Warning: This song has been declared an act of war in at least one
parallel Universe.

Creates a similcra of a flying Goldfish the size of Dougs Head.

--

kingyo ga sora wo tobu sonna no aribaba?

atama wo tobikoe piyo piyo panikku

hinde gokuraku mite oosawagi

kingyo ga te no risuru sonna no aribaba?

hissatsu jyanpu de pitari to finishuu

kingyo no jisho ni fukanou wa nai

pinku iro wa shiawase no iro kyou mo kitto

dare ka ni hora mahou wo hakobu yo

waku waku pareedo gyopi-chan no otooridai

ichi ni no san shi de minna kibun wa sukippu

gyopi n to hajikerya kore zo gyopi-chan

suupaa kingyo

kingyo ga umi wo yuku sonna no aribaba?

naim wo kakiwakete purupuru kurooru

kingyo wa dokyou yareba dekiru sa

kingyo podechi suki sonna no aribaba?

okawari okure to pakkuri anguri

kingyo hyaku made podechi wasurezu

doko he itte mo jiman na nai ga uwasa no ma to

hippari dako tadamono ja nai ne

waku waku pareedo gyopi-chan no otooridai

omatsuri sawagi de minna hanzai sanshou

gyopi n to kuridasha warau kingyo ni

shiawase ga kuru

waku waku pareedo gyopi-chan no otooridai

ichi ni no san shi de minna kibun wa sukippu

gyopi n to hajikerya kore zo gyopi-chan

suupaa kingyo

Does anybody else play the Ultracorps game at the Steve Jackson Games website (www.sjgames.com/ourgames/online.html)? If so, are you currently able to login? I've been trying for over
six hours and keep getting error messages telling me that Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage.

Never mind. It is finally allowing me access.
----------------------------------------------------

"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV

Basic Idea: Room of Requirements.

Hold Umbridge by luring her in to hold her and only her

Objections:

1)Room reconfiguration

A:The Ravenclaw Diadem was not accessed until someone needed that room again.

2)Anytime someone else accessed her room, they'd let her out.

A)Use a password-locked holding cell. This way, even if they do get into the Room, they'd still need to get past the cell door.

She plops down a large bundle of assorted fen script and orders a steady stream of Wave Shots, a blanket and a bucket.

As she sits at a table in the back of the bar she proceed, (Between drinking a shot, and upchucking bits of metal, plastic and electronic parts) to tell her
tale.

She was exploring the Oort cloud when she was captured by Reaver Catgirls. She was then shoved into a Vat of Handwavium with a plastic skeleton modified with
claws and electronic bits. She tries, and fails to describe the physical and mental pain as her body is bonded to the Skeleton and the electronics attached to
her Central nervous system. She tells of the Horror of having to watch her body capture other fen and force them into a similar vat for transformation.

As She tells this tale her body is shifting and reforming each time changing only a little bit with each consumption of Handwaved Jello(tm), alcohol, and
microchips.

Finaly the transformation is complete. The cat girl is now a Middle Aged Man with a very unusual Biomod. Wrapped in the blanket, he exits the bar and whistles
loudly, summoning from nearby a dirty yellow Vespa with an Electric Guitar strapped to it. He mounts the Vespa, and zips away at a speed that can be
considered near reckless only if you aproach from the other side of reckless speed....

If you use Eudora for your email, you are likely aware of the problem of using the websearch function therein which results in an error message announcing the
failure to reach jump.eudora.com.

I have found a simple solution to this problem:

In your hosts file add the following line anywhere within it:

google.com jump.eudora.com

This will automatically redirect the search directly to google, -without- any attempt to actually reach jump.eudora.com.

Took too much money out of my account yesterday, and as such my subscription just got canceled. So, uh... You guys won't see me in Paragon until Wednesday

Wave Shots: Take your standard Jello Shot, Add 1 Microchip, and 1 gram of Handwavium. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Note: a Fen can either retrieve the Microchip
for later use, or consume said chip with the Shot. (Not recommended for Nonbiomodded Fen.)

Shotwaving: The process of Handwaving large quantities of identical items.

I just happened to be perusing Google for some info about the flags that have flown over Texas. I wanted to find something to use as a war banner for the
Roughriders. Well, I found one alright, and the Gunner's Mate in me approves heartily.

Behold, the Gonzales Banner of 1835.

The story goes that during the Texas Revolution, the Texans took back the town of Gonzales with ease. The Mexicans had to pull out so quickly that they left a
cannon behind. So, they asked for it back. Being Texans, they sent that banner up in response.

While the Republic of Texas flag would be flown as the traditional ensign of the Roughriders, they'll use the Gonzales Banner when flying into battle. It
sends a pretty clear message, I think: "You want a piece of this? Come and get it then!" *wicked grin*

What is an enemy? What is a friend? Is it a distinction made by rules and laws? Do the rulers and officers and commanders
determine for us who we are allowed to trust? Is it only once they cross to our side of the line that they are allowed to be seen as people worthy of trust,
camradrie, or love? Or is it that connection, that looking at them in the eye and knowing a sense of mutual respect, that you would rather talk with, fight
with, live with this person than a total stranger, that defines what it means to truly say you know them? We learned that men cannot be judged by the color of
their skin, but by the strength of their character. Is this only applicable if the man in question is human? Or are these Traditionalists, Rikti though they
may be, the first chance to look beyond the inhuman features of a faceless enemy and find a person that may become a friend?

- Incandescent, head of the Vanguard Herald Division, addressing the UN Oversight Committee regarding opening peace talks
with the Rikti Traditionalist Faction.

Riot Force Reports:

The Ties That Bind

Prologue

The conference room was in utter uproar, as the most influential men and women in Vanguard abruptly had to deal with an event that had been thought utterly preposterous only hours before.

"We need to start screening all registered heroes currently working for us," Borea said. "There has to be some sort of way we can determine if there are any more. We have to contain this breach now."

"What about the infiltrator? If she got as deep in as
she did, we don't know what's jeopardized," Gaussian said. "The Rikti could know anything. Our access codes, our transmission frequencies.
We need to rotate every classified frequency and procedure she had access to."

"Do we really know if she's jeopardized
anything?" Serpent Drummer said, frowning from his position. "She turned herself in, and from what she told us, she was infiltrating us to get
information on Hro'Dtohz. If anything, that makes her almost as much of an ally as the Traditionalists. She even sees the war as pointless in the face of
this intelligence."

"In the face of intelligence on Nemesis, which seems
to indicate he incited the Rikti War. While I agree it's proven, how do we know this isn't an elaborate plot by Nemesis with the assistance of the
Restructurists? He's tried replacing their leaders before. What if he's succeeded this time?" Levantera scowled. "We don't know that
she's telling the truth. All we do know is that she's not in telepathic contact with the rest of the Rikti, from what the Psi Division is
saying."

"We need more information. If we could interrogate
her…." Gaussian began, before a cool voice cut him off.

"No," the Dark Watcher said quietly, managing to
still the chaos despite barely being audible. "We're not touching her."

"Why not?" Gaussian frowned. "Don't give
me any of your usual mysterious bullshit, Watcher. This is a serious matter of security! We've had a Rikti in our ranks for almost a month, with full
access to our facilities, and we didn't even know it!"

"No, you didn't know it,"
the Watcher said. "I've been observing Miss W'tin for some time, waiting for the moment to intervene to prevent this from going bad for all
concerned. Us, the Rikti, and especially the young archer."

"With all due respect, Watcher, you've known about
a catastrophic breach of security for months and kept quiet without consulting anyone here?" Levantera said, a touch of shock creeping into her
voice.

"No. I explained my case to the Lady Grey, and she
agreed with my reasoning. Now, you all need to calm down. We can question her, yes, but there will be no interrogation. I also need to prepare some
eventualities in case events get out of hand. And I imagine you'll want to rotate those frequencies anyway, Gaussian, so I'll leave that to you.
Serpent Drummer, get this information to our Traditionalist allies. I'd suggest bringing along some people to help calm them down, for obvious reasons.
We're going to have to handle this very carefully if we don't want it to turn into a disaster, so everyone on your toes. Get going." With that,
the Dark Watcher opened a portal to his side, stepping through it to an unknown location, leaving the remaining members of the upper ranks of Vanguard
staring after him before grudgingly going to their tasks.

***

The Watcher stepped into a classically decorated office,
stepping up behind a large armchair sitting in front of a small fireplace.

"You are sure about this?" the Lady Grey asked
simply.

The Watcher nodded. "I think she's the break
we've been waiting for. A Restructurist who isn't fanatically devoted to Hro'Dtohz. If she comes around…it's a step towards ending this war,
once and for all."

"You speak of objectives, but that is not why you
argued this case so strongly to us before," she pointed out.

The Watcher smiled ever so slightly. "No, it
wasn't. There's more to this than war and politics. What happens next….well, things will get ugly. But I'm going to do my damnedest to give those
two kids a chance to figure this out on their own. If it helps save the world….that's a bonus."

"You're sentimental behind your detachment as
always, Devon. But we agree with your decision. Carry it out, and be careful. We would prefer not to see unwarranted damage befall anyone in this
pursuit."

"As you say, Lady Grey," he said respectfully,
before vanishing into the shadows again.
---
"Oh, silver blade, forged in the depths of the beyond. Heed my summons and purge those who stand in my way. Lay
waste."

Fen refer to the events jokingly as Operations Digital Sheild and Digital Storm.

In the early days of Fenspace, a group of scriptkiddies decided to have a contest to see who could be the first to 'hack' Fenspace. Unfortunately for
them, they thought the rumored Fen AIs were no better than the stuff being developed on Earth. The first few days (Digital Sheild) consisted of the Fen AIs
stonewalling all hacking attempts while subtly tracing the sources. As more and more hackers joined the 'contest' to show off their 'leet
skillz', the AIs kept adding to their target list and cooking up surprises. Finally the decided to go on the offensive (Digital Storm). This was a much
quicker 'operation'. In a few short hours each of the hackers were given a lesson on cybercombat.

Of course, the anti-wave crowd immediately jumped on this 'unprovoked attack on today's youth' as yet another example of the evils of handwavium.
___________________________
"I've always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific." - George Carlin