It's possible that the ballista crew panicked and ran when the Dothraki showed up. But yeah, they could have done a better job in the scene of explaining why it was unmanned, since (presumably) the whole reason they brought it with them was in case of a surprise dragon attack.

Has the show established that people know Valyrian steel also kills white walkers? In S1 Jon uses Ice to kill the wight attacking Mormont but I can't remember if they put 2 and 2 together.

Wood frame, metal bow, bolts and mechanical parts. It's basically a gigantic crossbow.

The wood frame makes It lighter and more mobile.

I got chills when Bran said "chaos is a ladder" and Littlefinger turned white as a ghost. Such a deep callback.

Exactly. They are basically the nuclear weapons of the series: a war-changing trump card that must be used sparingly (if at all). Because they are so devastating that profligate use of them will destroy the very people you are trying to conquer, as well as the useful products of said people's labor.

I didn't see Bronn's decision to go for the scorpion as being altruistic at all. Quite the opposite - it was another moment of logical, rational self-interest befitting his character and the circumstances.

It's been 150 years. What's taking so long?

Sherman was far too merciful to those seditious bastards.

Please stop pimping this fake "controversy". It's an alternate history show that is obviously intended to be dystopian (unless you seriously think that the brass at HBO are all closet Klansmen). The complaints from people who are certain this show is somehow going to glorify the Confederacy are fucking absurd.

No, they change the sound.

You seem a bit confused about how this works.

There are relatively-poor people in the United States who religiously watch reality shows in which absurdly-rich people waste ungodly sums of money on completely pointless bullshit. They don't seem particularly offended by it.

The pronunciation of acronyms is not dependent on the pronunciation of their component words.

but a slice of pizza that is turned over on top of another slice is?

Related question: Are airplanes trees?

A sausage is any food that consists of ground meat and flavorings and encased in an edible, cylindrical skin. Please explain how a hot dog fails to meet that criteria.

I'm guessing it begins in high school when you're "the guy who can eat insane quantities of food". After which you decide to enter some local eating competition at a state fair or some shit on a lark. Then you win it easily and start to think "maybe I can actually make money doing this".

I personally don't like ketchup on hot dogs, but I do not understand why ketchup inspires such murderous rage among Chicago Dog snobs.

Explain.