How nerdy are you?This week Gary Gygax, co-creator of Dungeons and Dragons, died. A whole generation of pasty dice-obsessed nerds owes him big time. Me included.
So, in his honour, how nerdy were you? Are you still sunlight-averse? What are the sad little things you do that nobody else understands?
As an example, a B3ta regular who shall remain nameless told us, "I spent an entire school summer holiday getting my BBC Model B computer to produce filthy stories from an extensive database of names, nouns, adjectives, stock phrases and deviant sexual practices. It revolutionised the porn magazine dirty letter writing industry for ever.
Revel in your own nerdiness.
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chthonic, Thu 6 Mar 2008, 10:32)
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Just remembered this...One of the things that annoyed me about Gladiator was that the chariots drove on the right. I believe the Romans drove on the left.
How many nerd points do I get for that?
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Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 11:48,
11 replies)
quite a fewThough I watched that film thinking "no, the spectral profile of the lighting is all wrong for olive oil lamps".
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crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 11:49,
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And cannonballs, for real pec-grippingVirtually any movie or TV prog, from that piece of inane drivel The Patriot to the Last of the Mohicans, that involves cannon being used, causes me to get all shouty and grumpy and my dear lady wife adopts the "la-la-la-I'm-not-listening" mode.
Cannonballs (roundshot) do NOT explode on impact. Because they are a BFO iron ball, and nothing more. They fly through the ranks of Johnny Foreigner causing much hurtiness and eventually roll to a stop or get embedded in something. The damage to the unfortunate buggers who you are firing said BFO ball at is caused by 4-24 pounds of very hot iron passing through, or close to you at a fair old speed. They can also kick up splinters, chunks of masonry etc and cause more damage, but they do not explode. Bloody SFX types.
(Before anyone chips in, I'm not even going into Shrapnel,Case,Spherical Case, Canister, Explosive Shell, Chain, Bar, Langridge etc. I just don't like roundshot exploding with a 'whumpf' and sixteen Frenchmen swooning to the ground)
(NB loading a cannon with cowpats is fun)
(, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 12:03, closed)
Driving on the rightWhy do you think the romans drove on the right?
(, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 12:06, closed)
Extra nerd factorNo, Romans drove on the left (hence we do).
The practice of driving on the right was introduced by Napoleon to identify and generally piss off anyone who was against him. Essentially anyone driving on the left was fair game for a bullet in the head or a trip to the gallows.
(, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 12:09, closed)
Gold dustWhat a top fact!
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KISS.ME.WHERE.I.POO Signed the sex offenders register on, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 12:17,
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Golddust...Damn me and my proofreading. I got my lefts and rights mixed up - you are correct, and I am a tard.
Ninja'd now for correctiness.
@Meat: apparently clever people can tell from the ruts on Roman roads which way the prevailing traffic was going, therefore which side of the road was in use. Beats me how.
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Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 12:18,
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The Romans had an innate fear of things that were left.It's where we get our word 'sinister' from. Whereas we march starting on the left foot, they always started on the right.
Sometimes difficult to remember when we're doing reenactment.
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Colonel Boris "...a desperate Buzzfeed imitation...", Fri 7 Mar 2008, 12:20,
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That's right, although the Greeksalways took the back road.
(, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 13:39, closed)
I always thought driving on the leftwas a throwback to older days when people travelled on horseback.
Most people being right-handed, it's easier to swipe an oncoming opponent with a sword or lance held in the right hand if you're riding on the left hand side of the road.
Same basic reason that castle towers always had the stairs winding clockwise upwards. Attackers going up the stairs would be forced to hold their swords in their left hands, while the defenders would be able use their right hands.
(, Fri 7 Mar 2008, 14:39, closed)
I get pissed at the movie Troybecause that movie makes the time from the taking of Helen to the end of the Trojan War look like it lasted 2 weeks.
If I remember correctly, by the end of the war, Helen loved her husband and had several children....and didn't want to leave Troy.
oh, and Apeloverage....if the Greeks always took the back road, there wouldn't have been any baby Greeks. (was still funny though)
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flirting with badgers What? It sounded good at the time., Sat 8 Mar 2008, 3:39,
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