2 hours ago, Pariah said:

How I got to be where I am today--i.e., in a school building that I'll be sharing with 2,200 teenagers in just over a week.

 

Politicians and Business Interests Pushed Health Officials Aside to Control Reopening. Then Cases Exploded.

We really, really need to reopen schools. So we're asking reality to make one tiny compromise. It's not like we're asking for no more global warming. Just enough Covid relief that we can get the kids off our back and onto teacher's back, where they belong. 

Hilarious.

18 hours ago, Cancer said:

Yeah.  What's next?  Castration beetles?  Identity theft moths?  Sodomy centipedes?

You do you, you crazy centipedes, you. (Have to admit to being a little worried about the beetles and moths, though.)

10 hours ago, archer said:

 

I live in the solar system but I can't say I'm a big fan....

Too bad you dont' make enough money to live in a good solar system. 

Whereas for me it's always the deep past that fascinates. Sovereign's time travel device was linked to the Basilisk Cauldron in some way that I cannot now recall, and the Mandalorian space elves are linked to the actual elves of the Turakian Age, their decadent Valdorian descendants, and before them, the Martians. Meanwhile, ancient Xenovore nanotech left over from their invasion sleeps in the heart of the Galactic Confederation, waiting for something to call it to life. (Maraud and Sovereign are my two favourite Galactic Champions villains.)

3 hours ago, wcw43921 said:

Facebook Removes Troll Farm Posing As African-American Trumpists

All three hundred of me hate Aquaman! It's a genuine social movement! 

On 7/11/2020 at 6:11 AM, chrisbrico said:

I'm glad to see the Terran Empire has its fans!  I always loved it, and I'm sorry I was never able to put a group together to explore it.  I'm also sorry DOJ decided to abandon it so quickly before it got a chance to develop.  When I read Steven Long's post that DOJ was not going to support the STAR HERO line anymore due to poor sales, it broke my heart.

 

Had I been able to get my own TE campaign off the ground, I'd meant to set it in 2636 CE, not long after Marissa III's reign began.  The sourcebook is terrific, with enough aliens, political intrigue, plot threads, and all else that I'm sure I could've kept a campaign going for a while.  I agree with the idea the setting would've benefited from having some "official" modules devoted to it from DOJ.  If they'd pushed the setting more, it might've developed more of a fan following, and it might've grown large enough to keep around, much as CHAMPIONS has survived down through the years.  Certainly TE can be converted to Sixth Edition HERO with just a little work; it would've made a great complement to the revised STAR HERO.

 

Back when Steven Long wrote the Writers Guidelines for the Fifth Edition (has it really been so long ago?), he mentioned DOJ might also be interested in fiction collections set in the HERO Universe.  To anyone's knowledge, has there ever been any fan fiction written for the Terran Empire setting?  I was intrigued by the idea of TE fiction, so much so I actually sat down and wrote a first draft out for the 2018 National Novel Writers' Month contest.  The story was weak, but it was fun to write and helped me realize a full TE fiction series could be possible, in the hands of a writer more gifted than myself!  I doubt a TE fiction series is gong to happen at this late date, but if someone were to attempt it, do any of you think there's be an audience for it?

I'm going to agree with Lord Liaden that the Alien Wars setting has more potential for both RPG and fan fiction purposes, and that the Galactic Federation period only really seems interesting as the backdrop for a Galactic Champions campaign. When I dabbled in CU fan fiction, I wrote a time travel caper drawing together Bronze Age (Kung Fu stylings of 1975!), 2012 (because that was then), 2600, and 3012. I'm guessing at the "2600" date. I thought that I had avoided the era of Empress Marissa, but it's been a long time since I wrote the material, and I suspect that my recollections are wrong. The Civil War-Marissa-Stephen period is the centre of gravity of the whole Terran Empire storyline, and knowing me I might have tried to rehabilitate Stephen, as I think clones get a bum rap in science fiction. Anyway, Sovereign (the GC villain) is trying to use time travel devices to screw around with history and prevent the rise of the Galactic Federation, and for some reason the 2600ish era was where he was trying to do it, and modern super heroes get mixed in because of course they do.   

But! Self indulgence aside, the point I'm trying to get across is that after setting my time machines in motion and working out my story, I found myself gravitating not to the periods I had chosen for episodes of the fan fiction, but to the dark days of the Alien Wars. It is just a whole lot cooler than the Terran Empire, which, while it has a lot to recommend it, doesn't transcend the sum of its parts. 

3 hours ago, Old Man said:

 

I'd be surprised if this event doesn't generate many hundreds of fatalities.  This is the kind of explosion where people just cease to exist.

 

The mind boggles at the kind of stupidity required to store literal kilotons of ammonium nitrate in a city center for six years. Like if I was touring a warehouse and some dude told me "here is where we keep our pile of 2700 tons of ammonium nitrate", I'd be on my way to the airport.  You'd think people in Beirut would be a little more knowledgeable about the dangers posed by explosives.

Hey hey hey. Explosives aren't dangerous sitting around. They're only dangerous when they explode! I'm sure the owners didn't plan on all that fertiliser exploding, so no worries!

I feel like this is a rerun of my last post here, but I just binge watched The Tick. Yes, I'm one of those guys who got talked into signing up for a full month of free Amazon Prime and haven't been bothered to cancel the subscription since. Unlike Cloak and Dagger Season 2, this wasn't unexpectedly good. I knew it had a good rating from the critics, but I was surprised at the way that it was good. One review talks about "likeable characters," and it is exactly that. 

Uhm, spoilerish.

Sorry, dude. Bandwagon's full.

Finally watched Cloak and Dagger, Season 2, which I'd been putting off, as the first season struck me as mediocre at best. It was more  or less so in preparation for watching Runaways,season 3, but I have to say that I was very impressed. Season 2 took what Season 1 handed it and made it good television. 

4 hours ago, Lord Liaden said:

 

If I was doing hundreds of people a day, it wouldn't be coronavirus that kills me.

It's not as hard as it seems Just be fast, efficient and courteous as you see the customer through the process. Before long, they'll be as professional as you are, and have no problem with intimate sharing with your interface.

. . . Okay, I'm reaching with the last bit.  I also find the comparison a bit disingenuous. We're dealing with adults, here. (The kids are below counter level). And we have our plexiglas shields. 

2 hours ago, ScottishFox said:

 

I 100% agree with you on the valid evidence statement.  They have had days to mess with the weapon.

 

That doesn't change the fact it was not operable when the police got their hands on it.  They'd have to prove that the gun - which is known to have been disabled in the past so that it could be brought into a courthouse as a prop - was subsequently repaired and they'd have to do that at the level of "beyond a reasonable doubt".  The charges can't be brought in the first place if the gun wasn't operable at the time.  They have no way to prove that it was at this point in time.

 

Given the custody chain and delay in the police obtaining the weapon - I don't see how this can be done.

 

The whole case feels like a politically motivated activity.  Missouri has one of the strongest, if not THE strongest, Castle Doctrines in the United States and in normal times the couple probably could have shot the people breaking into their property without getting in trouble.

This seems like classic pretrial stuff. The DA's office says that the pistol was "substantially" capable of being fired. Obviously, if the pin was in wrong, it wasn't able to fire, but otherwise, it was fine. Hence, "substantially." The defence says that the "substantially" is doing a lot of work, tainting the jury pool with the idea that the pistol was capable of being fired. 

So is the prosecutor exploiting the baffling power of legalese to weight the scales of justice, or is the defence using this as a rationale to plant the idea the gun was disable when it maybe wasn't? Sounds like this is going to be one of those fun juries. 

56 minutes ago, death tribble said:

15 million cases worldwide and over 4 million of these are in the United States. Over half the cases are in just four countries US, Brazil, Russia and India

Clearly, everything flourishes under the benevolent rule of strong men. Even viri flock to their leadership!

I never find posting in this thread all that satisfying, but it looks like we're not going to get to p. 666 any time soon if I don't pitch in. 

51 minutes ago, Ragitsu said:

 

Why not a pincer attack?

 

"...and that concludes the chapter on the Canadian-Mexican invasion of the United States of America."

Pincer? I hardly knew her! 

So. Had a discussion with some handy young people (Niece1 and Nephew4), who are the ones who would have to do the invading. They clarified their position on going to America in any capacity  right now. It is: "Nope nope nope they have guns there." So you're going to have to take care of this on your own. All your problems: Coronavirus, guns, Aquaman, all of them. (What? I'm not the one that brought up Hermit's nemeses!) 

On the other hand, I wouldn't be a Canadian if I didn't have some smug and condescending advice for my American cousins! Have you thought about going back on your meds?

4 hours ago, Starlord said:

Sorry everyone, but I'm out of this thread and I will be asking the moderators to lock it.

 

I can no longer tolerate the repeated insults and abuse of the Three Stooges.  

I dunno, boss. 71,670 cases today and deaths getting back on trend. 

 . . This seems like as good a time as any for reminding you that you still haven't made a call on who gets your comics collection. If, you know, well

1 hour ago, Old Man said:

California has locked down most indoor activities (again).

 

Meanwhile, Disney World is open!

Yes, but I can't help thinking that that's a mistake. 

2 hours ago, unclevlad said:

WorldOMeters just closed their data reporting day.

 

<whimper....>

 

71,787.......

 

 

You're Number I! You're Number 1!

...um, America? If something happens to you, can we have your comic collection?

1 hour ago, Cygnia said:

Scientists warn of potential wave of COVID-linked brain damage

Checks out.

18 hours ago, Starlord said:

I'm too high to look it up.

Heh heh. He said "high."

28 minutes ago, tkdguy said:

 

I won't pass this along to my relatives in Toronto, if that's okay.

I admit that Torontonians are strangely humourless about the ancient Canadian tradition of talking trash about Toronto

12 hours ago, tkdguy said:

Happy Canada Day!

 

https://toronto.citynews.ca/video/2020/07/01/canada-day-2020-in-toronto/

Thank you! Here in Vancouver, we had rain, cloud, maybe a snowflake or two(!), social distancing, and, in general, no fun whatsoever. A fine time was had by all. 

You're on fire, Hermit!