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  [META] If somebody's looking for something to write about...
Posted by: robkelk - 01-05-2010, 08:34 PM - Forum: Fenspace - Replies (310)

... the http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Main_Page]new wiki has a couple of auto-generated pages: http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?titl ... 0&offset=0]Wanted pages and http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=Category:Stubs]Stubs.

Edit: If it's too much work to come up with something new, there are also some http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?titl ... of_cleanup]Pages in need of cleanup.

Have fun! (Just don't step on any other writer's toes...)
--
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

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  10 Words You Need To Stop Misspelling
Posted by: robkelk - 01-05-2010, 06:53 PM - Forum: General Chatter - Replies (4)

One for the writers' reference bundle: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling]10 Words You Need To Stop Misspelling.

From the same folks who brought us http://theoatmeal.com/comics/apostrophe]How To Use An Apostrophe (from the first illustration, I'm assuming "as a boomerang") and many less-serious topics...
--
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

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  Today's "Dartha & Droids"
Posted by: robkelk - 01-05-2010, 06:34 PM - Forum: General Chatter - Replies (3)

http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0358.html]They're obviously quoting something, but I don't (quite) recognize it... Anybody know?
--
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

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  Sending your neighbors a message...
Posted by: Bob Schroeck - 01-05-2010, 06:05 PM - Forum: General Chatter - Replies (1)

http://dizzythinks.net/2010/01/sending- ... rough.html]...through Wi-Fi.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.

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  Um... Hardware advice...
Posted by: Shader - 01-05-2010, 09:57 AM - Forum: The Legendary - Replies (10)

*taps mic* This thing on...

So anyway... over on the official forums there is this nice long forum thread where Posi talks about the expected graphics card requirments for Going Rouge...
over yonder way

Having waded through the upteen pages over there, I'm more confused then ever, and iirc there's an expert or two over here that could help steer me
right... or at least there use to be.

Here's my situation:

My old computer:

  • Windows XP3

  • AMD 64 Processor 3500+ running at 2.21GHz (Single Core)

  • 2 GB Ram

  • nVida GeForce 8500 GT

However the powersupply in the computer in it is in the process of dieing - (it doesn't start up first try, it can take up to 10 attempts to start the
computer)

Hence I recently got the opportunity to get a Dell Optiplex 360 while over in USA and bring it back to Australia. These sell for about $1300 over here, and I
got it much cheaper.

It was going to be my gaming computer, but came in a sealed box and I couldn't check the contents. When I got home, I found it contained:
  • Win 7 Professional

  • Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 with VT (2.93GHz Dual Core)

  • 2 GB Ram (can expand up to 4GB)


  • Integrated Video Intel GMA3100

  • 255W Power Supply
So my question is this: Do I sell the Optiplex (its effectively brand new) and try to save for a better computer, or do I upgrade it? If I upgrade it,
what gets priority? I know the power supply needs attention if I try to put anything into it.

Shader

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  Looney Quotes
Posted by: robkelk - 01-04-2010, 10:17 PM - Forum: General Chatter - Replies (36)

There's http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?p=908289]a fluff thread over on the SJ Games Forums that started off with the Cartoon Network marathon of Looney Tunes on New Year's. The question posed was "what one scene from those cartoons really sticks in your mind?"

A few folks described scenes, but I think the best replies are the ones that quoted one or two lines instead. How many do you recognize?

"Ho, ha-ha! Guard, turn, parry, dodge, spin, ha, thrust!"

"And now, having re-re-disposed of the monster, exit our hero stage left."

"Sorry, folks, we ran outta gas."
"Yeah, you know how it is with these 'A' cards."

"Would I turn on the gas if my friend Rocky were in there?"
"You might, rabbit, you might."
"Well, would I drop a lighted match in this oven if my friend Rocky were in there?"

"Well, I talk LOUD! And I carry a BIGGER stick! And I use it, too!"

**thub-thub-thub**
"MEEP-MEEP!!"
**pyown-WHOOOSHH**
(somewhat generic, but what can you do?)

"Who? Franz Liszt? Never heard of him. Wrong number."

Sign: "OK Wiseguys. NOW what do I do?"

"This is gonna cause more confusion than a mouse in a burlesque show!"

"Say, boy, you cover about as much as a flapper skirt in a high wind."

"Oh, I'm going to blow it up, it obstructs my view of Venus."

"I am ze locksmith of love, no?"

"Turn out zee lights, darling. I know where everything is."

"Pardon me, but could you out help a fellow American who's down on his luck?"
"Hit the road!"

"Why, it's Mugsy! Don't look at me like that, Mugsy! I'm your pal, Mugsy, your buddy pal! Yeah!"
"It's coitains for ya, Rocky! Coitains!"

"I'm rich! I'm socially secure!"

"Yes, you're next! You're so next!"

"Poor liddle bunny... I killed the wabbit..."

"Pronoun trouble."
(This one was my contribution, and I still can't believe it's so far down in the thread.)

"I wonder if that silly duck will remember he can fly." WHAM!!! "Nope, guess not."
--
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

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  Tablet
Posted by: Rev Dark - 01-04-2010, 06:21 PM - Forum: General Chatter - Replies (1)

I am considering getting a drawing tablet for my PC - Anyone have any experience with various models/brands?

Cheers,

Shayne

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  not quite a LoA....
Posted by: dark seraph - 01-04-2010, 07:45 AM - Forum: The Legendary - No Replies

.... but close, due to how unemploment works down here, if you go X amount of time with out a job, they make you take classes to make sure your doing it right.

so for the next 2 weeks, i'll be scarse. luck i planed that TF for Feb isn't it? Tongue


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  It's 2010, so...
Posted by: robkelk - 01-03-2010, 11:29 PM - Forum: General Chatter - No Replies

... where's my http://www.animesuki.com/series.php/290.html]android announcer?

(What, you thought I was going to ask for a flying car?)

I'll settle for a licensed release of Android Announcer Maico 2010 if I have to, but I'd rather have a real Maico.
--
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

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  [DRAFT/RFC] Vesta
Posted by: robkelk - 01-03-2010, 10:40 PM - Forum: Fenspace - Replies (3)

I see that Mal has added this tag to the top of the FenWiki page for http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?title=The_Main_Belt]The Main Belt:

Quote:A Word of Mod
At some point the future all, or almost all the named rocks here will have seperate FenWiki pages for themselves. Watch this space for updates.

Okay, here's a contribution for Vesta. Discussion, additions, and pointing out of boneheaded ideas are welcome. (Can I even do this with the image link? I don't want to upload an image to the FenWiki until sometime next year, when we'll have a decent photo of the rock...)



{{planetbox
|name=4 Vesta
|image=[%[link=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vesta-HST-Color.jpg]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Vesta-HST-Color.jpg]
|orbit=aphelion 384.72 Gm, perihelion 321.82 Gm
|diameter=578×560×458 km
|gravity= 0.022G outside handwaved chambers
|year=1325.15 days
|day=solar: 0.2226 days
|temp=min -188 °C, max -18 °C outside handwaved chambers
|atmosphere=none outside handwaved chambers
|waterice=0% outside handwaved chambers
|population=Unknown
|political=[[Fenspace Convention]
|government=Representative Democracy (Vesta), Meritocracy (Novyi Petrovichi), Direct Democracy (other settlements)
|capital=Novyi Petrovichi
}}

The brightest asteroid in Earth's sky, Vesta has a reputation of being one of Fenspace's "university towns", where knowledge is prized above the usual indicators of success.

== History ==

Vesta was discovered by the German astronomer Heinrich Wilhelm Olbers on March 29, 1807, and named after the Roman virgin goddess of home and hearth. It was the fourth of the first four asteroids to be discovered.

During the early days of Fen expansion into the Solar System, the [[Browncoats] and [[Heinleinians] argued over who was entitled to [[Ganymede], based on their fandoms' pre-handwave fiction. (The [[Fivers] eventually got the two groups to share.) The Asimov fen saw this, acted quickly to claim Vesta as their own, and built the first post-secondary educational institutions in space there: the '''Vesta Institute of Biochemistry''' and the '''Vesta Institute of Robotics''' teach the two scientific fields most associated with Prof. Asimov.

== Geography ==

The second-most-massive body in [[The Main Belt] (after [[1 Ceres]), Vesta has a 460-kilometer-diameter crater near its south pole, believed to have been created in a collision less than one billion years ago. The floor of the crater is 25 km below the rim; this protection from Solar and Jovian radiation and the ease of locating the feature from space lead early Fen settlers to locate '''Novyi Petrovichi''' (Vesta's first permanent settlement) there.

The [[Belters] funded construction of the '''Vesta Beam''', a massive communications laser at Vesta's North Pole, in the early days of Vesta's settlement. This was one of the main communications relay points in Fenspace before the [[Wizards]' InterWave communications hub at [[476 Hedwig] made long-range lightspeed communications obsolete. It is still used for local communications where a lag of one or two seconds doesn't matter.

In order to keep Vesta's skies as clear as possible (and because the Asimov Fen who founded Novyi Petrovichi respected their favourite author's fear of flying), a monorail was built to connect the Vesta Beam installation and Novyi Petrovichi. Smaller settlements, including '''Little Brooklyn''' on Vesta's equator, have sprung up along the track's course.

NASA launched the ''Dawn'' probe to Vesta on September 27, 2007. Their original plan was to have it map Vesta from August 2011 until May 2012, then proceed to Ceres; however, Fen expansion into the Solar System and [[Soviet Air Force] exploration missions in [[The Main Belt] made that plan redundant. ''Dawn'' is currently in orbit around Vesta, having been retrofit to serve as a communications relay.

== Government ==

Vesta as a whole is a representative democracy. Any group of five hundred residents can choose one of their number to represent them in the Vestan Assembly, but no person may be a member of more than one such group. The Vestan Assembly meets in Novyi Petrovichi and chooses its own Speaker to lead the Assembly.

Novyi Petrovichi is a meritocracy. Administrators are selected by examination; anyone is free to take the examination, and the successful examinees serve for three-year terms. There is no limit to the number of consecutive terms an administrator may serve, as long as he, she, or it continues to pass the examinations.

Little Brooklyn, the Vesta Beam installation, and the other settlements on Vesta are small enough that they can use various flavours of direct democracy for their day-to-day government. Little Brooklyn employs a Chairperson whose job is to liaise with other governments and set the agenda for the town's weekly meetings, while the staff of the Vesta Beam installation decide ''everything'' by referendum.

Vesta and all Vestan settlements have signed the [[Articles of Convention].

== Trivia ==

Well-known [[Senshi] geneticist [[Leda Swansen] graduated at the top of the first class through VIB's genetics program in 2010.
--
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

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