It looks like copyright lawsuit troll Righthaven is going to have to explain within two weeks as to why it shouldn't be sanctioned by the court for it's lawsuits. They just lost their case against democratic underground big time. And it looks like their 200 odd lawsuits are going have issues.
News article:
http://www.vegasinc.com/news/2011/jun/1 ... -threaten/
Federal judgement:
http://media.lasvegassun.com/media/pdfs ... 142011.pdf
--Werehawk--
My mom's brief take on upcoming Guatemalan Elections "In last throes of preelection activities. Much loudspeaker vote pleading."

Audible is offering a free audiobook version of "Go The Fuck To Sleep" as read by Samuel L. Jackson.
I have no idea how long this offer lasts, but if you are an audible member, go grab it.
And if your not an audible member, this might be enough of an incentive to sign up.

Article and a short video here

Fair warning: it's a recurring subscription service. You get 1 credit (almost all of the books they offer are one credit, but some extremely long ones are 2) per month for $15. Your first month/credit is free.
If you have a long commute or any other mindless task that takes up hours of your day, it can be a sanity saver.
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

Man builds Iron Man Armor! Scares Workmates!
Some things are only possible in China.
Shader

There is an interesting thread over yonder on the offical forums: What does your bio say about you?
Rather interesting when you stop to think about it.
Here's a few bios that were sitting on my hard disk:
Red Fortunana:

Quote:((RP, Bio is WIP)) Of the Red Widow line. One of the Sisters Spider: The Sane One, The One That Sees.
When Susan discovered her heritage, she swore to avenge Red Widows death some how, some way. However, she spends most of her times with her head in the clouds. When she does bring herself out she's got a rather cutting tongue and wit, and known for uttering prophetic things that just seem to come true. Sometimes seen in company with her sisters, although that is becoming rare. Upon graduation, all records of her training has been removed from the archives on Lord Recluse's orders. She has since gone underground, and current whereabouts are unknown.
Report All Sightings to Arachnos.
Famous Lines: Look me in the eye and feel your mind become like putty. Your Doom is Foretold. I need only to wait for a moment.

Quote:The last one standing of her class of elite shock-troop executioners, then inducted into a group of Arbiters for additional training. Implanted with a ribosome/impervium armour weave under her skin, to increase hardiness. Underwent intensive training with both the Executioner's Mace and Arachnos Rifle, earning Ace with both. Personality manipulation resulted in removal of previous identity and desire to torment targets unless under orders to terminate them. Removed from Arbiter ranks on Lord Recluse' orders and records of her service were purged on his orders.
Last seen hunting with the Infamous.
To be consider a threat to all Arachnos troops. Report all sighting.

Quote: The hunt for power and immortality knows little bounds. Mankind will sink to great extremes and depths in their quest for it. That search is a tale of many endless false starts, hopes, and countless victims. The search still goes on with the promise of untold fame and riches to those that crack the secret. However, there is always a cost.
The body before you is the result of the that search. It is one of the many countless innocents swept up in the search and then discarded as failure.
Nigh perfect immortality, but with a catch: It is effectively frozen in a moment of time. It is completely sealed from the outside world in almost every regard. It needs not eat, for it has no mouth. It needs not see, for it has no eyes. It needs not breathe, for it has no lungs. It is but a shell of the mind of innocent female.
Only the Menders, with their ability to bend temporal constants can freely communicate with her. For everyone else, it is like talking to a tickle in the back of the mind or a whisper on the wind.

Quote: [rp]
What do you see? What do you see when you gaze upon me? Do you see the obvious or look beyond? What do you see?
An escaped Crey science experiment?
A body to warm your bed?
A misplaced hero trying to fit in?
A pet to be subdued and controlled?
An object that can be exploited and then discarded?
A villain to compete against and beat?
A freak that's been around too many Cat-girls?
A tool to be used in a game to further your own plans?
A person with feelings?
A shell hiding a diamond in the rough?
A mystery, an enigma, a riddle, a puzzle?
A weapon carved out of pain and dealing out suffering to others?
An instrument to be molded and wielded with skill?
A pawn to be placed on the field at the right moment?
A claw in the throat of your enemies and a knife in their back?
An Assassin, a Thief, a Killer, a Stalker?
What do you see?
What do you see of you in me?

Something just occured to me on another forum. I should use the term "Nails" whenever I am discussing a work of alternate universe fiction from now on. The term comes from the phrase "For Want Of A Nail" obviously.
Every "Nail" a story has is a point of divergence from established history. So if a story about, say, Ranma has Akane going on the training trip with him when he is young that is a "One Nail" story while if the same story had Akane going on the trip and Ranma was born a girl that would be a "Two Nail" story and so on and so forth. Events that follow from a previous Nail don't increase the Nail count (eg, if Akane convinces Genma to take Ukyou with them, that would still be a One Nail fic since Akane's presence is what led directly to the story change) though unexplained changes still would even if they could be explained with the previously established Nails (eg, if Ukyou comes along, just because with no explanation given its a Two Nail story).
I will also posit the opinion that the number of Nails is inversely proportional to the quality of the story. So while a One Nail story may be interesting, a Ten Nail story will just be a incomprehensible mess that might as well not even be a fanfic.
---------------
Epsilon

A slight rewrite of something else. Retconned Jet and Ford spending time in America in 2017-19... it became obvious it'd be out of character for Ford, and the trigger event on Jets side has been averted by the Highway Star story and Jet finding balance in her life and getting a hobby outside the Panzer Kunst.

So, January 2016, Ford Sierra tries on a new suit.

Quote:Ford looked down at her body, at her own reflection in the green armour. It was her first time wearing the finished hardsuit.

“Whoa that feels....” She stopped, her mind not really able to put words to the sensations. She held up her now armoured fingers, looking at her own reflection warped across the battlesteel. She clenched and released her hand... her natural hand, listening to the metal fingers clack-clacking against the steel palm.

“Weird?” Jet finished for her.

“Yeah” nodded Ford. “Hard to describe. It really doesn't feel like it's myself.... if that makes sense.”

Jet smiled softly, “It does,”

“I mean, I know it's me in here,,, but look at me,” she held up her arms, “It should be heavy, but it feels so light.”

So, all those hours spent adjusting the actuators came good.

“It's not binding, or going stiff?”

“Not that I can feel. Maybe if I try walk around,”

Carefully, she took one step forward. The solid-ankle boots matched the source material... the heels making enough room for some light thrusters, bought in from the Forge. A bulge along the back of the calf formed the intake of the engines, giving the lower legs an oddly bulky look, compared to Jet's own.

Ford took another step, looking down at her toes. “It's like wearing stilts,” she mumbled to herself. Carefully, one foot in front of the other, she moved forward.

Tak-tak-tak went her feet on the concrete floor.

“Just be careful,” Jet warned, her voice soft. “You really don't know your own strength.”

Sierra picked up the helmet, turning it over in her hands.

“It feels like.... power steering. All light.... there's no feel or anything. It's like the helmet's made of styrofoam or something.”

It was absolutely and utterly alien. She swung it. It wasn't even there. It really felt like hollow foam, if even that. Grip too tightly and it'd just crumble. What would this do to a human? She placed it carefully down onto the workbench.

“Is this... do you get the same thing?”

“Yeah,” Jet grinned. “That means everything's working fine.”

Moving around still had a strange ethereal quality to it. Everything felt so easy. Armour that weighed over a hundred kilos felt like air. It just wasn't there when she moved. It still pressed snuggly on her body... but it felt far more like an ideal skinsuit that a full set of body armour. Everything was fluid and natural.

Including effortlessly lifting a full axle assembly over her head. She tried some of her tools on for size. An old chrome-vanadium spanner bent like a cheap spoon. It was staggering. It was unsettling. It was marvellously intoxicating. It was safe. It was terrifying. It was a power that suggested anything was possible. She tried to pick up a mug. It shattered as her fingers closed on it much too tightly.

“Fuck,” she said. This was tricky. “Didn't even feel like I had it until it broke,”

Jet sniggered “Welcome to my world.”

Ford grimaced. “A world of cardboard. Everything feels like it's made of glass and eggshells. There's no feeling of how much pressure I'm putting on it. I can barely tell that I'm touching anything.” she paused. She tried another cup, slowly closing her hand around it. Her brow furrowed “This takes a lot of concentration,”

Jet laughed “... Yeah it does,”

Ford scowled at her. “I'd like to have seen how well you did,”

She gave a bashful blush. “There wasn't a doorknob or cup left in my old house after a week,”

Ford's laugh was almost like a bark. It filled the garage and rang off the walls. “Well I guess I'm doing a little better.”

The cup was dangling from her finger.

Jet planted her arms firmly on her hips, throwing herself into a comic pout. “You aren't in the post-wave panick, or having a big explosion of new radio senses and digital stuff going off in your brain at the same time.”

Ford didn't stop laughing. “Y'know you're cute when you do that?”

“I know, that's why I do it.” She spun on her toe, back to Ford, legs split apart planted hard on the ground. With a flick, her red hair arced over her shoulder as she turned her head back to Ford. Drop her right shoulder, cant her hips over ever so slightly shifting her weight to her left leg, snap both wings out and throw Ford the most luscious smirk she could manage. “And I'm dead sexy when I do this,”

She licked her finger, before pointing directly at Ford. Liquid reflections of overhead lights flowed across the polished curves of her armoured body, highlighting a figure Jet didn't often show off.

Ford smiled warmly “Yes, yes you are.”

“I've been taking lessons,” said Jet.

“I love it when you show this side of you,”

“And I love showing this side of me to you,” Jets voice was like velvet. “And only you,” She turned to face Ford with a mischievous gleam in her eye. “And now I can show you the fun side of the rotary polisher,”

A rotary polisher and some CosmoPolish was one of their best kept secrets. Vanity wasn't the only reason Jet's armour was regularly buffed to a thick lustrous shine.

Ford shifted her weight uncomfortably, “I'd rather not. Not with all the plumbing connections the skinsuit needs. It'd just be painful,”

The disappointment on Jet's face was obvious. “But there's just one other thing I've been wanting to do for a long time,”

“What?” Ford looked a little uneasy.

“This.”

Jet's sheer strength startled Ford... her first instinct was to push and fight back. She quenched that fast, feeling Jets arms lock tightly around her back...oddly distant through the armour be still reassuring firm. The battlesteel creaked as it took up the strain, but it held fast. It was when Jet gently pressed the warn skin of her cheek against her own that Sierra finally figured out what Jet was doing.

She was hugging her.

For the first time since they'd met, Jet was really able to hug her.

“I've been wanted to do this for years,” Jet whispered, her voice tickling Ford's ear.

Level with each other, cheek to cheek, the warmth of Jet's face soaking through. The smell of CosmoPolish and metal. The smell of perfume and engine oil.She felt herself relax and lean forward, stepping into the embrace. There was a scratch of metal on metal contact, a jarring shock, as their legs slid over each other. Standing waist to waist, chest to chest, still holding each other. They stood for a few heartbeats of eternity, before Jet gently turned her head, and kissed Ford on the cheek.

She was startled when Ford turned, and met her lips with her own. Soft, yielding. Jet could taste dinner on her lips, mixed with an electric tingle that sent shivers through her body. Her chest felt ready to explode out of the metal breastplate.

Ford was amazed to find how, mechanical, Jets breath was. Oddly dry, with a metallic edge broken by that strawberry chapstick Jet always used to keep her lips from freezing in vacuum.

It was peaceful. It was thrilling. It was their first proper kiss since they'd met. It came to an end far too soon.

There were tears in Jets eyes, trickling down her cheeks. “I've been wanting to do that for so long, but I was always afraid I'd hurt you,”

“It would've been worth the risk,” said Ford with a satisfied smile.

Faith of the Heart by Russell Watson
It's been a long road
Getting from there to here
It's been a long time
But my time is finally near
And I can feel the change in the wind right now
Nothings in my way
And they're not gonna hold me down no more
No there not gonna hold me down
Cause I've got faith of the heart
I'm going where my heart will take me
I've got faith to believe
I can do anything
I've got strength of the soul
And no one's gonna bend or break me
I can reach any star
I've got faith
I've got faith
Faith of the heart
It's been a long night
Trying to find my way
Been through the darkness
Now I finally have my day
I will see my dream come alive at last
I will touch the sky
And they're not gonna hold me down no more
No there not gonna change my mind
Cause I've got faith of the heart
I'm going where my heart will take me
I've got faith to believe
I can do anything
I've got strength of the soul
And no one's gonna bend or break me
I can reach any star
I've got faith
Faith of the heart
I've known a wind so cold and seen the darkest days
But now the winds I feel are only winds of change
I've been through the fire and I've been through the rain
But I'll be fine
Cause I've got faith of the heart
I'm going where my heart will take me
I've got faith to believe
I can do anything
I've got strength of the soul
And no one's gonna bend or break me
I can reach any star
I've got faith
Faith of the heart
Faith of the heart
I'm going where my heart will take me
I've got faith to believe
That no one's gonna bend or break me
I can reach any star
I've got faith
I've got faith
Faith of the heart
Its been a long road
---------------------------------------------------
A gatesong that Doug could use late in the series. Some of the lyrics will leave him hoping that it'll get him home, but it'll be more likely to send him to a spaceship in a sci-fi dimension (perhaps Firefly/Serenity?).
----------------------------------------------------

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

http://www.guardian.co.uk...-process-to-end-his-life




Terry Pratchett starts process to take his own life

The fantasy writer Terry Pratchett says he has received consent forms requesting assisted suicide but has not yet signed them

I don't know if Drake was actually the first to make the prediction, but a Hammer's Slammers novel was the first place I recall running across the prediction of tanks mounting some sort of active defense against RPGs and missiles.
It turns out the Israeli's have built such a system: The Trophy System (video uploaded in 2006). Which at first glance appears to be a combination of radar, and self-forging projectiles that can be popped out when needed.
I discovered the video after reading an article in The Atlantic about the US military getting ready to add a similar system to its vehicles (there's another similar video embedded on the article's page). From the article the Israeli's have actually already had the system stop at least one attack in a non-test situation.
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Will the transhumanist future have catgirls? Does Japan still exist? Well, there is your answer.

I must wonder, can a Vulcan, who is experiencing insomnia, put himself to sleep with the Vulcan nerve pinch? (Or for that matter, can Vulcan's even get sleep deprived?)
[img]http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/forumimportfiles/9c416467b643783ada2dbe441d53a7a081f84deb_r.bmp">
_____________
Veni, vidi, vici. [I came, I saw, I conquered
Quote from Julius Caesar