You are totally right, Lars. The things happening right now make me very sad too, I even can not sleep. My STO absense (for about half a year now) is also related to these happenings, because of the events on NewYearsEve here in Europe. It was a nightmare for me, it still is, my love, myself, most of my friends and even members of my family had contact with sexual related violence. Mixing all the individual stories together you end up with a story that fits with that of Cologne and the other cities in Europe.

And now Orlando. This is really hard to cope, I am very, very sad, I even can not cry because I am so sad. Yesterday one of our fleeties told me, he knew someone working at the Pulse. This remembered me of working in a german city as organizer and service for public queer parties, so if this happened here it could have been me. It was very hard for me, listening to the interview with the bartender of the pulse, as I could really feel what she was talking about.

I don't know if another gun law would make it better. Europe has stricter laws on the use and getting of weapons, but we weren't able to hinder the guys of Paris doing their bloodshed. I think its even worse than that, and blaming the laws won't stop those evil people to carry out their plans. At this point there are two thoughts coming in my mind:
In my career as Eventmanager I had access to many rich, wealthy and good secured people, including 3 german chancellors and even 2 american presidents. Sometimes there was a security check on me, sometimes not.
While I was young I experimented with drugs (like anybody else), and on one occasion buying stuff from my dealer he offered me a weapon. I dont know why he asked me (perhaps he asked all his clients) and certainly I refused, but the point is, this was more than twenty years ago in a public place in a german city. So I think, its easy to get weapons no matter where you are or what the law is.
Finally I want to point out, that one of the guys shooting at the Bataclan in Paris was one of the securities working there, and he gave the other three shooters access through a backdoor.

I believe there is no safety, only good faith and hope, and love of course. If we stay together, if we cry out loud our demands, and if we always remember that we are humans and we are all the same, than we may be able to break this chain. I am working my whole life on this, and I wont surrender, no matter what.

Thanks for putting together this event, Gareth. It was fun!

Really well done guys, i was out of action on the monday and tuesday mostly but even if i had been doing my usual stuff each day i doubt i would of come close, awesome stuff :)

These are all awesome. I do like the "Space...The Final Frontier" best.

http://attitude.co.uk/orlando-gay-club-shooting-the-victims/

R.I.P.

Thank you for the event. I hope, there will be more of that kind - especially FitBit related.

There is more to track than just steps :p

When will be the next Starfleet Health Check?

I just came across this one on Facebook :P

[attachment=3560]Puns.jpg[/attachment]

Challenge now ended

This post will have a somewhat political tone to it. Everything I write down here are my own views and no one else's. If you decide to react in this thread, please be respectful to one another and don't attack each other personally.
Or maybe we shouldn't react to each other at all, but just use this thread to pour our hearts out.

I feel the need to write this down, because what happened in Orlando this weekend makes me extremely sad. Not only because a shitload of people pointlessly lost their lives and others are scarred for the rest of theirs, but also because it could have been so easily avoided. I feel sad, because this shit is happening for so fucking long already. I feel sad, because people are completely and utterly unable to keep their own prejudices in check. I feel sad, because people are bend on hating each other for absolutely ridiculous reasons.

There are those that support the American right to carry arms. I feel that if American gun laws would have been more similar to those in Europe, this mass murder would either not have taken place, or not have taken as many and as severe casualties as it did.

I am glad to read though that this act of terrorism has been condemned everywhere and that a shitload of money and blood is being donated.

For now I do not know what else to write. So I will keep it at this.

My heart goes out to the victims and their family and friends and I hope any fleeties residing in the area are safe and sound (let us know something if you're alright, will you?)

Trina.9625 (who I believe is a officer of the LGBT guild Our Sanctuary) has posted details of a pride march across Tyria on the Guild Wars 2 forums.

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/community/events/Pride-March-Tyria

Citizens of Tyria, you are invited to join us in celebrating Pride March Tyria this June 26 at 5pm PST (roughly when daily achievements reset). We march primarily to show our support for gender and sexual minority players, some of which have found Guild Wars 2 to be one of a few safe places to simply be themselves and get away from the drama and the politics of the outside world.

Allies and proponents of equality for all are especially welcome to attend as are those who are members of LGBTQIA+ communities (my apologies if my acronym is less than current).

The march route will be starting in the center of Ebonhawk and proceed until it reaches the steps of Rata Sum. Please refer to included map for specifics.
As real life comes first we’ll understand if players will only be stopping by for a short section of the approximately two and a half hour tour. Also for those for whom the above-mentioned time is inconvenient, we’ll be glad for those who want to volunteer to lead other groups whenever is most convenient for them as we want this message of support to reach as many as possible regardless of personal time constraints.

Thank you for your time.

This is at 1am for me so I probably won't be able to make it but hopefully some of you might attend.

i was looking at messenger bags and saw this


[attachment=3559]resistance_is_futile_messenger_bag.jpg[/attachment]

FYI at present the Great Spiral Tower part of the Floater mission (one for the event ship) "Flying High" is currently bugged. All the others appear to be working normally.

Let's add a map for those temporal artifacts:

https://www.reddit.com/r/sto/comments/4ng5hk/qwens_artifact_hunt_map_and_artifact_locations/

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For the 7th consecutive year, Stonewall Fleet is once again excited to host its annual Pride Weekend of festivities and events, open to all of our amazing friends in the Star Trek Online community! This time of year is a time of great celebration for millions worldwide in the GLBT community, in remembrance of the Stonewall Riots. The Stonewall Riots were a major changing point in the GLBT Rights Movement that not only affected the GLBT community, but the entire world. This year in particular, we'd like to take this opportunity to welcome the entire community to join us in coming together in the spirit of love, support, fellowship and camaraderie for a weekend of celebrations.

For this occasion, Stonewall Fleet will be hosting events throughout the weekend. The events are open to the entire Star Trek Online community and we warmly welcome you, your friends and fleet to join us!

Join STOPride! To participate in all the festivities and follow along with the days events, please join the STOPride channel, which will be active on the weekend of the event! Enter '/channel_join STOPride' to join.

Check out the complete weekend schedule at fleet.stonewallgaming.net/pride.

My DC AND LA Friends, PLEASE GO TO PRIDE TODAY! CELEBRATE! IF there's a pride celebration this month in your city, PLEASE GO! Orlando needs you to be brave. The world needs to see that we will not be terrorized. We are the community that birthed the GMHC, The HRC and Act Up. We are the community that gave the world, Alan Turing, the Man that won World War 2 by breaking Enigma. We are the Community of Harvey Milk, Eric Fanning Tamy Baldwin and Rachel Maddow. WE ARE NOT WEAK! WE ARE STRONG! SHOW IT! ‪#‎ACTUPFIGHTBACK‬!

[attachment=3557]13412947_1595888207107293_1930957523344541526_n.jpg[/attachment]

Hey Fleeties that maybe in the Orlando area are you okay?

You can also upload it to your own photo album in your forum account and then that link. :)

http://fleet.stonewallgaming.net/network/photos/3945-duriansol/photo?albumid=3446#photoid=12055

Some Great tips on how to complete the accolades - esp the one about unpinning the emote tab so you have EASY access to dance emotes

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