sleestack

I...I scooped someone?

I...this...this is the happiest day of my week. *sniffle*

From GraphJam:

Right after the Market went live, I was in Steel and had a new player ask me for help finishing a mission. I joined his team and saw he had a timed mission with 15 minutes left, but a different mission selected. I asked about this, and he said, "Oh, we won't have time to finish it now." "Nonsense!" I replied, so we finished his timed mission with 5 minutes to spare.

During the mission, I got a sweet drop (rocket boots or something like that, I think). I sold it for about 25 million at WW, then gave the newbie 5 million. He tried to refuse, but I said, "Hey, I got the drop in your mission. Plus...welcome to the game!"

I've also randomly gifted INF to no or low-vet badge lowbies who have a nice costume, name, and/or bio. I think it's fun.

I've never had anybody gift anything to me though. I guess I just don't make interesting enough characters. Plus I'm now a 48-month vet, so people looking to gift newbies rightfully pass me by.

That looks dumb as a bag of rocks, but at least a bag of rocks has some use. I'm glad this wasn't made.

According to Wikipedia, Vulcans who are empathically linked ("married") to another Vulcan go through Pon Farr. Vulcans who are not so linked, do not experience Pon Farr. Vulcans can mate outside of Pon Farr. However, Memory Alpha implies that all Vulcans undergo Pon Farr.

This production just can't catch a break

They're going to have to sell tickets for about $15,000 apiece to make back their money, at this rate. Sheesh!

I love this thread so much, I've asked my wife for a divorce so I can marry it.

I actually got to go to the comic book store on a Wednesday!

I picked up:

Batman Beyond #1 - not read yet

Iron Man Legacy #10 - not read yet

Iron Man / Thor #3 of 4 - not read yet

The Walking Dead #80 - Whooooeeee!!! Hold on to your hats, Kirkman's ramping it up again! There's some more great character development in this issue, which is one of Kirkman's strengths. But the main thing is the community Rick & Co. are in is surrounded by a zombie herd - hundreds, maybe thousands of walkers. Will the walls hold? Is that gate strong enough? Oh yeah, and Andrea is stuck in a bell-tower outside the walls. Abraham bashing in the head of the guy who got bitten. Douglas losing it. It looks like Douglass might not be quite as sinister as I first thought (after The Governor, I'm wary of anybody Rick & Co. meet who is "in charge"). Carl practicing not showing that he's scared so he can be a great leader like Rick. And the interaction between Carl and Ron (the son of the man Rick had to kill a few issues back) was both poignant and chilling. Chilling because of how callous Carl was about Ron's father.

Altogether, another great issue. This has been building for the last several issues, as things have been relatively quiet up until now. Oh, and the splash page for next month's issue: Rick! Noooooooooo!!!!!




Irredeemable #21: Oh man, Cary (Survivor) seems to be barely more sane than Plutonian. I think we might find out that Cary tried to kill (and thought he succeeded) his own brother in the confusion of the battle with Plutonian, so he (Survivor) could: a) have more power, and b) inthe hopes that Kaidan would fall for him. As for plutonian, he is going to be PISSED OFF next issue! And damn, half the gravitational pull of a black hole, and Tony's still standing?!? When he comes out of it next issue, I think we're going to get to see Plutonian destroy an entire world (or three). And when he gets back to Earth.... This series is easily my favorite of any I've read in the last several years. It's just brilliant.

To the OP:

The game's been free-to-play since, oh let me see...July of 2007 I believe. Have you been paying a monthly fee all this time?

Hahahaaaa!! Sucker!!

I'd like to see them remake Lost so that one guy doesn't jump off that rock over...and over...and over...and over....

What is PvP?

Paragon versus Praetoria?

Positron's very Prissy?

WHAT IS IT???

There was one Starfleet ship (USS Intrepid) that was crewed entirely by Vulcans. It was mentioned in the Original Series episode "The Immunity Syndrome" (a.k.a the Giant Space Amoeba episode), and in the episode "Court Martial". According to Memory Alpha, "The Immunity Syndrome" occurred in 2268 which is 10 years after Vulcan is destroyed in the new movie, and "Court Martial" was in 2267. I don't know if the USS Intrepid was around at the time of Vulcan's destruction, but it likely was since it was a Constitution-class like the USS Enterprise.

I just watched the new Star Trek again yesterday. It was 6 billion Vulcans killed on the planet, and 10,000 left (that's what young Spock says in his captain's log entry right after the event). Memory Alpha shows only 2 Vulcan colonies, one of which was seized from the Andorians and later given back.

I've always gotten the impression that the Vulcans are a very insular, private people. They certainly are not warlike, territorial empire-builders. While 10,000 survivors might be a bit low (it was an estimate after all), I don't think that it is all that unbelievable.

Article

Well, it's about time. Congrats to Stan. Excelsior!

I recently finished "The Hunger Games" trilogy, by Suzanne Collins. (The link is to the Wikipedia article on the first book in the trilogy). The story is set an undetermined time in the future, after some great calamity (hinted at is war, pollution, etc.). The North American continent is home to a country called Panem, which consists of the ruling city-state (The Capitol) and 12 Districts. Each district has its "thing", such as coal mining, agriculture, manufacturing, etc. 75 years before the time of the story, the Districts rebelled against the Capitol, and were harshly repressed, with one district (District 13) being completely obliterated. As punishment, every year each District must randomly choose one boy and one girl, each between the ages of 12 and 18, to "participate" in The Hunger Game. This is a fight to the death in a huge outdoor arena (which is configured differently each year), and there can be only one winner. The winner is set for life, with riches bestowed upon them. (Don't worry about spoilers here, what I've written here is revealed in the first 2 chapters or so of the first book).The books are technically "young adult" novels, but I found them very well-written, with good characterization, pacing and the action sequences are very well done.

As for your "Things just beyond our current understanding" criterion, check out the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" series by Rick Riordan. These are also "young adult" books, but they are a fun read and man, Riordan *really* knows his Greek mythology!

I just finished "The Passage" by Justin Cronin. Not too much detail, but it's an "undead apocalypse" novel that is supposedly going to be a trilogy eventually. It is, IMHO, an interesting take on the undead genre.

Also in the "Things just beyond our current understanding" category, check out "American Gods" and "Anansi Boys" (in that order), by Neil Gaiman. I won't even try to describe these books, but they're quite good; "American Gods" won both the Hugo and the Nebula.

"world building":

the "Riverworld" series by Philip Jose Farmer
the "World of Tiers" series, also by Philip Jose Farmer
the "Ringworld" novels by Larry Niven

Pretty short pull list this week. Flash #8, Batman: Streets of Gotham #18 and Secret Warriors #23. Which is good, because I splurged last week and bought TPBs #10, #11 and #12 of Invincible. Man, I'm really loving that comic!