I had a short email exchange with Mal today, and one of the things we discussed was the leaders of the various factions... and how so many of them reflect the makeup of North American SF fandom (read: predominately white and male). I'm thinking it's time to identify some of the faction leaders who aren't male and white.

Obviously, Queen Serenity I of the Senshi is a female. And since I'm the person who volunteered to write her character page, I get to decide what else she is or isn't... so http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?titl ... nity_I.png]here she is. (Better image to follow once I'm rested and can fix the problems that don't show up in that small image.)

I also suggested to Mal that maybe the Dandelions' current leader (read: the guy who gets stuck with the paperwork while everyone else writes new music) is a Cuban-descended street musician from Miami... or Havana. (But I like Cuban jazz, so that may be colouring my perceptions here.) And Mal suggested http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Bjo_Trimble]a particular BNF as the first leader of the Trekkies.

So, given that it's highly unlikely (while still remotely possible) that the Warsies, Wizards or Browncoats would pick a non-white leader just because of their source fandoms, and the already-identified faction leaders are already identified (mostly as being white males), who are the as-yet-unidentified faction leaders (other than Serenity I, who I'm still intending to do the writeup for)? Submissions are welcome...
--
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

...the new Wonder Woman.  Doesn't look bad, either.  Reminds me of some the recent costume changes I've noticed while still evoking the classic outfit.  (Well, the post-WWII outfit, after they lost the skirt.)
(Edit:  fixed link.  Strange, the link markup didn't like the URL for some reason, although the linking toolbutton had no problem with it.)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

We tried doing this a while back, but only Mal and I ever http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?titl ... ed_Stories]posted our lists...

What are folks' top five Fenspace stories - the ones they'd recommend to somebody who's expressed an interest in the setting?
--
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

Soundmeter reads 92,7 dbA
Should be safe enough. You need to be exposed to 85dbA for 8 hours a day to be concerned. I really doubt the purr-ball could keep purring at 90 dbA or higher for at least 4 hours per day to reach an exposure of 85dbA. I recommend earplugs just to be on the safe side.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

Most people in this forum remember I'm not good at making builds. I'm especially not good at criticizing others builds. Such as my wife's. Some of you on-channel know her as Pandora, and this is what she came up with for her Emp/Dark Defender. She has a stated interest in 1) Healing power; 2) Accuracy; 3) Dark Debuffs.

Hero Plan by Mids' Hero Designer 1.92
http://www.cohplanner.com/

Click this DataLink to open the build!

Luna Sephira: Level 50 Science Defender
Primary Power Set: Empathy
Secondary Power Set: Dark Blast
Power Pool: Flight
Power Pool: Teleportation
Ancillary Pool: Dark Mastery

Hero Profile:
Level 1: Healing Aura

• (A) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (3) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance
  
• (5) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Recharge
  
• (11) Numina's Convalescence - Heal
  
• (11) Numina's Convalescence - +Regeneration/+Recovery
  
• (15) Numina's Convalescence - Endurance/Recharge
  

• (A) Siphon Insight - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (7) Siphon Insight - Accuracy/ToHit Debuff
  
• (9) Siphon Insight - ToHit Debuff/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (17) Siphon Insight - ToHit Debuff
  
• (19) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/ToHitDebuff
  
• (19) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
  

• (A) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance
  
• (3) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Recharge
  
• (5) Doctored Wounds - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (9) Doctored Wounds - Heal
  
• (13) Doctored Wounds - Recharge
  
• (13) Doctored Wounds - Endurance/Recharge
  

• (A) Calibrated Accuracy - Accuracy/Interrupt
  
• (7) Calibrated Accuracy - Accuracy/Range
  
• (15) Calibrated Accuracy - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  
• (27) Calibrated Accuracy - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (33) Executioner's Contract - Damage/Interrupt
  
• (33) Executioner's Contract - Accuracy/Damage
  

• (A) Recharge Reduction IO
  
• (17) Range IO
  
• (21) Endurance Reduction IO
  

• (A) Siphon Insight - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (27) Siphon Insight - Accuracy/ToHit Debuff
  
• (29) Siphon Insight - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (29) Siphon Insight - ToHit Debuff/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (31) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/ToHitDebuff
  
• (42) Cloud Senses - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
  

• (A) Range IO
  

• (A) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (40) Adjusted Targeting - To Hit Buff/Endurance
  

• (A) Stupefy - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge
  
• (31) Stupefy - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (31) Stupefy - Stun/Range
  
• (33) Stupefy - Accuracy/Endurance
  
• (34) Rope A Dope - Accuracy/Stun/Recharge
  
• (34) Rope A Dope - Accuracy/Recharge
  

• (A) Trap of the Hunter - Accuracy/Immobilize/Recharge
  
• (21) Trap of the Hunter - Chance of Damage(Lethal)
  
• (23) Trap of the Hunter - Immobilize/Accuracy
  
• (23) Trap of the Hunter - Accuracy/Endurance
  
• (25) Debiliative Action - Immobilize/Range
  
• (25) Debiliative Action - Disorient Bonus
  

• (A) Energy Manipulator - EndMod
  
• (37) Energy Manipulator - EndMod/Recharge
  
• (39) Energy Manipulator - Chance to Stun
  
• (42) Adrenal Adjustment - EndMod
  
• (42) Adrenal Adjustment - EndMod/Recharge
  
• (43) Adrenal Adjustment - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge
  

• (A) Air Burst - Accuracy/Damage
  
• (34) Air Burst - Damage/Endurance
  
• (45) Air Burst - Damage/Recharge
  
• (46) Air Burst - Damage/Range
  

• (A) Empty
  

• (A) Empty
  

• (A) Numina's Convalescence - Heal/Endurance
  
• (36) Numina's Convalescence - Heal
  
• (39) Miracle - Heal/Endurance
  
• (40) Miracle - Heal/Recharge
  
• (43) Miracle - Heal/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (43) Miracle - +Recovery
  

• (A) Kinetic Crash - Damage/Knockback
  
• (37) Kinetic Crash - Accuracy/Knockback
  
• (37) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Knockback
  
• (45) Kinetic Crash - Recharge/Endurance
  
• (45) Kinetic Crash - Damage/Endurance/Knockback
  
• (48) Kinetic Crash - Accuracy/Damage/Knockback
  

• (A) Empty
  

• (A) Efficacy Adaptor - EndMod/Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (36) Efficacy Adaptor - Accuracy/Recharge
  

• (A) Touch of the Nictus - Heal/HitPoints/Regeneration/Recharge
  
• (36) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Heal/HitPoints/Regeneration
  
• (46) Touch of the Nictus - Chance for Negative Energy Damage
  
• (46) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Healing
  
• (48) Touch of the Nictus - Accuracy/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (50) Touch of the Nictus - Healing
  

• (A) Obliteration - Damage
  
• (39) Obliteration - Accuracy/Recharge
  
• (40) Obliteration - Damage/Recharge
  
• (48) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Recharge
  
• (50) Obliteration - Accuracy/Damage/Endurance/Recharge
  
• (50) Obliteration - Chance for Smashing Damage
  

• (A) Empty
  

• (A) Empty
  

• (A) Empty
  

• (A) Empty
  

• (A) Empty
  

• (A) Empty
  

• (A) Empty
  

• (A) Empty
  

• (A) Empty
  

• (A) Empty
  

• (A) Empty
  

So, with open beta upon us, the Incarnate Trials hitting live are just around the metaphorical corner. Ergo, I've taken this chance to read up on the beta strategy threads to give people a heads up on what they're getting into. The Incarnate Trials take a bit more coordination than usual, but this is not to say they're extremely hard. As said, this is based off my understanding of the beta, so some of this information may be slightly inaccurate. But I like to think my reading comprehension is good.

So, first up, basic rules:

- Incarnate XP: XP earned during Trials that unlocks your Judgement, Interface, Lore, and Destiny slots. Basically drops like normal XP. Also available for a set threads + inf conversion, but unless you go into convulsions at the thought of teaming with random people, don't bother. It's an inf sink to combat inflation, not an equally effective way.

- Astral Merits: Earned for accomplishing various objectives (Kill Siege, Kill Nightstar, stop prisoner outbreak phase, etc.) within the Trial, breaks down into 4 Threads. Unlimited gain numbers, even if you don't complete the Trial, these still drop. These and Empyrean Merits are planned to be used to craft....something...post i20, per Word Of Dev.

- Empyrean Merits: The big boys. These convert into 20 Threads each, and you get one per Trial completion, once a day. So you can get 2 a day, currently, from BAF and Lambda. 8 Empyrean Merits also convert into a Rare component, or 30 for a V. Rare component

- Reward Table: At the end of each successful Trial, you get a random roll of the Components Table for the new 4 slots. You have a random chance of a Common, Uncommon, Rare, or even Very Rare component dropping. Remember the old end of TF recipe drops? Welcome back!
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

Just thought folks might be interested...

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/help/maintenance.html]CDJapan is donating 2% of their profit on items ordered between March 16 and March 31, 2011 to the Japanese Red Cross Society.

They have Studio Ghibli's newest movie, The Borrower Arrietty, available for preorder now - and both http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=VWDZ-8152]the DVD and http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=VWBS-1237]the Blu-Ray are listed as having English subtitles.

(They also have http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=BP-577]the Iron Man anime and the first disc of http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/detailview.html?KEY=ANZX-9121]Puella Magi Madoka Magica up for preorder, but those aren't listed as having subtitles...)
--
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

Professor Emiritus Hal Lewis Resigns from American Physical Society

Quote:The following is a letter
to the American Physical Society released to the public by Professor
Emiritus of physics Hal Lewis of the University of California at Santa
Barbara.

Sent: Friday, 08 October 2010 17:19 Hal Lewis

From: Hal Lewis, University of California, Santa Barbara

To: Curtis G. Callan, Jr., Princeton University, President of the American Physical Society

6 October 2010

Dear Curt:

When I first joined the American Physical Society sixty-seven years
ago it was much smaller, much gentler, and as yet uncorrupted by the
money flood (a threat against which Dwight Eisenhower warned a
half-century ago).

Indeed, the choice of physics as a profession was then a guarantor
of a life of poverty and abstinence—it was World War II that changed all
that. The prospect of worldly gain drove few physicists. As recently as
thirty-five years ago, when I chaired
the first APS study of a contentious social/scientific issue, The
Reactor Safety Study, though there were zealots aplenty on the outside
there was no hint of inordinate pressure on us as physicists. We were
therefore able to produce what I believe was and is an honest appraisal
of the situation at that time. We were further enabled by the presence
of an oversight committee consisting of Pief Panofsky, Vicki Weisskopf,
and Hans Bethe, all towering physicists beyond reproach. I was proud of
what we did in a charged atmosphere. In the end the oversight committee,
in its report to the APS President, noted the complete independence in
which we did the job, and predicted that the report would be attacked
from both sides. What greater tribute could there be?

How different it is now. The giants no longer walk the earth, and
the money flood has become the raison d’être of much physics research,
the vital sustenance of much more, and it provides the support for
untold numbers of professional jobs. For reasons that will soon become
clear my former pride at being an APS Fellow all these years has been
turned into shame, and I am forced, with no pleasure at all, to offer
you my resignation from the Society.

It is of course, the global warming scam, with the (literally)
trillions of dollars driving it, that has corrupted so many scientists,
and has carried APS before it like a rogue wave. It is the greatest and
most successful pseudoscientific fraud I have seen in my long life as a
physicist. Anyone who has the faintest doubt that this is so should
force himself to read the ClimateGate documents, which lay it bare.
(Montford’s book organizes the facts very well.) I don’t believe that
any real physicist, nay scientist, can read that stuff without
revulsion. I would almost make that revulsion a definition of the word
scientist.

So what has the APS, as an organization, done in the face of this
challenge? It has accepted the corruption as the norm, and gone along
with it. For example:

1. About a year ago a few of us sent an e-mail on the subject to a
fraction of the membership. APS ignored the issues, but the then
President immediately launched a hostile investigation of where we got
the e-mail addresses. In its better days, APS used to encourage
discussion of important issues, and indeed the Constitution cites that
as its principal purpose. No more. Everything that has been done in the
last year has been designed to silence debate

2. The appallingly tendentious APS statement on Climate Change was
apparently written in a hurry by a few people over lunch, and is
certainly not representative of the talents of APS members as I have
long known them. So a few of us petitioned the Council to reconsider it.
One of the outstanding marks of (in)distinction in the Statement was
the poison word incontrovertible, which describes few items in physics,
certainly not this one. In response APS appointed a secret committee
that never met, never troubled to speak to any skeptics, yet endorsed
the Statement in its entirety. (They did admit that the tone was a bit
strong, but amazingly kept the poison word incontrovertible to describe
the evidence, a position supported by no one.) In the end, the Council
kept the original statement, word for word, but approved a far longer
“explanatory” screed, admitting that there were uncertainties, but
brushing them aside to give blanket approval to the original. The
original Statement, which still stands as the APS position, also
contains what I consider pompous and asinine advice to all world
governments, as if the APS were master of the universe. It is not, and I
am embarrassed that our leaders seem to think it is. This is not fun
and games, these are serious matters involving vast fractions of our
national substance, and the reputation of the Society as a scientific
society is at stake.

3. In the interim the ClimateGate scandal broke into the news, and
the machinations of the principal alarmists were revealed to the world.
It was a fraud on a scale I have never seen, and I lack the words to
describe its enormity. Effect on the APS position: none. None at all.
This is not science; other forces are at work.

4. So a few of us tried to bring science into the act (that is,
after all, the alleged and historic purpose of APS), and collected the
necessary 200+ signatures to bring to the Council a proposal for a
Topical Group on Climate Science, thinking that open discussion of the
scientific issues, in the best tradition of physics, would be beneficial
to all, and also a contribution to the nation. I might note that it was
not easy to collect the signatures, since you denied us the use of the
APS membership list. We conformed in every way with the requirements of
the APS Constitution, and described in great detail what we had in
mind—simply to bring the subject into the open.

5. To our amazement, Constitution be damned, you declined to accept
our petition, but instead used your own control of the mailing list to
run a poll on the members’ interest in a TG on Climate and the
Environment. You did ask the members if they would sign a petition to
form a TG on your yet-to-be-defined subject, but provided no petition,
and got lots of affirmative responses. (If you had asked about sex you
would have gotten more expressions of interest.) There was of course no
such petition or proposal, and you have now dropped the Environment
part, so the whole matter is moot. (Any lawyer will tell you that you
cannot collect signatures on a vague petition, and then fill in whatever
you like.) The entire purpose of this exercise was to avoid your
constitutional responsibility to take our petition to the Council.

6. As of now you have formed still another secret and stacked
committee to organize your own TG, simply ignoring our lawful petition.

APS management has gamed the problem from the beginning, to suppress
serious conversation about the merits of the climate change claims. Do
you wonder that I have lost confidence in the organization?

I do feel the need to add one note, and this is conjecture, since it
is always risky to discuss other people’s motives. This scheming at APS
HQ is so bizarre that there cannot be a simple explanation for it. Some
have held that the physicists of today are not as smart as they used to
be, but I don’t think that is an issue. I think it is the money,
exactly what Eisenhower warned about a half-century ago. There are
indeed trillions of dollars involved, to say nothing of the fame and
glory (and frequent trips to exotic islands) that go with being a member
of the club. Your own Physics Department (of which you are chairman)
would lose millions a year if the global warming bubble burst. When Penn
State absolved Mike Mann of wrongdoing, and the University of East
Anglia did the same for Phil Jones, they cannot have been unaware of the
financial penalty for doing otherwise. As the old saying goes, you
don’t have to be a weatherman to know which way the wind is blowing.
Since I am no philosopher, I’m not going to explore at just which point
enlightened self-interest crosses the line into corruption, but a
careful reading of the ClimateGate releases makes it clear that this is
not an academic question.

I want no part of it, so please accept my resignation. APS no longer represents me, but I hope we are still friends.

Hal

Harold Lewis is Emeritus Professor of Physics,
University of California, Santa Barbara, former Chairman; Former member
Defense Science Board, chmn of Technology panel; Chairman DSB study on
Nuclear Winter; Former member Advisory Committee on Reactor Safeguards;
Former member, President’s Nuclear Safety Oversight Committee; Chairman
APS study on Nuclear Reactor Safety Chairman Risk Assessment Review
Group; Co-founder and former Chairman of JASON; Former member USAF
Scientific Advisory Board; Served in US Navy in WW II; books:
Technological Risk (about, surprise, technological risk) and Why Flip a
Coin (about decision making)

I think I forgot to mention this last month... Superiors 1 (one of the books that Bob edited) is now http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG30-3320]available on e23.

(http://e23.sjgames.com/item.html?id=SJG30-3303]So is Night Music, but I don't believe Bob had anything to do with that book...)
--
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

What a dolt, eh? But at least he finished it in a few minutes. As this guy says, “We’re going on four weeks now, or more, that Barack Obama has been reading My Pet Goat.”
What the hell are we paying this man for, anyway?
The rebels in Libya are about to be slaughtered, and looking to the U.S. as the one thing that might save them. What do they get? More empty words from "The One" that Qadaffy must go. And zero action. It will get a lot worse as Qadaffy crushes the last city offering resistance. But I guarantee you won't see much of it reported on. Obama will count on his media friends to not publicize too many
forty-bodies-in-a-ditch photos, assuming Qadaffy lets any get out in the
first place.
You don't get too many lucky breaks in foreign policy. A chance to drive out a terrorist who'd killed Americans with
only a light touch to spur things along in the form of some air support for the rebels at little to no risk to American soldiers would have been PERFECT for Obama. Talk about being handed the golden moment...
... and pissing it away.

Quote:As events moved at high speed on the battlefield, the U.S. and other
nations that have called for Col. Gadhafi's ouster continued to debate
how to make that happen.

Mohammed Abdallah, a rebel commander outside Ajdabiya, said foreign
inaction meant "the hands of the international community are covered in
blood. Now Gadhafi will keep on bombing and killing us without fear of
anyone stopping him.

Britain, with backing from the U.S., France and Lebanon, submitted a
resolution to the United Nations Security Council that, if approved,
would authorize the establishment of a no-fly zone in Libya, as well set
up protected humanitarian areas, and impose new sanctions on Libyan
officials.

The Council was scheduled to resume discussion of the draft at 11
a.m. Wednesday said French ambassador Gerard Araud, but he said he was
doubtful the measure could be voted on by Wednesday.

"We will have a debate, paragraph by paragraph, as in a traditional negotiation," he said.

Senior U.S. officials said the measures proposed in the U.N.
resolution may no longer be enough to push the resurgent Col. Gadhafi
from power.

The White House chafed, however, at suggestions that inaction by the
U.S. and its allies have allowed Col. Gadhafi to regain the momentum. "We have taken dramatic action, together with our international partners, to put pressure on Moammar Gadhafi and his regime," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.

Quote:

Quote: Dangerous levels of radiation leaking from a crippled nuclear plant
forced Japan to order 140,000 people to seal themselves indoors Tuesday
after an explosion and a fire dramatically escalated the crisis spawned
by a deadly tsunami.

In a nationally televised statement, Prime Minister Naoto Kan said
radiation had spread from the four stricken reactors of the Fukushima
Dai-ichi nuclear plant along Japan’s northeastern coast. The region was
shattered by Friday’s 9.0-magnitude earthquake and the ensuing tsunami
that is believed to have killed more than 10,000 people, plunged
millions into misery and pummeled the world’s third-largest economy.

Via Mike Allen’s newsletter, we see in the first line how the leader of
the free world will spend his day during this awful crisis:

Quote:
President Obama is taping his NCAA picks today, and they’ll be revealed tomorrow on ESPN.

Okay, that’s not all he’s doing. “Obama will tape interviews from the
Map Room with KOAT Albuquerque, KDKA Pittsburgh and WVEC Hampton Roads
on education reform and the need to fix No Child Left Behind.”

Quote:"If George
Bush reacted this way during an international catastrophe -- wholly
irrelevant radio addresses -- golf outings for the 61st time... the
left-wing media would require medically-induced sedation to keep them in
check."