The Good The Bad & The Indifferent

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In its early days, Rutgers athletes were known informally as "The Scarlet" in reference to the school color, or as "Queensmen" in reference to the institution's first name, Queen's College.

In 1925, the mascot was changed to Chanticleer, a fighting rooster from the medieval fable Reynard the Fox (Le Roman de Renart) which was used by Geoffrey Chaucer's in the Canterbury Tales. At the time, the student humour magazine at Rutgers was called Chanticleer, and one of its early arts editors, Ozzie Nelson (later of The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet fame) was quarterback of the Rutgers team from 1924 to 1926. The Chanticleer mascot was unveiled at a football game against Lafayette College, in which Lafayette was also introducing a new mascot, a leopard.

However, the choice of Chanticleer as a mascot was often the subject of ridicule because of its association with "being chicken." In 1955, the mascot was changed to the Scarlet Knight after a campus-wide election, beating out other contenders such as "Queensmen", the "Scarlet", the "Red Lions", the "Redmen" and the "Flying Dutchmen."

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Commander Cody

Thanks for the Wolverine shoutout. And yes, what exactly is a buckeye?

Without looking it up I always thought a buckeye was a tree nut. Maybe a sub-species of chestnut?

[Argos]

Honored Sirs

Regarding UGA mascot - I believe a motion to change the UGA mascot is in order on two counts #1) it is not the university's original mascot and #2 was/is clearly an infringement (if not a blatant theft) of Yale's Handsome Dan who predates Uga and his precedents by several years (Handsome Dan I - 1889, Uga 1 - 1956 Note: the first dog mentioned at UGA was a female bull terrier named Trilby in 1894). I would propose that UGA, if the previously suggest example of a fine and historically relevant rodent is rejected, be forced to return to its original mascot - a goat clad in a black coat so that Auburn fans can once again return to their 'clever' chants of 'shoot the billy-goat'.

Colorado has to win the mascot thing even though Ralphie technically is a baby - turning a very large, unpredictable, semi wild animal loose in a stadium filled with 10s of thousands of people controlled by a handful of undergraduates (who routinely get piled up in the event - the you tube videos will kill your morning if you get started on them) has to be the ballsy call ever by any univeristy officals and/or legal counsel - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa6rMX4UO9w or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEVVKi35lRM Bonus video Jim Knox gets his clock cleaned by one of the handlers who did not get the 'celebrity running along with Ralphie' memo - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16ydnYwyyvg

In case of dispute, program wins, as a proxy for historical relevance should be the deciding factor - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NC ... ms_by_wins

[Canoerebel]

Hey, this is something I know!

Buckeye is a family of trees, several of which grow in temperate forests in the eastern USA. The largest of these is yellow buckeye, which produces a nut encased in a very hard, deep brown shell (some people, by old tradition, carry these for "luck"). This tree is the Ohio mascot (and possibly the Ohio state tree?). Yellow buckeye is in the family Sapindacea and genus Aesculus.

Chestnut is unrelated: family Castanaceae and genus Castanea. Chestnut is fairly closely related (same family) to the oaks and beech.

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Hey, this is something I know!

Buckeye is a family of trees, several of which grow in temperate forests in the eastern USA. The largest of these is yellow buckeye, which produces a nut encased in a very hard, deep brown shell (some people, by old tradition, carry these for "luck"). This tree is the Ohio mascot (and possibly the Ohio state tree?). Yellow buckeye is in the family Sapindacea and genus Aesculus.

Chestnut is unrelated: family Castanaceae and genus Castanea. Chestnut is fairly closely related (same family) to the oaks and beech.

Is "nut" worth a C-? [:)]

[Canoerebel]

Well, probably not, Moose. But knowing how smart you are, were I a tecaher and you a pupil showing an interest in botany, I'd welcome the chance to teach you since you are an inquisitive and bright ungulate from what I've seen.

[DOCUP]

Thundering Herd!!!!!!

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

Well, probably not, Moose. But knowing how smart you are, were I a tecaher and you a pupil showing an interest in botany, I'd welcome the chance to teach you since you are an inquisitive and bright ungulate from what I've seen.

I can tell you that Castanaceae looks like a first declension noun, and is thus feminine. Help my grade any? [:)]

[CaptDave]

I once compiled a complete list of all mascots of football schools in all NCAA and NAIA divisions. It's on another computer, but I think most people would give Richmond the vote for the scariest mascot: the Spiders.

If I remember correctly, Tigers was the most common mascot throughout the US (well, the US plus the two or three Canadian schools that are in US sporting conferences). Bulldogs was high on the list, too. Yawn! At least the Big Ten (except for Northwestern) gives us some creativity, and having attended one of those schools with a rodent for a mascot (Go Beavers!) I take special note of the unusual ones.

[JeffroK]

In Australian Rules we have "nicknames" rather than Mascots, probably means the same.

The original 12 teams have more traditional names and the more recent arrivals are struggling to be unique.

Melbourne DEMONS
Brisnbane LIONS (Was Fitzroy)
Collingwood MAGPIES
Carlton BLUES
Richmond TIGERS
Hawthorn HAWKS
Essendon BOMBERS
Geelong CATS
St Kilda SAINTS
Nth Melbourne KANGAROOS
Sydney SWANS
Footscray BULLDOGS

Newer Teams are
Adelaide CROWS (State nickname is Croweaters)
West Coast EAGLES (Perth)
Pt Adelaide POWER
Fremantle DOCKERS
Gold Coast SUNS
Greater Western Sydney GIANTS

[Canoerebel]

John has asked me to send the turn, so I shall oblige. Game back on.

I want to post more thoughts later, but to refresh your memory: There is one critical decision to make this turn. The KB is posted at Padang, possibly refreshing sorties, and is thus 13 hexes south of Sabang. My carriers and a bunch of cargo, fuel and troop ships are 13 hexes north of Sabang. There is a chance that John could send his carriers at warp speed to intercept - making perhaps as much as, well, what is it, 18 hexes, to make an interception. Were he to do so, I think the Allies would suffer a major carrier-battle loss that would also cast serious doubt on my ability to sustain my supply lines between Sabang and India. However, I think there's a 98% chance that John won't choose this course of action for a number of reasons: (a) he'll be cautious that I might load up Sabang airfield - level five - and he might even conclude that I'm trying to bait him into doing just what I fear; (b) his slower carriers probably can't make nearly as much at warp speed, and I don't think he'll want to chance action without his combined fleet.

It is important - not critical, but important - to get my ships to Sabang. The troops aren't important; supply is currently very good but I'm bringing in enough to just about seal the deal; but fuel is critical - many ships at Sabang, including the subs, are out, and my major combatants will begin to run short in a week or so. So, all things considered, I think the present configuration offers the best chance to get in. Thus the orders to proceed shall be given.

[JohnDillworth]

Chestnut is unrelated: family Castanaceae and genus Castanea. Chestnut is fairly closely related (same family) to the oaks and beech.

Hello my hiking friend. But the American Chestnut is virtually extinct in the wild no? Almost......but not quite. They grow for a few years before the blight gets them. Rare to see them anymore but I was hiking on the Mohonk Preserve this week and on an obscure, steep slope ran across this....The American Chestnut. Not the hybrid, but a sprout from an original tree

[Canoerebel]

The American chestnut was arguably the most abundant and important tree in the eastern United States until the blight got it a century ago - also arguably the single greatest natural disaster (with an assist from mankind) in North American history. It is estimated that 1/4th of the trees in the eastern forests were chestnut, especially in the Appalachian region. The abundant nut crop was critical to wildlife and to the diets of frontier families and urbanites alike ("chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."). The wood was highly resistant to rot and was widely used in the construction of houses, fencing, and furniture. The bark was high in tannin, so it was harvested for use in tanning animal hides.

In 1904, chesnut blight (Endothea parisitica, if memory serves) was introduced at port in New York City, arriving on some lumber inbound from Europe. The blight spread quickly up and down the eastern seaboard an inland. It reached the South in the 1930s. By the 1940s, essentially 100% of mature American chesntnuts had been girdled near the ground, so that from ground up the great trees died and fell over (the highly resistant wood was still being harvested into the 1970s and chesnut logs were still found in the southeastern forests into the 1990s).

However, the blight does not kill the tree, which has the ability to sprout from the root system. The sprouts grow large enough to produce nuts, but once they are large enough (about the thickness of a man's arm), the bark begins to "fissure." The blight enters the cambium through these fissures, girdling the sprout. The process begins over again, repeatedly, for many generations. Thus, the forests of the east today are filled with little groups of sprouts growing up around the old trunks. Oftentimes, the sprouts are intermingled with the older, dead "ancestors" who preceded them.

So, oddly enough, the American chestnut is still quite common, though never larger than a youth in size. I saw scores during my recent 50-mile Appalachian Trail backpacking trip in North Carolina and Tennessee.

Scientists are working to crossbread American chestnut with "inferior but blight resistant" Spanish and Chinese chestnut (by "inferior," I mean that the nuts are not as tasty or nutricious and the trees not as large nor the lumber as valuable). Scienties have found that hybrids that are 7/8ths American and 1/8th Spanish are resistant. Eventually these will be planted en mass.

[Canoerebel]

I believe the current situation in the game illustrates an important point.

Right now, the Allied carriers and the Japanese carriers are 28 hexes (1288 miles) apart. That's a huge amount of separation. However, if KB steams at max speed (I think 18 hexes or 828 miles) it will be possible to easily close within striking distance since the Allied carriers are moving five hexes (240 miles) towards the enemy. The Allies do not want to risk a carrier clash for reasons I deem critical, so I have to carefully weigh all possiblities before giving orders to my ships to steam forward "blindly." Once committed to that four hex advance, there's no chance of retreat for 24 hours, even if the massive enemy fleet closes at flank speed, taking the shortest route, which is right next to Sumatra where I have four or five bases filled with high-quality PBY squadrons.

In the real war, of course, the Allied commander would know almost the exact whereabouts of the KB by the minute. At any point in time, if it appeared that the KB was charging forward, the Allies could retire. IE, one hour into the Allied move on Sabang, the carriers and merchant TFs could be recalled towards Ceylon before the enemy could get within 1,000 miles.

But not in the game. I have to steam forward stupidly because the game is played in 24-hour increments. That's the game, so that's the way it has to be. But that's an awesome level of unrealism.

That, folks, is why I often use picket ships. While they don't help in this particular sitautiion since I have plenty of PBYs to handle spotting, there are many cases in which I commit carriers far from patrol coverage. Picket ships help minimize risks similar to this.

In the real war, picket ships were used, but usually they were posted perhaps five or ten miles or more forward. But the real war was also in real time. Since the game is 24 hour increments, the pickets have to be thrown forward a correspondingly greater distance.

Picket ships, while not purely historical, are a small thing that helps dampen or eliminate a much, much, much larger nonhistorical feature of the game. I'm also certain that had circumstances been similar in the real war, the Allies would have found ways to employ picket ships (or similar things) to keep the enemy away from vital TFs.

A friend recently referred to the use of picket ships as "crap like that." Since I respect his opinion, that comment stung. I think the use of picket ships (at least as I employ them) is reasonable, fair, sensible, and is a small thing that takes care of a much larger flaw.

[paullus99]

There are a number of "unhistorical" issues with the game - and I don't fault a player for using what he has for what he needs to do, based on the game mechanics....

[Bullwinkle58]

ORIGINAL: paullus99

There are a number of "unhistorical" issues with the game - and I don't fault a player for using what he has for what he needs to do, based on the game mechanics....

Nah, they're crap. [8D]

[AcePylut]

Can you set your reaction to "0" and set your tf's routing to the safest options?
Would that work?

[ny59giants]

IRL, the commander of a CV TF may have broken off a couple of DDs to sprint ahead to sink the picket ships. In AE, a whole CV or two worth of TBs may be sent off by the AI to sink them and a player will have these CVs lose about 1/2 their total TT stock. That is why I don't like the picket ship idea.

[Canoerebel]

That's why I qualified by saying "the way I use them." I am careful to avoid circumstances in which enemy carriers would end up at a sortie disadvantgae due to my picket ships. I keep them scattered and I pull them out or back as soon as the wire is tripped. I've been using this strategy since AE came out - this is my fifth game - and I've never had a situation where the pickets didn't work fairly and appropriately. Thus, no unfairly wasted enemy sorties, but ridiculous ability of enemy carriers to steam 1,000 miles without my being able to react avoided.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Canoerebel

The American chestnut was arguably the most abundant and important tree in the eastern United States until the blight got it a century ago - also arguably the single greatest natural disaster (with an assist from mankind) in North American history. It is estimated that 1/4th of the trees in the eastern forests were chestnut, especially in the Appalachian region. The abundant nut crop was critical to wildlife and to the diets of frontier families and urbanites alike ("chestnuts roasting on an open fire..."). The wood was highly resistant to rot and was widely used in the construction of houses, fencing, and furniture. The bark was high in tannin, so it was harvested for use in tanning animal hides.

In 1904, chesnut blight (Endothea parisitica, if memory serves) was introduced at port in New York City, arriving on some lumber inbound from Europe. The blight spread quickly up and down the eastern seaboard an inland. It reached the South in the 1930s. By the 1940s, essentially 100% of mature American chesntnuts had been girdled near the ground, so that from ground up the great trees died and fell over (the highly resistant wood was still being harvested into the 1970s and chesnut logs were still found in the southeastern forests into the 1990s).

However, the blight does not kill the tree, which has the ability to sprout from the root system. The sprouts grow large enough to produce nuts, but once they are large enough (about the thickness of a man's arm), the bark begins to "fissure." The blight enters the cambium through these fissures, girdling the sprout. The process begins over again, repeatedly, for many generations. Thus, the forests of the east today are filled with little groups of sprouts growing up around the old trunks. Oftentimes, the sprouts are intermingled with the older, dead "ancestors" who preceded them.

So, oddly enough, the American chestnut is still quite common, though never larger than a youth in size. I saw scores during my recent 50-mile Appalachian Trail backpacking trip in North Carolina and Tennessee.

Scientists are working to crossbread American chestnut with "inferior but blight resistant" Spanish and Chinese chestnut (by "inferior," I mean that the nuts are not as tasty or nutricious and the trees not as large nor the lumber as valuable). Scienties have found that hybrids that are 7/8ths American and 1/8th Spanish are resistant. Eventually these will be planted en mass.

Very interesting!

This screams for a GM solution-as you're describing. Here's hoping it works when the GM chestnuts are returned en masse.

Where will planting initiate (and when)? Will they compete with the relative newcomers that are predominating now (e.g., Maple, Oak, Pine, etc.) or are they at a competitive disadvantage?