h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I'll look that one up in the "monstrous manual"

From his facial expression, it looks like this fighter first tested that potion before feeding it to the beastie.

I wonder whether the dungeon master used a standard plop-effect introduction or if some background storyline was provided. For example: Did he take the gravitational edge effects in account for non-spherical worlds?

I once introduced a cheese wedge shaped world(Edam, with the holes in it). That took a lot of time for the party to figure out. Maybe next time I will try something Möbius.

Just started wondering who is windsurfing on the horizon.

Stefano Della Bella was the artist for some of he images. I don't know if the one here is one of those, though. Neptune and Perseus are among the personages depicted in some other ones. There are a lot images, and none seems to correspond to the image presented here.

May I say that I wish the image were of Saint George and the Dragon, even though it is maybe a thousand years too early for that? The man in the picture seems to be wearing a Roman-era helmet, making it clear that no Christian saints would have come on the scene yet.

Another reason for wanting it to be Saint George and the Dragon is that sympathy for dragons seems to be in my DNA. My great niece loves dragons. And what's not to love about dragons?

Does "death by laceration, evisceration, and incineration." count against dragons being cute?

(always read the small print)

'Does "death by laceration, evisceration, and incineration." count against dragons being cute?' [Caiman Raptor Elk]

You only hurt the ones you love .

Science has yet to find an animal that breathes fire. There are scenarios in which some might do so, but that has not, as yet, happened anywhere. The world's only flying dragons are insects: dragonflies, of which one of the largest is the petaltail, which is 12 centimeters long.

There used to be dragonfly larvae in the brook where I grew up. They were capable of biting your finger. They grew up to be very dangerous to gnats and mosquitoes.

Evisceration could be done by wolves or coyotes. Incineration atb the hands of any reptiles or insects is unlikely.

By the time some animal evolves fire breathing, it will be banned on grounds of CO2 emissions.

Could be.

I doubt that the mouth is designed to be safe from harm in the case of fire.

And then again, there are circus performers who appear to be exhaling flames. The fire isn't in their mouth, but they need to spray some form of fuel. kerosene, maybe. Not good for your health.

Maybe they can switch to using biomass (like sawdust)and create dust explosions instead. Just rinse your mouth afterwards.

Apparently, scientists with nothing better to do have been speculating on the evolution of the fire-breathing dragon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuFPB7wNL2k

"want more science?"

No one asks if we want *less* science. Or even if we prefer actual science instead of quasi-science.