*cue sound effect
of jaw hitting floor percussively*

I...

I think I... But he... But that was... And then... Oh. my. GOD!!!!

DUDE!!!!

*Passes out from geek-gasm*

You may remember this story from a couple weeks back, but WOW....

United Airlines Breaks Guitars, Loses $180
MillionAfter Canadian singer Dave Carroll takes his story to YouTube

Holy SHIT!!!

Quote:
"When airlines damage or lose their passenger's luggage, they normally - perhaps
grudgingly - end up paying back compensation of a few hundred pounds. But United Airlines are much more out of pocket in this case. The company has lost 10per cent of their share value - a massive $180million - after being blamed for
damaging a musician's guitar. Canadian singer Dave Carroll composed 'United Breaks Guitars' after his Taylor acoustic was damaged at
Chicago's O'Hare airport." the Mail writes.

Quote:

"I promised the last person to finally say 'no' to compensation ... that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United
Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world."




He followed through with his threat. He posted his country ode, "United Breaks Guitars," on YouTube Monday. Since then, the video has been viewed
more than half a million times and is a hit with the media.




United apologized, plans to use the video internally to help "change its culture," and, according to a spokeswoman for the carrier:




"We are in conversation with one another to make what happened right."




The lesson here? Don't piss off a musician.

Quote: And Carroll's not finished yet. He has promised to write two further tunes. The next one, due later this summer will feature his dealings with a
customer service agent named Ms Irlweg, '"in a very light hearted way'" he said.


Carroll says he is no longer angry and had a blast recording United'and looks forward to producing the rest of trilogy.

"They've given me a creative outlet that has brought people together from around the world" he writes.
"Thanks United! If my guitar had to be smashed due to extreme negligence, I'm glad it was you that did it."

Yes it's that time again. Time to bring out the weird, and sometimes cool stuff that I've screen captured.

How about any of you? Got any good ones?

12:45 AM

Undisclosed Private Airfield, Massachusetts



The loose gravel crunched under the armored limousine as it rolled off the rough ground and onto the tarmac of the airstrip. Slowly, it approached the small
corporate jet sitting in the middle of the field, engines idling but not entirely shut down. The two could not have contrasted more. While the limousine was
dark colored and anonymous, the jet was tastefully decorated in a bright white and gold color scheme, the tail displaying a distinct corporate emblem: a
bisected diamond formed from a pair of elongated V shapes, either leg meeting symmetrically while the closed verteces each sprouted a pair of parallel lines
and a single circle sitting in the center of the whole array. In its own way, it was a declaration of confidence. Between the two players involved here, no one
would come close enough to this airfield to see the logo. And to the man in the limousine, it was an unsupported attempt to intimidate those arriving. But
then, he thought the people he was here to meet always thought themselves far more important than they actually were.



The ramp descended from the jet as the limousine's passengers walked out to meet the exiting party midway between the two vehicles in the soft, steady
rain. The two leading men similarly presented considerable contrast, though almost reversed. The representative from the jet was thin, with a beak-like nose
that had a pair of small glasses perched atop them. His hair was sandy, almost blonde, and somewhat asymetrically arranged. His business suit was a light tan
and his blue eyes were piercing beneath the umbrella he casually held above himself. His entourage were similarly dressed in business-appropriate wear and
casing the scene with the casual paranoia of professional bodyguards.



The opposing party was almost similar. The entourage of bodyguards also were analyzing the area with casual menace, but where as the previous group could be
mistaken for normal businessmen, these were most certainly professional bodyguards. Each wore a severely cut black suit, stark white dress shirt, and tie, and
dark black sunglasses, even in the dimness of the night, concealed their eyes. All had molded earpieces for tactical radio, while a small few held themselves
in ways that indicated concealed yet easily accessible weapons. Their leader similarly wore a starkly cut suit in black and white, eye concealing sunglasses,
and a perpetually grim expression. He was at least half again as wide in the shoulders as any of them, and at least two heads taller, while his own head was
clean shaven. Unlike his counterpart, he didn't bother with an umbrella, the water simply sliding off his jacket and skin without the slightest hint of his
being aware or remotely bothered by it, as it might a sheer cliff face.



"Mr. Smith," the giant said with a polite nod of his head.



"Mr. Hopkins," Smith returned in kind. "I must admit my employers' curiousity at your request for a meeting."



"I have been authorized, in light of recent developments, to offer your employers a deal," Hopkins said. "Crey has an interest in certain
biotech research you have been conducting up until fairly recently."



Smith adjusted his glasses slightly as he considered that. "My compliments to your information sources, Mr. Hopkins, but I'm afraid that such
research is, obviously, proprietary to my employers. And while we would normally welcome a fresh set of eyes on the data, especially a pair so trained as those
of Crey Biotech," he lied without so much as a flicker of discomfort, "Certain setbacks have made it impossible for us to release any information or
samples outside our personal labs."



"Certain setbacks in recent years have completely depleted any and all test material you had available to experiment on, and the source from which you
obtained the original material has similarly dried up," Hopkins corrected without rancor. "And while that biotech research was certainly intriguing,
Crey has learned that most attempts to control such sources for experimentation rarely bear results worth the overhead," he added, similarly without any
amused inflection that another might have included.



"Then I certainly am not aware of what Crey might think they could bargain for," Smith said, frowning slightly.



"Playing coy wastes both our time, Mr. Smith," Hopkins said simply. "Your Foundation has invested considerable research into an extensive
bioengineering project to replicate specific metahuman abilities on demand. To this end, you have extensive analysis and test data of a naturally occurring
example of your target result. Crey simply wishes a copy of this data for our own analysis, as well as any surviving data on Project Yggdrassil and the
prototype's unique properties. Assuming its creator didn't take all such secrets with him to his grave upon his...untimely demise," he finished,
and this time there was a slight hint of what might be a smirk on his impassive visage.



Smith, by contrast, looked extremely discomfitted. A majority of that information was supposed to have been classified to the highest levels, and while the
incident had certainly proven a fiasco by the time it was done, their media blackout had been absolute. Between that and the mandatory background examinations
and surveillance that division had undergone for the entirety of the project, it was quite simply impossible that Crey had such knowledge...just as it had been
impossible for the Plan to fail in the first place, he had to admit. Schooling his expression, he looked at Hopkins again. "And what exactly are you
offering in exchange for this? The sheer monetary worth of all that data..."



"Is immaterial so long as you retain the originals," Hopkins interjected. "Your plans are, for now, in ruins. But your people certainly still
exist. And, if our intelligence is correct, you will be doing nothing with the information for a considerable period of time," he pointed out.
"Meanwhile, Crey will be handling....loose ends for you. You're the Foundation's garbage man, Mr. Smith. Surely you can appreciate how convenient
it would be if a certain number of your previous wrinkles were...ironed out through no effort of your own," Hopkins said. "After all, while we will
have the test data you arranged, we may need to secure independent sources in the future, and if certain troubles that have been caused to Crey's
operations and your own plans are removed simultaneously, we can consider it a win-win proposition."



"And when our aims no longer allign?" Smith wondered, working through the logic of the argument as he did. Certainly, if the aforementioned
wrinkles were handled, it would secure operational security for future endeavors....and his employers certainly wouldn't mind a small measure of revenge.
They had tracked them, certainly, but Paragon City was far too open for the Foundation to act in, unlike the previous operation.



"Then we will see if Crey is still in a position to threaten your aims when the time comes," Hopkins said. "Of course, what might also be
considered is that you are certainly no threat to Crey's aims now. And should you like to force that issue, with your forces demolished
by the debacle in Japan for the most part, the Countess is certainly confident that, in the end, our own personal troops are more than a match for yours, and
she desires that data one way or another. While Crey would regret being forced into such impolite measures to obtain what we desire, we are certainly capable
of taking them," he noted, inspiring a frown of concern from Smith at the self-evidence of that statement.



"...very well. If you will give me a moment to contact my employers to ask their opinions of this offer?" he asked, receiving a polite nod in
return. They both knew that with the gauntlet laid down, it was mere formality, but forms must be observed. Smith stepped back aboard the jet, most likely to
hold a private, likely rather blunt conversation with his superiors. But Crey held the whip hand here, and when Smith returned with a briefcase containing the
digitally transferred copy of the information, Hopkins accepted it as if it had been nothing less than his right. After a brief exchange of pleasantries
underlaced with an obscured threat should the data prove to be falsified or otherwise incomplete, Smith watched the man-shaped mountain return to his limousine
and pull away.



How far we, the mighty, have fallen, he thought to himself. And all thanks to a handful of children.



***



"The data checks out, Countess," the masked scientist said as he looked it over, receiving a pleased nod from the woman as she observed the
various images flickering across the screen. "However...it's far more in-depth and complicated than we'd expected," he admitted.



"Meaning?" Hopkins said for the Countess from his position beside and just behind her.



"Full integration of the Yggdrasil Project's unique metallic properties into the Equipment Materialization system will require time to hammer out.
The two literally act like matter and anti-matter at present, most likely on purpose. Yggdrasil was intended from the start to destroy Materialization
generated materials and weapons. To counteract that inherent destructive frequency and cause the Materialization to produce the proper attributes against
anything but itself will be complicated," the scientist explained. "Though their early research data indicates that it's certainly possible, and
that it was merely their timetable that prevented them from solving the problem themselves. Furthermore, the genetic lock on the full construction blueprints
of Jormungdr will similarly require careful decryption, but once we succeed, we may finally have an ideal programmable template. The genetic lock to ensure
loyalty was a breakthrough we never really considered as a leash mechanism, but solves several problems. In fact, it should be reverse applicable to existing
Scimitars once it's completed," he said. "The applications are frankly limitless once we crack the encryption."



The Countess nodded, pleased. "Continue with the decryption as planned. It holds the key to the final problem we've been facing with this project
from the start. Don't rush things if you think it will endanger the data. With a final solution so close to our grasp, we can afford to be patient,"
she said with a smile that was simultaneously pleasant and absolutely terrifying if one caught sight of the look in her eyes.



"How soon do you think the first prototype will be ready?"

"We can speed up development by utilizing the initial bio-scan data to develop the weapons profile," he said. "It'll allow for at least one
massive conceptual breakthrough we don't have to accomplish before rolling out a field test type," the scientist chuckled. Typing in a few keys, the
small glass container sitting behind multiple layers of blast proof glass began to glow with a soft light before with a soft chink of moving metal, a pair of
pistols snapped into being in mid-air, floating in the projected anti-gravity field.



"We still have to keep power running through them continuously at present, but between the information from the Foundation's labs we've got to
sift through and the analysis of the Nemesis automaton technology, we're confident the end result will be able to power the weapons indefinitely by merely
linking them to the prototype's own bio-output, much like the originals.



The Countess considered the rotating weapons for a moment, before turning back to the man in front of her. "Excellent. Continue your work, Mr. Jackson.
It promises to provide great boons for Crey."

"As you wish, Countess."
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

... I was reading Battle Angel Alita: Last Order when I saw this.

http://www.mangafox.com/m...t_order/v013/c088/2.html

Kishiro is completely insane and only in the best of all possible ways.

because the old one was getting long... and turning into a debate on the merits of spacebattles.com forum as a fic distribution medium and the rules of battletech....

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3258545/1/Undead_Secrets
harry potter with elements of blade and buffy thrown in for flavour

-Z, Post-reader at Medium
----
If architects built buildings the way programmers write programs, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization.

http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

The following is an article for Hero Games that was written a few years back. Right around the time Hero 5th edition first came out. In fact, I think parts of
this article made it into the Champions sourcebook. I wouldn't use the numbers straight. Some of the factors will NOT apply. And because we're dealing
with a bunch of people who were transformed by playing a computer game, (and a single server at that) there will be places that just don't have any supers
at all. (Or would be surprising if they were in those places, like the Congo.) But the thinking behind this might be instructive. And it might be useful as a
comparison.

It also might be useful as a more direct source of inspiration for writing being done directly with our characters within the game world - in non-VIIOR
stories.

Quote: Superbeings Around The World




by Dean Shomshak




How many superbeings should there be in a campaign world? Or to put it another way, what proportion of the population gets super-powers? An article in DRAGON
Magazine many years ago ("One in a Million," by Roger E. Moore, issue #107) suggested a ratio of one superbeing per million normal people in a
country. For the contemporary United States, this gives 266 heroes and villains. Canada gets 29 supers. This jibes nicely with the apparent super-populations
shown in the Marvel, DC and other major comic-book worlds. But what about other countries?




Now, most of the heroes and villains in comic books are American. This is no surprise when a comic is set in an American city! A hero who lives in New York
probably won't interact much with characters from Egypt or India. Still, for hero teams with "international" charters and "worldwide"
responsibilities, such as the Avengers or Justice League, it seems a tiny bit strange for the membership to be 90% American!




On the other hand, the 1-per-million rule would imply that most of the world's supers come from China and India (1,210 and 952, respectively). Africa
would have 732 supers total. The comics do not portray India or Africa as hotbeds of super-activity. (Though it might be the basis of an interesting
campaign!)




The 1:million rule assumes, however, that origins occur randomly and homogeneously. It's true that some classic origins are completely random and
it's hard to see why they should happen more in one place than another. Why should mutants be more common in Scotland than in Swaziland? Why would
glowing meteors fall in Nebraska, and not in Nepal? On the other hand, many origins depend on factors that can vary greatly from country to country.
Radiation accidents, for instance, become even more unlikely in countries that have no nuclear industry or physics research labs.




Different regions, then, will have different proportions of superbeings, depending on what types of origins are probable. If most supers are spontaneous
mutants, there will be little variation: raw population will be the only important factor. If most powers come from expensive super-technology, wealth and
industrialization are the most important factors, and the Third World is pretty much out of luck.




Modifying Factors




In this article, it's assumed that all the classic types of origins are available in a setting, from martial artists to aliens. Each country receives a
divisor to reduce the basic population of supers from the 1:million ratio. The basic divisor is 6, but this can be modified up or down by different factors.




Wealth




Impoverished societies give fewer opportunities for origins. The poor, especially the rural poor, have fewer opportunities to learn science or sorcery; they
seldom encounter high technology; they don't have the luxury of spending years training in the martial arts. A society where most people are subsistence
farmers, nomads, or unskilled laborers will not generate many superbeings. What's more, poor countries generally have lousy health care. Heroes and
villains will be more likely to die from their clashes, further reducing the chance that the society has active superbeings.




The wealth or poverty of a whole society is a little hard to nail down. As a rule of thumb, though, a country whose per-capita GDP is $5000 or less can be
considered poor; a country with a per-capita GDP of $1000 or less is desperately poor. A country's GDP can be found in most general-information almanacs.




Technology




High-tech industry and cutting-edge scientific research is a very common factor in super-origins. Examples are weird accidents in labs, chemical factories
and nuclear power plants, experimental robots, government super-serums and super-gadgeteers. Countries with lots of high-tech are more likely to generate
superbeings.




Martial Arts




Highly skilled martial artists are themselves superbeings. A culture with a strong tradition of the martial arts will tend to produce super-skilled fighters.




Supernatural




On the mystical front, a culture with a famous magical tradition can plausibly produce super-wizards, who may in turn give heroes or villains powers by
magic, or summon demons and spirits as high-powered minions. A great mythology gives opportunities for gods and other supernatural entities to become heroes
and villains, too.




History




Mystic artifacts hidden long ago might be rediscovered in a nation that was once the center of a great empire; or heroes and villains may be inspired by past
glories. On the other hand, recent genocides or the proxy wars of world powers might give individuals a special incentive to seek super-powers, so they can
get revenge.




Bought Origins




Billionaires and megacorporations might import super-technology which a country could never develop on its own. Governments which sponsor terrorism, or which
are ruled by particularly megalomaniacal dictators, might do the same -- or just keep bludgeoning away in the labs until they get a super-powered agent. What
do they care how many test subjects die in the process?




Modifier Numbers




Factors that make origins more likely will subtract from the basic divisor of 6. Factors that reduce the chance of origins will add to it. If one wants a
particular origin type to be more common, one can give it a greater modifier. This list assumes a setting much like the DC Universe or the earlier Marvel
Universe (before everybody and their brother became a mutant), where all sorts of origin types are found and no single type predominates:








Factor Divisor




Base Divisor (Wealthy Society) 6




Poor Society +2




Desperately Poor Society +4




High-Tech Industry, Advanced Research -2




Strong Martial Arts Tradition -1




Famous Magical Tradition/Mythology -1




Former Imperial Power -1




Native Billionaires/Megacorporations -1




Government Sponsors Terrorism -1




Extremely Traumatic Recent History -1




The maximum divisor is 10; the minimum is 1 (no matter how many positive factors a country has, dividing by zero is not allowed!)








Examples




Applying these factors is still a bit subjective, though. How famous does a culture's mythology or folklore have to be? What technology is high enough to
justify industrial accidents as an origin? But here are some examples:




Egypt




With a per-capita GDP of $2,490, Egypt is a poor country. It also has a famous mythology, though, a reputation for ancient magic, and an incredibly glamorous
imperial past. Modern Egypt also has some very rich people. Result: Divisor of 4. From the base population of 63.6 million people, this produces 15.9, or 16
supers.




United States




The United States is, of course, wealthy. It has as much high-tech industry and advanced scientific research as anyplace in the world. There's no
shortage of native billionaires and megacorporations. The US might seem a little scant on the supernatural front...except that as a nation of immigrants it
has inherited every mythic and magical tradition in the world Asian immigration has also brought a flourishing martial arts culture. America's divisor is
1 just because it can't go any lower!




Albania




Poor Albania. The per-capita GDP is said to be $1,100/person, but that was before most of the money in the country was sucked out in 1997 by con men: after
living for 40 years under Stalinist dictatorship, utterly cut off from the rest of the world, the Albanians were suckers for massive pyramid schemes. Albania
is now desperately poor. The late Enver Hoxha, however, was a dictator whose ruthlessness was curtailed only by the limited opportunities available in such a
small and backward nation. Albania's divisor is 9, giving a base super-population of...0.




China




China has an enormous population -- a fifth of all the people in the world. What's more, it has cutting-edge scientific research (advanced enough to make
its own nuclear weapons, at any rate), fantastic traditions of martial arts, magic and myth, and a long imperial past. Even if one assumes that the
per-capita GDP of $2,500 does not accurately reflect a country where half the population engages in subsistence agriculture, and rules that most of China is
actually desperately poor, China still gets an awful lot of superbeings! (India is a similar case.)




GMs should probably give some thought to why Chinese supers don't dominate the news (if not the world!) Do the Western media just not pay attention?
Perhaps many Chinese superbeings aren't interested in being heroes and villains: there could be dozens of martial arts masters and Taoist sorcerers who
live quiet, contented lives without displaying their awesome abilities. Perhaps the Chinese government suppresses news of super-battles, because it wants to
make people think that nothing could challenge its power. Or maybe the Chinese government super-team is so effective at destroying anyone who flat-out
refuses to join that most potential villains and freelance heroes stay in hiding...




Emigration




Heroes and villains don't have to stay in their native country, though. They can emigrate. Supervillains who are only in it for the money will leave
impoverished homelands to seek their fortune in wealthier regions. Conversely, villains from nations with many superbeings (both heroes and villains) might
look for a country where there will be less competition! A sensible villain might conclude that he'd have better chances conquering Albania than America.
(Hey, it's a start...)




As for the heroes? An altruistic superbeing may find that she's the only superbeing in her entire country: if she wants to fight villainy, she'll
have to go somewhere else. On the other hand, a nation which doesn't have enough heroes to deal with the villains might try recruiting superheroes from
other countries. (Ever since the Gulf War, Kuwait has offered the most remarkable benefit packages to supers willing to join its army...)




So What?




All this leaves one very important question. Why bother? What does it matter if other countries have superbeings or not? Or why not just make up characters
as the mood strikes or the need arises?




This isn't just a matter of art for art's sake. Nor does a GM have to actually create heroes and villains for every country in the world! Giving a
little thought to what lies beyond the usual campaign settings, however, can help a GM create better stories.




First, the more a GM knows about the real world, the better he'll be at creating imaginary worlds. The exercise of looking at the world and learning
about other countries has value in its own right.




In particular, working out the super-populations of different countries can suggest stories. Even with the modifying factors, there should be a lot of
superbeings out there, just waiting to be used in a GM's plots! Indeed, a region's oversupply or dearth of superbeings can suggest whole campaigns.




What's more, not everyone shares the attitudes of the modern Western world. Heroes and villains from other cultures may have quite different attitudes.
On an international hero team, this could give opportunities for some juicy roleplaying. Even if the campaign is restricted to one city, visiting superbeings
from other countries might get involved in culture clashes and misunderstandings.




Finally, different cultures can create new challenges for heroes. How well will First World heroes function in third world countries which lack the usual
social supports of hospital emergency rooms, lab facilities, reliable communications -- or civil rights? Heroes can face moral challenges too, in countries
with different standards of crime and government. One man's villain may be another man's hero. Throw the PCs into the middle of a civil war: do they
get involved? Will heroes from a democracy protect a "friendly dictator" from the rebel superbeing who wants to overthrow him? Such situations give
opportunities for some intense soul-searching, and for the heroes' choices to have far-reaching consequences.




In short, looking beyond the usual comic-book settings can suggest new possibilities for play. Why should big American cities have all the fun? There's a
whole world of adventures waiting for the heroes!




Appendix: Populations




These are some guesses about how many supers might have their origins in each nation of the world. They aren't graven in stone; they are to start one
thinking about where the super-action might be. Quite possibly, some countries have been shortchanged because the Humble Author simply doesn't know about
their combat tradition, cool mythology or surprisingly advanced university. Sorry!




Since all the nations which are individually too small to make any super-origins likely can still add up to a pretty fair chunk of population, each continent
also gets an average divisor, which is applied to the continent's total population. Any "leftover origins" are listed as "Not Yet
Assigned." GMs can allocate these origins to whatever countries they want. If you want a hero or villain to come from Gabon or Guyana, Cyprus or St.
Lucia, you can do it.




Finally, PCs are always an exception to whatever population statistics one creates. If a GM in Uruguay wants to make Montevideo a great center for heroes and
villains, he has every right to do so! No matter where you are, these guidelines only apply to the rest of the world.








Nation # Div Population




Africa 105 7 732 million




-Algeria 3 10 29.2 million




-Angola 1 8 10.3 million




-Benin 1 7 5.7 million




-Botswana 0 8 1.5 million




-Burkina Faso 1 10 10.6 million




-Burundi 1 10 5.9 million




-Cameroon 2 8 14.3 million




-Cape Verde 0 8 449,000




-Central African




Republic 0 10 3.3 million




-Chad 1 10 7 million




-Comoros 0 10 569,000




-Congo 0 9 2.5 million




-Congo (Zaire) 5 9 46.5 million




-Cote d'Ivoire 2 7 14.8 million




-Djibouti 0 8 428,000




-Egypt 16 4 63.6 million




-Equatorial Guinea 0 9 431,000




-Eritrea 0 8 3.9 million




-Ethiopia 7 8 57.2 million




-Gabon 0 5 1.2 million




-Gambia 0 8 1.2 million




-Ghana 3 7 17.7 million




-Guinea 1 8 7.4 million




-Guinea-Bissau 0 9 1.2 million




-Kenya 4 7 28.2 million




-Lesotho 0 8 2 million




-Liberia 0 8 2.1 million




-Libya 1 6 5.4 million




-Madagascar 1 10 13.7 million




-Malawi 1 10 9.5 million




-Maldives 0 8 271,000




-Mali 1 9 9.7 million




-Mauritania 0 8 2.3 million




-Mauritius 0 8 1.1 million




-Morocco 4 7 29.8 million




-Mozambique 2 10 17.9 million




-Namibia 0 6 1.7 million




-Niger 1 9 4.9 million




-Nigeria 17 6 103.9 million




-Rwanda 1 10 6.9 million




-Sao Tome &




Principe 0 8 144,000




-Senegal 1 9 9.1 million




-Seychelles 0 8 78,000




-Sierra Leone 0 10 4.8 million




-Somalia 1 9 9.6 million




-South Africa 8 5 41.7 million




-Sudan 4 9 31.1 million




-Swaziland 0 8 999,000




-Tanzania 3 9 29.1 million




-Togo 1 9 4.6 million




-Tunisia 1 7 9 million




-Uganda 2 10 20.2 million




-Zambia 1 10 9.2 million




-Zimbabwe 2 6 11.3 million




Not Yet Assigned 4








Nation # Div Population




Asia 762 4.5 3.43 billion




-Afghanistan 4 5 22.7 million




-Armenia 1 6 3.5 million




-Azerbaijan 1 6 7.7 million




-Bahrain 0 6 590,000




-Bangladesh 15 8 123 million




-Bhutan 0 8 1.8 million




-Brunei 0 7 300,000




-Cambodia 2 7 10.9 million




-China 242 5 1,210 million




-Georgia 1 6 5.2 million




-Hong Kong 3 2 6.3 million




-India 190 5 952.1 million




-Indonesia 41 5 206.6 million




-Iran 17 4 66.1 million




-Iraq 5 4 21.4 million




-Israel 3 2 5.4 million




-Japan 63 2 125.5 million




-Jordan 1 7 4.2 million




-Kazakhstan 3 3 16.9 million




-Korea, North 5 5 23.9 million




-Korea, South 23 2 45.5 million




-Kuwait 0 5 1.9 million




-Kyrgyzstan 1 6 4.5 million




-Laos 1 7 5 million




-Lebanon 1 5 3.8 million




-Malaysia 4 5 20 million




-Mongolia 0 7 2.5 million




-Myanmar 9 5 46 million




-Nepal 4 6 22.1 million




-Oman 1 4 2.2 million




-Pakistan 26 5 129.3 million




-Philippines 15 5 74.5 million




-Qatar 0 5 548,000




-Saudi Arabia 5 4 19.4 million




-Singapore 2 2 3.4 million




-Sri Lanka 3 5 18.6 million




-Syria 4 4 15.6 million




-Taiwan 11 2 21.5 million




-Tajikistan 1 6 5.9 million




-Thailand 15 4 58.9 million




-Turkey 12 5 62.5 million




-Turkmenistan 1 6 4.1 million




-United Arab




Emirates 1 5 3.1 million




-Uzbekistan 5 5 23.4 million




-Vietnam 15 5 74 million




-Yemen 3 5 13.5 million




-Not Yet Assigned 2








Nation # Div Population




Europe 292 2.5 729 million




-Albania 0 9 3.2 million




-Andorra 0 3 73,000




-Austria 4 2 8 million




-Belarus 3 4 10.4 million




-Belgium 5 2 10.2 million




-Bosnia &




Herzegovina 1 5 2.7 million




-Bulgaria 2 4 8.6 million




-Croatia 1 5 5 million




-Cyprus 0 6 745,000




-Czech Republic 3 3 10.3 million




-Denmark 3 2 5.3 million




-Estonia 0 3 1.5 million




-Finland 2 3 5.1 million




-France 29 2 58 million




-Germany 42 2 83.5 million




-Greece 5 2 10.5 million




-Hungary 3 3 10 million




-Iceland 0 3 270,000




Ireland 2 2 3.6 million




-Italy 29 2 57.5 million




-Latvia 1 3 2.5 million




-Liechtenstein 0 3 31,000




-Lithuania 1 3 3.6 million




-Luxembourg 0 2 416,000




-Macedonia 0 5 2.1 million




-Malta 0 4 376,000




-Moldova 1 4 4.5 million




-Monaco 0 2 32,000




-Netherlands 8 2 15.6 million




-Norway 2 2 4.4 million




-Poland 13 3 38.6 million




-Portugal 2 4 9.9 million




-Romania 5 4 21.7 million




-Russia 49 3 148.2 million




-San Marino 0 2 25,000




-Slovakia 1 5 5.4 million




-Slovenia 0 5 2 million




-Spain 13 3 39.2 million




-Sweden 4 2 8.9 million




-Switzerland 5 2 7.2 million




-Ukraine 17 3 50.9 million




-United Kingdom 29 2 58.5 million




-Vatican City 0 2 750




-Yugoslavia 2 4 10.6 million




-Not yet assigned 5








Nation # Div Population




North America 243 1.9 454 million




-Antigua & Barbuda 0 5 66,000




-Bahamas 0 4 259,000




-Barbados 0 5 257,000




-Belize 0 5 219,000




-Canada 19 1.5 28.8 million




-Costa Rica 1 4 3.5 million




-Cuba 3 4 11 million




-Dominica 0 5 83,000




-Dominican




Republic 1 7 8.1 million




-El Salvador 1 7 5.8 million




-Grenada 0 5 95,000




-Guatemala 2 5 11.3 million




-Haiti 1 7 6.7 million




-Honduras 2 5 5.6 million




-Jamaica 1 5 2.6 million




-Mexico 32 3 95.8 million




-Nicaragua 1 5 4.3 million




-Panama 1 5 2.7 million




-St. Kitts-Nevis 0 5 41,000




-St Lucia 0 5 158,000




-St Vincent & the




Grenadines 0 5 118,000




-Trinidad & Tobago 0 5 1.3 million




-United States 177 1.5 265.6 million




-Not Yet Assigned 1








Nation # Div Population




Oceania 12 2.5 29 million




-Australia 9 2 18.3 million




-Fiji 0 8 782,000




-Kiribati 0 8 81,000




-Marshall Islands 0 8 58,000




-Micronesia 0 8 125,000




-Nauru 0 4 10,000




-New Zealand 2 2 3.5 million




-Palau 0 4 17,000




-Papua New Guinea 1 8 4.4 million




-Solomon Islands 0 8 413,000




-Tonga 0 8 106,000




-Tuvalu 0 8 10,000




-Vanuatu 0 8 178,000




-Western Samoa 0 8 214,000




-Not Yet Assigned 1








Nation # Div Population




South America 66 5 323 million




-Argentina 9 4 34.7 million




-Bolivia 2 4 7.2 million




-Brazil 27 6 162.7 million




-Chile 4 4 14.3 million




-Colombia 9 4 36.8 million




-Ecuador 2 5 11.5 million




-Guyana 0 6 712,000




-Paraguay 1 6 5.5 million




-Peru 6 4 24.5 million




-Suriname 0 5 436,000




-Uruguay 1 4 3.2 million




-Venezuela 5 4 22 million




-Not Yet Assigned 0

The Register: Sam Raimi to direct WoW movie
--
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 recently (a week ago) had my desktop decide to die in two different ways. It was giving me grief for a month before that, refusing to start for the first
few (1-12) attempts, but a bit of poking would get it to fire up, and it ran well enough when it was up.

A few days before it died, it began failing to POST, giving me a speaker error code. The code said that no video card was detected... which I knew was bogus,
as my GTX 280 worked just fine when the PC started. I started leaving it on Standby overnight, to minimize the number of times I'd have to start it.

The day before it died, I got hit hard with viruses. I'm still not sure what got me, but the computer did some awful strange things. At one point, I
rattled off a phrase into Google, and it searched backwards. Yeah. So, I moved all essential files off my C
partition (I have 4 other partitions, including 3 other drives), nuked it, and reinstalled XP. As I was bringing it up from a restart (reinstalling drivers),
it decided to die, and none of my poking/prodding was bringing it back up.

It's now working, one week, a new motherboard, and 1.5 days of effort later. The funny part is that, as I was buttoning up the case, I realized that the
reason it wasn't starting wasn't because of the mobo's PCI-E port dying (as I thought), but because the graphics card wasn't properly seated in
the mobo- a quirk in my case made it possible to either seat it properly, or secure it properly. With some... unorthodox efforts (longer screws, different
holes, and big washers), I did both this time. Still, I bought a replacement part I didn't actually need.

Over the last 8 hours, I have almost all my programs reinstalled and running properly. I've expanded my anti-virus/anti-spyware setup (which was screwed
up by WSU's mandatory Symantec install before the reformat), and upgraded everything that had a new release since 2007, when I last reinstalled Windows.

All that's left is to fix my 40-50 game shortcuts that, because the new XP install rearranged my drive letters, don't point to the right places. After
that, I have three more programs to install, about 270GB of personal files (including >40k music files) to organize and comb for redundancies, and several
thousand browser bookmarks to do the same to.

My baby's back up and running, though, and that makes it all worth it.