poking your nose in there.

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares The Adventures of Diane Sawyer The Adventures of Rin Tintin The Musical Adventures of Sherlock Holmes The Stepford Wives' Children from a Previous Marriage The Rockford Files Jim Rockford shows off his collection of antique tools

Re: Steampunk - Source Material I want a steam-powered back-up power supply for my laptop so I can capture and re-use that blast of hot air it makes whenever the cooling fans kick in.

Re: A Thread for Random Videos Japan. *shakes head*

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares I just misread something and must share quickly before I forget: Privates of the Carribean

Re: Genre-crossover nightmares I've never seen a carrot falm before. When is this coming out?

Re: I have a dream. (and MAN was it wierd!) I was in a foreign country talking to someone about how Palestinian terrorists were routinely airdropped into Israel to perform nuisance raids. Just then, as if to demonstrate, several “supersonic” bombers resembling the XB-70 flew overhead, dropping huge boxes that floated down by parachute. The nearest box struck the top of a nearby building, cartwheeling to the ground below, where it broke open, revealing its payload: a truckload of terrorists. They were, however, less than terrifying. They scrambled around trying to pick up all the equipment they had dropped when their box broke open, then tried to pile back into their truck, with everyone getting in each others' way, dropping equipment, tripping over the dropped equipment and the terrorists bending over to pick up the dropped equipment. I turned to my companion and remarked: “Those aren't terrorists. They're the Keystone Cops!” (Quite unusual for me, since my dreams are usually wordless.) They finally got into the truck with all their gear and their “terrorist act” was to spray a slippery, soapy substance on a steep street, so vehicles couldn't use it. One “scooter” tried to go up the street but couldn't make it. I looked at it closely and saw it was powered by an old-school Volkswagen H-4 air-cooled boxer motor. I got on my own scooter/motorcycle and went up the street using the un-sprayed sidewalk. When I got to the top of the street, I noticed that the intersection was set up to handle traffic driving on the left. From this clue, I knew I must be in London, and began driving on the “correct” (left) side of the street. I went to a youth hangout and discovered that instead of stairs, they had ladders, so rather than go inside, I went “home”. Apparently I was in England as part of my military service, and only remembered that fact just then. I was worried that I might get in trouble for failure to report when I decided it was time for lunch. We went to an English fast-food restaurant and I couldn't recognize anything on the menu. Everything was from another culture but I wanted fish and chips. I had just discovered something on the menu that might be fish and chips and was going to ask the server if that's what it was when I woke up.

Re: "Neat" Pictures A photo of a rare "Whistling Dalmation", a dog which is utterly silent unless the wind is blowing. For some reason, they invariably weigh much less than other dogs their size.