A bit late, as I was out of town, so enjoy, especially because this is a long one.

Full Service

As noted, I am back from my trip and, having caught up on sleep and on homework, I am back to full activity. I’ve graded a couple Tests of Wisdom, and I have an Advanced one to grade. Dranik, from all I know, did well last week while I was gone, including getting the new course set up (we usually split the duties on course set up, especially for long ones). So, many thanks to him for holding down the fort, even if it is his job :P

** Course Updates**

Core rewrites are almost done. Sith (last SHW) and Welshman (current EP) have given me feedback on the Sith Core notes, so once I make a few changes at their suggestions, it’ll be off to Sarin and Halc to look over.

As mentioned, Dranik did get the Chamber of Justice course up and running, so go take that one if you haven’t already (read my next section for important news regarding the course). I have received a few course proposals recently, which I do enjoy seeing. More info on those will come as we make progress with them. Finally, the PHP and ASP exams have been removed. Not enough people took the courses to justify keeping them around. If demand significantly increases in the future, we will bring them back out.

Chamber of Justice Grading and Passing

<p>After talking with Kir and Dranik, the Chamber of Justice course is going to have two “levels” of passing. As with all courses at the SA, if you score 70 or higher, you will pass the course and have the passing appear on your dossier. However, in order to be certified to be a member of the CoJ staff (hands, appeals panel, etc.), you will have to score a 75 or higher. Kir will be keeping a list, and I keep all course passings for records.</p>

<p>Now, why do we not simply set the passing level higher for the CoJ course? Frankly, because I can’t do that. The database limits the passing score as an all or nothing deal and I can’t set individual passing levels. So, in order to make up for this, here is what we’re going to do: Dranik will put a notice at the end of the course notes, about the difference between passing and certification. If you score below a 75, but do not fail, you may retake the exam, but only once more (if you fail, you can obviously take another shot at it). If you pass both times, but still can’t get above a 75, then you’ll have to request permission from Kir to take it a 3rd time. And no, passing it twice won’t make it show up on your dossier twice. Edit: the certification score is subject to change, pending a recommendation from Kir to that effect.</p>

** Trivia**

<p>Congrats go out to Raken and Aabsdu for winning first and second place in the message board trivia event last weekend. Braecen and Tyno won the IRC event. Big thanks go out to Yadar and Kalak for their running of the various trivia events. They both received an LS along with the winners. There should be another trivia event this weekend and, as the poll I ran shows that more people would prefer both events at the same time, we’re going to try that for a bit.</p>

Course Delays and Positions

<p>I just wanted to say that if you are having trouble getting course results, please e-mail me and let me know. Unfortunately, there is really only one very good way for me to know if an EP is slacking, and that is for someone to bring it to my attention. There are too many course submissions, and too many courses, for me to continually check every single one of them. But, if you say, “I took X course four days ago and haven’t gotten a response,” then I go into my records and review the person’s performance. So, don’t hesitate to contact me with any SA problems as that is the surest way to get me to look deeper into it.</p>
<p>As for positions in the Shadow Academy, I still don’t have any. There are the EPs, the Envoys in some partial convoluted way, and then the praetor and any magistrates. Now, Magistrates are only hired for limited projects, when they possess superior skills that are useful for the project. So, for example, Korras is still my Wiki magistrate, though he has set up all the articles, and is working on a Wiki SA course. That’s the extent of his job and it will likely end with the completion of the course. As for the praetor, I only get one and that position is full.</p>

SA Competitions

<p>Asides from trivia, we’re still trying to get to 3000 course passings (we are damn close, though, and will probably have it in a day or two). There will be other SA competitions in the future, though I’m going to talk with Sarin, Halc, Raken, and the new Fiction Tribune (when appointed) about tying it in to an overall DB story line.</p>

** The Envoy Situation **

<p>As was announced before, Malisane is the new KCB (has been for a short time). He and I talked last night and we’re in agreement with where the society needs to go. We want to find that right mix of DC level oversight and Clan autonomy. The ultimate goal is really to establish two parallel systems that compliment each other. Those of you that have studied history and government (especially American history and government) may have heard the term “dual sovereignty,” which refers to the idea that the state governments (clans) and the federal government (the DC) both have their respective jobs that don’t conflict with each other. That’s the idea and goal here. As the Envoys affect the general membership, we will keep you updated on our progress. But, I’ll leave most of it up to Malisane.</p>

Summary

• I’m back to full activity

• Core rewrites coming, CoJ course up.

• Trivia this weekend.

• CoJ course has special requirement

• Trouble in the SA? Tell me.

• Malisane working on Envoy things