http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-225
I think Ptichka might like it. 
Also might make for a nice stop-gap for those of us waiting for Gagarins.
And also... DAMN.  That sucker can haul a helluva lotta shit!
EDIT: I think I'd call something like that the Albatross rather than the Dream.  The thing even looks like an albatross!

Quote:Ed Morrissey writes:
Now that a judge has issued an incoherent ruling that the federal government has a 14th Amendment interest in the definition of marriage after more than 140 years of apparent disinterest, it may be time to reconsider government involvement in marriage entirely. Townhall’s David Harsanyi offers the argument that government involvement may do more harm than good to the institution, and results from a historical mistake in the first place. Time to get on with the divorce, Harsanyi insists:

Quote:In the 1500s, a pestering theologian instituted something called the Marriage Ordinance in Geneva, which made “state registration and church consecration” a dual requirement of matrimony.

We have yet to get over this mistake. But isn’t it about time we freed marriage from the state?

Imagine if government had no interest in the definition of marriage. Individuals could commit to each other, head to the local priest or rabbi or shaman — or no one at all — and enter into contractual agreements, call their blissful union whatever they felt it should be called and go about the business of their lives.

I certainly don’t believe that gay marriage will trigger societal instability or undermine traditional marriage — we already have that covered — but mostly I believe your private relationships are none of my business. And without any government role in the institution, it wouldn’t be the business of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, either.

Be sure to read it all. I’ve written about this repeatedly over the last several years, and while I don’t think that this is an easy path to adopt, it’s going to be the eventual solution. Not only does it take government out of people’s private lives, it also means an end to a divisive and essentially meaningless debate — and it protects houses of faith and ends a potential government interference in matters of religion.

Let’s first dispense with the idea that the government protects the sanctity of marriage. It doesn’t; if government ever did that, that ended with no-fault divorce. Marriage, as run by the government, is the only contract in this country that can be broken by one party alone with no adverse consequences. (Well, that and professional sports contracts, I guess.) Partnership agreements in the business context would disintegrate without at least the threat of government enforcement of its provisions. Marriage as run by government has been disintegrating for decades, as the divorce rate shows, and that has nothing to do with gay relationships.

We would do much better to require people to create partnership contracts in the civil context than get marriage licenses for issues like property sharing, access to family, and so on. If people want to live together and share their lives to that extent, it’s healthier and much less confusing later to have those issues expressly spelled out in an agreement up front, just like any prenuptial agreement today. If two people don’t want to go that far in formalizing their relationship, then they shouldn’t be considered married anyway — and shouldn’t get access to “palimony” and have debates over oral contracts, and so on. If you don’t get it in writing, it doesn’t exist, in the context of personal partnerships.

Then, if people want to get “married,” they can go to the institutions that actuallycare about marriage: churches, synagogues, mosques, temples, and so on. Marriage can be a private, faith-based recognition of a sacramental relationship that exists outside of the civil context entirely, and houses of faith can set their own requirements as to what it means and who can participate — just as they do now. Not only does that protect the sanctity of actual marriage much more than a government, but it also means that government has no way to poke the camel’s nose of intervention into the religious tent, as it were, to force houses of faith to conduct marriages that violate their tenets in the name of fairness. Divorcing marriage from the state and dissolving the partnership between government and religion benefits the latter more than the former.

Let government define and enforce contract law, not marriage. If we don’t follow that path, people will shortly become very unhappy about the eventual government definition.

A friend of mine has an Acer laptop with at windows 7 OS. She accidentally hit a link ( so she sez) which downloaded an anti virus program which is now propagating pop ups like a virus. I've tried opening up the restore function while in "safe mode" but it doesn't seem to work. Uing it normally is mission impossible. Short of using the "nuclear option" (re-format and reinstall the OS), any of you folks have any suggestions?
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

Author's Note: This is mostly just an exercise for me to write up various potential scenarios as they come to mind, and see how well I can actualize them. Future snippets are possible, and requests may be written if I find them suitably entertaining. After all, these aren't too much effort to write. So, without further ado...

***


[i]Riiiiing-ring! Ring-ring! Ring-ring!
Stupid noise....bad enough she had trouble getting to sleep with Fate out on assignment, but now some kid on a bike outside....

AWOOOOOOOGAH!
Nanoha sat up straight in bed with a startled "I'm awake!" as she looked at the phone by her bedside which had shifted from "friendly call" to "please pick me up right now". Yet again, she regretted letting Hayate blackmail her into accepting the thing as a housewarming gift. As she picked up, the slightly frantic face of Subaru looked back at her. "Nanoha-saaaaan! Heeeeeelllllllp~!"
"Subaru, what is it?" Nanoha asked, concerned. Her old pupil was hardly the type to panic under pressure, especially with her work in the disaster relief branch. If she was freaking out this badly, something awful had to have happen-
"It's Tsubasa! She won't stop crying and I've tried rocking her and singing to her and cuddling her and I can't do breast-feeding like Tea and I don't know what to do but you raised Vivio and hellllllllppppp!"
Nanoha looked at her for a moment as her brain slowly regrew the gears it had stripped off from her late night lesson planning session and insomnia to properly assess the situation, before she looked at the phone with a dour look and sighed. "Subaru, Teana made the contact list for you ahead of time exactly for this sort of thing."
"Yes, but, it's like 5 in the morning over where Gin-nee is at! I didn't want to wake...her....oh," Subaru said as her brain finally caught up with her mouth and she realized that Ginga wasn't that far ahead of them time wise. "....I thought you'd have more practical hands-on experience?"
"Good night, Subaru," Nanoha said, hanging up before making a flying faceplant into her pillow, grumbling about stupid sexy blondes with careers that give them sexy suits but keep them away far too much from bed warming duties....
***
Alright, Lutecia, you know what you have to do, the young summoner said, bringing both arms up in determination. "Right, let's do this. Don't back down. Just ask the question."
Lutecia had come a long way since the end of the JS Incident. Her mother's recuperation had helped that, allowing her to focus more on her own feelings rather than the single minded drive that had sustained her while working for the Doctor to restore her mother.
Which had led her to re-examine the feelings that had led her to leave the Doctor's employ...and the people that had inspired them. Which in turn had led her to this seemingly innocuous question to the two people that meant the most to her in the entire world.
"Um...Caro...Erio...I've been meaning to ask. Are you two...y'know..." she said, twiddling her fingers. "Together?"
"Together?" Caro said, ignoring Erio choking on his drink from where he'd just swallowed a gulp of tea down the wrong tube. "Well, I suppose, in a way. We've always been pretty close since we met, and it's kind of hard to imagine my life before I met Erio," she said, before Erio caught his breath and looked at Caro over Lutecia's crestfallen expression.
"I don't think that's what Lu meant, Caro," he said, coughing slightly. At the pink haired dragon summoner's confused look, he shrugged. "She meant are we dating."
Caro looked at him for a second. "Oh....oh!" she repeated, before looking back at Lutecia. "No, no, it's nothing like that at all. Erio's like my brother."
"Really?" Lutecia blinked.
"Yes," Caro smiled. "We were both adopted by Fate, and we kind of got used to each other during that whole mess back then, so we got really close, really quick."
Lutecia sighed somewhat in relief, before freezing as Erio spoke up again. "Why exactly did you ask, Lu?"
"Um....well. This is going to make my asking about a potential threesome awkward, isn't it?"
***
Fate reflected, as she listened to her lover go on and on, that Nanoha fretted over the strangest things for someone who'd gone head to head with the reincarnation of a physical god and not even blinked.
"Well, it's not that I'm ashamed or anything....I'm just kind of worried how they'll take it. I mean, this isn't as common on Earth," Nanoha said. "I don't want to come on too strong, but at the same time, I'm not going to just pretend we're really close friends and nothing more and....I'm babbling, aren't I?" she finished lamely.
"Yes," Fate said with a soft smile. "So perhaps we should just go in and talk to them?"
Nanoha blinked, looked at her, blinked again, and then laughed slightly to herself. "You probably have a point," she admitted, sliding her hand into Fate's and entering the restaraunt in front of them.
The place was fairly upscale, as Arisa had insisted on paying for the meal when she heard Nanoha and Fate were going to be back in town, and Nanoha's two oldest friends were easily discernable.
Suzuka had grown into a classic Japanese beauty, dark hair hanging past her shoulders from where it was held up by a single white hairband and falling over her white jacket worn over a dark blue blouse and matching skirt.
Arisa, by contrast, was wearing her hair in a short, barely neck length style compared to her old long hair from when they'd been in school together, a tan peasant blouse over a pair of black shorts providing her with a more tomboyish aspect than her friend.
The typical hugs and expressions of gratitude to be able to see each other were exchanged shortly thereafter, before Nanoha found herself waffling on how exactly to bring the subject up. Eventually, mustering up her courage, she spoke up.
"There's something we need to tell-"
"Nanoha, there's something we'd like to ask-"
Both groups blinked, looking at the other, before Nanoha laughed slightly. "You go first, Arisa. Mine can wait a little," she said, much to Fate's amusement beside her.
Arisa looked at her friend oddly, before shaking her head and smiling. "Well...we were wondering if you and Fate would care to be bridesmaids."
"Bridesmaids?" Nanoha said, not quite processing the term. "One of you's getting married? Who?"
"Both of us are," Suzuka giggled. "To each other."
It was only Fate's iron self control that kept her from breaking out laughing at the look on Nanoha's face.
[/i]
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

I have to dump this out, to try and stop it taking over my BRAIN.

Given that TV Tropes exists in Fenspace, how would the Fen-squared describe the Fen? (Note, I'm talking about the fans of the BNFs and others tropifying them in universe.)

For an incomplete list for A.C. (getting it out of my brain remember, so the below is probably not correct TV Tropes markup):

*ActionGirl/ActionMom - Built a BadassFamily.
**Two actually.
***With bunches of Badass cousins hanging around. Which, given her day job isn’t surprising.
*ArtificialLimbs - Is a total conversion HollywoodCyborg.
*BadassLongcoat - Including BadassLabcoat even! HelloNurse!
*BiTheWay
*BoobsOfSteel/MostCommonSuperpower
*TheCaptain
*EvenTheGirlsWantHer - Senshi, we're looking at you mostly but DAMN...
*Fanservice/FetishFuelStationAttendant - Do we really need to say this? Her biomod [[CursedWithAwesome forces her] to be like this, to [[Stripperiffic ridiculous levels] levels at times, technically making her an InnocentFanserviceGirl.
**Note that she can be fully covered and STILL have people DistractedByTheSexy.
*FemmeFatale/LadyInRed/WomanInBlack - There's enough overlap to be really confused about this.
*GadgeteerGenius/MadScientist
*GenderBender - Is genetically Male, despite her Fanservice looks.
*GuileHero/[[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bitch] - See Femme Fatale entry above.
*HotChickWithASword/GirlsWithGuns-GunsAkimbo version.
*HospitalHottie/HotAmazon/HotScientist/HotMom
*ImpossiblyCoolWeapon - Her trademark is her [[AbsurdlySharpBlade monomolecular] [[WhipSword ribbon sword].
*LadyOfWar
*MamaBear - Hurt someone she cares for and you're so doomed.
*MasterOfDisguise
*NinjaPirateZombieRobot – Or Hyper-Intelligent Mad Scientist Combat Cyborg Sexy Super Spy
*Ojou - The Senshi believe fervently in this.
*RedBaron - The Scarlet Angel.
*TallDarkAndBishoujo
*WhipItGood - Oh can she ever...

I'm looking to get a new car for the home-to-work-and-back commute, grocery shopping, and the occasional intercity drive, and the 2010 Kia Rio is looking very attractive... (They offer a colour that nobody else's car in the office parking lot uses, for one thing. That's a very handy option in a big parking lot.)

But anything can look good on paper. Anybody here have any real-world experience with a Kia Rio or any other Kia, good or bad?
--
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

Here it is!  Have at it.  You guys know how it is, but for the newcomers: commentary on the story itself is much preferred.  I'll hold off on the final sweep for a thorough grammar and spelling fix.

I always though that Aish Clanclan's behaviour could be best explained by the Ctarl-Ctarl having a pack social structure, like wolves. A Ctarl-Ctarl spends their time, especially when dealing with new people, jockying for position, working out who the Alpha and Omega of a group is. They can then settle down into a working relationship.
1) This explains why Hilda made a point of not swerving to avoid a freaking battleship - that would only mark her as being lower in the pecking order.
2) They are submissive to their leaders, but very quick to turn on a packmate who's lost face.
3) A Ctarl-Ctarl's version of diplomacy verges on bullying by human standards - they're trying to find out who's boss.
4) This doesn't work well on humans - many of whom don't settle into an Omega position and keep challenging authority. In this case, the face contest goes on until the human has for some reason or the other won, in which case the human ends up the Alpha. Which may explain why you quite often find Ctarl-Ctarl working in strip bars and restaurants.
Any thoughts?

Somebody is making real airships with the aim of selling them.  And when I say "real airship" I mean dirigible, state-of-the-art materials, thrust vectoring, fiber-optic fly-by-wire, and other innovative goodies.

Just fooling around in Sketchup this evening, and produced this:



It's a to-scale drawing of some of the larger objects inhabiting our fair Fenspace. In descending order, we have Grover's Corners[1], Island One, Stellvia and the Island[2]. Kind of puts things in perspective, doesn't it?

[1] Which is a *tiny* bit larger than spec, in order to avoid clipping issues. Also, didn't have a elevation model of the actual landscape, so I faked it.
[2] Represented here by a truncated model of the Mall of America, which roughly fits the amount of claimed acreage on the wiki.
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"