taks

with raise dead and resurrection, how does anyone die in D&D anyway? i was just playing moonshadows (not bad, but i'm ticked that i didn't find out till after i killed the ONLY merchant that, well, he was the ONLY merchant in this chapter) and there is a guy, maurik, that would not let me heal him because his wounds were "beyond healing." what? isn't that what "heal" is for? i can't fault NWN2 and any of its expansions or user modules for this, it's an oddity of the game mechanics of D&D. such spells cheapen death i guess. of course, from a crpg game perspective, losing a character and requiring a new one every once in a while would be a pain. taks

um, i know, that's why i said they were. the only way you'd get in real trouble is if you had to be hospitalized, or were incapable of performing your duties due to your self-inflicted malady. taks PS: as far as i know, btw, the only time marines get bent is when they are in boot camp. unfortunately, we didn't get to seen anyone suffering such a fate when we went to scott's graduation. it's supposed to be somewhat funny from an outside view.

damaging government property. couple guys in my brother's boot camp troop (US marines) got dinged for it. as i recall, they got bent for a few days as a result. this was back in 1990 when the san diego MCRD was still operational (didn't they shut that one down since then?). taks

i think i'm going to wait till this thread is near the bottom of the page before commenting... taks

^GD... cool. TN is a pretty cool state though i've never lived there, just drove through a bunch and vacationed there some as well (i grew up in stl). at the very least the TVA provides some of the most stable power in the country. i had yet another appointment with my doctor today. he's happy the zoloft is working (no more anxiety, yay!), but a bit concerned that my belly is still a mess. high blood pressure today, too, which is otherwise out of the norm for me (particularly since my heart-rate is now 60 or below on average). i'm back with the GI office wednesday so i'm sure the PA will come up with some new test i should undergo. about the only thing left is a CT scan, however. we went to the flying w ranch (www.flyingw.com) last night which was pretty fun. the show at the end of the evening featured a 5-time grand national champion fiddler. man he could light the strings on fire. unbelievably fast and good to boot. good show overall, which is high praise considering that i'm not into country/western style music. i'm psyched, too, because this weekend we'll be camping at the collegiate peaks campground (on mt. harvard) at 9800 feet. we've got a group of 16 going so it should be fun. taks

that's why i turned it off. you just had to re-add all of your feats at appropriate times to make sure to get the right dialog options (some things require the SE feats). not too difficult, and certainly much less annoying than the danged SE curse. taks

i'm quite certain that there are really only 3 posters on this entire board, and i'm one of 'em. the rest are just a mish-mash of alts between the other two actual posters. is your new home in TN, GD? i recall you mentioning moving but don't recall if that actually happened. i'm jealous, btw. granted, i could never give up my family (kids do that), its just that there's something to be said for the bachelor life at times. taks

i finally finished MotB the other night and i must say i was quite impressed with the whole darned thing. definitely one of the better RPG endings i've seen a long while, too, albeit fairly easy to complete with a level 30 fighter and the spirit meter turned off (sorry to the fanbois, but i hated the thing and thought it was nothing but an aggravation that detracted from my overall experience). i'm now looking forward to SoZ and MoW and i've started playing through mods (moonshadows, actually). taks

the latest craze in the US is charter schools that are public, but run by private (non-profit) companies. my son goes into an "imagine school" beginning this fall. uniforms abound not unlike many private schools, but i haven't seen any indication that they'll teach him murderball or its equivalent, rugby. if he comes home speaking with a british accent i might worry, however. taks

indeed... watching one mountain strike the side of another that close would be very enlivening. so, who picked up the first and did the whackification on the second? big dude, i'm guessing. taks

5 days isn't all that unusual, particularly if you're going to another country. that'll give you time to scope out the area which is key in taking any job (why take the best job in the world if it's in the worst location in the world, for example). taks

thanks... now i have an undesirable urge to not join. i was so looking forward to the fun. taks

so what happens when you play that "eaton only game" that looks amazingly like rugby, outside of eaton? do men in black suits come and snuff you out in the middle of the night? or do they kidnap your sister and tell you she'll be let go when you prove you'll never attempt it again? enquiring minds want to know. taks

yes, it could work out that way. as it turned out, he simply had a melted wedding band. i rarely wear mine anyway, and i don't work with PCBs much anymore either (i used to crank a new one out about once every 4 months the first 5-6 years of my career). now i are mostly a software weenie, so i don't have to worry about electramocution. taks

yup... i actually got the offer to come out here from the headhunter at lunch the next day (interviewed on a friday, got the offer at lunch saturday, we flew back to FL on sunday). i accepted and called the virginia company that week sometime and moved 2 weeks later. housing market was rocking at the time and we sold in a few hours. yes, sand. this place is where i was destined to die. taks

yup. i was a kid, probably 12 or so at the time. if you do it more than a few inches or so away there is no conductive path (even a water faucet breaks out into separate "drops" after a few inches) but i recall knowing this from some slow-motion photography or something. in other words, not only did i have to pee on the fence, i pushed it to find out for sure. taks

ah, not 10 nF then, which is usually going to be a ceramic/nylon capacitor. probably more like a large electrolytic, which is what is typically used in an AC to DC conversion circuit (which will have a rectifier in it). yes, that might hurt a bit since it could have several Farads of charge. i peed on an electric fence once (cattle fence). i was close enough that i got a sting, but not much. been so long i can't even remember the details. three degrees on the subject and nearly 20 years of working with electricity and it still scares the crap out of me. i absolutely HATE getting a jump-start for a car even though i know it's very difficult to get hurt doing it. taks

i actually ran into this exact problem after my last florida company cratered, btw. i interviewed with a company in virginia (not far from quantico, btw) and they had an interesting outfit, though they seemed very... disorganized, and were quick to offer me a job without really delving into my background or knowledge, which had me a little leery. i got the offer, but wanted to wait on the interview with the colorado springs company first. the guy was bummed, but i told him as soon as the opportunity arose in CO that i wanted to wait before making a decision. here i am in CO, btw, though the offer was for less money (the springs is a bit cheaper than anywhere near DC, so less money wasn't an issue). taks

gotcha. i'm surprised a 10 nF cap would hurt, however. you can get the little buggers in 1.6x0.8 mm (dubbed an 0603, btw), so they're pretty small. you likely just connected the two sides and got a shock from that. i must say that i never wear a ring when i'm playing around with PCBs... the first time you melt one you learn (fortunately, my first boss was the one that did the melting). taks

nah, just the conductivity of the moisture in the skin, which is mixed with various salts (water by itself is an insulator, btw). taks

insta-boil for all the water inside it. um, what on earth is a "platinous," morgoth? taks

yes and no. yes, from sheer magnitude, no since it is a DC current. the faulty appliance was AC which does nasty things to your organs. lightning is essentially static electricity, just extremely powerful (high voltage and current) and capable of burning skin and/or boiling your innards. your skin is normally pretty high resistance (several kohms), but sweat and moisture drop it, which can be good or bad, depending upon whether the charge goes through you or stays on the outside (as with this woman i'm guessing). taks

he's got a really expensive fire place to throw them into? taks

no, not really. the shortest path (least resistance) between where the electricity was traveling to (ultimately ground) and where it hit her is all that happened. being "grounded" doesn't really make a difference with electricity that has high enough voltage to cut across several miles of open air. i don't agree with her assessment on why there were no entry/exit wounds, however. even one of the "finger arcs" (as she put it) would have left such wounds had they actually entered her body. more than likely it is because the lightning merely traveled on the outside of her skin. perhaps her skin was damp and the moisture mixed with sweat creating a good conductor. i think that would be a better explanation as to why she was not hurt worse. taks

nope. in fact, let them know you still want to talk with company B before making a decision. they (A) want you, so they'll wait. it's your job to take the best offer, not just money, but best overall deal which includes happiness in your position, and accepting the first thing that comes along (A) may not be the best. company A should understand, and if they don't, well it's not really that grand of a company to work for, is it? i should point out that i have gone through this numerous times throughout my career. i'm on my 4th job as it is and contemplating entering the contract/consult world now. i've also dealt with this from the other side, trying to hire someone. taks