View from Benacia/Issue 92: We're Baaaaack.

This imported article was originally posted at http://viewfrombenacia.blogspot.com/2005/08/issue-92-were-baaaaack.html at 08/02/05.

And so, after a long, long hiatus, the View From Benacia has returned triumphant from the Void, determined to carry the banners of truth, honesty, and snitching forward into the future, lighting the way for Shireroth!

Now, for those who remember well how we used to do things, you should be prepared for a few small changes. Firstly, due to time constraints on the editor's part, the View will initially be published only once a week, on Monday night. If the time situation improves, the old three-issue-per-week schedule may be restored, although determining the feasability of this may take some time.

Also, the breaking up of each issue into separate articles is likely to be discontinued as an experimental measure; instead, each issue will be more of a continuous stream. This is more of a cosmetic change, since we tried to make articles flow together smoothly in the past, but it reduces the need to put article titles in bold large letters. That really annoyed us.

So! On with the newsbreaking. First on the agenda tonight is the sudden death of Kaiser Alejian I. In Imperial Decree 182, the Kaiser proclaimed Scott Alexander his heir and then succumbed to some strange illness, bringing the new heir onto the Throne as Kaiser Los III. Aside from being unique in Shirerithian history that a member of the Line of Kalir has not come to the throne after a one-day reign by one of the Line of Haiken, the ascension of the new Kaiser promises to bring nifty changes.

In his coronation speech, Kaiser Los proclaimed the anger of the Gods at the neglect shown to their favored nation. He announced that he would take personal control of the Ministries of Trade, Research and Education, and Military Affairs in order to oversee the revitalization of these three usually inactive organizations, to which he added, "The Ministry of Military Affairs will revolutionize recwars via SNARL. The Ministry of Trade will continue work on currency design and will at last set up the economy we all desire. And the Ministry of Research has a particularly fun project up its sleeve that I will reveal shortly."

In addition to these plans and a stated aim to help revive Shireroth's traditional religion, Kaiser Los also instituted the beginnings of a new component of Shirerithian life: the ShireWiki! This publicly editable encyclopedia will, with the help of Shireroth's citizens, soon be bursting with knowledge about Shireroth that will be easily accessible by search and unaffected by damage to the forums.

Now for today's fun fact: We've all heard of the chaos that can ensue when couples have fertility treatments to help them conceive children, and get more than they bargained for. But the most children ever had by one woman (not all at once, of course) was 69. During the 1700s, there was a Russian woman who had 16 sets of twins, 7 sets of triplets, and 4 sets of quadruplets. And, even odder, all of them survived infancy.

Let that be a warning to those of you who want a big family later in life.