You know, I generally try to be strictly neutral in most matters. It actually takes more guts to say "I have considered both sides and I am neither for nor against...[XYZ]" then to hope issues go away or pick a side...
but
Let me just say this: even given the mess we have going on over here at the moment (Don't ask), I am sure glad I'm over here in Australia, and not over there in USA.
Where do I begin...
SOPA. (Not going there.)
Twitter Censorship. (Not touching that one either)
Double dip rescission. (Meanwhile, while Aussie land had a slowdown, we ended up without much of a problem.)
Sub prime mortgage crunch.
"Obma-care" (We have this little thing called Medicare. It works. ... Mostly. Public Health for all. It isn't perfect but that's what Private health funds are for.)
The whole Occupy movement thing. (Both sides are right, both sides are wrong. There is the Freedom of Expression, The Freedom to Assemble, Freedom to Peaceful Assembly, but also the Right of Law Enforcement, and the rights of others such as Bystanders and Public Safety, take only one away and we get on very slippy and dangerous ground.)
Twitter being Subpoenaed. Link
Enemy Expatriation Act - Wiki link - Not yet gone through but give it time.
And then this: Cops comment attacking Internet hackers drawers anger, criticism. I spent the evening watching various parts of the net melt - mostly Twitter and various Facebook pages.
and the list goes on and on...
Sure... I know Everything is trying to kill me in Australia, and its a pest to get anything decent, and we're in the future, but at least it makes sense down here!

You mess with the frog, the get the pig.

 So as per last couple of weeks I'll be trying to form a team for Eden run(s) tomorrow evening starting around 7 PM Mountain time 9 Eastern time.
Come. Hunt. Smash Titan.

Which is more offense versus defense, do you think, a tiger or eastern dragon? I'm chewing on a combiner design using turtle, crane, tiger, and dragon, and the latter two form the arms. Still not sure what to do to keep the sentai pilots from being an even number, though - maybe have an independent robo that isn't part of the gattai, or forms arm/leg/chestplate armor parts, or who is a multi-shapchanger and becomes various weapons for it to use. Anyway, I'm waffling over which arm should be on which side, leaning slightly to red/dragon right and yellow/tiger left, crane being white/blue head and wings and turtle being green chestplate and legs, and having the most solid transformation of the set so far.

- CD

Thread edit: turning most of the images into links rather than inline
--
"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

The Vocaloid3 software update has really started to make it easy for composers to create a convincing singing voice with minimal effort.  If the English versions of the software ever reach the same level of penetration the Japanese ones have, it's going to become a very interesting time be in the music business...

Here's a little something for my old friends in SME who still read this board.  (For a punny name, an appropriate song to cover...)
- Grumpy Uncle Gearhead

Latest commission from the talented Machsaber.



Neph Seraph.

So that's all of DS's daughters done.

A group of researchers claim to have found a linkage between social conservatism, low IQ and prejudice. I'd say that a more likely explanation for this studies results lies with the researchers political leanings as well as the way they weighed the answers of their study subjects in their analysis. I'll give them that low education levels can be linked to racism but the same sorts of prejudices can be found at high education levels. I found the linkage prejudice and social conservatism a bit iffier as I can see various issues that would skew their results. I would also say that research results more of an example of researchers massaging the data till they "found" the results they wanted.
I'm far from being socially conservative by any measure but the way the reporter wrote things up annoyed me. Link below.
http://news.yahoo.com/low...prejudice-180403506.html
--Werehawk--
My mom's brief take on upcoming Guatemalan Elections "In last throes of preelection activities. Much loudspeaker vote pleading."

(Several search attempts to see if had been mentioned before and nothing came up so...)
Kirby Krackle
Ring Capacity - Allows Doug to duplicate Green Lantern's abilities for the duration of the song.
Plus there's all the other Kirby Krackle songs...
"On and On" - Wolverine healing factor
I Want to live in a world full of Heroes - gives superpowers to normal folk around him
Rainbow Bridge - limited Gate song - allows transportation to the local Asgard
RMH
If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?
- Albert Einstein

Based on the discovery of Tannhauser Gate in the wake of my Wolf 259 entry...
----------------------------------
Jump Gates
An early attempt of recreating the handwavium technologies that make up the Tannhauser Gate Stargate lead to the creation of the Jump Gates.
Being funded by just about everyone in Fenspace interested in these Gates, there was a lot of trouble getting a shape to build them. After a large amount of haggling it was decided to build a 4 kilometer diameter ring with four struts intersecting it as a sort of guidance system. Some Fen see a resemblance to the Acceleration Gates of 'X3: Terran Conflict'.
However the handwavium based circuicy contains a quirk that quickly became apparent after activating it the first time.
Without a station on the other end, the wormhole only became active for a time measured in Plank Time, while consuming an extreme amount of energy.
For testing purposes another station was established in Alpha Centauri A and the wormhole activated for a second time. This time the wormhole established for a second before becoming unstable and nearly destroying both Gate structures.
A reason was quickly found. The gates needed to be placed in a gravitationally stable position in or near a Lagrange Point of a planet to create a gravimetric anchor.
Moving to the Sol side to the L4 of the Jupiter-Sol gravity system and the other end into the L4 between Alpha Centauri and Epimetheus, the experiment was repeated, leading to a stable wormhole.
Again problems arouse. The wormhole could not be disengaged, neither could it be moved or the Jump Gate removed without destroying both the Gate and the wormhole.
As such the Earth Pandora Jump Gate remains a permanent fixture and links Sol to Alpha Centauri. Later it was seen as a good idea to keep them open, as they allow faster trafic and permanent comminication between systems.
Known Quirks:
'Only so many': Depending on the size of the Star and the size of its largest planets only a number of Jump Gates can be places in a given system. The current max number is Sol with four Jump Gates at the L4 and L5 point of Jupiter and Saturn.
'Those Gates are not cheap, ya know?': Hard to impossible to close a wormhole again. Doing so would destroy both the wormhole and the gate on both sides.