Recent content by Umbran

Especially when the first eyeglasses came around in the late 13th century (so, 1268-1330, in Italy, to be more precise) - they predate plate armor!

Your post happens within a context. That context currently includes a swath of vocal folks right now telling people to "Embrace tradition. Reject modernity". Which is really freakin' ironic. If Gygax, Arneson, and friends had followed that advice, we'd be going out bowling, not playing...

Wow. This thread is not about arguing over what constitutes an edition. One person thinks it is about... hotplates? I don't recall Taylor Swift mentioning hotplates, but fine. I can see that as more relevant to this discussion than edition nomenclature.

C'mon, this season's already in the can, and the next one is already in production. Our influence on the budget would, at best, fall in the final short season. You can wallow in the dissatisfaction, if you like. I prefer to use it as inspiration for goofy Trek references to get through days...

Why? Is his hair an alien being that, if not placated, will take over the ship? Headcanon accepted!

That scene is not how you describe it. They establish that the scavenger ship is in search of aldentium - yes, they like to eat their ships al dente.. They establish that the tentacles disable ship power systems. They establish that Scotty can make ship parts look al dente. They launch the...

If you define "wrong side" as "those who avoided the conflict when folks started getting hauled out of their homes and shot", then yes. It seems like she's a member of a species that has had galaxy-spanning interstellar travel since before humans had writing. Getting the heck out of Dodge when...

Yeah, and the archaeology and research on that'll take a decade... finishing after both Pike's and Kirk's missions.

I gotta say, I'm not loving the ... striping in PIke's hair? I'm all for him being well-coiffed, but the white on grey flame effect he has going seems like he'd have to be in Mr. Mot's chair more than the Captain's chair. And, then, why wasn't the ship's hairdresser running the thrusters...

Yeah, it is a tough problem. You can't use matter/antimatter reactions. Those require keeping containment of the antimatter, which uses power. Radioactive sources have half-lives, and decay. Water and wind depend on weather patterns, and can stop working, and require you to be planetside...

The ship, including sick bay, was without significant power. You want M'Benga to work with stone knives and bearskins? Dude can't even replicate sutures without power!

With respect, it ain't that simple. Because error correction means keeping around the data that defines "without error", and that data is subject to the degradations of time, too. One cosmic ray going through your data store, and you no longer have pristine data. So you keep a backup of your...

1) There is no appreciable atmospheric drag in Earth geostationary orbit. Atmospheric density at that altitude is some 4x10^-19 kg per cubic meter. If I have done my math right, that means about 3 molecules of air per cubic centimeter. Solar wind will have a larger impact than the atmosphere...

Note, as an example, that much of the deterioration of the Pyramids of Giza came from human action looting the outer layer of the structure.

Mod Note: Hey, dial it back, please. Positions of the form, "You must somehow have cognitive impairment to disagree with me," are themselves a problem. Please engage your own critical thinking skills, and realize that on the internet, your own approach, statements like the above, will tend...