Well, the Dell Streak is live, I received my pre-sale code at about 1am this morning.
If anyone wants it (It allows a $40 Plantronics bluetooth headset for $1), let me know.
'cause I won't be buying it.
$299 for the damn thing, requiring a 2 year AT&T contract. The cheapest one can possibly get is $299, plus $54.99/month (400 minutes, 600mb of data), which comes to $1319.76, or $1618.76 including hardware. A more reasonable plan, with 2gb (still a paltry, miniscule amount of transfer), comes to $64.99/month (400 minutes, 2gb of data), or $1559.76, or $1858.76 including hardware.
None of these are options. I'd have the damn thing shipping right now if I could get a $9.99 100 or even 50 minute voice plan to go with that disgustingly small 2gb, or if I could up the data cost to $40 or even $50/month for unlimited transfer, but AT&T doesn't play that.

And the insult added to the injury. The $549 version, which does not require one to sign up for an unwanted and very limited AT&T contract..   is still locked to AT&T. That's right, the full retail price does not get you hardware, you are still required to go to a specific vendor for a generic service.
So I cannot at this time take out my wallet. Dell took a good thing and pooped on it with AT&T. Instead, I will be spending approximately $75 to order in a fresh screen protector, case, and charger for my Axim X51v, which while not being nearly as shiny as a Streak, at least does not require me to kowtow to the Death Star.
And again, if anyone wants my pre-sale code, drop me a reply or a line.
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

I just noticed that Darths & Droids recently posted another strip with an evenly-divisible-by-50 number. And that means a new alternate strip!

http://www.darthsanddroids.net/trenchcoats/0050.html]Direct link to Trenchcoats & Turncoats

This one obviously started with "You all meet in a bar"...

Edit: My bad - that didn't happen until strip #5, according to the strip's http://www.darthsanddroids.net/trenchcoats/archive.html]fake archive list.
--
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

I just came across this.
http://www.jbox.com/PRODUCT/SKYY002
I'm... not sure what to think.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber."  --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.

I've lurked for a while now, and done some (hopefully helpful) kibitzing and wikifying, but I've never posted anything of my own – until now!
From Disturbing Implications of Land Rising Into the Sky:

Quote:Mal muted the phone and looked over at Elena. "What is it?"
"We've got a launch indication coming up on our track."
Mal looked a bit puzzled. "So? Launching things into orbit is the new taste sensation sweeping the country."

Quote:My first ship, which I built and 'waved whilst listening to Steve Savitzky's "Bound for Hackers' Heaven" almost constantly, did exactly what I designed and the song asked it to do: (a) get me Up and to L3, and (b) become the core of a space habitat. This and a few earlier experiments having firmly entrenched the notion of directing handwavium with music into my mind, I then proceeded to do something *extremely stupid*.

Still drunk with the success of my launch, I started listening to "Icarus (Borne on Wings of Steel)" by Kansas on repeat ("Here I'll live and die/With my wings in the sky,/And I, I won't come down no more!"). At the same time, I started work on my next ship, and had no intent of directing its mod with "Icarus".

So, of course, there I was, doing the 'wave with nothing on the stereo and scraps of "Icarus" still running through my head, occasionally springing unbidden from my lips. By the time I started work on the cockpit, I'd been awake for far too many consecutive hours, and had stopped following my own Handwavium Safety Protocols some time earlier. The moment I finished up the cockpit, I fell asleep. The last thing I remember is the line "Without my wings, you know I'd surely die" running through my mind.

Given how careless I had been, it should be no surprise that I managed to mod not just my ship, but also myself.

• Reinventing the wheel for the 452nd time: Hackers' Heaven used a grid of lasers as an acceleration drive. (Or maybe not; I wanted my launch to be unremarkable, which a photon-remass drive is definitely not.)
• Where's the manual?: Can work with pretty much any computer technology (and a wide variety of tech in other categories) comfortably, so long as he has the manual or API docs or similar. Tends to become useless once deprived of it/them.

• An extension of the self: intimately knows the current state of his Wings of Steel. This includes state of repair, fluid and battery levels, and hatches and ports open and shut. If he closes his eyes and concentrates, he can call up images from any camera or sensor of his Wings capable of producing them.

• My Wings, not yours!: will consider unsolicited suggestions for upgrades or additions to his Wings of Steel, but dismisses them unless they are obviously insanely good or something non-fatally disastrous happens to drive the point home. Is outright hostile to any suggestion that someone else pilot his Wings of Steel.
• Without my Wings, you know I'd surely die: refuses to travel without his Wings of Steel. This usually means travelling in his Wings of Steel, since ships large enough to routinely carry or tow it are generally either extrasolar exploratory craft or roving residences. The distance he is willing to have between himself and his Wings is directly proportionate to his familiarity with the station or surrounding area.

Inspired by this, which was linked over in the General forum.
"Did anyone see where Usagi-imouto went?"
"I don't know.  She was acting really weird, though."
"Hey!  Where did you get these empty bottles from?"
"Your refridgerator.  Usagi's been drinking them.  Why?"
"... these are my Dad's Hard Lemonades."
You may now head-desk.

Edward Gorey teaches the alphabet.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Link here
What is wrong with people these days?!
''We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat
them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.''

-- James Nicoll

Okay, it's been about a year since Eric Hallstrom said he was going back to this project.  Has anyone heard or seen anything yet?
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

No, not ads on the wiki or anything like that, this is about advertising us.

Discussion came up on IRC about how Fenspace was received in places like SpaceBattles. I had to admit that, well... it isn't. I've got a link to the wiki in my sig on a couple different forums, but I don't actively promote. And to be honest, I don't have the highest of reps on SB.

So, I'm going to put the question to you. Should we actively promote Fenspace in hopes of drumming up some interest and new blood? And if so, who, where and how do we do it?
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

From techdirt;

http://www.techdirt.com/a...100809/17262010563.shtml

Note: I have no clue how reliable that site is does anyone want to confirm or post evidence to the contrary feel free.

This is the same problem that many for stronger border protection often miss, there are limited resources and as long as it's cheaper to come over the border illegally rather than legally the problem won't be fixed.

The same more or less applies to the draconian copyright enforcement being done currently.
E: "Did they... did they just endorse the combination of the JSDF and US Army by showing them as two lesbian lolicons moving in together and holding hands and talking about how 'intimate' they were?"
B: "Have you forgotten so soon? They're phasing out Don't Ask, Don't Tell."