Fanfic Helpdesk: Technical and Scientific Help for Writers

[WraithRichard]

Wouldn't the back of the head where the skull meets the spine be pretty vulnerable?

[Keeper]

yes and no - you've got to thrust upwards to do damage really there. at least, if you're aiming at a headspot, otherwise you're aiming at the neck. there's a sort of tailbone protecting the top of the spinal cord, iirc, so you have to aim with extreme precision. preferably with something sharp

[WraithRichard]

yes and no - you've got to thrust upwards to do damage really there. at least, if you're aiming at a headspot, otherwise you're aiming at the neck. there's a sort of tailbone protecting the top of the spinal cord, iirc, so you have to aim with extreme precision. preferably with something sharp

Between the eyes sounds better.

[mathpiglet]

Weren't the Trust outside the law? My fictional family would have to be working within the legal & governmental system. A former Trust agent could make things difficult as a future plot tangent, however. (You like how I threw in the match term, MP? )

Well done! Throwing in math terms gets you bonus points!

[SF_and_Coffee]

Now all we need is for someone to start a math-oriented pun war.

[WraithRichard]

Now all we need is for someone to start a math-oriented pun war.

Like saying that derivative fiction had independent variables that approach zero?

[Keeper]

Weren't the Trust outside the law? My fictional family would have to be working within the legal & governmental system. A former Trust agent could make things difficult as a future plot tangent, however. (You like how I threw in the match term, MP? )

i don't know if anyone else has weighed in on this so:

the NID under kinsey ran illegal ops, but he chickened out when the agency went toward russian collaborations.

weasel-guy maybourne worked with the russians, but he was still an earther - he wasn't into working with the snakeheads. he was also military, while NID was civillian - he was a sort of consultant to them i believe.

after the russian fiasco, the NID cleaned house, and kicked out, imprisoned, or otherwise disposed of whatever rogue agents they could find.

the survivors who weren't 'known' NID were able to form the trust, and went toward businessmen - turning stargate products into commercial interests. later, they got turned toward snakeside, and nearly started nuclear war.

the trust weren't outside the law though - they were, plain and simple, illegal agents. the NID were... not totally above the law, but they were allowed a certain latitude that might be associated with the likes of the CIA, MI5/6, and the like. essentially - as long as they didn't screw it up entirely and get themselves caught, they could do whatever they wanted.





btw - defence contractors weren't always handed an NDA. atlantis, when mckay and his sister were kidnapped by the head of devlin medical technologies, then later when a former employee of the same man built replicators - these men weren't cleared to know what they had, but they made enquiries, called in markers, and poked in where they shouldn't have. also in SG1 when the guy who had the business that made engine parts also managed to clone an asgard. of course, some of the very highest and trusted contractors would have known - but only those not deemed a security risk, whether real or potential. remember, too, that the trust was led by business leaders (eventually including Ba'al) and contractors, ultimately, are businessmen - leading to trust (pun unintentional, but obvious) issues for the military considering the history.

[Skydiver]

The NID did have several rogue teams operating off world, sending stuff back, for months/years on the show. Reference Touchstone and Shades of Grey

And the russians also ran their own stargate program for an unknown length of time...so theoretically there's a gate that people coulda come and gone through, bringing back anything, for work here on earth

So, entirely plausible for stuff to have been brought back and backwards engineered

as to smacking someone in the head...you can literally kill someone with your bare hand....thrust upwards, the ball of your hand (that part at the base of your thumb) into their nose....if you break off that nasal bone the shards will go into the brain and kill them.

also, striking with the sides of your hand at their neck, on the arteries on the side, can interrupt the flow of blood, at the best knocking htem out, at the worst, killing them

Smacking someone in the temporal lobe can do damage. but it's kinda hard to do without them catching you in their peripheral vision and ducking. now if you want to kill, although it's riskier and harder, hitting them hard at the base of the skull may damage the spine in the cervical vertebrae, rendering them unable to breathe (i THINK fractures above C3 or 4 not only means quadriplegic, but it paralyzes their lungs and they die unless put on a ventilator within minutes)

[mathpiglet]

Go and have a combined Mother's Day/son's birthday dinner and come back to find the thread gone viral and methods of killing are being discussed. Yikes!

[SF_and_Coffee]

Go and have a combined Mother's Day/son's birthday dinner and come back to find the thread gone viral and methods of killing are being discussed. Yikes!

And math puns. Don't forget those!

(It's kind of like leaving the classroom for a minute and then coming back to find chaos, isn't it?)

[mathpiglet]

I know! Math puns without me.

And I've seen that happen more than once in classrooms.

Now I need to go read it all.

[mathpiglet]

Since you missed my post entirely - I have seen OFC as both male and female. Therefore, I believe it stands for Other Fictional Character. Not a canon character for that show, usually an invention of the author. My Sarah is an OFC, but not because she is a girl.

Actually, OC is "Original Character" - that's what the term was coined to mean in fanfic altogether, before crossover fic even existed. Non-canon characters made up by the author (like my Tesni and Cadogan) are OCs.

I've always known OC to be Original Character. I've never seen them specified as Male or Female.

[mathpiglet]

Since you missed my post entirely - I have seen OFC as both male and female. Therefore, I believe it stands for Other Fictional Character. Not a canon character for that show, usually an invention of the author. My Sarah is an OFC, but not because she is a girl.

It does get confusing. Generally, though:

OC = Original character
OFC = Original female character
OMC = Original male character

Just for grins, here's what Wikipedia says.

Learn something new everyday!

Spoiler:

PWP
"Porn without plot" or "Plot? What plot?" are terms used to indicate that a story contains little or no plot, and instead contains little more than sexual interactions or pornography; PWP is also called smut.

[mathpiglet]

As for killing - my OC's carry swords.

End of discussion.

[WraithRichard]

Go and have a combined Mother's Day/son's birthday dinner and come back to find the thread gone viral and methods of killing are being discussed. Yikes!

I'd say it's another wonderful way to take the status quo behind the shed and kill it, but I'm just planning something they find evidence of that's thousands of years old. SG teams aren't going to go 'how strange and horrible' at it.

About The Trust: do they try to keep within/hidden form any laws? Which ones?