So, back in 1978, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Lawrence Kasdan sat down together over several days to brainstorm a movie idea Lucas had had, which he was calling Raiders of the Lost Arc. 
And they tape-recorded it all.
And the transcript is online.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/3/26/41497 ... ron-swartz]Citing a "crisis of conscience" over the journal's online licensing terms  This leaves the Journal of Library Administration without any editorial staff whatsover and its next issue dead in the water because its owners are less than open to the idea of charging anything less than thousands of dollars for access to the journal.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

See http://peabodyawards.com/2013/03/72nd-a ... f-winners/]here.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Hey troops, I'm making a variable Me-262 Schwalbe (plus HG.II version with 35 degree wing sweep instead of 18) but I have two nearly equal variants of the robot mode I can't decide between.

Considered on its own I tend toward Type A, but with space-tech versions of the Lorins a VMe-262 HG.II would be able to make orbit on its own, and "get earth ready to fight the aliens" is basically the whole justification for Germany being the aggressor (by wiping out undesirable "weak" strains of humanity, communism, etc. - I never said they were the good guys!)

Got sidetracked. Anyway, givn the emphasis on capability to fight space-based enemies, fighters that can get up there or back down without needing a mothership have obvious importance - otherwise, the only option for that mission type until the 70s style original designs that only appear very late and if you put particular effort into creating them is the variable V-2.

So, do you prefer TYPE 1:




* can use OTL landing gear
* V-shape folded backpack is common element with variable V-2
* less time to pop the wings out for boost jumps
* arms have room to swing back for melee or holding a gunpod

or TYPE 2:




* flatter backpack
* better field of view from head & cockpit
* easily mounts OTL Lorin ramjet boosters



It is possible to have the normal transformation use type 1 but switch to type 2 with optional equipment attached, but this still means I have to come up with different landing gear... for voting purposes, call this TYPE 3

Game design is not a democracy, but I will count audience response when making the final decision.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

Does anyone know of a Windows personal finance application that can read Microsoft Money 1998 files?  Failing that, does anyone know where I can get a copy of Microsoft Money 1998?  I have a CD, somewhere -- it's just been misplaced for at least a year.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

So, I'm doing the Academy Event (farming dilithium) on the KDF side. And I have a general observation. 

I think there's something up with tailors in the Trek verse. 

Remember Garak from DS9? How much of a sneaky, charming, back-stabbing bad-ass he was? 

Well, I just watched a Klingon TAILOR pull out pistols (and/or a Batleth) and gun/slice down the Holo-Feddie I'm fighting (several times) ^^;;

Klingon tailors are like Riddick. "I'll kill you with my teacup."

No matter how polite they might be, don't get the idea you can fuck with them. Just. Don't. Seriously. 

That is all.

Well it is. After receiving recommendations that I should be using a 64-bit version of my current OS, amongst other things like have more ram and getting increasingly tired of an intermittent boot issue and a dead SATA port. I went the overkill approach, acquired an OEM Win 7 pro SP1 64-bit key + disk and after browsing an at hand PC mag their recommendation for a CPU & motherboard from The Beastie selection (aka you really want to spend enough dosh for a car on a computer?) and finally installed the larger WD 'Raptor I'd had handy.

Problem 1: things are broken. Blizzard's games work, Steam stuff works, Origin....works. My SSD like boot+data drive setup is partally functional, IE was back, then it broke. My email app isn't working, in fact any local application that uses Windows Live is dead to me. Uncompressing files come out empty. Windows Media Center's dead too, but that's probably down to the fact the TV tuner I've got has some dodgy drivers which won't work with 64-bit, plus it's got some suspiciously bulging capacitors.
Problem 2: I can't re-do the windows install as my keyboard doesn't get detected for some reason
Problem 3: I've still not tracked down all my install disks - not an issue for anything cloud-esc (re: Origin, Stream) just means I'm without office on this system till I find them.
Problem 4: I need a IDE channel, so I can use the RPC-1 DVD-Rom drive, I think I've got an IDE controller in my parts pile, see end of previous sentence.

I'm beginning to think step one should've been do a complete backup & restore to a fresh 64-bit install, which I sort of did with creating a backup on my WHS device and a interim WFST. I just can't get the Windows Home Server to talk to this system and the Windows File & Settings Transfer tool did a half hearted job.

At least I've improved my "Windows Experience Index" or I would have if I'd installed a true SSD or a readyboost device. I'll 3dmark it at some point, should stomp over what'd got previously.

--Rod.H

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/ ... ngton.html
I'm scratching my head on this one. Maybe he doesn't like "Austin City Limits"?
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

I have managed to put together what I think has become my personal favorite jet design. A surprisingly nimble, yet rock stable number I call the Draken. The name was inspired by the Saab Draken because of the double-delta wing shape. (Though this is a twin engine, twin tail jet. So it's kind of like an F-15 Eagle and a Draken combined.)
She's a beauty isn't she? 



Comes standard with Mech-Jeb for auto-piloting (though the plane is super stable even without it. It's just for really long trips). Also has an eject-able cockpit pod with parachutes in case of unrecoverable emergencies. Fly safe!

The only slight problem with the design is that the landing gear makes the Draken sit a bit low in the back. This is not a problem on take-off, and in fact makes take-off a breeze. 

The problem is landing - doing so without dragging the tail into the ground and destroying the jet nozzles in the back was so tricky that I decided to put an extra gear wheel on the tail. It's only needed on landing. On take-off, I stow it before going down the runway so that the Draken is using standard tricycle gear formation. 





The extra air intakes allow superb power to lift ratio - 





They also ram so much air down that I can "air hog" across the very top of the atmosphere. I've recorded a maximum speed of 1573 Meters per second! If I'm not careful, the jet will reach sub-orbital and go right out of the atmosphere!











I did mention that she's nimble, too? How nimble? 

THIS nimble! 

"It's time to buzz the tower, Goose!"











YEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAA!!!!!













All in all I'm quite pleased with this. I've designed other planes before, but never quite hit such a "sweet spot" as this one. ^_^

So, yeah, I'm doing a Let's Play.


I've already got a thread at rpg.net, but since this is my main home online, I thought I'd like to bring it up here, and Bob said it was fine.

The actual updates are posted on my livejournal, with a table of contents being here. What I've done so far covers a bit over the first third of the game.

Questions, comments, and opinions as to whether that thing I did in Update 4 was at all comprehensible are not only welcomed, but actively desired.

-Morgan.