On April 5th, the Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled to launch from Kennedy Space Center for mission STS-131. The crew of Discovery will be visiting the International Space Station to deliver a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module filled to the brim with all manner of goodies to resupply the station. There will also be some work to replace components on the station during some spacewalks. There are also a bunch of other payloads on board.

Launch/Landing Times

Launch date: 5th April 2010 06:21am EDT (11:21am GMT)
Landing: NET 18th April

...this will be Discovery's penultimate launch, after this flight Atlantis is scheduled to launch on her final flight NET May 14.

Streaming video can be found at http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html and other news can be found at http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

or prolly even way past quadux...  much like this joke
anyway, having taken advantage of the fact that i'm not on CoX24/7 (minus time alloted for... anything else) I remembered to download, install and set up a copy of skype for myself.
Do we have any standard contact data we use to get everyone together?  or is it sort of organized on an ad hoc basis?
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

Songwriting Workshop, by Tom Smith

Link
This is the verse that sets up the premise

Of why you have written a song.

Say what you want, it's your song after all,

But do try not to make each individual lyric line too long.

Because it might not scan.

Properly.

Usually a minor chord goes right here,

To add drama to each word.

Try to be not confusing regarding on which beats

Your words are sung so you're heard.

In the next verse you expand on your subject,

Whatever it happens to be,

Adding some depth to your first basic premise,

And why it's of interest to me.

Be sure to add detail, engage our emotions,

That's what adverbs are for,

And try not to make a repetitive chorus,

It's wasteful of words and a bore.

And try not to make a repetitive chorus,

It's wasteful of words and a bore.

And try not to make a repetitive chorus,

It's wasteful of words and a bore.

It's wasteful of words and a bore.

It's wasteful of words and a bore.

Some songs have a bridge which tells of some conflict

In which the main premise is caught.

Sometimes it's as long as a verse and a chorus,

And sometimes not.

And so with the last verse you wrap up your premise

And what it means to you and me.

Explain why you love or despise or don't care

Whatever your subject may be.

The next-to-last chorus can echo the first,

Or say something new and profound,

Like "Live for the moment" or "All men are bastards"

Or "Don't eat raw eggs off the ground".

The last chorus sums up the whole thing at once,

Be clever and brilliant and nifty,

And that is my workshop on writing a song,

Please, that'll be ninety-nine fifty.

This song grants a bonus on 'forcing' a new song to manifest the desired results.  If the forcing attempt fails though, it is gonna be bad. 
-----
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.

... but I dunno, I think it's funny enough for General:  http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1925557]Dangerous Wands.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Subject: [smof-politics] Thought for solving two housing crises, but is the cost too high?
From: "Noah Scott" (bigcheese@stellvia.lib)
Reply-To: smof-politics@smofcon.fen
Date: 2014/2/11 13:14
To: undisclosed-recipients

It's been brought to my attention that there's been a housing crisis in Ireland for the last four years. Specifically, they've got on the order of 300,000 excess houses that the Irish government doesn't know what to do with. (It seems it was cheaper to build a house than to pay taxes in Ireland for years.)

And we've all heard the stories about how difficult it is to find a house in Port Lowell or Mos Eisley.

I'm sure you know where I'm going with this... but should we?

No doubt the Irish government would love to sell some of their surplus neighborhoods, and the folks at the Island, Hephaestus, and Grover's Corners have experience lifting acres of land into space. And while I suspect that Ireland would allow some Unreal Estate launches just because the UK doesn't like Unreal Estate, the Irish are possessive of their homes...

Also, there's never been any wholesale, organized attempts at launching Unreal Estate. The UN might get upset.

(There's also a technical issue - while there have been Unreal Estate launches in the past, I'm not aware of anyone landing one afterward. But technical issues can be solved.)

Before I go public with thinking about buying empty neighborhoods in Belfast, moving them to Port Lowell, and selling them to Fen families who are crammed into one-bedroom apartments, what political ramifications am I missing?

--
Noah Scott, of station Stellvia

http://gamevideos.1up.com/video/id/28652
---------------
Epsilon

Doc Mui sent an email a bit ago - it seems that they've decided to *not* have a fanfic panel at ACen this year.  It is most definitely on the Not Approved list on the website (while this is dated April 1, I don't think they'd make an April fool out of this sort of thing)
This will be the 1st year ACen has not had a fanfic panel.  I'm trying to recall if there are any big cons who do not have a fanfic panel - it's pretty much one of those staple things for cons.
Reasons given for denying panels is the usual - a lack of space.  I thought it interesting that at the head of the Approved list was a panel about fandom in Chicago.  (a local-interest panel at the 3rd largest con in the US?  does AX have a panel on fandom in LA?)  Meanwhile, and admitting I may have missed something, the only writing related panel I did see on the Approved list is one listed for an 18+ audience on writing lemons. Nothing for the general audience.
As I said earlier, this will be the 1st year there's not been a fanfic panel at ACen. It's definitely not gotten old - every year it fills its assigned room for its entire assigned timeslot (this includes the years at the Hyatt when it was in 200+ seat rooms and had a 2 hour timeslot).  Being a discussion panel that is driven by what the audience wants to talk about, it remains topical from year to year too. Just seems strange to me I guess.

Jeanne Hedge
www.jhedge.com

"Believe me, if I have to go the rest of my life without companionship, knowing myself won't be a problem."
-- Gabrielle of Potadeia

I wonder how Doug and the Warriors would react to getting a visit from TSAB post-Walk.
"Beg your pardon, but we really must speak to you about the mess your friend has been making of time-space lately."

Well, it looks like it's good news and bad news to me.
The good news is that they want you and don't want to let you go.
The bad news is that they can't afford your salary at the moment.
The problem is that based on what you wrote, you didn't leave them wiggle room for negotiation. It was a take it or leave it deal from my POV.  From their prespective, you might be #1 to get picked, but the price you want would be too high. If they go to #2 who is 90% of your capabilities but costs 10-20k less from what you're asking, who would they pick?
It'll be your decision on whether you want the job ot not. If you do want it, you may want to email back to that HR immdiately thanking here for allowing you to be interviewed and as a side note, mention that you were impressed with what you seen in the company, enough to negotiate. After all, if they're willing to pick up the transportation tab in whole or part as a perk, it would make a good starting point for negotiations.
Just remember Bob, just like fishing..it's the one that got away!
Some movement on my part. Three of the applications I placed for OSHA was "referred for further consideration". Which meant it made the first cut by the HR folks and it's on it's way to the hiring authority.An amusing note is that the grade I'm being  considered seems to be all over the place, even when I sent the same answers to all positions. One of them was at GS-5, two at GS-9 and the other one which is till at GS-11 but I haven't confirmed it yet.
__________________
Into terror!,  Into valour!
Charge ahead! No! Never turn
Yes, it's into the fire we fly
And the devil will burn!
- Scarlett Pimpernell

All right, for thoes of you who have gotten to play with the new Ultra mode, What are its system requirements? I'd like to max out COH's graphics when it comes out so if anyone could tell me what i'll all need to upgrade (Besides graphics card) it would be appriciated.
Windows Vista 'Home Premium' 32 bit Operateing system (..fucking vista >.>)
 Quad Core 2.4 Gig
3 gigs of Ram
8600GTS
if any more information is needed/wanted...I'll try to provide as asked.