Ran

I'll run a backup of the database and try a couple of things that have been suggested as fixes. It seems to have to do with character encoding being different for different tables.

It is. I suspect the speculation is a very good educated guess based on what the resignees wrote and statements they and people in their orbit have made both before and after, but a precise detailing of what led up to it will need someone to speak up about it. Personally, I think the situation sucks mightily. The shenanigans this year are a black mark for the WSFS and its members.

See File 770 for probable causes. If it sounds weird that space at the reception and on the stage might be at issue, consider the fact that the last wave of resignations were about the number of nominees for each work, and then look at the Semi-prozine category.

Smylie's working away, but has been delayed a bit by commissions (he's been doing cover and artwork for some RPGs). He's posted today to note that the print-on-demand color copies of his Historiae Mundi and the adventure The Last Barrow are on sale at the moment, ahead of a price hike required by RPGDrive due to their POD-provider raising prices. If you're interesting in fake history of secondary worlds, the Historiae Mundi is, IMO, an exemplary example of one. You can find the books here.

Here in Sweden it was legal until 1989, I think. It's still something you can find out in some European countries, though -- Portugal still allows it, Czech Republic, some of the Balkan countries. Yeah, the working dog status was the reason for it. By the time the bans came in place, the breeders who preferred docking argued in vain that boxers would have tails that were too long and thin and prone to damage, but there's no real evidence of that on a breed-wide scale. Several of our boxers had veritable clubs for tails, in fact; never had a single injury, and those boys could wag their tails, let me tell you. OTOH, Winter has a rather unusually long tail, and just the other day got his first real case of "Happy Tail" where he managed to whack just the end of it on the corner of a chair as he wagged his tail, and sent blood flying everywhere. And then managed to repeat it a couple of times in the following days (we had my brother-in-law's family over and he was just too pleased to say hello to the niece and nephew).

@Nittanian None.- Thanks for keeping on top of image issues like this.

Oh, for sure. Breeze and Winter would wrestle around like mad on occasion. Three way fights ... I didn't think about how much that may impact the household insurance costs...

Yeah, the completely dark face can be really striking. Our boxer Ringo had a black mask, except for a tiny bit of white on his under jaw. Linda wants a third some day, spaced out so that (fingers crossed) no dog will ever be left without a companion... but even our capacious Volvo won't fit three (especially as we prefer males). We'll have to get something bigger if we go that way, a minivan or something like.

Can confirm. Growing up, my family had all sorts of dogs, mostly mutts of various kinds, but when I moved to Sweden to be with Linda, she'd always had boxers. We've had five since then, including the latest, and we've no plans to have anything but boxers until... I don't know, when we're too decrepit to handle their energy and rambunctiousness. We'll be getting a second when we find the right one, later this year or next, as well -- after having both Breeze and Winter, we'll never (well, see above, re: energy and rambunctiousness) go back to having just the one. Speaking of Winter, recorded this the other day: They really do have a lot of personality. I need to catch him when he's flopped on the grass and gives me the evil eye when I try and get him to resume the walk...

It can be turned off via Account Settings > Notification Settings > Notify when someone gives reputation.

Netflix's been revealing some stuff in the works. A new Castlevania series (sans Warren Ellis) following Richter Belmont (son of Trevor and Sypha) and Maria Renard in the late 18th century. Then it was announced that Netflix was ordering up a Far Cry(!) anime series, as well as giving Adi Shankar (Castlevania's showrunner) the reins to make Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix (!!!!) based on the FC3 DLC Blood Dragon. His presentation of it is an unusually honest description of its inspirations (including DC's Elseworlds, synthwave music and art, Captain N: The Gamemaster, and his own "Bootleg Universe" fan films): There's a clip at the 32:20 that's a sort of conceptual tease.

About two years ago, there was word of the Cowboy Bebop being turned to live action on Netflix. While I still have exceptionally little belief that this is a worthwhile endeavor, I did say one thing about it: Well....

A lot of them were very clearly a kind of group think concerning Whedon. It was very unfortunate, but the ratings seem to have held despite that.

Deadline reports that Andrew Bernstein has joined the production as an executive producer and as director. Prior credits include S2 and S3 of Fear the Walking Dead, work on Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan, The Outsider, The Umbrella Academy, and (apparently) Apple's yet-to-be-seen Foundation (did a quick Google and it looks like they wrapped filming as late as March of this year, but Apple has said it'll air late 2021, so we'll see about that).

The visuals on that were spectacular. I recall seeing a behind-the-scenes on the VFX (particularly the virtual set and camera movements involved to make it look like she went down and up that elevator towards the end) before. Highly impressive. ETA: Here's that BTS I mentioned: And here is a site containing the six episodes of the Dynamo series which Dynamo Dream is a sort of parallel story/soft reboot. It has a very different vibe from what I can see, though, and obviously they're older so the visuals aren't as impressive. Hubert's come a long way.

While we don't have any clear haircolor for the Arryns, there is wee Robert Arryn being brown-haired. As no one remarks on it being unusual -- it's not his mother's auburn -- it must seem reasonable to folks that it can come from a pairing of Jon Arryn and Lysa Tully. Personally, I'm all for having images of characters when permitted by artists and so long as they aren't wildly out of line with what we know of the characters.

To be honest, the only speculation is that the Peach is the only brothel in Stoney Sept. It is not explicitly said. Not by anyone that I can recall. I don't know why it seems so important that it be so. Again, the AWoIaF app states explicitly that Bella is Robert's daughter, and the app features a deal of new information from GRRM. Which means her story is true, and which means that however long Robert was in the brothel, it was long enough to do the deed and get her. Nothing in the quoted texts contest that Robert could have decided to deal with his "I'm being hunted" stress by having a quickie with a willing prostitute. Or whatever. If there are other areas in the wiki where people have made assumptions about things like a brothel being the only example of something in a specific place without it being explicitly said, yes, we should consider correcting those texts.

I don't really know what to tell you beyond what's already been said: the information is in the World of Ice and Fire app, which as we've noted includes information from GRRM and is an acceptable source to replace the Campaign Guide on this detail, and nothing in the text of ASoS or ADwD contradicts it other than your suppositions about how long Robert was in that or any other brothel in Stoney Sept.

It's "as the search dragged on", and Robert may well have been in there for hours -- he was there when Ned's and Hoster's hosts were first spotted coming down, and the bells rang when battle was joined, which couldn't have been immediately. I mean, it's worth noting that they note they went "house to house", not "brothel to brothel" -- for whatever reason, the initial focus of the search appears to have been private homes, perhaps for the reason Connington's remark implies (a disbelief that Robert would "hide behind the skirts of women").

What in that quote suggests that Robert was not hidden in the brothel for some length of time? Or in some other brothel for some length of time prior to that? In any case, I believe GRRM confirmed the point for the WoIaF app. That may be the source of that information for the campaign guide. I agree that the Campaign Guide's connection to any input from GRRM is completely unclear to me at this point, because we never got confirmation that GRRM did in fact provided them information -- it was just an assumption (by me, I'll note, I see I'm the person cited as a source) based on the fact that he had given Guardians of Order some details for their own RPG. I think it should be removed from the semi-canon list unless someone can get a hold of the Campaign Guide writer(s) and find out if they had any direct input from GRRM on some of the details they lay out.

Oh, campaign guide = SIFRP from Green Ronin. Yeah, I cannot speak to any of the content in that being from GRRM. There's some material in the GoO A Game of Thrones RPG I can vouch for as having been from George or seen and approved by him, but I've no idea what amount of involvement he had in SIFRP. We weren't involved, for our own part.

I'm thinking either of those are possible, just off the title. The first Western ships to reach the equivalent of China, thereby bringing together his interests and research for Under Heaven and River of Stars together, would work well. But... could be something else entirely, perhaps more focused on Seressa.

I think I'd remove that particular piece, yes.

Yeah, our heraldry pages shouldn't be used as a source for anything other than the arms -- the descriptive texts are our own works. I'm going to have to double check on why we have this issue, but I believe it relates to GRRM himself having equivocated at some point on where Robin belongs. ETA: Per GRRM in 1999, after the publication of ACoK, he indicated that he didn't think he had indicated which house he belonged to. Which is not correct, as you say, but it may indicate that GRRM had second thoughts about it. Notably, the ASoS appendix no longer states that Lyessa is Robin Flint's mother. So... I think the way the page is currently written is okay, indicating that there's uncertainty on the matter. In ACoK, yes, he was the son of the Lady of Widow's Watch. By the time of ASoS, it's no longer clear if GRRM stuck to that or changed his mind.

If an artist gives permission to use their work on the site, it's cool to use it.