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July 21, 2006
New GURPS Advantage
For those of you that don't know GURPS, this will be complete gibberish.
I would like to suggest the use of a new GURPS Advantage.
Precognitive Character Generation 15pts
The first 10 points are the true cost of this advantage. The GM then gets to pick where the last 5 points are spent for you, based on what is planned for the campeign and your character will ***REALLY*** ***NEED*** to be able to do! This is deeper than the GM specifying that everyone needs to be able to swim and ride horseback, this is for selecting something that you will DESPERATELY need later on. Yes, you can just guess and not waste a huge 10 points. But then again, maybe you wasted all 15 of those points instead of getting that skill in advanced potterymaking that will enable you to save the whole town AND campeign 3 months down the road.
Posted by paul at 10:21 AM | Comments (0)
July 19, 2006
What's up with CNN?
CNN has been described as being against the US. How can anyone say such a thing? One small example follows.
These are both the top stories from CNN and FOXNEWS web sites about the Israel/Hesbollah war. They both talk about the exact, same incident.
From CNN with the AP and a couple CNN reporters contributing.
In its ongoing air assault, Israel's military targeted Beirut, hitting a vehicle in the city's Christian neighborhood -- shocking residents who overall do not support the Islamic militant group.
From FOXNEWS listed as only AP-written.
Israeli bombers, previously focusing on Hezbollah strongholds in southern Beirut, hit a Christian suburb on the eastern side of the capital for the first time. The target was a truck-mounted machine used to drill for water that could have been mistaken for a missile launcher. The vehicle was destroyed, but nobody was hurt.
In grade school a child that told the CNN version would have been labeled a liar and a instigator.
Posted by paul at 5:12 PM | Comments (0)
July 17, 2006
Shuttle lands safely, reporters wring hands over the baggage retrieval system at Heathrow.
From the AP, as posted on FOX.
Toward that end, Discovery's astronauts and flight controllers kept close watch on a slightly leaking power unit that tested out fine a day earlier in orbit.
NASA did not know whether harmless nitrogen gas or flammable hydrazine was dripping from the auxiliary power unit, one of three needed to drive the hydraulic landing systems. The leak was small, managers said. If it worsened during re-entry — considered unlikely — the unit would shut down automatically and Discovery would become the first shuttle to land with only two functioning auxiliary power units.
Now, I freely admit that I am not a shuttle engineer. But I'm a bit of a fanatic on "Manned Spaceflight" and know a thing or two about the shuttle's systems. Let us ignore the flammable carcinogenic rocket fuel hydrazine and assume that anything routed by that substance took that fact into consideration as it was being designed.
If memory serves me correctly (appologies to Kaga) ALL, did I say that emphatically enough? Make that * * * A L L * * * critical shuttle systems are triple redundant. As in there are THREE wires leading to everything. If one wire says something different from the other two, that wire is henceforth IGNORED. There are THREE hydrolic systems to move each flap on the wings and tail, each with enough oomph needed to move said flap. If one of the three wants to push the wrong way, the other two will easily muscle it to the right position.
So. If one of the power units to drive the hydrolic landing gear is crap... the other two will still do the job. Easily.
Oh. And I failed to stress one more thing. This was the *AUXILIARY* power unit.
I consider this the equivalent of reporting that someone on the shuttle gave the guys on the ISS the spare roll of toilet paper that they keep hidden in the back of the cupboard. Cause, you know, they just CONCEIVABLY MIGHT NEED THAT SPARE ROLL OF TOILET PAPER.
Posted by paul at 10:27 AM | Comments (0)