Cpt. Obvious

Actually we've come pretty close to having transparent aluminium. The two materials that I know of that comes close are sapphires and aluminum oxynitride. Zaphire is simply said aluminium oxide in crystal form (α-Al2O3), while aluminum oxynitride is a ceramic composed of aluminium, oxygen and nitrogen. A sapphire can be grown to the desired size and then cut into panes that are polished to the desired surface finish. The drawback is that this is expensive to grow, and that machining sapphire requires expensive tooling as it is the third hardest material known, 9 on the Mohs scale after diamond at 10 and moissanite at 9.5. (had to look up moissanite, can't remember hearing about that in school) Sapphire has been used to make windows for fighting vehicles as it has excellent optical properties and is very resistant to bullets and abrasion from sand. Aluminum oxynitride is a material that got nicknamed transparent aluminum but is marketed under the name ALON. The material can be formed using ceramic powder processing techniques and can be formed into just about any desired shape. ALON can be used as a replacement for traditional bulletproof glass, making them less than half as thick and much lighter than a traditional glas laminate.

Oh. Right. Thanks, one thing less to worry about I guess.

Sorry for the double post. Long time since I visited these forums, and I seem to have misplaced the delete button. (We do have a delete button, right?)

Just have another one, rinse and repeat until confusion goes away. Shouldn't take long...

That last panel. That was probably exactly the same face I made the first time I tasted akvavit. I think I was something like seven or eight and very curious about what it was in those small glasses my parents drank from sometimes at more festive occasions. So eventually my father took a few drops on a spoon an let me taste. I thought my tongue would never work again, and the burn! But it worked. I think I was at least 17 before I had another taste, and it wasn't much more favorable, and even now when I'm over 50 I'm still not into the hard stuff for the burn or the alcohol. Don't like most wine either, and beer is something I can appreciate but doesn't feel is necessary to have a good time. Having said that some drinks can be dangerously delicious. A good example is a Long Island iced tea. That's 1 part Vodka, 1 part Gin, 1 part Tequila, 1 part Triple sec, 1 part Rum, 2 parts sweet and sour mix, a slice of lemon and a splash of Cola for color. It may sound like the recipe for a cure for sobriety, and it is, and yet it tastes great while putting you on your ass. Enjoy with care...

A document like that might help getting people up to speed on these kinds of issues. At the same time I wouldn't have the guts to try to compose one. If it's any help you may use anything I've posted on this forum however you like for a project like this.

Warning! Incoherent rambling ahead! Possibly uncomfortable and raw on feelings. I started writing this last night but never finished. Tried to pick it up and finish it today but failed to beat the rambling into something readable, so I'm posting it as is... Oh, there may be some who feel uncomfortable by the use of words like "freak" and "normal". The thing is that neither of these are absolutes, but both are things that a lot of people use in their mind when comparing themselves to those around them. For some being a freak means getting turned on by shoes, for others it might be wanting to have sex with bicycles, but only those with a "ladies" frame. Or it might be that you feel that being gay is enough that you label yourself as a freak. I'm not saying that it's healthy, but it certainly is way more common than it should be. I've tried to read through it to make sure there aren't any really bad triggers, but I may have missed them. If you find anything really objectionable then drop a PM and I'll see if I can rework that part or I'll delete it all if necessary. Or you can just ask a moderator to nuke the post if it's that bad. I know I had some idea I thought was important when I started writing this, but now I'n not certain I managed to communicate it in this text... Just because she likes to play a some what risky game with her friends it doesn't mean she's suddenly some kind of sex fiend. She probably figured out that she's a "freak" at a very early age. Discovering that you are different from the "norm" can be quite hard on a kid. There are a lot of us here on this board that has gone through this, and a lot of posts has been written about how that has influenced our lives. We have yet to learn anything about Ashley's parents. Most parents want their kids to be successful and fit into society, and usually this means they should be "normal", because that's what their parents taught them. It's easy to hurt someone unintentionally by assuming that your "normal" is going to fit all. At the same time you should not assume that any time someone is claiming something you consider part of the "normal" range to be abnormal they are doing so because they hate you. There are so many ways to deviate from any definition of "normal" you are likely to run into that it's almost bound to happen to all of us, even those who consider themselves cis normal heterosexual. What we've seen of Ashley she seems well adjusted and outgoing. She doesn't seem to have many issues with her sexual orientation or gender. She has said she consider herself somewhat bisexual, and she's had fantasies about gender swapping and transformation of herself as well as of others. Of these only the part about being bisexual might have caused much of a negative reaction from others as the transformation and gender swapping are just fantasies as far as most know. However even if her parents and close friends might not be bothered by her sexuality it's likely she's had enough people react negatively that she's taken to keeping that to her self only trusting close friends and potential boy or girl friends about it. Secrets like these, as small and unimportant as some of them may seem, can easily cause a kid to classify itself as somewhat of a "freak", and that can put a damper on things like dating or even socializing with people they find themselves attracted to. In Ashley's case it can be as simple as her feeling that she doesn't want to have to choose between a girlfriend an a boyfriend, but that she want it all. Polyamory may be a hurdle for a youth trying to fit in and it's not certain that it would be the right thing for Ashley. Add bisexuality and it doesn't get easier. Now she's met Elliot, and it all started with her seeing him transform into a woman. Elliot ticks off some boxes in Ashley's spec sheet that no one else she's met could touch. Elliot can be both boyfriend and girlfriend without the need for a poly amorous relationship. This probably lowers the threshold significantly. Her previous relationship was probably not something she went into wholeheartedly. I doubt she told him about her possible bisexuality or wishing she could have both a girlfriend and a boyfriend. She wanted to fit in with the rest of society and she needed to find out if she could be happy in a classical Boy / Girl relationship. Now she had the bad luck of hooking up with a manipulative jerk. This time she met someone that fit her preferences way better, someone who is genuinely nice, and who is surrounded by family and friends that many would consider weirder freaks than her. Add that she has learned that magic is a real thing, that transformation isn't confined to comic's and fairy tales and suddenly sharing her fantasies and wishes with these new friends feels safe. Exhibitionism might or might not turn her on. Having wardrobe malfunctions in a game about transformations doesn't necessarily mean it's about sex or being sexy. It could just be another part of the game, and for what it's worth they are not likely to look much like themselves at any time after the game has started.

It's all about the money. Going with a well established format means the risks are low, but also that it probably wont bring in the really big money. A new and untested format or blowing life back into an old format means more of a risk, but could potentially pull in a lot of money. Problem is that if the new show is a success then there will pop up several similar series that dilutes the market share and cut into the earnings.

Still to scary... It's a monster! Maybe I could take it out in the garden and throw it on the lawn, but I'd still have large holes to repair, and I doubt it would roll very well.

The largest dice I've got is about 7 cm across, and is massive brass... I've never even tried rolling it. Any surface hard enough not to crack, dent or break is almost bound to cause damage to the dice, not to mention what would happen if it decided to roll off the table... But it should make an excellent improvised weapon...

Double post!.... Seems I can't deleate it myself, so Ignore or remove...

When walking around town glass shards doesn't seem that common on the pavement. But seeing how often my friends have had to bring their dogs to the vet to have glass shards removed from their paws there have to be a lot more of it than I would have thought. One problem is that the smallest, slimmest shards are very hard to collect, and those are exceptionally good at cutting into an unprotected paw. So even though you might think that there's no glass on the sidewalk there may very well be a lot of needle like slivers just waiting for an unprotected foot or paw to step on them. In a world where furries are a thing I think there would be protective paw wear created. Something like a sandal with a thin kevlar reinforced rubber sole should do the trick. But then there's the possibility that people using these would lose some of the paws natural toughness just like we humans does when wearing shoes.

And then there's all the crap you find on the sidewalks and streets. Old chewing gum, bird droppings, half eaten burgers pulled from trashcans by birds, shattered glas and all that other crap you really don't want to step in. At least a pair of sandals is probably a good thing if you're going to walk around town.

I feel I've seen this discussion before, but that might have been another forum... Tail hole is kind of impractical for those with bushy tails. Trying to thread the tail through it can be time consuming and uncomfortable, not to mention a bother when removing the garment in a hurry. Some thing like a u-shaped clasp might work better, allowing the garment to be pulled up much like for someone lacking a tail. Other than that buttons, snaps, velcro or a zipper may work, but probably not in a bikini bottom...

You might find it disturbing that you've missed out on almost three decades of movies using that story line. Though fortunately for you and unfortunately for everyone who have suffered through these they have not become any better no matter how many times they try to reinvent them.

That's what they want you to think...

The thought that she'd managed to kill off more than those at the mall is a bit disturbing, and I don't think that's what happened. But even so I have a feeling that we are seeing the beginning of the end of Box. What's the odds that the "new" Pandora will be very childlike and end up in the care of Adrian, with the gang being roped in as baby sitters and muscle to keep a young immortal from causing too much mischief?

I heard that to. Why? Dunno why, it just seems to be one of those things where society decided that wearing socks with sandals is the worst thing a person can do in fashion. Makes me wanna suit up in biker leathers and sandals with socks just to see who feels like pointing out just how daft that combo is to the 250 lbs bearded biker... But it's below freezing outside so I won't, today...

Or how about the way Florence Ambrose explained it? 'Any technology, no matter how primitive, is magic to those who don't understand it.'

Warning! Topic drift: This was one thing that I found very entertaining when I started playing Gurps way back. In every system I'd seen Wizards and magic users in general tended to be some what undeveloped physically. In Gurps they looked like body builders. Reason was that casting spells cost fatigue, and fatigue was based on strength. So the magical powerhouse was quite likely to be built like Andre the Giant... Some gentle tweaking got that under control, but it was funny the first time we played and the wizard humiliated the fighters in strength based games. This was using the Basic rules 2nd or 3rd edition. Never read fourth edition so I don't know if they changed that.

Yep, land lubbers the lot of them.

It's those small jumps... They make all the difference.

Mike didn't get hit anywhere that much. However, I do accept Mike Tyson as the authority on ear biting. But he did spend a lot of time observing how people reacted to being hit in the mouth, and that from up close. I'm sure he saw many who stepped into the ring with a plan on how to win, but ended up quickly formulating a new plan called survive! The ear munching was an example of Mike getting frustrated when his opponent repeatedly refused to follow the plan and kept hitting Mike in the mouth. New plan was called "Hit me one more time and I'll chew your ear off". Though unconventional and unexpected it wasn't particularly successful in the long run.

They've animated The Smurfs? First I've ever heard about that... What's next? Animating Gaston, Spirou or Lucky Luke? yes, yes, yes and yes. I'm sorry. (Actually, the Gaston seems to not be related ... or maybe they just took some creative liberties ...) Definitely unrelated Gaston. I was thinking of Gaston Lagaffe, who apparently haven't been turned into an animated TV series. There was a movie adaptation, but the author refused to allow them to use the character names, so I can't really take it seriously. I guess he knew it never could live up to the comic.

Well, Mary of Exeter didn't have any problem with archers, at least as far as I'm aware, but she did get into a fight with some hawks the Germans kept. They wounded her in the neck and right breast, but she was able to return to duty after two months. On a later mission she had a run in with someone with a scatter gun, got her wingtip shot off and several pellets in her body. She was eventually retired after being hit by shrapnel, tearing her neck muscles badly, but still she got through. Her owner made a leather harness that allowed her to keep her head up even though the muscles were just so much minced meat. Her retirement was however not to be as pleasantly quiet as a Lady with her merits deserve as in 1942 the germans managed to drop a bomb on the loft where she was spending her days. But once again she pulled through and survived even this, though a lot of the other pigeons in the loft were killed. She was presented with the Dickin Medal in November of 1945, and eventually died in 1950. With no dropped packages she had a pretty good record...