Aurora's got an OS-tan art thread! Wait... what?!

[C-Chan]

I too am curious as to what this obscure virus is going to be, I await to see who it is with great anticipation.

Oh, for you it should be a walk in the park guess.  After all, there's not that many Christmas-inspired Virus-tans out there.  

To guard against a threat that they themselves are building? Does not compute! *head fizzles*

That is so freaking underhanded!  

It's hard for regular, law-abiding, moral citizens like you and me to understand.  Perfectly understandable when your only goal is an economic Bottom Line.  ^___^'

But you used to be a SuSE Linux user!
*SuSE-tan seen in corner, weeping*

I used to be a Windows user too.  Doesn't mean I have to support them for life.  ^___~

It's your money, so you're entitled to vote with your wallet if the people peddling stuff to you don't give you what you want.

...unless one side gives in from eventual attrition? Resources are finite!

At one point, money was finite too.  Technically-speaking, under the old Gold Standard, World War I could've have ended by 1915, after all the warring sides effectively spent themselves into bankruptcy.

But it was the conversion to fiat money that gave the governments of the day a kind of "credit card" to spend as much money as needed to fund their war machines.  

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money#20th_century

So you can say that bankers were hugely to blame, not only for prolonging that war, but essentially for setting the stage to all the economic and political hardships we face today.
Not many people realize (or dare to admit) that the paper money or electronic credit used today are essentially no more than IOUs with no real value to them.  You get this paper money loaned to you from a central bank and are charged interest for it -- but because the interest is only payable by that same paper money, you need a greater amount loaned to you in order to pay out the original amount.  Under such a racket, inflation is not an economic disease but rather a prerequisite.

Interesting... I don't think I ever learned about that in history class!

Well I'd be surprised if you did.  ^^'
It's really a matter of convenience. With only so much space in a text book and so little time allotted to dig too deep in any subject, it's a lot easier to present the war as a unitary struggle between US/Britain/Russia vs. Germany/Italy/Japan and some other stuff mixed in, rather than a very ugly and confusing conflict involving the Soviet Union, China, Poland, Indonesia, India, Yugoslavia, French Indochina, France, Britain, USA, Lithuanaia, Czechosolovakia, Greece, Burma, Latvia, Germany, Japan, Romania, Hungary, Italy, Finland, Norway, Canada, Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, etc etc etc....
Involving both uniformed and ununiformed combatants/collaborators/cooperators, divergent technologies, tactics and motivations, massive human suffering on all sides, on scales impossible to measure especially now 60 years later.  And naturally plenty of inconvenient truths that risk tarnishing our textbook perception of the war, as well as the comforting notion that it was the end-all to that terrible chapter in human history.

And all thise in a time-span that really should extend from the early 1930's until at least the late 1950's, just to get a better appreciation of the precursors to the war and the unpleasant aftermaths that resulted from it, masked under a superficial peace.

Yeah no,... I don't think anyone less than Graduate Students would learn that kind of stuff at school.  ^^;

Never really thought of this as your cup of tea,... but if you're interested in at least scratching the topic from a completely different approach, here's some fascinating reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistance_during_World_War_II

And I thought that the Americans were only preoccupied with the fear of Communism!

Well yeah,... what I meant by that is that they didn't want to risk Japan falling to the "Commies".  But that leads to a whole 'nother chapter in hidden histories that stretches back from the middle of World War I all the way to the present day.  With so many puppies now awake and running about causing a havoc, we'll leave those particular sleeping dogs lie....  ^____^;

I heard about that  

...Now my fears of World War III happening are stronger

Well, I'll just requote myself....
"It's hard for regular, law-abiding, moral citizens like you and me to understand.  Perfectly understandable when your only goal is an economic Bottom Line."  ^___^'

It's important to understand that the end of the Cold War, while a blessing to regular, law-abiding, moral citizens such as yourself, was a great tragedy to people who's power (or even very livelihood) depended on the eternal buildup for war.  [Think of the spammers we talked about earlier, but far worse.]

As long as those people are allowed to hold positions of unchecked power, they will do everything they can to bring their good ol' days back.

At such a pivotal moment in history, I'll let your former president Dwight D. Eisenhower do the rest of the talking:

http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html

Alright, onto genkier topics....  -v-

I'm surprised! I thought your reaction would have been more hysterical! XD

Well let's see... Surely you have met Barbie Linux-tan, A/UX-tan, Atari TOS-tan, Amiga-tan and Rhapsody-tan...

Well all of them have rings now, but I just gave it to AtariTOS-chan cause she's cute.  Not particularly tall, though.  T___T

Since you met Rhapsody-tan, you are also very likely to have to meet Cheetah-tan, Macintosh System 6-tan and their short but crazy and bomb-wielding comrades... and a prankster phantom girl who tags along!

Well the paradox is that I love Pu-chan.  Her cuteness transcends all fetishes.  ^___^

There's also TotalFark-tan, but meeting her is gonna cost you. I also hope you like mustard, cats, obscure references and understand Fark cliches!

Can't she take the fact that I drew her as payment.  ^^;

There's also Sorcerer Linux-tan (she's 5'11", 180 cm!) but she's a bit disgruntled and expects you to know some sorcery.

[imitating Negi-sensei]  Raster-Something-Jibberish-Amistar!!!! ^V^

Okay, that'll do.  Now where is she.  ^^

Or how about Vistan? Really, multiple renditions of her have portrayed as being 200 cm tall!

Yeah right, I'll believe it when I see it. TvT
Besides, why am I still concentrating on small fry, when I have Mainframe-tans around?  

*slaps self around*

Come on, the C-chan needs to think... bigger!  ^___^

They raised the prices?!

The latest Asus EeePC models skirt the $600USD range.  And they're pushing them out with XP more, probably after some,... pressure... ^^;

Dell and Acer are competitors too?

Heck yeah!  ^v^
Here's my next baby:

http://www.acer.com/aspireone/

I'm also completely surprised that Apple has not participated in the sub-notebook market! A sub-notebook from Apple... I'd totally buy that!

Well according to the rumors last year, the super secret Apple laptop was supposed to have been a cheap sub-notebook.  Instead, it ended up being the MacBook Air, which turned off a lot of interested buyers of the rumored device (myself included).  ^.^

This year the rumors of an Apple sub-notebook are back in full force again, but everyone admits that it may not be as cheap or as small as one would think.  After all, Apple has made its branding selling high-end products.

But then again, I made a similar intentional reference mismash back in the OS-tan theories thread! It was when there was discussion over the panel in the ZS Xmas special that shows the virus-tans as reindeer getting ready to take to the skies and it was pointed out that Lamer Exterminator-tan was using a light saber... and my remark included... A "Terminator" reference! XD

"That Lamer Exterminator is out to get you! It cannot be bargained with..."

I'm a sucker for puns...

Oh wow, your punnage does never cease to amaze me.... ^^;

Yeah! Anime!

Just finished watching "Venus Versus Virus" and am now in the process of watching "Shion no Ou".  Didn't expect anything out of either of them, but as always ended up pleasantly surprised.  @.@

That would a really cute picture idea! But I must focus! I still have a few pictures in progress including the one that is months overdue T_T

Oh you!  I have stuff that's a year overdue, and I ain't breaking a sweat.  ^___^

...

....

......

*breaks sweat*  T___T'

[Aurora Borealis]

Oh, for you it should be a walk in the park guess.  After all, there's not that many Christmas-inspired Virus-tans out there. 

Aha! Christmas Tree-tan!

I used to be a Windows user too.  Doesn't mean I have to support them for life.  ^___~

It's your money, so you're entitled to vote with your wallet if the people peddling stuff to you don't give you what you want.

Exactly!

At one point, money was finite too.  Technically-speaking, under the old Gold Standard, World War I could've have ended by 1915, after all the warring sides effectively spent themselves into bankruptcy.

But it was the conversion to fiat money that gave the governments of the day a kind of "credit card" to spend as much money as needed to fund their war machines. 

I was wondering how World War I lasted as long as it did! Now because of Fiat money, countires can spend more money than ever on war. Like how the US spent so much money in the Vietnam War to the point of a defecit... That is getting worse and worse -_-

So you can say that bankers were hugely to blame, not only for prolonging that war, but essentially for setting the stage to all the economic and political hardships we face today.

Darn bankers! So they are the ones who have caused problems such as longer wars and the dreaded hyperinflation!

Not many people realize (or dare to admit) that the paper money or electronic credit used today are essentially no more than IOUs with no real value to them.

Wow... I never looked at paper money and credit cards like that before!

You get this paper money loaned to you from a central bank and are charged interest for it -- but because the interest is only payable by that same paper money, you need a greater amount loaned to you in order to pay out the original amount.  Under such a racket, inflation is not an economic disease but rather a prerequisite.

It's a viscious cycle!

Well I'd be surprised if you did.  ^^'
It's really a matter of convenience. With only so much space in a text book and so little time allotted to dig too deep in any subject, it's a lot easier to present the war as a unitary struggle between US/Britain/Russia vs. Germany/Italy/Japan and some other stuff mixed in, rather than a very ugly and confusing conflict involving the Soviet Union, China, Poland, Indonesia, India, Yugoslavia, French Indochina, France, Britain, USA, Lithuanaia, Czechosolovakia, Greece, Burma, Latvia, Germany, Japan, Romania, Hungary, Italy, Finland, Norway, Canada, Korea, Singapore, the Philippines, etc etc etc....

I knew that WWII was some really brutal and complicated stuff but I didn't know it was like that! But then again, textbooks can only be so big and there are a lot of units to study throughout the year that surely a lot of stuff has to be left out!

Involving both uniformed and ununiformed combatants/collaborators/cooperators, divergent technologies, tactics and motivations, massive human suffering on all sides, on scales impossible to measure especially now 60 years later.  And naturally plenty of inconvenient truths that risk tarnishing our textbook perception of the war, as well as the comforting notion that it was the end-all to that terrible chapter in human history.

Inconvienient truths are just another part of history. There have been many over the centuries.

At least now those that WANT to find out these things, like how WWII was really a lot more complicated, are able to freely look it up online!

Never really thought of this as your cup of tea,... but if you're interested in at least scratching the topic from a completely different approach, here's some fascinating reading:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resistance_during_World_War_II

That is fascinating! So many forms of resistance and in so many countries that I didn't even know were involved in the war! Reading that really made me think a lot and differently!

Well yeah,... what I meant by that is that they didn't want to risk Japan falling to the "Commies".  But that leads to a whole 'nother chapter in hidden histories that stretches back from the middle of World War I all the way to the present day.  With so many puppies now awake and running about causing a havoc, we'll leave those particular sleeping dogs lie....  ^____^;

It is for the best to leave those sleeping dogs lie.

Well, I'll just requote myself....
"It's hard for regular, law-abiding, moral citizens like you and me to understand.  Perfectly understandable when your only goal is an economic Bottom Line."  ^___^'

Well said!

It's important to understand that the end of the Cold War, while a blessing to regular, law-abiding, moral citizens such as yourself, was a great tragedy to people who's power (or even very livelihood) depended on the eternal buildup for war.  [Think of the spammers we talked about earlier, but far worse.]

Those whose jobs were manufacturing war machines lost their jobs (in a way, war is apparently good for the country's economy but bad in others. Waging wars is risky business) and incidentally, a lot of the former Soviet countries are a lot worse off now than when they were Communist! 

At such a pivotal moment in history, I'll let your former president Dwight D. Eisenhower do the rest of the talking:

http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/indust.html

Read the whole speech. It was brilliant, simply brilliant! ;019

Alright, onto genkier topics....  -v-

Yeah!

Well all of them have rings now, but I just gave it to AtariTOS-chan cause she's cute.  Not particularly tall, though.  T___T

Ha! So there are some paradoxes and exceptions!

Well the paradox is that I love Pu-chan.  Her cuteness transcends all fetishes.  ^___^

Case in point!

Can't she take the fact that I drew her as payment.  ^^;

Sadly, no. She needs money and dislikes tightwads who don't pay

[imitating Negi-sensei]  Raster-Something-Jibberish-Amistar!!!! ^V^

Okay, that'll do.  Now where is she.  ^^

Let me get her! *grabs Sorcerer-tan by the arm* Come on! There's someone who wants to meet you, and he even knows how to imitate sorcery!

Here ya go!

Yeah right, I'll believe it when I see it. TvT

 
The Vistan with the suitcase is consistently portrayed as 200 cm tall at least. The Seifuku Vistan varies a lot in height though (200 in this picture, but is typically between 150 and 170 cm). And I have no idea who the two characters at the furthest right are! o_o

Besides, why am I still concentrating on small fry, when I have Mainframe-tans around? 

*slaps self around*

Come on, the C-chan needs to think... bigger!  ^___^

Think bigger... I admire your ambition!

The latest Asus EeePC models skirt the $600USD range.  And they're pushing them out with XP more, probably after some,... pressure... ^^;

Outrageous! They used to be as low as $300USD!

Heck yeah!  ^v^
Here's my next baby:

http://www.acer.com/aspireone/

Those are really cool! I'd want one!

Well according to the rumors last year, the super secret Apple laptop was supposed to have been a cheap sub-notebook.  Instead, it ended up being the MacBook Air, which turned off a lot of interested buyers of the rumored device (myself included).  ^.^

When I was first told about Apple releasing a very small laptop, I was hoping it was a sub-notebook but when I found out it was the Macbook Air, I was very disappointed. It was only small as in very thin, relatively limited in capabilities and still costs almost as much as a Macbook Pro! ;014

This year the rumors of an Apple sub-notebook are back in full force again, but everyone admits that it may not be as cheap or as small as one would think.  After all, Apple has made its branding selling high-end products.

But then again, Apple never really was the super low-end type. The only exceptions being the Mac Mini and Mac Classic.

Just finished watching "Venus Versus Virus" and am now in the process of watching "Shion no Ou".  Didn't expect anything out of either of them, but as always ended up pleasantly surprised.  @.@

What are those two serieses like?

Oh you!  I have stuff that's a year overdue, and I ain't breaking a sweat.  ^___^

...

....

......

*breaks sweat*  T___T'

You've got stuff 1 YEAR overdue?! 0__0

And I thought I was a big time procrastinator!

[C-Chan]

Aha! Christmas Tree-tan!

Exactly.  Smart girl.  ^^
Course,... still couldn't manage to draw today,... I feel so darn impractical... -.-

*le sigh*

Wow... I never looked at paper money and credit cards like that before!

Prior to my numismatic phase, I was a lot like that as well.  It's funny how we love money, yet really take for granted its history, what it is, and why we use the kind that we do.  Why do we still use coins?  Why does paper money come in such huge denominations?  How do credit card companies make money if you pay off your bills on time?  Why aren't there any gold bars in bank vaults like in the movies?  Why is some foreign currency worth a lot more than others?

Once you really start thinking about all this, things just start looking a little... unnerving,....  The irony, however, is that once you start investigating the truth behind what's happened to our money, things start to make sense somehow.  You'd be in a better position to take care of your money more than people who just simply let others do it for them.  ^^;

[Oh, and if you want quick answers to all those questions, here they are in consecutive order:  Money was once all in coins.  Banknotes were easier and safer to use when handling large sums.  Every business that offers credit card payment options must give a certain percentage per-sale, plus a monthly subscription fee, to the credit card company.  Gold and silver were officially demonetized in the 1960's, and has trickled off to the rest of the world thereafter.  Different rates of inflation, as well as different price control policies (export countries like China, for example, benefit from a devalued Yuan).]

Unlike my short-lived Star Trek phase, I don't view my numsimatic hobby as a waste of time.  I learned an awful lot about it, especially since money and history are not mutually exclusive at all.  ^__~

That is fascinating! So many forms of resistance and in so many countries that I didn't even know were involved in the war! Reading that really made me think a lot and differently!

Well I'm very glad for you then.  In expressing a strong curiosity in the subject, you're simply reaffirming what I've always known.  That you're a bright young person with a willingness to think outside the box and try new things.  ^__^

Don't want to cut this particular segment of war-inspired discussion short -- but aside from not wanting to create hybrid OT threads, I think I've pretty much laid down all I can as an introduction.  If you do have any questions, you're always free to ask me (especially in PM), but I can't tell you what to spend all your valuable time reading about, nor should you really take everything I say as gospel.  To quote an old cliche, it's up to you to uncover the truth for yourself, and certainly to things that may have greater pertinence to your immediate life (and for sure, there's more to life besides war and money and history).

I have full faith that you'll do fine, because you're blessed with two very important things:  an open mind, and the internet at your fingertips.  Had I had both when I was your age, maybe I would have committed only half the stupid things I eventually ended up doing.  -v-

Sadly, no. She needs money and dislikes tightwads who don't pay

Oh well, at least I have an answer to that.  ^___^

*takes out barrel of hyperinflated New C-chan Points*  

Surely no one will ever turn down 100,000,000,000,000,000.00 worth of any kind of money... right?  ^^;

Let me get her! *grabs Sorcerer-tan by the arm* Come on! There's someone who wants to meet you, and he even knows how to imitate sorcery!

Here ya go!

*awkward silence*

.
.
.

Uh....

.
.
.

Well,... i have a power that can make me explode.... ^^;

Swoonage... Poonage!!!  ^v^

The Vistan with the suitcase is consistently portrayed as 200 cm tall at least. The Seifuku Vistan varies a lot in height though (200 in this picture, but is typically between 150 and 170 cm). And I have no idea who the two characters at the furthest right are!

hehe... well yah, if Vistake is 200cm, I have a bridge to sell ya.... `v'
But that suitcase one... hmmm... tough call, since I've never seen her before....

....

She is Vista for sure.... but can't really say no to 200cm....

...

Well okay, I'll give her a pity ring just for amusing the C-chan....  -v-

...

Oh, and I know that one of thsoe characters is the Predator (from the Predator movies).  The long-neck one,... I won't even dare to guess.  I'm scared....  ^^;

Those are really cool! I'd want one!

I still have to test one out for sure, just to make sure they really are all that.  However, the Linpus Linux Lite system it comes with is very easy to use, boots in 10 seconds, and is based on Fedora 8 (rather than that infernal Xandros, like the AsusOS).  While it is technically "locked", it's infinitely easier than the AsusOS to unlock and gain access to the Fedora 8 software repository, where you can install thousands of reasonably-modern software applications.  

But the proof is in the pudding,... the C-chan must get his paws on one before I start recommending it to friends and colleagues.  ^.^

If it is good, I'll probably offer my voluntary discount program to anyone interested in purchasing one, but still on the fence with the whole Linux thing.  Usually this is only for real life friends, but if you really are interested in buying one, I can probably extend the offer to you (provided you have access to anonymous payment methods, such as Paypal).  25% seems like a good sum, perhaps too low given all you've done for us.  ^^

Of course, it's not like a decision is required immediately -- first the darn thing has to actually appear on sale in North America (certainly in more places and in more varieties than the one offered here: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834115489 ).  And then there's a matter of whether it sucks or not -- cause if it sucks, then you're probably better off without it.  T___T'

When I was first told about Apple releasing a very small laptop, I was hoping it was a sub-notebook but when I found out it was the Macbook Air, I was very disappointed. It was only small as in very thin, relatively limited in capabilities and still costs almost as much as a Macbook Pro!

I do love how Bella-hime described it as an "anorexic" laptop.   Someone please FEED the poor thing... ^___^

But then again, Apple never really was the super low-end type. The only exceptions being the Mac Mini and Mac Classic.

And even at that, the Mac Mini was/is pretty pricey, relative to other miniature desktops.
But if that's how they prefer to do business, I guess that's up to them.  It's not like they have a losing formula selling the products as they do now.

What are those two serieses like?

Venus Versus Virus starts off with your generic secret-organization-battles-evil-monsters-that-no-one-else-sees storyline, except with a confident, cyan-pigtailed loli-goth and a demure high school girl as the main protagonists.  



The drama and story DOES improve over time, though, and even though it has the standard-issue abrupt-ending, it actually FEELS right in the context of all the assault your emotions come under while watching it.

Plus I absolutely LOVE the eyes on many of these characters, especially Laura-chan.  ^^

Shion no Ou, on the other hand, is a much longer series focusing on a young female Shougi player, who became mute after witnessing the murder of her parents.  She's intent on becoming a great Shougi player, since she has strong reason to believe the murderer is a Shougi player himself.

The premise is dark, yes, but the episodes focus almost entirely on Shougi games.  While that sounds boring, you'd be surprised how amazingly addictive they are to watch.  It's this kind of superb, edge-of-your-seat storytelling that could easily turn a Scrabble or Bingo game into the equivalent of watching the World Cup Finals.  ^.^



I'm actually halfway through -- I just dug right into this very intelligent series.  At this rate, I'll probably start considering learning Shougi myself.... ^___^

[Aurora Borealis]

Exactly.  Smart girl.  ^^

Boo-yah!

Course,... still couldn't manage to draw today,... I feel so darn impractical... -.-

*le sigh*

Don't you just hate when that happens? Sometimes that happens to me and I end up feeling awful for it

Prior to my numismatic phase, I was a lot like that as well.  It's funny how we love money, yet really take for granted its history, what it is, and why we use the kind that we do.  Why do we still use coins?  Why does paper money come in such huge denominations?  How do credit card companies make money if you pay off your bills on time?  Why aren't there any gold bars in bank vaults like in the movies?  Why is some foreign currency worth a lot more than others?

The history behind money is pretty fascinating. At first people bartered but somehow and somewhere, people decided to give something else monetary value (i.e: shells, stones, different coins, paper money) and use that instead.  Different units and types of currency have came and gone over the milennia. While coins and paper money are still in widespread use, the vast majority of money now is in electronic form! In fact, only about 8% of the world's currency is physical cash!

(fact taken from here): http://express.howstuffworks.com/wq-money.htm

Once you really start thinking about all this, things just start looking a little... unnerving,....  The irony, however, is that once you start investigating the truth behind what's happened to our money, things start to make sense somehow.  You'd be in a better position to take care of your money more than people who just simply let others do it for them.  ^^;

Not to mention that taking care of one's own money is much more responsible!

[Oh, and if you want quick answers to all those questions, here they are in consecutive order:  Money was once all in coins.  Banknotes were easier and safer to use when handling large sums.  Every business that offers credit card payment options must give a certain percentage per-sale, plus a monthly subscription fee, to the credit card company.  Gold and silver were officially demonetized in the 1960's, and has trickled off to the rest of the world thereafter.  Different rates of inflation, as well as different price control policies (export countries like China, for example, benefit from a devalued Yuan).]

It's interesting that banknotes were the most convienient form of money but that no longer seems to be the case now that there are checks, credit cards and debit cards!

I knew there was there was some kind of catch to getting a credit card- the monthly fee, the added interest to costs and the penalties for not paying on time!

And there are multiple factors that determines a nation's currency's value! I knew of inflation (particuarly hyperinflation) but didn't know there were other policies!

Heheheh... Silly me! Before I knew of hyperinflation and how it ruins the value of affected currencies, I thought that the countires with hyperinflation were the wealthiest! (i.e: the Weimar Republic of Germany in the 1920's with postage stamps valued at 50 billion Marks and the largest denomination was 100 trillion, Hungary in the 1940's with its 100 quintillion pengo notes, Brazil under its military dictatorship era) Of course I now know that is not the case, especially after reading about the present-day hyperinflation crisis in Zimbabwe

Unlike my short-lived Star Trek phase, I don't view my numsimatic hobby as a waste of time.  I learned an awful lot about it, especially since money and history are not mutually exclusive at all.  ^__~

Likewise, I do not consider my OS-tan fandom to be a waste of time at all because from it, I learned soooooo much more about computers and different OSes and their histories!

Well I'm very glad for you then.  In expressing a strong curiosity in the subject, you're simply reaffirming what I've always known.  That you're a bright young person with a willingness to think outside the box and try new things.  ^__^

Thanks! I love to learn about all kinds of things!

Don't want to cut this particular segment of war-inspired discussion short -- but aside from not wanting to create hybrid OT threads, I think I've pretty much laid down all I can as an introduction.  If you do have any questions, you're always free to ask me (especially in PM), but I can't tell you what to spend all your valuable time reading about, nor should you really take everything I say as gospel.  To quote an old cliche, it's up to you to uncover the truth for yourself, and certainly to things that may have greater pertinence to your immediate life (and for sure, there's more to life besides war and money and history).

It was such an interesting discussion that I didn't mind the fact that half the stuff in the past few posts was off-topic!

I have full faith that you'll do fine, because you're blessed with two very important things:  an open mind, and the internet at your fingertips.  Had I had both when I was your age, maybe I would have committed only half the stupid things I eventually ended up doing.  -v-

We all make stupid mistakes and even with the internet, I've probably made more than my fair share ^_^

Oh well, at least I have an answer to that.  ^___^

*takes out barrel of hyperinflated New C-chan Points*  

Surely no one will ever turn down 100,000,000,000,000,000.00 worth of any kind of money... right?  ^^;

Nice try, but we know that hyperinflation is bad for a currency! But being an obscure currency, TotalFark-tan might not know how little it is worth and might accept it! ;012

*awkward silence*

.
.
.

Uh....

.
.
.

Well,... i have a power that can make me explode.... ^^;

Swoonage... Poonage!!!  ^v^

The magical ability to explode is impressive.

hehe... well yah, if Vistake is 200cm, I have a bridge to sell ya.... `v'
But that suitcase one... hmmm... tough call, since I've never seen her before....

....

She is Vista for sure.... but can't really say no to 200cm....

...

Well okay, I'll give her a pity ring just for amusing the C-chan....  -v-

That'll work!

Oh, and I know that one of thsoe characters is the Predator (from the Predator movies).  The long-neck one,... I won't even dare to guess.  I'm scared....  ^^;

Oh! I knew that looked familiar from somewhere! (the Predator, duh!)

If it is good, I'll probably offer my voluntary discount program to anyone interested in purchasing one, but still on the fence with the whole Linux thing.  Usually this is only for real life friends, but if you really are interested in buying one, I can probably extend the offer to you (provided you have access to anonymous payment methods, such as Paypal).  25% seems like a good sum, perhaps too low given all you've done for us.  ^^

Nah, I don't have Paypal or anything like that and I can't buy anything online (which is why I also cannot pay for shareware and why it torments me so much!)

Venus Versus Virus starts off with your generic secret-organization-battles-evil-monsters-that-no-one-else-sees storyline, except with a confident, cyan-pigtailed loli-goth and a demure high school girl as the main protagonists.  

http://www.animekakumei.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/09/venusversusvirus-1-jkt.jpg

The drama and story DOES improve over time, though, and even though it has the standard-issue abrupt-ending, it actually FEELS right in the context of all the assault your emotions come under while watching it.

Kinda reminds me of Bleach but with some girl power, better drama and doesn't drag on!  Btw, the pigtailed girl looks almost just like Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid 2! o_o

Shion no Ou, on the other hand, is a much longer series focusing on a young female Shougi player, who became mute after witnessing the murder of her parents.  She's intent on becoming a great Shougi player, since she has strong reason to believe the murderer is a Shougi player himself.

Poor Shion Here's to hoping she gets to face off against that murderer!
---

Here is the Apple ][-tan + GS/OS-tan in the apple orchard picture, finished!

[C-Chan]

It's interesting that banknotes were the most convienient form of money but that no longer seems to be the case now that there are checks, credit cards and debit cards!

Yes, although that was mainly true during the 19th century and prior.  Especially in the Post WWI economy, the idea of credit for normal purchases was starting to seep into the consumer psyche.  "Installment Plans" are still around, especially for large purchases such as cars, living room sets, etc -- but back in the '20's, they were a huge consumer fad in the States.  Installment Plans were the "credit cards" of the day, and almost 90% of all goods were purchased on this deferred payment.

http://etext.virginia.edu/journals/EH/EH37/Murphy.html
(no need to read the whole thing)

At least half the reason the Stock Market crash occurred was because investors finally realized that nearly all their life savings was tied to company profits, farmland production, consumer purchases, housing property values, and other forms of money-generating ventures that simply DID NOT exist.  

I knew there was there was some kind of catch to getting a credit card- the monthly fee, the added interest to costs and the penalties for not paying on time!

The most important thing with that, though, is that all those costs are incurred on the business' end.  Consumers themselves don't get penalized for using a credit card (unless they drown in debt, in which case the interest generated from that debt becomes another neat little revenue stream for the credit card companies).

This is a very important distinction because consumers need to be acclimated to the idea that a credit card (especially the new-fangled Touch n' Go ones) is incredibly fast and easy to use, and thus WAY superior to that ugly paper stuff.

On the business side, though, credit cards can become a great liability (especially for small businesses), as it not only cuts into their profits, but also requires them to lease special machinery to process credit card transactions.  And if there's no sales, then THEY become the ones who drown in debt.  

The Catch-22, however, is that because credit cards seem so convenient to the average user, they expect it to be accepted anywhere.  No business can expect to stay open for too long if they accept nothing else but cash, checks and money orders (two things that "inconvenience" the customers).  

Not to say credit cards don't have their uses -- they're invaluable as an emergency measure. But anything taken in excess is a bad thing, and I feel there is an excessive reliance on them.  People who don't know about them will simply view them as "free money", and recklessly spend it accordingly.

And there are multiple factors that determines a nation's currency's value! I knew of inflation (particuarly hyperinflation) but didn't know there were other policies!

Back when the US dollar was popular, so-called "dollar pegging" was very much in mode in many developing countries.  So is "currency revaluation", when you take a horrifically devalued currency, and just drop a few zeroes to make it look stronger than it actually is.

Again, there is no real value in fiat currency, so the central banks of the world have to come up with all sorts of weird and wacky strategies to keep themselves relevant.  Just like in a game of Poker, you expect to come up with a hand that will outperform the other players, and thus let you keep whatever's gathered in the pot.

"Economic Rescue Plans" seem to be in fashion at this time -- but while they sound warm and fuzzy, it's basically a fancy way of describing taking valuable tax money and using it to bail out companies that made stupid decisions to begin with.  Perhaps, like with the spammers, those companies have to stay alive in order to protect an incalculable number of jobs that could otherwise be lost.

But then that's a bit sad too, because that isn't something that can be done forever no matter how good you are at Poker.

Heheheh... Silly me! Before I knew of hyperinflation and how it ruins the value of affected currencies, I thought that the countires with hyperinflation were the wealthiest! (i.e: the Weimar Republic of Germany in the 1920's with postage stamps valued at 50 billion Marks and the largest denomination was 100 trillion, Hungary in the 1940's with its 100 quintillion pengo notes, Brazil under its military dictatorship era) Of course I now know that is not the case, especially after reading about the present-day hyperinflation crisis in Zimbabwe

Shhhhhhhhhh!!! My C-chan Points rely on perceived wealth by volume!  >v<

Fufu... but yes, hyperinflation is the Poker equivalent of a player having his Bluff called, revealing to the world he doesn't even have a pair.  Hyperinflation then results after no one literally wants your money anymore, and you have to start issuing it in ridiculous quantities for it to have at least some semblance of worth.  

Believe it or not, some financial institutions LOVE inflation, since most debt doesn't adjust for it and they can easily pay off any outstanding debt now that $100,000,000 may be the hyperinflated-equivalent of a nickel.  But people and businesses who leveraged themselves on the old currency -- who, for example, placed their entire life savings in banks, without hedging it elsewhere or investing it in some tangible wealth -- would be the ones who would literally have all their hard work vaporized in an instant.

Actually, it's funny that you mentioned the Weimar hyperinflation.  Have you ever thought about how a country, literally drowning in crushing poverty, debt and war reparations, returned to the status of one of the richest countries in the world, in the matter of only 2-3 years?  Even though I never gave that much thought before, it was a notion that nagged in my mind once I started studying economic history.  The Rentenmark is considered the savior of the German economy, but even the official documentation finds the so-called "Miracle of the Rentenmark" baffling, as it's no different in principle from the currency revaluation I mentioned earlier.

Another explanation I've discovered sounds more plausible, but source documentation is a bit lacking.  Doesn't help that I can't read German.  -v-;

.
.
.

Hmmm....  I just realized I wrote a lot....
Well, what can I say,... money talk hooks me.  -.-;

But there's too much pessimism floating around in this subject.  How about ending it on a high note?  (pun intended)  ^^

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaca_Hours
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_currency

Nah, I don't have Paypal or anything like that and I can't buy anything online (which is why I also cannot pay for shareware and why it torments me so much!)

Ohhhh.... Okay,...  '.'

well,... if you do get an Acer Aspire One at some point, you can count on me for de facto tech support.  That's the least I can offer you. ^___^

That'll work! Btw, the pigtailed girl looks almost just like Miku Hatsune from Vocaloid 2!

Maybe,............. just a passing resemblence.  ^___________^
The eye patch takes some getting used to.... -v-

Here is the Apple ][-tan + GS/OS-tan in the apple orchard picture, finished!

WAAAAAAAAAHHH!!  This came out better than I expected it!!  @v@

GS/OS-tan and ][-chan are shown in their trademark chibi forms, so already that raises the Cuteness Factor by a whooping 300%!  The new curly-haired look of GS/OS-tan really accentuates her face, while I think this is the best-drawn representation of ][-chan with her Kasa, apple picker and uber-pigtails.  ^.^

The apples fallen on the floor and the gigantic apple looming menacingly over ][-chan are great little humorous touches.  ^v^
And your background renaissance continues to amaze me too -- the grass with the convincing Depth of Field looks remarkably lush, while the shaggy trees were animated very beautifully.  The only thing that detracts from it are the shadows, which don't seem to be angled correctly (should be closer to a 3 o'clock angle, based on the shading).  Still, this is a minor niggle for a funny and adorable picture, drawn once again in record time!

I'll explode into a fireworks display in appreciation now!!  ^V^

[Aurora Borealis]

Yes, although that was mainly true during the 19th century and prior.  Especially in the Post WWI economy, the idea of credit for normal purchases was starting to seep into the consumer psyche.  "Installment Plans" are still around, especially for large purchases such as cars, living room sets, etc -- but back in the '20's, they were a huge consumer fad in the States.  Installment Plans were the "credit cards" of the day, and almost 90% of all goods were purchased on this deferred payment.

http://etext.virginia.edu/journals/EH/EH37/Murphy.html
(no need to read the whole thing)

That's right! I remember that now- the ability to buy on credit allowed the people to buy on credit was one of the main factors that led to the prosperity of the 1920's! But it was that same thing that contributed to the Great Depression!

At least half the reason the Stock Market crash occurred was because investors finally realized that nearly all their life savings was tied to company profits, farmland production, consumer purchases, housing property values, and other forms of money-generating ventures that simply DID NOT exist. 

*sigh* Putting your life savings into those things is a really bad idea as the economy in general is unpredictable.

Sure, those who invested during the 1920's made a very good move at first as they became wealthy from the strengthening economy but were overly optimistic and didn't consider the possibility that it could weaken so they were completely unprepared when the stock market crashed and investors lost it all.

When investing, play it safe and don't invest all your life savings!

The most important thing with that, though, is that all those costs are incurred on the business' end.  Consumers themselves don't get penalized for using a credit card (unless they drown in debt, in which case the interest generated from that debt becomes another neat little revenue stream for the credit card companies).

I bet that that the credit card company people are filthy stinking rich! I have heard too many stories of people drowning in credit card debt

This is a very important distinction because consumers need to be acclimated to the idea that a credit card (especially the new-fangled Touch n' Go ones) is incredibly fast and easy to use, and thus WAY superior to that ugly paper stuff.

On the business side, though, credit cards can become a great liability (especially for small businesses), as it not only cuts into their profits, but also requires them to lease special machinery to process credit card transactions.  And if there's no sales, then THEY become the ones who drown in debt. 

Convenient but so risky to use!

The Catch-22, however, is that because credit cards seem so convenient to the average user, they expect it to be accepted anywhere.  No business can expect to stay open for too long if they accept nothing else but cash, checks and money orders (two things that "inconvenience" the customers). 

The only exceptions I know are lemonade stands ran by children! ;012

But yes, I don't think I have seen any business lately that doesn't accept credit cards. They're the new big thing in the world of money!

Not to say credit cards don't have their uses -- they're invaluable as an emergency measure. But anything taken in excess is a bad thing, and I feel there is an excessive reliance on them.  People who don't know about them will simply view them as "free money", and recklessly spend it accordingly.

Don't people these days know the concept of "moderation"? ;014

I agree that people rely on credit cards too much and use them recklessly. I know someone in real life who became broke from her excessive credit card spending, combined with exceeding her cellphone minutes month after month -_-

Luckily she managed to turn her life around though.

Back when the US dollar was popular, so-called "dollar pegging" was very much in mode in many developing countries.  So is "currency revaluation", when you take a horrifically devalued currency, and just drop a few zeroes to make it look stronger than it actually is.

Isn't that how some countries successfully curbed hyperinflation?

"Economic Rescue Plans" seem to be in fashion at this time -- but while they sound warm and fuzzy, it's basically a fancy way of describing taking valuable tax money and using it to bail out companies that made stupid decisions to begin with.  Perhaps, like with the spammers, those companies have to stay alive in order to protect an incalculable number of jobs that could otherwise be lost.

AAAAAUGH! What stupid plans! Using valuable tax money taken from hard-working people to pay for the stupidity of businesses, when that tax money could have gone to more important things (medical/scientific research, education, infrastructure, etc.)!

But they are necessary to protect many people's jobs. Without it, businesses left and right could be going bankrupt and jobs would be lost, unemployment would shoot up and peoples' futures would be ruined. (I've seen it happen, many have became homeless after losing their jobs).

But then that's a bit sad too, because that isn't something that can be done forever no matter how good you are at Poker.

True. If the same company makes stupid decisions over and over again, those that do the economic rescue plans will say enough is enough and stop helping them.

Fufu... but yes, hyperinflation is the Poker equivalent of a player having his Bluff called, revealing to the world he doesn't even have a pair.  Hyperinflation then results after no one literally wants your money anymore, and you have to start issuing it in ridiculous quantities for it to have at least some semblance of worth. 

Well said! Nothing ruins a Poker player like having their bluff called and revealed to the world, and nothing ruins a national economy like hyperinflation!

Believe it or not, some financial institutions LOVE inflation, since most debt doesn't adjust for it and they can easily pay off any outstanding debt now that $100,000,000 may be the hyperinflated-equivalent of a nickel. 

Wow!  I didn't know it was possible at all for anyone to benefit from hyperinflation!

But people and businesses who leveraged themselves on the old currency -- who, for example, placed their entire life savings in banks, without hedging it elsewhere or investing it in some tangible wealth -- would be the ones who would literally have all their hard work vaporized in an instant.

Of course the vast, vast majority suffer from it!...

To have that happen; to have all of that hard-earned money that took a lot of blood, sweat, tears and mucus to earn be suddenly deemed worthless, all that work gone to waste... is simply downright tragic

Actually, it's funny that you mentioned the Weimar hyperinflation.  Have you ever thought about how a country, literally drowning in crushing poverty, debt and war reparations, returned to the status of one of the richest countries in the world, in the matter of only 2-3 years?

Not yet, but the fact that the Weimar Republic overcame its poverty in such a short time is nothing short of amazing!

Hmmm....  I just realized I wrote a lot....
Well, what can I say,... money talk hooks me.  -.-;

Although I was not very familiar with economics, all this money talk was very fascinating and oughta help me greatly when I take economics class this school year!

In other news, school starts in less than a week for me ;__;

WAAAAAAAAAHHH!!  This came out better than I expected it!!  @v@

GS/OS-tan and ][-chan are shown in their trademark chibi forms, so already that raises the Cuteness Factor by a whooping 300%!  The new curly-haired look of GS/OS-tan really accentuates her face, while I think this is the best-drawn representation of ][-chan with her Kasa, apple picker and uber-pigtails.  ^.^

The apples fallen on the floor and the gigantic apple looming menacingly over ][-chan are great little humorous touches.  ^v^
And your background renaissance continues to amaze me too -- the grass with the convincing Depth of Field looks remarkably lush, while the shaggy trees were animated very beautifully.  The only thing that detracts from it are the shadows, which don't seem to be angled correctly (should be closer to a 3 o'clock angle, based on the shading).  Still, this is a minor niggle for a funny and adorable picture, drawn once again in record time!

I thought it turned out better than I expected too! The original hand-sketch was very rough with a lot of things that needed to be changed. I experimented with giving the field some depth and I liked how it turned out (and will use this technique onwards when making grass fields or sandy beach scenes).

I also really really like how chibi Apple ][-tan turned out! My favorite depiction I have drawn of her!

Ehh.... I had a hard time with the shadows and knew they were off but couldn't identify exactly how much but now I know. Shading at an angle is certainly not one of my strong points.

I'll explode into a fireworks display in appreciation now!!  ^V^

Yay! Fireworks! That'll make up for me not being able to see any on the 4th of July!
---

Chibi C65-tan! Yaaaaaaaargh! ;012

[C-Chan]

WAAAAAAAH!!!  I'm so sorry, Aurora-hime!!  ^0^
This is as far as this pig can go this evening,... I was so close, yet closure evades me....  ;___;

I shall return when i can.  ^___^

In the meantime, just let me say how delectably-adorable your chibi C65-chan!!!  I know she's trying to act all crazy and.,.. piratey,... but by GAWD, she's SO DAMN CUTE, I could just squeeze her cheeks day in and out!  ^0^

Also like that, in order to enhance the similarity with C128-san, you have her hair tuff over her left eye a bit.  

All in all, I'm happy she's part of the Commodore-Amiga family!  ^o^

[C-Chan]

Yes, I'm in a bit of a Replying spree, so let me get this one out of the way.  ^^

BTW, might have to reneg on my "Project Gutenburg" commitment,... seems it won't clear past copyright due to technicalities.  Sorry.  ^^;

But if you have the opportunity to get the book, I'd most definitely recommend it! ^^

When investing, play it safe and don't invest all your life savings!

The term "diversifying your portfolio" is Newspeak for precisely just that.  Unfortunately, that's often too hard for people accustomed to convenience to commit to -- they either continue to stick their eggs in one basket, or they hire consultants to "diversify" for them (which often involves the equivalent of sticking differently-colored eggs in a single basket).  ^____^;

Bottom line is, despite all the professional pomp, the stock market is little more than a glorified casino.  The winners are the ones who know how to work the system (=know the right people) and take their earnings early, while everyone else is greedy enough to stay on and waste their savings.  

The allure of becoming stinking rich in some distant future is great enough to stifle common sense and wisdom and often times even regular human compassion.

Don't people these days know the concept of "moderation"?  

I agree that people rely on credit cards too much and use them recklessly. I know someone in real life who became broke from her excessive credit card spending, combined with exceeding her cellphone minutes month after month -_-

Luckily she managed to turn her life around though.

Well see the last quote for a possible reason for the lack of moderation.  ^^'

I am happy she did that -- quite frankly, many people have not had the luck of getting that kind of revelation before financially throwing their life away.  As we mentioned in another thread, once people convince themselves that they're losers and will never emerged from the depths of losage (in this case, eternal debt), they just wallow in it and assert themselves as losers for life.  

Course, at the very least if they kept their wallowing to themselves, they would at least be performing a small public service.  However, it's not uncommon for such people to drag others with them, never once acknowledging the harm done to themselves and the harm they continue perpetruating in validating "the way things are".  Guess it's true that misery loves company.... -.-;

Isn't that how some countries successfully curbed hyperinflation?

*chuckle chuckle snicker snicker snortle snortle*

Fufu... on paper at least.  That's good enough for most people.  ^______________^

AAAAAUGH! What stupid plans! Using valuable tax money taken from hard-working people to pay for the stupidity of businesses, when that tax money could have gone to more important things (medical/scientific research, education, infrastructure, etc.)!

Well in fairness, that money wouldn't have gone to those things anyway.  ^^;
An oft overlooked fact is that the US massages their inflation estimates and other critical financial reports (you probably heard the story about military expending being excluded from National Budget documents), and actually has significantly more debt than it admits to (combining federal, state and private).  A lot of that tax money, after expenditures, is realistically-speaking barely enough to pay the interest on the outstanding debt.  Combined with growing interest on that debt, and that could potentially be around forever -- or as long as the inflationary system continues running.

In short, it's not hard to analogize that military expenses, medical/scientific research, education, infrastructure, etc. are all being paid for by "credit card".  -.-;

[and following the creditors just opens up a whole different can of worms]

But they are necessary to protect many people's jobs. Without it, businesses left and right could be going bankrupt and jobs would be lost, unemployment would shoot up and peoples' futures would be ruined. (I've seen it happen, many have became homeless after losing their jobs).

That is the viscious cycle unfortunately -- any government that is serious about turning things around and institute a healthier economic model would instantly receive a torrent of backlash from people who's financial future would be destroyed (or who's pensions would be lost, free healthcare taken away, or military ventures curtailed).  But as long as the process continues to be put off, the problem will only grow larger and larger, until the resulting correction brings untold misery.

Let a college student get $5000USD in debt, and maybe he can find a way to pay it off within reasonable time, even with a normal job.  But let him get $500,000USD in debt and he might as well become a slave for life [if he can't use his degree to gather enough money -- the contrary of with is also a common story these days].  ^^;

True. If the same company makes stupid decisions over and over again, those that do the economic rescue plans will say enough is enough and stop helping them.

That's assuming both are separate entities.  But if the companies making stupid decisions and the economic rescue planners are under the same employ (or just watching eachother's backs), then the outcome is worse.

Instead of not helping them, they just end up looting taxpayers!  @__@

Wow! I didn't know it was possible at all for anyone to benefit from hyperinflation!

I'll quote myself here again.  ^__^

The allure of becoming stinking rich in some distant future is great enough to stifle common sense and wisdom and often times even regular human compassion.

A loss of a certain major city from a hurricane, levy breakage and resulting flood was seen as a human tragedy by lots of people, but an incredible investment opportunity [through the capital generated by rebuilding and rezoning said city] by a certain subset of scum.

Not yet, but the fact that the Weimar Republic overcame its poverty in such a short time is nothing short of amazing!

If true, it seems they got around to it by monetizing labor itself.  Instead of printing notes from a central bank, the government would print its own notes (not the Rentenmark) and then issue them in exchange for hours worked in New-Deal style reconstruction projects across the country (including the building of the Autobahn).  It sounds stupidly simple, but has tremendous ramifications in our modern economic system as it is basically a reversion to basic bartering of services (and hence immune to inflation, as goods and services are always in demand).

The idea presumably was based off Abraham Lincoln's Greenback from the previous century, and it was also met with similar scorn from international bankers.  The policy was removed after only a few years, but it very likely served its purpose of pulling Germany out of poverty (although in retrospect, much to the detriment of most of Europe).

Literature on that is a bit sparse, though -- might be easier to focus on how the original Lincoln Greenback worked versus the other currencies of the time.

Although I was not very familiar with economics, all this money talk was very fascinating and oughta help me greatly when I take economics class this school year!

In other news, school starts in less than a week for me ;__;

NOOOO!! Poor aurora-hime.  ;___;

Just make sure to do a lot of supplmental reading, though, using real books if possible.  ^^

Last I was involved in the school system, teachers and professors weren't exactly keen on webpages as references.  ^.^;

Plus schoolworks, at least for me, were always a delicate balancing act of what I could write about and what they wanted to hear.  ^^

I thought it turned out better than I expected too! The original hand-sketch was very rough with a lot of things that needed to be changed. I experimented with giving the field some depth and I liked how it turned out (and will use this technique onwards when making grass fields or sandy beach scenes).

I also really really like how chibi Apple ][-tan turned out! My favorite depiction I have drawn of her!

Ehh.... I had a hard time with the shadows and knew they were off but couldn't identify exactly how much but now I know. Shading at an angle is certainly not one of my strong points.

No problem, though.  As I said before, I absolutely loved the detail on that picture.  ^___^

Love it more on that adorable little C65-chan you posted recently.  ^.^

In any event, have to disappear for a while, but will return to swoon over the other posts.  ^___^

[Aurora Borealis]

BTW, might have to reneg on my "Project Gutenburg" commitment,... seems it won't clear past copyright due to technicalities.  Sorry.  ^^;

That's a bummer (yet I kinda saw it coming)

But if you have the opportunity to get the book, I'd most definitely recommend it! ^^

For sure!

The term "diversifying your portfolio" is Newspeak for precisely just that.  Unfortunately, that's often too hard for people accustomed to convenience to commit to -- they either continue to stick their eggs in one basket, or they hire consultants to "diversify" for them (which often involves the equivalent of sticking differently-colored eggs in a single basket).  ^____^;

So that diversifying a portfolio means- to invest some of your money in different things to greatly reduce the risk of losing everything!

And if these consultants really do not do a good job with diversifying, it's another sign that if you want to do something right, you have to do it yourself*!

*some exceptions apply

Bottom line is, despite all the professional pomp, the stock market is little more than a glorified casino.  The winners are the ones who know how to work the system (=know the right people) and take their earnings early, while everyone else is greedy enough to stay on and waste their savings.

True that! In the casino and the stock market, it is usually better to quit while you are ahead!

But I think that too often, investors and gamblers think that their stocks will keep rising in value or their next bet will be the jackpot... fueled by that mentality, they keep going and going even though it will likely cost them greatly.

The allure of becoming stinking rich in some distant future is great enough to stifle common sense and wisdom and often times even regular human compassion.

That's just sad... ;014

As we mentioned in another thread, once people convince themselves that they're losers and will never emerged from the depths of losage (in this case, eternal debt), they just wallow in it and assert themselves as losers for life. 

Given the typical person's mentality these days, it is easy to assume that not winning = being a loser for life. And to think that for some time I suffered from that mentality! I do not remember how I got out of it, but I am really glad I did!

Course, at the very least if they kept their wallowing to themselves, they would at least be performing a small public service.

Yeah... It's bad when people wallow in their own failure, but even worse when they make drag others down with them! ;030

Well in fairness, that money wouldn't have gone to those things anyway.  ^^;
An oft overlooked fact is that the US massages their inflation estimates and other critical financial reports (you probably heard the story about military expending being excluded from National Budget documents), and actually has significantly more debt than it admits to (combining federal, state and private).  A lot of that tax money, after expenditures, is realistically-speaking barely enough to pay the interest on the outstanding debt.  Combined with growing interest on that debt, and that could potentially be around forever -- or as long as the inflationary system continues running.

Oh my gawd.... It's a never-ending spiral of debt!

In short, it's not hard to analogize that military expenses, medical/scientific research, education, infrastructure, etc. are all being paid for by "credit card".  -.-;

So that's why the US debts keep getting worse! o_o

That is the viscious cycle unfortunately -- any government that is serious about turning things around and institute a healthier economic model would instantly receive a torrent of backlash from people who's financial future would be destroyed (or who's pensions would be lost, free healthcare taken away, or military ventures curtailed).  But as long as the process continues to be put off, the problem will only grow larger and larger, until the resulting correction brings untold misery.

It's a no-win situation, people are going to suffer financially one way or another! *sigh* Economics can be so depressing

A loss of a certain major city from a hurricane, levy breakage and resulting flood was seen as a human tragedy by lots of people, but an incredible investment opportunity [through the capital generated by rebuilding and rezoning said city] by a certain subset of scum.

Profiting off of tragedy? ;014

If true, it seems they got around to it by monetizing labor itself.  Instead of printing notes from a central bank, the government would print its own notes (not the Rentenmark) and then issue them in exchange for hours worked in New-Deal style reconstruction projects across the country (including the building of the Autobahn).

That's a smart plan that restored their economy, rebuilt their nation and got people out of poverty!

Last I was involved in the school system, teachers and professors weren't exactly keen on webpages as references.  ^.^;

That must have been before schools became so internet-savvy like they are now, and/or that schools wanted only reliable (i.e: printed) references because anyone and and their dog can make a website, and well... websites vary greatly in reliability!

Plus schoolworks, at least for me, were always a delicate balancing act of what I could write about and what they wanted to hear.  ^^

Did your schools have rules on what could be written? o_o
---

2 new pictures!


DR DOS-tan and QDOS-tan! DR DOS-tan is sadly but lovingly holding QDOS-tan (and is saddened by now her earlier negligence led to QDOS-tan's mental and physical growth were both stunted), who shows unconditional love towards her mother despite the past... I will also add GEM-tan in the picture, comforting her older sister! ;012


And this next picture... Aw geez... I was so slow with this and was such a gosh darn procrastinator, who actually started the first sketch of this picture idea back in January but started over 2 or 3 times but here it is at last! Mac System 6-tan and A/UX-tan 20th anniversary portraiture!

[C-Chan]

That's a bummer (yet I kinda saw it coming)  

Oh well.  The pubished novel version is still available there to read -- it's a great story in and of itself, even though it doesn't have nearly as much character depth as the original.  ^^

You can find it here:

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/140/140-h/140-h.htm

Or at a local library.  I'm sure you can toss a stone and hit about 30 libraries that carry a dozen copies or so.  ^^;

So that diversifying a portfolio means- to invest some of your money in different things to greatly reduce the risk of losing everything!

Correct.  ^^
Before that it was just called plain ol' "hedging", as in "hedging your bets".  ^^

But I think that too often, investors and gamblers think that their stocks will keep rising in value or their next bet will be the jackpot... fueled by that mentality, they keep going and going even though it will likely cost them greatly.

Yep, and if you've ever been to a casino, you'll see that same pathological addiction in people's eyes as they slowly and surely bleed all their money away.

Incidentally, I used to love going to Casinos (especially in Windsor, Ontario, Canada) because of the excellent opportunity to pick up rare coins.  Though I naturally lost a little bit of money, I used to get some very rare gems, including old silver American or Canadian coins that people spent without realizing their value.  ^^;

Sadly, casinos now are using paper receipts and I'm sure even digital cards by now, so it's no fun anymore and I haven't cared to visit one in years.  -.-

Given the typical person's mentality these days, it is easy to assume that not winning = being a loser for life. And to think that for some time I suffered from that mentality! I do not remember how I got out of it, but I am really glad I did!

Funny,... I never thought of myself as a loser per se, but I do remember not thinking at all during most of my youth.  Memories are spotty, but it always seemed like I was running entirely on impulse, not really thinking about anything and just passing from one moment to the next in what now feels like a semi-sleeping state.  Don't even know how I managed to survive, but guess my body did all the living.  ^^;

Then all of a sudden, it's like I started gaining a consciousness.  I finally felt self-aware of my actions and my behavior, and could finally recall what I talked about.  I could think AND interact with the world at the same time, or so it seemed in retrospect.

I wonder if in both of our cases, that might have been a result of our young brains maturing to their peak development, were rationality, thought projection, depth peception, and other advanced mind functions fully develop as a prelude to adulthood.  

That being said, a child's brain IS like a sponge so it can absorb more information than an adult brain -- but it has no filters, so it can't stop itself from soaking in dangerous influences (including self-depracating beliefs that they suck and will never amount to anything).

So that's why the US debts keep getting worse!  

In fairness, that's a problem with the economies of ALL countries today.  With the exception of a few third-world countries that tightly integrate their central banks into the government, this is how it usually goes:

1) Government A wants money so it can buy stuff from Country B, so the Central Bank of Country A prints it $1000 + interest to start with.

2) Government A is happily spending its $1000, but of course the interest keeps piling up with every day it's not paid.

3) Having racked up a debt of $1100 to Central Bank A, Government A decides to pay off that amount.  However, all money in Country A is in dollars, so it has to buy $1100 from Central Bank A to pay off the original $1100.  Naturally, that new total is also interest bearing.  

4) And naturally without any money to spend for anything, it has to buy another $1000 in order to continue trading with Country B.  It's now already $2100 in debt, and by now the interest has jumped it up to $2300.

5) Meanwhile, Country B is still circulating its own $1000 startoff and is enjoying the fact that its currency is twice as strong as A's.  It can start purchasing goods from Country A for dirt cheap!

6) However, with its last payment and interest bearing load, A is now $4400 in debt and the people of Country A can no longer afford to buy anything from B.  With their economy so dangerously tied to just selling things, Country B has to buy more money from Central Bank B in order to catch up with the increasingly-impoverished Country A.  Even if the People of B are happy buying cheap goods and enjoying the fruits of a stable debt-free economy, that doesn't matter -- if they can't sell, they can't grow, and if they can't grow, then economy of B collapses.

7) Several decades later, Country A is $100,000 in debt and Country B is not far behind at $80,000.  They've gotten so used to shuffling debt around aimlessly that they no longer bother to pay anything back.  It just keeps accumulating faster and faster, and the governments have to start setting aside more and more physical land and property in order to serve as collateral for Central Banks A and B.  

And even though they never get their money back, Central Banks A and B are happy.  Because in return for investment of some imaginery money, they get back real money (gold, silver), land, property, businesses, tax money.... They start making close friends with members of Governments A and B, and can ask for political favors that can help them a lot with their side businesses (because NATURALLY, central banks are smart enough to "diversify their portfolio").  ^__~

And of course, once you have the whole world engaged in this financial madness, its near impossible to go back.  Countries that try are isolated immediately.  Anyone who tries to issue Gold money again will see it all fly out of the country in less than 24 hours, since citizens would rather sell the coins for money then help restore their economies.

It's a no-win situation, people are going to suffer financially one way or another! *sigh* Economics can be so depressing  

Correction:  REAL street-level economics is depressing.
School economics tends to be very very boring, since it takes itself a little too seriously, and doesn't like going over particularly shady moments in history such as this....  ^^;

http://www.the-privateer.com/1933-gold-confiscation.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_Double_Eagle

That must have been before schools became so internet-savvy like they are now, and/or that schools wanted only reliable (i.e: printed) references because anyone and and their dog can make a website, and well... websites vary greatly in reliability!

So true.  In that case, I'm glad you live in a more internet-savvy world.  That means less paper gets wasted.  ^.^

Did your schools have rules on what could be written?  

Of course not,... school rules were always so idealic.  ^v^'

In practice, though, it was a veritable jungle -- and often times, the teachers themselves were not adverse to letting their own political ideas, religious beliefs or just plain egos get in the way of some serious critical thinking.  Knowledge was secondary (perhaps even tertiary) to obedience -- may still be in some parts.  '__'

DR DOS-tan and QDOS-tan! DR DOS-tan is sadly but lovingly holding QDOS-tan (and is saddened by now her earlier negligence led to QDOS-tan's mental and physical growth were both stunted), who shows unconditional love towards her mother despite the past... I will also add GEM-tan in the picture, comforting her older sister!  

Ahh!  Finally!  Some genkiness!!  ^v^

WOW!  You really did it!  And its cute as mole-asses!! ^0^
I have to hand it to you,... when you get an idea, you do it.  You're not like me who just daudles and doesn't get anything done anymore.  ^___^

Their heads are especially beautifully rendered, DRDOS-tan exhibiting her characteristic tranquility, while QDOS-chan looks sweet and perky.  And I definitely love DRDOS-tan's two monster pigtails, although the one on her left is a bit shorter actually than her right one.  Also kinda neat is the fact that DRDOS-tan, despite being only about 139cm or so, completely dwarfs the pint-sized QDOS-chan.  ^^

Her waist/butt does seem a bit too wide, though, mainly because her coat is spread out in a way that gives that impression.

And this next picture... Aw geez... I was so slow with this and was such a gosh darn procrastinator, who actually started the first sketch of this picture idea back in January but started over 2 or 3 times but here it is at last! Mac System 6-tan and A/UX-tan 20th anniversary portraiture!

Now now,... you can't complain about procrastination in my presence!  ^.^

This is a swishingly gorgeous picture, and one of the finest uses of lighting since your Leopard-chan back-to-the-future pic!  ^v^

Despite the old-timey pokadot dress (which the pattern fills really bring out), System 6-chan looks remarkably pretty and sexy like that.  The edge highlighting on her hair and face lend it an uncanny realism.  ^__^

I should point out, though, that her head should probably be moved a few pixels over to the right.  From that angle, her neck should appear to be positioned slightly below her right eye.

A/UX-sama.... *MEGADROOLS*  *v*

A Beauty!!!!  A Goddess!!  Truly a testamount to the proud and beautiful pig race!  ^.^

Her dress is beautifully drawn and mature.  Her hair is highlighted and coiled just right.  Her cute piggy ears are flanked by an equally-cute bandana compilment.  The lighting is even more stunning here, as it shades and highlights in all the right places.

And her eyes are both keen and hypnotic -- I feel I could lose myself in those glorious Aquamarines!  ^o^
I know you said you were going to shift to a new eye style,... I wonder now if this is it.  ^.^

Head/Neck suggestion does apply here too, though, but not as urgently as with System 6-tan.  Just a few clicks over to the left and it should be perfect.

Cake is delicous-looking, btw, and the background really helps enhance the brightness of the picture. ^_______^

[Bella]

Lawd oh lawd have I missed out on a lotta responses....I mean, really! It seems like things have gone by 10x faster than when I was here. Maybe the internets bends spacetime as we know it; have you guys aged a few years since I was last here? What year is it where you are? Cause it's 2008 where I am!

But there are some points I'd like to answer, no matter how old they are...

So I figured I'd need a time machine to go back and respond to all this stuff. Rather than hang around the Large Hadron Collider until they find a way to exploit its possible time-bending abilties, or go stand in front of a microave set at 2.342 oscillating, 11 hertz and get unstuck in time, I figured I'd give Leopard-sama a jingle

*shows off time-machine pocketwatch*

As for your new drawings:

GS/OS-tan: I'm sure we are all aware of my unconditional love of winged things. The redesigned GS/OS-tan is no different!

ISMAI-tan is a really neat mix of retro and modern design elements. As C-Chan said, she's very original and different! Excellent job!

GENIAC-tan is so kawaii! I just want to run up and....mmmmmm....squeeze those cheeks! ^///^

MenuetOS-tan is awesome, too. I love her outfit and gun (and red hair)!

Mugshot-tan is cool and very funky and futuristic. I love her visor!

The OS/2-tan/4K-tan pic is really funny. Seeing such a vengeful and cold personality smiling because she's in a kid's ride is hilarious XD

EXEC-sama is beautiful has a very midevel maiden look about her. I love the braid, as well as her outfit...excellent job!

Apple ][-tan + GS/OS-tan are awesome, this is such a vivid, fun picture. Shocked looking GS/OS-tan is especially cute. But...is that a forced perspective shot, or a hueg apple?

DRDOS and QDOS are so cute together! Much sweetness here.

Antares-tan and A/UX-tan pic is wonderfull! I love the shading and highlighting--I think it's some of your best work to date, IMHO!

Great job with everything!

Awhile back I saw a discussion about the DEC faction. I imagine theirs would have been rather militaristic in a somewhat FMA-like, steampunk kinda way, and they would  have implimented a mix of very, very old-school military tactics and sorcery. There would have been those who only trusted fighting with something they could actually see and hold, (like swords,) and those who were more open to geomancy. They would have been, as a group, exceptionally thrifty and hardworking--if not somewhat shortsighted. Their ultimate downfall would have been not jumping to build (or take over) smaller suburban and industrial territories (that would be PCs and workstations, mind you), instead focusing on larger tracts of territory (that would be minicomputers). I don't know what their status is now...I think a lot of them would have given up on their past ways, though...

I also see the early Timesharing systems (certainly the MIT ones, and perhaps all of them) as having had their own faction.

BTW, might have to reneg on my "Project Gutenburg" commitment,... seems it won't clear past copyright due to technicalities. Sorry. ^^;

Okay...yeah...what?

The allure of becoming stinking rich in some distant future is great enough to stifle common sense and wisdom and often times even regular human compassion.

Good thing I have no intentions of becoming stinking rich. A friend once told me, "you don't have to be a millionaire to live like one"--in other words, if you go out, visit new places and enjoy life, it's better to do this than spend all your time trying to make a ton of money.

Incidentally, I used to love going to Casinos (especially in Windsor, Ontario, Canada) because of the excellent opportunity to pick up rare coins. Though I naturally lost a little bit of money, I used to get some very rare gems, including old silver American or Canadian coins that people spent without realizing their value. ^^;

Sadly, casinos now are using paper receipts and I'm sure even digital cards by now, so it's no fun anymore and I haven't cared to visit one in years. -.-

Wait--so you'd go gambling to pick up rare coins O__o

Funny,... I never thought of myself as a loser per se, but I do remember not thinking at all during most of my youth. Memories are spotty, but it always seemed like I was running entirely on impulse, not really thinking about anything and just passing from one moment to the next in what now feels like a semi-sleeping state. Don't even know how I managed to survive, but guess my body did all the living. ^^;

Then all of a sudden, it's like I started gaining a consciousness. I finally felt self-aware of my actions and my behavior, and could finally recall what I talked about. I could think AND interact with the world at the same time, or so it seemed in retrospect.

I wonder if in both of our cases, that might have been a result of our young brains maturing to their peak development, were rationality, thought projection, depth peception, and other advanced mind functions fully develop as a prelude to adulthood.

That being said, a child's brain IS like a sponge so it can absorb more information than an adult brain -- but it has no filters, so it can't stop itself from soaking in dangerous influences (including self-depracating beliefs that they suck and will never amount to anything).

Oooookeeey...well....I'm glad you finally found a conciousness. Those are handy; but I wonder if a lot of young people (boys, especially) aren't like this.

I, too, have a lot of patchy memories from my earlier years; it seems like only from the age of say, 10 or so, I can remember back quite clearly. I was mature and attentive for my age (or so I am told), but I did tend to be rather...b*tchy and impulsive about things. I usually ended up in friendships with very dominant people, or I would become very dominant with others; and conflicts I faced not with diplomacy, but with a vindictive and hotheaded attitude (oh yes--nearly coming to blows a few times). I was materialistic, as well; I burned through any money I could get my hands on. Especially when a friend happened to get something--I'd feel the need to outdo them at every step.

But some difficult events I faced seemed to have straightened out all my priorities; I could have taken it for the worse and let it run me down as a person. I could have wallowed in what was lost. But I instead decided feel more grateful for what I had in life. I grew and became better, more peacful, thoughtful, open-minded and independant. (Not that I don't retain a lot of my past feist)

Of course not,... school rules were always so idealic. ^v^'

In practice, though, it was a veritable jungle -- and often times, the teachers themselves were not adverse to letting their own political ideas, religious beliefs or just plain egos get in the way of some serious critical thinking. Knowledge was secondary (perhaps even tertiary) to obedience -- may still be in some parts. '__'

Sounds like some of my school experiences--for example, I had a teacher wth whom I disagreed with on the matter of climate change. I tried to give a bit...but rather than comprimise my beliefs, I answered as I saw fit--and got marked down because of it

A Beauty!!!! A Goddess!! Truly a testamount to the proud and beautiful pig race! ^.^

Blasphemy! Thou shalt have no strange Goddesses before thee!

*spikes Book of Unix-sama-ism at C-Chan*

I has gotta do a fanart of A/UX-san, though :3

[Aurora Borealis]

So much good stuff to respond to but so little time... Looks like I am going to have to pull out a raincheck on those responses!

Still, two more pictures!:

DR DOS-tan + QDOS-tan + GEM-tan pic:

Now with the addition of GEM-tan!

A new and finished picture, it's a full-body pic of Coleco Adam-tan!

I also added more onto her backstory as well. She is another of the luckier Vintage-tans who has suffered less hardship than most of them and is very grateful for that. She is difficult to understand (because of the Adam's difficult and contradictory manuals) but very courteous and would have been willing to help the other Vintage-tans if it weren't for her paranoia (and that some of the Vintage-tans scare her!)

In the 1980's, she had a hard-time competing against her main rivals and felt a lot of guilt for causing losses to her company (even offsetting the profits from the Cabbage Patch dolls!) and ultimately causing its demise which finally happened in 1988.

It was also that year in which her life completely changed, for better or worse. The bad part was obviously that her company went bankrupt and she has to live with that on conscience.

The good part is that also around that time, she gained a cult following (a group of Coleco Adam fans gather at the annual Adamcon, which has been around since 1988) which has motivated her to keep on going and also sent her some monetary stipends occasionally.

Even as a wanderer, she still got by just fine working as a secretary. Oh yeah, and she is still rivals with Apple ][-tan and they compete over a lot of things but they don't hate each other.

[C-Chan]

*blink blink blink*  @___@

...

*passes out*  XvX

Wow,... this is literally a whole TSUNAMI of responses.  X.X;

I'm gonna be at this for a while,... ^^;

*starts typing,...*

Added after 15 hours 25 minutes:

Lawd oh lawd have I missed out on a lotta responses....I mean, really! It seems like things have gone by 10x faster than when I was here. Maybe the internets bends spacetime as we know it; have you guys aged a few years since I was last here? What year is it where you are? Cause it's 2008 where I am!

2008?!!! Haha!!  Good luck sister,... you're gonna need it....  ^___^;

But no, seriously, I think of it as the exact reverse.  You showed up, and suddenly the response rate increased several hundred fold.  @v@

GS/OS-tan: I'm sure we are all aware of my unconditional love of winged things. The redesigned GS/OS-tan is no different!

Indeed, it's amazing what a little hair lift can do.  ^__^

ISMAI-tan is a really neat mix of retro and modern design elements. As C-Chan said, she's very original and different! Excellent job!

Well I think I said it a bit more than that, but indeed -- it's hard to find an equivalent for ISMAI-chan.  Am hoping to include her in the CIOST Xmas comic cameo.  ^^

GENIAC-tan is so kawaii! I just want to run up and....mmmmmm....squeeze those cheeks! ^///^

Well I got dibs on her already, so you'll have to pay me a toll. ^___^

EXEC-sama is beautiful has a very midevel maiden look about her. I love the braid, as well as her outfit...excellent job!

Problem is that "midlevel" is also a word, but imagine you might've been thinking "medieval".  ^.^;

Apple ][-tan + GS/OS-tan are awesome, this is such a vivid, fun picture. Shocked looking GS/OS-tan is especially cute. But...is that a forced perspective shot, or a hueg apple?

Frakkin HUEG apple.  ^^;

DRDOS and QDOS are so cute together! Much sweetness here.

It's like chugging down a bottle of agave nectar.  ^>^

Awhile back I saw a discussion about the DEC faction. I imagine theirs would have been rather militaristic in a somewhat FMA-like, steampunk kinda way, and they would have implimented a mix of very, very old-school military tactics and sorcery. There would have been those who only trusted fighting with something they could actually see and hold, (like swords,) and those who were more open to geomancy. They would have been, as a group, exceptionally thrifty and hardworking--if not somewhat shortsighted. Their ultimate downfall would have been not jumping to build (or take over) smaller suburban and industrial territories (that would be PCs and workstations, mind you), instead focusing on larger tracts of territory (that would be minicomputers). I don't know what their status is now...I think a lot of them would have given up on their past ways, though...

Yes indeed, that certainly sounds like the DEC Dynasty we envisioned in previous discussions.  ^___^

Aside from focusing only on larger territories, another weakness (and one very common in that era) was the "elite-ization" of their war machine.  Like the ancient Romans, they would only trust themselves (or members of the higher/royal classes) with swords, guns, horses, and yes most DEFINITELY Geomancy.  The fact that UNIX-sama had no qualms turning peasant rabble into legions gave her a huge advantage over the DECs early on, due to the invention of "qualitative quantity".

I also see the early Timesharing systems (certainly the MIT ones, and perhaps all of them) as having had their own faction.

Fufu... that would get very messy very quickly, but then would also make it more akin to the politics of the ancient world, where the short-lived empire of Alexander the Great split back up into a million different countries, sub-empires (e.g., the Seleucid Empire) and tribes.

Okay...yeah...what?

Long story, but I was hoping to help convert The Jungle: The Uncensored Original Edition into an eBook available in the Project Gutenburg website.  It's a fantastic book -- certainly more moving than the original published version.

Good thing I have no intentions of becoming stinking rich. A friend once told me, "you don't have to be a millionaire to live like one"--in other words, if you go out, visit new places and enjoy life, it's better to do this than spend all your time trying to make a ton of money.

That's actually very good advice, and one sadly most people would never heed to save their lives.  I've always said that it's not money that buys happiness, but rather responsibility.  You can give millions to an irresponsible person and see it disappear in a week, spent in all matter of short-term vices and frivolities that in no way ensure the enjoyment of life in the long term.

Wait--so you'd go gambling to pick up rare coins O__o

Course!  What else would I do it for?  ^^
I abide by the old (and rather rude) adage that "gambling and lotteries are a tax on the ignorant", and certainly try not to play in that game.  -v-

Oooookeeey...well....I'm glad you finally found a conciousness. Those are handy; but I wonder if a lot of young people (boys, especially) aren't like this.

Now that you mention it, the overwhelming majority of boys my age (during my so-called "awakening") were still impulsive and animalistic, and would remain so for years to come.  That not only ensured that my life in those schools would be a veritable hell, but also that the only friends I would have for a long time would be primarily girls and teachers.  

If I had then my current disregard for whatever other people think, I'm sure I would've been very happy -- but alas, I allowed myself to believe that I was pathetic and thus failed to know happiness for a long lonh time.  In retrospect, I had no choice,... morally-speaking, I was all alone and heavily outgunned by brats, adults and television programs that expected me to [mis]behave in a preset way...  ;__;

I, too, have a lot of patchy memories from my earlier years; it seems like only from the age of say, 10 or so, I can remember back quite clearly. I was mature and attentive for my age (or so I am told), but I did tend to be rather...b*tchy and impulsive about things. I usually ended up in friendships with very dominant people, or I would become very dominant with others; and conflicts I faced not with diplomacy, but with a vindictive and hotheaded attitude (oh yes--nearly coming to blows a few times). I was materialistic, as well; I burned through any money I could get my hands on. Especially when a friend happened to get something--I'd feel the need to outdo them at every step.

But some difficult events I faced seemed to have straightened out all my priorities; I could have taken it for the worse and let it run me down as a person. I could have wallowed in what was lost. But I instead decided feel more grateful for what I had in life. I grew and became better, more peacful, thoughtful, open-minded and independant. (Not that I don't retain a lot of my past feist)

Thank you for sharing that.  From what I said earlier, I can say you remind me a lot of one of my old "friends" who was also sharp but smart-mouthed and impulsive, and not at all adverse to turning me into her workhorse.  Still, she was a fun person and a great coach (in how to "talk" my way out of trouble).  And while I never heard from her again when I left, I'm hoping she might've shared the same epiphany as you.  ^^

I'm wondering if the pink-haired wish of yours is part of that feistiness?  ^__________^

Sounds like some of my school experiences--for example, I had a teacher wth whom I disagreed with on the matter of climate change. I tried to give a bit...but rather than comprimise my beliefs, I answered as I saw fit--and got marked down because of it

Le sigh,... if the teacher abided by the popularly-held assumptions behind climate change, then I have the feeling you and I might be on the same page with this one.  In that case, that makes his mark-down all the more annoying to me.... -.-

DR DOS-tan + QDOS-tan + GEM-tan pic:

*imitates Kool-Aid*

OH YEEEEEAH!!!!!!!!!!  ^V^

I don't know how best to say it, so I'll say it in Romaji... GEM-chan looks puu-rii-ti and roo-buu-ri!  ^___^

She has a face that can melt butter, eyes like brilliant sapphire, hair that's primp and proper, and those ear-like attachments to her hat (as well as the color of her dress) that lends her an interesting uniqueness.

However, the curved line delineating the roundness of her left shoulder could be a little smaller; and her hand on DRDOS-tan's left shoulder could use a small opening in the stroke bordering the hand and the forearm.

Prior comments about DRDOS-tan and the adorable edible QDOS-chan still stand.  ^___^

A new and finished picture, it's a full-body pic of Coleco Adam-tan!

*squeals!!*  ^.^

Wow, I said it before -- what a difference a little hair makes!  Adam-chan looks hAWt with that hair.  Aside from that doll, she looks like an elegant and professional young woman -- a far cry from her paranoid self. ^o^

Aside from a few blemishes with her hands and the shape of her left shoe, the picture is perfect!  ^.^

She is difficult to understand (because of the Adam's difficult and contradictory manuals) but very courteous and would have been willing to help the other Vintage-tans if it weren't for her paranoia (and that some of the Vintage-tans scare her!)

By difficult to understand, would you say she does things that are weird, or just has a habit of mumbling incomprehensibly?  ^__^

Even as a wanderer, she still got by just fine working as a secretary. Oh yeah, and she is still rivals with Apple ][-tan and they compete over a lot of things but they don't hate each other.

You could say the competition is very 2.5-sama/Hacchan -like.  ^.^

[Aurora Borealis]

*pant* Trying to catch up!

Yep, and if you've ever been to a casino, you'll see that same pathological addiction in people's eyes as they slowly and surely bleed all their money away.

...And throw away their lives too

Incidentally, I used to love going to Casinos (especially in Windsor, Ontario, Canada) because of the excellent opportunity to pick up rare coins.  Though I naturally lost a little bit of money, I used to get some very rare gems, including old silver American or Canadian coins that people spent without realizing their value.  ^^;

Finding rare and old coins is so cool! It's a shame I don't have the opportunity to collect them though

Funny,... I never thought of myself as a loser per se, but I do remember not thinking at all during most of my youth.  Memories are spotty, but it always seemed like I was running entirely on impulse, not really thinking about anything and just passing from one moment to the next in what now feels like a semi-sleeping state.  Don't even know how I managed to survive, but guess my body did all the living.  ^^;

Then all of a sudden, it's like I started gaining a consciousness.  I finally felt self-aware of my actions and my behavior, and could finally recall what I talked about.  I could think AND interact with the world at the same time, or so it seemed in retrospect.

To be living and conscious but not self-aware (then acquiring self-awareness), I didn't know that was even possible!

My mentality has changed a lot too over the years. I used to be very innocent and naive in my childhood but after many bad encounters with people I thought were my friends; I turned into  bitter, spiteful, unforgiving and antisocial (only cheering up when reading, drawing, or in the presence of family and real friends). And these negative feelings worsened even further 2-3 years ago.

But in the past year, I started to get my problems sorted out (and talking to people who suffered worse than I did) and managed to let go of the problems and annoyances that plagued me in the past (because there's nothing I can do to change them! The past is the past and to worry and anger about past experiences is a complete waste of time and energy!) and I have became much less bitter.

Oooookeeey...well....I'm glad you finally found a conciousness. Those are handy; but I wonder if a lot of young people (boys, especially) aren't like this.

I, too, have a lot of patchy memories from my earlier years; it seems like only from the age of say, 10 or so, I can remember back quite clearly. I was mature and attentive for my age (or so I am told), but I did tend to be rather...b*tchy and impulsive about things. I usually ended up in friendships with very dominant people, or I would become very dominant with others; and conflicts I faced not with diplomacy, but with a vindictive and hotheaded attitude (oh yes--nearly coming to blows a few times). I was materialistic, as well; I burned through any money I could get my hands on. Especially when a friend happened to get something--I'd feel the need to outdo them at every step.

Whoa! We were all almost COMPLETELY different from how we are now and in ways I would not have guessed in a million years!

But some difficult events I faced seemed to have straightened out all my priorities; I could have taken it for the worse and let it run me down as a person. I could have wallowed in what was lost. But I instead decided feel more grateful for what I had in life. I grew and became better, more peacful, thoughtful, open-minded and independant. (Not that I don't retain a lot of my past feist)

Good for you! You were fortunate enough to not make the mistakes I did! (And I happened to have made those mistakes)

In fairness, that's a problem with the economies of ALL countries today.  With the exception of a few third-world countries that tightly integrate their central banks into the government, this is how it usually goes:

And I thought that the central banks were part of the government in most countries!

1) Government A wants money so it can buy stuff from Country B, so the Central Bank of Country A prints it $1000 + interest to start with.

2) Government A is happily spending its $1000, but of course the interest keeps piling up with every day it's not paid.

3) Having racked up a debt of $1100 to Central Bank A, Government A decides to pay off that amount.  However, all money in Country A is in dollars, so it has to buy $1100 from Central Bank A to pay off the original $1100.  Naturally, that new total is also interest bearing. 

What? To try to pay off that debt requires borrowing more money which just leaves Country A in a debt twice as big (plus interest)? x_x

4) And naturally without any money to spend for anything, it has to buy another $1000 in order to continue trading with Country B.  It's now already $2100 in debt, and by now the interest has jumped it up to $2300.

5) Meanwhile, Country B is still circulating its own $1000 startoff and is enjoying the fact that its currency is twice as strong as A's.  It can start purchasing goods from Country A for dirt cheap!

Because of country B being able to buy stuff from Country A so cheaply, does that mean that Country A is not profitting enough to be able to pay off its debt?

6) However, with its last payment and interest bearing load, A is now $4400 in debt and the people of Country A can no longer afford to buy anything from B.  With their economy so dangerously tied to just selling things, Country B has to buy more money from Central Bank B in order to catch up with the increasingly-impoverished Country A.  Even if the People of B are happy buying cheap goods and enjoying the fruits of a stable debt-free economy, that doesn't matter -- if they can't sell, they can't grow, and if they can't grow, then economy of B collapses.

I know that the economy collapses if it cannot grow, but why would Country B want to get in debt? o_o

7) Several decades later, Country A is $100,000 in debt and Country B is not far behind at $80,000.  They've gotten so used to shuffling debt around aimlessly that they no longer bother to pay anything back.  It just keeps accumulating faster and faster, and the governments have to start setting aside more and more physical land and property in order to serve as collateral for Central Banks A and B. 

But didn't Country A try to pay off its debt earlier?

And even though they never get their money back, Central Banks A and B are happy.  Because in return for investment of some imaginery money, they get back real money (gold, silver), land, property, businesses, tax money.... They start making close friends with members of Governments A and B, and can ask for political favors that can help them a lot with their side businesses (because NATURALLY, central banks are smart enough to "diversify their portfolio").  ^__~[/list]

So that is why countries with incredibly huge debts can still be well-off?

Correction:  REAL street-level economics is depressing.
School economics tends to be very very boring, since it takes itself a little too seriously, and doesn't like going over particularly shady moments in history such as this....  ^^;

I'm taking economics class this trimester and I don't care for it because it doesn't include the history of economics.

http://www.the-privateer.com/1933-gold-confiscation.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1933_Double_Eagle

The 1933 Double Eagle coins! Those are so cool but such a shame that almost all of them had to be melted down. Even it was for the good of the US economy

So true.  In that case, I'm glad you live in a more internet-savvy world.  That means less paper gets wasted.  ^.^

I agree! I hate wasting paper and hate throwing it away. (there are not a lot of places I can recycle paper)

Of course not,... school rules were always so idealic.  ^v^'

In practice, though, it was a veritable jungle -- and often times, the teachers themselves were not adverse to letting their own political ideas, religious beliefs or just plain egos get in the way of some serious critical thinking.  Knowledge was secondary (perhaps even tertiary) to obedience -- may still be in some parts.  '__'

Hmm... I'm very lucky to never have had any teachers like that!

WOW!  You really did it!  And its cute as mole-asses!! ^0^
I have to hand it to you,... when you get an idea, you do it.  You're not like me who just daudles and doesn't get anything done anymore.  ^___^

Thanks! Inspiration came for that picture very quickly!

Their heads are especially beautifully rendered, DRDOS-tan exhibiting her characteristic tranquility, while QDOS-chan looks sweet and perky.  And I definitely love DRDOS-tan's two monster pigtails, although the one on her left is a bit shorter actually than her right one.  Also kinda neat is the fact that DRDOS-tan, despite being only about 139cm or so, completely dwarfs the pint-sized QDOS-chan.  ^^

Ha ha! Them DOS-tans sure are short! But at least even QDOS-chan dwarfs CE-tan, Palm OS-tan, Newton-tan and the Damn Small-tans

Her waist/butt does seem a bit too wide, though, mainly because her coat is spread out in a way that gives that impression.

I'll fix that in the finalized version.

Despite the old-timey pokadot dress (which the pattern fills really bring out), System 6-chan looks remarkably pretty and sexy like that.  The edge highlighting on her hair and face lend it an uncanny realism.  ^__^

Her dress is actually not that old-fashioned. It's a Flamenco gown! (which commonly have polka dots on them)

Also, A/UX-tan is wearing a Russian-style gown (well... because "Perestroika" is one of A/UX's codenames)

I should point out, though, that her head should probably be moved a few pixels over to the right.  From that angle, her neck should appear to be positioned slightly below her right eye.

Oh crud! >__<

But lucky for me, since I have the close to finalized svg and psd files of that pic, I can easily fix that.

A/UX-sama.... *MEGADROOLS*  *v*

A Beauty!!!!  A Goddess!!  Truly a testamount to the proud and beautiful pig race!  ^.^

Her dress is beautifully drawn and mature.  Her hair is highlighted and coiled just right.  Her cute piggy ears are flanked by an equally-cute bandana compilment.  The lighting is even more stunning here, as it shades and highlights in all the right places.

I knew you'd like that!

I know you said you were going to shift to a new eye style,... I wonder now if this is it.  ^.^

Not quite... Still the same eye style I have been using before, but with blur effects.

Cake is delicous-looking, btw, and the background really helps enhance the brightness of the picture. ^_______^

DELICIOUS CAKE!!

So I figured I'd need a time machine to go back and respond to all this stuff. Rather than hang around the Large Hadron Collider until they find a way to exploit its possible time-bending abilties, or go stand in front of a microave set at 2.342 oscillating, 11 hertz and get unstuck in time, I figured I'd give Leopard-sama a jingle

*shows off time-machine pocketwatch*

That is much easier that what I would have suggested for time-travelling: Get a DeLorean, install a flux-capacitor, add some plutonium and obtain 1.21 JIGGAWATS!! of power while driving at 88 mph!

As for your new drawings:

GS/OS-tan: I'm sure we are all aware of my unconditional love of winged things. The redesigned GS/OS-tan is no different!

ISMAI-tan is a really neat mix of retro and modern design elements. As C-Chan said, she's very original and different! Excellent job!

GENIAC-tan is so kawaii! I just want to run up and....mmmmmm....squeeze those cheeks! ^///^

MenuetOS-tan is awesome, too. I love her outfit and gun (and red hair)!

Mugshot-tan is cool and very funky and futuristic. I love her visor!

The OS/2-tan/4K-tan pic is really funny. Seeing such a vengeful and cold personality smiling because she's in a kid's ride is hilarious XD

EXEC-sama is beautiful has a very midevel maiden look about her. I love the braid, as well as her outfit...excellent job!

Apple ][-tan + GS/OS-tan are awesome, this is such a vivid, fun picture. Shocked looking GS/OS-tan is especially cute. But...is that a forced perspective shot, or a hueg apple?

DRDOS and QDOS are so cute together! Much sweetness here.

Antares-tan and A/UX-tan pic is wonderfull! I love the shading and highlighting--I think it's some of your best work to date, IMHO!

Great job with everything!

Thank you, and glad you could catch up!

Awhile back I saw a discussion about the DEC faction. I imagine theirs would have been rather militaristic in a somewhat FMA-like, steampunk kinda way...

Sweet! I like steampunk very much!

...and they would  have implimented a mix of very, very old-school military tactics and sorcery. There would have been those who only trusted fighting with something they could actually see and hold, (like swords,) and those who were more open to geomancy. They would have been, as a group, exceptionally thrifty and hardworking--if not somewhat shortsighted. Their ultimate downfall would have been not jumping to build (or take over) smaller suburban and industrial territories (that would be PCs and workstations, mind you), instead focusing on larger tracts of territory (that would be minicomputers). I don't know what their status is now...I think a lot of them would have given up on their past ways, though...

Clearly the DECs as a faction is no longer around. I know for sure that OpenVMS-sama and RSX-11-san are independents but what about the others?

[to be continued...]

[Bella]

Awww, GEM-chan is so cute in this picture. The sweetness rate just shot up a lot!

And Adam-tan is looking very pretty here as well! I like seeing her in a moment of relative clarity, looking very well made-up.

I also added more onto her backstory as well. She is another of the luckier Vintage-tans who has suffered less hardship than most of them and is very grateful for that. She is difficult to understand (because of the Adam's difficult and contradictory manuals) but very courteous and would have been willing to help the other Vintage-tans if it weren't for her paranoia (and that some of the Vintage-tans scare her!)

In the 1980's, she had a hard-time competing against her main rivals and felt a lot of guilt for causing losses to her company (even offsetting the profits from the Cabbage Patch dolls!) and ultimately causing its demise which finally happened in 1988.

It was also that year in which her life completely changed, for better or worse. The bad part was obviously that her company went bankrupt and she has to live with that on conscience.

The good part is that also around that time, she gained a cult following (a group of Coleco Adam fans gather at the annual Adamcon, which has been around since 1988) which has motivated her to keep on going and also sent her some monetary stipends occasionally.

Even as a wanderer, she still got by just fine working as a secretary. Oh yeah, and she is still rivals with Apple ][-tan and they compete over a lot of things but they don't hate each other.

Yeah, she does sound pretty fortunate for a Vintage-tan…but I can see where all those high-levels of electromagnetism could scramble her thoughts…;)

ISMAI-chan. Am hoping to include her in the CIOST Xmas comic cameo. ^^

There’s gonna be a Unix and CIOST Xmas cameo! I wants them! Nau! :V

Problem is that "midlevel" is also a word, but imagine you might've been thinking "medieval". ^.^;

Now would you pick on a diabetic person for not being able to eat a cake?! So why are you picking on poor, dyslexic me?! :..O

Yes indeed, that certainly sounds like the DEC Dynasty we envisioned in previous discussions. ^___^

Aside from focusing only on larger territories, another weakness (and one very common in that era) was the "elite-ization" of their war machine. Like the ancient Romans, they would only trust themselves (or members of the higher/royal classes) with swords, guns, horses, and yes most DEFINITELY Geomancy. The fact that UNIX-sama had no qualms turning peasant rabble into legions gave her a huge advantage over the DECs early on, due to the invention of "qualitative quantity".

Hmmm…I wonder who the gun-wielding, horse-riding members of the group would have been…?

And I bet Unix-sama would have had no problems with peasants--after all, for a long time in her early life, Unix-sama was mostly noncommercial and preferred to hang out with academic hacker crowd.

Only later when she decided to start bending her original principals and start catering to the commercial crowd would all hell break loose. -_-

Fufu... that would get very messy very quickly, but then would also make it more akin to the politics of the ancient world, where the short-lived empire of Alexander the Great split back up into a million different countries, sub-empires (e.g., the Seleucid Empire) and tribes.

That’s a good way yo look at it…but after all, the factions we thought up in the modern day--the LUC, CIOST, A$C, ect., none of them would have been around. Something would’ve had to fill the void.
…Bad time to mention the IBM mainframe-tans would have had a faction, too…?

Long story, but I was hoping to help convert The Jungle: The Uncensored Original Edition into an eBook available in the Project Gutenburg website. It's a fantastic book -- certainly more moving than the original published version.

Oh, I see…I dunno if I could ever read a whole eBook. I get tired of looking at the screen after like, a half hour XD

That's actually very good advice, and one sadly most people would never heed to save their lives. I've always said that it's not money that buys happiness, but rather responsibility. You can give millions to an irresponsible person and see it disappear in a week, spent in all matter of short-term vices and frivolities that in no way ensure the enjoyment of life in the long term.

But I can see where a smart person could buy a better life if they had the money…if they chose to not spend it in huge clumps initially, and instead saved a great deal and invested some wisely.

Now that you mention it, the overwhelming majority of boys my age (during my so-called "awakening") were still impulsive and animalistic, and would remain so for years to come. That not only ensured that my life in those schools would be a veritable hell, but also that the only friends I would have for a long time would be primarily girls and teachers.

If I had then my current disregard for whatever other people think, I'm sure I would've been very happy -- but alas, I allowed myself to believe that I was pathetic and thus failed to know happiness for a long lonh time. In retrospect, I had no choice,... morally-speaking, I was all alone and heavily outgunned by brats, adults and television programs that expected me to [mis]behave in a preset way... ;__;

That’s pretty sad…but kids that age are often…well they aren’t very reasonable yet. And trying to live by other people’s expectations is probably the quickest way to bring unhappiness.

Thank you for sharing that. From what I said earlier, I can say you remind me a lot of one of my old "friends" who was also sharp but smart-mouthed and impulsive, and not at all adverse to turning me into her workhorse. Still, she was a fun person and a great coach (in how to "talk" my way out of trouble). And while I never heard from her again when I left, I'm hoping she might've shared the same epiphany as you. ^^

I'm wondering if the pink-haired wish of yours is part of that feistiness? ^__________^

Haha, maybe it is! ^_^

Le sigh,... if the teacher abided by the popularly-held assumptions behind climate change, then I have the feeling you and I might be on the same page with this one. In that case, that makes his mark-down all the more annoying to me.... -.-

No, she abided by the unpopular assumption that it’s way blown out of proportion and may not even be happening.

But that’s a different story…

Finding rare and old coins is so cool! It's a shame I don't have the opportunity to collect them

I don’t collect coins, but when I find an interesting one I can’t bear to get rid of it; so a pile of odd coins has developed in one corner of  my closet.

Lesse…I have a ten pence piece with Queen Elizabeth II on the front. Is it English…? I have a Canadian 25 cent piece, a 50 cent coin from Mexico, a US silver dollar from 1976, a bunch of old quarters and some state quarters I hadn’t seen before, and a game token with some Japanese writing on it ^/////^

To be living and conscious but not self-aware (then acquiring self-awareness), I didn't know that was even possible!

Really? Just ask a coma victim! Or…or C-Chan.

My mentality has changed a lot too over the years. I used to be very innocent and naive in my childhood but after many bad encounters with people I thought were my friends; I turned into bitter, spiteful, unforgiving and antisocial (only cheering up when reading, drawing, or in the presence of family and real friends). And these negative feelings worsened even further 2-3 years ago after having to deal with some of the lowliest, most vile, obnoxious (and likely dangerous) people in my neighborhood and school. They were devoid of any merit or good in their character and I had overwhelming hatred towards them and it just made me angrier and sad that I was completely powerless against them and that there was nothing I could do to make them go away. So I just repressed my anger.

Wow, we have a regular Ship of (Nearly) Lost Souls goin’ here @__@’

But in the past year, I started to get my problems sorted out (and talking to people who suffered worse than I did) and managed to let go of the problems and annoyances that plagued me in the past (because there's nothing I can do to change them! The past is the past and to worry and anger about past experiences is a complete waste of time and energy!) and I have became much less bitter (heck, my friends and most of my acquaintances see me as cheerful!) and such but of course I still maintained my sharp wit and liberal use of sarcasm (although in a more positive light)!

Yeah, I hate to see people brooding over past events or past conflicts with other people. I say, when it's hard to remember why a feud started, it’s time to give it up.

Whoa! We were all almost COMPLETELY different from how we are now and in ways I would not have guessed in a million years!

Yeah…I guess everything changes, including people.

And even though they never get their money back, Central Banks A and B are happy. Because in return for investment of some imaginery money, they get back real money (gold, silver), land, property, businesses, tax money.... They start making close friends with members of Governments A and B, and can ask for political favors that can help them a lot with their side businesses (because NATURALLY, central banks are smart enough to "diversify their portfolio"). ^__~

So that is why countries with incredibly huge debts can still be well-off?

Whoa, C-Chan, you should be teaching economics somewhere O__O

Her dress is actually not that old-fashioned. It's a Flamenco gown! (which commonly have polka dots on them)

Also, A/UX-tan is wearing a Russian-style gown (well... because "Perestroika" is one of A/UX's codenames)

Oooh, A/UX is a little Russian…neat

That is much easier that what I would have suggested for time-travelling: Get a DeLorean, install a flux-capacitor, add some plutonium and obtain 1.21 JIGGAWATS!! of power while driving at 88 mph!

Ah! Of course!

Clearly the DECs as a faction is no longer around. I know for sure that OpenVMS-sama and RSX-11-san are independents but what about the others?

I suppose most would be wanderers or vintage-tans, I guess…?