There's geeky, then there's GEEKY, and then there's George Gaskell and Ace.

This from someone whose handle is "hobgoblin"?

Come on, 'fess up: there's gotta be a Players Handbook or Monster Manual stashed away in your attic somewhere, am I right?

George: Whoa there! A lot of people w/ D&D sounding non-de-plumes have perfectly adult reasons for their names. Don't be so quick to jump to your conclusions.

Ray,

lol

Actually George, it comes from the Emerson quote: "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."

I started as "hobgoblin of little minds" at LGF about 2-3 years ago (actually started as "Aristotle", but that was just TOO pompus, even for me), and within about 4 posts got sick of typing the last part.

My older brother was the D&Der, adn while I liked looking throught eh Fiend Folio and the Dieties and Demigods (as well as the Monster Manuals I and II---mostly for the mythos and artwork), I never like teh roll-playing thing.

I've sometimes caught some D&D flak for my nic, but it's not at all related. I finally looked up just what it meant about 4 months ago ("a large and militaristic goblin" or some such), so I guess I'm ok with that.

But really, my name is a criutique in those that believe in the perfectability of man and seek to warp humanity to fit their ideology (both on the left and the right)

Come on, George, we know you want to challenge bbeck.

So yes, I'm geeky, but not D&D geeky.

I liked Dune (mythos), Original star Trek, DS9 (acting and arc), Enterprise (Vul-canns); and BSG (all of the above). Picked up the LoTR for the first time when the movies came out (had the Hobbit but never read it until recently)

Was big on Star Wars & GI Joe & He-Man as a kid. Play Halo 2 religiously at the moment, mostly into mil-sims on the Xbox (Ghost Recon 2, et al).

But I also work out 3x a week, bench 250 (at 180 myself), and drink like a fish (except during Lent)

Pretty geeky, all-in-all, but I like to stay well-rounded.

Yet I am merely a geek poseur next to your Uber-geekdom.

Challenge bbeck? Me???

I am not nor have I ever been an authorized heavy SCA fighter, nor have I owned, worn or ever actually seen a ring inscribed with words from the black tongue of Mordor.

As to my geek creds, I, too, liked Dune (the gothic absurdity of it all), Original star Trek (of course, especially the egregious military domination of all in their path), not DS9 (zzzzzzzz), never caught Enterprise (due to the limited room in my TV-watching schedule); and I don't know what BSG is. Battlestar Gallactica? Call me old school, but if it ain't got Dirk Benedict, it ain't the real deal.

As for LoTR, I first read the books in grade school on the recommendation of a teacher who noticed my interest in Campbell's Masks of God, but I lost touch for the most part until the movies came out.

Star Wars is sacred ground. I think you might be younger than me b/c GI Joe & He-Man weren't even in the ballpark. I envy your Halo 2 time, and have been looking forward to investing some serious time of my own into Neverwinter Nights, Thief and Total War, but employment, fatherhood and home-ownership have thus far stood in the way. So, until then, give 'em hell for me, brother.

O/T - LIKE A VIKING! (but not one with e.d.)

Ace! Bearking news! (actually it's pretty old but still teh funny)

Endowments below the belt defined Viking culture

NOT SO FIERCE: Viking warriors were sexually insecure, consumed with performance angst and troubled by the thought that size really did matter, research suggests

THE GUARDIAN , LONDON
Friday, Oct 15, 2004,Page 6
Being hung like a Norse was key to social hierarchy and being considered a real man in 10th-century Icelandic society, according to a new paper, Size Matters: Penile Problems in Sagas of Icelanders, presented to the International Medieval Congress in Leeds, England, this week.

The comprehensive cultural history of the penis in medieval Iceland was researched by Carl Phelpstead from Cardiff University, Wales, who analyzed contemporaneous accounts of otherwise brave Viking warriors being ridiculed by women and girls for their dainty manhood and sexual timidity.

"For Viking men who suffered impotence or erectile problems, it was not merely a medical problem or an unfortunate constraint on their sex lives, it profoundly affected their identity," Phelpstead said.

Society in medieval Iceland operated under a one-gender system in which people were categorized not as male or female but as physically adequate or inadequate, Phelpstead believes.

"The result is a distinction between men on the one hand and everyone else, including most women, children, slaves and otherwise disenfranchised men on the other," he said.

In the ancient stories, penis size determined a man's status in a society that distinguished able-bodied, virile men from all other people. In rare cases, some women were able to gain this position of social status. Phelpstead points to repeated imagery and metaphors in the stories that referred to a penis as a "borer" and "drill of the hill of the leg."

"These descriptions suggest that the penis not only marked social position but could be used to establish or reassert social standing through phallic aggression," he said. "A penile problem such as erectile dysfunction compromised the ability of a man to assert or maintain this dominant position."

Phelpstead found evidence for his argument across all genres of Old Norse-Icelandic literature, as well as a cult of the phallus in pre-Christian Scandinavia, including ithyphallic rock carvings from Stone Age Norway and Bronze Age Sweden. He also identified castration anxiety among Viking men caused, he believes, by laws in force until 1260 allowing it as a kind of contraception and social engineering.

According to Phelpstead, having a penis was of less significance than whether its possessor had sufficient virility to produce an erection.

"Erectile dysfunction was both a symptom and a sign of men's move from one side of the social binary to the other," said Phelpstead. "If they were no longer vigorous men, they lost their gendered identity altogether."

To complicate matters further, Phelpstead found evidence in the stories that it was as unmanly to have an outsized penis as an undersized one. In the 13th-century Njal's Saga, the warrior Hrutr Herjolfsson is cursed by a jealous queen with an erection too big for intercourse with his bride.

Ace never ceases to amaze at the level of geekiness to which he is able to sink.

What you mean, "sink"?

Real right-wing uberdorks brew barleywine, it's 12-14% and actually drinkable...

Btw, does anybody offhand know if the original D&D books are worth anything? (I'm talking the late 70's smallish soft-cover books with the soft-core succubus drawings et al.) They're not in the best condition, but my mom is insisting I get them out of her house (had to leave some stuff behind when I moved out of the basement on my 28th birthday, ya know)...

Haha, Someone, George knows better than to try and challenge me. :) Is anyone else here going to Gulf Wars?

And Kahuna, I've got a pyment in my primary fermenter that's already tasting pretty good even after just a couple of weeks. I used purple grapes and Vierka mead, and I'll probably rack it into the secondary this weekend. Beer? The hubs has 2 batches going, a honey ale and a very dark brew. My house smells like HEAVEN. If you're a drunk, anyway.

Oh, and YES, those books may very well be worth something so do NOT throw them away yet. Last time I checked, my 1st Ed. hardbacks were worth about $100 each and that was years ago. Go look at prices at Ebay or something, you may be able to find out how much they're worth.

Later,
bbeck