in portents of fate, you foolishly place trust

Why does this even exist?

On the other hand, I know exactly why this exists...but man, it's like putting the internet in a blender then downloading it to your phone. Surreal.

The biggest problem with the summer blockbuster event in City of Heroes has been the level lock of the enhancements--considering that going through the two-part event is currently the only way to get these enhancements, and they're given out randomly even there--if I take in my level 50 psychic, say, then I get enhancements that cannot be used by anyone under level 47. I'm glad the developers behind the game realize this is a problem, and are addressing it.

Speaking of City of Heroes...

[Help] Vanessa Minami: ok im confused. people told me Ms.liberty died during the story arc. why is she still in atlas?
[Help] Posedeia: that was the first Ms. Liberty
[Help] Assault Battery: That's a zombie
[Help] Posedeia: Miss Liberty's mom
[Help] Verdantress: Miss Liberty died. Her daughter Ms. Liberty is still alive.
[Help] Vanessa Minami: oh ok.
[Help] Posedeia: I can't keep these names straight
[Help] Posedeia: too many liberties
[Help] Verdantress: Could be worse. Hero 1 and Hero One are two separate characters in the lore.
[Help] Vanessa Minami: So how did Libertys mom buy the farm?
[Help] Verdantress: You shoot her.
[Help] Vanessa Minami: thats what Darrin did?! just shoot her?
[Help] Verdantress: Well she kidnapped her first, but yeah, then you just shoot her

Pretty much, yes. Your heroes try to save Miss Liberty (and fail); your villains work with a couple different bad guys to kidnap her and shoot her. No glory in her end...in the end. But sometimes, that's how life works...even for fictional heroes.

There's a new student film on the future of books (and printmaking); while the film itself is well worth watching, I tend to agree with Maria Popova:

There is practically no exploration of how the love of printed books can, and does, live and thrive online — this isn't a world in which our only choice is how to read, pitting analog vs. digital; it's a world in which the more urgent and important choice is the one we've always faced: what to read and, above all, why to read.

There's a street artist named "Jilly Ballistic"; beyond the name (and the appearances around NYC--in fact, there's a whole Tumblr dedicated to documenting the art when it pops up), not much is known, beyond the fact that she/he/they are wickedly witty and get technology in a basic, impressively amusing way.

And apparently the difference between the old Phantasy Star Online and the new game? Better underwear.

Seriously, developers? That--plus the incredibly pointy boobs--is what you decided to change? Seriously?!?

it's better to feel pain than nothing at all

[Help] Onyx Moon Rising: Hey, can anyone suggest a good server on EST, other than Virtue, one that is populated? I have way too many alts here and need a second home.
[Help] Omega Instinct: lol, outside of Virtue and Freedom, servers are pretty dead (although Justice does get to medium load in the middle of the day sometimes)
[Help] Onyx Moon Rising: Sounds like I should try Freedom then. It doesn't make sense for me to keep adding new slots here when I'm not using the other servers.
[Help] Omega Instinct: Ya, freedom is just like virtue (pretty much)
[Help] Hallucinette: ....

There's been this (mostly unspoken) rivalry between Freedom and Virtue servers for a while now. Virtue has, pretty much always, been a dedicated RP server, by default; it's also the server with the greatest number of players at any given time.

Freedom also has a fair number of players, but whereas Virtue started out as an RP server, Freedom--at least initially--was a non-RP server. Thus the jokes began from there--that Freedom is where the "boring" people go, or "Freedom will take anyone who doesn't RP", or that Virtue had better standards because they accepted players with imaginations...you know the drill.

[Help] Onyx Moon Rising: Okay, great thanks :)
[Help] Hallucinette: Yes, if Freedom were the half-formed unborn twin growing out of the side of Virtue's skull, maybe.
[Help] Onyx Moon Rising: Well, nothing's Virtue. :)

This is a far more divisive issue than people thing. I joined Virtue not because I'm a die-hard roleplayer--though I do like rp--but because I had friends on the server. I have characters on Freedom, along with some of the other servers, but I rarely ever play them. Why? Because Virtue is where my friends are. So I go there.

[Help] Omega Instinct: I like Freedom better. Too much RP on this server
[Help] Hallucinette: Too much RP on the RP server. Right.

I admit, that line baffled me, too. Saying you prefer the people on Freedom (or Virtue); that's one thing. Saying you like Freedom better than Virtue, because Virtue has too many roleplayers...that's risking loss of brain cells just reading that through completely.

[Help] Omega Instinct: Half of AP was RP'ing like 2-3 hours ago
[Help] Onyx Moon Rising: lol, I like RPing. If I'm not tired or in Pocket D. I can do that anywhere though. Okay, thanks. Goiing to move a toon there.
[Help] Hallucinette: And this is the part where I save myself from a migraine. *click*

Leaving aside the issue of his "moving a toon"...I have to say I'm with Hallucinette here. The argument raged for a bit after this, before it died down, but that's really the perpetual argument in brief: Virtue apparently sucks because of all the roleplaying, Freedom apparently sucks because of NO roleplaying, and neither side really gives an inch on these positions.


And boobs don't work this way. That is all.