Kaymyth

Gravitic time dilation creates some weird effects. The light isn't actually going faster than the speed of light, but from an observer's point of view it can look like it is. There are a number of different accepted terms to describe a group of puffins. My favorite: "an improbability of puffins"

Those dratted do-gooding otters!

Much better today. And I picked up some antacid tablets to keep both at work and at home so I don't have to just sit and suffer if it happens again.

Today has just been hell on earth for acid reflux. It feels like my medication just evaporated out of my body for some mysterious reason, despite the fact I haven't missed a dose in weeks. Ugh.

Yes, it's April 20-22.

Not yet, but one of us will wind up starting one. There are several of us going. I look forward to meeting you!

There are almost certainly more Sanderfans in that region even if they aren't all on the Shard. Do you attend JordanCon? Atlanta isn't terribly far from you.

I already did hunt it down. It's not being released yet for a week.

I'd probably leave off the headpiece, but the rest of it is amaaaaazing.

Oh. Oh my gods. Oh my dear sweet everloving gods I NEED THIS.

Bad double-posty Briar King. Also, kind of hate humanity now. Lose the game, the fans burn things. Win the game, the fans burn things. Why can't these idiots just say, "Yay, we won! Yippee!" like sensible sapient beings? It's no wonder nobody else in the universe wants to talk to humanity.

imma thump you

It looks like most of what's circulating in Europe are strains of influenza B, which tend to be less severe than A. The Flu A H3(N4) subtype is what's been getting people really sick.

That would be awesome! It's ConQuesT 49 this year, Memorial Day weekend. I'm the Guest Liaisons Director (which is a fancy way of saying that I'm in charge of making sure our Guests of Honor are happy, fed, and where they need to be at the proper times) and I've gotten roped into judging the Masquerade this year. And also, because I need to plug my favorite con to attend as a non-staff person, JordanCon is in April in Atlanta, GA, and Brandon tends to pop up there about every other year. I believe that most (if not all) of the Dragonsteel crew are supposed to be there. It's definitely further away to get to and might take some saving of funds for the travel, but it's well worth it.

He was actually here a few years back; his appearance at ConQuesT is what got me involved in the convention. If you like cons, you should come out; we're small, but we're all book nerds there.

Yeah, people do that all the time. I mean, both states have their good and bad points. MO neighborhoods are usually a bit less uptight, but KS gets the side streets plowed faster after a big snow. Whatevs. Generally, my rule of thumb is that if it's feasible, it's usually a good idea to try to live on the same side of the state line your job is on, because filing taxes in two states is a pain in the chull butt. Other than that, hey, look! It's an arbitrary boundary! Who cares? I don't really have a lot of patience with it. But then, I also don't have a lot of patience for the sports rivalries, either. Rampant tribalism just annoys me. If you got over it quickly, it was almost certainly just a cold. The flu will knock you down and kick you in the head before sitting on your lungs with the weight of a small elephant while cackling madly. It will then stay there, sitting on your lungs, for a good week or so, unless you get a prescription for Tamiflu in which case it might be kind enough to leave in a couple days, but this is only effective if caught early. The cold just makes you feel icky for a few days. The flu will absolutely annihilate any feelings of health. I had the flu once 13 years ago. I woke up one morning thinking, "Huh, my throat is kind of sore." By that afternoon, I had a fever, chills, aches, and felt like I'd been hit by a particularly enthusiastic truck. After getting dragged to the doctor by my grandmother, I got some Tamiflu and spent the next two days with barely enough energy to even eat. After those two days, I had recovered enough to shower. After showering, I was tuckered out so I had a nap. You don't want to get the flu.

Meh. I've lived on both sides of the state line. They really aren't that different, with the exception of Johnson County, KS being the perfect suburban nightmare. (I live in Johnson County. You would not believe the major ritual that had to be performed in order to find a house in a neighborhood without an HOA...)

Oooh, you're almost local to me! (I live in the Kansas City area.) Alas, we cannot have kitties. Husband is far too allergic.

Fun fact! Kansas and Missouri are the two states vying for "most flu-ridden" in the entire United States! First it was Missouri in the lead, then Kansas overtook. I live in Kansas City. For those of you not familiar with the geography of the American Midwest, the Kansas City Metropolitan Area straddles the KS-MO state line. YAY

I'm honestly not sure where you're getting sushi outside of a restaurant. Unless, like, you're talking about grocery store sushi. Which...well. Y'know.

Right. Unless you're staff, in which case we are capable of multitudinous shenanigans. SOME of us don't abuse our powers for the sake of silly trolling. I...I don't know WHO that is, of course, but I'm sure there's someone out there.

I'm pretty sure it's just the way the code is built. There's no real way to fix it without major changes to the forum framework that would be subject to breakage every time there's an update to the system. Since Chaos has stated in the past that he won't make those kinds of potential-forum-catastrophe changes, we're stuck with it as it is. At any rate, quote shenanigans would be pretty obvious as the quoter can't go and change the actual post they're quoting, so anyone attempting to use this exploit to be a jerk would get caught pretty quickly. I'm not too concerned. Comatose rules.

Sushi literally means "sticky rice" in Japanese - it's referring to the method of presentation with rice. Sushi can have raw fish, or cooked fish, or be completely vegetarian. Sashimi is the raw fish without the rice. All of it is delicious.

Moved as requested. In the future, all you need to do is report a post. You don't have to hunt and peck for mod names of people who may or may not be around at a given time. Just throw it into the Report queue and the next available staff person will see it.

Speaking from the all of the points of view of a musician, a person with an education degree, and a current position in management - whatever their justifications for it, it's an absolutely terrible system that's put you in an untenable position. I have absolutely zero respect for the educators and administrators who are holding you to this, and I really don't care for their excuses one way or another.