If they'd got their 80's references right they should have called it the M.A.S.K., not the transformer.

Why not combine 1 and 8?

It may look odd, but I prefer Howl's idea. It has character :)

Sounds like you guys had some vortexes open up.

Emperor Meiji reincarnated as the superior species (at least in their minds).

Meanwhile, in Sapporo, a man allegedly robbed the same 7-Eleven he supposedly robbed four days earlier. The thief apparently said, "I'm back," before robbing the store with, some reports, say appeared to be an ice pick.

This is a very good post, and Darmok is a great example! I just wanted to say, though, that I keep reading "our perception of reality on the Atlantic's website" as meaning their site has its own little pocket dimension that we visit when we're on the site. And now I'm laughing at that, because for many sites that's…

Seeing as in the book the aliens were described as being "more genetically similar to starfish, than humans" some of these concepts actually look decent!

I had a geekgasm over this news and I am not ashamed. Pacific Rim was one of the most fun cinematic experiences I've ever had in a long time.

My favorite pseudo-magical item was the instant tree, I can't recall at the moment what it was actually called. It was essentially a seed or a pinecone that you threw and wherever it landed, a 60ft pine tree suddenly grew from the ground. I requested a lot of these at the beginning of a campaign (along with the ones…

"I feel confident in saying that any D&D game that needs its player to perform an agriculture proficiency check for an entire year is the worst D&D game ever."

Immediately thought of this:

You'd best take that back right fucking now, son.

How did they evade war? They built strong walls and strong connections and rigorously applied common sense. In theory that should be enough to avoid war. Now we know that it indeed is.

Look up Caral. Peru. It's a culture founded on trade, without any evidence of warfare. They traded clear up into the Amazon, over 3000 miles away, and all without war. I suspect the Harappan were not cult of personality or cult of warfare, but cult of trade in their culture.

"Everything is zdorovo! Everything is cool when you're part of a komanda!

You know what? Spurning the Iron Throne is the mark of true wisdom. I mean, look at that thing and think of what it stands for. On a meta-level, HRM refusing to sit on it is a win.

Star-Nosed Mole from the movie The City of Ember

I kept hoping the owl would attack him so he would drop his phone into the correct recording position.