Lady Nogitsune/QB Kitsune - Jan Kurotaki
''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

Hi, I'm thinking of trying to join in but I've got a few questions to ask.
First, what is the state of shipping in fenspace, specifically between mars,venus, and earth.
Second, is there room for a moderately large vessel (say a 'waved container ship) and attendant ships (cars) to be a profitable (if minor) shipping business, or does Hermes Universal Deliveries have that pretty much covered.
I had more questions but I'm drawing a complete blank now, sorry.Thanks in advance though.

[This time, I'm advancing the character a bit from her original appearance in the pages of GURPS Supers. As of 2007, she's the Team Administrator and Field Commander of IST Tokyo, and has served with a lot of other teams. She's also a world-reknowned marine biologist, and is famous for having been played by Halle Berry in a 1999 film loosely based on IST Japan's fight with Gojira.]
[Yes, really.]
Black Pearl -- 809 points
Attributes: ST 11 [10], DX 14 [80], IQ 16 [120], HT 13 [30].
Secondary Characteristics: Dmg 1d-1/1d+1; BL 24 lbs; HP 11 [0]; Will 16 [0]; Per 18 [15]; FP 13 [0]; Basic Speed 6.75 [0]; Basic Move 6 [0].
Social Background: CF East Asian [1], Western [0]; Lanaguages: English (Native) [0], Japanese (Native) [6]; TL 9^ [0].
Advantages: Absolute Direction [5]; Acute Detection 3 [6]; Acute Hearing 2 [4]; Amphibious* [9]; Beautiful [12]; Combat Reflexes [15]; Danger Sense [15]; Dark Vision* [22]; Detect (Marine Life)* [18]; Doesn't Breathe (Gills, -50%)* [8]; Enhanced Move 3 (Water Move 48)* [54]; IST Membership [86]; IST Rank 7 [35]; Mind Control (Area Effect 4 [16 yard radius], +200%; Specialized, Marine Life, -30%)* [130]; Nictitating Membrane 3* [3]; Pressure Support 2* [9]; Regeneration (Regular)* [22]; Regrowth* [36]; Reputation +3 ("great hero!"; people who saw the movie, large group, 12 or less) [3]; Speak with Animals (Specialized, Marine Life, -40%)* [12]; Unusual Background (Super) [50].
* Super (-10%).
Disadvantages: Bad Sight [-10]; Honesty (12) [-10]; Snese of Duty (Everyone "good") [-10]; Truthfulness (12) [-5]; Vulnerable (Heat/Fire, x3) [-45].
Quirks: Braids seawead in her dreadlocks; dislikes sushi bars and lobster restaurants; embarrassed by her "exaggerated" heroic reputation; tries to work within the system at all times; wants to honor her parents' memory.
Skills: Administration (IQ-1, A)-15 [1]; Aquabatics (DX, H)-14 [4]; Area Knowledge (Australia) (IQ, E)-16 [1]; Area Knowledge (Earth) (IQ, E)-16 [1]; Area Knowledge (Hawaii) (IQ, E)-16 [1]; Area Knowledge (Japan) (IQ+2, E)-18 [4]; Area Knowledge (Los Angeles) (IQ, E)-16 [1]; Area Knowledge (New Zealand) (IQ, E)-16 [1]; Area Knowledge (Sydney) (IQ, E)-16 [1]; Area Knowledge (Tokyo) (IQ, E)-16 [1]; Area Knowledge (United States) (IQ, E)-16 [1]; Area Knowledge (Wellington) (IQ, E)-16 [1]; Biology (Marine Biology) (IQ+2, H)-18 [12]; Chemistry (IQ-1, H)-15 [2]; Computer Operation (IQ, E)-16 [1]; Computer Programming (IQ-2, H)-14 [1]; Current Affairs (Science & Technology) (IQ+2, E)-18 [4]; Dancing (DX+1, A)-15 [4]; Detect Lies (Per, H)-18 [4]; Diplomacy (IQ, H)-16 [4]; First Aid (IQ, E)-16 [1]; Geography (Regional [Pacific Ocean]) (IQ+2, H)-18 [12]; Gesture (IQ, E)-16 [1]; Karate (DX+2, H)-18 [8]; Leadership (IQ-1, A)-15 [1]; Meteorology (IQ-2, H)-14 [1]; Navigation (Sea) (IQ+2, A)-18* [1]; Public Speaking (IQ, A)-16 [2]; Savoir-Faire (Dojo) (IQ, E)-16 [1]; Savoir-Faire (High Society) (IQ, E)-16 [1]; Stealth (DX, A)-14 [2]; Survival (Open Ocean) (IQ, A)-16 [2]; Survival (Reef) (IQ, A)-16 [2]; Tactics (IQ-1, H)-15 [2]; Teaching (IQ-1, A)-15 [1]; Weird Science (IQ-2, VH)-14 [2]; Writing (IQ, A)-16 [2].

New thread specifically for logging/reporting updates to the FenWiki ( fnord.sandwich.net/fenwiki/doku.php )Wire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

Iowa court rules same-sex couples can marry.
And the Polk County recorder's office was accepting applications for less than a day before the ruling was stayed.
20 same sex couples applied, but apparently only one went through the steps necessary to get the application approved before the stay went into effect. (It's not stated where I've seen whether the applications that were already submitted will continue through the approval process or not.)
It really makes me wonder, don't some of these people have anything *better* to do with their time?
-Morgan.
"When you enter combat, please focus on the enemy!"
-Shurelia

Oscar Saint-Just's office was two-thirds of the way across the city from the Octagon, and the office itself lay at the very heart of its own tower. Not even the eye-tearing brilliance of a nuclear detonation could penetrate that much alloy and ceramacrete, but the entire stupendous edifice trembled as if in terror as the shockwave rolled over it. The deeply buried landlines of the government's secure communications system were fully hardened against the EMP of the explosion, and Rachel Speer's image on his com display didn't even flicker.
Nor did her gaze, as she looked out of the display into his eyes.
"Detonation confirmed . . . Citizen Chairman," she said softly.
(From "Nightfall", by David Weber, published in the anthology Changer of Worlds by Baen Books.)
--- --- --- --- ---
Esther McQueen, once Admiral of the People's Navy and Secretary of War for the Committee of Public Safety, sat casually on a pile of rubble. She would have picked up rocks and tossed them at one of the other piles of rubble, but she couldn't: her fingers passed right through them, unless she concentrated on what she was doing. Which made it a poor choice of cure for boredom. What she really wanted to do was to go and throttle Oscar Saint-Just, but for some reason, she couldn't seem to get beyond the edge of the crater that used to be the Octagon. She thought it might have something to do with the piece of chain hanging from her chest, but she couldn't prove anything yet.
"Wow, they really did a number on this place." She didn't turn around, just yet. The voice was young, male, probably a teenager to judge by the sound, but that didn't mean much in a society with access to prolong therapies. Rocks ground against each other underfoot as he walked up to the hill, and then asked her, "Excuse me, miss... er," he paused, for some reason, then continued "Er, Admiral?"
Esther looked up and over at him at last. He looked just as young as his voice sounded, with slightly shaggy brown hair and dark eyes. The black robe was a particularly nice touch, she thought, and fit with the sword belted to his waist. "Can I help you, young man?"
"Ah, well, er," he said, reaching a hand up to scratch the back of his neck, laughing nervously. "Actually, I'm supposed to be here to help you, ma'am. Sorry, let me introduce myself. Keigo Asano, shinigami, eighth seat, fifth division." He bowed, one of the formal, archaic Oriental bows like she'd seen martial artists use.
"Admiral Esther McQueen, People's Navy," she offered in return. "Although I get the feeling that the rank is kind of meaningless now."
"Well," the 'shinigami' (whatever that was) mused, "It's not like we have a lot of space fleets... and I think your old boss kind of fired you."
"That's one way to put it," she agreed. "So what happens now?"
"Mmn. You can't stay here forever... you'd turn into a Hollow, or get eaten by one. That's what we shinigami do, primarily... escort souls like you to the Soul Society."
A bitter laugh escaped her lips. "I'm not exactly expecting to go on to Heaven, kid..."
He shook his head quickly. "No, no, it isn't really like that... at least, not right away. Not even we know if there's really a Heaven like you mean... Soul Society is mostly a place for people to live while they wait to be reborn. Of course, it might take a century or two... or longer... hehhe..."
That same nervous laugh again, McQueen wondered, What is he hiding?
"Are you, ah, ready to go on, then, ma'am?" he asked, slipping his sword easily from its sheathe. She eyed it for a moment, warily, then shrugged.
"I'd like to give Saint-Just his due," she muttered, "But I don't think that's going to be very easy in this state." She stood up, dusted off her uniform trousers - another meaningless gesture - and climbed carefully down from her perch.
"Don't worry, ma'am. Everything's going to be alright." And with that, the boy took his sword, and - did not, as McQueen had feared, slice the blade down through her ghostly body. Instead he simply touched the hilt, ever so gently, to her forehead, and whispered a single word, "Konso."
And then the world went dark, and she saw no more.
--
"I give you the beautiful... the talented... the tirelessly atomic-powered...
R!
DOROTHY!
WAYNERIGHT!
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.

Branching the Shuttle discussion off the TSAB thread, here's my incomplete proposal for the original NASA Shuttles (barring any replicas, mockups, new builds or whatever). I've tried to strip the wikicode out of this stuff to the point where it's readable, so bear with me.
The Three Graces
created by Sean Breen, with help from many others
Registry Numbers: OV-103, OV-104, OV-105
Base Hull: Rockwell International Space Shuttle Orbiter
Drive Type: Speed (handwavium impulse engine)
Drive Rating: Max velocity 0.05c
Owner of Record: United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Flag of Record: United States of America
Home Port: Kennedy Space Center, Titusville, Florida
Purpose: Scientific research vessel
Launched:
* 30 September 2013 (OV-105)
* 28 January 2014 (OV-103)
* 30 April 2014 (OV-104)
Crew: Varies according to crew rotation schedule
Supplementary Crew:
* $name (AI, MS-0, OV-103)
* $name (AI, MS-0, OV-104)
* $name (AI, MS-0, OV-105)
Faction: 'Danelaw (United States)
Status: Under Discussion
"The Three Graces" is the informal nickname for the handwaved NASA Space Shuttle fleet.
===== History =====
The three surviving operational NASA Shuttles (OV-103 //Discovery//, OV-104 //Atlantis// and OV-105 //Endeavour//) were grounded after the official completion of the International Space Station in 2010. Calls from the public, space industry experts, the astronaut corps and even certain Fenspace factions to have the Orbiters refit with handwavium were officially regarded as "not cost-effective." Unofficially, NASA management was interested in applying handwavium to the Orbiters as a way to keep their hand in the game. Unfortunately for NASA, the Transrationality Science Assesment Bureau controlled all government supplies of pure handwavium, and TSAB's Air Force patrons were unwilling to let NASA have access.
The three Orbiters remained in long-term storage at Kennedy Space Center until 2012, when an anonymous dontation(1) of 100 gallons of //Hephaestus//'s best structural handwavium and a pint of Memnosyne's Honey.
===== Known Quirks =====
The Graces, having all been handwaved (more or less) at the same time, with (more or less) identical equpiment and (more or less) the same handwavium strains, actually manage to approach something of a uniform consistency. The individual Orbiters have their own quirks, of course, but at the same time the Graces //as a class// have several defined quirks.
==== Class Quirks ====
* foo
* bar
* baz
==== Vehicle Quirks (Discovery) ====
* Falling Free: When the Orbiter is powered up, the crew cabin and main cargo bay are zero-g areas, even when //Discovery// is on the ground.
* foo
* bar
==== Vehicle Quirks (Atlantis) ====
* foo
* bar
* baz
==== Vehicle Quirks (Endeavour) ====
* foo
* bar
* baz
===== Stories =====
The Three Graces have been featured in the following stories:
* foo
* bar
* baz
(1): The donation coinciding with the Soviet Air Force visit to KSC on Yuri's Night 2012 being a massive coincidence, of course.
---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery

FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information

"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"

...on the DW FAQ question about crossovers with other fanfics, and realized that the web of interconnections was growing kinda big. So I sat down with a pad of yellow legal paper and started diagramming things.
And I realized two things -- one, that folks here might get a kick out of it, and two, I certainly don't know everything that crosses over with everything else on the diagram that I came up with, so maybe people could suggest additional series to add.
I've gone through a couple versions in different media, but so far this is the simplest and the quickest to modify. So may I present to you a little thing that I'm tentatively calling "The Twisterverse":

Er, yeah, so. I've been busy. I'll probably get some time to log in next week, largely because that's when my paid time runs until - but after that I'll drop off the radar again. As it happens the end of my current subscription time matches exactly when I'll be busy again. I'll probably be back in-game more regularly in October or so.
I've already got the game time card to activate for that. =P
-- Acyl

'Commercially unimportant' copyright infringement punished

Quote:

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A software developer responsible for a copyright infringement described even by the copyright owner as insignificant still broke the law, a court has ruled. An injunction has been served even though the infringer has stopped using the technology. ...

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