1 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(13 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

What a bummer, MJ. Single-finger gepoking is not fun. Get well soon. I start my drive back down from Idaho on Friday, so I'll be out of touch as well for 4 days.

Bill

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2 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(124 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Getting kicked off the site every single time I remove a spammer getting pretty old now. Could we get something done about this?

Bill

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3 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(6 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Will do, Randall.

My biggest problem, MJ, is the headwind. I'm pulling a trailer and it's a little heavy. It is also taller than my car by about a foot and the wind gets to it. Just the same, I'm glad it's a U-Haul and I won't have it coming back in Sept.

Bill

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4 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(6 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Thanks, Dirk. Don't plan to. If they have pony rides, maybe. I'll be sure to tell Pam hello.

Bill

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5 Topic by B Douglas Slack

(6 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

I will be driving up to Idaho on Saturday for a month. During this time, my reviews and postings may be a bit sparse--if not downright missing. I will drop by once in a while, but probably not daily. Pam Monson (a member of TNBW) and I will be working mostly on her novel since that's where I'm headed. There is a raft trip down the Salmon River as well as a rodeo scheduled, plus, no doubt, other goodies.

Later.

Bill

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6 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(30 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Dirk B wrote:

All it would take to fix everything that's wrong with the Earth is a monstrous asteroid. I'll allow your imaginations to fill in the blanks. :-)

First, I'd say we here in the US would have to get rid of the huge hemorrhoid first. Then we could prepare to the asteroid. :-)

Bill

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7 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(30 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

It was only 87 here, but the humidity was over the moon. How did you manage two posts, MJ? I can delete it if you want.

Bill

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8 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(5 replies, posted in We're All Ears)

Yikes! She really nailed his coffin shut, didn't she?

Bill

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9 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(6 replies, posted in We're All Ears)

My perception of the majority of the members of both Legislative houses, Republican or Democrat seem to have lost sight of the whole premise of "public office." They have their agenda and they're going to take care of themselves first and foremost, then, maybe peel off a little largess for the common folk. They are elected to serve US, not the other way around. Mid-term elections might just shake a few of them loose--enough to shift the balance from right to left. Personally, I'd be happy to see it in the middle, but that's a pipe dream.

Bill

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10 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(6 replies, posted in We're All Ears)

Yikes! He really lit into the dude, didn't he? I love the insistence of 'yes' or 'no' answers. Hegseth kept waffling and was called on it several times. He is definitely an 'embarrassment' to the US.

Bill

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11 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(124 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

njc wrote:

It almost sounds as though someone has inserted a bug making it hard to delete a spammer.  (Saith the suspicious retired programmer.)

I doubt Sol would do such a thing. A few greater priorities exist on this site than checking out a little thing like this. (I've been programming computers since 1962 -- using IBM punched cards and reel-to-reel tape as backup.)

Bill

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12 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(124 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

B Douglas Slack wrote:

Getting kicked off the site while deleting spam accounts is getting pretty annoying.

Bill

Still happening. Something Needs To Be Done.

Bill

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13 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(10 replies, posted in We're All Ears)

This is better than sliced bread. Music to my ears. If Musk opens his mouth wider on the subject of "how he won the Presidential race for Felon47," then we'll have all the evidence and reasons to impeach him. But then, there's the question of what to replace him with. I can suggest a burned out light bulb.

Bill

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14 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(124 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Getting kicked off the site while deleting spam accounts is getting pretty annoying.

Bill

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15 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(124 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Yes. Every time I Delete a spammer. If I simply deactivate the account, I remain logged in.

Bill

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16 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(124 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Something a little strange. I have "Auto Renew" set for my account, yet I had to manually renew today. It didn't do it automatically. Was this an artifact of the six months extra given to us?

Bill

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17 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(2 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Thanks, Dirk. The dangers of copy/paste. I fixed it.

Bill

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18 Topic by B Douglas Slack

(2 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

A reader expressed a desire to "see" what the Anomaly (now identified as an Alien spaceship) looks like. I've prepared some crude drawings that I refer to when writing descriptive prose in the novel. It help to keep my own mind straight as to what is where.

Deck 1

Deck 2

Deck 3


Contents of each deck:

Deck 1  (Di-Wah)

Engineering (both workshops and technical engineering spaces)

Maneuvering engines (4)

Drive engines (4)

Hangar Bay (with “garage” style door and 1 cargo shuttle)

Environmental tanks (water/liquid slurry/liquefied oxygen)

Landing Jack control room

Dry Storage rooms

Elevators to ground level (when docked or grounded)

Probe storage and launch tubes (on outer bulkhead)

Life Support equipment (storage and active)

Deck 2 (Hoy!)

Research Labs (and Probe control room)

Staterooms

Lounges

Dining Hall

Conference Rooms

Classrooms (large viewscreen at the front of each room)

Engineering Control Room

Hydroponics Bays (rows and rows of “green stuff” and other slurry)

“Gravity training room”

First Officer’s Cabin

Command and Control computer room (LOTS of lights/indicators and obvious control boards)

Dry Consumables storage

Library (hundreds of “record-style” disks and readers)

Clerical offices (with terminals connected to the Library computer)



Deck 3 (Znath)

Control Room or Bridge (comms, engineering, scanning, life support, probe controls)

Navigator's Study (another trove of “record disks” dealing with stellar navigation)

Captain’s Cabin

Officer’s Galley and Dining

Small Shuttles (2 x 2-person and 2 x 4-person – all similar to Terran “light twin” aircraft interiors)

Smaller Docking Bay (with sliding door) (also many ROVs)

Supervisory crew quarters

Sick Bay (medical machines, exam tables (3))

Recreation Room (3D holographic gaming display, various gaming tables, bar)

Keypad Sealed Room (probably Security Center – opens with correct Sneezy setting)

Spaceship itself

If you have any questions, or even better, suggestions, please don't hesitate to add a comment to the thread.

Bill

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19 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(6 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Welcome back, Alan. My best to you and Diana.

Bill

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20 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(4 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

Absolutely hilarious. I've seen this elsewhere, but seeing it again just makes it funnier.

Bill

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21 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(124 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

As an experiment, for the last two, I only Suspended the accounts. Both times, I got kicked off and had to log in again. However, if I Delete an account, this does not happen.

There is a lot of code for that page. Most of which I can't see to evaluate. It could be that since the person being Deleted MIGHT be logged in at the time, the site simply removes the page (and account)--catching the moderator as well. It could also be that the page refresh is doing something wrong by kicking anyone currently reading the page off the system while it rebuilds the page without the offending account on it.

Bill

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22 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(124 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

There is something wrong with the "Suspend Account" button for Moderators. Every time I suspend an account, I get logged out and have to log back in again. If there are more than one new account to suspend, then it gets really frustrating.

Bill

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23 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(7 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

That's outstanding, Randy. Your career as a writer seems to have taken off quite well. Congratulations.

Bill

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24 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(9 replies, posted in TheNextBigWriter Premium)

A welcome change. Thanks, Sol.

Bill

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25 Reply by B Douglas Slack

(2 replies, posted in We're All Ears)

Haven't heard that one, but I wouldn't put it past him. He's started so many fires all over the place, one or more is sure to flame up and burn our butt. If he tries this, I'd bet we would have a civil war within a month.

Bill

Go to forum: We're All Ears