... and I'm not talking about the Britney "The Umbrella-Wielding Meltdown" Spears song. I've let this area go for a while rather than deal with the posts in it. Sorry. I'm going to try to catch up now, though.
-- Bob
---------
Visit beautiful Boston, proud successor to Seattle as
"City Most Scared Of Its Own Shadow

I'm having some trouble parsing the phrase 'metafinal preread'. Help?

So just yesterday I logged into Mace (Red Side Virtue) to get the Valentine's Day Badges for him. Only, something didn't seem right.
Exhibit A

Not sure how it happened, but there he was on the hero side. And yes, I did try the doors to see if I could escape anywhere but into the club; I couldn't. Darn it.
It was just startling enough that I had to share.
-Cindy

(I typed this out about a month ago, and have been dithering about whether to post it ever since. Obviously, I've finally decided to do so...
Commentary and rebuttals are not just requested, they're encouraged - it's a fairly big part of the background assumption that I'm poking at
here.)

Way back, before I started contributing, a question was raised. Somebody offered an answer, possibly in jest. That answer was discussed for a short time, and a
conclusion was reached by the simple matter of discussion dying off - I don't recall seeing agreement reached, just discussion dying off. So, near as I can
tell, we've got an Elephant in the Parlor ...

Here's my position on the topic, to get discussion going again: As far as I'm concerned, the Fenspace characters calling themselves Haruhi and the
SOS-dan are biomodded Fen, not the anime or manga characters.

Here's why I take that position: If we were to allow the alternate possibility - that Haruhi and the SOS-dan actually
are Haruhi and the SOS-dan - then we'd be opening a can of worms that we've already agreed
to keep closed. I doubt anyone wants time travel to actually work in Fenspace, and esper abilities are part of the super-powers that we've already agreed
are simply not possible. But if the SOS-dan really are the SOS-dan, then they've got at least one time-traveler and at least one esper in their number...
Oops; there go the "no time travel" and "no super powers" restrictions in the setting. (Also, doesn't Haruhi-kami
want espers? If Handwavium came from her, then it should be able to create super-powers that match
esper abilities. But it can't, so...)

Less importantly, saying "the magic goop came from Haruhi-kami and acts the way it does because that's what she wants" assigns rules to the
Handwavium, which in my opinion goes against the spirit of the Guidelines. I'd have the same objection if you replace "Haruhi" with
"Belldandy", or "Washuu", or "Dark Schneider", or any other godlike fictional character. It's
Handwavium - the embodiment of handwaving away awkward details. It's the setting's
"unicorn in the garden" that doesn't need to be explained. This isn't Hard SF, folks; it's Space Opera - not everything needs an
explanation. (I'm reminded of the explanation for FTL travel and communications in "Doc" Smith's Skylark
series: "Einstein's theory is only a theory. That distance is an observed fact." That's classic handwaving - in that
universe, FTL travel Just Is. In the same vein, in my humble opinion, Handwavium Just Is. You don't explain
handwaving - if you do, then it isn't handwaving any more.) But this whole paragraph is just my artistic sense talking...

As for the SOS-dan themselves, we already have plenty of secondary characters based on anime or manga characters: Matel, Catty, and Sora are three who came to
mind immediately. (And the Auska-AI makes a fourth.) Who'd blink at another "anime
character come to life" or six?

Untimately, of course, it makes no difference to the stories that have already been told whether the SOS-dan are or aren't the "real" SOS-dan.
But it may make a difference to future stories...

(Especially since we're looking at making indirect contact with aliens in December 2012.)

-Rob Kelk
--
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

Link to official site
Finally, a Mayhem mish for heroes.
''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

Band: Tiger Lillies
Album: Bad Blood + Blasphemy
Song: Start a Fire [2:13]
Samples can be found here on iTunes.
---
I like burning houses down, and factories as well.
I like burning anything, it's the truth I tell.
Libraries and museums, both of them have fell,
I like burning things, burning things is swell.
I would like to start it as a fashion trend,
Amongst the young people, then the world might end.
Wouldn't it be fun, to ring the funeral bell,
On our civilization, and watch it burn in Hell.
Start a fire, start a fire, start a fire today.
Burn it, burn it, burn it, burn it, burn it all away.
Fire! Fire!
In the summer I like to go to the country side,
Where I burn a forest down, I watch it burn with pride.
Isn't nature wonderful, it makes things so dry,
Burn it, burn it, burn it, burn it, burn the country side.
Start a fire, start a fire, start a fire today
Burn it, burn it, burn it, burn it, burn it all away.
Fire! Fire!
It makes me feel so sad to see young people dance,
They could burn the discotheque down, they've got every chance.
Then they'd get themselves into the news,
Burning things, burning things can make you famous too.
Start a fire, start a fire, start a fire today
Burn it, burn it, burn it, burn it, burn it all away.
Fire! Fire!
Burn it, burn it, burn it, burn it, burn it all away.
---
Power: Pros - Gives Doug fire control (maybe not create, but control).
Cons - Gives Doug pyromania.*********
Touched By His Noodly Appendage
www.venganza.org

Eldritch Pyre and Girl Geek are both over the 120-day inactivity limit. This is fair warning -- I'll probably kick them sometime in the next week if they don't get some play in.
-- Bob
---------
Visit beautiful Boston, proud successor to Seattle as
"City Most Scared Of Its Own Shadow

After almost 4 years of silence Sinom Bre has posted something new.
www.fanfiction.net/s/3406819/1/

Kheram

[Apologies for any liberties taken. I've tried to work within the Heisman canon, as I know it.]
Being a mechanical manservant did have its advantages, thought MART-1N as he quietly dusted the Heisman trophy case. Not having to sleep, he found it easier to get things done in the dark hours between Miss Mackenzie final collapse into slumber around 1:30 (1:32.739 this evening, to be precise, and well within the margin of error) and the mass exodus of the family to school, work, patrol, and otherwise at around 7:00. Despite the fact that Mister and Missus Heisman generally sent MART-1N's adolescent mistress to bed around midnight (12:08.229 this evening, factoring in the buffer for bargaining, demanding, and cajoling from Miss Mackenzie), she often spent several hours insisting she wasn't tired and scribbling away at plans on her portable CADD tablet, all the while tasking MART-1N to check on inventory, prep the testbeds, order supplies, lay out her clothes for the next morning, and pack her lunch. (In actuality, Missus Heisman took the time to make lunches for her children, leaving MART-1N to deliver the order and assist with the job.) However, she would succumb to slumber shortly, and MART-1N would find himself the only being in the house that was out and active (with maybe the exception of Mister and Missus Heisman, if they happened to get a late call from the City).
The unfortunate thing about being mechanical and not requiring sleep was the time it gave him to pursue research. "Research" was one of his parameters as Miss Mackenzie's minion. His original functions included library research for Miss Mackenzie's numerous projects (22 currently in operation, including three separate prototypes for perpetual motion machines), and she had given him some flexibility into what subjects might need to be researched. It was unlikely that she would ever need to know the origin of the Caesar Salad or the history of its development, but she might someday, and so MART-1N had committed it to his prodigious memory, along with a large number of other esoteric subjects.
Including philosophy and the nature of sentience. There were any number of extradimensional and alien lifeforms in Paragon City, and the discussion of their rights as citizens and their ability to reason was something of a continuing topic, both in the centers of legislature and the halls of academia. The University Annex at Salamanca had a number of essays and papers on the intelligence of creatures like the Tuatha du Danu and the Red Caps, and the College of Humanities (headquartered at the campus in Founders Falls) had a massive collection of essays on the subjects of intelligence, morality, and ethics, ranging from the development of the Council's current dogma since World War II to the effect of the modern business world on the manifestation of Freakshow anarchy to the projected intelligence of Rikti Monkeys. Discussions on robotic lifeforms were commonplace. MART-1N had downloaded a number files, thinking that they would be useful for Miss Mackenzie during future upgrades. What he had found was not only useful, but also unsettling.
Despite his expressionless metal face, MART-1N often spent these late hours in deep philosophical turmoil. He wasn't sure that he was aware, since he continued to perform jobs that Miss Mackenzie and her family requested of him without complaint. He was most assuredly still beholden to the Hardwired Directives installed by Dr. Mac Hine. But none of the Directives, or even the tasks set to him by the Heismans or their extended clan, were particularly unpleasant. But, he wondered whether this was because he enjoyed the work, or if he was programmed to enjoy the work. It was very confusing, and he was unsure who to question about this.
With a final twist of his polishing rag, MART-1N finished cleaning the last of Master George's baseball trophies and turned his mind toward the next task, breakfast. While part of his massive processor was engaged in managing a number of experiments running in Miss Mackenzie's lab, breakfast for the Heisman family still required a large amount of time. While part of him was cleaning the living room and another section was managing the lab, a third had been selecting the proper menu for the next day. It was important to be able to feed all of the family well. Mister Heisman was raised in an old-fashioned home, where breakfast was stressed as the most important meal of the day, and MART-1N understood that there needed to be not only enough food, but a proper balance of food. Which was why breakfast would be including hash browns, Canadian bacon, fresh canteloupe, fresh tomato and orange juice, and waffles.
MART-1N was particularly proud of his waffles. While he could not consume human food, he had performed painstaking research on the recipe, consulting both Missus Heisman and her mother-in-law, and testing it on a number of unbiased judges before serving them to the family. (In truth, Mister Superball wasn't exactly unbiased, but he had admitted a particular favorability to anyone who gave him a free meal, so MART-1N considered it a fair judgment.) It took a few tries, but Waffle v. 2.7 was regarded as a rousing success in the Heisman household. MART-1N started to move towards the kitchen to prepare when his cognitive programming noticed the red flag that the menu planning subroutine had thrown up.
They were low on eggs. He supposed it was his fault, since he had made a souffle the night before last. And Waffle v. 2.7 did require a lot of eggs. Ah well, there was nothing to do for it except run down to the store. Stowing his cleaning gear in its regular closet, he set the timer on the coffee maker by wireless connection, made sure that the hopper on Miss Mackenzie's Juice-O-Matic was full of the right tomatoes (invented when she was four, it could juice a crate of oranges or tomatoes in about ten minues, as well as do some rather unpleasant things to a Hellion if the right setting was selected), and left a message on Mister Heisman's communicator in case they needed him. Straightening his Mark III Battle Gorget (also known as a bowtie), he stepped out the front door, locked up and secured the home, and headed off down the sidewalk towards the grocery at a brisk pace.Ebony the Black Dragon
Senior Editor, Living Room Games
http://www.lrgames.com
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com

"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."

Can anyone recommend any decent Avatar fanfics? I don't feel inclined to wade through endless piles of Zuko - Kitara romances to try and find something decent myself.