It's that time of year again - the time when A&W Canada makes a big fundraising push. "$2 from every Teen Burger sold on August 20th goes to support Canadians living with MS."

If you're in Canada, please considering getting a Teen Burger or two for lunch / dinner on Thursday. Or round up your bill to give the change to the MS Society.

Everybody can donate online.

Does Doug's bike qualify for this trope, or is it "merely" a Flying Motorcycle?

I was reading Ch33 when suddenly a great cry rang out: Can haz shoop plz!?

Of course I must answer when my people need me!* Can haz shoop nao!




FOR GREAT JUSTIIICE!


* If I feel like it and it's not too much of a hassle

...that popped into my head last night, some of the characters from Rise of the Guardians popping up.

I could seeJack Frost paying a visit to Ottawa for example and helping some kids have fun, only to be surprised when the Senshi can actually see him.  Or Sandman pays a visit to whichever city ChibiUsa is living in and having a confusing but ultimately pleasant encounter with Pegasus. etc.

And I suspect Pitch the Boogieman would get along well with Salem "Might I say my dear that these Grimm of yours are magnificent creatures."

"Before we get started tonight," Doug-sensei said once she'd
peeled off her track suit and stepped to the center of the room,
"I have a little something for you."

"You do?" Usagi asked.  "What is it?"  She wished Luna was here,
if only to share a curious look, but she was working a shift at
the arcade.

Doug-sensei slipped a hand into his pocket and drew out a small,
flat case similar to the one her papa kept his business cards in.
"I made this for you last night because after the last couple
operations, I think you deserve it."  He held it out to her in
both hands, bowing slightly, just like Papa did when offering his
business card.  She bowed back and took it from him.  Her breath
caught as she realized she had seen something like this once
before.

She looked up at him.  "Is this...?"

Doug-sensei smiled.  "Open it."

She gripped the edges of one side of the case with her fingertips,
and copying what sensei had done the night she'd met him, flipped
it open with a little twist of her wrist.  There was a tiny hum,
and suddenly a glowing block of kanji and romaji appeared in the
air before her face and parallel to the floor while a transparent
three-dimensional image of herself as Sailor Moon hung
horizontally in front of her hand, slowly turning as if on a spit.

"Whoops," she giggled, and changed her grip on the case to right
it.

"So, in the unlikely event you couldn't guess," Sensei said, "I'm
deputizing you into the Warriors, specifically Alpha team.  But
before you actually *become* a member of the Warriors, even just
a deputy member, there's an oath that you have to swear," he
added solemnly.  "It's a promise that will define your life, and
guide everything you do with your metatalents."

She bit her lip.  This was something more than just getting a new
toy.  Sensei was being *very* serious, and he was almost never
completely serious, even about serious subjects.  She stood up
straighter and clasped her hands behind her back, folding up her
new ID and holding it between them.  "What's the promise,
sensei?"

"You swear on your life and honor to uphold just laws and to
oppose unjust ones," he said.  "To defend those who have no
defenders.  To protect those who are exploited and oppressed, or
who suffer the worst losses of unjust war.  You promise to
champion basic human rights, and to thwart those who would deny
them to others.  You vow to enact justice upon those who would
wage unjust war.  And most importantly, you promise to make and
*keep* the peace."  He studied her for a long moment, then added,
"It's not always an easy promise to keep, teishi, and if you
don't want to make it, I'll understand."

She looked at him blankly.  "Not make it?  Isn't it all what I'm
already *doing*?"

Sensei chewed his lip.  "Not really, not all of it.  And what you
*are* doing, you're doing against magical creatures which for all
practical purposes are demons.  But someday you might have to
take that kind of action against other humans, other *people*.
That's not an easy or happy thing, teishi.  Power of the kind you
and I wield has a responsibility that goes with it.  Once you
defeat your Enemy, your power isn't going to just go away, so you
need to think about how you're going to use it after."

Usagi fixed him with a gimlet eye.  "It almost sounds like you
don't *want* me to promise, sensei."

"No," he shook his head.  "I just want you to think about what it
really means before you do."

She opened her mouth to reply, then stopped.  Now she *really*
wished Luna was here to talk to about this.  Could she really do
it if she had to?  All of it?  Against other people?  If there
was no other way?

Yes. If it were an innocent person on one side, and a criminal,
or an enemy soldier, or... or... some other kind of bad person on
the other, yes. She could do it. But she would do her best to
find another way, a *better* way, first. She nodded to herself,
then looked up at Doug-sensei. "I'm sure, sensei. I'll make
that promise, and do what it takes *not* to have to hurt other
people, but I'll do it if it's the only way to save someone."
She straightened up again, having found that she'd started to
slouch while thinking. "This do I swear on my life and honor!"
she declared confidently.

Sensei reached out and cupped her chin with his hand, then smiled
at her.  It was a proud smile, she thought, but a little sad at
the same time, and that confused her.  "My student is growing
up," he said.  "In that case, teishi, welcome to the Warriors.
You now have a provisional brevet rank of Captain."  He drew back
his hand and snapped a salute at her.  "Congratulations, Tsukino-
ichii."

It was only her recently-improved reflexes which saved her from
fumbling her new ID card as she returned the salute.  "Thank you,
Sangnoir-taisa!"  

Could American Evangelicals Spot the Antichrist? Here Are the Biblical Predictions

Well I certainly can't let that stand!





Just... that face. That flat, "I'm not even angry, just disappointed" face.

https://twitter.com/tocradio/status/1292...27808?s=21

Previous thread can be found here.

A question the Venus terraforming program must solve.

How to accelerate the planet's rotation so it has a proper day-night cycle, and how to reduce the crushing concentrations of carbon-dioxide and toxic gasses.

And here I'm wondering, why not kill two birds with one stone? Teratons of gas will make for excellent remass - you just need engines big enough to accelerate it to escape velocity.

Proper angling of the thrust from these world engines could be used to accelerate the rotation of the planet.

These things will be utterly Babylonian in scale - requiring terajoules of energy for decades at a time.

It might even be possible to move Venus to co-orbit with Earth. Okay, so that arrangement will result in a collision if a few million years but by then humanity will be long-gone, and in the short term the benefits in venusian habitability will be worth it. And sure, if we can move it, we can stabilise it.

Thoughts?