The local election results where I (and at least four other regulars here) live are in. So much for any hope of a half-decent mass transit system any time soon... (sigh)
-Rob Kelk
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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

So I'm driving in to work this morning, and I noticed this landscaping company getting to work with industrial size mowers on the side of the road.... the name on the trailer was Astoria Lawn Service. (I half expected to see Husks and Chambers pushing the mowers ) I've seen this service working before, but it's been awhile.
Then after I get into work and am walking down the hall to my boss's office, I notice a nameplate that I'd never noticed before. A co-worker whose last name is Grandville.
If I run into anyone with the last name of Diable, I'm going home early.

Global: @Jimmy Amp
"Broad-minded is just another way of saying a fellow's too lazy to form an opinion." -- Will Rogers

After playing far later into the night than I should, Clank Patrol has hit level 40. Woot!
She has also aligned herself with Black Scorpion (cause hey, +Def, AoE Damage, another summon, what's not to love).
I'll have to think of something meaningful for her last costume slot, Suggestions?-Terry
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"Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." - Antoine de Saint Exupery
"Luge strategy? Lie flat and try not to die." - Carmen Boyle (Olympic Luge Gold Medal winner - 1996)
Mary Sue's theme music
-Terry
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"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

...put me on the disambiguation page for the term Drunkard's Walk on Wikipedia?
Not that I mind, of course. And please note that I am using the word "lunatic" in only the fondest and most complimentary manner.
-- Bob
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...The President is on the line
As ninety-nine crab rangoons go by...

After a furinkan.net went dark a while back I was pretty worried he'd either had something permanent happen, or had decided to leave fanfiction.
That is not the case however!
Furinkan.net is back up! with more material even.

You know the kind. Ones like, "[Person]'s [situation] is not my [status/situation]."
One of my favorites is "You/They attached a [unlikely device] to a(n) [unlikely platform]!? Are you/they insane!?" Where, if directed at me, I would happily reply, "YES!"
How about the rest of you guys? You got any favorites?

Create your own!
Or better yet, help with mine. ^_^
Okay, so, the fundamental concept I was running these numbers to fit with is wondering what kind of civilization could or would develop on a world with no oceans. I don't, however, want some place like Arrakis or Tatooine - this place has a little water - enough to fill some pretty impressive lakes and/or small seas... It has crustal plates like Earth's - high, low-density continental ones and low-lying basalt 'ocean plates' - and just about enough water to fill in what would be its ocean trenches. I think you should get... some rain... downwind of them. Maybe as much as the Sarengeti does.
The average temperature should be cooler than Earth's, because less water-vapor in the upper atmosphere means less of a greenhouse effect. Midday in mid-summer is still beyond all dreams of Earthly hot, though. Likewise, it would get cold at night.
The native population are - or started as - perfectly ordinary modern Homo sapiens, and were essentially dropped on the planet by accident and without much in the way of support equipment - no libraries, modular factories, etc. By the time my story picks up, they've clawed their way back up from the rock-bottom crash to about equivalent to the nineteen-teens. For entirely arbitrary plot reasons, they've yet to reinvent radio. There are also more logical places where their emphasis differs from what Earth's had, and so they're more or less sophisticated at.
I have some suspicions about what the place is like, but I'd like to hear y'all's opinions without having me prejudicing you beyond telling you the image that started this setting percolating in my mind.
It's in the middle of a tremendous, tremendously flat desert, like if Groom Dry Lake covered from horizon to horizon without a single bit of variation. The sky above is absolutely cloudless, giving an unobstructed view of the glaring sun and an earth-like planet - clouds, ocean, green plants, etc. - covering a shockingly large arc. The perfection of the plain is spoiled by two things - the first is some sort of spaceplane, maybe seventy feet long from the scale of the space-suited but helmetless human figure standing in its shadow. It's obviously crash-landed - its skin is scratched and torn, the underside is all ripped up, and there's a long scrape mark trailing out of frame where it slid to a halt. It's equally obviously never going to fly again.
About two thirds of the way to the horizon is a vehicle that looks like someone crossed a container ship with a three-trailer road train with one of those obnoxiously huge off-road dump trucks with a windjammer with Turby-type wind-turbines where its sails should be.
And just overhead is buzzing a moderately sleek biplane, like something Earth would've built circa 1930 or so, with an open cockpit but retractable landing gear.

(Note - I suspect I'm going to be changing the worlds' orbital period to somewhere around 25+ hours; longer days and nights have more time to heat up and cool down and drive the weather patterns I want.)
Planet Scour
Diameter: 18,928 km (1.48*Earth's)
Density: 4.3 g/cm^3 (0.78*Earth's)
Mass: 1.5294*10^25 kg (2.56*Earth's)
Viewing Angle: 21 degrees (42*that of Luna as seen from Earth)
Albedo: ~5.5
Orbital Period: 21.7 hours

Planet Iden
Diameter: 11,654 km (0.91)
Density: 5.9 g/cm^3 (1.1)
Mass: 4.7794*10^24 kg (0.80)
Viewing Angle: 15 degrees (30)
Albedo: ~3.5
Orbital Period: 21.7 hours

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"Puripuri puripuri... Bang!"

Well, Minuet finally met Aegis Sanctuary (Min's been curious for months as to what Aegis looked like.) Always a pleasure to make new friend Aegis.
So, here's the two of them. You can bet Min commented on Aegis' excellent fashion sense and hairdo. :-)

World's leading supplier of stolen magical items.
Wait...you mean she's different from our Azuria? How?
Hmmm.
-- Acyl

Interesting discussion taking place on this thread at Cold Fury.
Here's an excerpt:

Quote:

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If the Democrats are in power and want a pullout fine, lets do it and do it right and that is a complete withdrawal from SW Asia. My friends, there is no other choice, a deal can not be made where we do anything part way. It is all or nothing and that is the sad reality. The final failure of Vietnam was the long withdrawal after Congress became intent on the idea of pulling out. That mistake must not be made again. I ask my fellow conservatives to help make sure the troops are brought home and they are brought home now.

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