Who was it who initially posted a thread about discussing this book my Austin Grossman? I thought it was Valles, but I can't seem to find anything that looks right. I finished the book last night and wanted to jump on in...-- Bob
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One of the primary differences between the Left and the Right is their attitude toward the Future. The Radical wants the Future to have gotten here yesterday. The Reactionary wants the Future quietly shot and the corpse buried where no one can find it.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Sorry. Just HAD to brag on this one. ^_^-Logan
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"Wake up! Time for SCIENCE!"
-Adam Savage
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at least according to the mandatory diversity training at the University of Delaware. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has excerpts from from the University of Delaware Office of Residence Life Diversity Facilitation Training document. FIRE also has an article about their fight against this indoctrination, which gives more (IMO, disturbing) details about this indoctrination.
I don't know about you, but this sort of ultra-left-wing ideological reeducation bothers me greatly, and makes me wonder about the future of intellectual freedom in academia and higher education
--The Twisted One"Growing up means giving up everything that makes you happy"
--Marge Simpson
"If you
wish to converse with me, define your
terms."

--Voltaire

In case folks don't know, last December, a fully-featured playing version of the videogame "The Last Starfighter", from the movie of the same name lo these many years ago, was released for free to the Net. If you go here, you can download a copy. You can also see the videogame cabinet these folks have restored -- not the original from the film, sadly, but a copy made for a recent documentary.-- Bob
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One of the primary differences between the Left and the Right is their attitude toward the Future. The Radical wants the Future to have gotten here yesterday. The Reactionary wants the Future quietly shot and the corpse buried where no one can find it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

The seiyuus performing the theme song
Is that Inoue Kikou dressed as Lobelia?
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

I don't know why I'm posting this -- everyone will have gotten the email by now, just like I did. But I'm posting it anyway.
PlayNC has just acquired 100% ownership of COH/COV (it was previously split between them and Cryptic). The COH dev team (or a goodly portion of it) has moved over to PlayNC to continue updating/revising/etc. the game. Press release here.
Hopefully this won't mean much to us on the playing level, though there is always the chance a game will get horribly borked when the suits above it change.
Anyway, more interesting, I think, is the other news the email held. To wit, the following are coming at or about the same time as Issue 11:
1. Full access to both sides for everyone. No more having to buy each game separately.
2. Debt wipe. Sometime after the release of Issue 11, all debt will be "forgiven", allowing everyone to start with a blank slate.
3. Supergroups will get 20,000 prestige for each member they have -- yes, that's 3 million prestige for a full group.
Okay, discuss. -- Bob
---------
One of the primary differences between the Left and the Right is their attitude toward the Future. The Radical wants the Future to have gotten here yesterday. The Reactionary wants the Future quietly shot and the corpse buried where no one can find it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

I'm at the point where I'm only picking up a few anime series on DVD: Zipang (one disc left), Hare & Guu Deluxe (one disc left), Ah My Goddess (two discs left), and Zegapain (just started). Lucky Star doesn't start its R1 DVD release until next year. but that'll go on the list when it does.
I'm also only downloading three series: Denno Coil (six eps left), Oh! Edo Rocket (six eps left, but appears to be stalled), and You're Under Arrest Full Throttle (just starting). Yes, I intend to buy them all on R1 DVD when or if they become available; I wouldn't be downloading them otherwise. (I've already bought the Oh! Edo Rocket soundtrack CD.)
That's a pretty sparse list for a maniacu...
Given that, my posting history here, and my current 20 favourite anime list, what do people think I might like that I might not have seen? They don't need to be new shows; I know I haven't seen all the good anime that's out there, despite how much I have seen.

-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012

While watching the latest ep of Gundam 00, I had a sudden cunning plan jump out and assault my brain.
It went thus: The biggest problem with operating at the deep underwater level is that the pressure difference can get insane if you want to try and build something a human can survive in. If you don't, though, and your machinery can survive getting wet, then there is, theoretically, no reason why the design problems can't be solved reasonably.
Wherever there is a continental boundary, particularly a spreading one, there is energy being released into the environment. Most such boundaries are underwater, thereby providing not only heat but working fluid.
The gadget I'm seeing in my mind's eye shouldn't really take any new technology even in a modern-day setting - you have a house-ish-sized 'generator' of maybe a couple MW capacity with a neutral bouyancy that gets ferried down by a remote-control rover and glued or anchored in place over a lava vent. Cable is run to a collector box on the seafloor nearby, which is, in turn connected to other collector boxes that eventually plug into a seafloor line leading to the mainland. Installing enough of the things to run a nation's full energy needs would be a massive undertaking, of course, but still far less than Gundam 00's Solar Power System... and would start paying off far sooner, too.
Thoughts?

===============================================
"Reseeestunce ees fiutil. Yoo weeel bee Useemooletud. Borg Borg Borg."
===========

===============================================
"V, did you do something foolish?"
"Yes, and it was glorious."

This is a game done by a Polish group based on a somewhat famous Slavic author's works. It basically tells the story of a monster hunter (called a Witcher - an amusing direct translation of the Polish word) and his adventures.
1) Graphics/Sound: The graphics and sound are *beautiful*. It uses the NWN2 engine, so be warned it eats CPU/GPU like candy.
2) Gameplay: Simple, but fun. Combat is done via timed mouseclicks, and it can often be a challenge since you have multiple weapons and combat styles to play with. There's some crafting and a frankly daunting level of character customization to be done.
3) Story: I've only played a few hours in, but it's fairly fun. They touch on some interesting elements of reality, including racism, religious intolerance, persecution, etc. There's also a fairly hilarious minigame in which you collect cards - one for every woman you sleep with. The Witcher, he is a player.

I highly recommend this game. My only gripe is that load times can be a bit brutal, but other than that, it's really fun and remarkably well done.
(Also, the Canadian Bilingual edition is missing a reg code needed to get extras off the site, but that's a regional-limited thing, and Atari addressed the problem in a day.)--
Christopher Angel, aka JPublic
The Works of Christopher Angel
"Camaraderie, adventure, and steel on steel. The stuff of legend! Right, Boo?"

This one's something of an oddball - it affects Doug indirectly, and the effect can last for hours.
Good Luck Charm
(Sung by Elvis Presley, words & music by Aaron Schroeder & Wally Gold)

Don't want a four leaf clover
Don't want an old horse shoe
Want your kiss cause I just can't miss
With a good luck charm like you
Come on and be my little good luck charm
Uh-huh huh, you sweet delight
I want a good luck charm
A-hanging on my arm
To have, to have, to hold, to hold tonight
Don't want a silver dollar
Rabbit's foot on a string
The happiness in your warm caress
No rabbit's foot can bring
Come on and be my little good luck charm
Uh-huh huh, you sweet delight
I want a good luck charm
A-hanging on my arm
To have, to have, to hold, to hold tonight
If I found a lucky penny
I'd toss it across the bay
Your love is worth all the gold on earth
No wonder that I say
Come on and be my little good luck charm
Uh-huh huh, you sweet delight
I want a good luck charm
A-hanging on my arm
To have, to have, to hold, to hold tonight

When the song is played completely, it targets itself on the closest female sophont. It has no effect on her; rather, as long as she's physically close enough to Doug to touch him, he gets a noticeable "good luck" bonus. (In GURPS, he'd get Luck or Serendipity; in In Nomine, whichever die comes up the highest in any given roll is the CD; and so on.)
The effects last until the female moves more than arm's-length away from Doug, or until sunrise.
(The female doesn't have to be Maggie, or even human - just an intelligent being who considers herself to be female. However, Maggie would probably be the best choice for Doug's "good luck charm;" besides the obvious reason, she's better able than most women to keep up with him in combat... )

-Rob Kelk
"Read Or Die: not so much a title as a way of life." - Justin Palmer, 6 June 2007
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."

- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012