Near Identical

I was idly thinking about dwarves and the blow up about having non-human races have the same ethnicity as us humans.

A thing that we had in Traveller, and it's been so long I can't even remember if it was official canon, was the "homogeneous humaniti" project.

The goal of Homogeneous Humaniti was to keep breeding unlike bloodlines until there were no longer any physical distinctions like skin, eye or hair color.  They were a splinter group that wasn't going to get near their goals.

But what if the Dwarf God believed that His (Her?) people should not be different because of blood?

What if They decided that Their people would distinguish themselves from one another in a different way?

Add in Niven's K'zinti and Chmeee losing his scars thanks to the Hindmost's kitty boosterspice...

An idea pops.

Dwarves look so very much like each other that they need to do something to stand out or be different.

Like scars, length of beard and the things woven into them.

Cutting off their beard is like stealing their ID.

The lowest social standings WOULD be made to wear the same clothes and cut their hair and beards the same.

More social rank means more freedom in the style of beard and hair decorations.

That Was Close

If someone in one my games had tried to buy a Merwin Hulbert revolver, I'd forgotten to give weight and cost per shot information on my table.

That oversight has been corrected.

Took care of some other oddities like .276 Pederson and .280 British while I was under the hood.

For The Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children, England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.


Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.


They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.


They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.


They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.


But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;


As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,

To the end, to the end, they remain.

-- Laurence Binyon

Today is not about sales. It is not about summer starting. It is not about grandma.

It's is about those who served and have passed beyond the vale.

I want them all back.

To:

Bernie Canniff (Korea, in a car club together).

Standing Bear aka William Dawkins (WW2 and Korea, who taught me gaming).

Fred Gabow (we served together, his wife hired someone to murder him).

Ian Gates (Comrade in arms to Willard).

Jason Kruzic (a fellow gamer from high school.  He came to an odd end.)

Carol LeFon aka Neptunus Lex (patiently explained both real world and flight sim military aviation to this tanker).

Davy McGuire (COB USS Whale, originally a friend of my Dad's, later me).

Kevin O'Brian aka Hognose (our beloved Weaponsman).

Jerry Pournelle (you do read, don't you? Willing to be wrong and listened to my correction!).

Rabbi (Uncle Ben, another friend of Dad who got me a ride in an F-14A).

Rich Sickels (brother of my Father in law).

Robert Smith (uncle by marriage to Mom's sister).

 

The world is better that you were in it and worse that you have left.

 

Life Support Fail

It felt a little stuffy in here, but it's been hotter outside, so I didn't think anything of it.

Until I saw the thermostat read 78 when 76 is selected.

This could be bad!

But the most common reason for this is the water drain line from the air handler getting clogged with slime mold.

I blew out the line and function returned to the system.

Huzzah!

We get too much condensation in the air handler because we're too nice to our masters, the cats, and leave the back door open a crack so they may enjoy the screened in porch.  That lets humidity into the house and...

Some bleach down the drain line and we're good for a while.

Guzzler

Started yesterday's trip at the local WaWa getting E0 gas.

Waved at the people at the Tesla station.

Drove to Orlando, shopped Lego, had dinner, drove back.

Stopped at WaWa to get some E0 gas.

Waved at the same people at the Tesla station.

Trip Observations

First, Mascotte is still a speed trap.

Second, I still hate to see emergency vehicles all gathered around a crashed motorcycle.

No car nearby, single vehicle crashes and bikes are common around here.

Oddly, twice in a row I've seen a wrecked bike and lots of law enforcement less than a mile away...

Makes you wonder if it's related to someone fleeing the scene.

Road Trip

Joined up with a buddy in Orlando today to look at Lego and grab dinner.  Got some store credit for trading in a rare minifig that doesn't match the tone of my collection.

243.1 miles, 4 hours 40 minutes driving, 23.8 mpg indicated.

I am not unhappy!

I'm OK with it.

The car is a cruiser now that the rims and tires are sorted out.

Set the cruise, dial up the tunes, chill.

The only problem is the people who see that spotlight and match speeds in my blindspot.

PS: I am glad I put a good coat of wax on The Beast the other day, it made scraping off all the bugs on the bumper that much easier.

No Apostrophe

Dear Hawaii,

It is not Hawai'i no matter how bad you want it to be.

It is not Hawai'i even if that's how to properly spell it in your dialect of Polynesian.

When your state was admitted to the union, the spelling lacked the apostrophe and now it's locked in and official.

As petty as the courts can be, I'd be appealing any ruling from a judge who spelled it Hawai'i because there's no legal jurisdiction by that name.  There's a Hawaii, but no Hawai'i.

It'd be like saying Kansas when you mean Arkansas because most of the letters are the same...

Also, Hawaiians, fuck off.  Your former royal family sold your asses out.  You weren't conquered.

Stop acting like it happened at gun point.

As The Years Wear On

I find that I get increasingly touchy over Memorial Day as I get older and the list of veterans of my acquaintance gets longer.

Too many people think it's just another day off and don't reflect on the meaning.

Alan C Wright on Facebook had the right of it:

Public service announcement, in preparation for next weekend:  The correct phrase is, "To absent friends."

NOT! "Happy Memorial Day."

Memorial Day is a somber occasion, not a joyous one.

You may laugh at the memories of those who've left us.  You might even joke (the color of military humor makes a black hole a sun).  But those laughs are ours.  Private.  Exclusive to club membership.

Remember them.

Shed a tear.

Crack a smile.

But don't forget.

Willard Has Opened This Box

 

Like A D'eagle But...

Saw Demolition Ranch's YouTube on the Auto Mag Corp's Auto Mag pistol.

In a nutshell, it's like a really unreliable Desert Eagle with really expensive magazines and expensive ammo.

Oh, and it's heavier than a D'eagle too.

Dead sexy looking, though.

I made GURPS stats, just in case someone gets stupid and wants to reinact Sudden Impact or Beverly Hills Cop 2.

Losing Demographic Groups

Am I the only one who noticed that the latest student loan forgiveness was nearly entirely for public employees, teachers and cops?

People who already have generous student loan forgiveness programs.

Why would Brandon feel he has to pander to these groups now?

I'm wondering if they're not screaming total support to the Democrats as good public union members are supposed.

I know two teachers who are both saying, "we got forgiveness for being employed as a teacher for two years, we have no idea who this is for."

One of them would have taken the bribe and voted against Brandon...  And they aren't even remotely conservative.

There's liberals who're not happy about things too.

Bitch Please

A Song of Ice and Fire fans, "It's been 13 years!"

War Against Chtorr fans, "Newbs."

I Feel LIke A Car Guy Again

It truly is the little things.

The new rims are so much smoother than the old ones that I felt like I could hang with Marv's '96 Vette on a local twisty-turny road.

It was a spirited jaunt, not a balls out run.

I am also sure he could have left me in the dust whenever he wanted.

But it was fun!

The sport shift mode is alarming, though.

It does firmer shifts, which is good.

It also does some serious engine braking and holds in a lower gear to keep the RPM's up after such braking.  Not used to that.

But it does what it's supposed and lets me keep up with a casual Marv.

That I could make this little jaunt makes me feel good about the car and like a hot rodder again.

I also reconnected with the remnants of the old Impala SS club.

I was welcomed back!

Happy day.

A Light Dawns

If this is how most people that the cops deal with are, I totally understand their attitude towards the rest of us. 

WARNING: This is 16 minutes and 50 seconds of your life that will be gone and won't ever come back.

Holy shit.

At least three times with mom I'd have been, "fine, she's going to jail; buh bye!"

Trivia

The 18x8.5" rims I have on The Beast were the base rims in 2016 on the Camaro LT.

They remained the base rims for LS and LT in 2017 and 2018.

Then the LS got its own wheel in 2019 and my wheel was the base LT wheel from 2019 until 2024.

It was a standard rim the entire run of the 6th generation Camaro.

DOT Compliant

I got yellow LED for the parking lights too.

It only takes a moment to change from stark functionality to whimsical fun.

Marv says that you can't even see the purple until I'm about a house away from him standing in his driveway.

Whimsy

In anticipation of getting the domelights to come on when the doors open, I bought some LED bulbs.

168 for the dome lights and 6418 for the ticket light.

Out of pure silliness I got some purple 194 LED bulbs for the parking lights.  As long as they're not red nor blue, it's legal in Florida.

If the silly wears off, I have amber LED bulbs too.  The original incandescent 194 bulbs were so dim that JT asked if I'd always had lights there.

How To Knock 49 Pounds Off Your Car With One Simple Trick

The 18x8 2012 Caprice PPV steel rims, with 235-50/18 tire, are 62 lb. 12 oz.

The 18x8.5 2016 Camaro rims, with the same tire, are 50 lb. 8 oz.

That shaves 12 lb. 4 oz. off each corner for a total savings of 49 lb.

That's like adding four and a quarter horsepower!

That's as much as adding a(n) (insert snake-oil power adder here).

An unrelated benchmark is a 17x8.5 1995 Impala SS rim and 255-50/17 tire is 58 lb. 13 oz.

7d pi Is (Still) 7d pi

Very interesting stuff.

Link to InRange mud test.

Kromm Speaks

I put the warhammer armor piercing question to the SJ Games Forum and got a response from the line editor.

Basically this. I'd prefer a simple "add (2) and call it a day," but I can't retcon decades of precedent and hundreds of supplements at will. Reducing penalties is an alternative. Doing so doesn't say, "This is a precision instrument," but rather, "This is how the thing is meant to be used." Sort of the difference between getting +2 for using a high-quality item – say, with very fine (balance), if that even exists – and getting a +2 task difficulty modifier for using the right tool for the job.

Or, as I said, just add (2) and call it a day. Extending the rules for bodkin points for arrows (p. B277) to picks and tucks isn't total craziness, since the idea in all cases is that of a hardened, rigid, narrow beak. (Yes, technically this makes the attack piercing rather than impaling, so be sure to target the vitals or skull.)

My house rule appears to have unofficial official approval!

Shiny

This is mostly playing with the camera.

I noticed how well the car was reflecting the rest of the garage at this angle and NEEDED a picture of it.

Default exposure didn't capture what my eyes were seeing, but I have adjustments for that!

I'll Take CFIT For $1,000

Iran just lost the butcher of Tehran in a helicopter crash.

Looks like a Kobe Bryant deal to me.

This is the Occam's razor answer, at present, for what probably happened.

But, by all means; Go for conspiracy theory.

Those will be great fun.

Another Reason

It started with Moxie, but it continues with The Beast.

140 ft-lb torque on the wheel lugs.

That has always seemed like too much, but, before I looked it up I tried to use the customary 100 ft-lb on Moxie and got the clunking sound of a wheel coming off.

Another 40 isn't too difficult.

You just dial the sleeve on the torque wrench a bit more.

But you have to use a torque wrench!

When I was showing the Camaro rims to Harvey, I really had to put my weight on the breaker bar to get the lug nuts to move.

This is because Mutual of Omaha's Tire Kingdom doesn't use a torque wrench, they use those torque sticks for their air-impact guns that are supposed to flex and keep the mechanic gorilla from over-torquing the lugs.

I was there when they asked the front about the torque.  I said 140.  They confirmed 140.  I got about 200-250!

For a torque stick to do its job, the gorilla has to release the damn trigger the moment the lug stops spinning, otherwise it will just let them keep tightening the lug.  Just like if I were to keep cranking once the torque wrench clicks.

I noticed that PowerTech Performance used a torque wrench.  They're more expensive, but...

This is all going to matter in a bit when I start pulling the wheels, one by one, to detail clean and wax them.  It makes it easier to get brake dust off them later.

Squeeked

A couple of astronomers are saying the recent coronal mass ejection might have been similar to the discharge from the Carrington Event.

I sure hope so.

Because that means we're ready for one and can stop freaking out every time the local main sequence variable star burps.

Wax On Wax Off

Damn, she's a fine 10-foot car!

Sure is a lot of car to get a good coat of wax onto.

Just a bit hot and humid in the garage too, but...

Waxing is something I historically neglect.  I have lots of products that go on much easier than regular wax and don't last near as long.

My drive on Saturday encountered a scourge of Thuh Suth.

Lovebugs.

Since I was going to be washing it, might as well finish the job.

Subtle Changes

The Beast has seen changes since I got her.

Willard pointed out, that they weren't really obvious to him.

Well, to be honest, nothing really boldly changed the appearance.

The biggest appearance change is the rims.

Changing the door handles from black to white is more subtle.

Changing the blank covers to functional foglights is more subtle.

Putting a black paint-protector behind the door handles is more subtle.

This is kind of what happens when you're, overall, happy with how a car looks.

Harvey, eventually wants to have her painted blue.  We even have a couple of shades picked out to consider.  Paint is a while in the future.

The next thing on the schedule won't even show.  Getting the editing software to make changes to the driving experience.

After that, most likely, a fight over the mufflers.  Picking an exhaust note hearing unheard is a pain.

I know what I want, but don't know what gets that for this car.  The easy solutions are kind of expensive and appear to be much louder than we really want.

The harder solutions involve someone who knows what they're doing with a welder to cut out the old mufflers and welding in replacements.  This is because GM can't just have any straight sections of pipe going into and coming out of the muffler to let you use exhaust clamps to insert a muffler once the old one is cut away.  Never mind the hangers need to be moved as well.

Sea Level

If you can't tell the sea level rise from the tide, it's not something to worry about.

There's numerous maps, paintings, photos, plans and surveys of Castillo de San Marcos in St Augustine that show the shore substantially the same as it is today.  It's more than 200 years older than Lady Liberty.

If global warming can't beat the tide in 352 years, I'm not buying that's it's gone up substantially in the past 20.

IGPCC is not a scientific organization.  It's a group of government officials.  Notice everything they advocate for benefits governments?  If you hadn't, best to look again.

Never mind that the people who are advocating loudest are consistently proven to be less than the sharpest knives in the drawer AT BEST; most often they're just common, self-serving liars.

The fuel that a private jet uses to get to the global warming conference makes more emissions and pollution than decades of my total household's emissions.

But they never propose eliminating THEIR luxury; just my necessities.

But It Helps

"You don't have to be a Nazi to vote for Joe Biden. You just have to decide that becoming an accomplice after the fact to the worst pogrom since the Holocaust isn't a deal breaker."

-FuzzyGeff

I Don't Even Subscribe

The star of the most recent iteration of Doctor Who tells us that we should shut off our TVs if we don't like him.

I am uncertain I can shut him off.

I don't think I am a subscriber to any streaming service that carries Dr Who.

I remember watching, and enjoying, the Tom Baker era.

I was fine with the next doctor, Peter Davidson and watched a spattering of his replacement, Colin Baker.

The next I heard about the show was when Christopher Eccleston took on the role.  I still didn't watch more than a couple episodes.

I think I'd grown past the premise.

I hear I missed some good stuff with David Tennant, but...

I'd grown past the premise.

It no longer appealed to me.

I had a couple of friends who enjoyed it and I tried mightily to let them.  I think I succeeded.

You don't need me to enjoy something to enjoy it yourself.  I don't need to you to not enjoy it if I don't.

I do worry that while explaining why I didn't care for it any more, I shit on the person enjoying it.  But I can't ask because they ejected from the friendship over my refusal to take proven liars word that catastrophicanthropogenicglobalclimatechange was absolutely real.

But...

Ncuti Gatwa is telling people to not watch if we don't like him.

Well, I wasn't planning on watching and I don't give two shits about him.

But he probably should have kept his trap shut.

I didn't bother with the live action version of Cowboy Bebop because the actors wouldn't shut up.

There's other examples of this shit that escape me, but it's recurring.

I will view your story and rate it against itself, but if you want to prejudice me by calling me a bigot before I can watch it...  well it's you not me.

Slow But Steady

Two years ago all I'd done was the door handles.

Things have progressed a bit.

She's getting there.  I've spent most of my efforts so far getting the suspension repaired from years of neglect by previous owners.

I Feel Dirty

The old laptop has Win10 on it.

This is so I can use the module editor for my car.

I am displeased.

There Is No Organization With Cats

I'm a fan of Lego and I like to display my collection.

Beeper and Shadow disagree with how they are displayed.

Shadow likes to take apart the Star Wars sets on the headboard.

Beeper thinks the Harry Potter minifigs are the best bed evah!

So I spend an hour a week looking for lost parts and figures.

I've been doing some rearranging to allow them to be on the flat spots where the Lego are.

Because it's not the presence of the Lego that's the problem.  It's that a cat naturally wants to perch on the spaces I keep the Lego.

Compound

I don't remember if it came up when I was detailing every damn muscle powered ranged weapon in GURPS, but High Tech gives stats for compound bows and crossbows.

They're simple.

They do damage and range at +2 to their ST rating.

Phrased another way, a ST 10 person with a ST 10 compound bow shoots like they had ST 12 and a like rated bow.

Tire Hop

Two of my tires are out of round.

I know this because the dynamic balancer at the shop that mounted my tires told me so.

My car is decidedly pedestrian compared to most of their customers.

The mostly deal in Corvettes and horsepower upgrades north of 500 horses.

Being out of round as much as my tires are at 200 miles an hour would be bad.

I can't even feel it at 100.  Turns out they're not out of round by very much, just enough for the machine to sense at the most sensitive setting.

On the drive to the casino for my father in law's birthday I noted that it was much smoother than with the steel rims.  Marv concurred.

Something that started as routine and ended up being amusing was the tire pressure light.

It's common for TPMS to panic about the tire pressure when you first start the car then calm down as it reads the sensors in turn after their absence.

For me the light started out as on and reading "TPMS Fault".  A couple miles later, that changes to four individual messages telling me each tire is low.

As they warmed up and the pressures rose, the fronts stopped complaining at 34 psi and one rear stopped at 38.

The shop is used to different cars and 32 psi is normal for a Vette or Camaro.

40 is what a Caprice PPV wants.  35 is fine, but I don't have the module edit to lower the threshholds and keep the light off.

New Shoes

As mentioned here, I snagged 4x 18x8.5 Camaro rims for about half what a single rim would go for.

Got them mounted and balanced at a VERY reputable shop today!

 

Better photos to come...

It really changes the look of the car in a good way.

I Think I Will Just Hide

The Lovely Harvey works from home.

Sometimes her employees make more work for her than they should.

At present she's unfucking, again, a simple spreadsheet they're using to track data.

I am constantly amazed at the basic mistakes her minions apply to things to make simple tasks complicated.

They're not even using complicated math on multiple sheets.

Wowsers.

Just Shut Up

There's two things that I'm sick of reading about because they pop up cyclically.

I mentioned the airplane on a treadmill problem.

The other is the Monty Hall Equation.

Yes, math nerds, changing your selection to the other box does mathematically increase your chances of winning.

It's provable in several variations pick one of three boxes, reveal one as empty, change your answer.

Here's the thing.

It doesn't fucking matter.

The only person playing this game more than the one time is Monty himself.

The chance of picking the correct door on your initial selection is 1 in 3.

Changing your answer ups that to 2 in 3.

Decent odds.

The Price is Right ran the "honest" version of the game.

The prize location was decided before the initial guess.  One door without a prize is shown after the guess.

2 in 3 odds if you change your answer.

Grab your d6 or d12.

Assign 1/3 of the faces to represent a loss.  2/3 for a win. (1 and 2 for the d6 loss and 1-4 for the d12 loss).

Roll.

Did you win?

You should have.

I just tried it out with a d12.  I rolled a 1, 3, 2 and 11.  I only won one game in four chances.

That's three more times than I would have been given on the show.

People use this equation as if changing your answer, which DOES double your odds of winning, guarantees a win.

It does not.

If the prize was behind door #1 and you change your answer to #3 after being shown nothing behind #2 means you still lose.

By all means, play the odds, but don't get mad if you lose; because the sure thing sometimes loses and the longshot sometimes wins.

TL9

I kinda wanna extend the TL project out to speculative TL from historical.

The problem is a dearth of worlds, though I could do TL9 and TL10 in just Transhuman Space.

Just like I ask the players, what do you want to do?

What do I want to do?

I've contemplated a Me for the world.

It presumes me getting rich, somehow, and surviving long enough to do the ghost thing and move into a robot body.

There are "waves" to the technological shocks in setting.

First Wave - labor-intensive agriculture.

Second Wave - industrial manufacturing.

Third Wave - digital computers and networks.

Fourth Wave - genetic engineering and biotechnology.

Fifth Wave - artificial sapience and nanotechnology.

It might help me understand the setting better if I made one each a character from the three waves.  3rd Wave is TL8 and near future.  4th Wave is TL9.  5th Wave is TL10 and set in the year 2100.  5th Wave is also the main setting.

It might even be interesting to make Me in each wave, documenting how I change.

That might be the way to do it.

It's a very interesting setting that I'm not very sure I'd wanna GM or play in because there's a lot there and I disagree with some of the decisions made by the authors about how things should be.  Though, there's a chance that they could be.

Yes I Cleaned It

 

Something that's irksome about owning an old patrol car, which was then owned by a less than fastidious friend, is you can clean it and embedded dirt will surface again without you actually doing anything to dirty it up.

I've been doing the seats a lot lately, it seems, and I keep thinking it's done and see how bad it is again when I take a pic to document the modding.