Gentled Ben here, and I like camping the best as far as summer pastimes, but swimming is close.

Annnnd, that was fun! Thanks for the wonderful conversation, everyone, and may you all see a unicorn someday!

Oh, definitely! It looks wolf-like, but it's not a wolf or a dog. I don't know what that is, and apparently, they don't either. I wonder if this is how theses legends get started? A shepherd in the Carpathians kills some sort of weird thing that was eating his sheep, and within a generation, you have tales of werewolves running rampant in Romania or something.

22 hours ago, Ryrin said:

'Wolf-like' creature shot near Montana ranch puzzles experts.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-us-canada-44243644

 

 

My first thought looking at it was werewolf! Glad to see that option made the article.

4 hours ago, Elgee said:

 

I have very often wondered about this exact same thing. I've not read any hypothesis that makes logical sense to me.

It's my personal thought that it is evidence for the existence of Atlantis, that the idea of a dragon came from Atlantis. That, or the Biblical dragon, Lucifer, has visited and revealed himself a time or two to ancient peoples in various locales. 

2 hours ago, JamesBrown said:

That's funny, Elgee.

 

Chupacabras are cryptozoological creatures that started in Puerto Rico and have since been "seen" in lots of places in North America, primarily the Southern US and Mexico.

 

I'm not sure they've reached the status of mythical, but then I'm not sure what mythical means when it comes to animals. Why is a dragon mythical but a T-Rex not? <shrug>

 

I've also read (I forget where) that around 200 lakes or bodies of water around the world supposedly contain some sort of cryptozoological creature. Whatever is in Loch Ness is not the only one of its kind--just the most well-known. That suggests to me that monsters like Nessie and dragons are a byproduct of human thinking. They could be a way of filling in a blank that is difficult to be filled. "What killed my cow? What carried off my baby brother? What's that sound out there in the dark?"

But why would they think of the same thing? Why would they think of dragons or sea serpents that live in a lake?

4 hours ago, Elgee said:

 

I've never heard of a chupacabra - is it an American thing?

 

Bigfoot / Yeti seems to be localised to the North American and Himalayan areas respectively, from what I recall?

Yes to both.

Is the chupacabra cross-cultural? I know that Bigfoot is (Sasquatch, Yeti).

7 hours ago, JamesBrown said:

34 occurrences of 'dragon' in the King James Version.

 

Some are obviously metaphor, but others...

 

9 occurrences of 'unicorn'

In some of those translations, it looks like what we would call sea serpents are being referred to as dragons. Again, on the origin topic, how did sea serpents come about? Why giant snakes or dragons living under water? Whales do not look like serpents, and those are the largest beasts that sailors were likely to ever come across. Are there, or were there, prehistoric fish still living in the oceans that people might have seen? I know they caught some ancient fish that was believed to be extinct for millions of years in the Philippines a long time ago, and Nessie, the Loch Ness monster, looks a lot like some sort of plesiosaurus, so is that what the sea serpent is based upon? What do you think?

Cthulu for the win!

So I guess what I'm getting at is questioning the root of some of these creatures. Dinosaurs are the usual knee-jerk explanation for dragons, but I think that's lazy and inaccurate. Giant fossilized bones could be the bones of any giant creature; I don't think the average person would determine that the bones belonged to a huge lizard, and presumes that lots of fairly intact fossils of large dinosaurs were available all over the place, as dragons are a common mythological creature in many cultures. We see the Coatl in the Americas, and we see different-but-similar types of dragons in Europe and Asia. 

Why did all these different cultures all imagine dragons? What was the basis for this? At some point, have people actually seen real dragons, or was there really an Atlantis, and did it have a dragon as its symbol or god or something? Is it just a natural response of the human psyche to imagine a giant serpent?

18 hours ago, Mashiara Sedai said:

Oh!  Pegasus is neat!

 

I think all options but #3 work. The point of pants is to cover up naughty bits, right?  #3 wouldn't do that.

On the other hand, his arms aren't long enough to put any other pair of pants besides #3 on, and since he can't reach back there anyway, #3 is the only pair that will allow him to relieve himself. Unless of course, the back is just open on the pants, and that defeats the whole purpose. Maybe this is why we never see them wearing pants?

These are wonderful pictures and wonderful choices!

Unicorns and dragons (or at least one dragon) are mentioned in The Bible. Are there other mythological beasts mentioned in the scriptures of other religions? 

As you can probably guess, dragons are my favorite mythical beast. I have numerous dragon figurines in my home, I was born in the Chinese Year of the Dragon, and I have a dragon (I believe technically, a wyvern) tattoo: 

I love the way they look, both regal and sort of creepy. I love their wisdom and cleverness, and their ferocity and seeming invincibility. I think it would be terrifying to meet one, but to have one as a friend or a partner, such as in Dragonheart, would be exceedingly cool. What are some of your favorite mythical beasts, and why?

Welcome! Who hasn't wished to see a unicorn, a dragon, a sea serpent, or a griffon? In this thread, we will be discussing creatures of legend, lore, and mythology. We'll talk about our favorites and discuss what makes them great--why they fire our imaginations, why they are still popular centuries after we've become fairly certain that there are no dragons or unicorns lurking in the bushes, where the ideas for these beasts might have originated (for example, it's a popular notion that the mermaid was derived from the manatee), and whatever else crosses our minds, as I have done little to no preparation for this discussion. We will just wing it, like dragons...

I can think of no better opening than this:

I just got home from watching it, and I liked it, especially

10 hours ago, Andrej said:

Miller & Chubb is going to be hell on offenses. I like the receivers the Broncos got as well. I heard a lot of stuff that Elway liked Rosen but after signing Keenum and with Chubb dangling there at #5, I would’ve done the same.

I like Sutton's sticky hands. Keenum throws a lot of 50/50 balls out there, and Sutton looks like he's good at grabbing those.

Rosen will probably turn into a good quarterback, but yeah, I think they had to take Chubb. That was pretty much the consensus on the Broncos' SB Nation blog, anyway.

I think my Broncos did quite well. I really wanted Hernandez (most of us did, including Elway), but we couldn't get past the Giants to grab him. I think the line will be improved with Veldheer though (hope he stays healthy), and Keenum, who is savvier than Siemian and should get rid of the ball quicker and have better pocket awareness and movement. 

This is the first draft that they didn't take boom-or-bust, low floor/high potential players early on or reach at positions of need early on. The first few rounds, they arguably took the best player available, and they primarily took guys who are football-smart, high-motor players with good attitudes and work ethics. That should pay dividends in team culture and locker room dynamics down the road. They also coached three of their draft picks at the Senior Bowl, so I assume those are guys who should have a good chance of succeeding.

Sad to see that they don't have a ready replacement for Roby; they should have kept Talib another year, but improving the pass rush should help the corners, and Su'a Cravens should be able to cover tight ends. Tired of Kelce having big games against us.

I thought the Giants did well getting Barkley and Hernandez.

I'm here. The last movie I saw was Ready Player One, but I intend to see Avengers: Infinity Wars tomorrow night.

On 4/13/2018 at 7:18 PM, Nolder said:

I think maybe someone wanted to take it in that direction but the heads of Disney maybe shut it down and said stick to the formula. Because it seems so weird that entire movie was pushing towards that twist and then it just did a 180 out of nowhere. Like why build Rey and Kylo's relationship like that? Why kill Snoke with so little payoff? It all seems boring and pointless...unless someone was planning to take the story in the direction we're theorizing about and it just didn't happen.

 

I don't write fanfics but if I did this is the fanfic I would write about.

I think you nailed it here.

On 3/14/2018 at 1:24 PM, Nolder said:

 

What Luke did I am kind of sort of ok with. I imagine it as something that basically killed him. He went overboard and he paid for it. Leia is still human so not only was she on the bridge that exploded and that alone should have killed her or made her unconscious (it did) but she was in space and shouldn't have been able to breathe (she couldn't). It's not so much that she flew to the ship that bothers me as the fact that she should have been dead before she could even do that.

 

 

Maybe only big ships can do it? Yeah I dunno it was kind of dumb to do.

 

I think what you mean to say is that peoples reactions to him are not believable. I believe someone could commit mutiny. I don't believe he's allowed to stay with his rebellion after doing so. He can never be trusted again.

 

It was made all the more pointless by the fact that they didn't actually save the Resistance fleet. They failed. Twice. It literally just made me annoyed that I was having to sit through them riding camel horse things while being shot at when I wanted to know wtf Rey and Kylo were doing.

 

It's like they hinted at him being force sensitive in TFA and then...dropped that completely. I'm ok with him being a character I guess but I wish there was more...focus? I don't know if he's Rey's love interest or like a buddycop thing with Poe or what. What's his story? Why is he here? He just wants to run away.

 

As for Phasma I am pretty sure she's confirmed dead but I can't remember for sure.

 

No no it's not about him not being a strong iconic villain (obviously Kylo is supposed to take center stage) it's that he has no story whatsoever. If they just said he was one of the Emporer's minions and coveted his power or something I would be like oh ok that's where he came from. Or idk say he's mysterious and came from the outer edges of the galaxy sure whatever. But just...nothing? That's so lame and boring.

 

I know! At first I was extremely mad about how Luke's character was written and how his entire storyline is basically just f*** the jedi order! Luke really would not have done that and you know why? It's in the story. He claims he went there to die but in reality HE LEFT A FREAKING MAP TO FIND HIM. That is literally what TFA was about. But, you know what?

 

As I watched I calmed down and I was like ok you know we've had Jedi vs Sith since the 70s in movies, books, video games. And it's cool and we can keep doing that. But what if two young upstarts just said f*** it all and went on a rampage against both sides? That could genuinely be interesting. And I got excited for that. The movie kept pushing it and pushing it. Making it seem more and more interesting. Even towards the end you find out Rey is literally a nobody but Kylo says she's important to him. How sweet right? Ok so time to Bonnie and Clyde this shit. 

 

And then...nah. 

 

Total freaking letdown.

 

I'd rather have a full length feature film about Jar Jar's escapades in the Senate then watch Episode 9 at this point.

Oh man, I was so totally cheering for her to take his hand and do exactly that. That would have been an amazing plot twist and something I could really get behind. The series could have gone in so many wonderful directions at that point, even back to Sith vs Jedi eventually if that's what they really wanted, but to not take the detour at all after slowing down to read the sign, wow, that really sucked.

That's so exciting! I can't wait to read it.

Patience with children, new jobs (yay!), cleaning things up, being productive, maintaining current levels of awesomeness, and going to concerts! What a great Spring so far! Also, points for me!

So it's April already! Spring is here, regardless of when you believe it started, and just like the world around us, the Black Tower is experiencing growth and revitalization with new members, classes, and epic One Power battles among members! What are some areas of personal growth that you are looking forward to this Spring? What are you spending your personal life points on this Spring? Myself, I bought an electric keyboard (a Yamaha P-115), and I'm trying to learn the piano.

Also, here.

I set a quantity goal in the Brown Ajah book challenge last year and easily exceeded it, but this year, like you guys, I'm just going to read what I want to and without any numerical goals in mind.

I finished Anna Karenina. I liked it! He could have cut a fair bit out of it and had a better story IMO, but I can see why it's considered a classic. I was particularly caught off guard when we got a couple of POVs from one of the character's hunting dogs. That was very avant-garde for 1870, I would say. He also did a fine job of canine character development in a few short paragraphs. 

Then I read The Martian Chronicles, which I thought I had read when I was 13 or so, but apparently, all I read was the story about the futuristic house in California burning down. I can see how the Martian Chronicles was a foundational work, as I saw echoes of multiple Twilight Zone and original Star Trek episodes in it. 

So...2018 began as the year of the classics for me, but I am going to move back to fantasy, now. I think I'll listen to The Rithmatist first, then I'll do the Mistborn spinoffs, and that should be plenty of Sanderson until he writes the next Stormlight volume.

Hope you had fun!

On 3/14/2018 at 10:48 PM, Illian Tear said:

I'm currently in Denver right now.

We should grab some coffee sometime! I work graveyards and am off on weekends. I'm actually in Aurora, but I drive. Hit me with a PM sometime if you want to meet.

It would be nice if GIF avatars were animated again. Mine would probably dance for joy...

Yeah well, I’m bogging down on Anna Karenina, but I’m over halfway through, so I’ll keep pushing on.