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• Rajvik is on leave from the writers' circle. (Temporary? Don't know yet. Rob hasn't changed Rajvik's wiki rights. EDIT: No, that's bad security. Rajvik's wiki rights are now lowered to what Bob has.)
  
• BlackAeronaut wants the SIs to get abilities of some sort. Dartz is still a 33-S. BA will be developing his "mages can't sense him" trick, and has plans for "Squishy" to give him an arm cannon. Rob's been to Hvergelmir and is now all wet (and has been geased into having a third girlfriend). Labster... seems to be having trouble coming up with something for Brent.
  
• The PiratePad document has proven itself to be unstable; we have a wiki now for notes. We still need something for real-time collaborative works.
  
• We're still working on the Halloween party story.
  
• Lensman Arms Races are off-limits.
  
• Rob needs to give Luna, Artemis, and Diana more spotlight time. (Diana, Chibi-Usa, and Last Order as a band of junior do-gooders? They all have powers, and they're all 6 years old or equivalent. TMB stories for the pre-tween set, or in that style?)
  
• "What if Jareth the Goblin King was running around?
  
• Idea for later: a permanent portal network between cities with displacees. Portals? Will there be cake? (chokes down the stock response because Makoto Kino's gone starry-eyed.)
  
• River Tam's trying to learn how to be normal, so no front-line combat for her for a while.
  
• Rob wants Brent to watch Ai Yori Aoshi. Brent wants Rob to watch Murdoch Mysteries.
  
• Brent's looking for "someone beautiful" to take a gondola ride.
  
• Rob needs to get better numbers for Mikoto's abilities, to determine how much power she can generate.
  
• Towers with observation decks... In Space! And other appropriate Googie architecture, too.
  
• Ginormica vs. Ultraman Belial, once the secret's out.
  
• BA goes bugs.
  
• Were we going to do anything with the "race what you bring" league? (this post and the seven following it)
  

(Apologies if that title's ungrammatical, hazard; I got it from Google Translate)

The Dutch caught Russian military intelligence hackers trying to get discrediting information.  Then they spread the word.

Mwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!  Cry in your vodka, Vladimir Vladimirovich!

(with apologies to John Masefield)

I must go up to the stars again, to the lonely lights in the black,
And all I ask is a tight ship and a star to steer her back;
And the rocket’s kick and the fan’s hum and the radios o'er it,
And a pale kiss on the world’s face, as dawn breaks in orbit.

--=--

... and then inspiration ran out, but I think this much works, and even that is a little long for a media soundbite these days. I really wanted to have "airtight ship" on the second line, but it doesn't match the original meter even if I think the extra beat works better. Feel free to chip in with further adaptation if you've got something good.

Full original text

Sea Fever

By John Masefield

I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky,
And all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by;
And the wheel’s kick and the wind’s song and the white sail’s shaking,
And a grey mist on the sea’s face, and a grey dawn breaking.

I must go down to the seas again, for the call of the running tide
Is a wild call and a clear call that may not be denied;
And all I ask is a windy day with the white clouds flying,
And the flung spray and the blown spume, and the sea-gulls crying.

I must go down to the seas again, to the vagrant gypsy life,
To the gull’s way and the whale’s way where the wind’s like a whetted knife;
And all I ask is a merry yarn from a laughing fellow-rover,
And quiet sleep and a sweet dream when the long trick’s over.

Found on Tumblr:

Quote:A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Fairy divorce court causes everything in the vicinity to go to hell, briefly.

A Comedy of Errors: Don’t give your twins the same name. Seriously don’t.

As You Like It: No one actually likes anything that is occurring. Especially not Jaques.

Twelfth Night: Local pageboy causes everyone to catch Gay Feelings. Also multiple shipwrecks.

Much Ado About Nothing: Random bastard decides to cause problems for literally no reason other than because he is a dick.

Two Gentlemen of Verona: One gentleman is not actually a gentleman, he’s a grade-A turdwaffle.

Love’s Labors Lost: Four friends’ attempts to swear off love go about as well as you would expect

The Merry Wives of Winsor: SO I HEAR U LIKE FALSTAFF??

The Taming of the Shrew: Sometimes the best cure for a mean wife is just straight-up sexism. (Actually no wtf why)

All’s Well That Ends Well: Nothing is well and it ends kinda shittily, too.

The Merchant of Venice: Apparently the entire population of Venice is either dumb, shitty, or Portia. Or Jessica.

Measure for Measure: Undercover Boss: Vienna Edition

Richard II: Local king forced to actually face consequences for his actions. Doesn’t like it much.

Henry IV part 1: TURN DOWN FOR WHAT interluded by existential kingly guilt. Also Hotspur

Henry IV part 2: The boring part because no Hotspur and no TURN DOWN FOR WHAT. Just guilt and guys with stupid names.

Henry V: Fun manly bonding as France gets fucked over

Henry VI part 1: Let’s Screw France Part 2 feat. Joan of Arc

Henry VI part 2: A bunch of murders and Everything Has Gone to Shit Now nice job breaking it, Henry.

Henry VI, part 3: YORK YORK YORK YORK also a bunch of murders, part 2.

Richard III: Once there was a Duke of Gloucester. He was so ugly that everyone died. The End

Henry VIII: You’d think think the betrayal of a queen and befuckening of the church would be really non-boring but you would be wrong

King John: No one knows what’s happening. Not me, not you, certainly not Johnny. I guess an entire king dies or something idk

Romeo and Juliet: Local teenage fling ends in six deaths and a banishment. Authorities are baffled

Macbeth: If you don’t sleep you become a murderer I don’t make the rules also if witches are nearby… you’re fucked.

Hamlet: Danish prince should have just called Ghostbusters

Othello: And you thought your racist coworker was a pain in the ass

King Lear: Local shitty dad amazed that all his kids turned out shitty. How could this happen.

Julius Caesar: Fun male bonding exercise devolves into civil war and multiple accounts of suicide

Antony and Cleopatra: Two-year fling devolves into civil war and multiple accounts of suicide

Coriolanus: Local war devolves into civil war and - just kidding it’s actually about Coriolanus ruining everything by being unable to shut his piehole for two seconds

Timon of Athens: Don’t Have Friends: A Cautionary Tale

Titus Andronicus: Blood, death, murder, death, human sacrifice, rape, death, dismemberment, cannibalism, death, and a partridge in a pear tree

Troilus and Cressida: Title characters are actually the most boring part of the play

Pericles: It’s like a fairy tale except less magic and more nonsense. And brothels I guess idk

Cymbeline: Twenty three different plot lines and none of them go anywhere

The Winter’s Tale: Local asshole king fucks with nature so NATURE FUCKS RIGHT BACK

The Tempest: The heartwarming tale of a wizard, his weird magical bird slave, his daughter, a drunk fish guy, some murderers, and a whole lot of wood gathering

As a side effect of my inquiring on the FFML about an old piece of fan art, a number of FFML members have registered for the forums.  This is my collective welcome to everyone who's joined us, and my usual moment for laying down the rules of the forum:

1. Have fun
   
2. Play nice.
   

In news that should surprise no one:

Report: Georgia's Secretary of State Is Blocking 53,000 Voter Registrations as He Runs for Governor

Indiana purges nearly 500,000 from voter rolls

Thousands at risk from rightwing push to purge eligible voters from US rolls

It seems that the GOP has accepted the fact that unless they do this, they are out this November.

Edited to Add: The purged voters can still vote if they bring their ID and their name matches. But that information is apparently not being given to purged voters in GA.

I'm writing up an All The Tropes page for Rob Haynie's fabulous Ranma fic Girl Days and I pulled the image below up out of my archives to use with the article.  It's from 2001, but that's the only info I have on it.  It's unsigned, and it has no identifying information in its metadata.  Does anyone recognize it?  Can anyone identify the artist?  Thanks in advance.

Edit: I suppose I should mention that I've already done a Google image search and checked all the various Wayback Machine pages from sites that hosted the fic back in the day. I can't find anything.


  girl days -- tigrsrev.jpg (Size: 110.04 KB / Downloads: 123)

So, we've the popular President elected by Fake News, the Businessman scuppered by Fake News the last time, the blood-slick candidate from the Party that did the scuppering, a quiet, reserved candidate who runs a mental health charity with links to the love-boaters, another businessman who just sort of in it for the craic, and a fellow who congratulated the jews on living in the White House while suggesting Ireland needed it's own navy seals.


It's pretty much a foregone conclusion unless it turns out Micheal D secretely ran a teenage brothel out of the Aras Anyway, the engine of the State's Democracy has kicked into gear. And it's something we do really fucking well.


The register of electors is the exact same as the register of jurors.  You may vote - but you're also required to be available to serve on a Jury for the court as a consequence.


There's a campaign in the runup to check you're on the register of electors. Doing so is as easy  as going to a website. Or going to a council office or library. 


Registering is easy. It's one line on a form asking you where you live and what your citizenship is. It doesn't really give a bollocks about proving it - it just warns you it's a crime to lie.That's the form there 


A few weeks before the vote, the polling cards are sent out to the addresses on the register. They tell you where your polling station is, what desk to vote at and what you're allowed to vote for.


If there's a referendum to change the constitution (Or permit the State to sign a treaty) then a booklet detailing the issues and consqequences of either vote will be issued - showing exactly what's being voted for.


The theatre of democracy plays itself across television, on posters and on the internet. Most of it gets ignored until the big  day arrives.


Polling stations themselves are set up in schools. Most of them are relatively easy to get to for just about anyone. Primary schools are the most common. It's almost impossible not to be in walking distance of a polling station.


There's never any queuing involved because there's so many of them. The polls also run from around 7am to 10pm - giving just about anyone in the State a chance to cast their vote.


When you go to the station, you will find one police officer to keep an eye on things - possibly monitors from different campaigns - a big sign on the wall in official print detailing the regulations for elections, and a couple of dozen desks with numbers taped to them - and with address ranges on them.


Go to the desk that matches the number on your polling card or home address - they cross your name off the register - and give you a paper ballot that is perforated to validate it.


Voter ID is a requirement - but it's basically impossible not to have on of the near dozen forms of ID unless you're a complete hermit. And even then.....


You go to the booth, and make your various marks according to your preference. Either Yes, or No for a referendum, or ranking the candidates according to your preference. 1, 2, 3, 4 - or blank if you never want that person in an office.


You may post a blank ballot with no mark. So long as it's perforated - it still counts as a valid ballot. It's a None of The Above. It counts to the quota of votes that must be reached, but doesn't assist anyone in reaching that quota. If you make any mark that doesn't indicate a preference - your vote is spoiled and is tallied separately.


There;s no fucking around with defective voting machines half-stamping ballots and the like.


The ballot is folded, then added to a locked box with the rest. That's what the cop is there for - to make sure nobody tampers with them. They used to be a solid black box. Now plastic ones are used.


Counting happens by human beings in full view of the media and whatever campaigns are ongoing. Every single vote exists on paper so there's no worrying about hacking or the machines getting corrupted. There's the physical vote right there.


There are multiple different counts. Often because there're multiple different seats in the constituency. So all the numbered preferences need to be accounted for. If you can't have the person you wanted as a candidate, who would you accept as next in line?


It's a system that makes gerrymandering or otherwise fucking with the process really fucking hard. Not to mention that a separate apolotical board draws up constituency lines.


All this means is that, when the final result is called out - the only disputing ever occurs in really tight places where the margins come down to single digits on the final count for the last few seats and it's generally considered a good idea to make sure nobody counted wrong.


There is a reason the Love Both campaign was laughed at for screaming about voter suppression, 'registered' people being turned away and other election fackery that might fly within the States but is almost impossible here.


The challenge to the referendum was laughed out of the Supreme Court. To the point where one is forced to wonder if the whole point of the challenge wasn't just to trick some more money out of conservative yanks who funded the whole Love Both clusterfuck in the first place by providing them familiar fodder.


So whatever the result is on the 26th - it won't be in any sort of doubt.

The first-ever ballistic descent of a crewed capsule took place today, when the second-stage booster of the launch rocket suffered an emergency shutdown. Alexey Ovchinin of Roscosmos and Nick Hague of NASA were aboard; both survived the descent and are reported as being in good condition.

AP: 2 astronauts safe after Soyuz forced to make emergency landing