Right, so one of the big caveats of fenspace is that a lot of the problems that have been popping up lately don't happen over there.  A bit of an issue, considering that for things like global warming and other issues, most of the groundwork was laid over the past century instead of the past 8ish years.

So, I figured it might be good to figure out how more recent changes might have been mitigated or averted thanks to the fen, or possible handwaves(Boo, hiss!) that might have happened in the fen universe rather than our own.

To start with: the atmospheric CO2 count. Still rising like a saturn 5 in our universe. But for the fen, it might be a pretty easy source of carbon for off-world settlements. You could repurpose ramscoops and magnetic ramscoops to filter out atmospheric carbon to take back to places like mars or for use in feeding plants on the moon or other settlements, say using lighter than air ships, or electric planes running on handwaved solar panels and batteries while flying at atmospheric mid-levels over the oceans. Depending on the efficiency, you might be able to halt or reverse the CO2 increase, and there might be story fodder in 'carbon runners' trying to scoop from especially dirty locations, like near the middle east, or off of China's coast while trying to avoid people trying to shoot them down. I know the NLR will need metric butt-loads of carbon for their nanotube plants for building the Plaskett dome.

Another thing that might help is the theoretical major solar minimum coming. Might happen much faster and far more intensely in fenspace, resulting in something like the Maunder Minimum to provide a major cooling effect for the Earth.

This stuff might be a good way to explore how mundanes and fendanes are using handwavium, since they would be much more interested in stopping enviromental issues, to the point of a fen-like fervor in doing anything necessary to help fix the damages already done. 

Your duin it rong!
--
"Anko, what you do in your free time is your own choice. Use it wisely. And if you do not use it wisely, make sure you thoroughly enjoy whatever unwise thing you are doing." - HymnOfRagnorok as Orochimaru at SpaceBattles
woot Med. Eng., verb, 1st & 3rd pers. prsnt. sg. know, knows

... but that's what's happening this weekend at the Ottawa ComicCon.

CBC Ottawa: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/ac ... -1.3062450]Actor Wil Wheaton to unveil beer at Ottawa ComicCon

(Bob, this is from the microbrewery that made the beer Attila liked when we got together last year.)
--
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

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/st ... -1.3060601

(Note what else was on the play list.)
--
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

The red uniform finally caught up with Janice Rand.
Considering that Grace Lee Whitney was thirty-six when Star Trek began, it's ironic that Vonda McIntyre wrote a novel which claimed that Rand was underage -- in her mid-to-late teens (and lying about it) -- when Kirk took command of the Enterprise.  Retroactive Dawson Casting?
-----
Big Brother is watching you.  And damn, you are so bloody BORING.

But the Jihadists made the monumental mistake of choosing TEXAS to launch their assault. 

Quote:Two armed men were killed after opening fire on a security guard outside an exhibit of artistic depictions of the Muslim prophet Muhammad in suburban Dallas Sunday evening.
The city of Garland said in a statement posted on its Facebook page that the men drove up to the Curtis Culwell Center and began shooting at the security officer. Garland Police Department officers returned fire, killing both gunmen, the statement said.

Moved here from http://drunkardswalkforums.yuku.com/top ... -Barbara-f]THIS thread.

OK, so this is starting to be a bit of a discussion for a probable page or rather an extension of the http://www.fenspace.net/index.php5?titl ... dification]existing wiki page on biomods.

I’ll start by splitting the benefits from the downsides of biomods as I see them:

Benefits:
* Being biomoded boosts the person’s healing. They recover quicker than unmodded people (baring medical help).
* As a side effect, the affects of aging are reduced. You can expect at least a decade extra of life.
* The person normally gains abilities from the biomod.

Downsides:
* Biomods make extensive (if not visible) changes to a person’s body. At the very least this means genetics are changed.
* Again as a side effect the above, it becomes harder to procreate.
* Depending on the actual changes incurred, it can become harder to live. Specific foods will have differing affects on the person, the need for customised gear and/or living quarters, medical help gets harder due to altered biology, etc…

Mechanics:

This can probably be broken down into two parts, regeneration and homeostasis. They are NOT the same; related yes, not the same.

Homeostasis in our discussion is the affect of the biomod maintaining itself. It is the primary reason it is so difficult to get rid of a biomod once gained. There is likely a bit of ‘maintenance’ handwavium in the biomod’s system helping with that.

Regeneration is the related mechanism by which the biomod maintains itself. This is what has the knock-on health benefits.

Pregnancy causes quite a few changes to the biochemistry of the mother. This will be fought by the homeostasis effect (trying to keep to the biomod template). It can be overridden, the wave being a memetic substance after all. It’s just ‘maintenance’ wave is not as reconfigurable as regular handwavium, which makes ordinary pregnancies hard. The regeneration effect is also not instantly applicable, so it is possible for a fait accompli to be enacted. IVF is a way of doing this.
Cross-mod compatibility is ALSO a question. Before the birth of Helen Scott, there were no mod/non-mod children, and no children of modded parents. The Swansen-Scott/Peters papers detailing the pregnancy of the former may help alleviate that. The pregnancy of Loviatar shows what a lot of work and stubbornness can do as well.

The homeostasis effect also causes the issues with aging. In most cases where it’s strong enough to remove the visible affects of aging, there is an issue of how the insides of a body cope. It is fully possible for a biomod to just…stop.

Higher levels of regeneration also cause the problem of ‘immortals’. We don’t know how to cope with people living centuries, let alone more. It’s bad enough with all the A.I.’s we have.

More comments are needed to get a feel for the collective's position on this.

Chicago Tribune is reporting Ben E. King passed away yesterday.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertain ... story.html
--
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

Freaking plot bunnies making me write about space rabbis instead of the story that I'm actually trying to write.... 

Notes: Reb. is a common abbreviation of Rabbi. The Sanhedrin was the historical council of Rabbis that debated how to apply the Halakhah (jewish law) during the Diaspora in the absence of the Temple, the Judges, and the Kings. Treif means non-kosher. The Talmud is the collected debates of the Sanhedrin. The Jewish month of Adar I, 5774 was chosen because it starts on Feb 1st, 2014. Any other questions?
______________________________

SanhedrinCon 2014/5774 Convention Report, Prepared by Rebbe Rebbeka Buchler. 

SanhedrinCon 2014/5774 (Kandor City Convention Center, Kandor City, Luna) opened on Feb 4/4th Adar I with a Serious Question – who provided the decaf coffee? (1) The culprit was found to be Reb. Yeshuah ben Elizar, who was removed from hospitality staff for providing a treif drink. (2) 

(1)As Reb. J. Alvarez asked, “Is this stuff even kosher?”
(2)As Reb. A. Rosen argued “The primary indicator of coffee, other than its origin, is not its flavor, because otherwise flavored coffees, creamers, sweeteners, and other additives would be treif in the context of coffee. It is the caffeine content that is the primary indicator and use of coffee, meaning that decaf coffee is either treif or a crime against humanity.” (2a)
(2a) The only exception is in cases where the drinker is either allergic or sensitive to caffeine. Our prayers go out to those poor souls. 

The Rabbinical Convention then split into several debate tracks, which were:
Admin – Panels dealing with the administration of the Con.
Hypotheticals – Halakhah in the context of theoretical technologies.
Practicals – Exceptions to and enforcement of the Halakhah in the context of living in space.
Wavium – How does Handwavium interact with the Halakhah?
Old Arguments – Rehashing the Talmud.
Silly – Rabbis! IN! SPAAACE! (3)
Holies – Run only on Shabbos and Erev Shabbos. The services for Shabbos, including mandatory post-lunch naps.
Misc – Everything Else. 

(3) Actual quote from the official program. 

Below are selected debates that passed the Rabbinical Vote with no dissenting arguments (4). 

(4) That actually argued against them. As Reb. K. Dayan argued, “Fnord, while coherent, is not a logical argument”. For this, Reb. Dayan was given the the Badge Ribbon “No Fun Allowed – SRZ BIZNZZ”. 

On 6th Adar I, in the Admin tracks, a debate was the extension of the Convention from its original dates of 4th-10th Adar I. As it was a dead month for the Convention Center, the moving of closing ceremonies to 27th Adar I (5) was granted after a brief Kickstarter campaign. (6) 

(5) To give the Rebbim enough time to get home for Shabbos.
(6) The extra time was determined to be required to allow for debates and votes on the debates. 

On 7th Adar I, a Practicalities debate granted permission to attending Rabbis to lead Shabbos services via the Internet (7), as long as they did so from THE MOON (8). 

(7) As Reb. J. Alvarez said, “We're stuck here until the Con ends, we have modern technology, and we're on THE MOON.” (8)
(8) Full capitalization of THE MOON was determined to be required by the Halakhah of Drama. 

__________________

Additional parts will be posted as I write them.

New Batzulger specific update/discussion thread just in time for the newest story to end.
http://www.tthfanfic.org/Story-31052-18 ... t+Zone.htm
Hot Zone (Buffy/Predator/other, complete)
Very well done. I especially liked the final scene.
----------------------------------------------------

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