Thread: Questioning chirine ba kal

Originally Posted by Shemek hiTankolel

I see it now. Thank you!

Shemek

You're welcome! With my slow and unreliable Internet connection, I never can tell from here if something loaded or not. Having that extra set of eyes is very helpful!

Originally Posted by Zirunel

As a kid, my dad was able to go to the 1933 Worlds Fair in Chicago. Not quite the same Raymond Massey "Shapes of things" deco stylistic sensibility as in 1939, but the same shock of the new mentality, and the same slew of really bad, dangerous, don't do this at home ideas that were nowhere near ready for prime time. One thing I remember him describing was this, I guess it was a microwave grill, in the "homes of the future" area. Microwave grill. Honestly. My dad lived a good long life, but he was only a spectator. Sometimes I wonder about the poor guy who was demonstrating it. Probably paid 25� a day to lean over the darn thing for hours at a time cooking steaks. I wonder how long he lived after the fair was over.

Oh, wonderful story - except for the guy frying himself in front of the presumably unshielded radio transmitter, of course.

Phil's 'future' was just chock full of stuff like this, where if you didn't know what we were doing - and we didn't, of course! - you'd get really dead really fast.

Spent a lovely day working on the big Sakbe road set's large tower while doing the laundry, getting the battlement walls all done and figuring out how to do the ones on the little watchtowers. Had one of the Missus' late birthday gifts on the huge screen in the game room while I worked, the recent "Hercules" movie; lots of fun, and shows what happens when you attack formed bodies of infantry. Very enjoyable film, and I'm a little surprised it didn't get more notice and attention.

The other tardy gift that arrived is an amazing little camera set that's basically a three-meter long cable with a lens on the end. Hooks up to the tablet or the computer, and (as the Missus said) "It was only six bucks and now you can do views of the insides of your model buildings for people!"

Brings a new dimension to "I look around the corner of the door; what do I see..."

Have I mentioned just how much I appreciate her?

Originally Posted by Zirunel

As a kid, my dad was able to go to the 1933 Worlds Fair in Chicago. Not quite the same Raymond Massey "Shapes of things" deco stylistic sensibility as in 1939, but the same shock of the new mentality, and the same slew of really bad, dangerous, don't do this at home ideas that were nowhere near ready for prime time. One thing I remember him describing was this, I guess it was a microwave grill, in the "homes of the future" area. Microwave grill. Honestly. My dad lived a good long life, but he was only a spectator. Sometimes I wonder about the poor guy who was demonstrating it. Probably paid 25� a day to lean over the darn thing for hours at a time cooking steaks. I wonder how long he lived after the fair was over.

Probably not very long. Just like the Doctors that advocated smoking, or the fellows that built the first nuclear power plants, or were part of the early nuclear tests. Unfortunately this type of thing still goes on, and a lot of uninformed people get exposed or contaminated and the ones responsible are no where to be found after the fact. Two years ago my company was subcontracted to do some work at a famous local building, which was built in the 1920's and filled with asbestos. Now, I and those I am working with have enough experience to identify it, and enough sense to refuse to work around it if all of the correct safety precautions are not taken. These are quite involved and elaborate, and expensive. The owner's representative was quite cavalier and "assured" me that everything had been cleared from the area we were expected to work in. I could see it wasn't, and when I asked him to provide all of the reports for the evacuated zones, which are mandatory under local laws, he started stuttering and muttering... Unfortunately he hoodwinked some young tradesmen (apprentices, or just out of their time) to go into the area and do the work that we had refused.
On a lighter note, it would be interesting to figure out how to incorporate a microwave grill, like the one above, into the game. What kind of damage, healing, etc. The wonderful reaction when the warrior's steel sword comes into contact with the microwaves... I wonder, would it be like tin foil in a contemporary microwave oven?

Shemek

Originally Posted by chirine ba kal

You're welcome! With my slow and unreliable Internet connection, I never can tell from here if something loaded or not. Having that extra set of eyes is very helpful!

With my fancy new specs you get four extra eyes!

Originally Posted by Zirunel

Well, in the pre-war era, everything sci fi is about mysterious "rays" so I expect there is enormous scope there. And not just for flashy-sparkly things, but delayed effects too....HPL and CAS stories are full of weird exposure effects that only become apparent gradually with time... not exactly what modern gamers might expect, but that might be a good thing, right?

Yes, very much so! These are the types of things my players curse me for.
"Oh, oh. Why are the slaves losing their hair?
Oh damnit, it must have been that f******g weird sound we heard coming out of the silver box.
I told you we should have let it be..."
Me: