June 20, 2003 (Friday)

Andrew Wyatt <Ajwyatt@cox.net> writes concerning the Marathon Infinity assault rifle:

.75 HAS to refer to calibre. What else can it be?? Note that the Magnum is .44 calibre also. And yet, the SMG is listed as being 10mm, with the flechette projectile itself having a 4mm cross-section. I'm unsure now if this is a strange discrepancy(sp?) in measurement types or if we're talking about two different things.

Very often, (especially with single projectile flechettes) Flechettes are smaller than the actual bore size, and shims are placed around them to fill up the space around the flechette so there's no freebore (or empty space around the projectile). The shims collectively are called a Sabot, and the sabot separates from the projectile as it leaves the muzzle. With saboted flechettes, you gain the advantage of high velocity(since the projectile and sabot is light for caliber.), and high sectional density (since the flechette is long and pointy, and reasonably heavy for it's non saboted diameter.) this makes it great for penetrating armor, but not so great for disrupting flesh, since it just kinda keeps going without deforming or stopping in tissue, like a gummy bear getting stabbed with a needle.

Anyway, 10mm would be the bore size, and 5mm would be the flechette size. the 5mm flechette would have a sabot around it which would make its outside diameter match the inside diameter of the bore.

As for the .75 referring to caliber, anything with a . in front of it is caliber, not millimeters.

Unless the .44 Magnum doesn't use Real life .44 magnum ammunition, it's most likely actually .429 caliber, since that's the actual bullet diameter of a .44 Magnum. (almost nothing of a specific caliber is actually that caliber, espeially pistol rounds. .38 is actually .35, and whatnot.)

I hope that was a relatively clear and/or concise explanation.

Tyrant343 <Tyrant343@aol.com> asks:

I have a question. The 3d image you have above the title in the Jjaro section, what is it and who made it?

Answers please on the Story forum.

June 18, 2003 (Wednesday)

Ryan Tansey <rtansey@ups.edu> writes:

Something Awful has a Marathon reference in their Comedy Goldmine today. The theme is video game mixups, and this picture has a nice Tron-Marathon mix.

June 3, 2003 (Tuesday)

Devin O'Reilly <oreilld@cc.wwu.edu> writes:

I was reminiscing over Myth:TFL today, scrolling through the journal entries at myth.bungie.org, looking at the unused pregame pictures, when i saw http://myth.bungie.org/legends/images/pregame/iparty2.GIF that picture at http://myth.bungie.org/legends/journal/j18_long_awaited.html that page. Look familiar to you at all? Reverse the picture and swap out the dwarves for Nar...

Devin is referring to the Nar graphic displayed on the opening terminal of "Curiouser and Curiouser..."