Why FrostFire is always out on bail, even when he's just been arrested.

-- Bob
---------
The Internet Is For Norns.

It's still in progress, but if I don't release at least a draft copy of the Writers' Guide on 23/5, the Paratheo-Anametamystikhood Of Eris Esoteric
will revoke my (fnord) licence.

So, here it is. Feedback welcome, but
please don't mention the crappy formatting... although if I'm taking the entire wrong approach to the formatting, please let me know now.

-Rob Kelk
--
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

Okay, this is a little complicated, but I've been watching it for a while, so let me see if I can sum it up. The US, in its zeal to crack down on offshore internet gambling, has been putting pressure on countries where it's legal, like Antigua. This is in direct violation of a WTO treaty the US signed a few years ago that (as one of its many many terms) requires it to respect overseas gambling outfits if domestic ones are allowed. Countries were allowed to exclude terms like this one before signing -- they were allowed to agree to a subset of the treaty, as long as they specified what the exclusions were beforehand.
The United States did not exclude the bit about Internet gambling. It's now claiming both a) it didn't have to, because it's the US, and b) it didn't know it could.
Riiiiight.
Antigua has been banking on net betting to partially replace tourism (which can be volatile) as a prop of their economy, but the DOJ's crusade against it has been damaging the country. It filed a proper complaint with the WTO. A couple of them apparently. The WTO ruled in Antigua's favor, and told the US either knock it off or go after its internal gambling outfits.
The US's response has been, "go screw yourself, we're the big boys and we don't need to listen to anyone telling us what to do."
So Antigua has petitioned for, and is apparently going to get, the ultimate sanction against the US -- the right to ignore US intellectual property rights. Which means, Antigua is going to be able to legally duplicate and distribute anything with a US copyright on it, without having to pay the copyright holders anything.
Register story here.
When this happens, I'm betting (with an outfit in Antigua, of course) that the RIAA and the MPAA's collective heads are going to explode. Can you just imagine the resulting collision in Washington, between the big money lobbyists who are seeing their dying profit model get shot in the head, and the Imperialist administration who won't be told what to do by anyone? It'll be violent, it'll be bloody, it'll be glorious. Mutually annihiliating hypocrisy.

-- Bob
---------
The Internet Is For Norns.

There are just so many funny things you can teach a Warshade to do. ((Warshade stealth+ /em crouch = pouncing lint ball of doom!))

Seen on the Daily Illuminator: David Morgan-Mar's Intelligent Design Sort
Posted here because I'm reasonably sure it'll cause some discussion. (Let me start by saying I appreciate the humour in the webpage...)

-Rob Kelk
--
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

It's actually mentioned in the game launcher announcements section, though I was pointed to it before it went up there. Official developer poll on the CoH boards!
Vote for new Scrapper/Tanker powersets
Though of course we'll probably see some of these on Stalkers and Brutes as well.
-- Acyl

Hmm, the song from this AMV: www.animemusicvideos.org/...hp?v=96464
has been stuck in my head for a bit now.
I was thinking as a potential power it could erase the knowledge weather the others in the area of effect are friend or foe. The trick is that it is always cenetere don Doug, so it's rarely usefull. Still if you have then need to reset the relations between a set of people this would be the song to do it. Now if only it could stretch to cover the entire middle east.
Here are the lyrics:
Is it too late
Nothing to salvage
You look away
Clear all the damage
The meaning to
All words of love
Has disappeared
We used to love one another
Give to each other
Lie under covers so,
Are you friend or foe
Love one another
Live for each other
So, are you friend or foe
Cause I used to know
The promises
Hollow concessions
And innocent show of affection
I touch your hand
A hologram
Are you still there
We used to love one another
Give to each other
Lie under covers so,
Are you friend or foe
Love one another
Live for each other
So, are you friend or foe
Cause I used to know
Is it too late
Nothing to salvage
You look away
Clear all the damage
The meaning to
All words of love
Has disappeared
We used to love one another
Give to each other
Lie under covers so,
Are you friend or foe
Love one another
Live for each other
So, are you friend or foe
Cause I used to know
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

From the sampler page:
The Spider: Robot Titans of Gotham
Two complete novels in one volume of the adventures of the mysterious masked crime fighter known as The Spider, hunted by the underworld and the police alike. In one, the Spider battles an army of giant robots that has New York City under siegea storyline so fraught with action and peril, that the very creators of Superman had borrowed it for one of the Man of Steel's comic strip adventures. It also was the inspiration for the major motion picture, Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. In the second novel, the spider battles a criminal mastermind who threatens the entire northeast with thousands of poison-fanged vampire bats unless his terms are met. Can even the Spider-hunted by the law as never before after faked evidence has branded him as the master of the killer bats-unmask the identity of the Vampire King before thousands die horribly?
Woo hoo!

As I understand it, due to server limitations, the absolute maximum speed in the game is around 80 MPH. And if I remember correctly, you can hit this without six-slotting Superspeed. But that's all I think I know here.
Might anyone know the most efficient means of slotting to achieve maximum velocity?
Thanks,
--Sam
"You know, though today was the worst day of my life, I learned many things. First, the world looks a lot different when you're six inches tall and covered with feathers. Second, two heads are definitely not better than one. And finally, you can lay eggs and still feel like a man."

Yoinked from CoH chat... since this will certainly never be made into a movie, it sort of counts as a fanfic idea.
[The Legendary] Evil Midnight Lurker: Another movie I want: Flash.
[The Legendary] Evil Midnight Lurker: Even worked up a partial treatment.
[The Legendary] Skye Valentine: Which?
[The Legendary] Evil Midnight Lurker: The Flash
[The Legendary] Evil Midnight Lurker: Barry
[The Legendary] Skye Valentine: Okay.
[The Legendary] Skye Valentine: