BioGio

This question has been covered before, although not recently, here's a link to a topic that answered it pretty well. bonesiii posted this: In brief: Earth is dirt, mud, and soil (and thus decayed plant matter in addition to stone); stone is actual, completely inorganic rock. (Remember that anything can be called a particle--called a macroscopic particle--rather than just molecules and atoms. So bones and I aren't saying that soil has smaller molecules than stone--in some cases, it may or may not--but that the things being controlled are smaller. For Earth, even though that which is controlled is smaller, there's often a lot more of it.)~ BioGio

Despite being rather American, I absolutely love Eurovision. It's so very . . . flamboyant. I often find myself greatly disagreeing with the outcome, though. Haven't seen this year's submissions yet--have to do that tomorrow, I guess.

It's confirmed that all of the Air Nomads had (before genocide) the gene that allowed for bending. Living in the Temples was just the way that they became sufficiently spiritual to access the ability. So the bending is not entirely a product of their society (unless of course you mean the nearly universal xenophobia of every pre-war Avatar culture).~ BioGio

So can every waterbender, earthbender, and firebender. Benders, shockingly, can bend. As for practical considerations, earth and fire would be the best elements. Earth is omnipresent (I know I'm not really using this word right, but whatever) as well as forceful, and the products of such bending are basically permanent; similarly, fire needs no source and be sustained when provided with sufficient air and organic matter. Air fails the test of actual combat (and industrial) use in that it's impermanent and not particularly forceful (especially due to the associated philosophy).Meanwhile, water's nice and all, but a desert renders bending impossible and the water itself can be melted or made to evaporate. If it weren't for the simple matters of practicality, I'd chose water in a heartbeat: It's just so cool.~ BioGio

From this topic:"On BZPower, the number of warning points you have corresponds to the number of Proto points you have, ranging from -5 (empty PE) to 5 (full PE). In addition, I believe that only increases in PE are currently displayed in the warn log; Proto taken before the most recent board upgrade will not appear in it (though it will still be reflected in your Proto level displayed next to posts)."Also, it appears to me that your number of warning posts is only displayed to you.~ BioGioEDIT: Seriously, Ziko?

Proof please. Further, I'd like to hear what you mean by "disorder"; at this point, I can only guess that you don't mean cystic fibrosis or diabetes, but I can't be sure.As for my own fact: Though Merriam-Webster dates the term to 1983, the US Supreme Court used the phrase "politically correct" in Chisholm v. Georgia during 1793! ~ BioGio

Joining. What was I thinking?Seriously, though, it was spending so much time in the deep recesses of the comedies forum, reviewing with spam and using pie jokes. *shudders*~ BioGio

I think that the three-month time limit might actually discourage entry, as people will procrastinate and possibly forget. I remember that bonesiii had a similar issue when he gave a deadline that was too far away for some other recent contest.

You'll have to download the file first of all. (I can assure you, it won't give your computer any malware or viruses.) Then, just open an image-editing program (such as Microsoft Paint).If you're using Microsoft Paint, follow these instructions: Use the "select" ("eyedropper") tool to select the color you want (by clicking on the color as it appears in the original image); after that, use the "fill" tool to color in the squares (by clicking on the square that you want to fill). Click here for a little walkthrough that I threw together. In this example, I'm filling in that I own Pahrak. (Warning: It might take a little while to load, since I'm lazy and left it with a filesize of 552 KB.)Just ask about another program if you'd like some help with that (but PM someone rather than posting in the topic).Of course, you could also print off the checklist, but that would probably be too much hassle.~ BioGio

I like the use of the Vahki eye pieces, even if they are a bit off-color (which is a bit more jarring due to their position directly next to the neon green on the feet). As a whole, the MOC has a very clear look to it; it's obvious what you were going for, and nothing is jumbled. The little touches of neon green complement the color scheme and don't over-power anything; it's great.My one issue is with the appearance of the thigh area. Overall, the MOC is neatly sleek-yet-bulky, and the thighs just through this off, since the armor is so small and doesn't really "flare" out in any direction (unlike, for instance, the lower arms, which feature some bold angles). In other words, the thighs contradict the general appearance of the MOC and seem a bit too generic.~ BioGio

There's your problem: FiW isn't an abridged series. The creators have described it as more of an alternate universe, the reason for many of the bizarre components (e.g., inclusion of robots--made more fundamental to FiW than most abridged series' gags) and the episodes' typically being a maximum of five minutes shorter than the originals.~ BioGio

I find "Sexy and I Know It" humorous. As music, it's basically an affront to nature, but as irony, it's amusing.

I've heard as much multiple times, but I can't seem to find the original interview in which that's stated, so I'm not entirely sure whether to interpret it more like Dorek. Original quotes would be great.~ BioGio

OK, I must have misunderstood you. I just meant that the character would ideally not be stuck in one insignificant portion of the MU (say, Odina or Xia) but rather observe the majority of it.Also, Ice the Great, a mountain isn't the best for observing the function of Matoran (which would look nearly ant-sized and meaningless). The GB could ensure that no cataclysms or large-scale invasions were going on, but that's not really useful.~ BioGio

My math professor's son won about a thousand dollars on I'll Have Another, but I didn't watch the race itself. Really, that Thompson article is my only source of knowledge on the Kentucky Derby.~ BioGio

Comments in bold, Geogia, black font (like so). So, probably a Po-Matoran, since he can carve, strengthening the Velika argument. Almost any literate Matoran was able to carve; it's how they wrote. "Baleful eyes" seem like a pretty good hint, also helping the Velika argument, since I guess Matoran, especially with certain masks, have "baleful eyes." You do know that "baleful" means "menacing," right? Greg isn't making any physical comments here--it's a statement that this guy is up to no good. Po-Matoran have a "rock sense" that helps them find weak points, like in Tales of the Mask: Or at least Pohatu had it. It seems like Velika is the best argument, but it doesn't matter much since it's already guessed. Being able to travel at the speed of light would allow him to always be in the tunnel when needed, yes. Overall, I do think you make a pretty convincing case for Umbra being the Great Being. It could also work toward explaining how he has such strong, unique light powers.~B~The only question is as to how he would know when to return to the cave. I really don't want to think that Umbra spent 100% of his time in the cave, but it's a little shaky as to how he wouldn't. @3: The Nuva didn't really have any memories of their time prior to arriving on the Island of Mata Nui until people helped them jog their subconscious, so their remembering being a GB is almost completely impossible given the "no total memory loss" rule.@4: It's been defined. Seriously, though, Greg probably isn't going to go crazy with some explanation like "on Spherus Magna and in the MU, 'observing' means 'being a Toa'" () or otherwise create a new definition. He gave us a challenge, so he naturally isn't going to complicate it to remove the possibility to rational thought and thus success. He had so assume that we knew what his definition of "observe" was, so I don't think it differs from the average one. Further, observing the MU means exactly that: observing the universe, not just a portion of it. It shouldn't--I agree with you there--but it does, as mentioned by Greg to Nuhrii the Metruan [source].~ BioGio

BANG! Anyway, your post is split up into three parts for ease in response.1. Greg implied heavily that it was a mistake. He had canonized Psionics as all-female and had failed to keep it that way, much as he did not want to really admit to having made the mistake.2. Sadly, only Av-Matoran get to be male and female due to LEGO's rules. Anyway, like I said, the problem was one of latent sexism for the most part. Greg has this assumption that male is a sort of default gender and has a tendency to characterize based on that. A female gets her gender mentioned much more than a male's, strong females tend to be completely murder-crazy, and so on.3. It was never debated, though--or, at least, not well at all. The response "right, females are gentle--DIE LIZARD DIE!" That's not how you go about making a rational argument: by dividing everything into two radical camps (here, nurture vs. KILL EVERYTHING IN SIGHT). And here in BIONICLE the implication is that characters can be almost anything personality-wise--as long as they're male, but females can be either kind (Gali) or murderous (Chiara). It's subtext, sure, but it becomes obvious when Greg tries to broach the topic of gender roles and casts doubt on everything prior.In other words, I'm not claiming Greg is an evil sexist who tries to infuse the story with his misogyny. If anything, he's just a poor author who didn't consider the consequences of the subtext and implications of this chapter. Sorry, but no.I'm sorry, but you're just wrong here. Something striving to tackle the issue of gender roles in terms favorable to a modern reader had the obligation to do exactly that. And when Greg's chapter just didn't add up, it's the job of the reader to analyze it and determine whether it is correct and appeals to their modern sensibilities. And this is not a "personal definition" of sexism. When an author represents males and females so as to define them by their gender differences and fails to allow for, as addressed above, any middle ground between two predefined personalities of a specific gender.Don't through out the "let's see YOU write better" comment here again. The purpose of criticism is to explicate errors in writing so that others can improve themselves and their work. Further, your comment displays an intellectual laziness of the highest degree; you can't seem to defend your points and thus fall back on a cheap excuse that throws everything back at me ad infinitum.Also I totally agree with your last paragraph, FTR.~ BioGio

Can we be sure it was an error? I'm interested to know. Even if it was... (I'm weird in this way) I think it was better to do a cop-out than re-edit the post on Bioniclestory.com. I strongly disagree with changing a final product after the fact, even if for seemingly good reasons (Star Wars, Derpy, etc.) But we can't blame Greg; it was the Great Beings who did it! Changing a couple of pronouns (he to she, etc.) wouldn't have been that much of an issue of final product impurity, though--ESPECIALLY because the solution was so terribly handled and the whole issue smacked of latent and blatant sexism.~ BioGio

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