Personally, I'd call it a crisis of manufacture by the Republican party in an effort to discredit Obama.  How quickly we forget the eight years that Bush Jr. was President and the mess he made out of the economy during that time.
So, let's see if I got this right.  Congress stops a routine increase of the debt ceiling, saying that some changes have to be made before that happens.  Right, that's a good thing.  We like changes for the better in our economy.  But the problem seems to be that the Republicans are not in support of getting rid of tax credits for the wealthiest of Americans and corporations.  Instead, they want to cut spending on everything until it fits their wildest dreams.  Not to say that Obama won't propose historically drastic cuts himself, but Boehner wants to take it even further only without upping the ante on the upper class.
So, do I have that right?
BTW: I would LOVE to know how the hell getting rid of tax credits for the wealthy hurts small business.  Last I heard, a lot of small business loans are government subsidized, and Obama does not want to touch that.

In the time I've been offline, I had a bit of a 3d modeling kick. Kinda sorta. All of the following are in the neighborhood of 1200-1500 polygons plus weapons and (for the Skate) super-armor. The Raven's missiles add a ridiculous number of polys because of just how many missiles are in them; for actual use in a game they'd be a single big poly with a partially transparent texture, but these are all basic geometry with colors and in some cases a metallic effect created by messing with the specularity; there are no image maps to be found. So don't go looking for photorealism here, in fact they're kind of sparse by modern gaming standards even if textures were added. However, they are all 100% toy-able, though actually making a toy would require actually making the joints in full detail. So, let's get to the links:

First up, the AG-158 Skate. This is a very Macross-y design, and has been equppied with a Macross-y fold booster in the fighter-form heavy armor version. The armor is called HA-5 Harlequin, but but the hanger crew nickname it "Beamhell" because it mounts a gravatic lensing system and multiple laser emitters (six more like the one mounted in the wrist per arm, plus a heavy on each wing/hip) which allow it to do the "itano circus" with energy weapons instead of missile contrails. It's main role its anti-missile defense close air patrol, hence why it's not fully transformable without ejecting the fold booster - it can use them, but it's not within the primary mission envelope. The same multiple-beam targeting system can be used with the half-dozen spiritia sapping beams mounted inside the "air scoop" on the more humanish form of the (transformable) head, for riot control - energy drained rowdies quickly stop rioting, with no long term damage, even if the energy is useless for non-protodeviln. This is my justification for the two-form transforming head, though OOC it's becasue I don't want to hear any bitching about turret-style versus cone-head style. Don't like the cone-heads? You got a camera turret. Don't like inhuman turret? You got a face and optic band, and the cone-ish-ness is even reduced by the way the face sticks out of it and leaves a "scoop" behind.

















Next, the AG-159 Raven. You know how Gurren Lagann had those flying wing Ganmen, obviously inspired by the real B-2 Spirit? And Macross 7 had one too? Mine's better. Imageshack doesn't preserve filenames very well, but I have most of these named in order to correspond to The Prayer of the Modern Infantry, and will split up the thumbnails accordingly.


Oh great Spirit in the sky


Bestow upon this humble ground-pounder


The blessing of your almighty air strike


Our souls illuminate the target


For your laser-guided affection


For your love is an awesome power


And nothing says "love" like close air support


Amen


Standing beside a Skate - now you see why those extra-long arms are in fact intentional?I'm rather proud of how I got them to fold out flat like that, actually. I thought it would look really lame, but it's pretty good.


Parked - yes, the landing gear actually physically works and fits into the parts it extends from, though the "gear bays" are just a flat-black square added just over the surface of the model and a door. The doors work, too.

Okay! Next, the pure-robot-only-looks-like-it-has-a-cockpit designs, which despite that minor failing I really like a lot - and since they're explicitly intended for the Ninja Robot Space Fighter setting where only the technophobe THIS members use physical cockpits instead of energy-state merge-with-mecha system, they are in fact still originally designed as piloted craft. Now, depending on the player's option settings, one main character (that is, one that has plot attatched instead of falling under the "you can recruit ANYONE in the game if you fget their Reaction score high enough" rule) may be male or female, so I needed two designs. I'm doing the male one first, because it's simpler to explain. This is called the Rowdy Bravo, and is quite obviously based on the classic hot rod style, complete with robo-pompadour and sideburns. (And the main feature of the Bravo is its engines, which feature afterburners so leave a trail of fire and bosster-smoke behind those side-mounted engine pods...) A "Rowdy Alpha" must also exist, though I haven't created a visual design or place for it, and "Rowdy Charlie" is a police version, with a different heead, shorter engine pods, and a different "front wheel" rudder design. Lightbars on the Rowdy Charlie occupy the top hardpoints, obviously enough.













Now, for the female version, called as a model the Kyrie. First, your boss's version, the Angel of Naughty Catgirls, which is seen as a street rod if you have the male boss. (and vice versa - a dialogue if the character is in the active party when you see it the first time has a "heh, you know, I always wanted to do that, but kind of got into this business instead" flavor, but not nailed down enoguh to have been added to my Game Scripts files)












While not so explicit as the Rowdy Bravo, the hot rodding roots can be seen in the exposed and presumably modified engines. The base, civilian version is the Angel of Mercy, just seen in a couple of group shots since it's not all that striking. The first of these showcases in particular the different engine configurations between versions, which are the main variation aside from the number of robo-ahoge and cat-ears attatched to the head.






More prominent in these is the Angel of Accelleration, a sports type modified for mecha-triathlon (air-racing in the open, a robot-form obstacle course, and shooting targets in a simpler but still partly obstructed area) which also has a couple of classic "superhero flying" solo shots. Given the City of Heroes player presence in these boards, I thought I'd give 'em a try.




And then... there's Fury Angel. Did I mention superheroes? Yeah. She's a Scanner who dropped her human name post-transfer, and goes all vigilante because her loved ones got killed in a THIS operation. Pretty much a secret character in the game as planned, unless you go out of your way to look for her a chapter early the only time you'll see her is running in ahead of the party to get blown away and demonstrate the badass cred of one of the THIS bosses.

And yes, those are pink eyebrows. Why do you ask?



Cheers!

- CD

ETA: And that should have been on OPF, dammit, not General. Oh well, it's not really fanfiction either I suppose.

ETA2: I also wanted to mention, your boss (male or female) and Fury Angel are the only characters aside from Player McPickaname that you can keep through the whole 5000-year timeline
--
"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

http://www.collectedcurios.com/sequentialart.php?s=541]This issue of Sequential Art, to be exact. I so, so, SO want this lawnmower. o/~ Never gonna rake da lawn again! Never gonna rake da law-haw-hawn a-gain! o/~

- CD and that's MY quota of random noise for the month used up...
--
"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

Okay, most of you probably know already that I use Seamonkey, Mozilla's answer to the old Netscape suite, which rolled email, browser, web dev tools and a few other things all together into one package.  For some months now I've been using version 2.0.14 on both my desktop and Peggy's laptop (which runs Win XP), but last week at the beach house, while using the laptop, I got a notice that 2.2 had come out.  Not having had any problems with Seamonkey upgrades in the past, I okayed installing the new version and went on without a hitch after it was done.

So last night, I got the same notice after working the desktop machine for a while.  And because I'd had no problems with the laptop, I okayed it...  and when it was done, the trouble started.  I could not open any secondary windows beyond the first browser window.  Regardless of what it was -- new browser window, mail reader, preferences dialog, download progress dialog -- it all vanished as soon as it appeared on the screen, as if someone were clicking the "close" button as fast as the window could appear.  I could open new tabs without a problem, but I was forced to remain in a single window.

Long story short, I tried installing the 2.1 release (mostly by accident, because I hadn't noted what version I'd originally been using). That had the exact same problem. Eventually I had to use a system restore point to return the machine to where it had been on Saturday night, using 2.0.14.  So I'm back to proper function, but I'd really like to be using the latest version, if only for the security issues that the Seamonkey Project notes it fixes.  Does anyone know just what the hell it is I ran into, and how to get around it?  I'm running on Win7 Ultimate, but it's been updated and servicepacked and everything so it's the latest thing.  Any more detail on my system will have to wait until I get home and can dump specifics.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

The Darths & Droids webcomic has hit another milestone and celebrated by creating a fake Pirates of the Caribbean webcomic titled Barnacles & Bilgewater: 
www.darthsanddroids.net/barnacles/0050.html
----------------------------------------------------

"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV

I speak of Improbable Island, a browser-based game like Kingdom of Loathing (though almost entirely prose-based). It's based on Legend of the Green Dragon, if that means anything to any of you. It has a deeply mysterious but obviously painstakingly-developed backstory and outer setting, numerous references (one creature is a Midget Plumber who rants at you about a frequently-abducted princess who baked him a cake!), internal running jokes (lions are sneaky bastards), and nonsequitur hilarity ("You have encountered Haiku Time which lunges at you with five and seven syllables!")
Part of the backstory and much of the game's plot revolve around a device called the Improbability Drive, which permits things and events which are normally outright impossible to exist and occur (as well as screwing with probability in a more mundane fashion). Capital 'I' Improbability is kinda like Handwavium, with three important differences: one, it can't exist outside the Drive's sphere of influence; two, it's more like radiation than a substance; and three (which makes two very important), it lacks the Genre Directive. Improbability can and will create weapons, debilitating biomods, and other assorted nastinesses. The only reason the game isn't a dystopia is that Improbability can help as easily as hinder, can heal as much as harm.
Follow this link if you want to sign up with me as your referrer (I don't think having a referrer grants the newbie any advantages, but I get one free supporter point (which normally cost $1 USD per hundred and can be used to purchase one-shot items and non-stat-altering customization frobs) every time somebody I refer gets a New Day). Follow this link if you want to check the game out, but don't want me to get anything out of it.
EDIT: Oh! Send me a Distraction (in-game mail) and I'll give you a couple hundred Requisition to start out, and teach you Timed Combat, which is a useful (though often annoying) tool to have.

A-ma-zing brains
How sweet the taste
The en-ter-tain-ing screams
I once sur-vived
lived through the plague
but died, be-came
Zombie

(groaning chorus starts up)

A-a-ma-zing braaaaaaains
(etc.)

My uncle had some folksinger's version on his CD player whle changing the "annoy-you filter" on the Blue Pig (some flavor of SUV) earlier - but this CD doesn't play that way.

Of course, I'm pissed off the the Transformers: Prime show now that I know about it for including zombies, so I suppose it's hard to say I p[lay that way either, but at least it's suitably mocking of the hands-around-the-campfire style I was subjected to for the duration while assisting. But, if it provides a bit of amuzement value, I'll consider my time to have been of some profit rahter than a mere break-even (since the filter did get changed.)

- CD
--
"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

Real Life has blown up in my face, leaving me without the time or broadband connection to game.
Of course, I hope this disruption will be as short as possible, but when dealing with RL one also has to allow for factors that are outside of your control.
On the plus side, the probability that when I do return it will be on a computer that can handle the newer powersets and the like without lagging to heck and back has greatly increased.
I'll still be checking in here from time to time though...
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

I remember coming across a link to a pair of short Half Life fics, one of them written as a follow up to the other.

The first one had Freeman coming across a dying marine and going "Are you religious? Tell your god about me." And then ended with a line about "Sometimes, atheists just need someone to threaten."

The second one featured a rather bemused Freeman being welcomed into Valhalla and meeting that self-same marine there, who then said "I told my god about you. He liked what he saw."

Can anyone point me towards those?

Fun with the emotes: