Quote from: Breneir Tzaracomprada on February 27, 2026, 05:03:53 PMWhat are some of your favorite lines from science fiction?
Here are some of mine:

Our lives are not our own, but by God, we must behave as if they are. When I was young, what I did seemed too small to be of any consequence; but the shiver of dust, we are told, expands in time to the planet-sweeping storm. -Greg Bear, Moving Mars

No matter what I said they insisted on thinking of God as something outside themselves. Something that yearns to take every indolent moron to His breast and comfort him. The notion that the effort has to be their own...and that the trouble they are in is all their own doing...is one that they can't or won't entertain. -Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein

I am all that I grok. -Stranger in a Strange Land, Robert Heinlein

Humor is the ovum of dissent. -Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell

To be is to be perceived, and so to know thyself is only possible through the eyes of the other. The nature of our immortal lives is in the consequences of our words and deeds, that go on apportioning themselves throughout all time. Our lives are not our own. From womb to tomb we are bound to others, past and present. And by each crime and every kindness, we birth our future. -Cloud Atlas, David Mitchell

Look at the pattern this seashell makes. The dappled whorl, curving inward to infinity. That's the shape of the universe itself. There's a constant pressure, pushing toward pattern. A tendency in matter to evolve into ever more complex forms. It's a kind of pattern gravity, a holy greening power we call viriditas, and it is the driving force in the cosmos. Life, you see. -Green Mars, Kim Stanley Robinson

Remarkably, I just noticed that "our lives are not our own" commonality in the Cloud Atlas and Moving Mars quotes which I read over twenty years apart.

Bumping this as it would be interesting to see other responses.

So that would be a good and cool start!

That's amazing!  Some of my students can recite ten digits, and I already thought that was impressive, but 280 is absurd!

@xpb You have brought an unusual amount of activity to the Foreign Affairs Ministry. This should be celebrated.

My friend's kiddo apparently has the Guinness World Record for the most pi digits recalled in 1 minute: https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2025/3/3-14-and-counting-10-year-old-breaks-record-for-most-decimal-pi-digits-recalled

Happy Pi Day
Here's an animation from a Kickstarter I did for 777 digits of pi beverage coasters

@King Txec

The Foreign Ministry proposes the following additional postings in impulse #2 for your consideration:

@Breneir Tzaracomprada as Information Liaison for the Dominion of Vancouver Island

note: data collected by Breneir duing impulse #1 for Asgardia not including SWOT analysis has been submitted to their foreign ministry for review of accuracy - this is an information gathering step only, not establishing any specific relationship

@Moinul Moin as Information Liaison for Ladonia

@X. Pol Briga as Information Liaison for the the Republic of West Who

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Impulse #1 ongoing assignment @Mximo Malt as Information Liaison for the Republic of Slowjamistan

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The following entities have made inquiry regarding a diplomatic relationship that do not yet have a volunteer information liaison

Cultural Republic of Auralis

Principality of New Rome

Socialist, Democratic, Popular Republic of Saint Précheux le Marais

United Socialist Republic of the Stapler

I stand ready to respond to any inquiries you may have regarding these recommended appointments, and encourage others to send a personal message about their interests for impulse #3

X. Pol Briga
as Foreign Minister 62nd Cosa

 62RZ14, abstain.
 62RZ15, per.
 62RZ16, contra.
 62RZ17, contra.
 62RZ18, per.
 62RZ19, per.
 62RZ20, abstain.
 62RZ21, abstain.

62RZ14 Për
62RZ15 Për
62RZ16 Aus.
62RZ17 Për
62RZ18 Aus.
62RZ19 Për
62RZ20 Aus.
62RZ21 Aus.

GV, Fiova

P. S.: Note my change in the subject heading above.  Thanks, Chancery, for all you do!  - GV

Quote from: Mic'haglh Autófil, O.Be on March 04, 2026, 09:46:53 PM

• Constitutional amendment vs. constitutional overhaul -- should the current constitution be amended in specific places, or replaced outright?
• Form of the Executive -- should Florencia keep the current method of choosing the provincial executive? Should some alternative -- direct election, collegiate executive, etc. -- be implemented instead? Is legislative confidence necessary, or would some other form of democratic mandate be preferred?
• Form of the Legislature -- is the current "Real Nimlet" method of partisan election still preferred, or would Florencians prefer something like the "citizens' assembly" model used in some other provinces?
• The Legislative Process -- from V-C Tzaracomprada's statement above regarding Article IV, it would appear that amendments to Florencia's legislative process may be worth examining in further detail. I invite him to expand on this point at his leisure.

With thanks to Governor Autofil, I offer my own answers to the agenda items.

-I support a full constitutional overhaul.
-The current structure of the Provincial Executive has in this most recent episode demonstrated its weaknesses. The Governor is aware of my sympathies for a collegial or directorial executive so I would support that. But I would also be in support of a highly limited and purely administrative executive office with the legislature being in nearly all matters supreme.
-I am in complete support of moving towards a citizens assembly model used by other provinces. (And would also recommend the creation of a provincial secretary of state to cover scribery-like, election, and record-keeping duties). This body should review the successes of Fiova and Belacosta. I have done this personally and moved to enact examples here in Talossa.
-If we move toward an overhaul with a limited administrative executive then I think the Article IV reforms may not be necessary.