What's the latest in people's lives?

[Mikey]

And thus, the newest generation of rock was raised.

Plus, my little guy's favorite lullaby is Franklin's Tower.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Man, I haven't written an essay paper in YEARS!

[Tyyr]

Remember the key to any good essay, padding. I once wrote a 19 page paper for chemistry that had 3 pages of actual content.

[Mikey]

Remember the key to any good essay, padding. I once wrote a 19 page paper for chemistry that had 3 pages of actual content.

Ah, the art of bullshit. I once "edited" a paper that was given to me with 4 pp. It ended up with 15.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

lol, okay, Tyyr. We're planning on about ten pages. It's a presentation for the convention I'm going to in February-mentors and their roles in shaping the heroes. Different methods and how they stack up against one another.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

I've gotten excellent grades on papers without writing too much fluff, though most of them haven't been terribly long. I guess I've had instructors who valued substance over a lot of unneeded words.

My little sister (a film student) is taking over the first floor of our home today with a class project of some sort. They have studio lights and a professional camera, etc. At least they haven't made much noise and I'm undisturbed up in my room.

[Reliant121]

I always underwrite in my exams by a considerable margin; yet I still seem to achieve very high marks.

I got a congratulation from the area manager today; we had our mystery shopper in about 2-3 days after I started the job and I was unlucky enough to get mystery shopped on collection; YET I STILL SCORED 100%. I've pretty much secured myself a permanent post from what my manager has said. Chuffed!

[Tyyr]

The biggest thing I learned from that 19 page paper was that college professors don't actually read what you hand them. It was the right length, properly formatted, and on a quick breeze through was on target for the assignment. I got an A.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

For one history teacher, he'd throw the papers down a flight of stairs. The farther down it flew, the higher he'd grade it.

[Captain Picard's Hair]

It's snowing. Already over an inch on the ground, and it's not even November yet. Worse, our shop hasn't restored gas service for the winter season so we have no heat until next week when we'll get it turned back on.

[Mikey]

Eric LeGrand just led the Scarlet Knights onto the field. I just got a little choked up, but he was all smiles listening to the crowd chant "Fifty-two."

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Same here, CPH. Well, the bit about the snow. Ugh, this sucks!

[JudgeKing]

I have spent the last few days reading Canadian Power: The Canadian Forces as a Major Power on the Alternate History Discussion Board. It was a rather interesting timeline to read, here are some spoilers.

The HMCS Eagle (ex-HMS Eagle) was bought by Canada in 1972 when Robert Stanfield and David Lewis forced Pierre Trudeau to purchase it as a way to restore some of the luster to the Canadian Forces after the debacle that was of the Unification of the Canadian Army, Royal Canadian Air Force, and Royal Canadian Navy.

The HMCS Warrior (ex-USS Forrestal) was given to Canada after its 1993 decommissioning after Canada sent its carrier, HMCS Eagle, to assist UN forces intervening in South Africa in 1992. Eagle in the midst of it suffered a major accident and fire on the flight deck, which was repaired but clearly moved up the ship's retirement. The Warrior was taken on with the condition that Canada be able to operate it - which when rebuilt, they were. It was commissioned into the CF in July 1997 after an extensive rebuild. In my TL, it serves until 2025, its last days being used as a platform for a hybrid Canadian-American-British air wing during the Second Korean War. In this TL, she's the flagship of the Canadian Forces. Old, but since she had been heavily rebuilt and refitted several times, she's as good as any USN carrier IOTL - in this one, she's probably the best CV in the world.

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada leads the nation from 1974 until 2004 under Prime Ministers Robert Stanfield (1974-1983), Brian Mulroney (1983-1993) and Jean Charest (1993-2004). They lost to the Liberals in a tight race in 2004, and Charest resigned to be Quebec Premier, with Peter MacKay taking his place as leader of the PCs and the leader of the opposition. The NDP, Reform Party and Bloc are strong enough that between them every Canadian government after 1993 has been a minority government. The 2010 NDP leader is Toronto MP Jack Layton, the Reform Party leader is Calgary MP Danielle Smith and the Bloc leader is still Gilles Duceppe. They would have all been ISOTed, as they all live in major cities.

In the Rwanda mess, Charest ordered a reinforcement of the UN mission by the Canadian Forces, who used a combination of CF C-130s, leased Antonov An-124s and Air Canada passenger jets to deploy in numbers. Their mandate was simple - stop the genocide. No sooner had they hit the ground then the US, UK and others got into the act - the Americans provided all the airlift capacity for Canada after the first few runs. They were successful in their work, and as a result the genocide was ended with about a quarter of the bodies. General Dallaire personally took command of several missions to move refugees and was attacked by the Rwandan military and the Intrahamwe militias several times, which included being shot twice. He went way above and beyond the call and was awarded the Canadian Victoria Cross for his efforts. In my TL, 27 people have been awarded the Canadian VC during actions in South Africa (1992-93), Rwanda (1994), Afghanistan (2001-04), India (2008), Indonesia (2015) and Korea (2025-26) between 1992 (when the award was established) and 2026. Dallaire ran for office in 2004 and won a seat as an MP, and was immediately appointed Defense Minister as a result. Unlike many Defense Ministers in other nations, all of Dallaire's medals are earned.

The CF-184 Tomcats were the Iranian F-14s that are sold to Canada ITTL's 1979. due to the arms embargo. The CF-184C Supercat is the Canadianized version of the Attack Super Tomcat 21 Proposal that was canned by Dick Cheney. The Supercat is equipped with Canadian avionics, modernized versions of the AIM-54 Missile and has ground attack capability. (IE the naval equivalent of an F-15E Strike Eagle)

The CF-190 Crossbow is a two-seat heavyweight strike fighter, more along the lines of the F-15E or F-111 than a conventional fighter. Stealthy, but its focus is on hitting wickedly hard, which it does nicely at. It is quite capable of air superiority duties, but isn't as adept as the F-22 or PAK FA. The PS-14 Haida engine was developed for it, and is a big engine with massive performance, thanks to very high temperature construction and advanced design. Both are all Canadian-designed. They use some US electronics, but 95% of it is Canadian, including its radar, engines and avionics. Not something to be picked a fight with.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

I have power back! Excuse me, I have to go butcher Old Man Winter.

[Mikey]

I have power back! Excuse me, I have to go butcher Old Man Winter.

Yeah, a lot of northern New Jersey is slowly getting power back today. Being close to the ocean means I only got snow for few hours amidst mostly rain.