I'm planning to put this on ATT as soon as it's back up, but I felt like bouncing it off any GuP watchers here anyway:

Quote:The tank battles are actually all in virtual reality.  This is why no one gets broken bones or worse when their tanks are flipped upside down and set on fire.  The girls Miho rescued from drowning in her character-defining moment were in no real danger at all.  This makes her mother — and Erika — not quite as dickish as they'd seemed.

On the other hand, as Maho pointed out, Miho's determination not to yield her subordinates even to simulated death breeds an esprit de corps and devotion to their leader that lets a pack of newbies defeat veteran players and overwhelming odds ... so this hypothesis does NOT mean Miho's the idiot Shiho and Erika call her.  Rather, she's deliberately playing at a higher level of difficulty than they are.  And beating the odds anyway.

Virtual reality also mitigates the apparent wastefulness of the whole program.  That shopkeeper wasn't talking about remodeling with insurance money after his shop was wrecked, but remodeling with profits from people visiting the shop because it featured so prominently in the broadcast.  Free advertising, yay!  And those impossibly large ships?  Hey, the computer simulates those, too.  Everything's really all taking place on land at Oarai.

The simulation is so good that people, especially young people, often lose track of the fact that this isn't the real world.  That's why Mako, flaking out, thought she had to swim to get to her ailing grandmother, rather than simply logging out of the simulation and catching a taxi. 

...this election season, you're friendly neighbourhood Canadians on the Net provide this:

Sorry to bring this up so late, Bob, but you noted in the Concordance that in November 2015 you revised the Chapter 1 scene in which Doug meets Charlie's family plus Ron's friends, to reflect that Charlie met Hermione and Harry the year before.  Except that I was rereading that scene just this morning, and....

Quote:"And ... I have no idea who you two are."

"Oh, dear, I'm sorry." Mrs. Weasley suddenly turned to them and, taking their hands, drew them into the mob. "Charlie, these are Ron's friends..."

Hermione stepped down off the staircase and flashed a smile at the pair. "Hermione Granger. I watch over these two and make sure they do their homework on time."

"Woman's a bloody taskmaster, too," Ron muttered from somewhere in the center of the group, to his other siblings' laughter.

She ignored that and finished, "It's good to see you again, Charlie."

He returned the smile. "You, too, Hermione." Charlie's gaze tracked over to Harry and he nodded with a lopsided grin. "And this," he said, turning back to Doug, "is the famous Harry."

So as I was driving back home from work my iPod cues the Star Trek: Voyager theme followed by the Ulysses 31 theme.

So it occurs to me if Voyager would actually work better if it was written following the template of The Odyssey as they did on Ulysses 31.

Any thoughts?

So these past few weeks I found this video channel and it's basically a video blog about a couple living in Japan. What they like, what they miss, and slice of life videos showing some of their daily lives. I find it fun and informative, so without further ado:

http://www.youtube.com/user/TexaninTokyo

Here's a few Japanese-style recipes - beef kushiyaki, chicken karaage, and sriracha jalapeño salmon sushi rolls.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ku ... -1.3799948

Did you know that Jackson Pollock won an award for his apple pie recipe?
http://www.cbc.ca/radio/asithappens/as- ... -1.3076520
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-37643621]Bob Dylan has been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature

(EDIT because I came up with a better thread title)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

From The Drive:

Quote:BMW has unveiled a motorcycle designed to represent the company’s view of the future of riding.

The Motorrad Vision Next 100 concept, as BMW calls it, is a pie-in-the sky piece of futuristic design.

Instead of a traditional suspension or steering apparatus, the bike itself bends as needed, always staying upright. The tires also morph as needed, changing their tread on the fly for the best grip.

BMW says that between the self-balancing features and the futuristic aerodynamics, riders could safely use the Motorrad Next 100 without protective outwear – or even a helmet.

Don’t expect to see this bike in your BMW showrooms anytime soon. Like the Next 100 vehicles created for Rolls-Royce, Mini, and BMW’s car division, this Motorrad is strictly vaporware designed to stir up imaginations and provide a preview into the potential future.

As I continue to work out the details of the Ministry Battle, I inevitably come up with new, cool things for Doug to do.
I then immediately figure out how to let a member of the DA do them instead.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

I'm sure that I'd recognize it if I knew anything about modern weaponry.
http://www.sharecg.com/v/86218/
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012