Found a relatively cheap copy of the Defender costume set on the auction house and decided I LOVED what it did for Sirene Seiben. 
She's the character that's basically the female counterpart to Cyberman 8. 

I got her to lvl 40 and decided that this is an "upgrade" that's going to be relatively permanent. What do you think?

For most of the last year or so I'd been having launcher issues. Which I managed to scrape by with most of the time and get online anyway. 
But it got so bad with STO that I could only (BARELY) get on by going through the CO launcher.
Then THAT went belly up as well. "Black Screen of Death" and I couldn't even get as far as the trouble-shooting stage or options. 
So I essentially gave up for about a month or two this spring. 
I had been thinking about outright uninstalling both games, but hadn't gotten around to it. The other day, while contemplating the back-up folders for the stuff that would be lost if I just uninstalled and shredded the folders (the screenshots and costume designs mainly) I thought to give the situation a more thorough attempt at a fix. 
And thus the "Nuke the Site from Orbit" protocol was initiated. 
I uninstalled both games after backing up the screenshot folders elsewhere. Then I also uninstalled ALL my other Steam games. Then I uninstalled Steam itself. And then used some System care tools to "deep clean" the remaining folders, scramble and randomize the data and the registry bits. ("Carthago delenda est!" )
Then I did a full defrag on my drives and a systemcare sweep, then rebooted the computer an extra time on top of the standard reboot - just to be thorough. 
Next I reinstalled Steam. But placed the game archive on my 1TB external USB drive. Then I re-installed Star Trek Online and Champions and let them fully update. in the process I followed the install process carefully and made sure my anti-virus "got to know" both games as they installed with new protocol and exceptions in place. 
Then I rebooted the computer again. THEN I crossed my fingers and launched STO - if I got the black screen of death on the launcher, that would be the end for real and I'd have to walk away from both games permanently. 
Well - no black screen of death. It launched just fine with no complaints and no hiccups. 
Same with CO. After rebooting again and making sure, I can safely say that both games are working like a charm now. 
I can't tell you what exact part of the above process was the actual "fix". I just took a shotgun approach and tried EVERYTHING all at once. But something obviously worked. 
So - if all else fails - remember the final option - "Nuke the Site from Orbit. It's the only way to be sure!" 

   "Dear Ron,

   "I have just heard through a mutual acquaintance that you have 
   become a Hogwarts prefect.

   "I was most pleasantly surprised when I heard this news and 
   must offer my congratulations.  I must admit that I have 
   always been afraid that you would take what we might call the 
   'Fred and George' route, rather than following in my 
   footsteps, so you can imagine my feelings on hearing you have 
   stopped flouting authority and have decided to shoulder some 
   real responsibility.

   "But I want to give you more than congratulations, Ron, I want 
   to give you some advice, which is why I am sending this at 
   night rather than by the usual morning post.  Hopefully you 
   will be able to read this away from prying eyes and avoid 
   awkward questions.

   "First, I presume that absent any radical changes in your 
   life, you are still close to Harry Potter.  I have reason to 
   fear that continued fraternization with him could cost you 
   your badge -- or worse.  Before you throw this letter away in 
   anger, please let me explain.

   "The Minister is convinced that Potter and Dumbledore are
   spearheading a campaign to undermine him.  I have heard him 
   say in private moments that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named cannot 
   have returned, and thus Potter must be insane and/or lying 
   about it for political reasons.  His primary Undersecretary, 
   Dolores Umbridge, agrees with him and together they are 
   planning some manner of retaliation against Potter and 
   Dumbledore both.  

   "However, in my time here, I have cultivated contacts in other 
   parts of the Ministry.  From my acquaintances within the 
   Department of Mysteries I have learned that the Unspeakables 
   have accepted Potter's account of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named's 
   return as an incontrovertible fact and are acting accordingly. 
   I cannot relay their reasons for this to you due to Ministry 
   regulations imposed just this week, but the evidence offered 
   to me has been most convincing.

   "Thus I find myself in the position of having to warn you to 
   sever your ties with Potter for the sake of both your future 
   and your safety.  Potter's disciplinary hearing before the 
   Wizengamot this summer was only the beginning of the 
   Minister's campaign against him, if what I have overheard is 
   any indication.  I suspect that there will be no hesitation to 
   strike at his associates if it furthers the Minister's plans.  
   If you are tarred with the same brush as Potter, it could be 
   very damaging to your future prospects, and I am talking here 
   about life after school, too, should matters fall out as the 
   Minister desires.

   "That is assuming you *have* future prospects.  Remaining a 
   very visible friend and supporter of Potter will make you a 
   primary target for He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his followers.  
   While I understand that our family is already marked for death 
   as 'Blood Traitors', the simple fact is that by being one of 
   Potter's two closest friends you have elevated yourself (and 
   most likely everyone else in our family) to 'kill first, kill 
   at all costs' in the eyes of the Dark Lord and his followers.

   "This is the simple truth, Ron:  in the current social and 
   political atmosphere, keeping company with Harry Potter is at 
   best a decision that will ruin your immediate future, and at 
   worst will cost you your life.  Please, please distance 
   yourself from him and protect not only yourself, but the rest 
   of our family.

   "I am sorry that I was unable to see more of you over the 
   summer.  At the time I was afraid that I could no longer live 
   under our parents' roof while they remained mixed up with what 
   I saw as the dangerous crowd around Dumbledore.  Even though I 
   now know that Potter and Dumbledore are right, that does not 
   make their crowd any less dangerous.  I choose to continue my 
   estrangement from our parents in order that some part of our 
   family will escape the inevitable retribution which 
   He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named will visit upon the Weasleys for 
   their rejection of his cause.

   "I count myself very lucky to have escaped the stigma of 
   association with Dumbledore's people, but make no mistake -- 
   as much as I respect the Minister, his refusal to accept the 
   evidence possessed by the Unspeakables reveals him to be far 
   less astute than I had believed.  However, by sticking close 
   to him and to Dolores Umbridge I have acquired a certain 
   protective coloration that will serve me in good stead should 
   the worst occur.  I strongly recommend that you make similar 
   arrangements.  Break publicly with Harry Potter, and align 
   yourself with any clique or classmate whose political views 
   can shield you.  The rest of our family may be doomed by their 
   association with Potter and Dumbledore, but you do not have to 
   be.  And if by some miracle they and I both survive the next 
   few years, rest assured that I will be ready to offer them a 
   full apology for the pain and anguish I have surely put them 
   through.

   "Please think over what I have said most carefully, and 
   congratulations again on becoming prefect.

   "Your brother,

   "Percy"

Harry looked up from the parchment in his hand.  "Well," he said
after a long moment of thought.  "He's not exactly wrong, you
know."
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Why isn't it a surprise that it's a http://en.rocketnews24.com/2015/04/15/j ... od-as-new/]Japanese craftsman who can do the apparently impossible?
Anyone who's got a treasured but crumbling book might want to look into this guy's rates, and how much it costs to ship round trip to his shop.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Denver Comic Con has come and gone again, as it does, and I picked up a couple commissions, as I do. One of them was a portrait of my favorite comic relief/deus ex machina:

Fig. 1: Dee in her standard human-scale avatar body, along with five Troyer miniature models and a standard Black Mesa construction/maintenance spider unit. Illustration by http://sheathcomics.com/]Sheath Comics.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

Okay - here's an idea I'm just going to toss out. I'm probably not even going to use it myself. It's far too silly... 
 

Kamen Rider Blackadder

As you might guess, he's NOT going to be the shining example of heroism to look up to, oh noooo...

In case you're wondering at the references - 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamen_Rider_Series

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackadder

Quote:[After Blackadder has gotten a reprieve, no thanks to George and Baldrick]

Blackadder: I'm not a religious man as you know, but henceforth, I shall nightly pray to the God who killed Cain and squashed Samson that he comes out of retirement and gets back into practice on the pair of you! 

[the phone rings] 

Captain Blackadder speaking. Ah, Captain Darling. Yes, well some of us just have friends in high places, I suppose. Yes I can hear you perfectly. You want what? You want two volunteers for a mission into no-man's land? Code name: "Operation Certain Death"? Yes, I think I have just the fellows. 

[he hangs up and grins cruelly at George and Baldrick] 

God is very quick these days!

Well, one does in the being-filmed Suicide Squad movie. (Assuming that is an "L" painted on the fuselage-wreckage prop.) And apparently it isn't the only aircraft that crashes in the movie.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/s ... -1.3087047

(Heh - two blocks south-east and it would have "taken out" Maple Leaf Gardens.)
--
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

Well, I found a big one earlier last night while reviewing things.  Check it out:

Quote:“Oh, speaking of things in the air,” said Usagi suddenly.

“Raven’s breath, here we go...”

“What is up between you and Rei?”

“Heeh?” said Naru cutely.  “Did something happen last night?”

Kaname scoffed.  “I should say so!  This friend of Usagi’s?  Hino Rei?  Miko at the Hikawa Shrine?  Gorgeous girl that goes to that super-upscale girls academy downtown?  You’d think she’d be some proper and reserved little hime-chan.  And she probably is most of the time.  But apparently Zee-kun’s mere existence is enough to make little miss perfection go completely thermonuclear.”

I had to stifle a snort at that - if only Kaname knew who Rei really was, then she’d know that ‘thermonuclear’ would be putting it a bit mildly.
“Heee-eeeehhh?” said Naru.  “But I've seen her before!  She’s always so cool and collected, even when other boys try to ask her out or hit on her.  Did she really get angry?”
Kaname laughed.  “She tried attacking him!  And then Zee-kun laid her out like this happens to him every day!  I swear if it hadn't been so scary at the time I would have laughed when it happened.”

It seems ever since #GamerGate kicked off last August the PC police have begun lashing out in every direction as if to compensate for their inability to cower gamers back into line.  
Just a few days ago there was a rather predictable uproar from the "trigger" crowd about a controversial rape scene in the latest episode of Game of Thrones. Of course, nearly every episode includes scenes of people being horrifically injured or dying, not only in battle, but by being tortured, having limbs amputated, drowned, burnt or tossed off cliffs. Children are given poison to drink. Distinguished community leaders are burned alive and eaten by dragons. If there's one thing you can be assured of, it's that George R.R. Martin truly gets how awful and brutal life in a middle age (fantasy) culture can be, and how cheap life is and has been for the vast majority of humanity's past. And he doesn't shrink from portraying it. But somehow this scene crossed a line. “Never mind all that brutal murder, off-screen rape is where I draw the line!”
Just a couple weeks earlier there was a backlash against Avengers: Age of Ultron because Black Widow’s desire to have children apparently undermines her character in a way the skin-tight leather suit never did.  There was so much vitriol sent Joss Whedon’s way for this that when he left Twitter, everyone assumed angry feminists drove him off.  He later told BuzzFeed that was not the reason despite his explanation sounding quite a bit like it was.
And it goes on and on. Scientists wear unacceptable shirts. Star Wars fans are racist for wondering about that black Stormtrooper. Yahoo even has people complaining that the new Supergirl series’ trailer is too girly and therefore sexist.
Well, Jurassic World star Chris Pratt decided he’s not waiting to be accused of some kind of -ism for a comment during the upcoming press junket for that film.  Instead, he issued a terribly amusing pre-apology on his Facebook page:

Quote:I want to make a heartfelt apology for whatever it is I end up accidentally saying during the forthcoming ?#?JurassicWorld? press tour. I hope you understand it was never my intention to offend anyone and I am truly sorry. I swear. I’m the nicest guy in the world. And I fully regret what I (accidentally will have) said in (the upcoming foreign and domestic) interview(s).
I am not in the business of making excuses. I am just dumb. Plain and simple. I try. I REALLY try! When …I do (potentially) commit the offensive act for which I am now (pre) apologizing you must understand I (will likely have been) tired and exhausted when I (potentially) said that thing I (will have had) said that (will have had) crossed the line. Those rooms can get stuffy and the hardworking crews putting these junkets together need some entertainment! (Likely) that is who I was trying to crack up when I (will have had) made that tasteless and unprofessional comment. Trust me. I know you can’t say that anymore. In fact in my opinion it was never right to say the thing I definitely don’t want to but probably will have said. To those I (will have) offended please understand how truly sorry I already am. I am fully aware that the subject matter of my imminent forthcoming mistake, a blunder (possibly to be) dubbed “JurassicGate” is (most likely) in no way a laughing matter. To those I (will likely have had) offended rest assured I will do everything in my power to make sure this doesn’t happen (again).

Quote:…and I’m too busy wishing this clip wasn’t 70’s era sexist. She’s a stiff, he’s a life-force – really? Still? http://t.co/qqts4jpSva
— Joss Whedon (@josswhedon) April 10, 2015

http://femurdesign.com/theremin/

Don't forget to try all four of the waveforms.
--
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