Productive. Very productive. Especially for the purpose that I invoked him for. But Goddamn exhausting. Motherfucker is a roughrider.

I got tired of waiting for T-Mobile to auto update my G1, so I went and updated the OS manually, here.

Worked like a charm. The auto-reorient feature works great, and the phone is vastly improved in it's quickness. It can even take video now, although I need a bigger SD card to take full advantage of that.

The onscreen keyboard works pretty well, too, although one of my main reasons for going with the G1 is that it has a real keyboard instead of a touchscreen one. Screw it, I've got both now, plus the blackberry style scroll button/toggle.

The new feature that I'm really happy about is stereo bluetooth support. Granted, I'm going to have to wait a bit to get a stereo headset, money being tight at the moment, but when I get a chance, I'll be all over that. I'll probably upgrade the SD card at the same time, so I can load up an assload of music on it. Now, if only I could also get some vidshades to go with it...

Most of the time I don't regret giving up being the moderator of the HPOL list. It was a thankless job, more hassle than it was worth.

But every now and then, someone says something so stupid, so ignorant, that it does make me miss the ability to unilaterally permaban them.

Sunday is Zombie Jesus Day. Aim for the head.

Every now and then I like to go back and re-read books I've already read that have had a significant effect on me. I started to do so today, and I was struck by just how great of an opening sentence it had. I know that it's kind of an art nowadays to have a really good attention grabbing opening line, but this book surprised me with it because the rest of it has had such an impact on me that I'd never really focused on literarily.

At any rate, I'm going to post the first line of it for others to guess at and post in the comments. I may do more of these in the future, but only if I come across other great openers. The line:

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.

Wow. Someone finally made a D20 System game that not only could I stomach, but I'm actually WANTING to play. It's called Passages, and you can find a review here.

They changed the base D20 system by removing the classes, levels, and races; eliminating the idiotic "fire and forget" magic system (it doesn't have one at all); kept hit points relatively low; and added combat skills and a point buy system along with advantages and disadvantages. This resolves pretty much all my major problems with the D&D/D20 system, turning it into a sort of D20 based GURPS or West End D6 system. Now if only other D20 companies would adopt the same changes.

The setting is what caught my attention, though. It's an historical Victorian setting with a twist: All the popular fiction of the day, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, War of the Worlds, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, etc, are travelogues rather than fictions. There are portals to other worlds, and those worlds are the ones in the stories, as we know them. I'm a sucker for that kind of thing, and would have been likely to consider picking up the book for the setting alone, but I was surprised and pleased to find that it also contained a reworked D20 system that answered many of my complaints.

"There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old's life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs." -Kung Fu Monkey

Until it drops another $150-200 in price, anyway.

In the meantime, I'll stick with Book:
http://penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/3/9/

I'm a Wobbly now. About fucking time. I was a member of the AFL-CIO when I worked at Kroger back in the day, but fuck the AFL-CIO. The IWW were the ones that always fascinated me in high school history. So I joined up.

Read:
http://bradhicks.livejournal.com/422902.html

To me, this is a no-brainer. It's not mentioned in the link, but what I would want to see done with a new WPA is this:

The US could switch to alternative energy like wind and solar with current technology, all that's lacking is the infrastructure. Private interests are stepping up, like T. Boone Pickens in West Texas, but that kind of thing takes too long with private funding. A massive, infrastructure building public works program could do it quickly, on a much more massive scale, which reduces our need for fossil fuels, provides jobs to those hurt by the current economic climate, cuts back on carbon emissions, etc. It's win-win everywhere, all it takes is cash.

Fuck giving money to the private banks and corporations who got us into the current situation, put the money into programs like this that would have long term positive effects.

Civic minded citizens in Austin, TX took it upon themselves to warn of the coming zombie menace, mainstream media reports it as a prank:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,484326,00.html

My Political Views
I am a left social libertarian
Left: 6.77, Libertarian: 7.64

Political Spectrum Quiz

I am not a number! I am a dead man!

He will be missed.

EDIT:
KHAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aside from Windows Media Player, I've been using nothing but open source software on my computer for about a year or so. I've tried various Linux versions before, SuSE and earlier versions of Ubuntu being the main ones, and I've had one problem or another with figuring out how to get the stuff I need installed. I'm not a big hacker or anything, I'm just a basic user, word processing, spreadsheets, internet, email, and music and movies. I don't really do any PC gaming to speak of. I don't need anything with the power of Linux, but I don't do anything that absolutely requires Windows, either.

But this weekend I was shopping around for new notebook computers, and I couldn't find any I liked that were either with XP or had an option to NOT come with Vista, which I hate. Hell, I stayed with Windows 2000 for years, but I finally upgraded to XP. Frankly I was pissed, and tired of having to pay for new Windows shite, (included in the price of the notebook computers).

So yesterday, I downloaded the newest version of Ubuntu, just to see if it had improved enough where I could switch to it relatively easy. It has, in spades. It shrunk my Windows partition easily, and right now the laptop is dual-booted. I checked the Windows partition afterwards, no problems with it. I got my wireless connection working on it after connecting it to the internet with a wire in under 2 minutes, and it was extremely easy to get the codecs I needed to watch some of my movies and tv shows. No problem with the mp3's or pdfs, the other stuff I use regularly, at all.

I already have Samba working, so no problem maintaining the home network with the other Windows boxes. The only thing that I still need to work on is the speed of the internet, but I've already found a fix for it that might work, I just need to try it when I get home from work. Once I work that out, that should probably be the last major hurdle. I'll keep the Windows partition for a few months, just in case, but I don't anticipate using it much. After that, I'll probably shitcan it, and never have to bother with paying for Microsoft crap again.

...is where I went for my Santa Day feast. All the kebabs (chicken, beef, lamb, fish), falafel, pita bread, baklava, and other Middle Eastern and Greek food one can eat, real good, and real cheap (for the quantities). I'd been there once before, years ago, but I forgot just how damn good that food was. Since they're open on Santa Day, I feasted.

HAPPY SANTA DAY!

I don't know if it was just a bad day for them, or some crisis came up, but I attempted to take my kittens in this morning to get spayed and neutered (yes, I had an appointment) and I had several problems. For one, they didn't specify that they were on NORTH Shepard, so I spent a lot of time trying to find the joint on South Shepard.

Once I did get there, I spent about 30 minutes waiting outside in the rain, waiting for someone to let me, along with the rest of the huge line in front of me, inside. The email they send you confirming the appointment tells you to get there by 7:30. I waited roughly 30 minutes past that to get in, or even for a sign that there was anyone in there TO let us in, nothing. The rain got worse. Finally I said fuck it and left.

I've heard good things about them in the past, but I'm taking the babies to their regular vet. I don't trust SNAP.

The remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still wasn't the absolute piece of dogshit I suspected it was going to be.

Unfortunately, that's about the highest praise I can give it. Sure, the effects were cool, but effects do not a good movie make.

It was utterly, utterly mediocre.

Tomorrow when I get off work I think I'll pop in my DVD of the original, and watch Michael Rennie do it right.

Klaatu Barata Nikto!

The phrase was supposed to be in the remake at the end, but I never heard it.

If you missed them, the remaining shirts have been relisted:

XL: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=200288183871
XXL: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&item=200288184345

The Large shirts are now sold out. Plenty of XL and XXL left!


XL

XXL

The Hail Santa t-shirts are back, by popular demand (and a lot of nagging)!

Prices down to $12.50, $5 off the old retail price! Also equipped with the "Make an Offer" option, so you can try for an even further discount! These won't last, so act NOW!





Large: SOLD OUT!

XL

XXL

This is the first time in my life that a presidential candidate that I voted for has actually won. This is the first time that someone that I actually was for, rather than just held my nose and accepted has won. I've already heard some cynicism about it from a friend or two, people who also voted for Obama, but fuck them. Nothing could kill my mood right now.

I voted for the first black president in American history, bitches, and he FUCKING WON!!!

If you haven't done so yet, GO OUT AND VOTE, BITCHES!

This is a list of the 50 most significant science fiction/fantasy novels, 1953-2002, according to the Science Fiction Book Club.
Bold the ones you've read,
strike-out the ones you hated,
italicize those you started but never finished and
put an asterisk beside the ones you loved.

1. The Lord of the Rings, J.R.R. Tolkien*
2. The Foundation Trilogy, Isaac Asimov*
3. Dune, Frank Herbert*
4. Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert A. Heinlein*
5. A Wizard of Earthsea, Ursula K. Leguin
6. Neuromancer, William Gibson*
7. Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke*
8. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, Philip K. Dick*
9. The Mists of Avalon, Marion Zimmer Bradley*
10. Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury*
11. The Book of the New Sun, Gene Wolfe
12. A Canticle for Leibowitz, Walter M. Miller, Jr.
13. The Caves of Steel, Isaac Asimov*
14. Children of the Atom, Wilmar Shiras
15. Cities in Flight, James Blish
16. The Colour of Magic, Terry Pratchett*
17. Dangerous Visions, edited by Harlan Ellison
18. Deathbird Stories, Harlan Ellison*
19. The Demolished Man, Alfred Bester*
20. Dhalgren, Samuel R. Delany
21. Dragonflight, Anne McCaffrey
22. Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card*
23. The First Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever, Stephen R. Donaldson
24. The Forever War, Joe Haldeman*
25. Gateway, Frederik Pohl
26. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, J.K. Rowling
27. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams*
28. I Am Legend, Richard Matheson*
29. Interview with the Vampire, Anne Rice
30. The Left Hand of Darkness, Ursula K. Le Guin
31. Little, Big, John Crowley
32. Lord of Light, Roger Zelazny
33. The Man in the High Castle, Philip K. Dick
34. Mission of Gravity, Hal Clement
35. More Than Human, Theodore Sturgeon
36. The Rediscovery of Man, Cordwainer Smith
37. On the Beach, Nevil Shute
38. Rendezvous with Rama, Arthur C. Clarke
39. Ringworld, Larry Niven
40. Rogue Moon, Algis Budrys
41. The Silmarillion, J.R.R. Tolkien*
42. Slaughterhouse-5, Kurt Vonnegut*
43. Snow Crash, Neal Stephenson*
44. Stand on Zanzibar, John Brunner
45. The Stars My Destination, Alfred Bester*
46. Starship Troopers, Robert A. Heinlein*
47. Stormbringer, Michael Moorcock*
48. The Sword of Shannara, Terry Brooks
49. Timescape, Gregory Benford
50. To Your Scattered Bodies Go, Philip Jose Farmer

...is my new metaphor for fucking.

"To choose order over disorder, or disorder over order, is to accept a trip composed of both the creative and destructive. But to choose the creative over the destructive is an all-creative trip composed of both order and disorder."
-"The Curse of Greyface and the Introduction of Negativism," Principia Discordia, by Malaclypse the Younger, KSC.

I went out and waded around, talking to neighbors. Two of the metal parking awnings are down, the bad one had a giant tree fall on it, trapping, but apparently not seriously damaging a truck underneath it. Another one fell down on one side, again, trapping but not seriously damaging a BMW under it. There doesn't appear to be any actual flooding in anyone's apartment, but there is a lot of standing rainwater in the parking lot. A lot more trees and tree branches down, the big tree right across from my apartment had the top knocked off of it and is sitting on top of the building in front of me. We parked our cars on the second floor of the parking garage next to our apartment complex last night, so our shit is fine.

I just woke up, apparently having slept through most of it. There's two trees down that I can see from the window, and it's raining and blowing hard, but aside from that, no big deal. The power blinks occasionally, but so far it's always come right back on.

Lots of jokes about Ike going around. Cat saw a sign on a law office on her way home from work, and I saw a car with the same sign on it on the weather channel, both with identical messages:

"Ike, go away! Tina ain't here!"

I'm sitting in my apartment, just waiting.

xi_o_teaz asked this question, and since I got a positive reply to my response, I'm expanding it here.

First, cook yourself a shitload of bacon. Not the fancy, high dollar stuff, but the cheap shit, the stuff that looks like strips of pure white pigfat, with just an accent of meat on it. Dump that in the skillet, and cook it until there is no fat visible at all anymore. It should look about 50% or 33% the size of the uncooked strip, and resemble a reddish-brown, pork flavored cinder. Even with the cheap shit, you can usually find stuff like maple flavor, hickory smoked, etc. My preference is for maple flavor. I don't really taste it, as much as I cook the bacon, but having the house smell like syrup is better than having it smell like regular bacon, to me. Some will argue that you need a cast iron skillet, rather than a teflon one, but when I'm done, there's so much grease in the pan that I really don't think it matters that much. I use a teflon pan, simply because that's what I have. If someone gives me a cast iron skillet, I'll try that out and see if there's a difference.

For the eggs themselves, dump some of the bacon grease out of the pan, but leave a nice, THICK coating of it in there. Scramble your eggs up in a bowl, and dump them in the pan, making sure that you quickly scramble them up with your spatula. The beauty of this is that you actually have combo eggs, fried AND scrambled, which to me, taste much better than just scrambled. The non-culinary side benefit is that as long as you've retained enough bacon grease in the pan, and were quick enough with your scrambling, the pan will be completely clean when the eggs are done, no egg residue OR grease. Toast, heavily buttered, can be added as well, if that's how you roll (as I do).

If you don't like bacon, you can accomplish the same goal by cooking sausage first, browning it to perfection. With sausage, I don't even remove the sausage from the pan, I just dump in the eggs and scramble 'em with the sausage in it. Since the sausage doesn't generate as much grease as the bacon, there's no need to dump the excess. When you have cooked the eggs to your satisfaction (I personally don't like them to be at all runny), dump them into some preheated tortillas (get burrito size, not the tiny taco size, and nuke them in the microwave for 30 seconds or so), and you have some delicious breakfast burritos. With sausage, my favorite is Owen's Maple sausage (you can taste the syrup this way), but to each their own.

As for keeping the eggs from sticking to the pan without involving meat of some kind, I have no idea, nor do I particularly care, since I don't ever make 'em that way.

This is full of win.
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=_TiQCJXpbKg

I'm certainly not a vegetarian by any means, but I'm bored at work. The schtick is that you bold the stuff you've had, and cross out the ones you won't eat.

1. Real macaroni and cheese, made from scratch and baked
2. Tabouleh
3. Freshly baked bread, straight from the oven (preferably with homemade strawberry jam)
4. Fresh figs
5. Fresh pomegranate
6. Indian dal of any sort
7. Imam bayildi
8. Pressed spiced Chinese tofu
9. Freshly made hummus
10. Tahini
11. Kimchi
12. Miso
13. Falafel
14. Potato and pea filled samosas
15. Homemade yogurt
16. Muhammara
17. Brie en croute
18. Spanikopita
19. Fresh, vine-ripened heirloom tomatoes
20. Insalata caprese
21. Stir-fried greens (gai lan, bok choi, pea shoots, kale, chard or collards)
22. Freshly made salsa
23. Freshly made guacamole
24. Creme brulee
25. Fava beans with a nice chianti.
26. Chinese cold sesame peanut noodles
27. Fattoush
28. New potatoes
29. Coleslaw
30. Ratatouille
31. Baba ganoush
32. Winter squash
33. Roasted beets I won't have them again, didn't like 'em
34. Baked sweet potatoes
35. Plantains
36. Chocolate truffles
37. Garlic mashed potatoes
38. Fresh water chestnuts
39. Steel cut oats
40. Quinoa
41. Grilled portabello mushrooms I prefer them raw.
42. Chipotle en adobo
43. Stone ground whole grain cornmeal
44. Freshly made corn or wheat tortillas
45. Frittata
46. Basil pesto
47. Roasted garlic
48. Raita of any type
49. Mango lassi I don't know what this is, but it sounds good.
50. Jasmine rice (white or brown)
51. Thai vegetarian coconut milk curry
52. Pumpkin in any form other than pie
53. Fresh apple pear or plum gallette
54. Quince in any form
55. Escarole, endive or arugula
56. Sprouts other than mung bean
57. Naturally brewed soy sauce
58. Dried shiitake mushrooms
59. Unusually colored vegetables (purple cauliflower, blue potatoes, chocolate bell peppers…)
60. Fresh peach ice cream
61. Chevre
62. Medjool dates
63. Kheer
64. Flourless chocolate cake
65. Grilled corn on the cob
66. Black bean (or any other bean) vegetarian chili Tried it many times, but never like it. I'm not a fan of beans, though.
67. Tempeh
68. Seitan or wheat gluten
69. Gorgonzola or any other blue veined cheese
70. Sweet potato fries
71. Homemade au gratin potatoes
72. Cream of asparagus soup
73. Artichoke-Parmesan dip
74. Mushroom risotto
75. Fermented black beans
76. Garlic scapes
77. Fresh new baby peas
78. Kalamata olives
79. Preserved lemons
80. Fried green tomatoes Hated them.
81. Chinese scallion pancakes
82. Cheese souffle
83. Fried apples
84. Homemade frijoles refritos
85. Pasta fagiole
86. Macadamia nuts in any form
87. Paw paw in any form
88. Grilled cheese sandwich of any kind
89. Paneer cheese
90. Ma Po Tofu
91. Fresh pasta in any form
92. Grilled leeks, scallions or ramps
93. Green papaya salad
94. Baked grain and vegetable stuffed tomatoes
95. Pickled ginger I had to look up the fact that this is the stuff that comes with sushi, but I've eaten it a bunch of times.
96. Methi greens
97. Aloo paratha
98. Kedgeree
99. Okra
100. Roasted brussels sprouts I've had this and okra, but hated them both.

My total is either 59 or 62. I lost count and am too lazy to recount. Now if someone will show me the omnivore one, I'll do it, too.

I totally wish I could download Google Crom.

I love the Sci-Fi show Eureka. My wife was pissed at something that happened in the most recent episode, that I won't reveal for those who haven't seen it yet, but I'm regarding that event as temporary. What I'm pissed about is the fucking product placement. You want to have a product in the background on the show, I'm OK with that, I can even deal with logos being slightly more prominently displayed than one would expect normally, but this season of Eureka is too much.

The season is being sponsored by Degree deodorant, and it seems every episode is turning into a logo bukkake fest. For fuck's sake, they even worked in an element where Degree is sponsoring a lab inside GD. They really need to tone that shit down, it was funny a couple of times, but it's getting damned tedious.

I've been watching this HBO miniseries, about Marines during the opening of the War in Iraq. It just fucking rules. I loved Band of Brothers, I like a lot of military movies and shows, but this is the first one that portrays the soldiers exactly like soldiers and ex-soldiers I've known in real life. Politically speaking, it's definitely sympathetic to the grunts on the ground, while not shying away from some of the more horrible aspects of war. If you haven't seen this fucking show, download it, watch it on HBO, buy the inevitable DVD when it's released, but goddamn this is a fucking great show. 4 episodes have aired, there's 3 left to go. I anticipate new episodes of this right now more than Burn Notice, SGA, Psych or Monk, and if you know me and my viewing habits, that's hella significant. Fucking watch it.

I have a vague idea in the back of my head about starting a new political party, called The Angry Party. It's not even in the larval stages yet, but the idea will be to focus on issues like corporate malfeasance and subsidies, health and dental care, progressive taxation (and how it isn't enough right now), and other things of an angry, left-leaning nature. Basically how the rich keep getting richer, the middle class is shrinking, and the poor get fucked. I'm not really envisioning a socialist agenda, but a leveling of the playing field to an extent, covering areas where, in my opinion, I don't think the Democrats have any sense of what the fuck is going on, or they just don't care.

Anyone have any idea what it takes to form a new political party, and have advice on the process?

(If you don't agree with me, that's ok. Join or create your own party.)

This is probably not the kind of thing Tolkien himself would have intended, and it's not a 100% accurate representation of Middle Earth, but it's still an interesting extrapolation.

My sister gave me the History of the Hobbit boxed set for my birthday. (It was on my Amazon wishlist, and it seems that of all the people in my family, only my sister and I have figured out how to use such lists, giving each other fat l00tz for Hail Santa! Day and birthdays.) I already have all 12 volumes of the History of Middle Earth, so I needed the history of The Hobbit for completion. (It's only 2 volumes, as well as a nice volume of the published version of The Hobbit itself, complete with Tolkien's own illustrations.) At any rate, I read a little bit of the beginning of volume 1 of the History books, and then decided to reread The Hobbit itself before delving deeper into the History. I've only just finished Chapter II, Roast Mutton, and without getting into the more esoteric development of the story in the History volumes, I've determined a few key differences between The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.

1.) (and rather significantly) In The Hobbit, Gandalf is a really big asshole.
2.) Dwarves are pushy motherfuckers (but I love them anyway).
3.) Hobbits really like to bitch, just for the sake of bitching, even while exceeding all expectations others have of them.

I may add to this in the future, but I'm pretty goddamn drunk, so I'm going to end this now, while I can still type coherently.

It took Willow a few days to get used to Xander, but they're getting along great, now.

I've been looking at kittens available on Craigslist, just for the hell of it. I'm in no way ready to replace the Beast yet (he is irreplaceable), but there's a hell of a lot of really cute kittens on there. I want them all. If you are looking for a pet, however, I recommend checking craigslist out, and giving some of them a home. I think the Beast would appreciate it.

Goodbye, old friend.


I thought we were going to be able to fix him, but we weren't. He's gone.

Edit: If you want to see more pictures of the late, great Beast, along with some of his friends and cousins, go here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/fuzzybeast/

Reproduced for your edification:

To Whom It May Concern,

I'm not sure who I should directly send this to, so I'm sending it directly to the Communications Director in the hope that they can forward it to the appropriate party.

My parents were and still are Catholic, and I was raised Catholic, at an age where I really didn't have a choice in the matter. I will be 30 years old in a week or so, and I haven't considered myself a Catholic, let alone a Christian, for over a decade. It is my understanding that if one has received the sacraments of Baptism, Communion, and Confirmation, that the Church considers one Catholic for life. At the time I underwent those ritual initiations, I was not of an age to honestly make those decisions for myself, and my Confirmation in particular was only done to please my other Catholic relatives.

My question is whether or not there is a formal procedure one needs to undergo in order to no longer be considered Catholic in the eyes of the Church. Excommunication is the only one I can think of, but I'm only familiar with it as a punitive measure, not as something one can apply for. If I can arrange to be excommunicated, or in some other way sever my official ties to the Catholic Church, I would appreciate it if someone could help me out with getting that process going.

This is not a joke, by the way. I am perfectly serious. I'm not trying to make some kind of atheistic or philosophical point, I would just like all ties that the Church recognizes me as having to the organization severed to the same degree that I consider them severed on my end. Thank you for your consideration.

-Keith Nielsen

I'm wondering what their reply will be. Having looked up excommunication and how you get it, I certainly qualify for number 1, as I'm one hell of an apostate. I suppose it's too much to hope for that they'll give me an excommunication document suitable for framing.

My cat, The Beast, is diabetic. My old cat, Mittens was also diabetic. Unlike Mittens, unfortunately, The Beast doesn't seem to be responding to insulin treatment or the antibiotics we tried (not that I know what antibiotics were supposed to do for diabetes anyway), and his behavior keeps getting worse. He now pisses on the floor multiple times a day, no matter what we try. He knows where the litterbox is because he craps in there, but for some reason he just refuses to go out there to pee. It's looking like I'm going to have to take him to the SPCA, much as I hate to, because I can't afford to keep trying new things that don't work, and there's no way I can bring him to the new place with his behavior the way it is. With all the things I've tried I've probably spent upwards of 3 grand already, with no improvement. I really wish I could come up with an alternative that would let me keep him, but it's not looking likely.

I'd make him an outside cat if I had a yard for him to live in, because at least that way his constant urination would be less of a problem, but it wouldn't change the fact that he's not showing any signs of improvement. We've changed types of insulin, have him on a strict diet, and nothing works. I wish I could just FIX him.

I don't work for Arc Dream or Pagan Publishing, but I like Delta Green stuff, so I'm passing on this announcement:

Here's the link.
Arc Dream Publishing and Pagan Publishing are working together again to produce a new collection of terrors for Delta Green.

Last year, Arc Dream and Pagan Publishing produced the long-awaited “Delta Green: Eyes Only,” a gorgeous hardcover sourcebook for Pagan’s award-winning Delta Green game setting. Despite having only 1,000 copies released, “Eyes Only” is now a finalist for the industry-standard Origins Award for Best Roleplaying Game Supplement of 2007.

We want to do it again with “Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity.” The authors of Delta Green have been working on material for “Targets of Opportunity” for years. This fundraiser will tell us if there’s enough interest to finish developing it and to print a limited hardcover edition of the same quality as “Delta Green: Eyes Only.”

ABOUT ‘DELTA GREEN: TARGETS OF OPPORTUNITY’

“Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity” is a conglomeration of evils, many of them whispered in hints and rumors since the earliest days of Delta Green.

“Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity” includes:

BLACK COD ISLAND: An inhuman menace rises from the frigid waters of southern Alaska. Three hundred years ago the Haida Indians fought to stamp it out. They failed. Can a handful of Delta Green agents fare any better?

M-EPIC: More than 100 years ago, Canada’s Northwest Mounted Police established Division M to investigate unusual deaths in the far north. Over the years the division grew, slowly and quietly, as one after another of its own men died in bizarre attacks and uncanny circumstances. Today, M-EPIC is a top-secret agency with a nationwide charter. Few of its members know of its long history of using supernatural methods to battle the supernatural itself. Even fewer comprehend the terrible consequences that they face.

DISCIPLES OF THE WORM: From ancient alchemy to the latest biotech, humanity has always quested for a means to defeat death. For some, fearful of death or desperate to fulfill some mission in life, no price is too high. For Delta Green, a loathsome 20-year-old case still demands an answer to a crucial question: How far will you go to save humanity?

THE DE MONTE CLAN: Hurricane Katrina was one of the most devastating storms ever to strike the United States. It ravaged New Orleans and left the proud city a flooded wreck. For humanity, Katrina was an unspeakable tragedy. For Delta Green, Katrina was an opportunity. As emergency workers from every state and federal agency descend on the city, the rebuilding of New Orleans is a chance to strike at a long-festering horror. The target is an old and influential family whose people are something other than human, who see New Orleans’ plight as an opportunity of their own—and who have become quite skilled at destroying merely human enemies.

THE CULT OF TRANSCENDENCE: For centuries a cult ruled by Nyarlathotep, the mind and soul of the Outer Gods, has conspired to rule the world from behind the scenes, spreading its influence into the halls of power. Today its goals are more subtle and sinister than ever, guessed only vaguely even by its loyalest adherents. It may be the deadliest threat Delta Green has ever faced.

“Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity” is a hardcover roleplaying game sourcebook written by Adam Scott Glancy, Dennis Detwiller, Greg Stolze, Kenneth Hite, Warren Banks and Shane Ivey, edited by Shane Ivey and Adam Crossingham, and illustrated by “Delta Green: Eyes Only” artist Todd Shearer.

WHY FUNDABLE?

We’re going the Fundable route for “Targets of Opportunity” because our two publishing companies have their meager capital tied up in many other product lines, and, frankly, producing a book like this costs an awful lot of money. If you help us raise the money for it, we’ll produce the book.

WHAT WILL THIS FUNDRAISER DO?

If this fundraiser succeeds, Arc Dream Publishing and Pagan Publishing will print a limited run of 1,000 copies of “Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity.”

For each $50 pledge, you’ll get one free copy of “Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity” sent by priority mail anywhere in the United States.

For international fans, unfortunately, the high cost of shipping requires a much higher pledge. Please pledge as usual with this page, but if the fundraiser succeeds you'll need to send us another $25 via PayPal to cover the increased shipping cost. For that $75 total we'll ship one free copy of "Targets of Opportunity" by airmail anywhere outside the U.S. Please contact shane -at- arcdream -dot- com for instructions.

After it’s printed and released, any remaining copies of “Targets of Opportunity” will sell for $39.95 plus the cost of shipping, which is typically $13 or so for priority mail in the U.S. and $25 to $30 for international airmail.

WHY DO YOU WANT SO MUCH MONEY?

“Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity” will be similar in scope to “Delta Green: Eyes Only,” and “Eyes Only” was an expensive book. Printing even a limited run of 1,000 copies costs thousands and thousands of dollars, and our artists, designers, editors and writers need to be paid for their hard work. Fundable and Paypal each take a commission. And we need to leave a buffer for people who pledge but need to cancel at the last minute.

All in all, if this fundraiser succeeds it will give us the money we need to manufacture “Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity” up to our best standards, without disrupting our many other commitments.

WHAT IF THIS FUNDRAISER FAILS?

If this fundraiser fails to generate the minimum amount, “Delta Green: Targets of Opportunity” will have to wait until we generate the cash to produce it the old-fashioned way—by waiting until our current busy release schedule brings in enough capital to finish and print it.

If Arc Dream’s games “Wild Talents” and “Monsters and Other Childish Things” do well, and if Pagan does well with upcoming sourcebooks such as “Mysteries of Mesoamerica,” “Bumps in the Night” and “Final Flight,” then we may be able to move forward on “Targets of Opportunity” in 2009. But that’s impossible to predict until we see how those products do.

Of course, it should go without saying, if we can’t get a few hundred enthusiastic pledges our faith in Delta Green fandom will be shaken. No, not shaken—broken, fractured, shattered to its core. Pledge now, you Keepers of the Faith.

Here's the link again.