Whelp, the Australian military is carrying out the largest evacuation in Australian history to the east of us. Local weather's shifted to a sudden drop in temp again, but that'll last a few days at most, I suspect.

Sunday, October 6, 1995, 7:49 AM.  The Great Hall.

Albus paused in eating his breakfast, a forkful of egg midway
between his plate and mouth, as a set of familiar robes appeared
on the other side of the staff table from his seat.

"Yes, Douglas?" he said mildly.  "Can I help you?"

Douglas leaned down to bring his face closer to Albus'.  It did
not bear its usual cheerful, indeed mischievous, smile, and a
certain foreboding seized the Headmaster's heart.  "Albus," he
said in low and quietly angry tones, "you have the ghost of a
*murdered child* bound for eternity to a moldy, broken bathroom,
and everyone I've spoken to in this castle not only knows about
it but treats her as a minor *inconvenience*!"  He leaned in
closer and snarled, "What is *wrong* with you people?"

Albus closed his eyes and suppressed a sigh.

RIP NBA commissioner emeritus David Stern, on January 1.

Here's hoping 2020 will be a better year that 2019.

(I won't wish for politics to get better, because I know that isn't happening any time soon. But maybe we can get some positive action in other fields of human endeavour.)

To all board members who celebrate Christmas, my best wishes to you this holiday season.

We're almost finished a year that ends in a 9, so it's time for retrospective lists.

I'll start off with The 2010s: The Decade Canadian Artists Stopped Saying Sorry

It's a big list.

(Ten years ago, nobody outside of Canada had heard of Arcade Fire, or Drake, or Justin Bieber... Well, two out of three ain't bad. )

Old thread is still useful.

EDIT: All of the old threads:

• Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals
  
• The Return of Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals
  
• The Third Thread of Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals
  
• The Fourth Thread of Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals
  
• The Fifth Thread of Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals
  
• The Sixth Thread of Planning for Arc 1 - Arrivals
  

(12-04-2019, 07:38 PM)robkelk Wrote: So, it's three weeks until Christmas. Anybody think we can get the Christmas Party story finished by then?

(dodges the incoming attacks from pretty much everybody)



EDIT: Here's a serious suggestion for that story. Each writer picks one of the characters from his or her household and writes a scene where that character gets or makes a gift for the person whose name he or she drew. (The list is here.) The challenge is that you aren't allowed to pick your SI - you have to write the story from a different character's viewpoint.

There are some easy name-draws (e.g. Sakura Kinomoto drew Tomoyo Daidouji's name) and some difficult ones (e.g. Ryo-Ooki drew Tomo Takino's name) - pick a scene to give yourself as much or as little a writing challenge as you prefer.

Oh, yes... Ben, in case you haven't read the list yet: Ayeka drew Ryoko's name. I expect hilarity to ensue.

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This one is simple and obvious - it turns Doug into a metal man like Marvel's Colossus or Wildbow's Weld for the duration. I suppose it could also be a simulacrum song for either, or for a similar character like Al or Armstrong from FMA, too. Or some flavor of buma from his BGC step.

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I don't know if Doug's ever been to the/a Marvel universe, or met the Ghost Rider, but that's what this song brought to mind. It's probably not something he' be too keen on using outside very specific situations, but then that's what his power is best at, isn't it? It might "just" open a channel for the Ghost Rider to use him for a host instead, but that would be one he's even less eager to use.

Simply put, the US government appears to not want people to visit the USA. I say that because of the measures they are putting into place at border crossings with Canada.

Opinion piece by a Ph.D. candidate in American Studies at Rutgers: Canadians travelling to or through U.S. should pay close attention to their withering rights

Quote:The United States and Canada share what's been known as the longest undefended border in the world, because of the neighbourly sentiment between the nations. Now defence has become irrelevant, because Canadian lawmakers have effectively invited an invasion by U.S. border authorities.

Quote:Even if a Canadian official is "unwilling" to conduct a search or has deemed a detainment unnecessary, a U.S. official can override that call. In other words, Canadian law enforcement can now be countermanded within Canada by Americans.

This new authority also allows U.S. border guards to deny Canadians their right of withdrawal. Before the amendment to the law was enacted, if a person felt at all uncomfortable in the course of preclearance questioning she could simply leave, retracting her intention to cross the border with no penalty.

Now, as a result of amendments, the guard is entitled to detain her if he finds "reasonable grounds" to do so. And the request to leave in itself could be construed as reasonable grounds.

Quote:Scarier still is the provision that undergirds every amendment to the agreement: that U.S. border officials will not be held accountable for impropriety.

In the exact language of the bill, "no action or civil proceeding may be brought against a U.S. preclearance officer in respect of anything that is done or omitted in the exercise of their powers, or the performance of their duties and functions under the legislation."

So there will be no repercussions for anything committed in the exercise of their powers.