I suspect that requirement is as much for self-protection as anything else.

As in, "No, officer, see, I -told- them to not make it real. Right there on the sheet. Whatever he burned down, I had nothing to do with it."
--------

this world created by the
hands of the gods
everything is false
everything is a LIE
the final days have come
now
let everything be destroyed

--mu

"It's difficult keeping up with the cross-continuity, but I think Cosmouse just gave The Saturnian Scraphunter his Ultimate Pacifier to use against Galactapuss..."

Unless paramedics count, I'd say he's in the clear on that score.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

And as for why, may I suggest this as a somewhat tongue-in-cheek explanation?

-- Bob
-------------------
My race is pacifist and does not believe in war. We kill only out of personal spite.

If on the other hand this is your second reaction, then well, by all means, make with the terrified fleeing.

"Ah, now that's a very popular item there. Very popular."

"It's a bag of oily rags and a lighter."

"The kids love it!"

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

******************************
I'm really here, but I'm not here, really.
******************************

******************************
I'm really here, but I'm not here, really.
******************************

No, I was indeed quoting (actually, as the transcript linked below reveals, paraphrasing from very old memory) a Saturday Night Live sketch, "Consumer Probe", featuring Jane Curtin as TV consumer advocate Joan Face and Dan Akyroyd as sleazy toy magnate Irwin Mainway. Mainway's company produces Halloween costumes such as Johnny Human Torch (described above), Invisible Pedestrian (basically a ninja costume; has a warning on the package specifying that it is NOT FOR BLIND KIDS), and Johnny Combat Action Costume (a working M-1 rifle, ammunition - as Mainway piously points out - not included). As you might imagine, Ms. Face is not too impressed.

The sketch dates to 1977, so may well have been inspired in part by "Crunchy Frog". (There were several Irwin Mainway sketches; another featured holiday toy ideas such as "Bag O' Glass", a plastic bag filled with shards of razor-sharp broken glass, which Mainway defends as a toy intended for creative children.)

I can't find the Halloween sketch online offhand, but here is a transcript.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

I just need to keep the actual mass and lines to a minimum, for my own peace of mind... although people have promised to video his escapades. That being said, blowing yourself up is the least of what can happen if I screw up the design... but I'd just as rather he didn't make himself into the express rocket to Valhalla because of my design.

"It's difficult keeping up with the cross-continuity, but I think Cosmouse just gave The Saturnian Scraphunter his Ultimate Pacifier to use against Galactapuss..."

Well, no worries there, unless it counts as being slain battle (there's some evidence that this was not taken to be literal historically, let alone among modern-day heathens). If it's not such, then ... well, again, it's up for interpretation, but usually you'd go to the hall of your ancestors in Hel (which is not to be confused with the Christian Hell).

And that's only if he doesn't go to Sussrumnir instead. (Half of those slain in battle go to Valhalla, half to Sussrumnir.)

"Mathematics brought rigor to economics. Unfortunately, it also brought mortis."
- Kenneth Boulding

Even among those parts of Scandinavian culture that did take it more seriously, there's a fair amount of evidence of gaming the system. Like, if you were a warrior who it looked like was gonna die in bed surrounded by his family, said family would arrange an honorable "battle" situation where you could hobble out and be cut down, thus assuring your place amongst the honored fallen.

-Merc
Keep Rat

"It's difficult keeping up with the cross-continuity, but I think Cosmouse just gave The Saturnian Scraphunter his Ultimate Pacifier to use against Galactapuss..."

"Er... me."

"HOW DID YOU FIND THE HIDDEN WAYS OF THE PRIESTS OF QIBETH, MORTAL? I THOUGHT THEM SLAIN WHEN YOUR RACE WAS YOUNG."

"I... guessed?"

"HM. INTRIGUING. WHY ARE YOUR LEG COVERINGS WET, MORTAL?"

"Er, um, well... oh dear..."

---
"Yeah, I'm definitely going to hell/But I'll have all the best stories to tell" -- Frank Turner, The Ballad of Me and My Friends