2008-04-07 Rumble in Brighton tonight

[mattz1010]

Hm, time for a really really big "OH SHI-" moment from everybody currently in that room?

I wonder if they know about his last attack?

What is Ian's power level anyway?

(also, Errant Story: Better than porn)

[mindstalk]

Hm, time for a really really big "OH SHI-" moment from everybody currently in that room?

I wonder if they know about his last attack?

What is Ian's power level anyway?

(also, Errant Story: Better than porn)

OVER NINE THOUSAND!!!

[SkArcher]

Yeah... that 'the' is a typo, sorry.

Awwww, and there goes some wonderful specualtion material


By the by, I don't know if this is the right forum to say it, but regarding the newspost: chapter by chapter strikes me as the way forward without breaking your brain.

[Theros]

... Well, that was quick.

I figure Ian can open is own warp gates since he got there so fast? That meditative training seems to have worked wonders on his control. How if he could only practice some self control so that everyone doesn't get killed.

Warp gates? No. Keep in mind, Emerylon and Praenubilus Astu are on the same continent, so they're not that far apart when traveling by air.

[Viking-Sensei]

What is Ian's power level anyway?

Ian's power level is Maxiumum.

[Slamlander]

A few years ago my boss got called to testify before Congress on a certain matter, and had a confrontation with a clown like this elven mucky-muck. He handled it far more gracefully than Sarine, but it contains a powerful lesson on the way these people work. I'll post details if there is interest, minus a few things that are best forgotten.

I, for one, would be very interested on how your boss countered the ad hominem gracefully. It's a problem I've run into a few times. Ignoring it is not an option when there is money on the table. The attacker must be discredited.

[Graybeard]

A few years ago my boss got called to testify before Congress on a certain matter, and had a confrontation with a clown like this elven mucky-muck. He handled it far more gracefully than Sarine, but it contains a powerful lesson on the way these people work. I'll post details if there is interest, minus a few things that are best forgotten.

I, for one, would be very interested on how your boss countered the ad hominem gracefully. It's a problem I've run into a few times. Ignoring it is not an option when there is money on the table. The attacker must be discredited.

"The attacker must be discredited," unfortunately, is not an option when the attacker controls the situation.

Here's what happened, minus some details. My then-boss, "Tom," has a background in the spook business. He was called to testify in connection with the Wen Ho Lee affair -- remember that, or should I fill that part in? So he goes through his prepared testimony and begins to field questions...

... Which goes reasonably well until a certain congressman from California takes the floor. He asks the following question, quoted by Tom to me verbatim: "What I want to know, Mr. X, is how can someone with your credentials, retired Air Force colonel and intelligence officer, be so soft on the Chinese?"

Now I've had better bosses than Tom, but my opinion of him rose several notches when I heard his "a-soft-answer-turneth-away-wrath" answer. "Mr. Congressman, I am not going to answer that directly, but let me answer as follows instead. You are correct: I am a retired Air Force colonel. I am also a conservative Republican like yourself, and also a Baptist minister. I was an intelligence officer in (omitted) and it was my job to perform analyses on (omitted). For doing so I received the (omitted) decoration not once but (omitted) times. Does that answer your question?"

Now here's the thing. Afterward, the congresscritter apologized to Tom -- but the apology was off camera. The question was not off camera; it was in open session. (The meat of what Tom knew and said, of course, was in closed session.) And Tom then knew, if he didn't know before, what was going on. This wasn't about exchanging information, it was about a sound bite. The congressman got his sound bite (I don't know whether it ever aired on any of the news services), and no way were any of the answers going to show up in a broadcast. Of course, the other congresscritters knew what had just happened, and if Tom's credibility needed any repair after the attack, his answer achieved it. For that matter, it's not clear that even the attacker really believed that Tom was "soft on the Chinese" -- but he had something to show his constituents, who didn't care what Tom's actual position was, and that's all that mattered.

I wish this story had a happier ending, but it doesn't. Tom's behavior does contrast with Sarine's...

[Slamlander]

Thank you for sharing. That was one hell of a nasty no-win situation and you boss chose the least offensive way to deal with it. There are only two senators from California and your man isn't named Feinstein (D-CA). I'm glad I stopped doing DOD in 1989.

[Graybeard]

Thank you for sharing. That was one hell of a nasty no-win situation and you boss chose the least offensive way to deal with it. There are only two senators from California and your man isn't named Feinstein (D-CA). I'm glad I stopped doing DOD in 1989.

Representative, not Senator. There are lots of those.

[Slamlander]

Representative, not Senator. There are lots of those.

Maybe so, I'm still glad I stopped doing DOD work back then. At least, I now have a resume that doesn't need redaction.