Seriously, I'm getting 500 or 522 errors or Cloudflare "problem connecting to the remote host" pages on everything except here, Google, and SB/SV/QQ

edit: Scratch that, now SB and SV are out too. Amazon is there though, which, yeah whatever, but that probably means AWS is functioning.

... and then I got in an auto accident just before 2:30 this afternoon. Got hit in the driver's side rear quarter panel by a guy going 40 mph as I turned at an intersection, which also half-tore off the rear bumper and seriously messed up the wheel there (it was visibly canted 30 degrees or so off vertical).

I'm completely unharmed -- no worries there. Shaky as hell for the last eight hours, but I'm fine. The other driver may have had a minor injury to one leg -- he was walking around fine, but when the police officer asked said he had some pain in his right shin and accepted the offer of an ambulance.

And may I just say how impressed I am with the automated online claim filing system my insurance company has implemented since I last needed to file one? Walked me through every step, and before I was finished reading the summary screen I'd been called by the local Enterprise car rental, who'd been alerted because my policy includes coverage for rental cars in these situations, and I'm expecting a call tomorrow from the shop that's already set up to repair the car. Damn, but that was a welcome bit of hand-holding while I was still in a half-panic.

... and you have a gmail account: Google is bouncing emails from the board with the following error:

Quote:Diagnostic-Code: smtp;550-5.7.26 This message fails to pass SPF checks for an SPF record with a hard
550-5.7.26 fail policy (-all). To best protect our users from spam and
550-5.7.26 phishing, the message has been blocked. Please visit
550-5.7.26 https://support.google.com/mail/answer/8...entication for more
550 5.7.26 information. gv14-20020a056214262e00b0046b87b8d201si9399735qvb.441 - gsmtp

old thread is old

Things that don't individually need to be sticky at this stage of the chronicles, but need a single sticky as a group because we don't want to lose track of them.

Much like DC's Crisis on Infinite Earths and its sequels, the old version of the story still has a large number of elements that affect the replacement version. Pre-retcon and mid-retcon planning threads - some elements are now off-limits, others aren't:

• Arc 1, Thread 1
  
• Arc 1, Thread 2
  
• Arc 1, Thread 3
  
• Arc 1, Thread 4
  
• Arc 1, Thread 5
  
• Arc 1, Thread 6
  
• Arc 1, Thread 7
  
• [OOC][PLOT][ARC 1] Planning for Season 1 - The Retcon
  
• [OOC][PLOT] Planning for Arc 2 - Crisis on Infinite Earths
  
• [OOC][Info][Plot][Arc 2] Welcome to Sol System...
  
• [OOC][PLOT][ARC 2] Planning for Season 2 - The Retcon
  
• [OOC][PLOT][ARC 3] Planning for Arc 3 - Mid-retcon ideas, plus ideas from the pre-retcon thread that we can still use post-retcon.
  
• [OOC][PLOT][ARC 4] Planning for Arc 4 - Mid-retcon ideas, plus ideas from the pre-retcon thread that we can still use post-retcon.
  

New thread is new. Old thread is mainly pre-retcon, but has some posts that we can still use.

...that five people were discovered and arrested in a particular office in the Watergate complex.

Which kicked off a process that resulted in televised Congressional inquiries and ended with a Presidential pardon.

The more things change...

le original by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis:

link

Future Sunsets (formerly King the Kid) version with mostly sung lyrics:

link

Now that it's been off the charts for long enough that just hearing the opening bars doesn't induce rage at hearing the damn thing AGAIN, I have begun to appreciate just how fun and upbeat this one is, even in the original spoken word form. I don't remember what Doug's opinion of rap is, but ISTR sung lyrics being a requirement for his power, so I did include the cover version as well. If my memory is spotty (how unexpected  ) in this case, well, perhaps one version does them fancier or as an instant disguise but is only temporary, or something along those lines?

In any case, my idea for the primary effect is that it (at least nominally) transmutes implausibly small amounts of valuable material into large amounts (as in breaking conservation of mass, by enough to have trouble carrying everything at once by the end of the song when starting from one or two pieces of semi-precious stones/metal/etc., an armload of hides or similar trade goods, or a handfull of low-denomination currency) of mundane clothing, in styles that are (mostly) appropriate to the local area in terms of climate and fashion except that they're in cuts and colors that were popular between fifteen and fifty years earlier, and occasionally have a bit of wear and/or a smell to them as if they've been in storage ever since. There will usually also be one or two items in the pile that are glaringly out of current styles and season as well, but not so much that they can't be passed off as quirky and unique, and at worst if their eyes are watering from gaping at your Hawaiian print shirt with neon purple monkeys and yellow bananas on a background of teal green with black circuit diagrams, they weren't looking at your face or paying attention to what you were carrying...

Man, I miss my circuit monkey shirt. I dress like a goth these days in all blacks and greys; a bright accent color piece or two might help raise the mood a little, and really we could all use as much of that as we can get.

This Hero build was built using Mids Reborn 3.2.17
https://github.com/LoadedCamel/MidsReborn

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Charge d'Affaires: Level 50 Magic Brute
Primary Power Set: Staff Fighting
Secondary Power Set: Electric Armor
Power Pool: Leaping
Ancillary Pool: Energy Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Precise Strike

• (A) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage
  
• (3) Mako's Bite - Damage/Endurance
  
• (3) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (5) Mako's Bite - Damage/Recharge
  
• (5) Mako's Bite - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (7) Mako's Bite - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
  

• (A) Aegis - Resistance
  
• (7) Aegis - Resistance/Endurance
  
• (9) Aegis - Endurance/Recharge
  
• (9) Aegis - Psionic/Status Resistance
  

• (A) Synapse's Shock - EndMod
  
• (11) Synapse's Shock - EndMod/Increased Run Speed
  
• (13) Synapse's Shock - Damage/Rechage
  
• (13) Synapse's Shock - EndMod/Recharge
  

• (A) Scirocco's Dervish - Accuracy/Damage
  
• (15) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Endurance
  
• (15) Scirocco's Dervish - Damage/Recharge
  
• (17) Luck of the Gambler - Defense
  
• (17) Luck of the Gambler - Endurance/Recharge
  
• (19) Luck of the Gambler - Defense/Endurance/Recharge
  

• (A) Obliteration - Damage
  
• (19) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (21) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  
• (21) Kinetic Crash - Accuracy/Damage/Knockback
  
• (23) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Endurance
  
• (23) Kinetic Crash - Accuracy/Knockback
  

• (A) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance
  
• (25) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance
  
• (25) Unbreakable Guard - Endurance/RechargeTime
  
• (27) Unbreakable Guard - +Max HP
  
• (27) Unbreakable Guard - Resistance/Endurance/RechargeTime
  

• (A) Impervium Armor - Psionic Resistance
  
• (29) Impervium Armor - Resistance
  
• (29) Impervium Armor - Resistance/Endurance
  
• (31) Impervium Armor - Resistance/Recharge
  

• (A) Defense Buff IO
  

• (A) Resist Damage IO
  
• (31) Resist Damage IO
  

• (A) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (31) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  
• (33) Devastation - Accuracy/Damage
  
• (33) Devastation - Damage/Endurance
  
• (33) Devastation - Chance of Hold
  
• (34) Sudden Acceleration - Knockback/Recharge
  

• (A) Run Speed IO
  
• (34) Run Speed IO
  

• (A) Analyze Weakness - Defense Debuff
  
• (34) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (36) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (36) Analyze Weakness - Accuracy/Defense Debuff
  
• (36) Hecatomb - Damage
  
• (37) Hecatomb - Damage/Recharge
  

• (A) Jumping IO
  

• (A) Multi-Strike - Accuracy/Damage
  
• (37) Multi-Strike - Damage/Recharge
  
• (37) Multi-Strike - Damage/Endurance
  
• (39) Ice Mistral's Torment - Endurance/Slow
  
• (39) Ice Mistral's Torment - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (39) Ice Mistral's Torment - Chance for Cold Damage
  

• (A) Numina's Convalesence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
  
• (40) Numina's Convalesence - Heal
  
• (40) Numina's Convalesence - Endurance/Recharge
  
• (40) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Recharge
  
• (50) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Endurance
  
• (50) Numina's Convalesence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
  

• (A) Overwhelming Force - Accuracy/Damage
  
• (42) Overwhelming Force - Endurance/Recharge
  

• (A) Unrelenting Fury - Accuracy/Damage
  
• (42) Unrelenting Fury - Accuracy/Damage/RechargeTime
  
• (42) Unrelenting Fury - RechargeTime/+Regen/+End
  
• (43) Unrelenting Fury - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
  
• (43) Unrelenting Fury - Damage/RechargeTime
  
• (43) Unrelenting Fury - Damage/Endurance/RechargeTime
  

• (A) Preemptive Optimization - EndMod/Accuracy/Endurance
  
• (45) Preemptive Optimization - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (45) Preemptive Optimization - EndMod/Recharge
  

• (A) Endurance Modification IO
  
• (45) Endurance Modification IO
  

• (A) Endurance Modification IO
  
• (46) Endurance Modification IO
  
• (46) Healing IO
  
• (46) Healing IO
  

• (A) Performance Shifter - EndMod
  
• (48) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Recharge
  
• (48) Performance Shifter - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge
  

• (A) To Hit Buff IO
  
• (48) Endurance Reduction IO
  
• (50) Recharge Reduction IO
  

• (A) Damage Increase IO
  

• (A) Damage Increase IO
  

• (A) Run Speed IO
  

• (A) Healing IO
  

• (A) Run Speed IO
  

• (A) Jumping IO
  

• (A) Healing IO
  

• (A) Performance Shifter - Chance for +End
  
• (11) Performance Shifter - EndMod
  

The Globe and Mail: Canada and Denmark reach settlement over disputed Arctic island, sources say

Apparently, the official announcement is scheduled for tomorrow.

Assuming this happens, the precedent has been set.
/me looks at Russian troops in Ukraine