Some of you may now I have a Dell Optiplex 360... if you don't, you do now.
It came with a single SATA 250GB hard drive, and Window 7 Pro 32 bit. (Love Dell for not supplying the 64bit version) Needless to say it got a little... crampted.  So I put a second hard disk on it. 500GB disk... That gave me a little room to 'live'.
However, my computer is getting a little full, so I went an bought a 2TB hard disk. Yes, I managed to find one despite the recent flooding in Thailand.
Back up everything to a external hard disk... check.
Any tips or suggestions before I go yanking my computer innards?

• General files... dump everything to external hard disk
• Thunderbird backup... use MozBackup
• Steam... ?
  
• CoX... dump to external hard disk
• Other games... dump to hard disk
• Other apps ... disk
• Word  ... disk
• Anything else
  

The thrill is gone.
I have been soaked, frozen, starved, ignored, overworked, and treated poorly. I am currently seeking other employment.
Wish me luck - I'm headed over to a local ISP to submit a resume package for their Network Technician position.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

I was doing a Yahoo search looking for public domain photos of Spacesuits, Supertankers and Earth from orbit when I found this web page.
http://en.wikipedia.org/w...ain_in_the_United_States
The above site has a lot more than just cartoons, but the cartoons caught my attention.
Most of the links found in the above point to wikipedia articles about the movie,
but many of the cartoon articles usually also have a link that leads to
a web site to download the film.
I noticed over a dozen Loony Toon cartoons as I went through the list and thought of Bob.
Since I was looking for cartoons anyway I also noted every Loony Toon link.
Below you will find a Links to Loony Toons, Merry Molodies, wartime cartoons that used Loony Toons characters.
I've also tried to include every public domain cartoon by artist that did Loony Toons characters.
Public Domain Cartoons.

----------------------------------------------------

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...n_and_His_Wonderful_Lamp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wackiki_Wabbit

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...All_This_and_Rabbit_Stew

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beach_Combers

http://en.wikipedia.org/w..._Boom_%281936_cartoon%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...as_Comes_But_Once_a_Year

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Corny_Concerto

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daffy_-_The_Commando

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Day_at_the_Zoo

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Hare

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresh_Hare

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...Goopy_Geer_%28cartoon%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/w..._Travels_%281939_film%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...e_You_Got_Any_Castles%3F

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollywood_Capers

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...27re_Dead_You_Rascal_You

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_Jitters

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...d_Doctor_%281933_film%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechanical_Man

http://en.wikipedia.org/w..._More_Time_%28cartoon%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantry_Panic

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...he_Plumber_%28cartoon%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poor_Cinderella

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...i_Baba%27s_Forty_Thieves

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...Meets_Sindbad_the_Sailor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrap_Happy_Daffy

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smile,_Darn_Ya,_Smile!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snafuperman

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...ow_White_%281933_film%29

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_%2743

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Tale_of_Two_Kitties

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_Duck_or_Not_To_Duck

http://en.wikipedia.org/w...abbit_Who_Came_to_Supper

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wackiki_Wabbit

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westward_Whoa
-------------------------------
There is a lot more in the list than cartoons, including some movies that I would never have thought of as being in the public domain.
By the way still I've not found the right Spacesuit that will work for my Superman Unbound website If anyone knows of a large collection  of public domain photos of futeristic spacesuit I'd like to see it.
hmelton
Merry Christmas

So apparently there has been a stuff up.

CoX new page tells us what happens in the Next Who will Die arc.

Mainly, who's dying.

Not saying who it is here due to spoilers, but go have a look if you want to know.

I've noticed a few FenWiki entries with infobox or text-body data mentioning something along the lines of "a Fen company, but not one of the usual suspects". Here's a thread to list some of those companies.

The list, so far, is bare-bones - company name, field of interest, and source material - unless I thought of something that might make for the germ of the core of the beginning of a plotbunny.

These shouldn't be added to the FenWiki as-is; they're only here to serve as suggestions.

Companies that aren't yet mentioned in Fenspace (but should they be?):

• Tyrell Corporation - makers of the Nexus-6 and other models of Replicant bio-roids (Blade Runner)
  
• Domesticon - Android servant manufacturers (Sleeper)
  
• Weyland Corp. - Terraforming & Evil Trans-Systems Giga-Corp. (Aliens) Becomes Weyland-Yutani Corp. (Aliens Vs. Predator)
  
• Cyberdyne Systems - Computer systems & software development (Terminator 2)
  
• Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems - Weird Red-Lectroid Science (Buckaroo Banzai)
  
• Planet Express - Delivery/Courier corporation (Futurama). (With JMC and HUD already active, we don't really need a third big courier... but there's always room for a niche player.)
  

• The Dictatorship of the Air - H.G. Welles Fen with megalomania, from the group exercising empirical control of the world in The Shape of Things to Come.
  
• Diplomatic Order Of Planets ("DOOP") - either what the Futurama Fen are called when the speaker wants to piss off the Trekkies in earshot, or what the Futurama Fen call the Trekkies.
  

So, late last spring I asked around in channel if anyone knew any good artists offering commissions. At this time, I honestly can't remember who pointed me at him, but I decided to hit up http://totmoartsstudio2.deviantart.com/.

The first picture I asked him for was a full portrait of one of my wife's PFRPG characters named http://www.flickr.com/photos/_/6496356265/player/. He did a pretty good job, I think. The only complaint I had was that I said her ears were *slightly* pointed, not full on Elf mode. But, other than that, it turned out wonderfully, and my wife loves it.

The second picture I commissioned in late July, on the subject of my main blaster, and her Praetorian counterpart. Unfortunately, with the artist's school and other delays, he wasn't able to work on it until just last month. Yesterday, though I got the finished product. Now, when people wonder what and Glorien Jr. look like, I can show them. Again, my only problem with this one is the ears. Both of them should have pointy ears, but just like the first one, I didn't catch it in the draft phase, so- oh, well. Its still an awesome picture. So big that flikr can't hold the full HD pic (16.3 meg .jpg!).

I like 'em, though. And I wanted to share.

I heard Styx's 'Mr Roboto' on the radio today and had an idea pop into my head.
The song could create a simulcrum of Doug's friend from DW2, Kilroy the Boomer.
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG30-6533]Get a copy here.
--
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

Born out of some stuff I was mucking with on IRC to make Ford more of a character. Even if she's drifting closer to her inspiration....

Quote:Like many things in Fenspace, it started with an accident.

A vulcan cannon being removed from the airframe of an Aeritalia F-104 being made into asteroid racer was dropped on the workshop floor, damaging the gun's operating mechanisms beyond repair. Half as a joke, Daryl Haur suggested that the six barrels could be made into the ultimate handcannon. Jet Jaguar found the concept of an anti-tank pistol hilarious, and agreed to shoot it if ever such a thing was built. Ford, being the only one with anything resembling gunsmithing experience, got stuck the hard part of the job.

The result was the first 'caster gun'. An anti-tank pistol. Firing the 20x102mm Vulcan round. As a nod to the cartridge name, the gun bears the ironic inscription Live long and Prosper.

The second was built for Benjamin Rhodes, being a true Caster-Gun replica, and the Third went to AC Peters. Jet sent both of them as private thank-you's for their help establishing the Knight Sabers.

All three are capable of firing, though they require a great deal of strength and resilience to control, limiting their use. They are basic single-shot firearms, breech loading, and approximately 40cm long. The cartridge itself is nearly 17cm long on it's own. Triggering is electric, with a stiff triggerpull for safety reasons. Each weapon has both a mechanical, and electronic safety. They are capable of using any 20x102mm cartridge, from standard training rounds, up to high-explosive incendiary, and armour-piercing. Although equipped with adjustable iron sights, they lack the mounting points for smartgun systems.

A Fourth was built for Noah Scott, requiring a little more thought and a lot more time to get right. The original plan was the use either a smaller round, or some form of modified cartridge, either cut-down, or even a waved round or cartridge. The eventual result was the driver coil compensator.

The driver coil compensator operates on the same basic principal as the main gravity propellers fitted to a Peacemaker bomber, via the Havoc and Hokum choppers built for Survival Shot. It was found that, with contra-rotating rotors a form of enforced position-hold could be achieved, increasing the effective inertia of the spacecraft. Ford Sierra, trying to figure out how to manage the ferocious recoil of the Vulcan round, wondered if she could adapt the same principals to a firearm.

A pair of rotating, minaturised gravity coils are mounted on the barrel. They are energised by the weapon's battery mounted in the grip at the same time as the primer is triggered. Hot gasses are vented through the coils, momentarily spinning them up, generating a drive field around the weapon that peaks in intensity just as the recoil begins to take effect after the projectile leaves the barrel. This has the effect of momentarily increasing the effective inertia of the gun to a point where the recoil is at least manageable by a regular human being. The field collapses moments later as the coil current below the activation threshold of the drive field. This also has the effect of holding the weapon on target as it fires.

Ironically, with the cabling and spinning, venting coils, this weapon comes closest to replicating an actual Caster. A quirk causes a beam of coloured light to chase the round to its target, emulating the original Caster. The weapon can also still be fired without the compensator, but doing so by an un-modded human is done at the risk of the shooter. Noah Scott has compared the recoil of the compensator-equipped weapon as 'less vicious then a Pfeifer Zeliska', but much heavier and harder to hold on target for long. The muzzle blast is still explosively violent.

The Fifth and Sixth incorporated some improvements based on experience, but were substantially similar. Number's 1 and 6 remain on Frigga, with 6 made available for public shooting at the firing range (for a fee per round). They are not the most powerful handguns in Fenspace.... there are plenty of coilguns and railguns that have a substantially higher kinetic energy and are much easier to shoot and control, something Whistler goes to great pains to point out... but they are the most powerful chem-gun pistols in existence. And they are capable of firing explosive ammunition, something railguns, with mega Amperes flowing through the projectile, or coilguns relying on the magnetic fields interacting with a metallic projectile, struggle with. They are intended to be fun things to shoot at a range, rather than practical weapons in themselves.

After word got out, Ford started receiving requests from other Fen interested in their own custom built handcannon, equipped with a driver-coil compensator. Thus Ford's Heavyarms brand began.

The signature product is still the 20mm pistol, though other versions are offered with smaller rounds. They also offer a substantially modified Anzio rifle, equipped with a customised semi-automatic action and a driver coil compensator. It was first seen in the hands of a rather fetching Yoko Littner cosplayer where it fired with blue sparks, rather than a trailing beam of light which gave away the shooters position.

Anyone ordering a weapon from Ford is expected to understand that gunsmithing is done in her free time.... so lead times are quite high and variable compared to professional outfits. Each weapon is also rather basic, being equipped by default with only iron-sghts, though Ford will fit off-the-shelf smart-link systems and optics if requested. Ford will also modify smaller, standard firearms to specification. Ford does not work on electromagnetic weaponry, or energy weapons, only chem-guns. The driver coil compensators can only be fitted to larger firearms.... and Ford strongly suggests not fitting them to anything expected to be fired on the move, or attached to a vehicle.

Given that each weapon must be custom crafted by hand, the price is.... rather high. Still, even the compensator equipped weapons have low amounts of handwavium in them compared to the mass, and aside from the tendency to get a bit 'disco-gun', they're relatively quirk free. There're no complex drive-field controls, the drive field merely forms and collapses according to the speed/voltage of the coils, and while the field coils and gas vents themselves require careful lubrication and cleaning to keep combustion debris from jamming them, the weapon will still fire without them.

Jerry Robinson, the man credited with creating both the Joker and Robin, has passed away at the age of 87. Details are here.
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."