I think the whip snagged and pulled his leg, but let go or snapped free after a second or three. When Gandalf finally fell, the Balrog looked like a little glowing dot. From memory, it seemed that from his scrabbling to get up, to "Fly, you fools!", the whip, Balrog, or both were no longer still clinging to Gandalf.
Perhaps Gandalf let himself go b/c he knew he could ultimately take the Balrog down. And that if he knew he had a chance to do it, he should take it, lest Sauron call this reawakened foe to his side to add to his muster. So he fell, guessing that if nothing else, the fall alone wouldn't destroy him permanently... and might lead Sauron and/or Saruman to believe he was dead. (See Bond, James Bond, in You Only Live Twice)
IIRC, Gandalf had a similar fear re: Smaug, and was thinking of ways to eliminate him before Sauron put him in the lineup... at which point he met Thorin, who wanted the dragon taken out for other reasons, etc., and they told two friends, and so on, and so on....
If the casinos can get me so drunk on free booze that I can't recall whether I've bought in for $200 or $2,000, I can use my powers of observation to eke out a tiny advantage.
Besides this, many casual gamblers (and a few serious ones) don't recognize the need to walk when they achieve a small gain. They read a book on counting, and think they're going to double their buy-in each time they hit the casino. Frankly, when you get a 20%, 10%, or even 5% gain, you should GET UP AND WALK. Get your troops off the field and fight another day for another few yards of ground. (And as a counter, you'll look a little less suspicious, assuming you haven't been hiking your bets from 1 chip to 20 each time the count gets positive.) Walk with small gains, and adhere to your loss limit, and you'll have a greater chance (YMMV) of keeping that bankroll in the green over time.
Remember Godfather Part II? That huge chart used in the Senate hearing on organized crime to depict the Corleone Family? That would look spectacular over my couch.
A friend of a friend who traditionally hosts a Super Bowl party used to make book on various game events, from final score to the opening coin toss. He also gave odds on a terrorist event at the game and a blimp crash. Yes, those could be combined into a double payoff if it involved a Black Sunday scenario.
Should he resume covering these odds, I guess he could just log on and abstract the line in real time. No more anguished nights poring through Foreign Affairs and Soldier of Fortune looking for the elusive hints to set the opening line.
:::shudder::: Agreed. I'll be dead in the cold, cold ground before I accept Greedo shooting first. I'll take Han making the Kessel Run in less than 12 acres before I buy that revisionist Lucas claptrap.
When I eventually learned in my early teens what a parsec was, I bugged for a while out at Lucas's seeming inaccuracy. Then time went by, and I realized Lucas just went with a space-sounding word. You might say, "he let go of his conscious self and acted on instinct." Don't seem to have hurt the boy none.
I became much happier when I found I could say "F it" about things like this and accept that sometimes a parsec is just a "parsec."
As seen on a piece of junkmail that Homer immediately discards on an early ep of "The Simpsons."
Will be avoiding this show, not b/c it's a poor version of the original "Battlestar Galactica," but b/c it's "Battlestar Galactica." They could have directed this $$$ into any number of original concepts, or, God help us, more "Farscape," but instead they decided to run a few volts through this corpse to see if it'd sit up. To hell with that.
It has also been billed as the most energy-efficient sub in the fleet. Powered by a modern nuclear reactor, it glides across the seas with a magnetohydrodynamic drive codenamed, in a nod to the fuzzy Carter years, a "caterpillar" drive. An added advantage is its near-total operational silence, which will prevent it from disorienting whales and other sea mammals as it helpfully visits the continental shelves of other nations.
Gotta back up AtariAmarok. Arnie's arm is trapped under a huge gear. Arnie wrenches the arm off and leaves it under the gear. He goes into the metal after the T1 chip and arm, but without the one under the gear.
I recall this b/c many, many geeks in the past decade have cited this remaining arm -- mangled past use or reverse-engineering -- as the reason why Skynet and Judgment Day would still be inevitable.
VU/Lou Reed ("Take a Walk on the Wild Side") and Steely Dan ("Rikki Don't Lose That Number") influences unite in the name "Rikki Wildside," from his short story "Burning Chrome," a work of such brash, concise beauty that it still gives me chills up my spine 10+ years after my first read.
Slashdot Mirror
Is it the light making them sick, or the soul-crushing tedium emanating from the work they're doing under those lights?
I think the whip snagged and pulled his leg, but let go or snapped free after a second or three. When Gandalf finally fell, the Balrog looked like a little glowing dot. From memory, it seemed that from his scrabbling to get up, to "Fly, you fools!", the whip, Balrog, or both were no longer still clinging to Gandalf.
:)
Not to get all Zapruder film or anything.
... but Monica Bellucci seems to be wearing even less in this one.
Keep your stick figure models. Ich liebe zaftige frauen!
Perhaps Gandalf let himself go b/c he knew he could ultimately take the Balrog down. And that if he knew he had a chance to do it, he should take it, lest Sauron call this reawakened foe to his side to add to his muster. So he fell, guessing that if nothing else, the fall alone wouldn't destroy him permanently ... and might lead Sauron and/or Saruman to believe he was dead. (See Bond, James Bond, in You Only Live Twice)
... at which point he met Thorin, who wanted the dragon taken out for other reasons, etc., and they told two friends, and so on, and so on ....
IIRC, Gandalf had a similar fear re: Smaug, and was thinking of ways to eliminate him before Sauron put him in the lineup
If the casinos can get me so drunk on free booze that I can't recall whether I've bought in for $200 or $2,000, I can use my powers of observation to eke out a tiny advantage.
Besides this, many casual gamblers (and a few serious ones) don't recognize the need to walk when they achieve a small gain. They read a book on counting, and think they're going to double their buy-in each time they hit the casino. Frankly, when you get a 20%, 10%, or even 5% gain, you should GET UP AND WALK. Get your troops off the field and fight another day for another few yards of ground. (And as a counter, you'll look a little less suspicious, assuming you haven't been hiking your bets from 1 chip to 20 each time the count gets positive.) Walk with small gains, and adhere to your loss limit, and you'll have a greater chance (YMMV) of keeping that bankroll in the green over time.
Soon, you'll have to renounce your citizenship and move to some filthy european country where they molest children for sport.
But Vatican City has so few good Chinese takeout joints.
Aimee Plumley does, but only with the proper level of contempt.
Conspir8or
>We've slashdotted Erin Gray's pants!
A little Era will wash that right out. Remember, protein gets out protein.
Remember Godfather Part II? That huge chart used in the Senate hearing on organized crime to depict the Corleone Family? That would look spectacular over my couch.
Vice President Cheney ... Is that you??
A friend of a friend who traditionally hosts a Super Bowl party used to make book on various game events, from final score to the opening coin toss. He also gave odds on a terrorist event at the game and a blimp crash. Yes, those could be combined into a double payoff if it involved a Black Sunday scenario.
Should he resume covering these odds, I guess he could just log on and abstract the line in real time. No more anguished nights poring through Foreign Affairs and Soldier of Fortune looking for the elusive hints to set the opening line.
228 years? I don't know of any companies that have been around that long.
:)
Guinness, maybe Bass (of Ale fame), and Kikkoman come to mind. Brewers of one essential liquid or another.
:::shudder::: Agreed. I'll be dead in the cold, cold ground before I accept Greedo shooting first. I'll take Han making the Kessel Run in less than 12 acres before I buy that revisionist Lucas claptrap.
When I eventually learned in my early teens what a parsec was, I bugged for a while out at Lucas's seeming inaccuracy. Then time went by, and I realized Lucas just went with a space-sounding word. You might say, "he let go of his conscious self and acted on instinct." Don't seem to have hurt the boy none.
I became much happier when I found I could say "F it" about things like this and accept that sometimes a parsec is just a "parsec."
I want to be able to point at the TV when the last episodes of cancelled shows are broadcast and yell, "Ha-haah!"
Oh wait, I already do. "I said, 'Ha-haah!'"
As seen on a piece of junkmail that Homer immediately discards on an early ep of "The Simpsons."
Will be avoiding this show, not b/c it's a poor version of the original "Battlestar Galactica," but b/c it's "Battlestar Galactica." They could have directed this $$$ into any number of original concepts, or, God help us, more "Farscape," but instead they decided to run a few volts through this corpse to see if it'd sit up. To hell with that.
Gotta back up AtariAmarok. Arnie's arm is trapped under a huge gear. Arnie wrenches the arm off and leaves it under the gear. He goes into the metal after the T1 chip and arm, but without the one under the gear.
I recall this b/c many, many geeks in the past decade have cited this remaining arm -- mangled past use or reverse-engineering -- as the reason why Skynet and Judgment Day would still be inevitable.
Haven't seen Fight Club , huh?
"Jaaaaane! Stop this crazy thing!!"
The blip tells the projectionist to line-up the next reel momentarily.
I thought that's what the single frame of pornography was for.
"We got more gongs than the break-dancing robot that caught on fire."
--Homer, "$pringfield (Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Legalized Gambling)"
Check out my workday freakout suppressant, WFMU--listener-sponsored freeform music, talk, and live music streaming 24/7.
Conspir8or
"Cunnilingus and necromancy brought us to this."
VU/Lou Reed ("Take a Walk on the Wild Side") and Steely Dan ("Rikki Don't Lose That Number") influences unite in the name "Rikki Wildside," from his short story "Burning Chrome," a work of such brash, concise beauty that it still gives me chills up my spine 10+ years after my first read.