Alternity News

Gamers in the Greater Seattle area

sbroadwe — 2008-07-24

Looking for some Alternity action
Does anyone know of an Alternity group near Seattle, preferably on the eastside?

The Book Review Thread

Starbrat — 2006-06-12

We've had the film review thread for a while now, so I thought it was past time that we had a book-review thread as well. Anything goes; from the cutting-edge to the potboilers, from life-changing literature through a nice little read to the criminal waste of a perfectly good tree.

I'll go first, and I think I'll just track down my bookshelves which should keep me busy for a bit. We start with:

The Saga of Seven Suns - Kevin J Anderson
Kevin Anderson is regarded by many to be the antichrist of SF for his heretical revisiting of the Dune 'verse (Gods, isn't that a wonderful abbreviation?). Here he is creating his own space opera. There are currently four books: Hidden Empire, A Forest of Stars, Horizon Storms and Scattered Suns.

The Saga is quite an epic story, with several large players. There's the machiavellian Terran Hanseatic League, the harrassed-but-independent Roamer clans, and the independent world of Theroc and its green priests, psychically bonded to the Worldtrees of Theroc and bount together in a telepathic web by them. That covers the humans. The alien side of the equation is personified by the extinct Klikiss, survived only by their helpful-but-amnesiac robots, and the very-much-alive Ildiran Empire, each member of which is held together by, and a part of, the telepathic thism. These powers are confronted by a new threat in the shape of the Hydrogues, creatures living in the hearts of gas giants. When the Hansa tried to ignite a jovian planet to turn it into a mini star, it destroyed a Hydrogue world, and they responded with cataclysmic violence. The rest of the story portrays several dozen characters from these various societies as they try to respond to the Hydrogue attack.

And that's how it starts. Definitely a "ripping yarn", especially at the begining, it sadly flags by the end of the second book. What I find particularly irritating is how the hydrogues are eventually joined by other superpowerful species, each of which exemplifies one of the four elements: Hydroges are air creatures, Faeros are fire creatures from within stars, Wentals are water, the Theroc worldtrees are earth.

Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrotting Foxtrot! When will we get over Plato and his frigging elements? Gaaah!

Anyway, it's an OK read, especially early on, the worldbuilding is interesting, but it all goes a bit raggedy by the fourth book; too many "chosen ones" running around with poorl-rationalised uberpowers for my taste. Try to find them in the bargain bin if you can.

The Great Giggler

Kzinwarrior — 2005-09-19

Turn that frown upside-down!
Sometimes life just sucks. All you can do is get over it and move on. I've found a little humor can help during this transition.

And as far as I know, we don't have a joke thread. So, if it's all right with management I'd like to start one and invite others to join in.

Keep them clean if you can (we have juniors here) and non-racial please.

I shall begin...

Retirement Plan:

If you had bought $1,000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00. With Enron, you would have $16.50 of the original $1,000.00. With
Worldcom, you would have less than $5.00 left.

If you had bought $1,000.00 worth of Budweiser (the beer, not the stock) one year ago, drunk all the beer then turned in the cans for the 10-cent deposit, you
would have $214.00.

Based on the above, my current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle. This is a new retirement program, I call it the 401Keg.

-------------------

An oldie, but still good...

A US Navy ship is sailing at night and the crew sees a light on a reciprocal course in the distance.

The captain on the bridge tries to radio the other ship to no avail, so he orders the crew to signal it by flashing lights. After some time, they get a response.

The captain sends.....this is a US Navy ship, request you alter your course to the right.

The other vessel responds...you alter your course to the right.

The Captain, now kind of irritated sends......I am a US Navy WARSHIP, alter your course to the right now.

The other vessel responds ...you alter your course to the right.

The Captain, now thoroghly irritated sends......I am a US Navy Aircraft Carrier, conducting flight operations, alter your course to the right NOW.

The other vessel reponds......I am a light house, you choose.

-------------------

Supposedly, something similar to this actually happened...

My Aunt died this past January. Citi Bank billed her for February and March for their monthly service charge on her credit card, and then added late fees and interest on the monthly charge...the balance had been $0.00... now was somewhere around $60.00)

I placed the following phone call to CitiBank:

Me: "I am calling to tell you that she died in January."

CitiBank: "The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply."

Me: "Maybe, you should turn it over to collections..."

CitiBank: "Since it is 2 months past due, it already has been."

Me: "So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?"

CitiBank: "Either report her account to the frauds division, or report her to the credit bureau...maybe both!"

Me: "Do you think God will be mad at her?"

CitiBank: "...excuse me .?"

Me: "Did you just get what I was telling you.... the part about her being dead?"

CitiBank: "Sir, you'll have to speak to my supervisor!"

(Supervisor gets on the phone)

Me: ''I'm calling to tell you, she died in January."

CitiBank: "The account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply."

Me: "You mean you want to collect from her estate?"

CitiBank: ".....(stammer)" .... "Are you her lawyer?"

Me: "No, I'm her great nephew." (Lawyer info given...)

CitiBank: "Could you fax us a certificate of death?"

Me: "Sure." ( Fax number is given )

( After they get the fax. )

CitiBank: "Our system just isn't setup for death..."

Me: "Oh..."

CitiBank: "I don't know what more I can do to help..."

Me: "Well... if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep billing her...I suppose...don't really think she will care...."

CitiBank: "Well...the late fees and charges do still apply."

Me: "'Would you like her new billing address?"

CitiBank: "That might help."

Me: " ( Odessa Memorial Cemetery #### Hwy 129 and plot number given. )

CitiBank: "Sir, that's a cemetery!"

Me: "What do you do with dead people on your planet?!!"

--------------------------

Anyone else wanna play?

Kzin.

Geometrical Help

Starbrat — 2008-07-20

-I'm counting on you guys!-
Hi all,

I really need a hand with some basic geometry. Imagine one has a regular polygon, say a hexagon (or a heptagon, octagon, nonagon, whatever). I know the distance between the points, but how do I use that to work out the distance between the faces, and, most importantly, how do I work out the lengths of the faces?

Help me A.Net, you're my only hope!

who owns the moon

halo2994 — 2008-07-17

http://men.msn.com/articlepm.aspx?cp-docum...17885>1=32001

"The moon has been in plain view for all of human history, but it's only within the past few decades that it's been possible to travel there. And for just about as long as the moon has been within reach, people have been arguing about lunar property rights: Can astronauts claim the moon for king and country, as in the Age of Discovery? Are corporations allowed to expropriate its natural resources, and individuals to own its real estate?"

If you could rewrite the PH, what would you add?

derek_holland — 2008-07-04

the GMG as well
Let's remove all the things in the houserules thread ( http://alternityrpg.net/onlineforums/index...?showtopic=7217 )

So what else would you add?

Psionics

halo2994 — 2008-07-13

in the real world
I am curious about the social changes that would happen should the existence of psionic powers become a well known fact.

The way i envision it, some people would be born with some small amount of psionic abilities, but these people are very rare. However, just about anyone who is willing to undergo the training needed to develop these powers can do so to a lesser or greater degree.

The amount of time and effort needed for this training is intense, but not impossible, perhaps on par with the training needed to become a doctor.

But what i am most curious about is the social impact that the presence of these powers would have on society.

What would that be like, walking around KNOWING that there are people who could be reading or controlling your thoughts, could unlock every door in your house with their mind, or cause you to burst into flames from across the room and their is nothing you could do about it.

What if your girlfriend had these powers, how would that effect your relationship? what if your boss had these powers, what would working for him be like? of course the governments would have laws in place to control these people, but how would that affect society?

these are ideas that never seemed to hit me when i was 13 and making RPG settings, what do you guys think?

-halo

Wet Mars

halo2994 — 2008-07-16

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25703726

"A lot more Martian rocks were altered by water than scientists originally thought, suggesting that early Mars was a very wet place.

New observations made by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, currently circling the planet, have revealed evidence that vast regions of the southern highlands of Mars were altered by water in a variety of environments billions of years ago.

Water is a key condition for life as we know it. Though there is no firm evidence that Mars has ever harbored life, knowing that the planet was once wet suggests that it was at least habitable in the past."

Sci-fi Movies

Goofy_Mitz — 2003-09-02

Classics, Bombs, Upcoming Releases
I think most can agree that Star Wars was the greatest for its time and still the greatest among todays Sci-fi cinema scene ( Talking about episodes IV through VI, not that crap fest "Phantom of the Menace" [sincere apologies to fans of that monstrosity] ). But how about movies like the Blob and Night of the Living Dead ( all time greatest survival horror movie...In my opinion at least )? Disregarding graphics and simply looking at dialog, story line, and history, what are the greatest sci-fi pix ever made???

Canned Spam

Guardian — 2007-05-31

Yay Gov't
Top Ten Spammer Busted

One of world's top 10 spammers held in Seattle
Feds say computer users will notice decrease in junk e-mail following arrest

Updated: 7 minutes ago
SEATTLE - A 27-year-old man described as one of the world�s most prolific spammers was arrested Wednesday, and federal authorities said computer users across the Web could notice a decrease in the amount of junk e-mail.

Robert Alan Soloway is accused of using networks of compromised �zombie� computers to send out millions upon millions of spam e-mails.

�He�s one of the top 10 spammers in the world,� said Tim Cranton, a Microsoft Corp. lawyer who is senior director of the company�s Worldwide Internet Safety Programs. �He�s a huge problem for our customers. This is a very good day.�

A federal grand jury last week returned a 35-count indictment against Soloway charging him with mail fraud, wire fraud, e-mail fraud, aggravated identity theft and money laundering.

Soloway pleaded not guilty Wednesday afternoon to all charges after a judge determined that � even with four bank accounts seized by the government � he was sufficiently well off to pay for his own lawyer.

He has been living in a ritzy apartment and drives an expensive Mercedes convertible, said prosecutor Kathryn Warma. Prosecutors are seeking to have him forfeit $773,000 they say he made from his business, Newport Internet Marketing Corp.

A public defender who represented him for Wednesday�s hearing declined to comment.

Prosecutors say Soloway used computers infected with malicious code to send out millions of junk e-mails since 2003. The computers are called �zombies� because owners typically have no idea their machines have been infected.

He continued his activities even after Microsoft won a $7 million civil judgment against him in 2005 and the operator of a small Internet service provider in Oklahoma won a $10 million judgment, prosecutors said.

U.S. Attorney Jeff Sullivan said Wednesday that the case is the first in the country in which federal prosecutors have used identity theft statutes to prosecute a spammer for taking over someone else�s Internet domain name. Soloway could face decades in prison, though prosecutors said they have not calculated what guideline sentencing range he might face.

The investigation began when the authorities began receiving hundreds of complaints about Soloway, who had been featured on a list of known spammers kept by The Spamhaus Project, an international anti-spam organization.

'Way beyond a nuisance'
The Santa Barbara County, Calif., Department of Social Services said it was spending $1,000 a week to fight the spam it was receiving, and other businesses and individuals complained of having their reputations damaged when it appeared spam was originating from their computers.

�This is not just a nuisance. This is way beyond a nuisance,� Warma said.

Soloway used the networks of compromised computers to send out unsolicited bulk e-mails urging people to use his Internet marketing company to advertise their products, authorities said.

People who clicked on a link in the e-mail were directed to his Web site. There, Soloway advertised his ability to send out as many as 20 million e-mail advertisements over 15 days for $495, the indictment said.

The Spamhaus Project rejoiced at his arrest.

�Soloway has been a long-term nuisance on the Internet � both in terms of the spam he sent, and the people he duped to use his spam service,� organizers wrote on Spamhaus.org.

Soloway remained in federal detention pending a hearing Monday.