http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/11/22/s ... for-women/

The Saudi government is apparently now (and has been, it seems, for some time) tracking women at the airports when they leave the country... and then send a text alert to their father, husband, or other male 'guardian'. 
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

It was supposed to have been a secretive departure, but as Van Loan had learned very little could be kept from Wandblume’s determined fan base regarding their idol. Black and green uniforms of various qualities--one or two were quite good as were the figures inside them--crowded about the inner airlock bulkhead to squeal, wave and document the event on a dizzying array of devices.  Shego took it all with the smooth aplomb of the White Queen as she sashayed her figure-flattering Newman Mark IV plugsuit before the cargo sled bearing a black boxcar sized cargo container enigmatically blazoned in crimson with, ’ CABAL INC.’  
“What’s in the cargo pod?” Suki Mashin, the Alpha Female of Aitsu Go, Wandblume’s fan club, called out in the shrill voice of the over-excited enthusiast.
Shego stopped long enough to deliver the oblique response, “My repute, Suki!”
“Is it what you’ve been up to for the last six months?”
Wandblume vanished into the theatrical sterility of the cargo lock. The nuttiest profusion of rotating beacon lights since Aliens strobed crimson light through completely ridiculous snorts of vapor as Shego’s response drifted lazily out of the closing Cameronesque chamber. “It’s what I’ll be up to for the next...” The overly mechanized door slid shut with a cool profusion of mechanized minutiae, cutting off Shego’s pronouncement. Within the airlock, Van Loan, who had been driving the cargo pod, rolled his eyes at his leman’s theatrics. “Troweling it a bit thick, don’t you think, dear?” She laughed at him, not entirely unkindly.
“That’s a compliment coming from you, oh Master of Melodrama!”
A burst of harmless, faintly mint scented dry ice whooshed out the stagy riposte.
Wandblume cocked a gloved hand to an ear. “What’s that? I can’t hear you over the sound of how awesome your airlock is!”
“I said, ‘ That’s very Shego of you!’ “ It was almost exactly what he had actually said : the words ‘’ hyperbolic hussy’ had essentially the same meaning, but far from the same intended outcome.
Wandblume dimpled roguishly ; pounced upon her man. “That’s not what you said!” She bussed him with a  buss that would have impressed the ‘[dirty old] dean of science fiction writers.’
“We’ll have have to skip town for a while.” She said it with a happy breathiness.
He fondled her resplendent raven cascade of hair. “No kidding! The alternate lair awaits.”
Shego’s smile took a nerd-twist. “The grasping fortress is ready?’
He tucked, more than a bit salaciously, a piece of digital foolscap into her left hip pocket.
“If we’re going to be villains we’re going to need to look the part.”
She welled-up just a bit. “Part of me was expecting that you’d bail when I really got rolling!”
He gave her his best leading-man look. He aimed for Carey Grant : he achieved Jim Carrey. “And loose my one truly irreplaceable treasure? Besides,” he continued taking her teary face in his hands. “I’m far too invested to back out!” He kiss-stopped her verbal counterstroke : she had to make due with a fond cuff upside his blue bean.
A knock from the inside of the container brought them around. Pitchy’s voice, irate, sounded surprisingly clearly through the pod’s space-age materials. “You’re kissing again?! How can you plan anything when all you ever use is your brain-stem?”
Wandblume broke the smooch ; rapped the side of the pod. “You’ll understand when you get your very own boy, or ghoul, Pitchy! Now, be proper, mysterious cargo, please!”
There was one cute little derisive snort ; then nevermore.  
****
On the far side of the airlock, within the task-built cargo hold projecting an insect abdomen off of the aft of her svelte powerboat, Envy , Wandblume secured the pod for the flight ; released its contents. The only non plugsuited girl, Pitchy--Wandblume & Van Loan have standards--wore a bulbous pink thing that looked like a JIM suit crossed with the Pink Knight. Everyone else, ahem, adhered to the strict dictates of full-coverage fetishism.
Umbra considered her perfectly delineated topography under the polymer veneer of her steel-grey environmental sheathe. “The Man from Glad is a perv!”
Stygia, flamboyant in her crimson second skin, grinned her  keen dental implants. The sharp smile came level with Umbra’s abs. “The perviest!” She, unlike her associate, didn’t sound unhappy about it.
Dies’ suit, by far the most ornamental of the bunch, was a full-on, near body-painted replica of a mid-eighteenth century female Faustian Mephisto. Besides Pitchy’s, her helmet was the only other to carry actual physical ornamentation : the twin projections, honed but not large enough to be ridiculous, really drove the diabolical point home. “We’re in the statement making business, girls.”
Nocturne Raven, arms crossed defensively before her twin declarations,  groused : “ I’d feel less naked, naked!”  Hers was a sparkly outfit as if she were mid-magical-transformation. The result was rather eye-catching...in an Otaku manner.  
Dies Irae marshaled her team eloquently : “We wear our real costumes only when the time is right, girls!”
“Settle in, team. We’ve got some flying to do.” Shego went forward through the cramped thorax ; activated the cockpit systems. “Good news, kids!” She called back over her shoulder. “We’ve only got forty five million kilometers actual transit distance ! Bad news is that my sneaky elliptical  insertion adds another five million kilometers! Total in-flight time, barring ion-storms, space-pirates, and Xenomorphs, is thirteen hours, thirteen minutes, & thirteen seconds starting...” Shego vaulted, Kham-like, into the pilot’s acceleration-couch ; strapped herself in with a fantastic yet completely unnecessary harness to the accompaniment of the stirring, Holst-esque Gunbuster suite. “...Now!” The five members of her crew scrambled into their very own ostentatious cradles  as she flipped the dramatically red & yellow striped cage off of the cherry button labelled, ‘LAUNCH!’
On the exterior, a tiny puff of vapor silently propelled the vessel away from the cubical mass of Van Loan’s Venusian satellite laboratory. Inside, the ship shook and throbbed with all of the violence & drama of a space-operatic leap into the Void.
Thirteen hours, thirteen minutes and fifteen seconds later, the sinister svelte sweep of  the Envy performed a beautifully executed, if unduly decorous, docking maneuver at the priority docking station, L5 facility.
 Shego, resplendently risqué,  sashayed aboard the hub-station in the manner of Rock-Star-Royalty. She deigned to flash her priority-rush declaration to the drones of Station-Security Control. “ I know this is going to kill you but this means that you can’t even peek!” She sounded as sorry as a shark chowing-down on fat, delicious fur seal. “You, however,” she said pointing at a cut, Teutonic-Type hunk in security-blacks (Why, with the exception of ST:OS,  is Security always garbed in black?) “...may sled the parcel, agent...” She reached out ; grasped his name-tag. “...Hardcastle!”
****
Hardcastle, feeling decidedly like a sexualized man-steak, drove the cargo container in the smug wake of Shego’s hypno-tush as they crossed the threshold into the sanctum sanctorum of The Patrol. At the far end of the vast chamber, twin blast doors soundlessly opened to reveal the twin egg chairs bearing the shadowy portions of busty power-players.
The chair on the left, steepled fingers, starry fingernails and slightly larger bosoms--than the other chair-bound beauty--issued a feminine voice used to the dictates of power. “Wandblume, what’s the purpose of this Cabal container?"
“The purpose?” Shego looked innocent. “Let me show you!” She flung her arms wide ; laughed maniacally ; pressed the control on the side of the pod that was labelled, ‘ CARGO DEPLOYMENT!’ 

I am an areshole.
I was buying my mom an e-book reader at my usual bookstore.  After finishing the purchase I hied off to the fiction section to see if there was anything new, interesting or both.  There, sitting on a shelf, surrounded by an aura heavenly radiance and the equally heavenly sounds of exotic lesbians.... well you get the idea.  Sitting on the shelf was a hardcover of Jim Butcher's Cold Days.  I snatched the book up and made it to the cash so fast that my ponytail experienced pensive anime windblown action.
I put the book down on the counter... and my good shoulder angel kicked my evil shoulder angel right in the dangling satanic goolies - otherwise known as the Bealzebollocks.
Outer voice "I would like to buy this."  I said.  "But it is not supposed to be on the shelves until November 27th."
Inner voice "You really are an asshole Dark.  Just buy the book and scamper."
Well they did their due dilligence, confirmed that it was not supposed to be released until that date, but for reasons that were not fully explained (The words Wal Mart were used in the same way that sailor's employ colourful anatomical metaphors) - they okayed the sale.
The second reason I am an Arsehole.
I HAVE A COPY OF COLD DAYS!
Shayne
(PS.  As some mitigation to my wrinkled starfish status - my lovely wife gets to read it first.)

Happy Thanksgiving!
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

The "vehicle" mentioned in the newest "Gas Station" chapter

#############

Pinball of DOOM (POD)

»The new drive will allow us to build a personal spacecraft? Are you kidding me?«
- heard on Jenga in late 2017

»Look at it, its not even a car, its a tin can.«
- Arthur Nkomo, Great Justice

»You do not enter a POD. You WEAR it.«
- Dakota, 2019

»The perfect craft if you are bad with parking.«
- Unknown catgirl

Nationality: Fenspace Convention
Base Hull: Custom built sphere
Length (mm): 2,5 m
Width (mm): 2,5 m
Height (mm): 2,5 m
Drive Type: custom Mass Effect Drive
Drive Rating: up to 0.13c (0.16c)
Owner: Catgirl Industries
Launched: Early 2018
Purpose: Fast person transport, large scale pinball
Primary Crew: 2
Operational Status: Active

The POD project was private project at Catgirl Industries, the first attempt to use a Mass Effect drive for a personal transport. The work began during the development of the 2nd generation Mass Effect drive. The project progressed slowly for quite some time, absorbing design ideas from other project until it was finished in early 2018.

The size of the POD is limited by its engine design, even with putting the Drive sphere directly in the center of the POD between the two pilots, the more quirked batch of Eezo cannot produce a drive field with more than 2.5 meters diameter. Because of this the POD is a cramped vehicle.

The POD use a combination of a Joystick and a touch interface for controlling the craft. The craft has full video/audio playback system and two Massage seats to be more comfortable on longer trips. The only storage space are two tiny compartments to the left and right of the seats and a small ice box. Behind the seats are two emergency spacesuits, but getting in and out of them inside the POD can be an issue.

The upper-front part of the spherical hull is normally transparent so that the crew can look out on their own, but can be made opaque on command. The transparent part swings open to all the crew to enter the craft.

Trivia:

• Inspired after rescuing a Swordfish owner that was force to bail after eating a large micrometeor strike to his engine. The Swordfish cockpit capsule is a spaceship in and of itself with limited life support.
  
• Pilot and Copilot should be smaller than 170cm, otherwise they will not fit into their seat "comfortably". (1)
  
• The PODs life support system and fuel tank has enough supplies for three days of operation.
  
• The POD has a sophisticated autopilot system, but no AI.
  

• Pinball of DOOM. The original prototype vehicle.
  

• Pinball Wizard. The song ‘Pinball Wizard' has to be played to start the engine core.
  
  
• Karaoke Machine. If the pilot is singing along with the music playback during the start, the maximum speed is increased to 0.14c, if both pilot and co-pilot are singing, the pinball can reach 0.16c.
  
• Bing!Bing!BING! Can bounce of a larger object without damage to the ship or the object. There are often flashy light and sound effects involved in this collisions, but normally no damage.
  
• +500 Points! The control display of the POD has a score counter for keeping track of the Pinball hits it did during a flight.
  

Hello Again Everyone,

For my next question: Was the Strike Force A designation retired after World War II officially, or does it still exist in some way shape or form? I have my own ideas on that, but wanted to check fro prior art before going too far down that path.

Thanks,

-Mike
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/)

Offsides may not frequent the forums very much any more, having more pressing demands on his time, but he's still a friend and still a moderator...  and now a father a second time over.  Do-it-yourself style.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

You know, I'd wondered what was going on for a bit, with the stories we've been getting of people rioting in protest of any attempt to salvage the Greek economy.

Then I see this.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oc ... -far-right

Ladies and gentlemen, Greek Nazis. Enjoy. Or not. 
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

The last thread filled up, so here's the new one.
Starting things off,
This Platinum Crown has updated with chapter 20. (Ponies with a Game of Thrones flavor)
And I don't believe this got posted last thread, so here's one of the store exclusive variants to the second issue of the upcoming MLP comic:

Source
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/19 ... om_closed/]The volcano in New Zealand used as Mount Doom in The Lord of the Rings is threatening to erupt.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.