"He's not very like any of the other professors, is he?" Harry
suddenly said, still staring out the window.  "He's an American,
for one."
"Charlie says he's a muggleborn," Ginny pointed out.  "I don't
think we've ever had a muggleborn defense professor before.  I
*know* we've never had an American professor before."
Ron snorted.  "Charlie said a lot of things about him, and you
can't believe half of them.  I certainly don't believe he took
down a dragon by himself."
The twins shared a pair of knowing grins while Hermione turned to
look at Ron.  "Took down a dragon?  What letter was that in?  I
thought I heard all the letters Charlie wrote to your family this
summer."
"Charlie owled me a couple times," Ron answered shrugging.  "Just
me."
"And you didn't share them..." Hermione began, before Fred cut
her off.  
"So what about a dragon?"
Ron perked up.  "Oh, right.  Charlie said the day he met Doug..."
"*Professor Sangnoir*," Hermione grumbled, folding her arms
across her chest again.
"...he knocked a dragon out cold by punching it once, hard,
between the eyes."  Ron snorted again.  "Bollocks, if you ask me.
There's no way you could get close enough to a dragon to punch
it.  Charlie was just trying to take the mickey out of me, like
when I was real little."
"Well," Fred offered, "you *were* quite gullible as a five-year-
old.  When I think of all the things we told you..."
"Don't remind me," Ron growled, and the twins laughed.
"He's not comfortable with robes," Hermione suddenly said, as a
few pieces of information gelled together.
"What's that?" Ginny asked.  
Hermione looked up and around at the others.  "He may be a
muggleborn, but I don't think he's been raised in the Wizarding
World.  The first thing he did when he came inside was pull off
his robes -- and he was wearing muggle clothes underneath --
muggle clothes that were broken in and comfortable."
"We noticed that," George said.  "What did that writing on his
shirt mean?  'I do all my own special effects'?"
Hermione bit her lip.  "Special effects are...  well, there are
muggle entertainments that, as part of their story, have to show
things that look like magic, or futuristic technology, that
aren't really possible.  For muggles, at least.  So to do this,
they have a whole field of work in which people come up with
the... well, the *illusion* of magic for those stories.  And
that's called 'special effects'.  You know," she said as a
thought occurred to her, "some of what you two do could be
considered 'special effects'."  She thought for a moment as the
twins shared a grin and a wink.  "I think that that T-shirt might
be a joking way for Professor Sangnoir to say 'I'm a wizard!' to
the entire muggle world without anyone being the wiser."
"Wicked!" Ron breathed.  "Like he's giving the bird to the
Secrecy Statutes."
Hermione sighed and continued.  "Another thing -- he's not
carrying a wand."
The room, except for Harry, was in a sudden uproar.  Hermione
waited for it to die down enough to shout over.  "I mean it.  
T-shirt with bare arms -- no place to hide a wand 'up a sleeve'.
No wand in his belt.  His jeans are too tight to hide a wand in
a pocket or down a leg -- if he could even fit one in, we'd see
it.  No wand holsters anywhere -- in fact, the only thing he's
got that looks like a holster is the wrong size for a wand
completely."  She looked about smugly.  "Ergo, no wand."
"So... he's really a muggle?" Ron said after a moment.
"No," Fred answered immediately.  "First off, this place has all
kinds of muggle-repelling wards on it -- Black family home, after
all.  He got through them as easily as Charlie did."
"And he did get hired as Defense professor," George continued.  
"Say what you want, I don't think Charlie would prank us like
that, and I don't think he'd get a coworker to help him with it.
So unless Dumbledore is completely barmy..."
"Which people *have* been saying for years," Ron pointed out.
George nodded.  "Unless he's *so* barmy that he'd hire a muggle
to teach defense, then Sangnoir's *got* to be a wizard."
"Harry?" Hermione said, looking over to where Harry still stood
by the window.  "What do you think?"
For a long moment Harry appeared not to have heard her at all, so
distracted was he by the view outside.  Then he blurted out, "He
has no idea who I am."
The other five exchanged confused looks.
"What?" Hermione asked.  "What do you mean, he has no idea who
you are?"
"You're joking, right, mate?" Ron added.
Harry turned around from the window for the first time, shaking
his head.  "Didn't you notice?  Meeting Charlie was like when I
first met your dad, Ron -- he didn't look at my scar or anything,
he was just like, 'oh, you're Ron's friend Harry'.  But Doug..."
"*Professor Sangnoir*!" Hermione insisted.
Harry shot her a glance.  "But he didn't even react *that* much.
It was like Charlie said, 'This is John Smith'.  I was just
another teenager out of a half-dozen to him."  Harry's eyes shone
with an emotion Hermione couldn't identify, but felt she should.  
"He's never heard of the bloody 'Boy-Who-Lived'!"
"But how is that possible?" Ginny asked.  "Everybody knows about
you!"
"Even as far away as Japan and Bangladesh they tell your story,"
Hermione confirmed.  "You can't go anywhere in the Wizarding
World and *not* find it in the history books."
"Lovely," Harry muttered, half to himself.
"He *is* a muggleborn," Ron reminded them unnecessarily.  "Maybe
that's why?"
Hermione rolled her eyes.  "*I'm* a muggleborn, Ron, and I knew
about Harry before I even got on the Express our first year."
"Yeah, but you're obsessed with books," Ron said offhandedly.
"He doesn't look like the kind who would be."
"He's clearly in his 30s, Ron," she pointed out.  "He'd've had to
have heard the story by now even if he couldn't read."
Ginny ignored the interplay between Ron and Hermione and instead
looked at Harry, who seemed almost to be in another place
entirely.  "What are you thinking?" she asked.
He turned his attention to her and smiled at her, a broad,
gleaming smile unlike any he'd ever before worn in her presence.
"I think it's bloody brilliant that we're going to have a
professor who doesn't give a damn who I am for once."
"Harry, language," Hermione sniffed prudishly, but then her lips
quirked into a tiny smile of her own.  "It *will* be a new and
unusual experience for us, won't it?"
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Is the WST for this week and I would like to put together a group to run it either Friday or Saturday depending on availability of people. So go ahead and put your name down if your interested and your available days and preferred times if you can. I'm thinking in the evening but can easily change if  enough people want it earlier in the day.
EDIT:With Issue 23 hitting Tomorrow I'll be trying for Statesman Task force tonight around 7PM MNT 9PM EST
Come work for States one last time! (Also Notice!)

Love ate my dog.
The last thread is at 300 posts, so I've pulled out the thread title I had waiting.  No actual plotponies, but revenge is something a lot of stories can be built around.

I was reading a collection of Charles Osgood's humorous essays, and came across a mondegreen by another name. Osgood wrote:

Quote:Richard Stands is mentioned in no American history book, yet to countless schoolchildren over the years he has been a central figure in American life. Many is the schoolchild who each morning pledges allegiance, not only to the flag of the United States of America, but also to "the republic for Richard Stands." Never mind that you don't know who this Stands fellow is. You figure the teacher will get to that later in the year.

This crossed my mind and evaded all attempts to turn it into roadkill. The song is Cyndi Lauper's Time After Time, 1983.
Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick,
And think of you
Caught up in circles confusion--
Is nothing new
Flashback--warm nights--
Almost left behind
Suitcases of memories,
Time after--
Sometimes you picture me--
I'm walking too far ahead
You're calling to me, I can't hear
What you've said--
Then you say--go slow--
I fall behind--
The second hand unwinds
[Chorus:]
If you're lost you can look--and you will find me
Time after time
If you fall I will catch you--I'll be waiting
Time after time
After my picture fades and darkness has
Turned to gray
Watching through windows--you're wondering
If I'm OK
Secrets stolen from deep inside
The drum beats out of time--
[Chorus:]
You said go slow--
I fall behind
The second hand unwinds--
[Chorus:]
Time after time...
Time after time...
Time after time...
Time after time...

It was the "I'll be there for you" aspect of the chorus that made me think of this concept. It can only be played for someone else. And then it waits, like a (benevolent) land mine, maybe even years, until that someone is in can't-possibly-get-out-of-it-on-her-own danger and Doug is nowhere near to help -- which is when a simulacrum of Doug shows up to rescue or otherwise aid for the 3 minutes, 55 seconds that I timed the song as running. The simulacrum can't do the music-magic, but he otherwise has all of Doug's physical capabilities (including the protective chaos field), knowledge as of the time the song was cast, and personality.
Despite the repetition the title indicates, this simulacrum will only appear once, otherwise it'd be waaaaaay too powerful (it may be too powerful as it is). The mana cost of casting it will be something truly ferocious; for this reason if no other, it's unlikely Doug will use it often. The expressed emotional connection is another reason not to use it; he might think it feels like infidelity to his wife, not to mention leading the other person on. But if he's got a particularly close friend he thinks will be facing a lot of danger in the future, such as after he's left that universe.... 
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

For some reason I've had a bug to go play DCUO this weekend. It's about 3:15 PM CST as I post this and I'm in DCUO right now. Will be for awhile. Anybody want to join me? 

Characters, in case you haven't friend-ed me already on these (there's no global name friend option, sadly - or fortunately):

Atlantea - (Classic Supergirl/Powergirl Tank) lvl 30
Chrome Seraph - (Cybernetic Mechagirl Blaster/Controller ) lvl 30
Katsumi Lee - (Green Lantern Corp recruit) lvl 19
Blue Sonnet - (Speedster martial artist)  lvl 15-16
Tarma Sul - (Alien Psi Blaster/Swords) lvl 9
Spathic Lass - (Tank/Earth Powers) lvl 3

One can choose from hundreds of different sets of voice clips for one's in-car GPS... but I never expected to see this choice.

http://www.reghardware.com/2011/10/25/r ... r_edition/]TomTom GPS - The Stig

(Oh, and that Clarkson fellow, too.)

I wonder whether the unit is compatible with the same company's http://www.reghardware.com/2010/11/05/b ... omtom_app/]Brian Blessed voice clips...
--
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

As a side effect of the med tech entry, I thought about updating other bits of the Fenwiki to the current freeze point.

My first thought, due to another thread on the Spacebattles forums, turned to weapons.

Outside some extra links and formating, here are the updates:

=== Projectile Weapons ===

Generally these are coilguns in the 20mm - 100mm range. '''Coilguns''' have proven themselves as a good general purpose weapon with sustained fire rates, and have been around a while.

The '''Mass Driver''', the bigger brother to the coilgun, has started to appear in places, however the weaponized versions are rare, as most that are built are the electromagnetic catapult version.Such systems may actually be part of a missile tube on larger vessels or for launching small craft quickly.

In early 2013 the '''Railgun''' was perfected. This is a weapon good for armour piercing and has a superior burst firing ability as well as a faster muzzle velocity of around 100 times the speed of sound. The most effective calibre currently is the 20mm round.

First seen in prototype during Serenity-Con is the '''Rail Cannon''', a weapon using a 155mm round weighing 5Kg with a maximum muzzle velocity of 1 PSL (Percent of the Speed of Light). This weapon has a low rate of fire (1-3 rounds per minute) at maximum power. It typically operates at muzzle velocities of 1000 times the speed of sound with a slightly higher firing rate of 20 rounds per minute. Due to a combination of power use, size, and heat levels generated in action, it is only mounted on stations and ships of the Destroyer type and up.

---

'''Particle Beams''' are still fairly rare in Fenspace after their explosive (figuratively speaking) introduction at [[Boskone War#Boskonian Bases|Boskone Prime], due to their large size and much larger energy requirements. Again, these weapons are normally mounted on stations and large vessels. Any vessel that mounts one is classed as a Battleship or Battlecruiser. The latter are especially closely watched by the Fen [[Space Patrol|law] and [[Great Justice|military] organisations.

---

As it stands, most '''missiles''' are vacuum adapted versions of those found in the 'Danelaw. Only [[Stellvia Corporation] had access to pure space designs originally, and they didn't share with anyone (except once, when they delivered a consignment of missiles to the USS ''[[Stingray]'' at the very end of the [[Boskone War]). These used specialist warheads (specifically [[Kaboomite], but rumours of other high-level warheads exist). Since then other [[Faction Guide|factions] have developed more 'aerospace' versions, with the new '''Illudium-P24 Space Modulator''' warheads.

The first is a powersong, the second a possible 'motivational' song for the NGE step, and the last just a video I figure Bob might enjoy.
"Titanium"
David Guetta (feat. Sia)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRfuAukYTKg&ob=av2e
 You shout it out,
 But I can't hear a word you say
 I'm talking loud not saying much
 I'm criticized but all your bullets ricochet
 You shoot me down, but I get up
 
 I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose
 Fire away, fire away
 Ricochet, you take your aim
 Fire away, fire away
 You shoot me down but I won't fall
 I am titanium
 You shoot me down but I won't fall
 I am titanium
 
 Cut me down
 But it's you who have further to fall
 Ghost town, haunted love
 Raise your voice, sticks and stones may not break my bones
 I'm talking loud not saying much
 
 I'm bulletproof, nothing to lose
 Fire away, fire away
 Ricochet, you take your aim
 Fire away, fire away
 You shoot me down but I won't fall
 I am titanium
 You shoot me down but I won't fall
 I am titanium
 I am titanium
 I am titanium
 
 Stone-hard, machine gun
 Firing at the ones who run
 Stone-hard, those bulletproof glass
 
 You shoot me down but I won't fall
 I am titanium
 You shoot me down but I won't fall
 I am titanium
 You shoot me down but I won't fall
 I am titanium
 You shoot me down but I won't fall
 I am titanium
 I am titanium
 
Power: Colossus like transformation into a living metal golem, rendering Doug highly durable/bulletproof (I'll leave it up to Bob if Doug gets superstrength to go with it)
******************
'Ordinary Day' by Greaty Big Sea
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wcjBU8zbdY&ob=av2n
I've got a smile on my face, I've got four walls around me
 The sun in the sky, the water surrounds me
 I'll win now but sometimes I'll lose
 I've been battered, but I'll never bruise, it's not so bad
 
[Chorus:]
 And I say way-hey-hey, it's just an ordinary day
 and it's all your state of mind
 At the end of the day, you've just got to say,
 it's all right.
 
Janie sings on the corner, what keeps her from dying?
 Let them say what they want, she won't stop trying
 She might stumble, if they push her 'round
 She might fall, but she'll never lie down
 
[Chorus]
 
In this beautiful life, but there's always some sorrow
 It's a double-edged knife, but there's always tomorrow
 It's up to you now if you sink or swim,
 Keep the faith and your ship will come in.
 It's not so bad
 
And I say way-hey-hey, it's just an ordinary day
 And it's all your state of mind
 At the end of the day, you've just got to say
 I say way-hey-hey, it's just an ordinary day
 And it's all your state of mind
 At the end of the day, you've just got to say
 it's alright
 
'Cause it's alright, it's alright
 'Cause I've got a smile on my face and I've got four walls around me
*******************
'Little Talks' by Of Men and Monsters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghb6eDopW8I&ob=av2e
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

Okay, was watching the videos in this post when I got this crazy little thought...  "You know, this guy's moving around like he's got a speed-drive field set to self-destruct or something like that."
And then it occurred to me... what if there was some skater that was going for a biomod not unlike Ben's in that it creates a speed drive field to protect it's 'passenger' from sudden accelerations... but it went horribly right?
You would have Ragdoll Man...  A Super who is capable of catapulting himself into absurd places and vibrating himself through solid objects with his otherworldly gyrations.  His tools of the trade are a skateboard (duh), and whatever else is lying around (because his speed drive will affect things in his area to a limited degree).  He is seemingly invulnerable to damage, but he'll still get pretty well bruised.  And, oh yeah, it's also hard to predict exactly what in God's name his field will do next.
Thoughts?