I saw Into the Woods this weekend and I enjoyed it. Johnny Depp singing "Hello Little Girl" gave multiple meanings to the song. Meryl Strep as the Witch was also a fine performance. Though I wondered if Bernadette Peters or Vanessa Williams (who played the role in Broadway) would had been just as good. The funniest part of the movie has to be the "Agony" scene for me.
I am betting there are going to be nominations for this film.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

But not the way you might think.

WikiLeaks Underwear: http://wikileaks.spreadshirt.com/wikile ... -A14537070

Amazing what gets licensed, isn't it?
--
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

Does the Confederation extend a membership to the Meeranor in the timeline? If so, has Bob decided when?
Thanks and Happy New Year to all.

M
Michael R. Smith (lastfreehuman@gmail.com)
GURPS IST Aleph Wordpress (http://istaleph.wordpress.com/)
GURPS IST Aleph Twitter (http://twitter.com/IstAleph/)
Trek This! Wordpress (http://dthiller.wordpress.com/)
My Blog (http://lastfreehuman.wordpress.com/)

Aurora UNX-1 Stardrive Manned Testbed VehicleDeveloped for the United Nations Space Initiative as a joint venture between the ESA and Nippon General Orbital Manufacturing with assistance from the Meeranor corporation Mysrkrr Anyss LLC, the Aurora was the first manned spaceship developed by humanity with a functional stardrive. It launched in secret on April 1st, 1994 from the NGOM orbital factory NG-004 with Major Yelena Terekhov piloting the vessel. The Aurora first boosted to the pre-determined minimum safe distance from Earth and then initiated a "jump" to a point near the orbit of Mars. The initial test of the stardrive prototype took 5 minutes to reach the destination point and required a three-hour cool-down period before it could be activated for the return voyage. For reasons that ESA scientists still puzzle over the ship took 7 and half minutes on the return trip to the minimum safe distance. The pilot suffered no ill effects other than a slight sensation of vertigo during the trip and the scientific packages installed on the Aurora were able to provide the design team enough information to begin fabricating improvements.

The vessel had accommodations for one pilot with no amenities as well as a hibernation chamber located aft of the pilot's compartment in the event tat the Aurora had been unable to make the return trip safely. It used a fuel cell to provide power and a liquid hydrogen-oxygen blend for thrust to the ship's chemical booster. Most of the vessels mass consisted of fuel for the trip to the launch point and the stardrive (only capable of 0.005 pc/day compared to Meeranor drives). The Aurora had metallic laminate armor, exposed radiators that were retracted when the stardrive was initiated and an external clamp for attaching to the orbital factory (or for use in the event a recovery mission was needed). It was built with mostly TL 9 technology. It is presented below in GURPS Spaceships stats:

[table]

Oh the joys of the Holidays. Stress, Parent induced guilt trips, traffic. Crazy drivers. Being forced to BE a crazy driver to get my damn shopping done in time. ("DUELING INSURANCE RATES BUDDY! See the DENTS in this car? Compared to your nice pristine LEXUS I've got NOTHING TO LOSE, SO BACK OFF THE LANE ASSHOLE!!!" ... ahem...)
Why it's enough that despite the fact that I actually LIKE snow, I'm MORE than ready for the Holidays to be OVER ALREADY. (No they're NOT over until after the last drunk has crashed his last car after New Years!)
It says a lot about my level of overall stress that I was nodding along to this song in imaginary bliss...

It was a quiet day ... but aren't they all, in space?

She was flying. She loved to fly, but couldn't find the time very often. There were so many duties pressing on her shoulders nowadays - but not today. Today was a rare day off.

She casually executed a barrel roll, and thought about a friend of hers who had trouble keeping her ship flying on a straight line. But that was her life before her life here - her "counterpart" had lived that life. She'd probably never see those friends in this life.

Her ship's proximity alert lit up; somebody was nearby and getting closer. She switched on her radio and set it to hunt for the frequency the bogey was using, while she called up that ship's transponder call.

Then she blinked.

The incoming craft was one of the old fencraft, and it was unique: "Avril Arrow".

What were Avril and Ramona doing out here, in the middle of nowhere? There was only one way to find out, and her radio had found the right frequency. "L5-A-003 calling CF-105-Z, do you read? Over."

"CF-105-Z calling L5-A-003, I read. Request permission to come alongside. Over."

Were they looking for her? "Permission granted. Over."

A few minutes later, the replica Arrow was holding position alongside her port wing. It made her feel small. "CF-105-Z calling L5-A-003, request permission to send over a passenger. Over."

"L5-A-003 calling CF-105-Z, this ship does not have an airlock. Over."

"Neither does Avril. I'm in a pressure suit and my passenger doesn't need one any more than you do. Over."

That caught her interest. Why hadn't Ramona identified her passenger? Could it be ...? "Is your passenger someone from your home base? Over."

"Affirmative. Over."

It probably was. "Permission granted. Over."

As if on cue, Avril's canopy opened and one of the people aboard drifted out. Using a reaction pistol for propulsion, that passenger floated over to her craft's hatch, which she had already opened. She plugged herself into the craft's radio and sent, "L5-A-003 calling CF-105-Z, your passenger is aboard. Over."

"Thank you for letting me complete this contract. Clear ether, L5-A-003. Out." With that, Avril turned around and left the way she had come.

By this point, there was enough air pressure in the craft for both people to be able to hear each other. "Do I have to ask permission to come aboard?"

"No, I gave that permission before you left Avril. It's good to finally meet you face to face, neesan."

"Don't call me that."

"We do have the same parents, and you are older than me."

"I prefer to be associated with Scott and Peters as little as possible, Fujisawa."

She sighed. "All right, Inspector Aki. Please, sit down."

"I'd prefer to stand."

"If you do, you'll end up hitting the hull the first time I have to make a maneuver."

"In that case, I'll sit." Natsuko took the seat beside Yayoi. "All of you are far too frivolous for my tastes. 'Love and Justice'?"

Yayoi's puzzlement was only momentary. "That's what the Senshi named this Bolitho before they gave it to me, and the Senshi say it's bad luck to rename a ship. If I don't want to cause an interfactional incident, I'm stuck with it."

"You care too much what other people think."

"Perhaps you care too little what other people think. But you didn't come here, in as much secrecy as you could manage, just to lecture me." Yayoi set course for Mars, but didn't engage the engines. "What do you want to talk about?"

"We have something in common."

"Other than our construction and parentage?"

Inspector Aki scowled. "I ignore both of those as much as possible." (Yayoi thought Natsuko did protest too much, but said nothing.) "We both want to bring to justice the leaders of the Mariposa Cartel."

"Are Sato and Clay still working together? I thought they had split up before Nehalennia was raided."

"That's the official record, backed up by Quattro, but who trusts Quattro? More importantly, somebody's re-powered their dome outside Little Jakarta."

"How? I was there when it was destroyed; there's not enough left to make rebuilding worthwhile."

"Whatever you saw doesn't change the fact that something there is drawing power from the Little Jakarta grid."

Yayoi thought for a second, then switched the radio to StellviaCorp's usual frequency. "L5-A-003 calling L5-A, over."

Miyuri Akisato's voice came over the speakers. "L5-A acknowledging, over."

"Miyuri, please let Noah know I'll be late returning. Senshi business. Over."

"Will do, girlfriend. Got an ETA here? Over."

"Not yet. Out." As she cut the connection, Yayoi reset the Love and Justice's course for Ganymede. "You might want to strap in, Inspector."

I just started a thread by this name over on the Alternatehistory.com forums:

http://www.alternatehistory.com/discuss ... st10126490

Quote:if your timeline's POD is before 1989, which bits of the previous 40 years, mentioned in Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire", are butterflied away, in whole or part?

Below the search buttons on Google this morning is the tag

Quote:Our mission is to make the world’s information accessible—yes, even Seth Rogen movies

Merry Christmas.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Merry Christmas to all. And to all a good night.