61
General Chaos / Re: Image Thread
« on: August 06, 2017, 03:42:43 PM »
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62
General Chaos / Re: What are you reading?
« on: August 02, 2017, 09:12:44 AM »
And I just noticed this book supposedly coming from Osprey next year: Technicals: Non-Standard Tactical Vehicles from the Toyota War to modern Special Forces. Something to put next to my copy of Vietnam Gun Trucks. 
63
General Chaos / Re: What are you reading?
« on: July 31, 2017, 06:44:28 PM »
Just finished Chelsea Vowel's Indigenous Writes: A Guide to First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Issues in Canada, a collection of essays about issues between Indigenous peoples and Settlers* in Canada. This book is basically a primer on the many issues that Indigenous peoples in Canada have to deal with every day, rather than an exhaustive study of Indigenous issues. These issues are organized into five categories: The Terminology of Relationships; Culture and Identity; Myth-Busting; State Violence; and Land, Learning, Law, and Treaties. There have been volumes of in-depth analysis of the issues touched on in Indigenous Writes written, and Chelsea Vowel provides copious notes for anyone interested in further reading on these subjects. For readers new to this discussion, this book is an excellent starting point; and through the bibliographical notes, it's a great jumping off point for more in-depth reading. If you've been following Canadian media lately you may have heard something about issues like: residential schools; missing and murdered Indigenous women; Indigenous land rights; cultural appropriation; and others. These issues aren't going to go away (anymore than Indigenous peoples are) so I urge my fellow Settlers to start reading up on the subject if you haven't already.
And in the latest episode of After Hours, Adam Scott Glancy mentioned Libya's war with Chad and the "Toyota War", which reminded me of a book I read a while ago: Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991. Written by a former CIA analyst, this book is an analysis of the conventional military forces** of six Arab countries, including Libya. The chapter on Libya is particularly fascinating: the entire chapter is 67 pages long, and the section The War for Chad, 1978-87 is 38 pages of that! Not counting analysis & conclusions, it's broken down into five parts: The First Libyan Intervention, 1978; The Second Libyan Intervention, 1979; The Third Libyan Intervention, 1980-81; The Fourth Libyan Intervention, 1983-86; and Libya's Defeat, 1986-87 (this is the Toyota War). The book is an interesting look at warfare in the Arab world during the cold war era and if you're writing say, an RPG or wargame scenario set in that time and place, I'd recommend it for research material.
*a term covered in the first part of the book: Terminology of Relationships
**the author specifically points out that Arab terrorist and insurgent forces are outside of the scope of this book
And in the latest episode of After Hours, Adam Scott Glancy mentioned Libya's war with Chad and the "Toyota War", which reminded me of a book I read a while ago: Arabs at War: Military Effectiveness, 1948-1991. Written by a former CIA analyst, this book is an analysis of the conventional military forces** of six Arab countries, including Libya. The chapter on Libya is particularly fascinating: the entire chapter is 67 pages long, and the section The War for Chad, 1978-87 is 38 pages of that! Not counting analysis & conclusions, it's broken down into five parts: The First Libyan Intervention, 1978; The Second Libyan Intervention, 1979; The Third Libyan Intervention, 1980-81; The Fourth Libyan Intervention, 1983-86; and Libya's Defeat, 1986-87 (this is the Toyota War). The book is an interesting look at warfare in the Arab world during the cold war era and if you're writing say, an RPG or wargame scenario set in that time and place, I'd recommend it for research material.
*a term covered in the first part of the book: Terminology of Relationships
**the author specifically points out that Arab terrorist and insurgent forces are outside of the scope of this book
64
General Chaos / Re: HAY GUYS HAVE YOU SEEN THIS THING (Forum Shout Out Thread Thing)
« on: July 28, 2017, 04:01:41 PM »Need to figure out how to make 2d images from 3d models so I can make a fan scenario of Zygote.Well first you get yourself a copy of 3D Studio...
Looking at renderings & screencaps of the creature on Ian Spriggs' ArtStation page, I'm reminded of a D&D edition wars argument about hit points & healing. If you take the meat points* argument seriously, then the zygote is what I think a high-level PC in D&D would look like. I've argued (on other forums) that if hit points = meat points, then when PCs in D&D level up and get more hp, they must grow more meat. If loosing 1d8 hp always means gross physical damage like loosing an arm or having your liver perforated, then high-level PCs must look like hideous monsters made of redundant limbs and organs.
*a derogatory name for the argument that hit points = raw physical damage and nothing else, which is mostly used as a rhetorical club to bash non-magical healing in D&D 4e
65
General Chaos / Re: Image Thread
« on: July 21, 2017, 06:39:03 PM »
Life in the basement by Anton Sundström, on Flickr
Life in the basement by Anton Sundström, on Flickr
Life in the basement by Anton Sundström, on Flickr
M'lady by Anton Sundström, on Flickr
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General Chaos / Re: HAY GUYS HAVE YOU SEEN THIS THING (Forum Shout Out Thread Thing)
« on: July 15, 2017, 06:13:54 PM »
Neill Blomkamp's latest short:
Filmed in the Diefenbunker. Some of the locations from Zygote are in my photos just a few posts back, recognize any of them?
Filmed in the Diefenbunker. Some of the locations from Zygote are in my photos just a few posts back, recognize any of them?
68
General Chaos / Re: Image Thread
« on: July 14, 2017, 04:58:11 PM »
So over on tumblr, there's this "Enter the year you were born on the gif area and post what you get." thread. Here's what I posted:
But man, was there a lot of other gifs I wanted to post:
But man, was there a lot of other gifs I wanted to post:
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General Chaos / Re: HAY GUYS HAVE YOU SEEN THIS THING (Forum Shout Out Thread Thing)
« on: July 05, 2017, 08:23:09 PM »
Don't usually share mecha stuff here (that's what social media is for) but I thought in this case I'd make an exception. I give you:
Maschinen Krieger Adventure Time
Maschinen Krieger Adventure Time
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General Chaos / Re: HAY GUYS HAVE YOU SEEN THIS THING (Forum Shout Out Thread Thing)
« on: July 02, 2017, 03:48:19 PM »damn those are good photos. Dig the lounge pic especially. Does the book have good maps/floor plans?
It does have floor plans, but they're basically these, scanned & cleaned up a little:
Floor Plan by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
And they're also not complete. There's a vault that was to house Canada's gold reserves which is accessible by a tunnel at the lowest level which isn't shown on the plans (though it is part of the tour). The plans also don't show the blast tunnel itself, and there's a vehicle garage with an entrance to the northwest of the blast tunnel entrance which may or may not be accessible from inside the bunker, but the access lane & garage doors still seem to be there.
It's possible that the original Architectural/Structural/Mechanical/Electrical drawings are stored in the National Archives, which is a ten minute walk from work. I might try to check that out sometime.
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General Chaos / Re: HAY GUYS HAVE YOU SEEN THIS THING (Forum Shout Out Thread Thing)
« on: June 30, 2017, 07:23:36 PM »
Wanted to share with you folks some photos from my trip to the Diefenbunker: A Day at the Bunker
The Diefenbunker was an “Emergency Government Headquarters” bunker built upwind of Ottawa in 1959, to house the upper echelons of Canada’s civilian government & military for 30 days in case of a nuclear war. The bunker was nicknamed “The Diefenbunker” after the Prime Minister who commissioned it, John Diefenbaker, by the press as a joke. It's existence was supposed to be secret, but the press found out about it before construction was completed. The Canadian military, afraid of provoking suspicion, did not restrict the airspace over the construction site, and a reporter simply rented a plane and took aerial photos of the bunker under construction. Diefenbaker never actually visited the bunker, and swore he would never use it after finding out that his family would not be allowed to join him in the event a nuclear war actually occurred. Subsequently, in every nuclear wargame scenario played out by the Canadian military, Diefenbaker refused to go to the bunker and died with his family in Ottawa each time! Only one Canadian PM ever actually visited the Diefenbunker: Pierre Elliott Trudeau spent a day touring the bunker shortly before cutting their operating budget in half. The Diefenbunker was finally decommissioned in 1994, and has now been turned into a museum.
My photo album is too big to share here (link above), but here's a few highlights:
Diefenbunker Entrance by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Welcome to CFB Carp by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
In the Blast Tunnel by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Lounge by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Cafeteria by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
War Cabinet by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Emergency Prepardness Canada by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Emergency Prepardness Canada by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Exit Through Blast Tunnel by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Gone With the Blastwave by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Diefenbunker Loot by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
And of course, there's plenty of photos of corridors:
Corridor by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
The Diefenbunker was an “Emergency Government Headquarters” bunker built upwind of Ottawa in 1959, to house the upper echelons of Canada’s civilian government & military for 30 days in case of a nuclear war. The bunker was nicknamed “The Diefenbunker” after the Prime Minister who commissioned it, John Diefenbaker, by the press as a joke. It's existence was supposed to be secret, but the press found out about it before construction was completed. The Canadian military, afraid of provoking suspicion, did not restrict the airspace over the construction site, and a reporter simply rented a plane and took aerial photos of the bunker under construction. Diefenbaker never actually visited the bunker, and swore he would never use it after finding out that his family would not be allowed to join him in the event a nuclear war actually occurred. Subsequently, in every nuclear wargame scenario played out by the Canadian military, Diefenbaker refused to go to the bunker and died with his family in Ottawa each time! Only one Canadian PM ever actually visited the Diefenbunker: Pierre Elliott Trudeau spent a day touring the bunker shortly before cutting their operating budget in half. The Diefenbunker was finally decommissioned in 1994, and has now been turned into a museum.
My photo album is too big to share here (link above), but here's a few highlights:
Diefenbunker Entrance by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Welcome to CFB Carp by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
In the Blast Tunnel by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Lounge by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Cafeteria by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
War Cabinet by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Emergency Prepardness Canada by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Emergency Prepardness Canada by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Exit Through Blast Tunnel by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Gone With the Blastwave by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
Diefenbunker Loot by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
And of course, there's plenty of photos of corridors:
Corridor by Bryan Rombough, on Flickr
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General Chaos / Re: HAY GUYS HAVE YOU SEEN THIS THING (Forum Shout Out Thread Thing)
« on: June 23, 2017, 04:55:35 PM »
In The Mixed Six, Caleb was talking about earnest outsider art versus campy, ironic works and I remembered this:
The actor John Lurie made a 6-episode fishing show with Jim Jarmusch, Tom Waits, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe & Dennis Hopper as guests. It's absurd, ironic, winking at the camera, but I love it. Tom Waits dropping a fish down his pants is one of the highlights of the show. In the DVD liner notes Lurie claims that the entire show was a tax dodge, and maybe it was? Thought it seems hard to believe you could recoup the cost of filming in locations like Jamaica, Costa Rica and Thailand solely through the use of tax shelters.
The actor John Lurie made a 6-episode fishing show with Jim Jarmusch, Tom Waits, Matt Dillon, Willem Dafoe & Dennis Hopper as guests. It's absurd, ironic, winking at the camera, but I love it. Tom Waits dropping a fish down his pants is one of the highlights of the show. In the DVD liner notes Lurie claims that the entire show was a tax dodge, and maybe it was? Thought it seems hard to believe you could recoup the cost of filming in locations like Jamaica, Costa Rica and Thailand solely through the use of tax shelters.
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General Chaos / Re: HAY GUYS HAVE YOU SEEN THIS THING (Forum Shout Out Thread Thing)
« on: June 19, 2017, 08:02:02 PM »
Ana Lily Amirpour's second feature is in theatres, I cannot wait:
Quote
In a dystopian future United States, a young girl (Suki Waterhouse) condemned to wander a desert wasteland is captured by a community of cannibals. Managing to escape, the girl later encounters and befriends one of her former captors (Jason Momoa, Game of Thrones) — but will the two of them be able to avoid getting slaughtered in this world where savagery is central to survival? Ana Lily Amirpour's highly anticipated follow-up to A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night uses genre conventions as a springboard for high style and social commentary.