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Messages - Fish Priest

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1
General Chatter - The Boozer / Re: EBS Numbers
« on: June 20, 2015, 01:35:27 PM »
OK: Erdös number is currently at most 5, should hopefully be coming down to 4 in the reasonable future.
Via: Jin-Chong Tan, Martin T. Dove, Warren D. Smith, George B. Purdy, Paul Erdös

Bacon number is arguably 3 via Jeremy Paxman and Kevin Faulkner (University Challenge, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, X-Men: First Class). Not sure if this counts!

Sabbath number is at most 7:
Owen Woods*-Mel Biggs**-Jo Freya-Andy Cutting-Sting-B.J. Cole-Glenn Hughes

*Public gig where people paid to get in
**Haven't released an album yet but have stuff up on Soundcloud

So I may have a finite EBS number!

2
Apparently there has now been a successful soft-landing of a Falcon 9 first stage. Unfortunately it was in the ocean, as rough seas meant that they didn't think they could keep their landing barge in place.

But still, it came down slowly, on rockets, the right way up, as God and E.E. 'Doc' Smith intended :)

3
Poetry and Artistic Writing / Re: Fish Priest's Assorted Ramblings
« on: February 11, 2015, 11:50:23 PM »
And another one! This is Tolkien filk (and will probably appear in Anor), and was composed in about 20 minutes and written down on a paper plate.

The tune is Little Fuzzy Animals by Frank Hayes:

Tricksy Little Hobbitses (Gollum’s Other Song)

I hid underneath the Mountain, I was looking for some peace
But since I started living here my problems just increased
There are Orcs and there are Goblins and as if that’s not enough
There are tricksy little Hobbitses who steal your stuff

Tricksy little Hobbitses, tricksy little Hobbitses, tricksy little Hobbitses who steal your stuff

I was happy with the Precious sitting down here in the dark
With no creatures there to stare at me while making rude remarks
But there’s still one problem down here and it really bothers me
It’s those tricksy little Hobbitses you just can’t see.

Tricksy little Hobbitses, tricksy little Hobbitses, tricksy little Hobbitses you just can’t see

There are mushrooms and there’s fungus and cave fishes by the score
And big crayfish (or small lobsters?), you could hardly ask for more
But there’s one thing I’ve found down here that I’d really like to eat
It’s those tricksy little Hobbitses who lie and cheat

Tricksy little Hobbitses, tricksy little Hobbitses, tricksy little Hobbitses who lie and cheat

You don’t know what’s in its pocketses, you just don’t have a clue
And it sits there looking satisfied at having beaten you
Since I went and strangled Deagol, the most annoying thing
Is the tricksy little Hobbitses who stole my Ring

Tricksy little Hobbitses, tricksy little Hobbitses, tricksy little Hobbitses who stole my Ring!

4
Forum Games - The Beer Cellar! / Re: On a llama farm
« on: January 20, 2015, 11:32:52 PM »
From my shelf:
Looking For a Ship on a Llama Farm (unlikely to be successful)
Before They Are Hanged on a Llama Farm
Scientific Technology and Social Change on a Llama Farm
The National Academy of Sciences: The First Hundred Years on a Llama Farm
The Long War on a Llama Farm
The Man Who Counts on a Llama Farm

5
They are also all wearing dog masks
(Warning: Link, once clicked, cannot be unseen)

6
Tabletop Games - The Game Room / Re: Carcassonne
« on: December 09, 2014, 11:48:01 PM »
OK, so it seems to have Princess and Dragon, Traders and Builders, and Inns and Cathedrals- I imagine the river is an expansion that's basically become part of the base game, even though my family's set doesn't have it. Of the others:

I don't recommend Princess and Dragon, as it introduces what's basically an attack mechanic or two- a dragon that eats meeples, and princess tiles that let you kick opponents out of cities. It also fundamentally changes the game by sometimes letting you place meeples on already-placed tiles. I feel like Carcassonne with this expansion is a different and less good game.

Traders and Builders (which you've played apparently) is complicated but still good. It adds to the game- by having cities that produce trade goods as a new way of scoring points, for instance- but doesn't change the core of it like Princess and Dragon does. It also has meeple-pigs which are extremely cute (and meeples with hats).

Inns and Cathedrals is excellent. It's the only expansion (other than the river) that I straight-up prefer playing with to without. It adds a small amount of complexity, and that's all. It also makes finishing your roads actually worth something!

Also, this website seems to have 7 Wonders, Power Grid and Kingsburg!

7
Poetry and Artistic Writing / Fish Priest's Assorted Ramblings
« on: December 08, 2014, 12:33:26 AM »
So this thread's mostly going to be SF/fantasy-related songs I write- or rather shoehorn into bits of existing music. The first one's actually a song that exists (or at least 2 lines of the chorus do) in-universe. The universe in question is the 40k one, and this song's mentioned in Sandy Mitchell's Caiaphas Cain books.

The tune's traditional (Over the Hills and Far Away), and the lyrics are heavily based on the ones by John Tams used in the Sharpe series:

Through the Warp and Far Away

Here’s forty Thrones upon the drum
For all who’ll volunteer to come
Enlist to fight His foes today
Through the Warp and far away

Chorus:
And it’s far across the stars we’ll fly
To fight His foes beyond the sky
The Emperor points and we obey
Through the Warp and far away

When duty calls me I must go
To stand and face another foe
The Emperor’s trust I’ll not betray
Through the Warp and far away

Chorus

When Chaos stalks across the land,
We'll neither hold nor stay our hand
But stand and fight both night and day
Through the Warp and far away

Chorus

Through smoke and fire and shot and shell,
And to the very walls of hell,
But we shall stand and we shall stay
Through the Warp and far away

Chorus

If I should fall to rise no more
Like many comrades did before
Then for my soul you all must pray
Through the Warp and far away

Chorus

Then fall in lads, the dropship’s come
On rockets brighter than the sun
Across the void to come what may
Through the Warp and far away

Chorus x2


Some more coming- I've got one in the works based on Dwarf Fortress, and possibly one based on Starship Troopers...

8
Tabletop Games - The Game Room / Re: Carcassonne
« on: December 08, 2014, 12:22:55 AM »
Does the site have any of the expansions?

9
The Ceilidh Caller's Club / Re: Dance: Ninepins
« on: December 08, 2014, 12:21:36 AM »
Well, I suppose the caller shouting is one way to do it.

We normally have the music stopping on a signal from the caller (my favourite being the one who would do a star-jump with the music stopping when he hit the ground). You do need to get the band to practise that first though!

10
Not sure if this is the place to put it but: http://www.buzzfeed.com/donnad/what-if-our-planet-had-rings-like-saturn

Somewhat relatedly, has anyone seen the "donut earth" post?
http://io9.com/what-would-the-earth-be-like-if-it-was-the-shape-of-a-d-1515700296


The idea of seeing your own planet in the sky is quite cool, as is that of satellites that go through the hole...

11
The only other temporary name-change I've heard of is Volgograd temporarily reverting to Stalingrad for the anniversary of the end of the battle.

12
Hmmmm, Constantinople would be a good one...

Now a follow-on question... Historical events that you would be present for that you would try to change the outcome.

And how would you do it?

For presence- perhaps one of the City Dionysias that we don't have the plays from. Or maybe the Battle of Trafalgar- probably from one of the British frigates that stayed close to the fighting but didn't take part in it.

For changing the outcome, I'd quite like to try saving Rigas Feraios and see if he could succeed in bringing the French Revolution to the Balkans. Not sure how I'd do it, though- warn him he was going to be betrayed?

13
The Welcome Hall - Start Here! / So I should make an intro thread, right?
« on: October 24, 2013, 11:12:06 AM »
Hi everyone,
I'm Alex, known as Fish Priest on certain parts of the Internet. I've been aware of the existence of Exilian for a while, but just learned that Jubal was someone I know in real life and decided to join up.

In general, I'm a scientist, SF fan, folk musician, metalhead, gamer and crypto-classicist currently based in Cambridge where I spend most of my time either in a lab, in a boat or playing music. As well as Jubal, I *may* know Mother of Dragons- unless there's more than one Tea on the Internet- and imagine various other people I know from various places may start coming out of the woodwork.

I've not done much modding, but the rest of the site looks fun, and while I don't have much technical experience with mods I'm usually quite good for ideas...

Looking forward to meeting all of you!

14
Thanks! Bodhrans are indeed a lot of fun, but I'm kind of embarrassed to play mine given how good a lot of the people I know are- and I'm not sure whether it's my technique or whether the skin is slippery, but I find it hard to reliably get a sound rather than a scrape out of it. Also, I'm not a guitarist and guitar experience makes it easier to learn the bodhran...

15
Fiddle/violin- reasonably OK, haven't played anything solo and classical for over 5 years now, though I do still play in orchestras and do folk stuff.

I've also got various odd instruments lying around: a bodhran and a hexaharmonica, both of which I need to get better at, and a bombard which I need to get a reed for and learn how to play.

EDIT: Apparently the thing I call a hexaharmonica is actually a Hohner Sextet.

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