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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!
Scotty

Story, Monday April 30, 2018

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8 hours ago, The Old Hack said:
8 hours ago, hkmaly said:

"Sees everything" ... well, yeah, but just one thing at once. Delegation and redundancy, that was missing.

Weak organisation. Typical of CEOs who try to do everything themselves. Also look at all the health hazards around Mount Doom. That place needed an OSHA overhaul if any place ever did.

It worked well for Lofwyr of Sauder-Krupp. Sauder-Krupp's the largest megacorporation and Lofwyr micromanages everything. Just don't displease the great dragon, or you might end up on his lunch list (Also, implying that he eats those that displease him might displease Lofwyr)

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5 hours ago, Scotty said:

To be fair, Columbus didn't expect to run into another land mass. If the Americas weren't there, he'd have had a clear shot to India.

And he'd have been dead, along with everyone else on all three ships long before he got there.  Humanity had known about how big the Earth is since the ancient Greeks, but Columbus thought that everyone else ever had gotten it wrong, and the world was much smaller than it really was.  If it weren't for bumping into a handy continent, if it'd all been empty ocean like he expected, they'd have run out of food and fresh water in the middle of that vast ocean and died miserably.

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5 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Stupid continents and their drifting around. You'd swear they were deliberately trying to get in the way.

Either that or playing hide-and-seek like Atlantis, Lemuria, and Mu.

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19 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

And he'd have been dead, along with everyone else on all three ships long before he got there.  Humanity had known about how big the Earth is since the ancient Greeks, but Columbus thought that everyone else ever had gotten it wrong, and the world was much smaller than it really was.  If it weren't for bumping into a handy continent, if it'd all been empty ocean like he expected, they'd have run out of food and fresh water in the middle of that vast ocean and died miserably.

Drat, someone had to introduce logic and rationality into this discussion. Spoilsport. *muttermuttergrumble*

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14 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

Okay, these are good points. That volcano was totally an unsafe work space. Also security was awful. Anyone could waltz right in. "The Eye of Sauron sees everything" my ass.

Nobody lives up to their hype, especially not Sauron. 

"Melkor's dead!  I'm the new Melkor!"  Saying it don't make it so.  Especially if you can't even defend your home from random numenorian punks or keep them from lopping off important appendages sporting the key to the entire plot.   If the Evil Overlord List doesn't cover this it should.  Sauron really needed a copy.

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2 minutes ago, Vorlonagent said:

If the Evil Overlord List doesn't cover this it should.  Sauron really needed a copy.

It sorta does.

25: No matter how well it would perform, I will never construct any sort of machinery which is completely indestructible except for one small and virtually inaccessible vulnerable spot.

27: I will never build only one of anything important. All important systems will have redundant control panels and power supplies. For the same reason I will always carry at least two fully loaded weapons at all times.

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21 minutes ago, CritterKeeper said:

And he'd have been dead, along with everyone else on all three ships long before he got there.  Humanity had known about how big the Earth is since the ancient Greeks, but Columbus thought that everyone else ever had gotten it wrong, and the world was much smaller than it really was.  If it weren't for bumping into a handy continent, if it'd all been empty ocean like he expected, they'd have run out of food and fresh water in the middle of that vast ocean and died miserably.

Yes. Maybe it was sheer luck? Maybe, but we don't know a lot about the 15th century for certain, especially about Columbus. Was he really a Christian, for instance? A Catholic? He was supposed to be from Genoa, and Genoa had a sizable Jewish community. Or was he a secret Jew or Muslim from Spain or Portugal? Both of these communities were more literate than the standard from Christian Europe, and both had more experience actually trading with the Far East. Besides the Viking settlements, therre's some evidence that Cod fishermen were already using the Grand Banks off modern Newfoundland before 1492. Columbus might have known or had a reasonable hope that there was something out there worth the risk. Just finding an island large enough to act as a way station for further expeditions might have been his actual goal.

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6 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

It sorta does.

25: No matter how well it would perform, I will never construct any sort of machinery which is completely indestructible except for one small and virtually inaccessible vulnerable spot.

27: I will never build only one of anything important. All important systems will have redundant control panels and power supplies. For the same reason I will always carry at least two fully loaded weapons at all times.

Personally, I also think somewhere along the line Sauron ate a power source bigger than his/her/its head.

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1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

Yes. Maybe it was sheer luck? Maybe, but we don't know a lot about the 15th century for certain, especially about Columbus. Was he really a Christian, for instance? A Catholic? He was supposed to be from Genoa, and Genoa had a sizable Jewish community. Or was he a secret Jew or Muslim from Spain or Portugal? Both of these communities were more literate than the standard from Christian Europe, and both had more experience actually trading with the Far East. Besides the Viking settlements, therre's some evidence that Cod fishermen were already using the Grand Banks off modern Newfoundland before 1492. Columbus might have known or had a reasonable hope that there was something out there worth the risk. Just finding an island large enough to act as a way station for further expeditions might have been his actual goal.

Columbus put on his map of what turned out to be the Caribbean, an island which he did not claim to have ever been within sight of.

There's an island pretty much where he put it. He got the shape of the island about as close to correct as he did the islands he had actually explored, except slightly rotated relative to a north-south line.

Columbus named this island Saint Brendan's Island.

Brendan was an Irish monk from a couple centuries earlier. He disappeared from Ireland, and several years later returned with a story (which he wrote down) about being out fishing in a coracle when a storm came up and swept him out to sea. Surviving by fishing and trapping rainwater in the coracle, he (claimed) eventually came to a tropical island, where he lived for a few years before another storm launched him on a repeat of the process taking him back to Ireland. His story described the island in some detail.

This is one of several reasons to think that Columbus *knew* he would reach some sort of land well before reaching China. But the promise of riches, that would be believed, would be from a safer trade route to China, not from exploring unknown islands that most people didn't believe existed.

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14 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

For all we know they were in Canada by the time Hedge gave them a lift. And all this could been avoided if Tedd had remembered to design that belt to turn Elliot into a catgirl.

Wouldn't they need to go over WATER to get into Canada? I think they would notice that.

14 hours ago, The Old Hack said:
17 hours ago, hkmaly said:

Also, he totally hold grudge from the liberation of Eregion earlier.

(That was when Númenorians helped Gil-Galad liberate Eregion from Sauron's occupation.)

Look, that was all just a big misunderstanding. Sauron actually wanted to occupy the lands to the far south but he got the map turned upside down. It was a mistake anyone could have made.

He was calling himself "Lord of the Earth" and "King of the Men" few years later. I'm sure he wanted to occupy all of the lands. Although he might get the order wrong.

4 hours ago, Vorlonagent said:
4 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

It sorta does.

25: No matter how well it would perform, I will never construct any sort of machinery which is completely indestructible except for one small and virtually inaccessible vulnerable spot.

27: I will never build only one of anything important. All important systems will have redundant control panels and power supplies. For the same reason I will always carry at least two fully loaded weapons at all times.

Personally, I also think somewhere along the line Sauron ate a power source bigger than his/her/its head.

No he didn't. He was maia, that comes with enough power included, he never used another source of power and in fact, One ring was powered by him and it existing but not being on himself was weakening him.

3 hours ago, Don Edwards said:
4 hours ago, Tom Sewell said:

Yes. Maybe it was sheer luck? Maybe, but we don't know a lot about the 15th century for certain, especially about Columbus. Was he really a Christian, for instance? A Catholic? He was supposed to be from Genoa, and Genoa had a sizable Jewish community. Or was he a secret Jew or Muslim from Spain or Portugal? Both of these communities were more literate than the standard from Christian Europe, and both had more experience actually trading with the Far East. Besides the Viking settlements, therre's some evidence that Cod fishermen were already using the Grand Banks off modern Newfoundland before 1492. Columbus might have known or had a reasonable hope that there was something out there worth the risk. Just finding an island large enough to act as a way station for further expeditions might have been his actual goal.

Columbus put on his map of what turned out to be the Caribbean, an island which he did not claim to have ever been within sight of.

There's an island pretty much where he put it. He got the shape of the island about as close to correct as he did the islands he had actually explored, except slightly rotated relative to a north-south line.

Columbus named this island Saint Brendan's Island.

Brendan was an Irish monk from a couple centuries earlier. He disappeared from Ireland, and several years later returned with a story (which he wrote down) about being out fishing in a coracle when a storm came up and swept him out to sea. Surviving by fishing and trapping rainwater in the coracle, he (claimed) eventually came to a tropical island, where he lived for a few years before another storm launched him on a repeat of the process taking him back to Ireland. His story described the island in some detail.

This is one of several reasons to think that Columbus *knew* he would reach some sort of land well before reaching China. But the promise of riches, that would be believed, would be from a safer trade route to China, not from exploring unknown islands that most people didn't believe existed.

Meaning, he did believed he will find some islands to replenish fresh water. He just didn't expected whole continent.

It is possible he lied to his sailors and investors because if he would say he plans to travel as long as China actually was and hope he hit enough islands to replenish water and food he wouldn't get any sailors nor money. However, it's also possible he really got it wrong.

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1 hour ago, hkmaly said:

He was calling himself "Lord of the Earth" and "King of the Men" few years later.

That was just to cover for his mistake. You wouldn't believe how it can undermine the confidence of your troops once they get the idea into their heads that you don't know which way to hold a map.

The worst part is... I know of at least one story where this actually happened. A genius lieutenant in the US Army who was based south of a major city was supposed to take his unit to a training ground. His unit consisted of one platoon, a light tank, and a jeep and driver for his own convenience. This supergenius actually did hold his map the wrong way and could not be persuaded that this was so. As a result, he valiantly led his men straight towards the heart of the city (Chicago, I think it was.) The fact that construction grew denser and that they were clearly entering the suburbs instead of reaching open land failed to impress on him the possibility that they might be headed the wrong way. He insisted that they would soon be at their destination.

Meanwhile, some of the locals had notified the local authorities of what was going on and several units of police were sent to stop this unexpected invasion. The hapless police officers set up a roadblock while wondering what they would do if the invaders decided to press on (the operative word in the construction 'light tank' is 'tank', not 'light'). They had this suspicion that their pistols and shotguns would not make much of an impression on a tank of any weight class at all.

The parade arrived whereupon the lieutenant got into a shouting match with the cops. At this point the driver of the tank had had enough (passing several road signs that clearly read 'Now Approaching Chicago' or words to similar effect had not helped his confidence in his commander). He did a K-turn on some unfortunate person's lawn and headed back to base. The infantry followed him. The outraged lieutenant ordered his jeep to pursue the mutineers but they would not be persuaded to resume their advance on Chicago. Thus this brilliant offensive failed to achieve its objective and in the aftermath the lieutenant found himself transferred to a desk job that did not involve the use of map or compass.

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53 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

(the operative word in the construction 'light tank' is 'tank', not 'light'). They had this suspicion that their pistols and shotguns would not make much of an impression on a tank of any weight class at all.

On this topic, the operative word in "cold fusion" is "fusion", not "cold" ... I might hold a grudge against certain movie pretending to be Star Trek ...

54 minutes ago, The Old Hack said:

Thus this brilliant offensive failed to achieve its objective and in the aftermath the lieutenant found himself transferred to a desk job that did not involve the use of map or compass.

I see he was related to someone more competent. At least I HOPE he would be just fired otherwise.

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Just now, hkmaly said:

I see he was related to someone more competent. At least I HOPE he would be just fired otherwise.

I am not sure how it works in the US but in the Danish Army it is very, very difficult for any officer to get themselves fired. That would involve the Officer's Academy admitting it had made a mistake and it is loath to do so. I cite as an example an amazingly incompetent lieutenant I once had the dubious pleasure of serving in the vicinity of (not under his direct command, praise all that is holy). This guy screwed up again and again, got a man under his command seriously injured, tried to obtain information he was not entitled to and generally made a hairy nuisance of himself. It was not until the idiot managed to give seventeen men severe food poisoning (by ordering an entire platoon to drink stagnant water where he believed that the water purification kit soldiers carried would be enough to make the water potable. It wasn't.) that he was 'relieved of command duty'. He spent the rest of his contract shuffling papers whereupon he was quietly discharged.

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9 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

This is one of several reasons to think that Columbus *knew* he would reach some sort of land well before reaching China. But the promise of riches, that would be believed, would be from a safer trade route to China, not from exploring unknown islands that most people didn't believe existed.

I believe that is what I was saying. Columbus could have pulling the old Rock Soup scam, beloved of many leaders who find ways around the rules, such as Patton's "reconnaissances-in-force" he used several times to sneak his entire army into attacks which he wasn't authorized to make. It's plausible that he thought he could talk the Spanish monarchs into funding further expeditions since he was already so close. Come to think of it, didn't he do exactly that? 

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