Images: A perfect 10

[Norgarth]

Noticed the previous thread has reached 300 posts so, here we go.











this last one shows $1.6 Billion in gold bars

[ECSNorway]

$1.6 Billion in gold bars

And Kelly's gang hauled that out of that French bank in, what, two trucks and one Tiger tank? Less a share for the Tiger crew?

[Black Aeronaut]

A clue as to how heavy that shit is.

Notice the stacked pallets in the back ground?

Notice that each one only has stacks up to two-high?

Yeah. It's that heavy.

[robkelk]

If you visit the Royal Canadian Mint in Ottawa, you get (or got; it's been a couple of years) the opportunity to pick up one gold bar. They have two people watching - one in uniform, and the other to make sure you use both hands to pick up the bar.

They're that heavy.

[hazard]

Also, they're quite expensive and mostly useless as anything other than a gaudy decoration. Gold is used these days for heat management in spacecraft (mostly by reflecting light away) and for corrosion resistant connectors in electronics, but before that?

There was no use for it other than decoration.

[classicdrogn]

Pretty but useless, it's the perfect material to be symbolic of wealth, until the mask becomes reality.

[Black Aeronaut]

Not as useless as you guys think. It can be hammered out so thin that it's transparent, which is why fighter jet canopy glass and astronaut visors use it. On canopies, it acts as an anti-icing device as current is passed through it. In astronaut visors, it's a perfect shield against the raw light of the sun.

Due to its lack of toxicity, it has applications for medicine, too. And pretty much all cell phones have about 50mg of gold in them. Sliding contacts plated in gold are virtually failure proof.

If it wasn't so valuable to the wealthy, then we'd probably see it used in a lot more electronics and medicine.

[classicdrogn]

Now, yes. but I'm talking about back when it was picking up the association with wealth until it became fiat currency and then actual value as such, rather than just "that shiny stuff rich people wear." Long before Gilgamesh became King of Uruk, let alone cell phones and astronauts.

[Norgarth]

[Norgarth]

[classicdrogn]

Hell yeah!

Swap the B for Bruce with the W from Wayne,
West is Best there's no more to explain.

[Norgarth]

[Dartz]

Recent I took the film camera to a local con.

A 'small' selection. All were taken with an old Canon F-1 - with either a 24-35mm zoom, or a 50mm F1.8. And a basic flash.















Amusingly, the con's actual official photographer never showed up for the cosplay masquerade due to a scheduling mistake. The con didn't notice he was missing because I was sitting there banging away with the the old F-1 which 'looked' professional enough that they thought I was the photo-guy, and even asked me to take the final clossup group shots. Right until I explained it'd take a couple of weeks to get developed - then that I was just an attendee with an old camera.

And they were like, 'oh... we need someone to do it anyway. Can you?"

And so, the old F-1 got a few moments of actual 'work' in, where it absolutely had to function, and I absolutely had to get the shot because the dissapointment would've been palpable.

Still, the best thing about film is that it makes you think.
I only have 36 shots. Is this shot worth taking? Is it worth the risk of wasting a frame? Are we so certain we fucked up that it's worth trying again?
Then, instead of checking, rechecking and trying again, therte's no choice but to move on. The shot's taken.

It forces you to risk a mistake, then move forward when you make them.

The con was amazed with the results.

[Norgarth]

[Norgarth]

[Norgarth]

[DHBirr]

I immediately thought of Samurai Cat's gun-happy nephew Miaowara Shiro insisting that he could heft a GAU-8 Avenger 30mm Gatling cannon all by his lonesome because "I have the strength of madness!"
(Yes, I know this gun's supported by a pintle.  It's still funny.  Nyahhh.)

[Norgarth]

My response to first seeing the image was )

Abridged Alucard: "Bitches love cannons."

[Bob Schroeck]

My response was "Oh, my god, it's Ylva from our Shadowrun game."

[Black Aeronaut]

Heh.

I was gonna say that might be a daughter of one of my SI's, but then I realized...

"Pfft.  No way.  Of course that thing's too big.  That's why my Daddy got me a Leader A1."

It's a bullpup semiautomatic rifle firing the same .50 BMG cartridge, but with a long-stroke gas-piston operation instead of the Barret's recoil operation.  MUUUUCH lighter and easier to handle.  As you can see from the video below, it's a very well engineered gun.  Expect to see this bad boy in There's Nothing Better.

[classicdrogn]

Well I know what all the good little colonial marines are putting on their wish list this year...

Seriously though, that is one bitchin' looking gun. Give it some blinkenlights and it would fit right in on the set of pretty much any futuristic sci-fi media.

[hazard]

Regarding Pvt. Leo Major: The action referred to was a recon operation conducted by the Canadian army in the Netherlands late in the Second World War. Corporal Arsenault (a friend of Leo Major) and Leo himself volunteered to scout out the German defenses of the Dutch city of Zwolle during the night, so that the Canadians could assault it the following day. Things... went not as planned. Around midnight the corporal was killed, and Leo Major was so incensed that he basically went on a one man rampage in Zwolle, assaulting German positions, capturing German soldiers and marching them back to Canadian lines and all together convincing the Germans that the assault had already begun in earnest.

As a result and in the face of such overwhelming force the Germans retreated from the city.

To this day, the Canadians aren't considered the liberators of Zwolle like they are considered of so many places in the Netherlands north of the Rhine. Rather, one very specific Canadian is considered the liberator of Zwolle, and for good reason. That corporal is the only non German casualty of that battle. No civilians were injured in the crossfire nor were there any Canadians other than Leo Major and Willie Arsenault shot at during the engagement. After all, there was no bloody assault on a prepared position necessary, the Germans had already retreated, effectively yielding the city without a fight.

[Bob Schroeck]

Back to the subject of images in this thread and discussion of them, what do you think Rob, Brent, Geth? New page image for Small Girl, Big Gun?

[robkelk]

Back to the subject of images in this thread and discussion of them, what do you think Rob, Brent, Geth?  New page image for Small Girl, Big Gun?

Definitely, assuming we can get Norgarth to tell us where the image came from originally. Move what we've got to an Image Links subpage.

[Bob Schroeck]

Even if he does, it probably won't help. A quick Google Images search reveals that the pic has been spreading across the web and being memed for at least two weeks now, and no one I've found (yet) appears to be the source.

Edit: According to an April 29th Infowars article (yeah, yeah, I know. I hate to think what I just did to my Google news feed), the picture was taken at an NRA convention held on the weekend of April 27-28. Of course, that's all the credit the article gives. It's mainly about what Reddit and other sites are doing with it.

Frankly, the original source is thoroughly swamped out by hundreds of reposts. I doubt we can find it.