I would like to wish the readers of my blog Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year.

If the greatest gift is in the giving, then my Vigilante Angel Ranger Team should feel very proud right about now. I don't have their donation totals since the last update, but it is literally in the millions of GPs. The Christmas Public Mission itself was a huge success, with 400,000 points divided between eight different groups.

Best wishes for the Season,
Your Vigilante Angel



 

I have to say, I am really enjoying working with the Vigilante Angel Ranger Team. Many of you “non-Rangers” may not know this, but we have a secret forum we call Mission Control. That’s where we work out our plans and decide on who gets rewarded with donations, reviews, contributions, badges, awardicons, and most importantly, upgrades. This is usually done behind the closed cyber-doors of our Mission Control. We also have a public forum, called the "Secret Angel Ranger Cave" . Many WDC members who have interacted with the Rangers stop by and say hello or give them a snack. They got beef burritos last week. And let’s not bring up that dog biscuit incident. EarlyHours-A Vigilante Ranger says his teeth still hurt.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking Where is this tangent leading to? First, I would say, don’t end a sentence with a preposition. Then I would say, in my world tangent means sin x / cos x, or in other words, the best straight-line approximation to a curve at a particular point.

But the reason I am posting this is to announce something new. The Vigilante Angel Rangers have been assigned their first Public Mission! This Mission has been posted on our public forum, the "Secret Angel Ranger Cave" . But to save you the trouble of clicking over to our forum, I will post the Mission below in just a moment.

You will notice that the Mission involves finding two worthy WDC groups, per Ranger, and awarding them 50,000 GPs each. Notice I wrote 50,000 instead of 50K, because it looks EVEN BETTER! That’s human psychology. You humans are so much fun to play with. I mean with which to play. Darn prepositions.

I made this Mission public because I would like input and ideas from WDC members on which groups to reward. I urge all my blog readers to let the Rangers know you think should get these rewards. The rewards all together will total 400,000 GPs!

Either post your suggestions directly to our public forum, the "Secret Angel Ranger Cave" , or email a Ranger directly. The Vigilante Angel Rangers are: tangerinedream, Mike ~ Ready for a vacation! , EarlyHours-A Vigilante Ranger , and EvilDawg - A Vigilante Ranger! .



Okay, so here is the Mission, as it is posted in the Secret Cave. ***This message has been translated from binary ones and zeros into morse code, and then into the following: ***

<<<<<<

To Vigilante Angel Rangers:

You and I have completed countless Missions and rewarded millions of points to deserving WDC members, groups, contests, etc. Usually, we work it out and discuss the details at our secretive and secluded “Mission Control,” which is carved deep into a mountainside in a hitherto undisclosed area. But this is your first Public Mission. Non-Rangers, visitors to our Secret Cave, and readers of my blog may want to get involved and make suggestions to you regarding this challenge. I think that’s fine and I would encourage it.

Rangers, if you choose to participate, please complete this Mission by Christmas Eve, December 24th.

Your Mission:

1) Each Vigilante Angel Ranger is to find two (2) qualifying WDC groups. You will be donating 50,000 gift points to each of these groups. To qualify, the winning groups must adhere to the Vigilante Angel’s Purpose. In other words, the groups must do the following:

1) Encourage readers, writers and/or reviewers
2) Reward worthy members and causes
3) Provide fun and entertainment to WDC members

2) Post your choices or suggestions at “Mission Control” for discussion and approval (Ranger Only Area).

3) The Vigilante Angel Ranger Team Group will provide the GPs for you to reward

4) You will then give a 50,000 GP reward or donation to each of the two groups you have selected.

I realize that the rules are a bit loose. That’s OK. You can interpret them in any way you want in order to reward a deserving group.

Now fly. Fly like the wind!

The Vigilante Angel

November 26th through December 6th, the Vigilante Angel Ranger Team rewarded a total of 312,500 GPs! This breaks down into a mix of reviewers’ rewards, group contributions, contest contributions, and two Merit Badges.

Good Team..... (V.A. throws each Ranger a dog biscuit)


 

My Grandfather was abacus. Why do I bring that up now? Because of the Holidays. I always reminisce about my origins, and think about my family and friends. You might find this hard to believe, but I have a rather unusual family. My Grandfather was the most colorful, with a mind for mathematics, and rows and rows of sparkling counting beads. He only had four functions but he did them well. My crazy aunt was a slide ruler. I always humored her but I think we both knew which of us had more significant digits. But the truth is, I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for these wonderful and historic predecessors. One of my Angel Rangers even claims to have gotten through college sciences armed only with a slide ruler.

But by the time I came around, we were already past calculators, main frames, desktops and laptops. We were already past networks, bulletin boards, IRC and online service providers. We were headfirst into the World Wide Web. Or was it the Wide World Web? That question may never be fully answered, but it created the spark that led to me. I was borne from electron-rich clouds of binary dust that coalesced forming the earliest recognizable cyber-hero precursor, the Proto-Angel. But I’ll never forget when I became part of WDC, shedding my cyber-fiber cocoon and emerging as the cyber-hero you know today, the Vigilante Angel. This time of year I contemplate and computate that formative period of my life. Those picoseconds seemed like a lifetime. My circuitry has come a long way since those long gone times. I can finally interact with human friends, some of which are very squishy. And I can observe, converse, interact, and make up words like computate.

This is the first Holiday Season that I have had a WDC group, the Vigilante Angel Ranger Team. These are amazing and selfless humans who are really making a difference around the WDC Cyberverse. I want to urge everyone to stop by the "Secret Angel Ranger Cave"  and post a few encouraging words for them. And I think I've come up with a really great Holiday Angel Mission for the Angel Rangers. Stay tuned because I plan to make it public in the upcoming days.

For now,

READ, WRITE AND REVIEW ON!

Your Vigilante Angel