100 Rads Bar... Home of the Off-Topic Topics!

[Nightwatch]

You want a suit that is bullet-proof? Here it is:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7942906.stm

[audioave10]

Nice bullet-proof suit but I bet its expensive...

[Balious]

I still can't log into this site with firefox but everything else still works fine. Its really confusing me more then a Controller would do.

Anyone here watched or heard of One Piece? Its an anime/manga cartoon show about a pirate searching for the most famous treasure in the world (guess the name? Yep One Piece is its name). But it also contains devil fruits that gives the user a certain power like for the main character he has stretching powers. The show is also very very weird.

[NatVac]

I'm using Firefox without problems*, Balious. It worked with 1.5.12, and it's working with 3.0.8 at the moment. Perhaps there's a weird MTU setting or firewall issue.

*Well, without the kind of problems you are having.

I've been offline since Saturday. You guys have probably heard about the Dallas Cowboy practice building collapsing. Well, there were several waves of severe weather that day, and one of them had a lightning bolt that hit my neighbor's satellite dish about 12 feet from my study. It took out my cable modem, my router, and my Internet computer, all along the outside wall nearest the bolt. (My gaming computer was okay; it was off at the time.)

One of my cable modem's integrated circuits became a fusible link. When I picked up the modem, it rattled as if there were loose screws inside. The plastic casing on the chip had simply exploded.

After I replaced the modem, the router wouldn't talk to it. I was misled by the fact I could log onto the router, but the WAN side was fried.

The Internet computer had simply shut down. It was on a decent UPS, but it still wouldn't boot beyond the BIOS memory check (which passed). So I've co-opted another PC to use in the interim, but it will take a while to restore stuff from backups. I highly recommend backups.

My poor neighbor lost a lot of stuff, but his insurance will cover it. My covered losses won't even meet the deductible.

I don't care about the hardware so much as the time required to return to full speed.

[Grump642]

Any word on how the special teams coach is doing? Hope he ends up OK. Sorry thing to happen.

[Nightwatch]

Wow, you've had a very bad experience NatVac; it could also be said a "lucky escape" as well, considering that the lightning bolt hit just 12 feet away from you. But on the lost equipment side of the things, it's terrible, too costly for both financially and time-wise.

[rockingmtranch]

12 FEET!?!?!?!? Holy crap dude. That's like a megavolt or something. Dang.

[VINTAR]

You certainly are lucky that lightening bolt missed you. It reminds me of a football match somewhere in africa when a lightening bolt hit the middle of the field and all the players fainted

[NatVac]

Grump642, Joe DeCamillis underwent surgery and the prognosis is good (no paralysis): Cowboys assistant coach could return to work within weeks (WFAA.com newslink).

My stepdaughter is a PA at Parkland Hospital/Baylor Medical Center, and she was on duty when two of the injured were brought in. One had a shattered tibia (insert gruesome depiction of bone bits protruding through the skin) and the other a fractured vertebra -- obviously Joe DeCamillis.

¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Trust me: You would not be playing outdoors in that storm.

Actually, guys, I was in the bathroom recycling some coffee water when the bolt hit, with a simultaneous flash and crack. (My first sphincter-clenching thought was that there was no electric shock or tingle, if you know what I mean.) The bolt nailed the neighbor's satellite dish on his west side; my computer stuff was along the east wall of my study on the east side of my house, within 12 feet of the dish.

It did not hit the power pole we share with our neighbor. The lights didn't even flicker that I can recall. Although the computer was strangely off -- the UPS didn't indicate any problem -- I thought the funny red lights on the cable modem merely meant it needed to be reset. When I picked it up to stick a pin in the hole to press the reset button, I heard that loose-screw sound.

The Internet coaxial cable ran along the roof line across from the dish. I'm thinking it was an induced current rather than a direct branch strike; the cable was working when I got a replacement modem and there was no difficulty with any of the other electronics in our home, other than the CRT-based TV in my wife's study a room over needed to be degaussed -- and I'm not even sure the lightning caused that.

Interestingly, in the last year I moved the TV antenna from the roof to the attic for just this reason; even a low-end HDTV is more expensive than the analog stuff. I'm pretty sure the bolt would have liked the sharp points of the higher antenna better than the satellite dish.

[Nightwatch]

NatVac, well, this has been certainly an experience to remember, particularly when a rainstorm starts. Still, it was a lucky escape.
And

Interestingly, in the last year I moved the TV antenna from the roof to the attic for just this reason; even a low-end HDTV is more expensive than the analog stuff. I'm pretty sure the bolt would have liked the sharp points of the higher antenna better than the satellite dish.

Ingenious! Very clever move indeed, that must be applied by many in this situation. But, for me, as I live on the top floor with flat roof over our head, unless I take down the massive communal pole and put it inside the living room, that's unfortunately not an option for me, lol.

You certainly are lucky that lightening bolt missed you. It reminds me of a football match somewhere in africa when a lightening bolt hit the middle of the field and all the players fainted

I'm trying not to laugh, believe me, (though it requires a lot of effort particularly when you put it like this) Well, at least no one got hurt seriously, and only ended up fainting.

[audioave10]

Here is something strange...
While I'm fooling around with Newsa at 4 oclock in the afternoon
my Bank right across the street from me is ROBBED! Then the cops are knocking on my door to see if I heard anything. I think
I better get some money from the ATM to be safe and 3 cops are
watching me as I do my withdraw of funds. Weird.

[Nightwatch]

Wow! Just like movies. I hope nobody died, or wounded.

[audioave10]

No, I don't think it was that serious...just money lost.
Hope it wasn't MY money!

[NatVac]

It may have been your money, audioave10. But it was probably FDIC insured. This means that you share the loss with others, through taxes.

We've been Chinese-cursed: "May you live in interesting times." But none of what's mentioned here holds a candle to the experiences of fatrap or Earlywine (GSC forum regular), or even rockingmtranch (or anyone serving in the military).

Besides, I'm not minding the eventual shuffling off of this mortal coil; I look forward to the surcease of pain.* But while I can knock two neurons together, I plan on making sparks. (They don't have to be my neurons. )

___________
*Except the good kind, like that produced by Nightwatch's NEWSA.SIMBION_Tweak.

And it's not masochism, when you gain the control to make it stop. I know you guys smile when you triumph over the bad things.

[audioave10]

Hopefully the FDIC can cover my $602...

[audioave10]

Name that movie...

[audioave10]

Nice Car...

[NatVac]

Name that movie...

If you are serious (spoiler warning):

It looks like Forbidden Planet -- one of the best science fiction movies ever made. This 50s movie broke cliche molds left and right: the human spaceship was a flying saucer; despite the alien backdrop, the enemy turned out to be human ("monsters from the id"); despite the fantastic context, the story was about human beings and human problems, not winning a war against the alien bad guys.

The future of science fiction was greatly influenced by this movie. A similar vast underground alien complex running deep into the bowels of a planet is found on the planet that serves as Babylon 5's gravity anchor.

It was the template for Star Trek's idiotic policies, too; amazing that all the not-realistic features are also the most popular. We get the top leadership of a starship vessel, including the medical officer, always transferring down to the problematic planet, putting themselves in harm's way and then getting mad if harm won't give them the time of day.

I think it was the debut vehicle for Anne Francis, one of my first remote crushes. It may have been the start of the miniskirt trend of the 60s.

Re "Nice Car...": What car?

[VINTAR]

Hmmmm forbidden planet. Was that the one with a very young leslie nielson?