I was thinking about this recently, and if you look at it objectively rather than in the words of the Jedi masters, the Force is pretty much inherently evil, light side or no.

Jedi must live as ascetics or fall to the dark side - positive emotions are just as bad as negative ones

Mind tricks and telekinesis are the two basic powers, aka imposing domination over thought and action

That's not even going into messing with time and probability for pre/postcognition and Battle Meditation

Even Jedi Grand Mas
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"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

You didn’t really believe them when they said the information they’re digging up was only used to investigate foreign terrorists, did you?

Quote:WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A secretive U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration unit is funneling information from intelligence intercepts, wiretaps, informants and a massive database of telephone records to authorities across the nation to help them launch criminal investigations of Americans.
Although these cases rarely involve national security issues, documents reviewed by Reuters show that law enforcement agents have been directed to conceal how such investigations truly begin – not only from defense lawyers but also sometimes from prosecutors and judges.

The undated documents show that federal agents are trained to “recreate” the investigative trail to effectively cover up where the information originated, a practice that some experts say violates a defendant’s Constitutional right to a fair trial. If defendants don’t know how an investigation began, they cannot know to ask to review potential sources of exculpatory evidence – information that could reveal entrapment, mistakes or biased witnesses.

The unit of the DEA that distributes the information is called the Special Operations Division, or SOD. Two dozen partner agencies comprise the unit, including the FBI, CIA, NSA, Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Homeland Security. It was created in 1994 to combat Latin American drug cartels and has grown from several dozen employees to several hundred.

Quote:A former federal agent in the northeastern United States who received such tips from SOD described the process. “You’d be told only, ‘Be at a certain truck stop at a certain time and look for a certain vehicle.’ And so we’d alert the state police to find an excuse to stop that vehicle, and then have a drug dog search it,” the agent said.

Which, of course, don’t so much find drugs as react to cues from their dishonest handlers so as to provide an excuse for going over the vehicle with a fine-toothed comb, creating an opportunity for something illegal to be planted in the car if nothing is found.

After an arrest was made, agents then pretended that their investigation began with the traffic stop, not with the SOD tip, the former agent said. The training document reviewed by Reuters refers to this process as “parallel construction.”

The two senior DEA officials, who spoke on behalf of the agency but only on condition of anonymity, said the process is kept secret to protect sources and investigative methods. “Parallel construction is a law enforcement technique we use every day,” one official said. “It’s decades old, a bedrock concept.”

Quote:“You can’t game the system,” said former federal prosecutor Henry E. Hockeimer Jr. “You can’t create this subterfuge. These are drug crimes, not national security cases. If you don’t draw the line here, where do you draw it?”

Quote:One current federal prosecutor learned how agents were using SOD tips after a drug agent misled him, the prosecutor told Reuters. In a Florida drug case he was handling, the prosecutor said, a DEA agent told him the investigation of a U.S. citizen began with a tip from an informant. When the prosecutor pressed for more information, he said, a DEA supervisor intervened and revealed that the tip had actually come through the SOD and from an NSA intercept.

Quote:As a practical matter, law enforcement agents said they usually don’t worry that SOD’s involvement will be exposed in court. That’s because most drug-trafficking defendants plead guilty before trial and therefore never request to see the evidence against them. If cases did go to trial, current and former agents said, charges were sometimes dropped to avoid the risk of exposing SOD involvement.

Current and former federal agents said SOD tips aren’t always helpful – one estimated their accuracy at 60 percent. But current and former agents said tips have enabled them to catch drug smugglers who might have gotten away.

“It was an amazing tool,” said one recently retired federal agent. “Our big fear was that it wouldn’t stay secret.”

Quote:Last night on Jay Leno’s show, President Obama denied that the U.S. government engages in anything that constitutes “spying on Americans.”

Quote:“We don’t have a domestic spying program,” he said. ”What we do have are some mechanisms where we can track a phone number or an email address that we know is connected to some sort of terrorist threat,” Obama explained in a wide-ranging interview. “That information is useful,” the president said, arguing the capability could be important in a situation like the Boston Marathon bombings.

Officially founded during the Boskone War, Hyperlight Industries is a multifaceted organization dedicated to spreading humanity out from Earth, and hopefully eventually into the stars. Primarily, it currently operates helping to move migrant workers from Earth out to the Jovian system, along with transport of mundanes who are looking for a job in the more fertile market of space work. Secondary fields include a mining, refining, and small-scale construction division led by the company's AI [Insert Name Here], and planned in the future is an extra-solar division dedicated towards large-scale colonization of other worlds, hopefully via convincing Mundanes to join with Fen on joint projects; the chief of which is the nearly Black Project Yorktown.

It's CEO is the relatively reclusive Captain Jonathan Rich. Native to Northwest Florida, he left Earth shortly after Grover's Corners alongside his XO Leroy Davis by handwaving an airliner parked in the Bob Sikes Airport in Crestview Florida over the course of a weekend, replacing the forward hatch with a standard airlock, and then stealing most of the Airport's aviation gas supply to launch. The pair are wanted for Grand Theft Aircraft in the US and associated territories, and have not set down on Earth since.

Said Airliner became the start of their business after several months of participating as a contractor for Operation Great Justice during the War. The Viridian Fool, as it came to be known for the distinct paintjob, served as an AWACS craft and recovery vessel for some time, until Rich and Davis declared they were satisfied with their performance and quit after the incidents that led to OGJ getting kicked off Stellvia, citing the behavior and actions of the leadership as being 'Unconcinable, Unacceptable, and no better than what we left behind'.

Looking for work, they picked up a small AI-run independent mining operation as a part-time source of income, retrieving it's drones and helping them back into the field. They served in this capacity, making runs on small asteroids far off the Ecliptic until the end of the war. At that point, they helped in the acquisition of an improved mining drone carrier and began refitting their airliner into something approaching a state of business readiness. Their time during the war endeared them to the Browncoats and Belters, who were both in need of a dedicated travel line to and from their primary transportation hubs. Taking up the challenge, they hired on several flight attendants and began offering $250 dollar tickets to and from the belt, and $300 dollar tickets to Ganymede and back.  They weren't expecting to be sold out entirely on every outbound flight as workers flocked to the relatively high-paying jobs available. 

To facilitate the nearly unmanagable load, they consulted with their AI-led mining branch for the construction of a limited set of additional spaceframes based off of their original aircraft to match demand. By 2018, between their main offices and maintence  on Ceres, the aircrews of their 15 spaceliners, and travel offices the company boasts nearly 300 human personelle, and anywhere from 30-50 AI's in the travel sector and mining sector. Rumors persist, though, that the Mining Operations are vastly larger than they let on, from fanciful tales of a hidden base in the Oort Cloud working on something, to semi-confirmed reports of mining drones that refuse to identify themselves in the belt that loosely match the configuration of their mining craft.  In addition, as the company has grown in size, several former workers report having come across plans for a 'Project Yorktown', which they claim to be plans for a massive colony ship for hunting down and colonizing worlds beyond the Solar System.  However, any proof of these plans in the form of files or hard-copies has yet to turn up.

Relations:

While they cooperate as much as they possibly can with the Space Patrol, they refuse any and all OGJ passengers, and have made it publically known that they will not do business with the organization until it's current leadership is removed and harsh oversight is put into place. They are attempting to file Criminal Trespassing charges against someone believed to be an OGJ 'Troubleshooter' who broke into their offices on December 12, 2017 and attempted to steal several files from the CEO's office.

With most other factions, they have neutral to positive relations, and are somewhat loved by the Browncoats and Belters for the spaceline services at relatively cheap rates they provide. 

However, despite their services, they go out of their way to remain off of the major and minor faction's collective radars, attempting to maintain as low a profile as possible while still remaining profitable. It is unknown as to whether or not this is due to their relations with OGJ, or if there is something more to this active image control.

(more to come tomorrow)

I figured it would be better to have a thread specifically titled for RWBY than to have to keep looking for "Monty Oum's Latest Work".
Oh, and as I type this, episode 4 is 1 hour and 37 minutes from release.
And here's a generic link to RWBY content on RoosterTeeth.
ETA:  Goddamned Yuku link handling.
-- Bob
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Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Found this awesome game on Steam today, called "Audiosurf."
What it does is it takes any music track you specify, and creates a racetrack for it. There's multiple difficulty levels and race vehicle powers depending on the vehicle you choose and the abilities it has. But the race itself will vary in speed, intensity, how close to the racer you are and so on by the pace and rhythm of the music.
I had average results with Bon Jovi and a handful of movie soundtracks. But (so far) the best results I've had has been Nyan Nyan Service Medley from Macross Frontier. *That* was a wild race.
---
Those who fear the darkness have never seen what the light can do.

I picked up a tablet and am looking at DVD ripping software - any recommendations - also if anyone has favorite apps for surface RT - please let me know.
Thanks,Shayne

http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/top ... ve-Company]Old thread is old. New thread is new.

Quote:"I don't get it boss? Why would anyone want to carry a magic ring to a volcano and throw it in?"

"How many times do I have to explain this to you, Tatoo? It's his fantasy, not yours."

Quote:For Love and Justice, the pretty sailor suited soldier Sailor Eowyn! In the name of the moon I will punish you!

I can see Doug finding out that this song is a Summoning song after visiting a DC universe... and promptly locking it away on his 'Do Not Play' list. Reason? The song summons a random Kryptonian (must have been named IRL). While most variations of Kal and Kara are generally affable, after a close call in hope of back-up and getting some 'Zod' guy, Eimi told him of some other not-so-pleasant "Children of the Sun" he might end up calling forth and he decided it wasn't worth the risk.
Performed by Billy Thorpe, Written by Billy Thorpe and Spencer D. Proffer
People of the Earth can you hear me?Came a voice from the sky on that magical nightAnd in the colors of a thousand sunsetsThey traveled through the world on a silvery light
The people of the Earth stood waitingWatching as the ships came one by oneSetting fire to the sky as they landedCarrying to the world children of the sunChildren of the sun
All at once came a sound from the insideThen a beam made of light hit the groundEveryone felt the sound of their heartbeatEvery man, every woman, every child
They passed the limits of imaginationThrough the doors to a world of another timeAnd on the journey of a thousand lifetimesWith the children of the sun, they started to climb
Children of the sun, children of the sun
No more gravity, nothing holding them downFloating endlessly as their ship leaves the groundThrough the walls of time, at the speed of lightFlies the crystal ships on their celestial flight(On their celestial flight)
Children of the sun, children of the sunChildren of the sun
Children of the sun, children of the sunChildren of the sun, children of the sunChildren of the sun, children of the sunChildren of the sun, children of the sun
Children of the sun, children of the sunChildren of the sun, children of the sun

I run out of memory on ch20 pt4 JUST as Ichigo goes FUUULL KUUUBOOO!! with a double 20 and turns it around. Could someone summarize how the fights actually end? Unlike every other board I visit, throwing it in spoiler tags is fine, since yuku hides it with a script instead of revealing it or using text the same color as the background, which I have no way of highlighting. That's not the only part it happened on (#12 almost made me ask before) but 21 doesn't even give a 'last time' at the beginning.
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

There are a few quizzes out there that let you determine whether you're a professional writer. http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/08/05/p ... nd-result/]John Scalzi posted one to his blog yesterday, and it's the first one that I've been able to see the logic behind:

Quote:Here’s the actual quiz for knowing whether you are a pro writer or not:

1. Are you getting paid to write?

If the answer here is “yes,” then congratulations, you’re a professional writer! Well done you (if not, then “no.” Sorry).