440 - The Day CNN Didn't Suggest Assassinating Anyone, What's The Frosting On These Cupcakes?, How To Beat The Death Star Without A Magic Farm Boy, Truly Intent, and Is Ms. Rose A Ghoul?

[9:16 AM] Ms. Rose:

Saw on Facebook

“Remove CNN from Television For Suggesting Trump Assassination which is Treasonous. This is one day before Trump's Inauguration.”  (Lists several links...)

[9:18 AM] Mr. Silver:

CNN suggested assassinating Trump?

[9:18 AM] Mr. Brown:

I'm guessing they suggested that Trump may be assassinated

All the stars are out in full force protesting

[9:18 AM] Mr. Silver:

"I'm Wolf Blitzer!  The polls are in on an astonishing new topic.  Let’s go to the US map and go over the results!"

[9:23 AM] Mr. Blue:

"53% of Americans are opposed to assassination, 31% in favor, and 16% are unsure.  Joining me now is our Washington correspondent John King to tell us what this all means."

[9:32 AM] Mr. Silver:

"Thanks Wolf. What we must remember is that this is a poll exclusively of Republicans.  However a similar poll was taken of the population as a whole, and the results are a bit more illuminating if broken down."

"A stunning 2% of Democrats even entertained the idea, with a full 90% wanting Trump removed by more conventional and legal methods."

"Leaving a split of 'What kind of question is that' and 'Give the guy a chance to burn himself' at 4% each."

"The undecided voters gave about 40 different responses and have been listed under 'Unable to Decide'."

[12:46 PM] Mr. Silver:

(Looks over at Dan’s open container of mini cupcakes that have been drying out and slowly disappearing all week... glasses are off but looks funny.  Lean in and sees that there is a best-by date sticker covering up part of "assorted cupcakes"...squints.)

"ass cupcakes”

Sounds kinda unappetizing.

[12:48 PM] Sarah:

Hahahaha, nice

[12:49 PM] Mr. Silver:

"What do they taste like?  Chocolate?  Vanilla?"

"Not really anything you might guess."

[1:46 PM] Mr. Yellow:

Mmmm. Ass Cupcakes

LOL

[1:49 PM] Mr. Silver:

I doubt I want to Google that

[11:47 AM] Mr. Silver:

I never thought it was the main trench even as a kid.  They showed where it was.  

http://fxrant.blogspot.com/2017/01/the-death-star-and-final-trench-run.html

As far as Death Stars go, I think if the plans turned out to be the same as they'd gotten, my primary target for 30 fighters would have been F-ing up the great big weapon dish first. 

The Empire came with no escort, were very low on fighters, and arrogantly depended entirely on their main weapon. 

The main dish had a mere 8 emitter points that had to be precisely focused, plus the main reactor feed right in the middle.

Even minor damage to any one of these targets might have kept it from firing, though substantial damage or – preferably - destruction of parts of it would have crippled it for anything from weeks to years. 

[12:01 PM] Mr. Blue:

Think of how many people died when they blew it up instead

[12:01 PM] Mr. Silver:

Yup

[12:02 PM] Mr. Blue:

I mean it's a “small moon”, but unlike a planet or moon, which only has living space on its surface, this thing's entire interior is accessible and inhabited

There were probably more people in the Death Star than some of the planets it was going to blow up

[12:05 PM] Mr. Silver:

Well...not Alderaan...

Yavin IV, definitely

Point is, with relatively minor damage, Tarkin would have had to considered fleeing. 

[12:07 PM] Mr. Brown:

Flee or be taken over

[12:07 PM] Mr. Silver:

There was no rebel fleet in system, but they hadn't gone that far and knew where the secret base was. And Tarkin decided to go in alone...he could have easily told the Empire – with its large selection of much faster capital ships – where he was going but he obviously went for the glorious victory solo...he was showing off.

If the rebels were recalled and got to the system before the baddies could call for Imperial help, Tarkin's Christmas ornament woulda taken a pounding.

[12:09 PM] Mr. Brown:

In The Force Awakens I think they just destroyed the dish to stop it absorbing energy

[12:14 PM] Mr. Blue:

Tarkin died in 4 right?

[12:15 PM] Mr. Silver:

Yes

Meanwhile...

The exhaust port was such a hopeless target at speed, I kind of wondered why they used the trench at all...even watching it back in the 70s.

They could have dropped down vertically and plunked in a missile while hovering.

Granted the "pull pin and drop" method isn't nearly as exciting...but they didn't need a Force user to win that fight.

[12:22 PM] Mr. Brown:

Yeah. Everything is done to keep the film exciting

Would be nice to have excitement AND best method. But it doesn’t work that way much

[12:23 PM] Mr. Silver:

Oh, they still would have had to keep everyone as distracted as possible.

“This is Gold Leader. I'm slowed to zero and am dead-duck descending to optimum position. Keep those Imperial eyeballs interested, boys.”

Hell...the proton torpedoes are clearly very small.

Stick warheads on a few R2 units, drop them off, and have them crawl them in while everyone is busy outside.

[12:24 PM] Mr. Blue:

I figured they sent Luke for "Force Luck"

[12:25 PM] Mr. Brown:

All the unneeded aspects always seem to make things more exciting, film wise

[12:25 PM] Mr. Blue:

Yes

Lots of movies could be shortened to 5 minutes with realism

[12:25 PM] Mr. Brown:

Hell if Luke and Han could walk around as troopers, anybody could sneak in and blow it up

[12:27 PM] Mr. Silver:

Hehe

[12:27 PM] Mr. Brown:

(dressed as storm troopers) "Hey you! We gotta go get some training on the new superweapon. Which way is that?"

[12:27 PM] Mr. Silver:

Yes.

But they'd need some time and they didn't have that when the Death Star jumped in.

(General Dodonna) "We'd like you and your freighter to get caught again."

(Han) "No way!"

"Please?"

[11:49 AM] Mr. Silver:

Agent - CORE, ERNEST

[11:50 AM] Mr. Silver:

"Deep down, I'm sure you're sincere in your concerns, sir."

[11:51 AM] Ms. Rose:

Brother, Hard. Married to Soft, neé Porn.

[11:52 AM] Mr. Silver:

Hehe

[9:33 AM] Ms. Rose:

Mornings! I think I'm alive!

[9:34 AM] Mr. Silver:

Well if you aren't alive, you left a talented corpse

[9:34 AM] Ms. Rose:

So you're saying I edit like the dead...?

[9:44 AM] Mr. Silver:

Well it's just that's it's typing and intelligible.

Is your spirit possessing the corpse?

[9:46 AM] Ms. Rose:

If I do die, I hope to be able to possess other bodies at random. For funsies.

[9:47 AM] Mr. Silver:

Oh absolutely

So are you the survivor of an illness or are you alive by main force?

[10:20 AM] Ms. Rose:

Kind of both. I barfed up everything (including my shoes) from Wednesday night through Saturday night. I tried to bludgeon myself with the toilet lid, so that's the "main force" part. I am a survivor. I've got the eye of the tiger (and 7 stomachs, like a cow, apparently.)

Are Heckle and Jekyl not here today? Or have I been voted off of Work Chat Island?

[10:25 AM] Mr. Silver:

No sign of either

[10:25 AM] Ms. Rose:

Maybe they got the Barf Plague too. :(

[10:34 AM] Mr. Silver:

Perhaps

[10:41 AM] Ms. Rose:

Wow, there is literally nothing new on Mental Floss since before I was barfy. *yawn* What other fun news have I missed?

[10:46 AM] Mr. Silver:

The (show) dorks never followed up giving me a job and so I'll not be on the TEE vee.

[10:46 AM] Ms. Rose:

Awwww, NO!

How am I supposed to remember what you look like?

https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/01/29/068214/all-corn-diet-turns-hamsters-into-cannibals

Corn, bad!

[10:49 AM] Mr. Silver:

Cornnibals!

[10:50 AM] Ms. Rose:

(rofl)(rofl)(rofl)

439 - I Sense You'll Be Changing The Project Name Again, Mr. Blue Is Going HAM, The Fight To End Droid Discrimination Goes On, You Probably Haven't Heard Of Thumbas Yet, and Check The Baby's Label Before Washing

[2:02 PM] Mr. Brown:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_Project

[2:12 PM] Mr. Silver:

"They killed the funding again."

"I predicted that."

"Shut up.  We need another new name."

"Uh...Moon Pancakes?"

"Awesome!  Get me a DOD funding form."

[2:14 PM] Mr. Blue:

lol

[2:16 PM] Mr. Silver:

"In 1995, the CIA reviewed the project, decided a 65% rate was worth more than 15 guys in a shed, declassified every failed experiment and moved everything to a secret facility on a black budget."

(Information verified by remote viewer Lt. Henry Anderson)

[2:19 PM] Mr. Brown:

I'm pretty sure I have remote viewed before, but not on purpose

[2:21 PM] Mr. Silver:

I had a few successful remote view results in 7th grade

Unfortunately, since the experiments were done at the Catholic school, the backlash wasn't exactly a good thing.

[2:22 PM] Mr. Brown:

God has shown me a vision - You were in the bathroom today

[2:23 PM] Mr. Silver:

Hehe

The one I recall for sure was - each of us with a wrist watch - "Ok, at precisely X o'clock, write down what I'm looking at."

Answered "a book with pictures of old warplanes in it"

Which earned me a pop-eyed spooked expression since it was correct and he had it with him in his backpack to show me.

Being a non-Catholic in Catholic school has its drawbacks.

Being a non-Catholic in Catholic school with 'devil powers' lost me a couple buddies.

[2:41 PM] Mr. Brown:

LOL

Because logically only the Devil could give you remote viewing abilities. lol

[3:25 PM] Mr. Silver:

Right

I made a rotten deal, apparently, because it doesn't work for crap.

[2:24 PM] Mr. Blue:

They're going HAM with the VTO lately

[2:26 PM] Ms. Rose:

HAM?

[2:27 PM] Mr. Blue:

I dunno what it means

[2:28 PM] Ms. Rose:

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ham

You're such a gangster, Mr. Blue. :)

[2:30 PM] Mr. Blue:

Chuuuch

(On the Social Status of Star Wars droids – Mr. Yellow has been playing the Star Wars Saga roleplaying game, and some of his team have been crazy insubordinate recently. - Mr. Silver)

[3:04 PM] Mr. Yellow:

Not sure that would help with Ezra. I was shouting for him to move and he kept waiting for the droid. This was during Evac. I felt as the CO I could not get on that ship til all my people were aboard. Including Jim that Forest had to carry back there

[3:04 PM] Mr. Silver:

Name the droid "Tools" 

Hehe

[3:04 PM] Mr. Yellow:

He had a name - Scout

[3:05 PM] Mr. Silver:

"Will you die for the sake of Tools?  We can get more Tools."

[3:05 PM] Mr. Yellow:

Yes. I was not going to let the droid get destroyed because he had all the intel we came to get

[3:06 PM] Mr. Silver:

I mean name it “Tools” as a scheme to give some player perspective thing.

Most SW universe characters I've seen treat droids as unreliable 3rd class citizens even if they are smarter and more capable than the living. 

[3:06 PM] Mr. Yellow:

But the droid kept on moving. It was not stupid. Ezra was stupid.

[3:06 PM] Mr. Silver:

Yup

[3:06 PM] Mr. Yellow:

My old Jedi preferred them to people

[3:06 PM] Mr. Silver:

Player Characters are like that

[3:07 PM] Mr. Yellow:

Too many people were just stupid. The entire party made fun of me for doing that

[3:07 PM] Mr. Silver:

People who speak Binar...bothered to learn Binar

They're the ones who build relationships with droids

[3:07 PM] Mr. Yellow:

Yep. Like my character

[3:08 PM] Mr. Silver:

Han Solo clearly couldn't speak it

[3:08 PM] Mr. Yellow:

Nope

My new character cannot speak it either, and if the droid was not carrying the vital information I would have been less concerned

[3:09 PM] Mr. Silver:

That, BTW, is one reason Padme giving R2-D2 and official thanks in "court" on her space yacht was a scene that didn't work at all.

[3:10 PM] Mr. Yellow:

?

[3:10 PM] Mr. Silver:

Padme might as well have been giving a medal to a box of Craftsman tools

They don't speak to people...you just tell them what to fix and ignore them.

[3:11 PM] Mr. Yellow:

R2 is the hero of the entire saga

Without him the Empire would have won

[3:11 PM] Mr. Silver:

Yes, R2 is great

But in that scene in Phantom Menace, all he did was go out to fix the ship and he didn't get blown up.

It's the only reason they bought him from the shop and stuck him on her yacht.

He didn’t deserve “our thanks”. Does Queen Amidala give medals to the toaster if it makes a perfect slice?

Hehe

[3:13 PM] Mr. Yellow:

R2D2 is one with the Force and the Force is with him

[3:14 PM] Mr. Silver:

Yes, I agree

Point is, who sees that they can be more?  Some Jedi, and mechanics.

And people that bother to learn to talk to them.

If I have a free language, I always pick Binar

[3:15 PM] Mr. Yellow:

In the book The Force Awakens, C3PO is in many a conundrum and each time he thinks what would R2 do?

and then comes up with the answer of what he needs to do

Could rewrite the “What would Brian Boitano Do?” song for R2D2

[3:18 PM] Mr. Silver:

Hehehe

An example: Bail Organa at the end of Episode 3

"Oh, and take this protocol droid and wipe his memory so none of this gets out."

“Why not R2D2?”

“Meh...it’s just a rolling toolbox that beeps a lot...who cares? It’s not a security issue.”

And another example

Han: Let him have it. It's not wise to upset a Wookiee.

C-3PO: But sir. Nobody worries about upsetting a droid.

Han: That's cause a droid don't pull people's arms outta of their sockets when they lose.  Wookies are known to do that."

[3:31 PM] Mr. Yellow:

Our old droid R8 almost killed the ewok when the ewok was trying to smear poop on him.

I ended up giving R8 a blaster and a hidden memory core

He is probably some crime lord out there

[3:34 PM] Mr. Silver:

Heh

Oh

The Jedi calling General Grievous a "droid" all the time was a rather belittling insult

Here's another "the majority of SW people do not see droids as people" example

Top Secret Death Star...

In a security station...

Just after capturing a known rogue freighter...

Dead security staff in the room...

The sector security team - who would be familiar with their area and everything in it to the point of boredom - responding to the alert...

Probably aware of unauthorized access to secure info by an unknown droid...

There they find a not-even-close-to-Empire-specs 40-year-old-model beaten and dirty GOLD protocol droid and astromech in a closet. 

The talking one tells them "they went thattaway!" and they believe it.

And then later tells a hopelessly awkward story about a droid getting “overexcited” and needing maintenance.

Still unquestioned, the guard says "Alright" and lets the droids go.

Mind Boggling!!!

(Tech) "This R2 unit of yours seems a little beat up, you want a new one?"

(Luke) "Not on your life.  That little droid and I have been through a lot together."

(Tech) "I was being polite, sir.  I know you like your R@ unit, but I can give you a new state of the art astromech with advanced fighter combat software."

(Luke) "No thanks!"

(Tech) "F-ing nut job...Ok...give the wonder kid his crappy old boltcan."

...but Luke knew...

IMO

[‎8:37 AM] Mr. Silver:

Agent: THOM K HARRIS           

456 HIPPS TER            

“Yeah, I started spelling Tom with an H before it became a thing”

[‎8:37 AM] Sarah

HAH

<3

[‎8:38 AM] Mr. Blue:

Pronounced like thumb

[‎9:11 AM] Ms. Rose:

Thom as Thumb is pretty hilarious.

[‎9:12 AM] Mr. Silver:

In an ironic way

[‎9:13 AM] Mr. Brown:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4139782/Babies-undergo-cruel-baptisms-Orthodox-Archbishop.html

Shaken baby anyone?

[‎9:14 AM] Ms. Rose:

I prefer my babies shaken, not stirred.

[‎9:16 AM] Mr. Silver:

"Inventor of the Baby Washing Machine, the archbishop recommends tumble drying infants on low heat to keep them fluffy."

[‎9:16 AM] Ms. Rose:

(rofl)(rofl)(rofl)

438 - Can We Hop A Circle To Quitting Time?, Mr. Silver's 'How To Not Find Bigfoot Manual', Like A Blow-Up One?, The TT4761054 Show Is So Hard Core, A Beautiful Bunch Of Ex-act Postage, Death By BS-ium, and Finding The Waters In Windblown Wyoming

[8:52 AM] Mr. Brown:

So another thing that popped into my head other day, was that time is not linear its circular.

There are still multiple circles of time for different directions things could go, all inter-connected. But ultimately Time circles back on itself.

[9:34 AM] Mr. Silver:

If only one could hop over. (grumble)

[9:34 AM] Mr. Brown:

The main reason I was thinking about this, was because I was thinking that all alien contact might just be contact with future Earth.

[9:39 AM] Mr. Silver:

I consider us visiting ourselves a not-unreasonable theory

[9:43 AM] Mr. Brown:

Also, of course, that “history repeats itself”.

[10:19 AM] Mr. Brown:

On the subject of Bigfoot hunters, the only thing they are using that makes sense is thermal cameras.

However most of them don't seem to know how to use them right

[10:27 AM] Mr. Silver:

The only thing that makes sense is proper techniques...

Which doesn't involve:

A. Making a racket all night long talking and stumbling through the brush in the dark.

B. Making a racket all night long beeping/squelching walkie talkies.

C. Shining LEDs and lights all night long in the woods.

All three of these boiling down to:

D. Completely ignoring Bigfoot's activity cycle, which very obviously isn't nocturnal. Here's a tip – ask the local hunters the times when the deer are active.

And finally...

E. Hooting, knocking, and screaming at them.

[10:36 AM] Mr. Brown:

"We believe when yelling like them, we can fool them into yelling back"

[10:40 AM] Mr. Silver:

And this is true.

However I think, at best, the Bigfoots are just ACKing the report – or recognizing the counterfeit and reporting – that there's people in the woods. So they pass on the info to the rest of the family in earshot, and then they leave/hide like any other animal.

While this trick can be valuable to verify a viable location for a future investigation, it's not what you want to do on later investigations after you have already gotten confirmation.

(Hunter on night vision cam) “We just don't get it. It was the perfect spot with a lot of recent sightings at dusk. So we came out for our night investigation and made some calls. We got one nearby response and another a long way off at the start of the investigation. We called and knocked for hours but got nothing else. We know there were Bigfoots here, but something must have tipped them off.”

(You know who you are.  I enjoy the show and would welcome another season.  I realize you have to have something to show, but seriously... - Mr. Silver)

[12:54 PM] Mr. Silver:

Rep - HOLLOPETER, IVANA

[12:55 PM] Ms. Rose:

:O

[12:56 PM] Mr. Silver:

(Austin Powers) "So, Ms. Hollow Peter, we meet at last."

"Its Holop-eh-ter...like helicopter"

"Ah...because it's spelled like... ... Of course! So, we meet at last."

[1:49 PM] Mr. Brown:

I have been watching this on Netfilx http://www.imdb.com/title/tt4761054/episodes

[1:50 PM] Mr. Silver:

I love "TT4761054"!

[1:50 PM] Mr. Brown:

HAHAHA

I'm on the drugs, pop, punk and death

So I got one more episode

[1:54 PM] Mr. Silver:

Actually, Mr. Brown, that sounded totally punk...or beat.

“I'm on the drugs, pop, punk and death...so I got one more episode before the end, maaaaan.”

[1:57 PM] Mr. Brown:

lol

[11:56 AM] Ms. Rose:

Got a postcard from here yesterday: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turku Oldest city in Finland.

The lady who sent it has been a member of Postcrossing for 9 years and has sent/received more than 6,500 postcards. :O

[11:58 AM] Mr. Silver:

How much do you suppose that cost in cards and stamps?

[11:58 AM] Ms. Rose:

Bajillions of dollars.

Using myself as a example, assuming you can get postcards for about 50-75 cents each and I spend $1.15 a pop on Global Forever stamps, sending 6,500 postcards could cost me... Carry the 2...

Between $10,725 and $12,350. So yeah. Bajillions.

I'm sure not all locations really cost $1.15. But

1) the stamp is really cool-looking and

2) Jack with the Hairy Arms at the post office gets mad if you ask him to figure out the exact total.

Plus, you'd cover up half the writing space with 1-cent, 2-cent, 10-cent stamps, etc.

[12:06 PM] Mr. Silver:

(sings)

"Come Mr. Hairy Arms, tally up me postage..."

"...daylight come and me wan go home...”

[12:06 PM] Ms. Rose:

LOL

[12:06 PM] Mr. Silver:

“Stick 1-cent, 2-cent, 10-cent STAMP!”

“...daylight come and me wan go home..."

[12:07 PM] Ms. Rose:

STOP! hahahahahaa!

[12:07 PM] Mr. Silver:

These insane associations are why my sister thinks I have Asperger's...

[12:08 PM] Ms. Rose:

Better than generic brand Hambuger Helper. :P

[10:20 AM] Mr. Brown:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4130926/Trump-loyalist-Roger-Stone-claims-POISONED.html

So the two people they give as examples in this story of people poisioned by that stuff have both died

Yet this guy claims he was poisoned by it too, and is ok now

[10:30 AM] Mr. Silver:

“I was poisoned with polonium or a substance that has the characteristics of polonium and this made me exceedingly ill. It was like...pois-lonium or B-Essium or something."

Stone said neither the couple nor the Russians were responsible for the apparent attempt on his life.

(rolls eyes)

"Uh. It came to me in a vision that it definitely wasn't them."

[10:36 AM] Mr. Blue:

My favorite assassination-by-poisoning was the dude that got shot with ricin and didn't even know it

With an umbrella

[10:37 AM] Mr. Brown:

Yeah that sounds far-fetched but it happened

[10:37 AM] Mr. Blue:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgi_Markov#Assassination

[8:01 AM] Mr. Silver:

Starting to admire the marvel that is Cheyenne Wyoming

Never noticed how low its population was...city and state.

[8:02 AM] Mr. Blue:

I’ve been there

No... Never been... I was in Casper

[8:07 AM] Mr. Silver:

Looks like (biggish PA town) is a good bit more populated than a lot of the major population centers in Wyoming

The Frontier Mall...the first feature that pops as you zoom in on the map...looks a lot like a failing mall here. 

Photos of near empty parking lots and halls

[8:12 AM] Mr. Blue:

It looks like the downtown area is dwarfed by the rail yard next to it

[8:13 AM] Mr. Silver:

(reading history of Wyoming) "Passengers and rail workers need a place to stop off and relax between Chicago and San Francisco, and so Cheyenne was founded as a rest stop with a snack stand."

The Google street view jumps are larger here than I've seen in, like, abandoned factories in Eastern Europe

"Oh look...they have a Burger King way back there. (Click...now a half mile down the road at the Burger King)"

[8:17 AM] Mr. Blue:

Heheh

There’s a town just north called Chugwater

[8:36 AM] Mr. Silver:

Wonder where they got the name \:|

[8:36 AM] Mr. Blue:

There’s a spot in Wyoming that doesn't flow into either the Gulf of Mexico or the Pacific Ocean

The Great Divide Basin

[8:37 AM] Mr. Silver:

(Pictures river drawn by M.C. Escher)

[8:37 AM] Mr. Blue:

Heheh

[8:38 AM] Mr. Silver:

"This here river doesn't flow t'either the Gulf o Mexico nor the Pacific."

"This is a pond."

"It's a river, son." 

"Why is it a river?"

"Well it has the name River on it.  See the sign?"

So Chugwater is on this basin?

Looks mostly like a desert.

[8:42 AM] Mr. Blue:

Yeah

I guess it evaporates or goes into the ground or something

[8:56 AM] Mr. Silver:

“You Have Died Of Dysentery, Chugwater WY”

“Press Space Bar to Continue”

[8:57 AM] Mr. Blue:

Oregon Trail Bank... probably a lot of unclaimed safety deposit boxes