Thoughts for ships

[UnsungProphet]

Is anyone else counting the days until the comic number equals the current year? Comic #2018, here we come!!! (July 11th, maybe?)

[addams]

Not until Now.
Now, I'll be watching.

[Sableagle]

Dragons in Moria / Angband / xAngband / zAngband had more of a grenade-launcher effect, targetting the victim or a spot on the floor and engulfing everything nearby in flame / frost / lightning / acid / poison / shadow / light / whatever other damage types got added in later versions.

If you want that delayed damage effect, the Spitter in Left 4 Dead 2 comes close to it. She hawks up a big ball of some kind of viscous reducing agent and spits that at you. Sometimes you can just keep running or back up fast. Sometimes you're on a ladder and it falls to the ground far beneath you. Sometimes, though, you're in a small room with no way out except through that pool and can't go that way fast enough. On contact with the air, that stuff starts to react and get hot, and as it gets hot it gets less viscous, so it spreads out into a pool, which has more air contact surface and thus reacts faster and gets hotter. It boils. You do not want to be near where that blob landed during the time the area is a pool of boiling green goo. She's usually not all that dangerous on her own, but she can't half disrupt a defensive plan.

There's also the Sticky Gourd power of LotRO Lore-Masters, which is basically a napalm grenade. Pick your target, get within range and throw it. That target and any other enemies near it get set on fire, and the places where they were standing get pools of fire that'll stick to any other enemies that run into them. It's rather effective against swarms of plague rats.

For some really odd gameplay, how about a dragon with Cure Disease breath or Turn Evil breath? Swarm of skeletal warrior? Huff! Skeletal warriors flee or disintegrate.

[Deva]

Recalls Alexstrasza (The Life-Binder, from World of Warcraft) roasting Bolvar Fordragon to life. Evidently grows plants too.

[Sableagle]

Hmm. Dragon-shaped wood golem, like four trees for legs with their branches woven together into the body and a thousand vines for the neck, that breathes Area-of-Effect Plant Growth VI? That could be the centre-piece of a campaign. It's out to save the world by reversing deforestation, the government's determined to expand its economy at any cost and you're caught between them, trying to keep a temple going because it happens to be the power-source maintaining a seal over a dimensional rift and stopping Earth from being invaded by twenty million Shoggoths.

Plant Growth: 1 year's growth in a single round. Plant Growth VI would presumably be 6 years' growth. Plant Growth VII would have a funny name, like Ycnadrev's Boon. They called Lighting Bolt VII Alset's Coil, after all. Under good conditions, a honeysuckle vine can grow an inch a day, and in a few years they get quite thick and woody. AoE Plant Growth VI on a patch of ground covered in sprawling honeysuckle would be very scary indeed.

[Sableagle]

Spotted this on the way back:

Same place, same view. Flood warning in place.

[heuristically_alone]

Is this one of those find the difference photo games?

[Sableagle]

Well, it's a different time of year, too.

Spoiler:

Where this was filmed, it looked like this:

Not much difference? It's quite a steep slope, as flatlands streams go, and a visibly higher water level, so there's a lot more flow. It's not as far up as the lower sections, though, so I think the town acts as a choke point and holds back the water, flooding itself.

It's not fully "down" again yet, but it's a lot lower than it was. Those trees give a good indication of where the edge of the water generally is in the larger river, and here's the weird from another angle when the river wasn't swollen:

[Sableagle]

It recognised THAT as a panda?

[SecondTalon]

Re:Flooding. The Ohio was up in February.

How up?

Spoiler:

[poxic]

Is that up? It looks uppish.

Oh, those are comparison photos (for those equally decaffeinated: first two pics are before/after, last two are after/before).

Yes, that's uppish.

[Sableagle]

I'd agree that that river was, indeed, up.

They're building new housing estates upstream of me. I think I should be unhappy about this.

[pogrmman]

Development seems to have a big impact on floods — see Houston as an example.

IDK whether or not I should be glad that I live somewhere where basically every flood is a flash flood. Sure, it means that the little creek in my neighborhood (almost always dry, like most creeks around here) can go from dry to over 6 feet deep in like an hour (or less), but it also means that the crests don’t last for very long (said creek will be entirely dry again within ~3 days if it’s not continuing to rain). Even the bigger rivers are the same — for instance, the Blanco River rose 35+’ in the space of a few hours, but was back to normal like two days later. I maen, it’s mostly unpredictable and carries high risk, but at least stuff doesn’t have to sit and fester underwater for days/weeks like in other places. And if you actually stay away from low water crossings when they’re closed (ie. have any water in them) and keep out of rivers/creeks for a couple days after it rains, you’re not at much risk of being hurt.

[HES]

They're building new housing estates upstream of me. I think I should be unhappy about this.

Nah. Planning regs these days force them to have pretty decent attenuation. May even improve things.

[Sableagle]

Spoilers for Star Wars.

Spoiler:

You know Ewoks? "Yub dub chubb" and dancing like children in fursuits, right?

You know how, at the end of Return of the Jedi, they're having a big celebration because the evil Empire has been defeated, and there's music and feasting and dancing and a big bonfire and much good cheer and Luke and Leia have that talk about their mother and so on, and it's all happy and cheerful?

Remember that one Ewok drumming on Stormtrooper helmets? You reckon those Stormtroopers were sent off bare-headed to a de-brainwashing camp, or given soldiers' funerals and laid out in a neat grid pattern somewhere?

Leia's first encounter with an Ewok went pretty well, sure, but remember how the Ewoks greeted the rest of the group.

What do you think they were all eating at that celebratory feast?

[Sableagle]

I think I just scared off either a burglar or a prospective buyer. L100NPS, little black Hyundai. Saw a man looking in through my window. He ran off and jumped in his car and drove away in a hurry. Saw me, slowed down, lowered the window, claimed he was looking because one was for sale and he wasn't sure how far along it went ... *may* have spotted the rifle in my hands ...

[Sableagle]

DA57AUN, why you wear plastic gloves to drive your (silver estate) car?

[addams]

Very nice flooding photos.
I'm so glad Posters Post those things.
It help us understand our collective experience.

We Do have a little more free water sloshing around.
There is talk of Climate Change Drought.

I don't quite understand. More free water is going to cause more water.
Seriously; Rain Shadows will remain, The Loopy Jet Stream may be to blame.

(sigh...) I'd need a tour of an atmospheric model.
And, the patience of my studious youth.

[Sableagle]

Well, I can't give you a tour of an atmospheric model, because I've already over 40 and don't have time to learn one well enough and then write a book about it, and those things are big and complicated ...

... but if we take a really massively simplified version, you have an island of your very own, a lovely place with parks and forests and canoe routes and beaches and meadows and highlands and hiking trails and a million people living there, and those 1000000 people use, in various ways, 1000000000 litres of water per day. I'd come up with a more realistic number but everything's about whether tap water or bottled water is safer, how much water to drink per day and how wonderful our engineers are, not how much of the fucking stuff we actually use, so I know it's more than 20 l / person but beyond that I don't have info. Anyway, yeah, your island nation uses 1 gigalitre of water per day.

This comes from reservoirs, built in the south-west- and south-east-facing valleys that get the most rain. Sometimes the wind comes one way and fills one set and sometimes if comes the other way and fills the other set, but you have infrastructure so everyone can be supplied from both sets of reservoirs. Generally speaking, every 3 or 4 days, you get 5 gigalitres of water dropped into those valleys, plus a lot sprinkled over the rest of the country of course. Your reservoirs can hold 20 Gl, which is enough to last you 20 days at normal use or 1000 days at "some communities in Africa are having to get by on only" levels of water use. Given that they're topped up with 5 days' supply every 3 or 4 days, you don't run out. Sometimes you even get to dump a load of surplus water down a river below a reservoir just to make a whitewater kayak competition more interesting. Let's call it 2.4 metres of rain per year in those valleys, 0.3 to 1.2 elsewhere, so "a month's rain" is 200 cm in a reservoir catchment area, 25 to 100 cm elsewhere.

Sometimes the rains fail, sure. Maybe one cycle in 20, you get one of those slow-moving high-pressure zones and it just doesn't rain for a few extra days. Assuming the chance of it raining in an 84-hour period stays at 95% and doesn't rise or fall with missed days, that's a one in 400 chance of missing out on rain twice in a row. (I did say this was "a really massively simplified" model, right?) 1400 days is about 3 years 10 months, so about every "that long" you go over 10 days with no rain and the reservoirs go down below half full. About once every 216 years, you go 14 days without rain, the reservoirs get down below the danger line and you ban hosepipe use, car washing, pressure-washing of building facades and filling of swimming and paddling pools and suspend the street-washing service, and the brewery has a slump in production. Still no big deal.

Then climate change hits you with that loopy jet stream, and you get no rain in the valleys where your reservoirs are and they don't get topped up for 19 days. All that "more free water" is, instead, getting dumped into your north-facing valleys, which are used to 50 cm or rain per month and suddenly getting that much in an hour, three times in ten days. That's two big deals. One is that your reservoirs are now a day from drying up completely and the other is that all the loose earth and wood and litter and vegetation from the upper parts of your north-facing valleys has been washed down onto the grazing lands below them by that vast amount of water and that whole quarter of your country is a soggy, uninhabitable mess.

[Jumble]

Erm, hi all! How have you been? Anyone around who remembers me? I guess I’m back.

I’ve left a few things behind from the world that created problems for me (including [most of the time] alcohol), but I’m still me, still have my family around me and I don’t get the nightmares anymore. I turned 50 last week and it occurred to me that of the things I lost last year I miss you lot, and that was reversible. So I’m back if you’ll have me.

[poxic]

JUUUUUUUMMMBBLLLLLLLEEE!

Mostly I miss your avatar, but sure, you too.

How're things these days?

[heuristically_alone]

You are always more than welcome here! Hope your life is full of wonderful blessings and yummy food

[addams]

oh, Jumble!
It is Joyful to have you back!

I thought you were working.
Working on something you could not tell us.

Write us an essay.
Your rhythm and logic are a pleasure to read.

Spoiler:

Unless you have changed and become a maga jerk.

[ucim]

So I’m back if you’ll have me.

'course we'll have you! We were just waiting for it. Like addams said, I assumed you were in some skunkworks political thing so you couldn't post for a while until it was over. But skunk or no skunk, welcome back!

Jose

[Deva]

Welcome back.

[Jumble]

Thanks all! It’s great to feel welcome and sorry I was away so long. Things are better here. Still have my brilliant family around me, although my daughters are getting to the stage where they’ll soon move away to go to university to run up debts that force them to move back home. I guess that’s progress?

The spotty avatar is still going strong. He’s nearly 13 but he’s not noticed. Scariest episode recently was last year when I was home on a break from Jordan and one day found him uncoordinated and unable to stand. Panicking he’d had a stroke I authorized £600 of tests and residential vetinary care, only to be told next day he’d tested positive for hashish intoxication. Apparently whilst out on his walk he’d found some kids stash in the woods and had eaten it. The vet reckoned he had the munchies, but as he’s a spaniel I don’t know how you would know.

Anyway, good to be back and hope you’re all well. What’s been happening?

[addams]

Oh, yes.
Another The Dog Ate Pot Story.

So funny.
Your poor Dog.

[Angua]

Nice to see you back! Glad the dog survived - it must be awful if you don't know what's going on (for both of you!).

[Zohar]

Erm, hi all! How have you been? Anyone around who remembers me? I guess I’m back.

Welcome back! I remember you pretty much the same way I remember most people here I haven't met in person - your avatar is familiar. Glad to hear the dog's doing well.

[ObsessoMom]

Hooray, Jumble! Welcome back!

I'll be turning 50 in a few months, too. What an interesting half-century it's been, huh?

[Jumble]

Absolutely! From growing up in a world of polarised, self-serving world leaders ready to risk international conflict, through the dawning of hope at the end of the cold war and now, erm... Anyway, smart phones are pretty cool!

Remember when it was possible to not know something (including where you were)?

[poxic]

Ah, there's my new sig. Danke.

[Jumble]

Bitteschön. My pleasure.

[Sableagle]

Wb Jumble. I remember you (and the pup).

Today:
"Blah blah blah football blah blah championship blah goals blah blah transfer blah."
"I don't know what Spanish names are."
"Jose."
"I thought those were from Mexico."

Can you tell he's a Trump supporter?

[pogrmman]

We had our primary runoff election today. In my county, there was a whopping 8.52% voter turnout. That's pathetic. One of the races (a judicial election) decided the actual winner of the election, as she's facing no challenger in December. There was only 6.62% voter turnout for that election, and it determined who'd hold the office.

It's absurd at how low that is. To the people who say that your vote doesn't matter -- it actually does, at least to some extent. Sure, I'm in Austin, meaning my congressman and my state-wide elected officials will all be Republicans and my state representative and senator and all local officials will be Democrats, but my vote certainly mattered today. Of the three races I participated in, only the governor's runoff had a margin greater than 1200 votes. Sure, my choice for representative and governor don't matter a whole bunch, but the results tonight certainly will effect the general election -- the specific candidate can matter a lot. While I don't have much hope for the governor's race, there's maybe a fleeting chance for the representative's race.

[addams]

Yey! Pogrmman is a Hero!

You may be Running for Office, soon.
If you are good enough to hang with US, you are better than some of those In Office.

[pogrmman]

Yey! Pogrmman is a Hero!

You may be Running for Office, soon.
If you are good enough to hang with US, you are better than some of those In Office.

I’m just doing what I consider to be a responsibility. I know people who complain about the system, but they don’t vote. I’m incredibly lucky to live in a system where the government is supposed to listen to me (and does, to an extent).

If I don’t vote, there’s no point living in a democracy.. Even though I have but a tiny voice in the system, I do have one, and that’s what’s important.

I don’t have enough of an ego to run for office — any office. I do want to do something to help others — I’ve been so privelidged in so many ways, I might as well try and help others, ya know? It’d be wrong for me not to. FWIW though, I’d be happy to have many of the people in here representing me in public office (including you, addams!)

[addams]

Oh, Pogrmman...
I no longer have the stamina for boring, yet vitally important meetings.

We don't Need big Egos.
We need level headed people with patience.

I swear!
It's true!

Patience is what we need at the local level.
People that can and will go to those meetings.

There are some important things done at the City and County level.
It takes great Patience to sit there and wait for those Ass-Hats to act.

Voting is Good!
It is the first step.

Can I interest you in a County Commissioner's Meeting?
I watched them blow through $65, 000,000 one night.

They found money for things I had never heard of.
Yet; The Men's Jail is in such poor condition it's illegal.

umm....You can post while you are in the meeting.
Many Court Houses have Wi-Fi.

If your Court House doesn't have Wi-Fi,
you can find out Why and fix it.

[Sableagle]

FWIW though, I’d be happy to have many of the people in here representing me in public office (including you, addams!)

Any vacancies for a grumpy old British soldier with a wrecked left elbow, a sore right elbow, knackered knees, a stiff back, recurring headaches on the right temple, a tendency of the left side of the neck and jaw to get tight and kinda crunchy, glasses, asthma and no degree?
I could do with a change of job.

[addams]

FWIW though, I’d be happy to have many of the people in here representing me in public office (including you, addams!)

Any vacancies for a grumpy old British soldier with a wrecked left elbow, a sore right elbow, knackered knees, a stiff back, recurring headaches on the right temple, a tendency of the left side of the neck and jaw to get tight and kinda crunchy, glasses, asthma and no degree?
I could do with a change of job.

You are Perfect for local Council Meetings.
And; For writing Letters to the Editor.

Who knows?
Look at your Boris Character!

You might end up in line for the Gray Plane.