Blossom Apartments, Ottawa, ON, Canada
September 17, 2016
6:00 AM


Rei was worried. She wasn't in Japan any more, which meant that she was nowhere near any of the 280 Hikawa Shrines. How was she supposed to carry out the rites on her own, without a kannushi in charge? But she was Sailor Mars, and in that role she was – politically – the most senior shaman of the Silver Millennium, she reminded herself yet again. There was no organized Shinto presence in Ottawa; her personal status would have to be enough.

She still feared the wrath of the kami if she was wrong – not for herself, but for her friends, both the other Sailor Senshi and the people she had met here in this refuge they'd found in Ottawa. And the kami enshrined at the Hikawa Shrines was known to be very wrathful on occasion.

No, she realized, that attitude was incorrect for a miko of the Hikawa Shrines. Follow the example set by the kami enshrined at the Hikawa Shrines, she told herself; it was better to take decisive action than to worry.

Her decision reached, Rei quickly made her way to the residence manager's office.

Managers Teleconference
November 13, 2016


Bob:  "I've been thinking about that Predator that you said Makoto ran into, Rob."

Brent:  "Haven't we all!"

Bob:  "And it led me into strange areas of contemplation."

Rob:  "Like what?"

Bob:  "I've realized that the situation we're in is very Earth-specific.  Except for that Predator -- or, rather, those Predators, plural, since at least one more had to be around to leave that tanto for Makoto -- and those Fae you fought off last week, and of course the Mau, almost everyone who's been displaced has been human, and even those that aren't are from human works of fiction."

Raven:  "Your point?"

Bob:  "My point is, are we the only world in this big wide universe providing refugee services?  Are there alien civilizations who are receiving displacees from their own works of fiction, overseen by the gods and demons wearing unrecognizable faces?"

<silence>

Brent:  "That's an... interesting question.  Yeah, probably."

Rob:  "You've got me thinking that some heroes of Klingon operas are showing up on Qo'noS even as we speak. But does it matter?  If there are, we're never going to meet them."

Bob:  "Maybe, maybe not.  I mean, an infinite universe providing homes to refugees from an even more infinite multiverse...  the law of big numbers says that sooner or later we're going to see some kind of overlap, say an alien story where they've managed to come up with something reasonably close to earth humans as their counterpart to extraterrestrials.  What happens if they're the equivalent of 1950s B-movie alien invaders?  And have the technology to find us?  I mean, we already have, what, three starships on earth right now, thanks to the Masakis and their houseguests?  There's no reason to expect we're alone in the universe and also that our fiction will be the only works with ultratech galaxy-spanning drives and other near-magic toys."

...

Rob:  "Now I've got a question. All of the exceptions to Bob's rule about no nonhumans happened to my residents or at my residence or both. What's so special about us?"

Raven: "Hey! What are my residents? Chopped liver? I have four nonhumans in The Steeple. Or have you forgotten Zafira and the familiars?"

Rob:  "Actually, yeah, sorry. But it just underlines my point.  If we aren't special — and I guess we aren't — when are things like that Predator going to happen to everyone else? Is some tentacled monstrosity going to crawl out of the Pacific Ocean and onto Venice Beach, maybe?"

Brent: "Like in Haiyore! Nyarko-san, shonen?"

Bob:  "<snrk>  What are the odds that somebody is actually running some underwater residence south of Hawaii where Godzilla, Cthulhu, the aliens from Pacific Rim, Reptilicus and the Varga are all hanging out playing pinochle with cards the size of tennis courts?  And when they get bored, that's when they show up in Venice?"

Brent: "Don't worry guys, I'm a great pinochle player!"

...

Bob:  "A question."

Rob:  "An answer???"

Bob:  "Why haven't we seen anyone from fanfiction?  I very seriously doubt that the multiverse at large gives a crap about copyrights, trademarks and market share, so logically we should have or should soon see someone recognizable from a fic."

Raven:  "Like Doug, maybe?"

Bob:  "Well, yeah, or the Girls.  But just as much, Twister, Legion, Fenris... any of the godlike Harry Potters or world-jumping Ranmas...  Terawatt!  Or Chris Angel's Paradox.  Hell, Gryphon or just about anyone else from Undocumented Features."

Rob:  "Fenspace?"

Bob:  "Yeah.  Why aren't we seeing displacees from any of them?"

Brent:  "Maybe they're getting recruited to help instead of just becoming displacees."

Rob:  "Don't tempt fate. With my luck, I'd ask for help from SkyKnight but I'd get Skysaber instead."

Bob:  "There's one way to find out about Skysaber, you know."

Brent:  "Don't say it."

Bob: "Just pick up a landline phone and make the request for him to the dial tone."

Brent:  "And now I can't not think about doing that."

Rob:  "If you summon Skysaber, you get to give him a place to live."

...

Bob:  "Another question."

Raven:  "Oh god." <chuckles>

Bob:  "The Q Continuum.  Where are they?"

...

Bob:  "One more.  One final question."

Brent:  "Enough.  Please."

Bob:  "What if we're someone's fanfic?"

<beat>

Raven:  "Whose?"

<beat>

Bob:  "Ours."

Bob:  "A group project like 'Fenspace', some kind of self-insert megacrossover story.  I mean, there are six of us, all from my board, who are managers, five of us writers to one degree or another.  What are the odds of that?"

Raven:  "Pretty good, considering Funtom used your board to find people with the qualities they needed."

Rob:  "And we're just a fraction of the staff, one that's getting smaller with every new residence that opens. Although Epsilon is a writer, too."

Brent:  "Not to mention, if this was a self-insert wouldn't you expect us to all get some obscene power-ups with people like Washuu-chan and Usagi around who are willing to help out if asked?"

Raven:  "Oh yeah, we'd all be Sailor Alpha Centauri, or Superman, or some hybrid monstrosity with built-in particle beam weapons."

Rob:  "Raven's right -- if this was a self-insert, we'd be center stage.  At best we're supporting characters. Although we're better off than Rosencrantz and Guildenstern."

Bob:  "But what if it was supposed to be some subversive funhouse mirror image of an isekai story?  And it would answer a lot of my other questions -- we're writing what we know, so that's why there's no alien displacees, and we wouldn't poach on other fic writers' turf, so that's why that..."

Raven: "Bob, you're over-thinking things. Go get some sleep."

Because of Kindle Unlimited rules, Beware of Chicken's vol. 2 is being taken down on March 8th and vol. 1 is staying down instead of being reposted. If you want a free copy, you have a week to save the chapters.

The author's post on the subject:

Quote:Alright. Theres been a bit of bad news. Originally, I thought that Volume 1 of Beware of Chicken would go up on Kindle Unlimited for a short amount of time, as kind of an extra boost to sales which would then taper off, and Volume one would be returned to free platforms. However, this is no longer the case. Volume one will be remaining on KU for the foreseeable future, with the other books being taken down as they are released.

I must express my apologies for saying something that did not, in the end, come true.

So here comes the second part: by the 8th of march, , Volume 2 up to chapter 58 will be removed to satisfy Kindle Unlimited requirements. This will likely be for until BOC is finished.

Again, I'm sorry to those who were waiting for Volume 1 to go back up.

First, way to slant the story with the headline, CBC: Florida governor signs bill giving state control of Walt Disney World district

On one hand, Florida is resolving an issue that has existed for decades: Disney received a special tax arrangement because they were going to "build a futuristic city that would include a transit system and urban planning innovations", but they built a theme park instead. Now the special tax arrangement is being changed to match.

On the other hand, Florida just picked a fight with one of the largest media corporations on the planet.

Microsoft hijacks Google's Chrome download page to beg you not to ditch Edge

In this particular case, it's obvious content.

But if the software will change how one or two web pages are displayed, how do we know whether it will change how other pages are displayed?


(Me? I'm still using FireFox...)

Previous thread

Quoting from the FAQ:

Quote:Q: What, exactly, does Doug need to get a power from a musical work? (music + lyrics, music + some words, words + a beat, etc.)
A: He needs, at the very minimum, a single instrument playing a recognizable melody, and a single voice singing to that melody in a language he understands. Oddly enough, different/more complex orchestrations do not reliably map to stronger powers — just different expressions of the same core concept behind the powers he already receives.

• Because some of the lyrics are in Italian, nothing happens.
  
• Because some of the lyrics are in English, he and somebody who loves him (so, Maggie or Makoto) can fly together.
  
• Because some of the lyrics are in Italian and some of the lyrics are in English, he gets a weakened power - possibly he gets an ornamental pair of wings.
  
• Something else.
  

So we can stop using BlackAeronaut's "what I've been watching" thread for the purpose.

I haven't actually watched a thing yet this season, but among those I've been saving for later is season two of Bofuri, because Maple's shenanigans are just too much fun. I've read that there's supposed to be a new season of Youjo Senki sometime soon but haven't seen any previews yet let alone episodes; it is on my list to watch out for at any rate, along with the second half of Transformers Earthspark and SW Ahsoka.

What I really wanted to ask about, though, was one I vaguely remember but never actually watched. I'm pretty sure the setting was not-WWII, and the witch MC rides an a machine cannon like a broomstick, but aside from that I have no real information, save that it would probably have been probably early-noughties or early- to mid-teens, as I was not online with anything capable of watching streams or torrenting from around 2008 to 2012 and it was definitely at least five years back. That doesn't strictly rule out the middle period, or for that matter late 90s, but they don't feel likely. Anyone know what it was?

Fort Wellington, Prescott, Ontario, Canada
October 15, 2016
1:21pm ET


Rob had brought his tenants on an afternoon trip to a small town an hour's drive south of Ottawa, to show them Fort Wellington - a fortification that was intended to defend British North America from invasion by the United States. He thought that they might like to see something that Canadians thought had a long history, just so they would better understand the difference between Canadian and Japanese ideas of "old and storied."

The girls were exploring the fort. Rob was relaxing in the parking lot, re-reading one of Terry Pratchett's novels. He justified it as research; with so many people from alternate universes having shown up in the last month, they had to be ready for anything.

Then he noticed a familiar-looking school-uniform-clad girl walking along the road between the fort and the St. Lawrence River. He put a bookmark in the novel, crossed the road, and walked toward her. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't you wearing a different outfit earlier?"

She turned to him, and he saw the odd ... heads-up display, maybe? ... she was wearing, pushed up to her forehead. "Misaka has no reason to explain her choice of clothing to a stranger, replies Misaka with mild annoyance."

Rob noticed that she'd described what should have been her internal monologue, she referred to herself by her family name, she referred to him as a stranger, and the monotonous delivery of her statement. He mentally added that to her school uniform and HUD.

Down at the river bank, a small flock of birds walked, swam, and quacked like ducks.

Rob sighed. It was happening again. "Which Sister are you?"

"I do not understand, replies Misaka with the hope that you will go away."

Rob grasped at the only straw he had, and hoped he remembered it correctly. "ZXC741 ASD852 QWE963."

"That code expired with Sister 9982, states Misaka firmly," she replied in that same monotone. "How did you get that code, asks Misaka with concern."

Rob shook his head. "Answer my question first."

After a moment, she replied, "I am Sister 10339, answers Misaka against her better judgment."

"Thank you. I was given your sister's code by Misaka Mikoto."

"When did you receive this information from the Original, asks Misaka with a glimmer of hope."

"October 11, while speaking with her in her residence - a building that I manage."

"What is today's date, asks Misaka for clarification."

Rob carefully did not show any emotion to learning that either she had lost track of the date or she hadn't been in this world long enough to learn it. "October 15."

"Please come with me to meet my Sisters here, asks Misaka with both apprehension and hope," she replied in that same monotone.

Rob almost agreed, then thought that discretion was called for. "If anyone saw us leaving here together, our age differences would make them wonder what my intentions were toward you. I'll remain in this park for a half hour, down where we can't be seen from the fort across the street."

"That is acceptable, agrees Misaka, showing a willingness to compromise."

The Beware of Chicken webnovel/audiobook is getting a limited print run now through February 28th, with books shipping in May.

https://store.podiumaudio.com/pages/bocboc

Quote:ABOUT BEWARE OF CHICKEN
A laugh-out-loud, slice-of-life martial-arts fantasy about... farming???

Jin Rou wanted to be a cultivator. A man powerful enough to defy the heavens. A master of martial arts. A lord of spiritual power. Unfortunately for him, he died, and now I’m stuck in his body. A slow, simple, fulfilling life in a place where nothing exciting or out of the ordinary ever happens... right?

Beware of Chicken first became a massive hit on Royal Road, where it amassed over 21 million views and an incredible group of loyal fans. The audiobook, narrated by the all-star narrator Travis Baldree, went on to become one of Audible's Best of Fantasy in 2022.To celebrate the fans that made Beware of Chicken a success, Casualfarmer and Podium have released this special edition hardcover, containing illustrations from cover designer Tsuu, for a limited time only.

Check out the series on Audible and Amazon!