The Register: NRA gives FCC boss Ajit Pai a gun as reward for killing net neutrality. Yeah, an actual gun

Quote:Ajit Pai – chairman of America's broadband watchdog, the FCC – is the proud new owner of a handmade Kentucky long gun from the US National Rifle Association (NRA) – thanks to his brave stance in favor of lining the pockets of billion-dollar telcos.

The watchdog boss said he was surprised to receive the Charlton Heston Courage Award from the association at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Maryland today. His reward, a showpiece gun, was not actually handed out on stage, quite possibly because CPAC has a no-weapons policy for its events.

Tenchi Masaki
Displacee
Westwinds Apartments
San Antonio, TX, USA

Not the element, but the original Plutonia, Roman-era gates that caused the death of sacrificial animals.  For some reason, I'm thinking of the Department of Mysteries.

Ryuugi is still on his Sailor Moon kick, this time with some Usagi as a Planeswalker snippets. So now we get to see some of his awesome Usagi characterization through the lens of Magic: the Gathering.

Quote:Emrakul and Usagi are both thieving magpies, just in different ways. Emrakul is a corruptive force that spreads through bodies and minds and twists them both until they're more like her. She's Colorless, a force that's so alien that it can honestly take control of others without realizing it, because she's not wholly certain that anyone else is real*. In terms of mechanics, this is perhaps best exemplified by her cards; she takes extra turns or she takes control of your turns; when she takes possession of things, it's a madness, a terror, and a loss of control.

Usagi's the opposite. She's a purifying, empowering force that makes people more of what they are--that turns them from base matter to persistent magical effects, until there's magic in every motion and deed. Where Emrakul's taken are a part of her in every way that matters, Usagi's are a part of her the way things you love are a part of you; separate in many senses, except several very important ones. She's not Colorless, she's every color. She's Red when she's freedom, passion, and love, and her Red spells, such as they are, aren't really about her temporarily taking control of someone, but rather giving someone the power or inspiration to temporarily resist the control they're already under. She's Blue when she's the clarity of mind and vision and dream, when she frees someone and saves them and gives them those things back in a permanent way. She's Black and White and Green when she stands before those who are lost and gone beyond saving, and saves them anyway, because it's what she wants, because it's right, because she gives them life. She knows everyone and they know her, and that's why they follow her. When she takes control of something, it's as a restoration, a realization, a second chance, and a return.

When they fought one another, it was a battle to see who could take--and keep--control of everything around them, up to an including themselves when Emrakul finally broke through and attacked in person. Usagi won that particular battle with time/mind shenanigans** and won the war by having lots of loyal subordinates that she protected from Emrakul's touch and who also weren't crazy. They shielded her in turn until she found what she needed to stop Emrakul for real.

*With the exception of Usagi, which is why she's so focused on her.

**My mental image of exact how that would or could have gone down in game terms is a bit amusing, at least to me. The idea is that Emrakul broke through and was all ready to take control of Usagi's mind and utterly demolish her on her next turn by doing everything wrong--and Usagi promptly going 'Taking turns is for pussies anyway'*** and casting Meditation and whatever she hadn't already cast from Awakening/Intruder Alarm, Leyline of Anticipation, and Burst of Speed, and just relying on that, Cryptolith Rite, and Tamiyo's emblem to play the rest of the game in Emrakul's turns with repeated Meditations. And just generally being a bitch with 'Until your next turn' effects like Chronomantic Escape, Comply, Conjurer's Ban, and Inaction Injunction until Emrakul was left frustratedly waiting for Usagi to just take her turn and die already and she just refused to.

***Which is kind of the equivalent of replying to someone saying "I'll control your thoughts." by saying "Then I'll just stop thinking!" And it working.

The Register: Bright idea: Make H when the Sun shines, and H when it doesn't

tl;dr: Use solar power in the daytime, and use more solar power to heat air to use for power in the nighttime.

The Register is reporting that Salon.com is giving people who use adblockers an option: turn off the adblocker, or mine cryptocurrency for them.

Which security hole do you want to open on your PC? Or would you rather stop reading salon.com?

I know what my answer is... but I never really read salon.com anyway, so I won't miss it.

...but I have trouble keeping silent. All I can honestly do is not pollute the cursed thread with my jaundiced mutterings.

(02-21-2018, 12:17 PM)robkelk Wrote:

(02-21-2018, 11:49 AM)Pyeknu Wrote: Another main of faith has passed on:  https://apnews.com/ea6f9efdc7544a6dab337690c5849bfc

Regardless of his politics and his stance of many social issues, the Reverend Graham did care for people.  May he rest in peace and enjoy his heavenly reward.

Rev. Billy Graham was a desegregationist in the South before it was legally required - that's enough to earn my respect.

More information: http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/billy-graha...-1.4544809

Charles P. Pierce Wrote:He got too close to Richard Nixon and too eagerly joined the pile of history’s yard waste that was that worthy’s career. It was a marvelous environment for bigotry and Graham let his freak flag fly.

Again, from the Times: 

"Mr. Graham’s image was tainted in 2002 with the release of audiotapes that Nixon had secretly recorded in the White House three decades earlier. The two men were heard agreeing that liberal Jews controlled the media and were responsible for pornography.
"'A lot of the Jews are great friends of mine,' Mr. Graham said at one point on the tapes. 'They swarm around me and are friendly to me because they know that I’m friendly with Israel. But they don’t know how I really feel about what they are doing to this country.'"

Here's another free 3D resource that I need help identifying: Space Warrior cosplay armor. The page says it's from something, but it doesn't say what. For me, this "armor from an iconic franchise" is Just a Face Outfit And A Caption; I need more data for a proper description on the freebie wiki.

What needs identifying is the outfit (or at least the bustier), not the skin colour, the hairdo, or anything else.

Does anybody recognize it?

CBC Radio, opinion piece: Perhaps we'll be saved by the sheer incompetence of President Trump's staff

Michael Enright raises an interesting question: "If African-Americans, the poor, women, immigrants, gays and Hispanics should be included in the national conversation, why not dummies?" He goes on to point out how many Republican politicians have been of less than stellar intellect, including Spiro Agnew (showing how long this has been going on), Sarah Palin, Mike Pence, and Dan Quayle.

The previous thread is here.

I have no update, I just like posting links to other threads.