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      Welcome!   03/05/2016

      Welcome, everyone, to the new 910CMX Community Forums. I'm still working on getting them running, so things may change.  If you're a 910 Comic creator and need your forum recreated, let me know and I'll get on it right away.  I'll do my best to make this new place as fun as the last one!

CritterKeeper

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Posts posted by CritterKeeper

  2. Posted

    There are magical systems where what the caster thinks is true is the major determining factor in how their magic works.  So, if they think a spell takes a lot of energy, but they can draw that energy from a local thunderstorm, or the emotions of a rock concert or cult or orgy, or from ambient heat, then they are able to do so.  At one point Harry Dresden took advantage of the ambient heat thing to freeze wet pavement beneath a pursuer and send them sprawling by casting a fireball into the air.

    If someone in such a world believes that a baby's first giggle is more powerful than a hurricane, well.....

  3. Posted

    Yes, it was definitely just transformations that couldn't be used for healing.  If you have wrinkles at 45, and transform to a saved pattern of yourself at eighteen, no more wrinkles.  If you have a gash in your leg, and you transform into that 18-year-old self, then you become a teenager with a gash in her leg, and possibly a worse one.  Chop off a hand, and you can't just grow it back by using a saved pattern of yourself from before your dismemberment.

    I kinda hope her wand can detect and nurture that spark of healing ability.  This party could use a cleric, and there's absolutely no doubt what her alignment is....

  6. Posted

    On 3/20/2019 at 2:50 PM, Scotty said:

    Wouldn't it be crazy if Tensaided's store is based on the one you're talking about?

    I dunno, I think they require you to have a degree to run one of these places.

    6 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

    Wait... Do you mean a Library?

    Bingo!  I almost spelled it out, but at the last minute I thought the books line made it too obvious to need it.

    6 hours ago, ChronosCat said:

    We have a couple of those in the area too, though their DVD/Blu-Ray collections are fairly small. It never even occurred to me they might be able to get other DVDs on loan, but it stands to reason seeing as they do it for books. I'll have to look into that.

    Yeah, our library is pretty cool.  They just remodeled and added a Makerspace/Fab Lab, with everything from paints and sewing machines to a laser cutter and 3D printer.  Unfortunately, I think they cut back on actual *books* during the remodel, and not all of them made it back to the shelves afterward.  I wish they'd checked who had been checking out the less-read or more-worn titles, and offered us the chance to buy them -- I'd have loved to take home the Black Widowers mysteries!

  7. Posted

    We have a fantastic video rental place in my town.  They have almost everything I've looked for, and if they don't have it they'll get it from another branch.  They have all the Doctor Who DVDs and more recent seasons in Blu-ray too, they get all the HBO and Showtime and such series, they have tons of classics.  They charge $1/night, but that only kicks in after one to three weeks, if you return it before then, it's completely free!

    They do the same thing for books, but they're only from 10¢ to 25¢ per day after the first three weeks.

     

    And despite having this great place as competition, we still have a couple of different video rental places still going strong.

  9. Posted

    On 3/14/2019 at 7:03 AM, Illjwamh said:

    2013 - Pope Francis is elected. On the one hand, he's very progressive for a Church figure, particularly one ranked so high. On the other hand, he is still Catholic.

    If he ever isn't, we'll have to check on the habits of bears in the woods....

    1 hour ago, Illjwamh said:

    763 - Harun al-Rashid is born. If that name's not ringing a bell, it should. The Baghdad House of Wisdom, 1001 Nights, Charlemagne's pet elephant, that was all him. The Venn diagram of his lifetime and the height of the Islamic Golden Age is basically a circle.

    Some people would never admit to the existence of such a thing as an Islamic Golden Age.

    Quote

    1805 - Napoleon forms the Kingdom of Italy with himself as king. Who else?

    1861 - The Kingdom of Italy is formed. Everyone is struck with the nagging feeling that they've done this before.

    And you passed up the opportunity to tell us "Who else?"

    Quote

    1950 - Element 98 is created by researchers at UC Berkeley, who name it californium. This narrowly beats out their other ideas: berkelium, newthingium, and whothehellarewekiddingium.

    If there are any young nuclear researchers on here, you have now increased the chances of one of them actually naming such a molecule that last one.  Just ask Eriovixia gryffindori or any of the other species named for Harry Potter references, or Stephen Colbert, or the wasp that twists its abdomen like Shakira, or various other minor planets, organisms, laws (I especially like Newton's Flaming Laser Sword, much sharper than Occam's Razor), chemicals, or units of measurement.

    Biologists are definitely the biggest culprits here.

    Quote

    1979 - Stormy Daniels is born. One day everyone in America will know her name!

    Everyone knows the name Stephanie Clifford?

     

    ChronosCat reacted to this

  11. Posted

    On 3/14/2019 at 7:28 AM, showler said:

    I've watched some videos on that Lockpicking Lawyer youtube channel.  For someone who knows what they are doing, locks are ONLY a psychological deterrent.

    He opens some of those locks faster with a pick than I could with the key.

    One of the local makerspaces is also home to meetings of TOOOL, The Open Order Of Lockpicks.  They have sets of padlocks with from one to six tumblers, and sets of lockpicks anyone attending can use to pick them, starting with the easiest and working your way up.  They'll usually have a few other types of locks to try, and some kind of a lecture or demo (or occasionally drinking games).  The one thing they can't do is sell anyone their own set of lockpicks, as it's illegal in Illinois.  You can possess them, but you can't sell them, kinda like alcohol during Prohibition. ;-)

  13. Posted

    22 hours ago, mlooney said:

    Granted it's only semi-auto,

    For some reason this brings to mind the working title Jim Butcher had for the first Harry Dresdan book, Semiautomagic.

    22 hours ago, mlooney said:

    in that I have to select heat or cool, but it's digital, not the freaking 1950's dial model I had before.

    I have yet to meet a thermostat where you didn't have to flip a switch to go from heating to cooling or vice versa.  No idea why they do it that way.  There are certain times of year it would really be nice to be able to cool during the day and heat at night without any human intervention....

  16. Posted

    Theaters here have pretty nice seats, there's even a couple of theaters with every seat a recliner with a tray you can swing over to enjoy a meal while watching the movie.  They'll deliver to your seat during the movie, but that's annoying to everyone trying to watch that they have to walk in front of to get to you.  There are some regular theaters that have a few double-wide seats, often next to the gaps for wheelchairs and scooters.

  18. Posted

    7 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

    Plus, by now Noriko should know about Van's encounter with Arthur and Tedd, would have checked with Arthur to confirm the story, and would at least thought about having a word with Edward.

    That's assuming Van has told his mother about what happened to him.  Magic kept him longer than the other two, and we really don't know what Magic had to say to him, other than it not being a good idea to tell Tedd right away.  Maybe telling his mom would lead to her contacting Tedd before Magic thinks it's appropriate.

  19. Posted

    Overall, I like this one.  Great expression on Lucy, varied and well-drawn body positions, especially the hands, and I can kinda see how Rhoda's sitting on the armrest between them could bring their heads to the same level (although her legs really don't look like that sort of position).

    My one major gripe is their, ah, endowments.  As I've made clear before, when I see a sketchbook with characters we know and love, I want it to actually be them, not some other body, unless the transformation is an active part of the image/situation.  Part of Lucy and Diane's friendship was Diane's support of Lucy when she was feeling embarassed about getting big breasts as a teen.  Diane is an almost-twin of Susan, and Susan is described as lanky and thin, and unlike Nanase her magic isn't going into her cup size, so it makes more sense for her to have smaller breasts.  Not flat-chested, but not exactly saggy-big either.  And most of the time the art corresponds with that, even more recent art.  Compare Susan's figure to Cheerleadra's here, or Diane's to Charlotte's to Nanase and Ellen's here.

    Diane is far too well-endowed here, while Lucy isn't big enough.  If you wanted big boobs, why not put them on the girl who got an extra helping extra-early?  Sure, you could excuse it by saying they're transformed, but why?

    So, I like this one, a lot, but not 100%. :-)

  20. Posted

    25 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

    To be fair, his reaction did seemed little ... irrational.

    But nothing really out of the ordinary.  Tedd dealt with it pretty quickly, and she was in a much better mood after their talk than he had been before it.  It explained one of the great mysteries in Tedd's life.  Kids often blame themselves when their parents split up, but Tedd is old enough now to realize that parents have motivations too, and are only human.  Tedd can see that her leaving was a fault in her, not Tedd.  And is rational enough to realize the implications of his reaction to the wand almost immediately.

    Quote

    And he was not able to sleep.

    He had a lot on his mind.  Again, Tedd's reaction is nothing unusual for someone who has just found out that their plan for their life isn't going to happen.  I had a friend who wanted to be a Japanese translator, but then discovered that her eyesight was just too bad for the teeny little details of kanji.  She had to completely rethink what her life goals were and figure out how to achieve new ones.

    Quote

    And this looks like depression.

    There's a difference between a normal response to a loss and depression.  Depression is when it's out of proportion or is lasting far longer than it should.  Feeling sad isn't depression.  Feeling regrets isn't depression.  Even mourning isn't necessarily depression, indeed it can be quite healthy and failing to mourn a loss is what's unhealthy.

    Quote

    And he mentioned previously that thinking about Edward being wrong brings out the angst (can't find it now).

    It was Elliot and Tedd on the basement couch, wasn't it?  No, wait, maybe I'm thinking of Tedd angsting over breakups.  Well, I know what you mean, anyway, and I don't think a little anxiety is the same thing as becoming so withdrawn people thought Tedd was mute.  Edward's fears are way overblown, and sadly show a real lack of confidence in Tedd's ability to deal.  He doesn't see how much Tedd has grown and changed (Insert joke about bra cup sizes here).

    Quote

    It's possible that if he would learned the fact that his mother abandoned him because he doesn't have magic BEFORE finding out he DOES have magic, it WOULD result in something like that.

    I don't think so.  Even then, he had friends to help him through, and despite their differences and trust issues, I don't think Tedd actually doubts that Edward loves him.  Tedd had accepted his "thing" and could talk about it rationally with Sarah, not to mention work on ways to compensate for it.  I see a little sadness, a little regret, but nothing more.  Even just talking about it with a friend is healthy.

    Quote

    (Also, I doubt that Edward would realize that now when Tedd knows he's seer it's safe to tell him about his mother, no matter how much sense it makes.)

    I think it would have been "safe" long before this, but the timing certainly is better this way.

  21. Posted

    1 hour ago, hkmaly said:

    But unless he told Edward, Edward doesn't KNOW he knows.

    Exactly.  Tedd is keeping secrets from his father and that sort of thing tends to snowball.

    ("His" father because that's the form Tedd is in on this page)

    Last we heard, Mr. Verres was almost certain that learning about his mother, even just the fact that she was a famous monster-hunter, would send him into a severe withdrawl from everyone and likely depression.

  22. Posted

    1 hour ago, hkmaly said:

    EDIT: Although I wonder: could it be that they record everything but it takes then some time before they go through it and analyze it?

    Or, they could record and archive it all, and only go analyse the recordings if they have cause to later.

  23. Posted

    23 minutes ago, Scotty said:

    Did they have to stay hush hush about it and make sure none of the faculty found out?

    I think it was pretty much an open secret.  Whoever would have had to take action deliberately didn't know.  If someone had complained, I suppose they might have had to make them switch back.  The dorm was a special interest one, specifically for the science fiction club, so I'm pretty sure they had more autonomy that a regular dorm would have, although not as much as a frat house.

  24. Posted

    9 hours ago, Scotty said:

    I would hope that Dan plans on rewinding to where Tedd tells Edward about that, maybe the next storyline starts with Tedd telling Edward what happened and how Arthur wants to give him a lab and requested that Ashley learn how to wizard under his observation, and figure out what happened to Ellen.

    I can see three ways that would go:

    * Wall of text exposition, recaping stuff we've already seen but the two haven't shared with each other.  This is what the Dan of the first couple of years of the comic would have done.

    * Skilful use of the conversation to recap things as a way of making sure everyone is up to date and remembers all the relevant facts, to set up the next storyline.  Dan could definitely handle this now.

    * Cleverly using the conversation to reveal layers of information about the characters, their differing perceptions of what's happened, and the differences in their attitudes and plans, as well as working in information new to us as well as the characters.  I am confident that Dan has evolved enough as a storyteller to be able to do this; although it's a lot more work to do well, the payoff is a joy to read!

  25. Posted

    8 minutes ago, Scotty said:

    If they have to be paired...that might be tricky if there are strict rules that prevent sharing rooms with members of the opposite sex.

    My sister was assigned to a double with another girl.  Her roommate had a boyfriend, who had a single.  So, one swap later, my sister had a single for the price of a double, and the happy couple was, well, happy.