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Author Topic: Beyond the Stellar Sphere (Read 1231 times)
Pug Life
Former Cast Member
Hello, everyone! I totally promised to put this text RP setting out almost half a year ago, but . . . well, better late than never! This setting is fairly multi-toned, but is strictly in the deep end of science fiction. What I mean by multi-toned, of course, is that your stories don't have to be horror stories, grim bloodbaths, or sarcastic mercenaries if you don't want them to be. The setting I've got presented for you lends itself towards things like that, but if what you really want to do is get a bunch of people together and play out a space-themed reality TV show . . . Well I'm sure it exists, and I'm sure it's watched by billions.
It's worth note that this setting is strictly freeform; you'll find a link at the bottom of this contents post to the do's and don'ts of freeform RP, in case you're new to it and/or haven't done it all that much before.
This first post is going to be a table of contents of sorts. In it, I'll have many helpful links and the like, and I'll do my best to keep this updated as needed.
When you create any threads related to this, just make sure you put [BtSS] in the beginning of the title. If enough stories are going on in this setting, I'll get Matthew to make me a delicious rack of ribs a subforum devoted to Beyond the Stellar Sphere itself. Character sheets aren't necessary to join up or anything, just be sure you've read the lore I've posted in this topic. If there are any lore topics that you want me to include here for the sake of others, either toss me an IM or post in this thread!
Finally: while I've put forward a complete setting, there are some vagueries here and there. Ideally, those should give you ideas for characters and conflicts. I'm not so attached to what I've written that I'll balk at people pushing a universal plot along or anything of the sort; I'm very open to what we can all do with this post-Earth sci-fi "world," and I'd be elated to see members building up stories with solar system shattering developments.
1. Intro: Old Earth
2. New Worlds
3. New Mankind
4. New Life
5. Old Life
6. New Developments
7. The Do's and Don'ts of Freeform Forum Roleplay
« Last Edit: September 21, 2016, 06:32:38 PM by Nayt »
. o O (I think I must agree with Sliss. The "Fat Chance" would have been a perfect name for our ship.)
Intro: Old Earth
Old Earth
by Granus Kar, The Kraken Mare Informer
By the dusk of the twenty-fourth century, the Earth was ruined--and mankind had yet to leave this solar system. Despite technological advancements, even clean advancements, we were never able to breach the kuiper belt. Not far enough to matter, at least. Certainly, there were probes. Even some failed manned missions to nearby star systems. But with only sub-light travel at our fingertips and the insurmountable wall that is extra-solar communication, each and every shot at a new Earth has been met with the same horrible interstellar scream.
Temperatures continued to reach higher and higher levels, rapidly warming well beyond historical precedents. Arctic ice melted. Sea levels rose. Mass flooding, mass evacuations, mass relocations, and then . . . evaporation. Lakes dried up, sea levels dropped, and moisture burned from the soil, as an ever-growing plume of mist flooded the atmosphere.
And the worst part? The worst part is that eventually we pulled our collective heads from our collective asses and started trying to save the world. That was the twenty second century--but it was too little, too late. Completely cutting atmospheric pollutants accomplished nothing. The damage was done. We'd reaped what we sowed. And now, there's nothing left to sow on that dead planet. And once it was clear that the Earth was doomed, we fled. Broke out of the Earth sphere, terraformed other worlds, made new homes.
Top scientists claim that 10,000 years from now, Earth will be just another Venus. Unless, of course, we somehow figure out how to decloud an atmosphere. But this writer long since gave up hope. We're never going home. We're going to be stuck on terraformed moons 'til we concoct some new way to drive ourselves extinct. Maybe we'll run out of resources. Maybe we'll have a war, build some new bomb that can take down entire moons. Or maybe we'll just fade into galactic obscurity, trapped in our Sol System 'til we stop birthing new humans.
It's the dawn of the twenty-fifth century, people. Who knows what the next generation is going to do?
If humans learned one thing from destroying the Earth, it was how to screw up an atmosphere. And the most important process of terraforming alien worlds? Screwing up its atmosphere. We can't cool a world down, but we can certainly warm it up.
Earth is gone, uninhabitable. A dried up world with poison for air, so hot that most exosuits won't keep a traveler alive for long. Humanity had to move, had to adapt, and options were limited. Over the centuries, mankind has taken to these new worlds:
Space Itself, in the form of space stations and orbital satellites (most prominently Terra Nova, which orbits the Earth).
Terra Nova is the most famous orbital station, though large stations just like it orbit that of Jupiter and Saturn. A greater population lives in Terra Nova than any other orbital station, if only for the nostalgic value of being so close to mankind's ruined homeworld. The being said, Terra Nova is actually the worst laid out orbital station. Not only is it the first to have been built, but the addition of more and more people have lead to more and more sectors being added to the station--which, in turn, makes it more and more difficult to navigate. Still, people are drawn to the haunting view of Earth's gray-blue haze.
Orbital stations are roughly the size of old super-cities, half of which--the residential sections, mainly--rotate quickly to simulate gravity. Large spaceports tend to hang between residential and commercial districts. Jupiter and Saturn's orbital stations actually put more emphasis on their spaceports than residential qualities, as they see more income generated from shipping and receiving to their moons than anything else.
Mars. Martian history is strange. You see, in the 21st century, humans started placing structures on Mars. Mars One, the first manned "mission" to Mars, was a publicity stunt, the new frontier of reality television. A handful of strangers sent off to live in a compound on Mars, knowing full well they will never come back to Earth. Mars One picked up steam, and elevated the red planet to a strange celebrity status. Within a century, it became fashionable to own Martian property, and once travel to and from Mars became cheaper and easier, high profile celebrities started fronting the bills to live in their own personal Martian compounds.
Today, a terraformed Mars is the system's closest approximation to a pre-industrial Earth. Only 30% of its surface is water, however, so only a small fragment of the world is lived in. That which is contrasts the reddish soil and rocky outcrops with vibrant greenery, colorful buildings, and turquoise waters. Martian society is aristocratic and celebrity. To this day, it is far too expensive for the majority of humans to own land on Mars.
The greatest threat to Martian communities are the storms, which carry all the power of a hurricane, with only rock and sand to throw around. As such, Martian homes are incredibly sturdy, resembling forts and castles in their construction.
The Asteroid Belt, set between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, was never sought after for permanent colonization. While rumors of a hollowed out asteroid containing some lost city and untold riches are unquellable, no formal authority will ever admit such a thing exists.
Resource mining facilities are largely the only source of human presence in the asteroid belt. There are actually more abandoned facilities than active ones, as asteroid belt mining has been a regular source of income for a myriad of corporations since the late twenty-first century. Most of the time, these facilities are manned by robots and a few humans (or human offshoots) to ensure upkeep and repairs.
Frequent collisions make the prospect of a permanent asteroid colony unlikely. Even Ceres, a minor planet within the asteroid belt, remains untouched. That said, there are still a few corporations left with vested interests in overturning Ceres. The atmospheric and soil contents of Ceres make it a theoretically viable world for habitation. Its atmosphere can easily be thickened, and the world's soft, malleable soil is the result of long concealed ground water, introduced into the planet's
Enceladus (Saturn), a tiny moon of Saturn with an icy crust, under which is a warm, bustling ocean. Underwater "storms," or violent, turbulent tides, are caused by frequent surface geysers that burst from the ocean's pressure. The geysers erupt into space, adding to the frozen ice of Saturn's rings. Because of its lack of sustainable atmosphere, ice from the planet's rings collect upon the surface, drifts down into the warm ocean, melts, and repeats. Only the ocean of Enceladus is livable. Any surface structures are closed off from the vacuum of space.
Enceladites refer to humans who moved to the moon well before the Earth became unlivable, and adapted to the environment. Through a mixture of medical breakthroughs and guided evolution, this offshoot of humanity have long, thin bodies covered in thick, rough skin, and slitted gills along the sides of their ribcage.
Titan (Saturn), a larger moon of Saturn with a caustic atmosphere. Contrary to 20th century thought, Titan was incredibly difficult to terraform. Already having a dense atmosphere--one that reflects light, rather than contains it--long term, heavy industrialization was necessary to bring the world's surface temperature up to acceptable levels. Because the world reflects too much light, it is constantly dark, excepting only summers, which are no more luminous than Earth's twilight. Oxygen producing plants are given artificial soil, artificial light, and dominate the center of every human community. Paradoxically, the caustic air doesn't do them much harm.
Titan's atmosphere is covered in a thick, choking smog caused by human terraforming and its native methane oceans. It always smells unpleasant, and breathing the air can be poisonous after just a couple of hours. Most citizens wear rebreathers when stepping outside. The surface is primarily methane oceans and dark, pillowy soft soil--even softer, and less dense, than Earthen beach sand.
This world was the first attempt at rapid terraforming once Earth officially became lethal. While the Martian aristocracy brought in the wealthy and influential, Titan took on Earth's lower and middle classes.
Much like Enceladus, Titan also hosts a vast underground ocean. This, however, has gone mostly unexplored, even centuries into Titan's habitability. There is life down below--not intelligent life, but extremely hostile life. Things in the sea: predators, all of them. Monsters capable of tearing through solid armor, of devouring expeditions whole. This life existed long before mankind's arrival, and it will continue to exist long after mankind leaves the moon.
Io (Jupiter), Jupiter's fifth moon, was once considered for terraforming. The project was scrapped shortly before its onset, however. Io's surface is so covered in sulfur that no amount of effort could make the moon habitable. Conversely, it is one of the most metal rich worlds in the solar system, making it a prime target for mining colonies. Even now, a dozen different mining companies have their people in closed off communities. Exosuits are required for work outside.
Because it was never terraformed, Io remains in its natural state: a planet of fire and ice. Frequent volcanic eruptions set portions of the world ablaze, while the rest of the world is covered by its unique orange-and-yellow sulfuric snow . . . snow that is, incidentally, flammable.
Europa (Jupiter), is mankind's second fully terraformed world. It was much more successful than Titan. Those who can make it off Titan usually wind up on Europa. Here, Jupiter takes up a third of the sky at all times . . . But only for half the planet. Europa is tidally locked with Jupiter, so the "back" half of Europa never, ever sees its host gas giant. That being said, it still sees night and day based solely on Jupiter's rotations.
This world was initially considered a lost cause for habitation, as it has abysmally low gravity, but its underground ocean--one vaguely similar, albeit colder and more shallow, to Enceladus--more than made up for it. Mankind, first dispatched in closed off colonies, drilled deep to allow for natural water vapor to intermix with oxygen and carbon emissions in order to form an atmosphere as close to Earth as possible. Mineral content keeps the soil an orange and yellow, and the grainy water--in the form of deep, fracturing rivers spanning the entire moon--is a bluish gray, but the air is pure and easy to breath, making Europa a much sought after destination for settling down.
Europan architecture is incredibly unique, mostly for its accommodations for gravity. The moon's gravity is one ninth that of Earth's, which has made building up a greater priority than building out.
New Mankind
Over the years, both on and off Earth, humanity has guided its own evolution. Humans are engineered, made to be better, more powerful, more long lived than ever before. These upgrades, so to speak, were actually quite necessary. Since mankind's move into space, live births have reduced tremendously. The move into space, the rapid terraforming projects, these were all quick. Hasty. But ultimately necessary. Earth was simply uninhabitable. Even though sterility began to dwindle the human population, the exodus into space gave mankind a fighting chance.
Infertility and sterility plague prospective mothers and fathers alike, with only one in a hundred humans--on average--capable of producing children. Infertility via solar radiation has thus far been one of the most difficult hurdles to overcome. The easy route, and the one humanity fell back on so much that progress on a cure all but halted, was genetically engineering the future of mankind. A mother and father (or a mother and mother) pay for visits at a fertility clinic, whereupon their genetic material is taken, engineered into a child, and optionally customized by the parents--choosing recessive traits over dominate traits, for instance.
With the ability to filter out diseases, malformations, and syndromes from humanity's future, it's only natural that a non-insignificant amount of people front the extra money to make their kids damn-near superhuman. It used to be you trained and prayed you were genetically predisposed to compete in the olympics. Now, with just a few more fistfulls of money, you can guarantee your child can outclass history's most famous athletes--and with minimal training! Height, weight, build, senses: all can be perfected with a few clicks of a button.
Give that about two hundred years, and you have a brand new offshoot of humanity. These are the Homo-Specialis sub-group. They are almost universally looked down upon on most worlds, seen as the purest symbol of Martian vanity. They are all but second class citizens on Titan and Io, and a tolerated presence on Europa.
The Wired Man
Also called Wyrds, these people have been around since before the exodus into space. It started when a social media mogul decided the future of mankind laid in telepathy, and dumped a fortune into the research. The result? Two people with very particular implants in the cerebral cortex can now share thoughts in the same way they're used to speaking, only quietly and instantly. And that was only the start of it.
Wyrds, by default, have a cerebral implant that functions as a "gateway" to accessing the full array of any other installed implants. Think of this as biocomputing; the implants--themselves a merger of metal and printed flesh--act like a completely new system in the brain, and require very little adaption to use. Most of it is as natural as breathing, although practice can hone unique abilities.
Telepathy is not the only use of Wyrd abilities. Direct access and manipulation of computers ("machine talk"), digital memory, enhanced senses, and augmented brain power are amongst the many perks of making a physical machine of your brain.
Wyrds call the Earth Orbital Station "Terra Nova" their home, and they are--tentatively--accepted everywhere but Titan, where Machinals frequently grow violent in their presence.
The Augmented Man
Before Wyrds and Specialis were even thought of, humans had pushed the limits of their in-born flesh. Cybernetics was our first foray into transhumanism. As Wyrds came to be, the field of cybernetics also took off. This, however, branched in a different direction altogether. Homo-Machinalis, or Machinals, came from a late 21st century philosophy: that mankind is defined not by flesh and blood, but by the "Soul of the Mind." Machinals themselves were born in the mid twenty-second century, when robotic prosthesis became absurdly cheap, and the first human brain operated a full body prosthetic.
Machinals are a fairly isolated people, sticking to working communes above interacting with other offshoots of humanity. For the most part, they're rather peaceful, and are one of the few peoples who do not horrendously discriminate against Specialis. But if in the presence of a Wyrd, those who've "sold their Souls," they will not hesitate to go to war.
Machinals tend to have next to no human parts remaining aside their brains, which goes as unaugmented as possible. They also have no ability to reproduce naturally, and only increase the sizes of their colonies through growing new humans in tubes, whose families then expose them to this society of rampant physical replacement.
Fun fact: it may seem paradoxical, but "telekinesis" is characteristic of Machinals, not Wyrds! This is actually because true telekinesis is impossible, and is instead achieved through magnetics. Machinals with the right prosthetics can push and pull on magnetic materials, which gives the appearance of telekinesis. It is rumored that mixing this prosthetic with Wyrd implants can create a near godly powerful telekinetic, but philosophical differences have kept the rumor from being proven one way or another.
Titan is home to most Machinals, though there are communities of them scattered about all worlds.
The Changed Man
Homo-Enceladitus, or Enceladites, are a people who first colonized the world of Enceladus prior to the fall of Earth. The waters of Enceladus proved a well of life, warmed by its hollow core, and kept from the vacuum of space by a sheet of rock and ice that covers it like a shell. Humans first started with above-shell colonies, which progressed underwater once the surface was safely cracked.
With the most habitable waters in the System, there came the question of what if. What if humans could thrive in Enceladus waters, rather than shield themselves from it? Firstly, the condition of the lungs would have to be dealt with. Gills--which would best be placed in close proximity with the body's airways--would be necessary, lest Enceladites rely on rebreathers from birth to death. Their skin would have to change. Become thicker, sleeker. Absorb less water--repel it, in fact--or else the water would slowly rip through, gradually tearing the skin, creating open sores, and leaving infection behind.
Finally, the muscles--and by extension, the bones--would have to change. Become slimmer, longer, and better suited to living underwater. And once the first test started, it didn't end. Enceladites have since become undersea offshoots of humanity, and they generally creep out anyone that meets one outside of Enceladus proper. They're taller than any other human, they've got thick, slick skin, they're uncomfortably thin, and usually hairless. There is also a weird stigma about them held by a lot of "normal" humans: unlike them, Enceladites are rarely infertile, partly through genetic engineering and partly through living in the least radioactive environment in the system.
There has been talk of other genetically altered humanoids elsewhere in the system, but much like old Earth legends, these are rumors of cryptids at best.
The Same Old Man
Between it all, you have the same human beings that dominated Earth for tens of thousands of years. They fill out settlements across the Sol System, intermixed with Wyrds, Specialis, and Machinals. Disease and longevity are less a problem than ever; before Earth became unlivable, most of its myriad of diseases were cured and the aging process was reformed. Now, the average human being lives to see two-hundred. After eighteen, most people remain young--or young looking--until roughly one hundred, after which they reach middle age, and continue until the body degrades and perishes at around two-hundred. The oldest living human is two-hundred forty-five.
It's not uncommon for the average human to dip into Wyrd or Machinal technologies. Some even mix the two. Doing so, however, renders them a permanent and hated enemy of all Machinal--and most Wyrd--colonies across the system.
Robotics and artificial intelligence have come leaps and bounds since the twenty-first century. Before Earth's decline, robotic labor replaced most unskilled human labor. For the longest time, robots were mindless, only programmed for specific tasks, even while their bodies became more and more like a human's. After the Earth's industries shifted focus following the inevitable collapse of 2130 (caused primarily by robotic labor exceeding human labor), roboticists began work on more advanced artificial intelligence--that which could make decisions for itself, even if those decisions weren't rational.
There exist two type of robots. Utility machines and -droids, both of which still tend to be manufactured with only the most basic of responses and taskwork. Certain programs can be used to "uplift" the machines, so to speak, and give them sentience. Uplifted robots are widely regarded as fellow citizens (if not second or third class citizens), but are still the focus of violent crimes from those who refuse to accept them.
By most Machinal philosophies, uplifted machines are an abomination. Sentient robots are forbidden from entering Titan, and are destroyed on sight should they ever be found there.
Utility Machines
Mobile manufacturing being as important as it is, most machines meant to do specific jobs were given legs or wheels. These robots are blocky and purpose built, scarcely capable of doing anything outside of their own design, even if they've been granted sentience. The majority of difficult and dangerous taskwork throughout the system are done by these machines, and sentient utility machines are frequently regarded as a nuisance and a waste.
-Droids
Androids and gynoids came about in the early twenty-second century, and were built to be multi-purpose--bodies made to perform the same varied tasks a human can perform, without being specialized into inevitable obsolescence. They were also the majority of machines that roboticists used in advanced AI experiments. Nowadays, androids and gynoids tend to be the most commonly sentient of all robots, and this bothers people significantly less than it did a hundred years ago. Violent hate crimes are now only committed against one out of every four -droids.
Synthetic skin on synthetic life, however, is illegal. While humans are oft to cover mechanical prosthetics with synthetic skin, robots are required by law on every world in the system to be identifiable as robots. No one has seen a human mimic before, but the very concept is a boogeyman to most.
Old Life
We were never alone. The Sol System always had life, even in the distant reaches. Where there was water, there was life. Even old water, pre-terraformed Martian ice, was host to microbes never before seen--not to mention the fossils of bizarre avian creatures found deep within the Martian soil.
Martian Fossils
Contrary to popular 20th century belief, there was never intelligent life on Mars. Life, it seems, only lasted a fraction of Earth's history; creatures only evolved as much as rodents and avians, though their size was impressive: ancient Mars had richer oxygen and a much smaller gravitational pull than Earth (even terraformed, the Martian gravity remains half that of Earth's), thereby allowing its beasts to thrive at tremendous sizes.
It remains unclear what happened to Mars, only that life ended in a heartbeat, the planet vented much of its atmosphere into space, and oxygen poured from the world like water against a broken dam. The only life that remains are miniscule creatures eerily similar to tardigrades, complex cellular organisms that can survive even within the depths of space.
Beneath the Surface of Enceladus
Before we arrived, Enceladus was already host to natural life. But compared to the monsters beneath Titan, these creatures are almost mundane. Because of the regularly shifting currents, the periodic subsurface storms, and disturbances caused by surface impacts and pressure vortexes, no species of great size could ever sustain themselves. A group of Earth's (long dead) sperm whales would be ripped to shreds by the average subsurface storm. Even though oxygen content and gravitational forces would allow for larger creatures, the turbulent forces of the ocean make it impossible.
There are four main types of creature beneath Enceladus. Most common are the very small, spiny fish. Most species of fish actually have exoskeletons and organs that withhold oxygen bubbles, for survival and ease of motion.
Monsters Under Titan
All expeditions beneath the surface of Titan, into the vast subsurface ocean that fills the world, have ended in failure. There are things in the water; monstrous things, gigantic things. Unlike Enceladus, Titan's subsurface oceans aren't turbulent and violently shifting; pressure does not shoot geysers into space, and icy asteroids do not continue to fill its oceans to the brink. The beasts below were allowed to grow, evolve and expand per the moon's low gravity.
But the oceans are poisonous to Terran life, and the monsters under Titan adapted eons ago. They grew and evolved through the poison, live and breath in it. All records suggest that the massive creatures are mawed (at least one type of which has two maws), thick natural armor, and teeth that can shear through rock and the ship hulls.
[space reserved for new ideas, locations, and plot hooks developed or created by the players]
The Do's and Don'ts of Freeform Forum RP
I realize that I should have probably made this a different topic entirely, but I don't see any other freeform forum roleplays going on at the moment, so I don't think it's quite necessary just yet.
So I am aware that most people on this message board are fans of the Drunk and the Ugly and RPPR podcasts, and that most of you are thus gonna be in the tabletop roleplaying camp--which is totes fine by me! If not, then please feel free to ignore (most) of what I've got in this message. Either way, be assured that I'm not talking down to anyone, just explaining a few things about a game with no elements of a game.
Freeform text RP has no stats, dice rolls, coin flips, or anything of the sort. I've toyed with the idea in the past, even tried it on a large scale at one point, but I've yet to see it work on anything but a single thread at a time. Because it's all narrative, that means there are a few major difference between this and a tabletop RPG. Firstly, most storylines are "GMed" back and forth. It's not really called GMing so much, either. Doesn't really have a name, just who is running the thread at the time and who isn't. If you're in with a group of other RPers, and you have an idea for a cool story bro, you just kinda start throwing some cryptic stuff, NPCs, or etc. about, and the other RPers involved will start following this story you've got in mind.
There are also what I like to call "tavern talk" roleplays. These are threads where it's just characters talking with characters. There's no guide to the story, and it all evolves from RPers posting back and forth with each other. These can lead to some awesome character moments, and sometimes even explode into some big plot reveals.
There are only a few rules that need following:
1. THE GOLDEN RULE: never, ever, EVER assume control of another RPer's character without their consent. This is called autoing, and on most RP forums, breaking that rule can get you a temporary (or even permanent) ban. I by no means have the authority to do that (and also I'm way too nice to do that to someone anyways), but it's aggressively disrespectful to your fellow RPers, and the worst thing you can do.
2. Respect your fellow RPers: we've all got stories we want to tell; some of us may be experienced with it, some may not be as experienced, but either way, no one's creativity should be shunned. If you don't like RPing with a particular person, you by no means have to be in a thread with them!
3. Finally, try to avoid Mary Sue-ish and godly powerful characters. In freeform RP, power creep is something incredibly difficult to avoid, but it's on RPers to do their best. If you've got a character in a fight with another's character, it's no fun for either of you if one character or the other is invincible. Unless, of course, it is all part of the storyline that you and other RPers are collaborating on; in that case, do as thou wilt.
While not exactly a rule, I do also suggest making sure your characters have the ability to socialize with one another. I can say from experience that playing a lone badass in the corner that wants nothin' to do with nobody will actually get you next to no RP.
Horse Puncher
Re: Beyond the Stellar Sphere
I have some setting questions:
1) How does government work, is there a unified government or is each colony self governed?
2) Is there a shared economy? Are there mega/hyper corps?
3) Space Pirates?
In this post, I'll keep track of any questions that've been asked about the setting, and my corresponding answers.
Quote from: jfan999 on September 22, 2016, 11:32:24 AM
Think of each planet like a solitary nation, with each of its colonies mostly self-governing city-states. Colonies make their own rules, but planetary governments can override those rules.
Permanent space stations, on the other hand, are usually controlled/built by a megacorp, and are self governed--unless, of course, they orbit close enough to be in the planet's uppermost atmosphere, in which case the planetary government can claim it.
Perhaps it's the pessimist in me, but I'd err on the side of hyper corps controlling most resources with fists jammed right into the hearts of local governments. The economy is a shared credit system; I tried to wrack my brain to invent a new money name, but "credits" are used a lot in science fiction for a reason. So credits it shall be!
Quote from: anonymous
Can physical currency still be a thing? With Wyrd and AI being a thing I think there would be some form of unhackable currency for people woried about that kind of thing.
There is absolutely a currency like that. Credit sticks, credit chips, things along those lines. Basically unmarked credits that can be deposited in a person's account.
« Last Edit: September 26, 2016, 10:05:45 AM by Nayt »
Drunk GM and Ugly Talker
Moved this to a dedicated child board for ease of access and organization.
Be a Road Trip, not a Ponyfinder.
Thanks, brah.


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@interface ZWNavigationController : UINavigationController

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HOW TO NOMINATE
WYOMING ATHLETICS
Joseph W. Alexander
Rodeo, 1968-69
Known as "Alexander the Great", Joe Alexander is regarded by many as one of the most flamboyant bareback riders ever to compete for Wyoming, and is the first rodeo participant to be inducted into the University of Wyoming Athletics Hall of Fame. The Cora, Wyo., native competed for Wyoming Rodeo Club team as a bareback rider in 1968 and 1969. In 1968, he place third at the National College Finals Rodeo in bareback riding, and ranked in the Top 10 in bareback riding in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association standing both years at UW. Joe transferred to Wyoming from Casper College where he won a National College Finals Rodeo Championship and led the NIRA in bareback riding in 1967. After graduating from Wyoming with a degree in Agriculture business, Joe won a record five consecutive world bareback championships from 1971 to 1975. He also owns the world record for the best score ever in bareback riding with a 93 at the Grand Daddy of `Em All, Cheyenne Frontier days in 1974. Over his illustrious career, Joe competed in 13 National Finals Rodeos, and was selected to the Professional rodeo cowboys Association hall of Fame.
Inducted September 19, 1997
National College Rodeo Championship
Selected to the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Hall of Fame
Induction classes by year
Inductees by alphabetical listing
Location of Hall of Fame
Wyoming Athletics Site
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SWEETWATER COUNTY'S NEWS LEADER
Hall of Fame c/o Media Relations Office UNIVERSITY OF WYOMING Department 3414 1000 #. University Avenue Laramie, WY 82071 307-766-2256 phone 307-766-2346 fax wyosid@uwyo.edu


I did an spatial relations aptitude test in 1984 and scored 97%. Now 27 years later I'm realizing what career path I should have followed.
Going to look into Urban development.
Either for a need of job or some other circumstances we go for a career. And after spending many a years we realize our mistake.
Though a bit difficult in the late age but not impossible to go to another career. In many a situations out old experience helps us in facing the challenges of the chosen career.


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HomeTV ShowsAwards ShowsJennifer Hudson Sings "I'll Fight" at the 2019 Oscars (VIDEO)
Jennifer Hudson Sings "I'll Fight" at the 2019 Oscars (VIDEO)
02/25/2019 mj santilli Awards Shows, Video 1
Watch Jennifer Hudson sing the Oscar nominated song "I'll Fight." The American Idol alum and The Voice coach performed the song, from the documentary RBG, on the 91st Academy Awards telecast which aired on ABC (Feb 24).
RBG depicts the life of Supreme Court justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and her life-long fight for voting rights. "I'll Fight" was co-written by Diane Warren, who has penned a ton of hits over her 30+ year career for the likes of Laura Branigan, Aerosmith ("I Don't Want to Miss a Thing"), Leann Rimes ("How Do I Live") Lady Gaga and more. "I'll Fight" was Warren's 10th Oscar nomination without a win. Best song this year went to Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper for "Shallow" from their film A Star is Born.
Nevertheless, Jennifer is a perfect fit for the rousing number. Unfortunately, the arrangement here is short and choppy. But that's showbiz! Do check out the singer's magnificent dress. That train tho!
Jennifer Hudson sings "I'll Fight" on the 2019 Oscars
https://youtu.be/T6eb01TPiUY
Bonus Video: Jennifer chats with American Idol host Ryan Seacrest about her upcoming movie Cats. And also they did a little reminiscing about the Dolby theater, which hosted many American Idol finales.
About mj santilli 29911 Articles
Founder and editor of mjsbigblog.com, home of the awesomest fan community on the net. I love cheesy singing shows of all kinds, whether reality or scripted. I adore American Idol, but also love The Voice, Glee, X Factor and more!
Queen + Adam Lambert Rock the 2019 Oscars Open (VIDEO)
Watch American Idol 2019 Hopefuls Sing Queen's "Don't Stop Me Now" VIDEO
Idol Bits and Pieces: Jennifer Hudson, Susan Boyle, Carrie Underwood, Glee and More
09/04/2009 mj santilli American Idol, Bo Bice, Carrie Underwood, Constantine Maroulis, Diana DeGarmo, Glee, Jennifer Hudson, Katharine McPhee, Simon Cowell 25
Jennifer Hudson and Chris Angel are two of the celebrity guests joining the Black Eyed Peas and Oprah Winfrey for her show's 24th season kickoff party Tuesday, September 8. The taping begins at 5
Jennifer Hudson Joins Kelly Clarkson and Jordin Sparks for VH1 Divas
09/08/2009 mj santilli American Idol, Jennifer Hudson 9
The upcoming VH1 Divas special is shaping up to be a veritable Idol fest! You've got Idol winners Kelly Clarkson and Jordin Sparks performing (not to mention Leona Lewis from Simon Cowell's X Factor)
Jennifer Hudson Performs on Oprah
09/09/2009 mj santilli American Idol, Jennifer Hudson 19
Jennifer Hudson was on hand Monday evening for Oprah Winfrey's big block party to kick off the 24th season of Oprah. Several blocks of downtown Chicago were shut down for the Oprah taping, which


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Q: Ansible Community Edition - Error "failed to find required executable at in path /sbin/" I am using Ansible Community Edition on CentOS 7.
I wanted to run commands periodically and using at plugin which is part of ansible.posix.collection.
When I refer in playbooks like
- name: check size of disk
  ansible.posix.at:
    ...

... not giving the full script here
It gives an error "Failed to find required executable at in path".
Can someone suggest here? I do not know how to point at plugin which is not part of ansible-core to $PATH, if that solves the issue.

A: This is because the program at should be installed on the managed machine and available under one of the paths in the $PATH variable.
See the section "Requirements" here : https://docs.ansible.com/ansible/latest/collections/ansible/posix/at_module.html#id2

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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Peter Oborne is an award-winning journalist, author and commentator on politics for television and radio. A former Political Editor of the Spectator, he was until February 2015 chief political commentator for the Daily Telegraph before resigning in protest over what he perceived as the paper's failure to cover damaging stories about companies that provided advertising revenue.
Peter is the author of several books including biographies of Alastair Campbell and the cricketer Basil d'Oliveira (winner of the 2004 William Hill Sports Book of the Year), The Rise of Political Lying, The Triumph of the Political Class and a major history of Pakistan and cricket, Wounded Tiger. He has also written a short monograph on the myth of Iran's nuclear threat, A Dangerous Delusion, and an examination of the events leading up to the 'defining calamity of the post-Cold War era', the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Not the Chilcot Report.
His most recent book, written with Tom Roberts, is a brilliant analysis of Donald Trump's use of Twitter and how it has given rise to a new political language. How Trump Thinks is published by Head of Zeus.
Agent: Andrew Gordon
Featured Title:
How Trump Thinks
The most unusual feature of Donald Trump's nationalist and populist campaign for the presidency of the USA was his obsessive use of Twitter. Like other […]
Not the Chilcot Report
Wounded Tiger
The Triumph of the Political Class
A Dangerous Delusion
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The President of the High Court of the Republic of Turkey, İsmail Rüştü Ciri, leding a delegation, paid an official visit to Albania, where he met with senior Albanian officials.
Cirit, who chaired a delegation with representatives from Turkish courts, met with Albanian President Ilir Meta yesterday.
Meta thanked Chirin for the support that Turkey has given to Albanian Justice system and expressed the desire and confidence that this cooperation will continue in the future. Turkey, President Meta said, is a country of great importance for security and peace not only for the region but also for the European Union, especially for contributing to coping with the extraordinary crisis of refugees, according to a statement by the Albanian Presidency.
At the meeting held in the Presidency of Albania was present also the Ambassador of Turkey in Tirana, Murat Ahmet Yörük and the President of the High Court of Albania, Xhezair Zaganjori.
Cirit, met also with the President of the High Court of Albania, Xhezair Zaganjori and the chairman of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Albania, Bashkim Dedja.
On the other hand, the President of the High Court of the Republic of Turkey, İsmail Rüştü Ciri and the accompanying delegation visited the institute "Yunus Emre" in Tirana. Cyrus left a note in the "Honorary Notebook" and said "The Yunus and Emre Institutes play a very important role in the world."
Also, the President of the High Court of the Republic of Turkey, during his official visit to Albania, met with the Ambassador of Turkey in Tirana, Murat Ahmet Yörük.
Turkey's top justice delegation closed its official visit to the city of Shkodra, where he held meetings with the head of the Shkodra Court of Appeal, Fuat Vjerdha, the mayor of Shkodra, Voltana Ademi, and the director of the Turkish institute Yunus Emre," Zafer Kiyici. At all these meetings was discussed about strengthening the cooperation between the state's mutual institutions.


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Devils in Detail
Football Recruiting
TEMPE, AZ - SEPTEMBER 01: Defensive back Chase Lucas #24 of the Arizona State Sun Devils celebrates after sacking quarterback quarterback D.J. Gillins #15 of the UTSA Roadrunners (not pictured) in the first half at Sun Devil Stadium on September 1, 2018 in Tempe, Arizona. (Photo by Jennifer Stewart/Getty Images)
ASU Basketball: Hurley, players discuss Pac-12 Tournament, all-conference honorees by Trevor Booth
ASU Basketball: 2019 Pac-12 Tournament Roundtable by Trevor Booth
ASU Football
ASU Football: 'Sky is the limit' for Chase Lucas, secondary
by Carson Field 1 year ago Follow @CarsonDField
In 2018, defensive improvement was one of several positives in ASU football's 7-6 season. Chase Lucas and his fellow defensive backs hope to further strengthen the unit.
Not long ago, Arizona State's secondary was its achilles' heel. Opposing quarterbacks – regardless of their true skill – torched the Sun Devils with ease, putting up video-game numbers consistently. In 2016, the unit allowed 274.9 passing yards per game, the second-worst mark in the Pac-12.
But that narrative no longer holds form in Tempe. Over the last two seasons, the secondary has climbed to the new heights, finishing fifth and sixth in pass defense in 2017 and 2018, respectively.
During that stretch, the defense has endured a lot; it's been hard to pinpoint the unit's identity because of personnel turnover.
Cornerback Chase Lucas, however, has been a pivotal component in the secondary's overhaul. He said the group's bond has elevated the defensive core into a functioning group.
"There's nothing that we couldn't do together," Lucas said. "We're tough, we really are, no matter how many guys we had."
This offseason alone, ASU lost key defensive pieces in Jay Jay Wilson, Jalen Bates and Darius Slade, among others. But this didn't faze Lucas and his counterparts.
Instead, it displayed their perseverance and ability to adapt.
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"I don't think that mattered to us, and it showed our grit," Lucas said. "I'm really impressed with the defensive core we got. We just got to keep rolling from here."
A rising redshirt junior, Lucas has two seasons of substantial playing time under his belt. In those two years, Lucas recorded 121 tackles and five interceptions.
Now heading into his fourth year in the program, Lucas is among the oldest defensive players on the roster. Several of last year's impact players on defense were underclassmen, such as Darien Butler, Merlin Robertson and Aashari Crosswell. Plus, seven defensive players signed in the 2019 recruiting class, some of which are expected to see the field immediately.
Lucas hopes to provide leadership to an otherwise youthful core.
"I kind of want to lead by example," Lucas said. "I know there's a bunch of young cats that are coming in, we still got some cats that were freshmen last year.
"I'm excited, I'm really well prepared for the fall."
At the beginning of the 2019 spring practice season, Lucas was absent due to family-related matters. Despite his 2018 success, Lucas' starting spot wasn't guaranteed upon return. In fact, he began the spring on second-team defense.
But that didn't last. He quickly ascended back into the starting spot.
"I worked really hard to get to where I'm at," Lucas said. "I needed to get my feet wet, I needed things to start clicking for me."
A vital piece to Lucas and the secondary's growth has been defensive coordinator Danny Gonzales, who was hired ahead of the 2018 season. In his first year, he changed the unit's practice routine and helped the run defense develop.
"I'm really thankful for the things that he's done with the program," Lucas said. "We've come a long way, and we still got a long way to go."
One of Gonzales' key principles is cross-training, or teaching defensive backs to play each others' positions.
Learning a new area of the field can be a difficult transition. But, for Lucas and cornerback Kobe Williams, it has enhanced their skill sets.
"Me and Chase playing both sides of corner, all the safeties play each others' positions; it helped us out a lot," Williams said.
Williams plays on the opposite side of Lucas as the team's other starting cornerback. The two have worked to bolster a once-lagging secondary and, while doing so, have become close friends.
Even so, competition is a constant between the duo.
"We just compete the whole time," Williams said. "We're trying to prove that we're one of the top corners every time, so that's what we do every day."
While Lucas and Williams compete almost nonstop in practice, seeing each other succeed fulfills them with pride. This was on full display in the 2019 Maroon and Gold practice.
Freshman quarterback Jayden Daniels had yet to throw a pick in spring ball, but Williams changed that with a one-handed snatch in the end zone. No one was more ecstatic than Lucas.
"That s*** was dope," Lucas said. "We were really practicing the back shoulder, and I think he read it perfectly.
That scrimmage marked the conclusion of the 2019 Spring Football season. Lucas and his teammates will wait a long four months until once again throwing on the pads.
For Lucas, however, the grind doesn't stop.
"Perfect my technique, get everything in order," Lucas said. "The biggest thing that I can really focus on is getting in the film room and just trying to prepare."
Taking observations from spring ball isn't easy. The reps aren't full speed, and several freshman are still enrolled in high school and, as Herm Edwards put it, getting ready for the prom. ASU's identity on defense won't truly be known until Aug. 29 – a Thursday-night contest against Kent State.
But Lucas expects the secondary's progression to continue.
ASU Football: Sun Devils wrap up spring ball at Sun Devil Stadium
Read now >>
"I think our secondary is going to be really, really good this year," Lucas said. "We all have that drive to win, so the sky is the limit for us."
All quotes in this article were obtained firsthand by Devils in Detail unless otherwise noted.
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Independent Panel: U.S. Doctors Violated Medical, Ethical Standards in Detention Facilities
Defense and CIA defend actions.
Clara Ritger,
Clara Ritger
U.S. military and intelligence agencies improperly required doctors and health professionals to participate in "cruel, inhumane, and degrading treatment and torture of detainees," an independent panel has found.
The Task Force on Preserving Medical Professionalism in National Security Detention Centers concludes that at the request of the Defense Department and the Central Intelligence Agency, physicians performed acts that defied their medical ethics and practice, including participating in the abusive interrogation of detainees and force-feeding hunger strikers, following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
A DoD spokesman confirmed that detainees who refused to eat were fed through nasogastric intubation, the insertion of a tube through the nose.
"We have a very specific mandate to keep the detainees alive," said Lt. Col. Todd Breasseale. "The medical professionals that are employed at Guantanamo provide humane treatment and necessary care to the detainees. Not one of [the Task Force] has any access to the detainees. It's high comedy that one can opine about someone's condition without having seen them."
The Task Force is made up of 19 military, ethics, medical, and legal experts and is sponsored by the Institute on Medicine as a Profession, a nonprofit health care policy think tank, and the Open Society Foundations, an institute that promotes democratic governance and human rights.
The panel convened between December 2009 and January 2012, examining Defense Department and CIA documents, congressional reports, and journalistic investigations to determine whether violations of medical practice and ethics occurred at various U.S. detention facilities, including Guantanamo Bay.
The group was unable to speak with any of the detainees, said Task Force member Dr. Gerald Thomson, and unable to identify some of those being held. But what they found in public documents confirmed that violations took place, Thomson said, and they want the Obama administration to launch an investigation to get the classified documents the independent panel was unable to obtain.
"Society and the public expects its physicians to act in accordance with medical ethics and professionalism standards in all situations," said Thomson, professor of medicine emeritus at Columbia University. "When they do otherwise—even under the pressure of national security—the public should be concerned about that. It's time to make corrections."
The World Medical Association's Declaration of Malta, as well as the American Medical Association, maintain the position that physicians should respect an individual's right to refuse to eat. The Task Force report calls on the Defense Department to change its policies so they align with medical ethical principles.
But the DoD said it has no intention of doing so, because it doesn't believe it acted improperly.
"We don't agree with their premise that our doctors are acting in any way that is unethical and unprofessional," Breasseale said. "I think there's some very reasonable allegations that have been positioned against other agencies other than the DOD and we acknowledge that."
CIA spokesperson Todd Ebitz said the agency's medical staff acted in accordance with the standards of their profession.
"It's important to underscore that the CIA does not have any detainees in its custody and President Obama terminated the Rendition, Detention and Interrogation Program by executive order in 2009," Ebitz said. "The task force report contains serious inaccuracies and erroneous conclusions."
The Task Force says CIA's Office of Medical Services approved enhanced interrogation methods, including waterboarding and sleep deprivation, which violate medical practice and ethics. While some have argued that the use of torture is a necessary intelligence-gathering operation to strengthen national security, Thomson said the use of torture is never justified.
"Most people would say no," he said. "We never thought the U.S. would engage in such practices."
President Obama issued an executive order at the start of his first term in 2009 banning torture as a method of interrogation. The panel wants the president to take it one step further and ban sleep deprivation, isolation, and exploitation of fear which "amount to torture," the report says.
Other recommendations include altering the status of doctors in the military, implementing educational and training programs, and strengthening the Defense Department's review board.
While the report focuses primarily on the Obama administration and national security agencies, Thomson said they are supportive of the Senate Intelligence Committee's investigation into the CIA's treatment of detainees, and they hope the committee's report will also influence U.S. policy on the matter. That report, however, is currently not available to the public.
(Image via Andy Dean Photography/Shutterstock.com)
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