The Old Hack

Yeah, he can put on a raincoat and use an umbrella when it is raining, for example.

They didn't. They dominated the Romans, then the Romans got tired of them around the time of Tarquin the Arrogant and booted them out. After a few false starts the Romans then made their Empire.

#notallschools is all very nice but doesn't solve the problem of the schools that are very backwards and in some subjects are worse than nothing. Still, I am glad to hear that you had better teachers than that.

There is also the possibility that this is simply how summoning in general works. The basic ability allows you to keep one special summoned item around and no more; possibly you can summon other things as well but they will lack in magical power. Unless they are summoned with a different ability altogether, such as the hammers.

The funny thing is that when Ian Fleming originally came up with a name, he wanted a name that was nothing like what you would expect a secret agent or spy to have. He chose 'James Bond' because it sounded so utterly boring and bland. Like someone working in an office. A travel agent, for example. Nowadays, of course, whenever anyone says 'James Bond' people instantly think of the action superspy.

We are talking about an educational system saddled with well-meaning parents who wanted to ban a dictionary because it carried the definition of 'oral sex.' It is amazing how that can distort what is allowed to go into it and come out of it. *sigh*

I just realised that Voltaire is not even nearly as smart as he thought he was. He had hoped that magic's change would do away with the current crop of magicians. But if it had indeed changed, the doomsday scenario Tedd and the other seers foresaw would have happened and magic would have had to become permanent shortly after -- with two systems loose instead of one. So Voltaire's master plan to render humanity helpless by traumatising Tedd would, had it worked, instead armed the mortals with a hell of a lot bigger arsenal.

More importantly, if she is indeed a travel agent, is she double-0 rated?

Ohmigod. It would be the return of... the Frozen Waffle.

I really love today's update to The Whiteboard. Also, the last speech bubble shows that surprisingly, Roger has some common ground with Davros.

Pandora just about said as much here.

It would have helped if it had ended right after the intro scroll.

I absolutely refuse to have a model of Reptilicus erected if the impossible should happen and the Olympics should ever decide to visit Copenhagen.

Queen Margrethe the First of Denmark. She managed to get a bunch of unruly noblemen united and pointed in the same direction and then unite Denmark, Norway and Sweden into the Union of Kalmar. She also wasn't afraid of stomping on the Church if it started to get ideas about having too much political power. Ultimately the Union fell apart due to her successors being a lot less competent than her.

They are not burdened with as much responsibility as you are. Anyone who is responsible for not only the Sun coming up in the morning but also a vast kingdom stretching along the Nile does tend to be under a not insignificant amount of stress.

No.

Not after Noriko actually got named, no. But no matter what, I'd never have chosen her for Van's father, at least not after she was already identified as his mother.

Because I am in certain ways very predictable. For example, Phill is my usual go-to character when I wish to make a completely ridiculous prediction of an unknown character's true identity.

You call that a crackpot theory? Back on the old Keenspot forums I claimed that it was the Goo that was Tedd's mother. So there.

Okay. Prepare for a full bore rant. As well as movie spoilers for Thor: Ragnarok. You have been warned. ***** SPOILERS AHEAD ***** I finally had a chance to see Thor: Ragnarok. To quote Spoony from his review of Breaking Dawn: PIECE OF SHIT. THIS MOVIE WAS A PIECE OF SHIT. I will freely admit, I am on record as having said that as a Scandinavian, I do not at all mind the Thor superhero franchise. It might only have born a vague resemblance to the actual Thor and Asgard but at least Jack Kirby did an excellent job of creating a very entertaining world. And many of his followers, especially Walt Simonson, have added ideas of lasting value to it. Even the first two Thor movies did nothing to shift my opinion. While in my opinion neither could be called a masterpiece, they at least served as quite decent popcorn movie entertainment. And now we have Thor: Ragnarok. A few words of explanation. Ragnarok was also known as the Twilight of the Gods. It was the doom that awaited Asgard and that All-Father Odin spent so much time preparing for and mustering forces and troops against. It was the epic battle where the bravest of the Gods would take up arms to defend their home so that some might survive and build something new. Odin would fall in battle with the Fenris Wolf, Thor himself would at long last slay the Midgard Serpent only to be fatally poisoned by cascades of its venom falling into his wounds. It was an epic tragedy and Wagner wrote an entire opera about it. Ragnarok is part and parcel of Scandinavian legends and is at the heart of the myths I grew up with and loved as a child. For all the above reasons, when I sit down to watch a movie titled Thor: Ragnarok, I do not expect to be met with a pratfall comedy. For that matter, I do not particularly want one, either. I will give certain spoilers. They can do little harm in any case as there is about as much left to spoil as there would be in a horse's carcass which had been left in the sun for a week. What I will say is that right away the movie gives us its entire theme and content: Bad jokes. Lots and lots of bad jokes. Thor is confronting one of the most dreaded foes of Asgard of legend, one that was the focus of many a tale in his own right, and Thor deals about as seriously with him as Spider-Man would deal with a mugger. Except that in the latter case it might actually be funny. Just to be sure that there is no tension at all in the movie, we are immediately treated to a detailed explanation of how the movie's plot will be resolved. By the time we are about one third of the way into the movie, it gets underlined again just in case we missed it. Or in case we had lost track of it amidst all the horrible bad jokes. Odin, All-Father and most powerful of the Gods, dies because the manuscript says so and if he didn't there wouldn't be a movie. Hela appears, played by Cate Blanchett, whose acting talents are entirely wasted as all she does is cackle villainously and chew the scenery. Thor and Loki both get hurled into infinite space and coincidentally both arrive on the same planet. That was lucky. They also meet the Hulk there. They pick up a random valkyrie, come up with a stupid story explaining why she is the only valkyrie we have only seen, conveniently give her cause to hate Hela and they all four go home to Asgard to kick Hela's arse. The End. Yeah, there was more to it than that. I will give exactly what now. It was bad jokes, bad jokes, incredibly bad jokes and plagiarised cool scenes from comics ten thousand times better than this movie. Only here they fall flat instead of coming across as dramatic. Oh yeah, lest I forget, there was also some bad jokes. They kinda sorta try to become serious one third of the way before the end but it is way too late. And even then, what little drama is left in the ending is undermined by -- you guessed it -- bad jokes. I actually spent money on this movie. And two hours of my life watching it. I am so mad. Grrrrrrr. I am going to go try to calm down now. ~tOH.

The Moderator: I truly apologise but I do not currently feel able to reopen the politics thread. I am entirely to blame as it is my judgment that it would at this time be too difficult for me to manage to remain aloof in judging potential conflicts. I am very sorry. ~tOH.

In spite of his obvious and epic influence, wicked tongues have nonetheless claimed that he is a mere philler character. Well, there is the foreign part, but I feel that 'child' is also a considerable part of it. For all his intelligence, Van is rather young to entrust with anything as vital as research into the effect of magic becoming a public part of society as well as manifacturing defences against it. I'd give him a few more years to mature first. I admit that I am somewhat biased as pertains to the Second World War due to the minor fact that US intervention helped free my homeland and ensured that at least some part of my family did not perish in the extermination camps. (To be exact, the part I am descended from -- a fact that is important to me at least.) Also, I personally feel that ultimately Japan also played some little role in causing the United States to enter World War 2 and so the British alone cannot be entirely blamed for that. Similarly, I hold it that the Zimmerman telegram and the unrestricted submarine warfare together justify the claim that the British do not bear the full weight of responsibility for America's entry into the first World War, either.

We have a fairly short suspect list. We need adult male characters at least in their late twenties or older. They are not that common in EGS. All we need to do is consult Illjwamh's list. Excluding Mr. Verres, we have: Mr. Raven Greg (seems unlikely) Mr. Tensaided Dex (seems very unlikely) Dr. Sciuridae Agent Wolf Principal Verrückt (please God, no) Mr. Pompoms Mr. Dunkel (which would be really creepy, so please no) Emissary of Magic (seems unlikely) Also a few male Immortals I am going to rule out. It is of course possible that Van's father has never been shown incomic but only been referred to.

Nah. He is saying that he is old and only returned to solve this particular crisis. Since the situation has now developed beyond the time where it is 'solvable', he intends to retire again and allow younger people with a fresh point of view to take over. As to who gets to be his replacement, my vote goes to Agent Cranium. As to the speculation about who could possibly be Van's father, please do not be ridiculous. There is only one possible candidate to fill the position.

Would you mind explaining why? No criticism of your opinion intended, I am honestly interested. As an aside, EGS is not unproblematic. Dan has stepped in it before. If you find something he has done offensive or unpleasant, he is not unresponsive to reasoned criticism. I urge you to make contact with him rather than remain silent if something makes you unhappy.