Hawks

I'm gonna go with #5.

^ We have BBC America! ( :roll: ) Well, I'd like to see this happen, it'd be interesting, and I honestly would love to see Fox's take on this. But I am definitely not on the 'We hate America' bandwagon, I'm on the Tea Party bandwagon... :twisted:

I don't really play but it's something of a cult among my brother's boy scout troop, so he's got a bunch of cards. I beat him with his green(ish) deck, he's not that good. I've always had a penchant for strategy games though... I used to play Yu-Gi-Oh! but now with all the 5D crap it's just dumb... But I think had I a ton of money I'd go buy some MTG cards. I like Wizards of the Coast (but owned by Hasbro)... People who make MTG and D&D if you didn't know... I've already given them too much of my money though... Spent like $200 (not kidding) on D&D stuff.

I completely forgot about William Nicholson. That triliogy is amazing, I ought to read it again...

So I think our next step is to get support from the general community. Since I'm bored, I'll make a support sig! :roll: [url=http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=792473&start=0][img=http://i41.tinypic.com/9sbign.jpg][/url] Not much but it does the job.

Name: hawkxs Art: [b]Name:[/b] hawkxs [b]Art:[/b] [img=http://fc01.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/119/b/f/Ryo_Sig_for_SAC_4_by_hawkxs.png]

This issue will focus on women in literature, as main characters and supporting characters. A number of books featuring female main characters will be listed as well. There are lots of spoilers about... Sorry if you haven't read the books and plan to. Authors Featured: J.K. Rowling (Harry Potter series) Tamora Pierce (Lioness and Protector of the Small quartets) Stephanie Meyer (The Host) Alison Goodman (Eon: The Last Dragoneye) Kristen Cashore (Graceling) WOMEN AS MAIN CHARACTERS One author who does an amazing job with this is Tamora Pierce. If you've never read one of her books, I reccomend Trickster's Choice or Beka Cooper. Her stories usually involve a female put into a setting where they usually don't belong. Most of her books are set in the same fantasy world, and they are in a sort of medieval fantasy genre. In both the Lioness Quartet and the Protector of the Small Quartet, the main characters are girls training to become knights. In Alanna's case (Lioness) she switches places with her twin brother, who wants to become a mage (which is where Alanna would have been sent). She masqurades as a boy for some time, dealing with the normal problems as she gets older. Her master becomes aware that she is a girl but continues to hide it. She does eventually become a respected knight. In Keladry's case (Protector of the Small), she is sent as a girl to become a page, the first since Alanna was knighted after some controversy. The law has been changed to allow girls into the knighthood. She is bullied by some of the boys and continually told to leave by them. She is befriended by a few, notably Nealan of Queenscove. The training masters generally dislike her and do not make any exceptions for her. She's angered by this and trains harder until she is the equal, if not better than, most of the boys. She eventually attains knighthood and they live happily ever after, blah blah blah. Stephanie Meyer is a different case. I do like the Twilight series, but this time I'm going for her other book, The Host. The book involves an aliens-invade-Earth scenario where human minds are replaced by 'wanderers' or souls. The main character is a special case in which the human resists the wanderer. There is a secret resistance of humans who live in a network of desert caves and have faked scars from the operation. Anyway, it's a generic sort of love story with a strange twist. The soul loves (I don't remember his name, I think it's Ian, but I'm not sure), and the human loves someone else. I won't spoil the ending, because it's a decent book, and even if you have a dislike of her for Twilight, this is a less fairy tale-y book. In Eon: Dragoneye Reborn (which I highly recommend), you've got the same sort of story. A girl is put into a place where they are generally not welcome. She has been crippled to hide the fact that she's a girl. I don't want to spoil the story, but this is probably the best book next to Tamora Pierce's. Generally books which involve female main characters are written by women... Hmm... :roll: No, my thoughts on the matter are that many women authors feel the need to write about girls/women overcoming things because historically they've been repressed. I'd like to hear your take on this though. Hopefully this spurs some discussion. So I planned this to be about female characters in literature, but I couldn't come up with any main characters written by males. I know there is a book that I recently came across, but I can't remember the name. So on to supporting characters. WOMEN IN SUPPORTING ROLES Hopefully you've all read Harry Potter. If you haven't you need to now. We'll be discussing the two most important characters, Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley (arguably Luna Lovegood could also be included, as could Molly Weasley). Throughout the books both have important roles. Ginny and Hermione continually feature in the adventures as Harry tries to defeat Voldemort. Hermione must solve the poison puzzle at the end of Sorceror's (Philospher's (sp)) Stone. Ginny is possessed by Riddle's Diary in Chamber of Secrets. Both remain by Harry's side; Ginny due to the fact that her brother is his best friend, and that she likes him; and Hermione because she's been friends with Harry from the beginning. (and to quote Hagrid, 'We're all a bunch 'o misfits'). In Graceling, the book is written in respect to Katsa, although I don't really believe she is the main character. Po is a prince from another land and he convinces her to help with a quest to save his grandfather. Katsa grows up a lot throughout the book, but the main focus, I believe, is on the quest. It's a very interesting book about adolesence and all that lovely stuff... But a very good and highly recommended read. DISCUSSION QUESTION Your thoughts on women in literature, use whatever examples you happen to be thinking of now. I'd be interested to see everyone's take on this. TODAY'S LITERATURE Is an interesting poetry like object by Ratchet. The Evolution of Fruit Punch How were we created? Was it by a god who just thought us up and made us appear? Was it by a giant explosion that would create the Earth, as well as the molecules necessary for human life? Was it by a giant floating spaghetti who hates us because we killed off the pirates? It has always been a matter of debate, a matter many lives have been lost over. But, one thing is certain, we still have fruit punch. Think of that red juice, combining various fruits like apples and oranges together in a blend of fruity goodness that any god would drink heartily. Fruit Punch is simply a way for whoever created us to tell us "Hey, you all are different fruits, why not come together in a bottle packaged by Haiwaiin Punch until you are in sweet harmony?" Of course, their are many bad fruits that get stuck in the fruit punch, and they ruin the most perfect punch the world has to offer. It is difficult to grasp my meaning, but I am pretty sure you can understand this much: Americans are Apples Brits are Grapes The Chinese are Mangos Let's sing the song of fate! The Earth was started long ago By a celestial being, I don't know! But if there was a god he had one thing in mind He wanted us to be a fruit punch so divine! Japanese are cherries Russians are plums The Spanish are Oranges God wanted us to be a drink better than rum! We may all be different in our unique ways But so are the flavors of that drink If we work together, and start to love each other We would be a most fantastic drink! So let's all get together we know what to do Let's make friends with each other and make the finest brew Let's all sit together, tell stores to each other And make that most amazing red drink! I do not mean blood, which seems to keep being shed When we get together, we all seem to be dead Let's all sit together, and hold each others hands By the power of the diversity in each of us fruits We will not kill each other and steal each others loot. God will look down at us and grab our bottle dump a bit in a cup over some ice He will drink us down and will start to shine "The best drink in the world is actually mine!" He'll chug the rest of us fruits and start to sing "I can't believe those humans have stopped fighting! I'll go to Earth and surprise them all!" That's when he'll relize that he just drank us all And then he will say: "What a fantastic fruit punch they are!" NEXT ISSUE Whatever goes... And I could use some feedback on how I've written this, as it's the most major thing I've written in a long time, but typed completely in the post new topic thing (not really a good idea)

"1) It has already benefited other sites who have used it" Facebook has status messages. They provide a quick and easy way for people to see what their friends are up to in the world, if they're mad about something or need help with their homework. People can then comment on the statuses, usually with something dumb but on occasion useful info. [hide=An Example]Recently a friend on fb's status was 'I hate spanish..' or something to that effect. It's because the she doesn't like the teacher. So to be really unhelpful, we started speaking in german and how those of us who are taking german think it's the best and that she should take it. someone else replied in spanish to the effect of 'what's going on' because they couldn't read german. Of course on Tif these sorts of things would occur in PMs if at all, or as off topic bits in posts.[/hide] "2) It has many practical uses" You can ask for help with a quest, state you're on RS right now, in world ##, and you're training slayer. You can offer something you're selling or to trade your skills (offer assisstance). Or you can use it as a status to say '3k XP to 50 slayer' or whatnot. "3) It has many "fun" uses" See example above. You can also just write dumb things in it, like 'I'm bored' 'I like pie' 'Your mom' etc. which is probably the extent that these would be abused... which is that when people can't think of a good status they'll put something pointless in. Oftentimes you get a laugh when you read friends' statuses... (statusi? :roll: ) "4) It's one of those things that can't hurt to try, especially given the low effort needed." All you have to do is add another custom field in the profile. They've already done that with the RSN, RSN2, and Clan fields, so it can't hurt. And no one really frequents the forum u&s and so if people would support/use it, they don't really know about it... I think that's been brought up in different discussions here as well.

-This Blog is (Kind of) Under Construction- Banner Coming Soon! About Me I'm a 15 year old girl, I have an obsession with ice hockey, medieval things, and drawing. There is more written in my Tif profile if you really care. [hide=Some Likes]Tetris Manga Ice Hockey Rock Music German Pie (Pi as well) Hawaiian Pizza Animal Crossing Mountain Dew Dungeons & Dragons Renissance Festivals[/hide][hide=Some Dislikes]Country Music Rap Music People who think anime=manga People who don't appreciate art/writing People who don't like pie People who don't use their blinker! People in General :lol: American History until you get to WWII Not much else though[/hide] RuneScape Since this is mostly RS blogs... I guess I have to put something about my RS days here. My main account is hawk0078 (F2P), I generally only play during holiday events. My main accomplishment is that I have gotten every holiday item since December 2005 (starting with the yo-yo) except the zombie head. [hide=Recent Pic & Stats]Coming Soon![/hide] Recent Art [hide=Medium-Sized Drawing - Wyvern Hrothgar][/hide]Kirby Sprite Sig Ryo Sprite Sig for SAC#4 Recent Writing None worth sharing at the moment. Coming Soon Sig from SOTW #9; Bleach (when it's over I'll post it) Kylune Haelmma's finished origin story Featured Piece(s) [hide=2008 Tag Wall - Some of My Best][/hide] Writing and Art History I have a tendancy to suck at both of these things. If you take a look at a lot of my older art and stories, they suck. I've been working towards getting better, mostly at sigmaking, and I've succeeded, but you can never be perfect. I'm now trying to refocus on my drawing skills and writing at the same time by adding two new characters into my 'library' and updating older characters' histories. Characters These are here for your reference. They're only the main characters I write about and draw; if there's a piece showing another character, I'll temporarily add their bio here. I generally use D&D 3.5E for my references. [hide=Hawk Hrothgar II]Creation History: My original character, I created him for a D&D campaign. In-World History: Firstborn son of the King of Hrothnar, Hawk Hrothgar I and his wife Victoria. He is the Crown Prince and serves as the head of the King's Rangers. A new addition are his wife and son, Kylune Haelmmas and Wyvern Hrothgar. Story Stats: Ranger, 20th level. CG. Ehlonna. Elf, 5' 7", 103lb. Age 146. Green eyes, brown hair. Weapons/Armor: Mwk Studded Leather, Mwk Longsword, Mwk Shortsword, Mwk Longbow Specials: Permanent Darkvision to 60ft. Speaks Elven, Common, Draconic, Sylvan, Undercommon, Dwarven, Orc, and Gnomish.[/hide] [hide=Kylune Haelmmas]Coming Soon.[/hide] [hide=Wyvern Hrothgar]Coming Soon.[/hide] LINKS! My DeviantART Varrock Library Falador Library My Sig Shop Current Sig by Soa Other Stuff Apparently you link to other people's blogs and stuff here. So if you want me to link to your blog leave something nice or just ask or something. :D TIF Forum Status: Add this to your sig! [url=http://forum.tip.it/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=792473&start=0][img=http://i41.tinypic.com/9sbign.jpg][/url]

I'm bumping this because I've got a new question. I've come back to this and read the BlogScape rules, (viewtopic.php?f=98&t=489621) and it says specifically But nothing about art. I'm fairly sure no one would care, so I'll make one in BlogScape, I'm just wondering about the future.

Today I did enjoy all of the articles. I had already read the interview. I think Forsakenmage's article (about writing RS fanfics) could have been longer, I really would have liked it if it was. It was surprising that I also liked the Losing yourself and Early bird ones, since I don't play RS much anymore.

This would be a useful (to a lot of people) addition and people would use it, even if there's not public outcry for it. Just add another custom field, perhaps label it 'Status:' and have it display above or below your avatar/rank. Have the text limit be 100 or so characters. Then maybe add a link next to the off/online pic to 'Edit Status' or put it in the menubar next to the new messages or the UCP link. Lots of people would rather put random stuff there and actually have a designated place for it than put other things in their location and clan fields... I know a fair amount of people have their gender in their location thing, and if you wanted you could put that in the status instead and have location free to write something else in. Honestly, I had been thinking about this just yesterday, and how it would be cool if Tif had such a thing. I had a lot more written but then IE died and I don't remember what I wrote.

Some of my favorites: Harry Potter Lord of the Rings (been meaning to reread them soon) The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and the other four(ish) in the triliogy. (Douglas Adams is amazing :thumbsup: ) Anything by Tamora Pierce (except the Circle of Magic/The Circle Begins quartets) Seriously, her books are amazing, I recommend The Lioness Quartet and Protector of the Small Quartet, as well as Trickster's Choice and Trickster's Queen. Graceling by Kristen Cashore is a new one that's one of my favorites. The Book of Five Rings by Myamoto Musashi is an excellent book about Musashi's school of samurai and stuff you can use in everyday life. The Hero with a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell is an interesting study into the monomyth. Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card and his other books in Ender's world are great. The Last Apprentice and Ranger's Apprentice series are really good as well, I get them mixed up a lot due to the similarites (the main character's name is Will in both and the titles are similar) There's books about Drizzt Do'Urden (I think that's his name), they're pretty good epic fantasy stuff in the D&D realm. Actually there's lots of good D&D novels out there, and Star Wars ones I like too. I also like a lot of 'generic teen fantasy (aka vampire)' books... Yeah I love Twilight, but Breaking Dawn is my favorite, The Host (also by Stephanie Meyer) is great as well. The House of Night series is also a good vampire series... And The Chronicles of Vladimir Todd are aimed at junior-high kids but they're pretty good too. I really like Eldest but I hate Brisingr and don't like Eragon that much. I almost forgot the Pendragon series, those books are great too... And The Life and Times of Octavian Nothing (historical fiction, revolutionary war time) books are really good as well. Also there's a thread on this in the Library if you want to discuss a favorite book: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=786455

It's more of a backstory for a character I'm in the process of creating. Her name is Kylune Haelmma, and for those of you with a knowledge of D&D, she's a drow (aka elves who live underground). But that shouldn't really matter. (sorry about the weird formatting, I wrote this in NotePad and it did something weird to the text when I pasted it...) ....She was betrayed by her mother because at a young age, she showed the ability to pity others. She was born into nobility, and because this trait was punishable by death to the parent and child, her mother sent the child into the caverns to die. ....An exiled drow who preferred to live with the driders came upon a crying, scared, and alone elf-child. He approached her carefully, not knowing if this was a ruse to catch those who shouldn't be here or if she was genuinely lost. She shrunk back, and he offered her a piece of jerky. She took it and slowly chewed. He sat down and began to talk. ...."My name is Kal'Dris. I was exiled long ago, before you were born, but no one comes in these caverns but the driders, and I enjoy their company. I adventure through these caves and throughout the Upper Lands... If they tried to get rid of you, you must be a good one. Come with me, child." ....She did as he said, and they traveled the caverns to a place he knew. He shifted aside a rock, and soft light filtered into the cave. He hoisted the small elf into the opening. ...."Crawl until you see a grate. Wait for me there." ....She crawled, not knowing if he really would come for her or not. Soon after, Kal'Dris reappeared, and opened the grate. He picked her up and ran, hurrying past bugbear guards and other races she did not recognize. They came to a large wooden door, which opened and shut as royally dressed drow came through. ....Kal'Dris whispered under his breath, and Kylune thought she heard the word 'Ehlonna'. A split second later, Kal'Dris sprinted through the open door. ...."Now what am I supposed to do with you? I don't suppose you can talk?" ...."Not very well, at least Elven. I know Undercommon." ...."Then your age? You can't be more than eight or nine, and what's your name?" ...."I'm nine. My name is Kylune Haelmma. My mother left me in the caves because I took pity on her slaves and let them free." ...."An admirable quality. But not one to show among the drow." ...."Where are we going?" ...."I suppose to the Upper Lands. I know of a group of our kind who have different morals. They live in secret, and you could be raised by them." ...."Who's Ehlonna?" ...."A goddess many elves and rangers worship." ...."Not everyone worships Lolth?" ...."That's just one of the many differences between drow and the surface races. We're much different than even the elves, our closest relations."

About viruses: we have Norton and they're convinced that's amazing as well. I used the 'nobody develops pages for IE anymore' excuse and he completely ignored it. This is a guy who I had an intelligent discussion about GIMP vs. PS and how the school is dumb because they'll pay money for PS but not MS Office. And it involved CMYK and TWAIN-compliantness... So he does know a lot, he's just dumb because he thinks IE is perfect. And I can't download it because of Norton and a restricted account.

decebal: [img=http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs43/f/2009/113/7/a/Sig_for_Decebal_by_hawkxs.jpg] Hope you like it! :D

[hide=meh this originally was about portable browsers but...]I'm stuck with IE, and on a Win2000 I'm stuck with IE5/6... I know people have suggested downloading a portable browser, apparently FireFox and Opera have them. I've got a few questions about them though. The main one is can I add add-ons to them? Also how do I go about doing this, and what sort of downloading/installing does it entail (as I have Norton Internet Security 2003 and a restricted account). And the average size, but that shouldn't really be an issue as my flash drive still has at least 3Gb of space on it. I'd be running it on Windows 2000 and XP. If there's any other specs you need just ask...[/hide] How can I convince my parents to download FireFox? What's so great about it that they care to download it? Can someone help by providing a really great argument? Their stand is that 'You already have Internet Explorer, that's the best one, and you don't need another browser.' They ignore the fact that most webpages are not being designed to cater to IE anymore and that almost no one uses it.

Jason GMV

I'm rooting for the Wings again, Osgood's back on track after his shutout... And their AHL affiate is doing pretty good too... The Grand Rapids Griffins have won at least 2 of the last 3 games they've played (against the Hamilton Bulldogs)

Sig is amazing. Thanks! :thumbup:

I thought the colors were a little bright and the focal was hard to see so I made it black and white: But on second thought, they're both very busy. Comments?

The Guest Article by Altricious was my favorite article, I find that I am becoming more interested in articles that don't deal directly with RuneScape, as I don't play it as much as I used to. The one on the Development Diaries was also pretty interesting.

Size: 300x110 Sun Position: Sun rising Mountains/ short description: High peaks on one side, and maybe on the other have some in the distance. Water: Yes Clouds: Patches Season: Winter, mountains snow-capped. Anything else:

Mylez: [img=http://fc03.deviantart.com/fs42/f/2009/109/7/5/Sig_for_Mylez_by_hawkxs.png]

Ehh... I'll do sprite sigs if you want 'em, I figured out how to make them.