meta
Apposite Quotation
Today’s this-very-much-belongs-in-my-universe, courtesy of Borderlands 2 and a New-U station: “If any idiot ever tells you that life would be meaningless without death, Hyperion recommends killing them.”
Latest
trope-a-day
Trope-a-Day: Do Not Adjust Your Set
Do Not Adjust Your Set: The obvious canonical example is the Emergency Notification System, run jointly by the Watch Constabulary and Emergency Management Authority, which can send out a signal across the IIP mesh network preempting every device to deliver an emergency notification. Subverted inasmuch as it can be overridden
Senate
Everything's Shiny, Not to Fret
CALMIRÍË, ELIÉRA – The new composition of the Chamber of the People following the 7124 reselection has had little effect on the balance of the Senate, indicate the latest declarations of branch affiliation reported by the Scrupulous Monitor of the Will of the People. The only statistically significant shift identifiable in
trope-a-day
Trope-a-Day: Doing in the Wizard
Doing in the Wizard: Played straight in the most literal sense possible: if there’s magic, miracle, or straight-up literary conceit around, you can be absolutely sure that there’s someone *there* figuring out how it could work and/or how it can be reverse-engineered, because that’s how you
trope-a-day
Trope-a-Day: Measuring the Marigolds
Measuring the Marigolds: Should you, gentle reader, ever find yourself transported by some magical tornado to one of the locales about which I write, don’t try and explain this one to the locals. Really. Just… don’t. Expect a lengthy lecture on how The World Is Just Awesome, but
property rights
Inalienable Property
(Seeing as we’re discussing the amount of trouble people can get into through bad deals, it seems like an appropriate time to mention a certain generous legal provision…) inalienable property: Private property not subject to seizure in mediatory proceedings, in collection of a debt, or in bankruptcy. While any
Adamant Sanction
The Sanction (also, Questions)
Responding at once to a couple of past questions: 3. Roughly where does the dividing line between “coercion” and “acceptable-if-pernicious exploitation of another’s flaws and failings” lie? When it violates someone’s fundamental rights and/or their mental integrity (i.e., doesn’t pass through their volition). To give
trope-a-day
Trope-a-Day: Do-Anything Robot
Do-Anything Robot: High-end utility spiders are like this – albeit not all the way there – thanks to effectors, self-reshaping “smart tool” nanotechnology, and modular parts.
Torren Moon Incident
A Conversation, Recorded Eight Minutes Before The Torren Moon Bloom
“Yes,” said the forensic eschatologist. “Your crippling techniques all appear fully operational. Your screening talkers have detected no basilisks or dangerous memetic payloads, and neither have the people screening them. Your emergency-wipe protocols show no sign of tampering, your network links show no anomalous traffic, and there is no present
trope-a-day
Trope-a-Day: Distress Call
Distress Call: <breedlewheep>. Vessel in distress, vessel in distress. Cycle 214. Free trader More Money, More Propellant under attack by forces unknown. Reaction drive disabled. Point-defense laser not responding. Atmosphere venting from multiple compartments. Message repeats. <breedlewheep>. Vessel in distress, vessel in distress. Cycle 215. Free
CASE DYSPEPTIC FLARE
Ultima Ratio Imperii Stellae
(Because a comment thread back a ways suggested a mention of the big dakka that hopefully no-one will ever have to use might be in order…) CASE DYSPEPTIC FLARE MOST SECRET (ULTRAVIOLET) / EYES ONLY DYSPEPTIC FLARE NEED-TO-KNOW ABSOLUTE HARD COPY ONLY/NO TRANSMISSION ORIGINATOR-CONTROLLED DISSEMINATION TRACKED-COPY DOCUMENT NOCONTRACT NOFORN SPECIAL
trope-a-day
Trope-a-Day: Digitized Hacker
Digitized Hacker: Most of ’em. When it comes to wrestling for control of systems in cycle-time – especially where security AI are concerned – speed is a definite advantage. As such, digital crackers and their counterparts, digital sysadmins, are both very common; even if they habitually inhabit bioshells and just run a