(no subject)

Republican Doug Ose has sponsored a bill which will ban seven words from television, in all their forms. The entirety of the bill reads as follows:

To amend section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, to provide for the punishment of certain profane broadcasts, and for other purposes.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That section 1464 of title 18, United States Code, is amended--

(1) by inserting `(a)' before `Whoever'; and

(2) by adding at the end the following:

`(b) As used in this section, the term `profane', used with respect to language, includes the words `shit', `piss', `fuck', `cunt', `asshole', and the phrases `cock sucker', `mother fucker', and `ass hole', compound use (including hyphenated compounds) of such words and phrases with each other or with other words or phrases, and other grammatical forms of such words and phrases (including verb, adjective, gerund, participle, and infinitive forms).'.

Is there nothing more important he could be spending his time on?

(no subject)

Just for the hell of it, I was doing some calculations on what income would have to be to move to various cities in Marin while enjoying the same standards of living Elli and I are likely to if we stayed here (after I'm teaching).

For most of the Marin area, we'd need to make almost twice as much as we will here for the same standards of living. In Larkspur, for example, we'd need $151,000 to match the combined projected income of $80,000 in Sacramento.

However, for Corte Madera, which is right next to Larkspur, we'd need only $64,000.

Now, I haven't lived in Marin, and haven't visited in years. What's wrong with Corte Madera?

A Gaming question - Non-gamers feel free to skip.

This question is mainly for my local friends, but others should feel free to answer, too.

When my current Star Wars campaign ends, I intend to take a break for a little while from running things and be a player again. However, the reality is that I'll likely run another game within six months. Possibly much less. I have two systems and four games in mind:

The first is Star*Drive, using the Alternity setting. It's a space-based campaign that begins in 2501, shortly after a devastating Galactic War II, and has enough plot for five years of in-character time.

The second uses the HERO system; the plot is based on the Exiles comic. In this story, the characters are from alternate Marvel-comics-based realities. "Ripples" and breaks in the fabric of time have caused changes to each of their timelines: one of them, for example, in his world a well-known hero, now sits on Death Row for the murder. One was injured and lies in a coma, never to reawaken. Another has become a villain. Each of them has been taken out of time, and given the opportunity to fix their timeline by fixing breaks in other realities which created the problems in their own. If they succeed, they're returned to their proper time, unaged, everything as it was before they left. If they fail, they go back to the new timeline where everything's all screwed up. If they die ... well, they die. It's like "Mission Impossible" meets "Quantum Leap", to boil it down. Exiles is a good comic and would make a great RPG -- and it has built-in ways for players to change characters, if they want to.

The third is also HERO system, but is a more straightforward game, also stolen -- this time from my old MUSH (forgive me, urban_bohemian!). The world knows of supers, and paranormal things, but it's largely our own world. In the hidden corners of the world, Dark Things^tm move, always planning, always doing terrible things. The heroes are members of a secret group, working from the shadows to save mankind from the things it doesn't want to know exist. Most likely, I'd have the heroes recruited by an older, lone Wujen, passing the torch on to them before he fades off into the night. I might not use Wuj at all.

The fourth is yet again HERO-based.* Fully 90% of the heroes of Earth have been wiped out in an unexplained incident. There is almost no one left to stop the villains of the world -- except a newly-recruited team of heroes who were too young to join in the fight which killed their mentors. Except you.

So, now that the background is out of the way:

Which of the four would YOU most like to play?

(no subject)

From waiwode

( The first to the last )

(no subject)

I'm starting to think my Icon should be changed so it read "What the frell?" instead of "You're going to die." It would fit Caisha's expression better.

(no subject)

In the words of a certain pointy-eared guy: Fascinating.

Deserved praise.

I'd just like to say that I love debating with Katie. I've always thought it's a sad thing that most of my friends are basically in agreement with me (or ambivalent) on the political front.

I especially love that Katie and I can debate, and can get passionate about our respective beliefs, and yet still be respectful to each other. That's rare, these days, and it's nice to see someone say to me "I think you're wrong, and here's why" instead of "You are such an idiot, you really have no idea" like my anonymous detractor of some months back.

Napa

When Spring is in the air, I want to go to Napa. Others will be welcome. I want to see where I grew up when it's prettiest.