For those interested, the first chapter of the newest The Dresden Files is up on Jim Butcher's website. Linkity

Monster Mummies Of Japan.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

My old monitor was starting to give me headaches whenever I looked at it (blurry text is not easy to read), so I picked up a Philips 220SW over the weekend. It's on my computer now - an older box, running Windows 2000 and using the onboard NVidia Vanta display chipset.

Any idea why I can't get the display to show widescreen? The best resolution I can get is 1280x1024; the monitor is rated for 1680x1050. (This means everything's stretched. At least it's in focus...) I've installed the driver that came with the monitor, and there isn't a newer one on the Philips website.
--
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 haven't been this depressed about a sports loss since my Mariner's flamed out in the ALCS in 2001, and I only know I was grieving harder because I don't remember much of that night.  Grats to Canada, they were just the better team even though the US did make a game of it.  If you're gonna lose, OT in a gold medal match is about the best way to do it.  

...

I admit, I've never wanted to puke at the sight of a maple leaf till now.  
---
Jon
"And that must have caused my dad's brain to break in half, replaced by a purely mechanical engine of revenge!"

Microsoft used the DCMA to shut down Cryptome after a company document detailing what information it can provide on its products' users to government agencies seeking to investigate and/or spy on them was posted on the site.  Wired article here.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

Martina McBride "This one's for the Girls"

This one's for all you girls about thirteen
High school canbe so rough, can be so mean
Hold onto, on to your innocence
Stand your ground when everyone's giving in

This one's for the girls

This is for all you girls about twenty-five
In a little apartment, just trying to get by
Living on, on dreams and spaghetti-o's
Wondering where you life is gonna go

This one's for the girls
Who've ever had a broken heart
Who've wished upon a shooting star
You're beautiful the way you are
This one's for the girls
Who love without holding back
Who dream with everything they have
All around the world
This one's for the girls

This is for all you girls about forty-two
Tossing pennies into the Fountain of Youth
Every laugh, laugh line on your face
Made you who you are today

This one's for the girls
Who've ever had a broken heart
Who've wished upon a shooting star
You're beautiful the way you are
This one's for the girls
Who love without holding back
Who dream with everything they have
All around the world
This one's for the girls

Yeah, we're all the same inside (same inside)
From 1 to 99

This one's for the girls
Who've ever had a broken heart
Who've wished upon a shooting star
You're beautiful the way you are
This one's for the girls
Who love without holding back
Who dream with everything they have
All around the world
This one's for the girls
Yeah, this one's for the girls

Power: Metasong, next song only affects females in Doug's AoE.
*********************
Avenge Sevenfold "Afterlife'

Like walking into a dream, so unlike what you've seen
so unsure but it seems, ’cause we’ve been waiting for you
Fallen into this place, just giving you a small taste
of your afterlife here so stay, you'll be back here soon anyway

I see a distant light, but girl this can't be right
Such a surreal place to see so how did this come to be
Arrived too early

And when I think of all the places I just don't belong
I've come to grips with life and realize this is going too far

I don't belong here, we gotta move on dear escape from this afterlife
’Cause this time I'm right to move on and on, far away from here

A place of hope and no pain, perfect skies with no rain
Can leave this place but refrain, ’cause we've been waiting for you
Fallen into this place, just giving you a small taste
of your afterlife here so stay, you'll be back here soon anyway

This peace on earth's not right (with my back against the wall)
No pain or sign of time (I’m much too young to fall)
So out of place don't wanna stay, I feel wrong and that's my sign
I've made up my mind

Gave me your hand but realize I just wanna say goodbye
Please understand I have to leave and carry on my own life

I don't belong here, I gotta move on dear escape from this afterlife
’Cause this time I'm right to move on and on, far away from here
Got nothing against you and surely I'll miss you
This place full of peace and light, and I’d hope you might
take me back inside when the time is right

Loved ones back home all crying ’cause they're already missing me
I pray by the grace of God that there's somebody listening
Give me a chance to be that person I wanna be
(I am unbroken; I’m choking on this ecstasy)
Oh Lord I'll try so hard but you gotta let go of me
(Unbreak me, unchain me, I need another chance to live)

(Fast Guitar Solo)
(Screaming)
(Laughing)

I don't belong here, I gotta move on dear escape from this afterlife
’Cause this time I'm right to move on and on, far away from here
Got nothing against you and surely I'll miss you
This place full of peace and light, and I’d hope you might
take me back inside when the time is right
Possible Gatesong
*********************
System of a Down "Chop Suey"
Wake up (wake up)
Grab a brush and put a little makeup
Hide the scars to fade away the shake up
(Hide the scars to fade away the shake )
Why'd you leave the keys up on the table?
Here you go create another fable
(You wanted to)
Grab a brush and put on a little makeup
(You wanted to)
Hide the scars to fade away the shake up
(You wanted to)
Why'd you leave the keys up on the table?
(You wanted to)
I don't think you trust, in, my,
Self-righteous suicide,
I, cry, when angels deserve to die
Wake up (wake up)
Grab a brush and put a little makeup
Hide the scars to fade away the shake up
Why'd you leave the keys up on the table?
Here you go create another fable
(You wanted to)
Grab a brush and put on a little makeup
(You wanted to)
Hide the scars to fade away the shake up
(You wanted to)
Why'd you leave the keys up on the table?
(You wanted to)
I don't think you trust in my
Self-righteous suicide,
I cry, when angels deserve to die
In my self-righteous suicide,
I cry, when angels deserve to die
Father (father)
Father (father)
Father (father)
Father (father)
Father into your hands, I COMMIT my spirit
Father into your hands, why have you forsaken me?
In your eyes, forsaken me
In your thoughts, forsaken me
In your heart, forsaken me
Oh, trust in my, self-righteous suicide
I cry when angels deserve to die
In my self-righteous suicide
I cry when angels deserve to die
Not a powersong but I could see Doug quoting the 'I cry when angels deserve to die' line to the Children during the Evangelion step. 8)
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin

Just a reminder for the folks who were on it the other day that we were going to pick it back up Saturday, Feb 27, 10:30 pm Eastern Standard Time
Which is Sunday, 28 February, 3:30 am GMT
Or.. Sunday, 28 February, 1:30 pm Canberra, Australia Time
Edit: We may as well have a thread announcing when we have to "hang" a TF, so here it is
''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

...for the last couple days.  Most recently this happened last night while I was in the Synapse task force on COH.  I suspect that it's weather-related, as we had a Comcast tech come by yesterday afternoon and he couldn't find anything inside the house to cause the problem (although he did apparently find and replace a splitter that was dirtying the signal).  In any case, three times in the last few weeks we've lost the Net unexpectedly for several hours, just to have it come back as unexpectedly. 
I just wanted to let people know what's been going on, in case it happens again before Comcast takes care of it.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

I've recently found myself engaged in some heavy-duty writing.
I hold no illusions that my current project is objectively huge, nor necessarily particularly good, but let me give you a bit of background first.  I've tried to write a number of stories in the past, both original and fan-inspired.  The first was barely two pages, and decidedly juvenile in quality.  My second try was no better- I think I made it onto the third handwritten page (and I tend to write big) before it died like the plot-abomination it was.  After a number of plot bunnies that were, quite frankly, sad (and never got past the "hey, wouldn't it be cool if" stage), I tried again with a Ranma SI.
I think that one went five pages before I lost it.  With a bit of revision, the idea would've been good, but I didn't have the experience, skill, or knowledge of the source material to get it right.
After that, there were a few plot bunnies here and there, and then my shot at DWstuffs, which died after the prologue and a fairly decent outline of main plot events.  Then, nothing, until a few months ago.
I had been reading a short story a friend of mine wrote about Billy vs. SNAKEMAN, that ninja game that somebody brought up here a year or two ago, when an idea came to me.  I remembered it a few days later on a long walk, and gave it a bit more substance, but consigned the infant plot bunny to a short trip down the cliff of my nonexistent writing ability, to be eaten by the wolves of my own forgetfulness.
For some reason, I started to write on it a week or two ago.  It's now ~50 pages long, about 3/4 of the way done, and still going strong.  I've been writing half a page a day minimum- typically, it's more like 2-4 pages, though I hit 7 pages one particularly inspired day.
That's not the oddest part.  The oddest thing about all of this is that it's actually halfway decent- certainly not publishable quality, but better than a lot of fanfiction I've read, and getting rave reviews from the people who've been reading it over on the other forum.  I've had tons of praise so far and one nitpick- more like friendly advice (from the guy who wrote my original inspiration, no less) than anything else.  It's good enough that I can read back through it without cringing in shame- I actually rather like it, which is a first for my writing.
How is this even possible?  I've been utterly hopeless at creative writing up until now, and here I am, knee-deep in a work of fiction four times longer than anything, fiction or not, I've ever written- and I'm enjoying every minute of it. 
Has anybody here ever had a moment like that- a time when they broke what felt like a lifelong, terminal writers' block, to find that the words would just keep flowing from that point onward?

The Sun: Carly Simon reveals the subject of You're So Vain

No, it isn't a lover. Yes, it was somebody important in her life.

Who is it? I'm not telling. Go read the article.

Oh, look; she's releasing an album next week, and a re-worked version of the song is on it. What a coincidence...
--
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