Bill Clinton with porn-stars in Monaco.

bembo · 2012-05-24T17:08:20.551086+00:00

Is that actually him, or a look alike? I met him three years ago, and the bloke in this photo looks a bit slimmer than the man I met. Then again, he's got his arm around a woman in a blue dress, which is telling in and of itself...

maximilitia · 2012-05-24T16:59:18.069880+00:00

Awesome :)

RandomCaucasian · 2012-05-24T01:30:21.814244+00:00

Afraid not.

RandomCaucasian · 2012-05-24T00:15:47.908870+00:00

From the manufacturer's code on the receiver, it was made at the Mauser factory in Obendorf. That's likely all I'll ever dig up on it, unless by some magic I happen to find the Soldbuch of a soldier that had it and track it that way. It's a Russian capture, so at least I know that it saw action on that front. Pulling it apart, I've counted at least 12 different Waffenamts on the various bits and pieces. It's a "Frankenstein" rifle.

RandomCaucasian · 2012-05-23T21:10:47.102082+00:00

My early-modernist side is really into the longsword. Maybe ten or so years ago, when the resurgence of interest in western martial arts (based on the increased availability of fencing manuals from the period via the interwebs) was just getting going, I was involved in that scene. That one particular type of weapon resonated with me. The specific sword that I linked to was a replica based on one depicted in a Albrecht Dürer etching. Combine the two, and you end up with a serious historical warm and fuzzy for me.

The WWII side of me is torn between the Stuka dive bomber, and the k98 rifle. I own one of the latter (the former being a bit out of my budget), and despite being 74 years old and essentially 19th century technology, it's still a tackdriver at the shooting range. If I had a crystal ball, I would love to know where it has been and what it had been involved in. I absolutely get off on those connections.

fumpsee · 1 day

I should hope that poop would be stagnant. Oscillating or otherwise independently locomotive poop would be a tad disturbing.

hippoboy84 · 1 day

A little tin that used to contain a meth laced drink mix that was issued to soldiers in the Wehrmacht in WWII. Think Crystal Light with a different sort of crystal.

tamumike3 · 1 day

The mere fact that the Volkswagen Beetle then went on to become one of the icons of the hippie movement.

Mustermind · 1 day

Ditto here.

holidayhero · 1 day

To be fair, if you get high enough in the food chain at a hotel, you can make quite good money.

wassworth · 1 day

A lot of them (as if they really ever were any bigger than a squad) has fascist leanings before the war, so it wasn't totally environmental.

minutestomidnight · 2 days

Didn't even think of that. Looked it up, and it was 1994 that was the cutoff. (I joined in 2004, but took my SAT in 1992 or 1993.)

At least you've got a proper IQ test to go by, should you chose to join. I haven't formally taken one since I was in grade school. The SAT was all I had. From what I've seen, it looks like the tests that MENSA administers are heavily slanted towards people wired for math. I probably wouldn't have made it through with their tests. I scored 97th percentile in math, but stupidly high on the verbal section which helped me across that hurdle.

niceletto · 2 days

Heck, for me the war stories are the main reason that I'm still there. We're contractors brought in from an outside security firm, and I think the maids make more than we do.

We don't get all that many bands, we tend to draw in a lot more political types than anything else. We're an older hotel (over 100 years) - we do stately and elegant, young and hip really isn't our niche.

minutestomidnight · 2 days

I was eligible for MENSA by virtue of my SAT score. I joined one year, and never renewed. Most of the events they have seem extremely SAP, and I never bothered with them. It would probably be worthwhile to join for padding your resume for college. However, in the job market, it's a double-edged sword. Sometimes it's a benefit, sometimes it's intimidating to a potential employer and/or seen as a bit arrogant.

niceletto · 2 days

I have never worked anywhere that has allowed me to rack up anywhere near as many war stories as this place. To boot, catering to the rich and famous, we get to see them at their worst on occasion. If it weren't for that pesky non disclosure agreement, I could seriously write a book. The people I have seen passed out in the hallway in their underwear after a particularly nasty cocaine bender... ಠ_ಠ

BTW, if you haven't already, check out "Hotel Babylon". It's a BBC miniseries that unquestionably had the input of an industry insider.

niceletto · 2 days

We don't even have the option to turn it off. If anything other than a smoke detector in a guest's room pops, the fire department is automatically called, and one floor above and two below the point of activation gets dumped. Our city is really paranoid about fire. The only time it really goes much beyond that, is if smoke gets in an elevator shaft - that goes sideways fast.

In all honesty though, the worst ones are the alarms that go off when there is a big event going on. Occasionally an event planner will neglect to tell us that they're planning on bringing in a fog machine, and we don't know to disable the right alarm points.

I'm glad this was before my time, but years ago we had a New Years Eve party where James Brown was providing the entertainment. Probably over 1000 people in attendance. We were well over capacity because the promoter oversold. Somehow with the way the lights were set up, one of them overheated, and activated the sprinkler system....

niceletto · 2 days

I don't doubt it.

We haven't had a graveshift total evacuation in years, although I shudder to think of the clusterfuck that could end up being. Tis always fun when we have unexpected late night / early morning movements from the President of Elbonia (or whatever).

niceletto · 2 days

We're pretty bare bones, but we're pretty big (almost 600 rooms). Usually just a front desk agent, a night manager, a bellman, and a couple of security guards (one to man the phones and the cameras, and one to be on the floor).

niceletto · 2 days

When I was working graveyard security at a hotel, me and the front desk staff would play "spot the hooker" and informally wager on how long they'd be up there.

There's a long ramp that leads down to our parking garage. One of our bellmen has become quite adept at riding a bell cart down it like he's windsurfing.

shannoncart · 2 days

Sort of a three way tie between kangaroo, alligator, and haggis.

Dbjs100 · 3 days

Cool :) It's interesting what one misses out on not living on campus.

leicanthrope · 3 days

Can you rephrase that in the form of something that doesn't come out as complete gibberish?

Not sure if it's a funky mismatch of character sets on our computers, but I can't read a word of that.

SoraXavier · 3 days

It may be overdiagnosed, but that doesn't make all diagnoses automatically invalid - which is what you're implying. What advantage is there for the people so diagnosed? Ooooh, social stigma - bring it on!!

I live with a bipolar II, and I know first hand that it isn't just a fancy tag for a normal person. Bipolar II slants towards the depressive side, versus the manic. It's not bipolar lite. My wife literally has the scars on her wrist to prove it.

You may know an astronaut, which gives you a leg up on being someone that knows an astronaut. I don't know shit about being bipolar, since I'm not. However, I have plenty of experience dealing with a bipolar significant other - and that is what I am claiming to have a bit more expertise than your average Joe in.

goldstarstickergiver · 3 days

I'm a historian by training, so I've got a bit of a leg up over the everyman. Even though it isn't my period, I've already got a decent clue of what life was like.

I'd probably spend those three months picking the brains of the most serious living historians that I can find, so as to get the basics of the mundane day to day stuff down. "So, how would I wipe my ass in this scenario, etc.?"

As far as where, probably England. Safe from invasion (at least until the Normans got there, but I'd probably be dead of old age by then) and the like, and I'd blend in.

As far as what I'd do, I can see two scenarios:

Some sort of a scribe, since I can gasp write.
Some sort of a bodyguard or soldier. I'm a 6'2" 220# ex-lineman. I'd be a seriously huge scary looking mo-fo in 1012.

SoraXavier · 3 days

I've been married to a bipolar for 16 years. What's your experience with the subject?

leicanthrope

TROPHY CASE

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