But... They're Just Ponies... Right?

So... taking Eldest Daughter to her SAT prep class this morning, the topic of My Little Pony came up.  (I'm the father of three girls. Don't judge me.)

Specifically, I was wondering - where are all the male ponies?

The Alldaughter pointed out that there's Big Mac, of course. There's also some male ponies - royalty, mostly - in Canterlot, and a few others. But the majority of the inhabitants of Equestria seem to be female.

"It's a show for seven year old girls, after all," she said.

Which kind of surprised me. I mean, there's one situation that immediately came to mind when I though about the lack of males hanging about...

War.

Total war.

A war so brutal that it has sucked up just about every remotely qualified male pony in Equestria into its unforgiving maw of death and destruction. A war so unforgiving that only the mentally deficient, the elite, and the infirm can keep from being drafted to serve. A war so horrifying that those left behind cannot even bring themselves to make mention of it, instead carrying on as if life was sunshine and roses.

Which got me thinking...

We know that the ponies can perform magic. They are also able to move between certain locations in Equestria and our world; and when they do, they do so directly. Their males are drafted to serve in a relentless war that those who remain behind dare not speak of.

Who else knows of a hidden, relentless war taking place in a realm just a hop, skip and a jump away from our world?

That's right... Harry knows.

Equestria is located in the Nevernever.

The strongest of their population - the male ponies - are off at the Outer Gates, fighting and dying in Mab's endless war to keep all of creation safe from the Outsiders.

Ah-yep. I just shoehorned MLP:FIM into one of the most epic storylines of modern urban fantasy.

A Few Of My Favorite Time Sinks

I made a comment to a friend the other day about time sinks, so I thought I'd document a few of my favorite here, in case anybody is interested.  Please comment if you have your own recommendations!

The SCP Foundation. Secure, Contain, Protect. The world is not what it seems, and the SCP Foundation is there to help keep things sane. Well, sane-er. Sane-ish. This isn't a web comic, but a shared mythology site where many authors contribute to help describe the SCP Foundations and other world-spanning organizations dealing with the paranormal, the occult, the extraterrestrial, and the Just Plain Weird.

TV Tropes. The all-devouring pop-culture Wiki. Enough said.

/r/nosleep. Just found this a few weeks ago. A Reddit forum for posting original horror stories. Read "Search and Rescue" and "Room 733", definitely. The quality of the stories can be all over the map, but there's some good ones in there.

Narbonic. If you haven't burned several hours reading this yet, go ahead and start from the beginning. The adventures of a middle-aged mad scientist and her favorite henchmen/experimental subjects.  The artwork was never bad; a little rough in the earlier strips, but it improves dramatically as time goes by. The storyline starts off nicely, mutates into awesome and then kicks it up a notch or eleven into uncharted territories of incredible.

Skin Horse. Essentially a follow on to Narbonic, with a few crossover characters. If you find the idea of a secret government agency dedicated to providing social services to the creations of mad scientists intriguing, this is the webcomic you've been waiting for.

Schlock Mercenary. A very, very long, very large scale SF webcomic. The artwork starts off very rough, but improves dramatically over the life of the strip, and the story lines and characters are amazing. Author John Ringo has done a series of books ("Live Free or Die", "Troy Rising", "The Hot Gate") set in the early days of Humanity in the Schlock-verse.

Digger. Dead gods and wombats. Won the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story back in 2012. It's a truly delightful story, and one that I've re-read more than a couple of times, finding something new in each pass.

Order of the Stick. OotS started off as a Dungeons & Dragons funny comic, and... as they say, Things Happened. Rich Burlew is a fantastic artist with a very distinctive style, a great storyteller, and man... the *story* that grows out of those first few gag strips? Amazing.

Sluggy Freelance. One of the Ancient Elders of the webcomic world, the strip alternates between silly, serious, trivial and terrifying. Plus, it has a murderous, sociopathic, talking lop-eared rabbit. What more could you ask for?

Freefall. A SF webcomic. With DOGGY! Oh, and a morally-challenged space quid, about a bazillion robots, a veterinarian, and a story arc that is really, really quite impressive.

A Redtail's Dream. A incredible, very visually impressive story based on Finnish folklore by Minna Sundberg.

Stand Still, Stay Silent. Minna Sundberg's new story, about a world-ending virus and what comes after: zombies, trolls, giants and things that go bump in the night... sometimes, very, very forcefully.

Basic Instructions. You're living your life - do you want to know how to live it *well*? They you probably don't want to follow Scott Meyer's advice, unless you want your life to be more... interesting than it is now.  Eh.  You know what? Forget that. Take everything he says as a lesson in life. You might have some problems, but the rest of us will be amused.

Broodhollow. A sweet yet creepy webcomic by Kris Straub. The artwork is wonderful. Still in progress, and just returning from a hiatus.

Experience Boost. Not a WoW comic. Nope, nope. This is all about... World of Quests! Yeah! Totally different! Except in all the ways that make you laugh.

Girl Genius. by Kaja and Phil Foglio. Yes, FOGLIO. Go. Read. Mad science means never having to say your sorry (though it probably is polite, dear.)

Goblins. What happens when a group of goblins, guarding a poorly secured treasure chest, decide that THEY can be adventurers, too! Starts off kind of rough around the edges, and without much of a plot, but really grows from there, and ends up going into some dark places (and planting lanterns there, in a very satisfying way). Updates are not all that regular, but the wait is worth it.

Full Frontal Nerdity. A comic about gaming and gamers that really is really about... well, gaming and gamers. But, like, done really, really well. By Aaron Williams. who also does Nodwick, which is just as good, if not better.

Nodwick. Every party of loot-crazy adventurers needs a henchman, right? Well, that guy's Nodwick.

Use Sword on Monster. From the creator of Nodwick and Full Frontal Nerdity. What happens when universes collide? Well... heroes. Just not the heroes that you'd necessarily want.

The Whiteboard. Alaskan paintball, things in the fridge, romance, particle accelerators, and generalize silliness. Definitely worth a mention as Doc, the main character, has appeared as a cameo in more than a couple of other comics on this list... so if other web cartoonists think it's cool enough to read, you should read it, too. Obviously.

JL8. Ever wonder what the Justice League would have looked like in middle school? Wonder no more!

The Mansion of E. The artwork isn't as much bad as it is minimalistic; but the storyline and the world are... wow. Creative just isn't a big enough word to describe it.

Wondermark. An Illustrated Jocularity.

XKCD. You're probably already reading this, even if you're not. At least, that's what multiverse theory suggests. You should start reading it so you end up in one of the good universes.

Xylobone Tomes. A lich, a plant girl, and... well, strangeness is afoot. Lovely black & white artwork, and what seems to be an intriguing story so far.

No Context Needed, Really

Something I said on the Book of Faces last night:

I think most WSJ writers view the majority of the country (with LA and Chicago being, perhaps, grudging exceptions) as a vast, howling wasteland populated by ignorant fools who can't comprehend that their lives are pathetically miserable because they don't live in NYC.

The Trolling of the Cups

OK, folks.  Most of you know that I'm a Christian.  I mean, I've got "theologian" right there in the title of the blog, right?  In particular, as far as the sphere of Christianity goes, I am a fundamentalist (gasp!) Baptist (double gasp!) evangelical (swoon!).  I'm a Sunday school teacher.  I do a Bible study weekly up at a local veteran's center.

I bring that up to point out that (a) my faith is important to me, and (b) as a teacher, I do quite a bit of reading about it.  Online, I follow a bunch of blogs and news sources that focus on religion in general and Christianity in particular.  Lots of theology and apologetics.  Folks talking about putting faith in practice.  Discussions about current events and how they relate to living as a Christian, and so on.

Now, a few days ago, some pastor in Arizona got all bent out of shape over Starbucks using red cups for Christmas.  This is, apparently, an extension of the War on Christmas!!1!11eleventy1!!, and as a Good Christian, I am of course supposed to be Stupidly Outraged, or something.

Yeah... about that.

Mind you, this video seems to have gone viral, albeit in a strange way.  You see, while I've been hearing about it a lot on the Book of Faces recently, it has all been from a certain segment of people - those friends of mine who are generally antagonistic to the Christian faith. [1] 

From what I can see online, that seems to be the only reason this whole red cup thing gained any sort of notice whatsoever.  All the top results from a search on "red cup starbucks" returns...  mainstream media articles talking about the video and how Christians are outraged.

Actual instances of outraged Christians?  Zip.

Remember all those online sources I read?  I have yet to see a single person discuss the horror of red cups at Starbucks.

My Christian friends on Facebook?  Not a peep, really, except for "Wait, what's this red cup thing now?"

Please understand - we generally have far more important things to talk about.  Abortion?  Oh, yeah.  Racism?  Sure.  Culture issues?  You betcha.  Apologetics?  Absolutely.  Reaching the lost?  Top o' the list.  ISIS, Israel, and the future of Christians in the Middle East?  Yup.  Challenges in marriage, in raising kids, in working and living in the modern world?  Tons.

Red cups?  Please.

Oh, I'm sure there are some Christians out there sweating over red cups, because Reasons, and because there are enough people in the world you can always find someone who's outraged about something.  On the other hand, I'm also confident that 99.999% of Christians don't really care in the least what color cups Starbucks is using, just as long as they come filled with something resembling a hot, caffeinated version of a liquid candy bar.

Seriously, guys.  All those articles about this?  About how "Christians are OUTRAGED!"?

Dude.  It's clickbait, man.  You've been trolled.  Hard.

[1] Yes, I have a wide variety of friends.  That we have differing opinions, some significant, does not mean that I love them any less.

Check Snopes. Please.

Always check Snopes before you post the latest viral chain memetic agent.  Quest.  Thing.

The misinformation du jour relates to having to post something on your Facebook wall [1] to keep the company from appropriating your pictures, posts, etc. and using them for their own nefarious purposes.

Oh noes!

Needless to say, there are a lot of people doing exactly that.  They are also encouraging others to do so, too, despite the fact that... well, it's useless.  And annoying.  So, you know, don't do that.

Besides - Batman disapproves, and you don't want to be on Batman's wrong side, now, do you?

[1] Yes, yes.  I know it is a "timeline" now.  I am officially an old fart.  Now get off my lawn, you dang kids!

The Campaign Commercial I Want To See

[BERNIE SANDERS is hustling down a long hall in Congress, surrounded by aides who are talking animatedly with hm.]

[ELIZABETH WARREN is hustling down a similar hall, also surrounded by aides who are handing her papers and discussing something heatedly.]

[PULL BACK the camera to see that the two of them are approaching the same corner of a hallway from opposite directions... at which point they collide, and papers go flying everywhere.]

[ZOOM IN on aides from both sides scurring to gather up the papers as SANDERS and WARREN pick themselves up.  When they are on their feet, the aides hand each of them a stack of disorganized papers.]

[SANDERS and WARREN begin looking through their papers.]

SANDERS: Hey! You got your stupid populism in my crappy socialism!

WARREN: What? You got your stupid socialism in my crappy populism!

[Both pause for a second, and start to smile... FADE OUT to a political rally where an two indistinct individuals are on stage, and the crowd is cheering.  ZOOM IN on JULIA and PAJAMA BOY at the rear of the crowd.]

JULIA: Like, you know, wow!  She is so, like, you know, wow!  Everybody says she's cool, and I think she's cool, and she's like, you know, going to do cool stuff!  She said so!

PB: Oh, yeah!  Cool stuff like FREE COLLEGE FOREVER!  I can put off becoming a functional adult INDEFINITELY!

JULIA: Thanks, Bernie Warren!

PB: Thanks, Elizabeth Sanders!

[JULIA and PB look at each other and laugh.]

JULIA and PB: [together] We don't even know who's who!

[FADE OUT to logo/voiceover]

ANNOUNCER: Sanders/Warren 2016.  Crappy Ideas For Stupid People.  Or... Stupid Ideas For Crappy People.  Whatevs.

Linked List : rand() % interesting

Just the links, m'am.

Well, with some commentary and snark, obviously.  I mean, we're not barbarians.

• Han Solo in carbonite Pop-Tarts.  Sadly, not edible.
• 23 Best Military Science Fiction Books.  I've read 16/23, which means I now have seven new books to add to my reading list. Very pleased to see Dan Abnett on the list, because man, that guy can write. If you have never given him a shot, go grab Eisenhorn and start in on it.  Go ahead, we'll wait for you.
• The High-Tech Toilet That Sank a Submarine.  'nuf said.
• Tha Illiad of MC Homer.  Translated from the original Greek by MC Lula.  Seriously - it works. Who could not love a translation that contains phrases like "...Achaeans with greaves that are pimpest"?
• Moscow's stray dogs are selecting for intelligence, have learned to ride subway trains, and are learning and teaching new behavior patterns for dealing with the humans they share their habitat with.
• This Is That profiles "Smoke & Flame", a Vancouver artisanal firewood company that is selling bundles of kindling for $1000.  Locally sourced, organic, pesticide free, hand-crafted. Bummed that they didn't mention whether the ginger rub was a basic part of the process or an extra touch.
• Jim Butcher has a new novel coming out on September 29th.  Already planning for a couple of sleepless nights as I pounce on it and devour his writing, in accordance with The Prophecy.
• My brother and his business partner are going to be appearing in the upcoming season of Shark Tank.  Which product?  Here's a hint: watch the clip, and pick out the two most incredibly goofy looking pair of guys in it. Yep, that's them. They are, indeed, complete goofballs, but they are smart goofballs.
• Dashcam footage of instant karma.  Cut someone off, and you just might get sucked up by a mini-tornado as they get to watch.
• Tone Deaf Choice of the Year: "Xignite Picks Brutal Founder of Firing Squads and Labor Camps as Icon of New API Ecosystem".
• A Reflection on a Room, Part I and Part II.  Stories and lessons learned from time in the command & control center for Desert Storm, as told by a man who was there.

Gaming The System

"The Bestseller Book That Didn’t Exist"

This is the story of how a talk radio pioneer (and his devoted fans) concocted a wildly preposterous hoax – and succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. 

To fully appreciate this tale, you must first understand Jean Shepherd, the satirical genius who was a masterful storyteller, helped create the talk radio format, and was a gifted writer who gave the world A Christmas Story...

One thing that astonished him about New Yorkers was (and still remains) their slavish obsession with Top 10 lists... Shep felt New Yorkers blindly followed whatever appeared on those lists without thinking or questioning them. The one that got his goat most of all was The New York Times Best Seller list for books. 

The Times has been printing this highly influential list since 1931. But here’s the thing: in Shep’s time, despite its name, the criteria for making the list involved more than just book sales. It included customer requests for and questions about books to book sellers.

As they say, RTWT.

"One does not simply use the word 'Hobbit'."

Tolkien Lawyers Target 'Hobbit House" with Copyright Threats

One does not simply use the word 'Hobbit'. The Tolkien estate is guarded by more than just Lawyers. There is evil there that does not sleep, and the Great Eye of Warner Brothers is ever watchful of its Intellectual Property. Hollywood is a soulless wasteland, riddled with narcissists and Democrats and Kardashians, the very society is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you defend this. It is folly.

Dusty In Here

Well done, gentlemen.  Well done.

They provide some background on the event, as well:

This year our Christmas ad has been produced in partnership with The Royal British Legion. It’s called ‘Christmas is for sharing’ and it commemorates an extraordinary event which took place during the First World War, one hundred years ago: the Christmas Truce.

Community? NOT.

Via Wintery Knight comes a link to a story about a concealed carry holder helping to stop an attempted rape.

Good.

There was one line in the story that kind of torqued me off, though.

Jessica Abels, who lives near the spot on Cronk Avenue near Illinois Avenue where the woman was found walking bloodied and naked, said she looked out the window when she heard a woman screaming for help around 2 p.m. Sept. 26.

She saw the woman jump out the window of a nearby vacant home, she said. 

"Her eyes were all swollen and she had blood all over her and in her mouth," Abels said. "She was pretty messed up." 

That's when the community jumped into action. 

Several area residents offered the 21-year-old woman clothing and comfort while a man who holds a valid concealed pistols license ordered the suspect out of the house at gunpoint, according to Flint police.

Emphasis mine.

Now, gather 'round and listen closely, ye who would claim to be reporters.  I know that you have almost certainly been taught that "social justice" and "journalism" are effectively synonyms. However, now that you are actually out in the real world, and doing real reporting, please do us all a favor, put that attitude away on the shelf next to your diploma, and keep that SJW nonsense out of the freaking facts of the matter, will you?

The "community", whatever the heck you think that is, did not "jump into action".

Individual people saw what was happening.  Each individual then made a personal decision to step up and do something.

I am pretty sure that things happened quickly enough in this case that the "community" was not involved at any point.

I sincerely doubt that a "community" meeting was called in order to reach consensus and collectively decide the proper course of action vis-a-vis this situation.

I will admit that I cannot be absolutely positive this was the case.  However, I do believe the circumstantial evidence is on my side.

Note the complete lack of a hashtag campaign, for example.  The absence of a slipshod protest against the dirty Koch Brothers and the notable absence of any "organizers" on the scene is a pretty good indication that the "community" was not involved.

Finally and most importantly, there is the simple fact that something was actually accomplished, which in my experience is a near-certain indication that the wonderfully ambiguous and amorphous "community" was not involved in any way, shape, or form.

"Community", my shiny metal... er.

Sorry.  Channeled a bit to much of my  inner Tam there.

Regcession

From Adroit Films comes "Regcession: How The EPA Is Destroying America":

The documentary makes clear that the Green Movement is a "big business" not a "big cause".  

It is not only a big business for those directly involved in the Green Movement like solar and wind companies but it is also big business for the media;  the politicians, their friends and their families;  foreign countries;  multi-national corporations (many of which brand themselves as American companies); and even American colleges and universities.  

The use of the word regcession in this essay and in the documentary is not a mistake or a misspelling.  It is a word we have created in an attempt to brand the economic decline in America as what it really is.  America's economic decline is not a cyclical recession as the government would have us believe, but rather a 24 year reduction in American manufacturing jobs caused by excessive regulations.   We know we are not experiencing a recession because recessions do not last for 24 years and they do not put countries 17 trillion dollars in debt.  Ironically, not only are excessive nonsensical Environmental Protection Agency regulations bankrupting America and American citizens, they are also increasing worldwide pollution.  All of this is occurring as the politicians hide the truth by producing flawed and misleading unemployment statistics, and by moving millions of Americans on to government assistance and out of the workforce.

 

Beam Me Up, Opie

A member over at TAGSRWC (The Andy Griffith Show Rerun Watchers Club) posts a couple of pages of photos from Star Trek episodes that made use of the set for good ol' Mayberry:

On this web page I will be showing some of the buildings of Mayberry that were used in 2 episodes of Star Trek, the original series. The Episodes are "Miri" and "The City on the Edge of Forever". Both have some great glimpses of Mayberry that we normally never see in a TAGS episode.

I would have loved to see Mr. Spock encounter Barney Fife.  "You only carry one bullet?  How illogical."

Pinky Pie, Delirium, and Nick Fury

A brief discussion of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" and how it relates to Neil Gaiman's "Sandman" comics. [1]

Last night, watching with the girls, I commented to Shari, "Pinky Pie kind of walks along the ragged edge of sanity, doesn't she?"

And then it hit me.

Pinky Pie is Delirium (she of the Endless who used to be Delight).

There are six main ponies... and six of the Endless.

"Oh, no," you might say. "There are seven of the Endless!"

Except that Destruction abandoned his duties. Ha!  So, six ponies... and six Endless.

• Pinky Pie is obviously Delirium.
• Twilight Sparkle? Always doubting... so she's Despair.
• Rainbow Dash? Big plans, big visions. She's Dream.
• Applejack? Hard working, dedicated. She's Destiny.
• Rarity? Duh. Desire, of course.
• Fluttershy? Death.

I can now watch MLP:FIM with my little ladies, and pretend that I am not watching animated ponies learn over-the-top, blatantly obvious lessons about personal interactions, but instead perceive a subtle drama about the interactions of the fundaments of the human psyche. [2]

Which should help to keep me on the ragged edge of sanity. Maybe I'll see Pinky Pie there.

[1] So I know about MLP:FIM. I have three girls. I am not only allowed, I am required. Don't judge me.

[2] Another interpretation sees Pinky Pie as Nick Fury, and maps the remaining ponies onto members of the Avengers. That works, too.

Unexpected Competition

The Independent: Gingers face extinction due to climate change, scientists warn

Washington Post: No, climate change is not driving redheads to extinction [1]

I imagine that The Onion never expected competition from mainstream news sources.

[1] If there were any justice in the world, this headline would end "... you idiots."

Hugo Voter Packet!

Got the email today about the Hugo Voter Packet for 2014, and just finished downloading everything.

Hoo boy.

Nearly one and a half gigabytes of data.  Sixty-four pdfs, 71 jpegs, plus a bunch of stuff in multiple formats.  Baen was generous - they didn't just include Larry Correia's nominated novel (Warbound), but also tossed the first two novels in the series (Hard Magic and Spellbound) into the packet as well.  Not to be outdone, Tor decided to include the Wheel of Time.

Not the last book.  Not even the last couple of books.

The. Whole.  Fraking.  Wheel.  Of.  Time.  Series.

Yowza.

BY my count, there's 20+ novels, plus novellas, plus novelettes, plus short stories, plus artwork, plus... who knows what else is in this electronic goodie bag?

In terms of book-related purchases, this is by far the best value I've ever gotten for my money.  Plus, you know, I get to read all that and then vote for the Hugos.  Score!

The Kalends of April

Just a reminder that today is April 1st.  As part of the traditional observations of April Fool's Day, Slashdot will be even more unreadable than usual.  Also, there will be a whole lot of... unusual... news stories today.  Take anything downright weird with a grain of salt.

Except for the initial Obamacare enrollment announcements.  Announcing those on April 1st?

Pure.  Comedy.  Gold.

What's even better is the certain knowledge that nobody in the current administration probably even considered the implications of the date.

The blind leading the clueless.

SCP-000

Item #: SCP-000

Object Class: Safe Euclid

Special Containment Procedures: SCP-000's DNS name and IP address locate a publicly known web site ("SCP Foundation") on the internet.  As it was is referenced by over 2 million different web pages and a popular independent video game at the time of discovery, actual containment is problematic, if not impossible at this point.  Instead, an active disinformation campaign (DI-████████) depicting SCP-000 as a "shared reality" fictional work is being pursued, with excellent results so far.

As part of new employee orientation procedures instituted as of ██/██/19██, SCP personnel are required to read orientation publication SCP-Alpha-1337 ("Shared Reality: Fact to Fiction") as they may be called upon at any time to support DI-████████.  D-class personnel, of course, are exempted from this requirement.

Description: SCP-000 is a website, reachable via the web address http://www.scp-wiki.net. It was initially published as a site purporting to be an exposé of the SCP Foundation, "a secret organization dedicated to containing anomalous artifacts and entities that can threaten the normality of our world."  The author or authors of the original web site content are unknown; however, the amount of accurate detail present on the original site strongly implies that at least one high-level administrator within the Foundation was involved in its creation.

After taking control of SCP-000, determination was made that elimination of the site would only result in certain common personality types taking this as proof of the Foundation's existence.  Instead, the SCP-000 site was repurposed and actively developed as a "shared reality" fictional work, designated DI-████████.

SCP-000 is being run as a wiki, which allows outside editing.  Allowing non-Foundation personnel to participate in the construction of the "shared reality" is an integral part of the DI campaign centered around SCP-000.  However, despite extensive monitoring, improved site security, and frequent changes in the hardware and software used to run SCP-000, unapproved articles taken directly from Foundation records have continued to spontaneously appear on the site every 28 days, concurrent with observed full moonrise at 25°20'41S, 131°02'05E.  These unapproved articles appear even when the hardware running the site is powered down, disconnected from all external systems, partially disassembled, and enclosed within an evacuated chamber equipped with a Faraday cage. As a result, while SCP-000 was initially classified as safe, the continued appearance of these articles has resulted in SCP-000 being reclassified as euclid.

Foundation folklorists, documentation specialists, and DI personnel may request assignment to SCP-000 for a period of up to five (5) years, during which time they will be responsible for releasing scrubbed and altered DI versions of Foundation records and assisting in the maintenance of the "shared reality" fiction.  Additional duties will include monitoring content for  non-Foundation edits that may indicate potential security breaches, and ensuring that information related to [REDACTED] (or related categories such as: [REDACTED]) does not reach active XK status in the population at large.  As of ██/██/20██, approximately four percent (4%) of Foundation records have been altered and released on SCP-000 as part of DI-████████.  These text-only records consist of 300+ hours worth of reading material.

While the ultimate goal of DI-████████ is to provide a screen of plausible deniability for Foundation operations, locating and identifying potential Foundation recruits (Addendum SCP-000-A) is a high-priority secondary goal.

Addendum SCP-000-A: Recruiting

As Dr. ██████ has shown, interest in SCP-000 correlates strongly with the basic personality type profiles [1] used to select Foundation researchers and field team members. Foundation recruiting efforts have seen positive results simply by considering repeated access to SCP-000 as a preliminary HR screening tool.  Over the past ████████ years, this has been reflected in a 22% increase in the number of recruits progressing past initial Foundation contact, a 14% decrease in the five-year attrition rate for new researchers, and an amazing 63% reduction in the number of kinetic interview terminations.

New recruits sourced through SCP-000 tend to show strong interest in similar media, for example:

• Television: The Outer Limits, The Twilight Zone, The X-Files, Warehouse 13.
• Movies: The Indiana Jones movies. [2]
• Books: Charles Stross' "Laundry" series, Larry Correia's MHI series.
• Authors: Manly Wade Wellman, H. P. Lovecraft.
• Web: tvtropes.org, Scarfolk Council, The Ancient and Noble Order of the Gormogons, Creepypasta. 
• Other: Night Vale (podcast).

[1] As Doctor ██████ commented, "SCP-000 is like crack cocaine popcorn for these guys."

[2] Several recent recruits felt the need to qualify this with the statement, "minus that last one, it was complete garbage".

Digger

Started re-reading Digger last night.  A Hugo-award winning online graphic novel about a wombat and a dead god?  It was awesome the first time through, and is just as entertaining on a second perusal.

Go, take the time, and get to know Digger-mousie, Ed, Shadowchild, the oracular slug, and all the rest of the crew.

I just wish Ursula would let us know that Digger made it past the Vale of a Hundred Eyes on her way home.  I am pretty confident she managed to make it home, just as I am sure that it was not an uneventful journey.

Our Long National Nightmare Is Over

CNN has announced the end of Piers Morgan Live.  As the Diplomad noted:

If anything, I think Morgan is the provincial one; he just assumed he did not need to know anything about American history or culture before chirping away with lots of advice and condescension. I like and admire Britain a great deal, and am fortunate to have counted lots of British diplomats, military, businessmen, journalists, academics, students and others among my friends during my many years abroad. That said, when you run into the classic anti-American Brit--OMG!--it becomes very, as noted above, tiresome; you quickly realize that much of it is driven by ignorance and envy.

With the pull quote FTW:

Getting back to Piers, he clearly had a deep streak of anti-Americanism, and a sense of entitlement, but above all, was just not very interesting nor apparently all that smart. 

As they would say in the great Northeast, "Ah-yep."

Now, one might find this announcement surprising. After all, it looked very much like Mr. Morgan was firmly ensconced in his perfect natural habitat as the condescending host of a cable news opinion show on the increasingly provincial, anti-American, not very interesting and apparently not very smart CNN.

A brief conversation between your humble host and the lovely Mrs. Robb sums up the issue:

Me: "Piers Morgan's been cancelled."
She: "From what?"
Me: "His television show."
She: "Didn't know he had one."
Me: "... and there you go."

Fare winds and following seas, Piers.

By which I mean "I hope they put you on a slow boat back to the UK ASAP."

Don't let the door hit you on the way out.