So, I was just at B&N and I had been thinking about picking up a copy of A Song of Fire and Ice when I saw George RR Martin's name plastered across a book called "Wild Cards I". 

It is a compendium of a series of short novels that used to be called "The Wild Card," series - and features novellas by G RR Martin, Roger Zelanzy and other Sci-Fi/Fantasy authors. 
The premise is that shortly after WWII, an alien virus crash landed on Earth that caused 3 possible results - death, terrible mutation, or enhancement into super-powers. Sometimes you got a terrible mutation that was also a super power - so... the world suddenly had a scientifically plausible world of super heroes and villains. 

It is heavily influenced by the golden era of 4 color comics - but it is approached as fairly serious, adult fiction in novel format. 

I had read it all again - but this edition is supposed to have some new bits and be edited by George RR Martin - so I picked it up again. 

I recommend it. They were very absorbing books - and kind of seem to me a precursor of the Fox Marvel Comic Universe story arc - there are a lot of similarities between Wild Cards and the better X-men installments. Wild Cards came far before X-Men in the theaters, though. 

I will add this to my list of things to buy once my debts are paid.  Thanks for the recommendation.  I especially love Zelazny.

Me also. I thought it was something of an affront that shows how much people are cattle that George RR Martin's name is plastered on the cover when Zelanzy was one of the contributing authors - and far more important in fantasy, fiction and scifi than GRR Martin as far as contributions to the genre are concerned. 

No joke.  I have an anthology of his short stories called "Unicorn Variations" and it's one of the books that most inspires me to try my hand at writing.

Sat Jun 22 2019 19:24:04 MST from TheDave

No joke.  I have an anthology of his short stories called "Unicorn Variations" and it's one of the books that most inspires me to try my hand at writing.

Have you read the Chronicles of Amber? 9 Princes in Amber, et. al. Probably my favorite Sci-Fi/High Fantasy hybrid of all time - it should be the model for most fantasy role playing - and it is a shame that it has never been turned into a good movie or game. 

Sun Jun 23 2019 08:18:17 MST from ParanoidDelusions

Sat Jun 22 2019 19:24:04 MST from TheDave

No joke.  I have an anthology of his short stories called "Unicorn Variations" and it's one of the books that most inspires me to try my hand at writing.

Have you read the Chronicles of Amber? 9 Princes in Amber, et. al. Probably my favorite Sci-Fi/High Fantasy hybrid of all time - it should be the model for most fantasy role playing - and it is a shame that it has never been turned into a good movie or game. 

Yeah, I had the 10 novel omnibus edition with all of them collected in one hardcover, but I loaned it out and it never came home.  I guess it's about time to replace that.  Also there was a diceless AMBER RPG that was pretty well made I thought, we used it as the basis for several games I've participated in and we always enjoyed it.

The book came this week, haven't started it yet but I'm in possession and that's the most important step. :D

Wed Jul 17 2019 05:14:32 MST from TheDave

 

Yeah, I had the 10 novel omnibus edition with all of them collected in one hardcover, but I loaned it out and it never came home.  I guess it's about time to replace that.  Also there was a diceless AMBER RPG that was pretty well made I thought, we used it as the basis for several games I've participated in and we always enjoyed it.

The book came this week, haven't started it yet but I'm in possession and that's the most important step. :D

So, my dad would go around every year when college got out and hit all the apartments and dorms and collect all the "garbage" they threw out. Lots of records, magazines and books ended up in the collection. I'd go out in the yard and sift through the shit - and among the garbage I found the Chronicles of Amber hardcover. Plain yellow-orange cover with some red text on it. I think I was 11. The opening scene of travelling through shadow and having the vehicle change from a horse into a carriage into a Jaguar had me hooked. 

https://donovancolbert.blogspot.com/2019/07/game-of-thrones-is-set-on-post.html

Game of Thrones is set on a Post-Apocalyptic Earth

Jerry,

Being that we know Paul Martin is never going to log onto this BBS - this is the perfect place for us to talk shit about him behind his back. :)

We don't even need a private room for it! :D :D :D

Hey, did Jerry finally join us, and decide to run a Dragon's Den room?

Cool!  Welcome home Jerry!

He is trying to figure it out. We might need to buy the guy a laptop and send it to him so he has something portable other than an Amazon Fire. 

Jerry, do you need a newer laptop? 

Wed Dec 30 2020 17:24:23 MST from Otto Roboto

Hey, did Jerry finally join us, and decide to run a Dragon's Den room?

Cool!  Welcome home Jerry!

I keep trying to encourage Jan Yarnot to log in, too. 

I wouldn't mind if Brent, Gary and Charles started making the rounds too. If Pagan is around, it would be interesting to see what he might have to add, but I have a feeling he has had his fill of social media of any sort, even the anti-social sort going on here. 

As for the rest of the remaining known members of Citadelphia - they're more than welcome to show up and shape the culture of this BBS - but if they don't, it doesn't break my heart. 

Then there are a few mostly lurkers who pop in on a regular basis that I wish would start contributing more - They all have interesting contributions to be made, if only they would start making them. 

But I'm also content to just chat back and forth between you and I while hoping some new users show up and pull up a chair and join in. Whatever works. 

I have not spoken to Brent in years.  There might have been a passing comment on the FB Sac Cit page not long after it was first created.

I still wish Jan a happy birthday thru FB every year.

I thought I did see Charles log in once, but he had concerns about the certificate thing for the web client.  I think he did use the telnet connection.

Gary speaks for himself and doesn't like it when others do it for him.

It has been quite some time since I interfaced with Pagan.

Spoke with Jim Earl a few times in the last 3 years or so.

I have not really heard from, or about, Vince since DDBBSII closed down.

We have spoken about Black Guardian and Paul Martin in other locations here.

I have reached out to some of them, my success is on display with the user contributions.

With that being said, maybe Jerry can get in touch with a few of them and get them to connect.

Wed Dec 30 2020 05:33:14 PM MST from ParanoidDelusions

I keep trying to encourage Jan Yarnot to log in, too. 

I wouldn't mind if Brent, Gary and Charles started making the rounds too. If Pagan is around, it would be interesting to see what he might have to add, but I have a feeling he has had his fill of social media of any sort, even the anti-social sort going on here. 

As for the rest of the remaining known members of Citadelphia - they're more than welcome to show up and shape the culture of this BBS - but if they don't, it doesn't break my heart. 

Then there are a few mostly lurkers who pop in on a regular basis that I wish would start contributing more - They all have interesting contributions to be made, if only they would start making them. 

 

But I'm also content to just chat back and forth between you and I while hoping some new users show up and pull up a chair and join in. Whatever works. 

 

 

I was speaking to Brent on a regular basis when the Cit was first up on a Pi. He was a regular log on and contributor. We've actually always worked pretty well together, I was an early adopter of Novucivitas (it means New Cit, it is all coming back to me)... and I learned a lot of the skills that would help me in my career with him guiding me on getting it up and running.

The cert thing is so annoying. It was *always* encrypting communication over HTTPS - Citadel installs a default generic self-signed cert for HTTPS connections when you first install it. Recently, on the Intel machine, I've created my own self-signed cert. An actual CA issued cert costs a bundle and is a hassle to get and install. Basically, I have to run my own SMTP server to verify that I am who I say I am to get a CA cert issued. Me running my own SMTP server is a bigger security risk than a self-signed cert. The next version of Citadel is supposedly going to address this. But for now, HTTPS connections are over a self-signed cert and all connections are 2048 bit encrypted, which meets minimum security strength standards. I actually know a bit about enterprise IT security. It wasn't my specialty - but a lot of IT security experts respect my general understanding of their niche in the IT team.

The thing is, browsers send up this scary alarmist message about self-signed certs when you hit a site that has them. It is kind of the approach of scaring the lowest common denominator of Internet user. "It is better to scare the people who don't know better, because the people who do understand it won't be alarmed by the terrifying message, or their IT staff will assure them that it is OK to disregard the scary message."

The funny thing is, Telnet is TOTALLY clear text and insecure. *If* you're afraid of HTTPS, you should be using SSH - which is really a similar technology and will ALSO give an ominous warning the FIRST time you connect that the remote machine can't be verified, do you trust it? My SSH is also secure and encrypted.

If you're not present and your name comes up - people may speak on your behalf and there isn't much you can do about it. The only way to ensure it doesn't happen is to be where ever people are talking about you. :D

Yeah, I feel like I saw Pagan post in the Sac Cit group once when it first came up, and haven't seen him comment anywhere, since. I feel like he got into it with some other old users over something, maybe politics - he may lean left... and then he was gone. That is my vague false memory. I could be wrong.

I saw Jim on the Sac Cit group a couple of times. I don't think I was ever his favorite Citadelphian. I think he was mostly indifferent to me. He seemed pretty much the same as last time I remembered him from. He might feel the same about me. :)

Vince was always an interesting guy.

I'm glad someone else is failing to entice them as miserably as I am. It means it either isn't JUST me, or it is JUST me. :D

I think Jerry has become maybe more disliked than me over outspoken political opinions among a large segment of Citadelphia. He and I see eye to eye on a lot of things, although sometimes he is a little more um... his opinions are often very emotionally based on political discussion. He doesn't like to get into the mechanics of what he believes or feels, and Paul and him have butted heads a few times over this, until it got rather brutal. Brutal enough to make *me* uncomfortable. You know my tolerance for the flames being pretty hot.

Wed Dec 30 2020 17:45:01 MST from Otto Roboto

I have not spoken to Brent in years.  There might have been a passing comment on the FB Sac Cit page not long after it was first created.

I still wish Jan a happy birthday thru FB every year.

I thought I did see Charles log in once, but he had concerns about the certificate thing for the web client.  I think he did use the telnet connection.

Gary speaks for himself and doesn't like it when others do it for him.

It has been quite some time since I interfaced with Pagan.

Spoke with Jim Earl a few times in the last 3 years or so.

I have not really heard from, or about, Vince since DDBBSII closed down.

We have spoken about Black Guardian and Paul Martin in other locations here.

I have reached out to some of them, my success is on display with the user contributions.

With that being said, maybe Jerry can get in touch with a few of them and get them to connect.

Wed Dec 30 2020 05:33:14 PM MST from ParanoidDelusions

Would I ever talk shit about Shawn Kemp? Behind his back? I'd rather talk shit to his face, considering that he thinks he's smarter than I am. Not that I haven't given him a ration of shit for that, but it went right over his head, which I found to be somehow appropriate. He was actually a nice guy, as Shawn Kemp, but as Paul Martin, he sucks. Now, you weren't a nice guy, back then, but you turned out all right, and you and your BBS were the source of my idea to create the first MUPT. I think I may have even asked if you wanted credit for the idea, and you turned it down. But the idea came from a private meeting you had with some of your users, and talked about online. Since I'm talking about the users at DDBBS, I'll mention a couple more that were stars on my board. The Black Guardian was a funny fellow, and more interesting than Paul Sparks, but Pagan Flames was even funnier as James Ollinger. I remember a lot more, including, of course, Gary Meadows, whose brother ran the first BBS I ever saw, Omni, which I believe was recommended to me by Brenda Daniels, who later put me up, when I was hiding from my now deceased ex-wife, before I moved to Virginia. Never heard of her again. I could go on through the night, reminiscing about my old board, or the store, itself. Good old days - at least from this distance.

How's that for a lengthy, run-on post like I usta do, back in the day?

Hey, Gary! Good to type at you again! I miss those good old days, when I was putting in fourteen hours a day, keeping the store open (seven days a week), and you were putting in time, modifying my BBS for me because I didn't have the time to learn the C language, so that I could do it myself. I still say that we should have put in automatic updating rooms across multiple Citadel BBSs. We would have beat the internet, and become rich, like Zuckerberg, or maybe INSTEAD of MZ! I could have lived with that! 😂

Actually, I'm in the market for a bigger tablet, since this old Fire is starting to be unable to keep up with current technology. I can't afford a Microsoft fancy tablet, but I want Windows 10, and I'm looking at a Dell Windows 10 tablet that Fry's has on sale. The current fly in the ointment is that my expensive (to me) wireless headphones fell apart last night, and I may have to replace them, although my daughter was able to repair them with duct tape. Problem is that the plastic the headband is made from is deteriorating, and the other side may soon fail. I had originally wanted a pair from Corwin, but my daughter talked me into a cheaper pair from Soundcore. I've been holding onto my second stimulus check, and might spend it on a new tablet and set of headphones. Might as well enjoy it while I'm here. I haven't been out of the house since this I got out of the hospital a bit over a year ago. THIS is my entertainment!

Just read your message mentioning Pagan Flames, Fossil Freak (or was it Phreak?) and a few others. I've talked to Ollinger a few times, when he commented on Jan's messages on FB, but he's rather cool towards me, since some of my ex-wife's thugs dropped by his place, threatened him and repossessed my original DDBBS computer and all the back-up disks. Probably scared the hell out of him. I know they scared the hell out of me!

I'll mention to Jan that I'm logging in over here, and that it's kind of lonely, and ask her to mention it to Pagan, as well, although you might be right about him leaning left (see what I did there?), and it could be another reason for his failure to respond warmly to my messages.

I'm every bit as intense as I was back then - I just didn't care about politics, back then. I was a Kennedy Democrat, and I haven't changed much, except that I'm now a Trump Republican (which True Republicans will tell you isn't a Republican at all. If the Donald were to announce his own political party, I'd want to be among the first in line! Not for President Trump, himself, but in the hope that it would attract like political minds, instead of career politicians.

I'll try to leave a post in the Citadelphia group, in case anyone is still there. You've got a lot of rooms here, that I'm not interested in, but that's because Citadel isn't for everybody, it's for a lot of people with different interests, and nobody (except for the SYSOP) is going to be interested in all of them! 😂

Surface Go starts at $399... and I bet you can find it on sale or discount if you shop hard for it. I love the Surface tabs. I have had a Surface RT (an ARM based early Surface that was a dead end), a SP3, 4 and 5, my daughter has a SP3, my wife has a SP6 and we have a Surface - which was what the Surface Go is today - only with an ATOM processor, that my wife still uses (or I'd send the thing to you...) 



https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/surface-go-2/8pt3s2vjmdr6?icid=store_SurfaceDeals_R2_CP1_Go2_010521&activetab=pivot%3aoverviewtab

Share a link with your headphones, Jerry. How much did they cost? 

Fri Jan 22 2021 23:21:32 MST from Jerry Moore Jr.

Actually, I'm in the market for a bigger tablet, since this old Fire is starting to be unable to keep up with current technology. I can't afford a Microsoft fancy tablet, but I want Windows 10, and I'm looking at a Dell Windows 10 tablet that Fry's has on sale. The current fly in the ointment is that my expensive (to me) wireless headphones fell apart last night, and I may have to replace them, although my daughter was able to repair them with duct tape. Problem is that the plastic the headband is made from is deteriorating, and the other side may soon fail. I had originally wanted a pair from Corwin, but my daughter talked me into a cheaper pair from Soundcore. I've been holding onto my second stimulus check, and might spend it on a new tablet and set of headphones. Might as well enjoy it while I'm here. I haven't been out of the house since this I got out of the hospital a bit over a year ago. THIS is my entertainment!