We'll start with one from last night:

Quote:The Ouulstralian comes from the legendary land of Ouulstralia where pizza grows on trees and beer flows in rivers and villains are self-defeating.
Portal Corps scientists believe that Ouulstralia is the Praetorian Australia. During the Hamidon Wars, Ouulstralia was ravaged by the Hamidon, but thankfully Emperor Cole was there to fix everything. At least, that's how the official propaganda goes.
The Ouulstralian claims to be the envoy of the rightful Empress of Ouulstralia, Olivia Newton John and seeks to enlist the heroes of Paragon city to help end Praetorian Domination over the land of Ouulstralia.

All the Halloween costume changing got me to thinking about my rationale for Pete's ability to morph/shapeshift, and I thought I'd set it down and make it official. His Virtueverse page has been updated with the following material. Any thoughts?

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Shapeshifter

Cyberman 8 once depended on the regular "costume teleport" system in Paragon City to change armor sets or provide clothing for the humanized form that he could shift to. He has since expanded his ability to morph to a new level. While the core mechanical elements of his android frame remain largely the same, his outer "shell" has been altered and infused with nanites that can shift his form in a matter of seconds. All of his previous armor sets have been integrated into this system as well as his human guise. Clothing is also formed from this layer. His internal endo-skeleton and frame elements can also expand or contract. Mostly this is accomplished through standard mechanical systems. But more extreme changes can be assisted by the nanites. Once changed though, the system cannot affect another full shift for at least 30 seconds while the heat generated by the process is vented and distributed through his internal cooling system. He can change into several pre-set forms depending on need or whim. And has a library of additional presets that he can access from the Legendary computer systems. He cannot change his pre-sets in the field. But with some setup and research, he can morph into a likeness of any anthropomorphic form, up to and including mimicking a female guise! Needless to say, with these upgrades, Cyberman 8 can infiltrate and perform undercover work to an unprecedented degree. He uses this ability sparingly, as he is aware of the paranoia that shapeshifters cause in people and governments.

The above is meant to give a Role-playing rationale for the ability to have 5 costume slots as well as saving costume designs in the character editor of the game. Obviously it wouldn't actually fool any actual players in-game (as his name is above his head!), and enemy groups in the game aren't fooled either. But I wanted a handle on the concept so that I could include it in any stories that I or any other member of the Legendary group might write. 

For the curious - the overall concept, though I've never actually watched the movie, is similar to the female advanced Terminator from Terminator 3. (internal frame and core elements that are mostly static, enclosed in an outer layer that can morph as needed) though the major difference is that on C8 it's not "liquid metal". In fact it doesn't act anything like a liquid at all. For example, when morphing from his standard, android mode to his human guise, his "helmet" starts splitting apart into smaller and smaller segments until it becomes his "hair" (with texture to match). A similar process separates layers of the outer shell to form clothing. Visually the way that Cyberman 8 morphs into other forms has more in common with the complex transformations of the two live-action Transformers movies. 

Why does he use armor sets or plating on some forms at all? Well there are some times when having a more simple construction is more advantageous than a complex one. Simpler components and linkages can sometimes take more punishment. Armor plates can deflect blows as well as distribute force. Being sub-divided into fewer discrete segments gives the overall structure more strength. (plus it just looks really cool. ^_^)

http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/25511115/detail.html

Quote:LAS VEGAS -- Some voters in Boulder City
complained on Monday that their ballot had been cast before they went to
the polls, raising questions about Clark County's electronic voting
machines.
Voter Joyce Ferrara said when they went to vote for
Republican Sharron Angle, her Democratic opponent, Sen. Harry Reid's
name was already checked.
Ferrara said she wasn't alone in her
voting experience. She said her husband and several others voting at the
same time all had the same thing happen.
"Something's not right,"
Ferrara said. "One person that's a fluke. Two, that's strange. But
several within a five minute period of time -- that's wrong."

Film shot in 1928 at the premiere of a Charlie Chaplin movie seems to show a passerby talking on a cellphone. The fellow who found this detail thinks it's a time traveler.
(What's pareidolia?  It's the tendency for human beings to see patterns and images in random data -- like the "Face on Mars" or the reports of Jesus on toast or in bathroom mold stains.)
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Apparently so. As of 2011, Champions Online is going to a free play model, where you only pay for the 'extra goodies'.
http://www.champions-onli...gn=10262010_Free2Play_NS
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

Ok. I've tried to explain my love for this show before. But I don't think I ever -quite- put it across well enough.
THIS guy is MUCH better at setting up the context of what was going on at the time and why Star Blazers was such a watershed moment in TV animation history. Please watch it!

-Logan
--------------------
"Love is the first casualty of war... It does not
allow us to be our better selves."
-Desslok of Gamilon
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So it's that time of year again (no, not the one with the presetns, the one with the candy)
so time to show off what ya made for All Hallows Eve.


starting of with DS's Devil costume.
got to love them boots

It's a clever political ad from Moveon.org, which is why I'm putting it here.  Even if you don't care for the message, you may be amused by the "story".  Apparently works best if you have a Facebook account it can tap for your name and picture, but if you don't have one -- or like me you didn't want to give it access -- you can enter a name by hand.  Short real names are best, but it can cope reasonably well with long and/or bogus ones (like "Weltzschmertz von Wombleflump", which is what I used).

Watch it here.

-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Alright, I know this argument is old, but there's something new that I've noticed recently that supports my side of the argument that it's Open Office that screwing things up.
Whenever I open a document last saved under a Microsoft product it parses just fine under Open Office.
However, I make a slight change - a space here, a corrected spelling there, it doesn't matter, then save the document under Open Office, then exit the program.
Next, open the document, in Open Office and find that font sizes, indentations, and even font encodings themselves where italics or bold text is used are all kinds of messed up.  Same if opened under a Microsoft product.  This is easily repeatable and happens whenever I save under RTF file format.  Haven't tested Microsoft Office DOC format yet, but Open Office ODT seems to work just fine (of course it should), but then not everyone uses DOC and/or ODT, hence my preference for RTF which should parse the same no matter what you're using.
If anyone is interested in taking a closer look, then I can provide you with raw TXT files from saves of RTF files made in Microsoft Write and Open Office Writer.  Just post your email here and I'll fire it off to you.
EDIT:  A little research goes a long way to answering questions.
Turns out that this has been a long-standing issue for the folks at OOo, but it could be said that Microsoft is to blame as well for keeping RTF a proprietary format (!!) and forcing others to reverse engineer the damn thing whenever they come out with a new version of the file format.  Primarily they're having issues with in-line images inserted into RTF files, but apparently the issue also extends to general formating as well.
It's actually kind of a touchy subject judging from the commentary.  There are some that are demanding that the issue be given a much higher priority as it would make OOo much more promotable at all levels, but there are others that think it is simply too much trouble to be bothered with as it would suck up too many resources to figure out the issue.  Personally, I'm shifting more of my blame Microsoft for not making the format an open one in the first place - how can it be a universal format when you keep it to yourself?
That said, anyone know of any official channels that can be used to effectively ring MS's clue bell?  Because I can't see any reason why RTF should remain a closed format.

These are some pics of Jet Jaguar that I've made using both City of Heroes and Champions Online character creators. Neither one is perfect for portraying Jet, and at some point soon I'd like to take this as a new project in my own artstyle into a drawing of her on my own, melding the best elements together.
Okay - just to explain some things in general.
Champions Online, while generally superior to City of Heroes in portraying mecha and Powersuit characters, has a curious "hole" in it's repertoire, that of a classic Knight Sabre's style Hard Suit, particularly the helmet! That's why most of these pics are of Jet without her helmet, because the only one I could do... well... It's just NOT a Knight Sabers helm. At. All.
It's also tough to really get that "skintight" look with the various mecha bits without it looking either too layered and built up, or too skintight with nothing that looks like powered armor. Especially for females.
Also - while Champions does do backpacks, and CoH does not, only one of the CO mecha backpacks has wings, and it's kinda angular and chunky looking. I used it anyway, because it was the closest I could get.
You'll also notice that some of the pics done with CO have slightly different armor bits. I was still futzing around with the design elements. Particularly those god-awful big chunky boots in the earlier pics. Just think of them as alternate concepts. The "final" version is the one that I show in flight here (with the boot jets going).
I was rather pleased with the face though. With one slight caveat. CO does have the option of putting round metal coverings over the ears. And I did use them. But the hairstyle I chose covered them up!
More notes down below when I get to the City of Heroes version.







Ok, Jet is much easier to get "right" in my minds eye in City of Heroes in a lot of ways, and absolutely impossible in some key points.
Overall I like the lines of the suit and helmet MUCH better on the CoH version. In fact, she'd fit right in with the "Saber" group that many of us play in the game. (Yes, we've definitely had practice building Sabers in CoH. ^_^)
But the two main things that just can't be done right. One is the jetboots. You actually can have Jet Boots in City of Heroes. It's a craft-able costume piece. But the jets don't come out of the soles of the feet like Jet's do, (or a proper Iron Man for that matter) instead they come off the sides of the calf, which... bleargh... Let's just say I don't do much with jetboot style characters in CoH. It's a purely cosmetic thing anyway. And CoH has some nice things for traditional "no visible supported flight" style characters.
So I did make a version of Jet's suit with the CoH style jetboots just for completeness sake, but I much prefer the boots that I have her wearing in the standing pics.
The backpack is another matter.  There are none in CoH. Correction - there's ONE. And it's only a temp power that you can only have "on" for 30 seconds. Plus it doesn't really fit the idea. No wings. *Shrug* I activated it and put it in to a few pics just for completeness sake.
I am, if anything, even more pleased with her face and hair in this version, AND I could show the ear coverings too! ^_^




Oh - here's something I just tossed in. There's a "HUD" aura you can give your character in CoH. I don't think Jet has anything like this. But I thought I'd throw it in anyway.



I WAS kind of pleased with the last pic here. This was kind of by accident, but you could say it's Jet doing a high-G manuever.


Well, what do you think? Any commentary/criticism?