TRB wrote, and Direwolf seconded, on 19-jun-2001:
>I second that sentiment, highly entertaining.
>Background information is always appreciated.

I also thank Redneck for his efforts. In fact, I sometimes find backstory encyclopedia articles (regardless of author) more entertaining than the plot-stories themselves. (Eg, I was very disappointed when the latter two books of Charles Sheffield's _Heritage Universe_ tetralogy lacked excerpts from Daria Lang's catalog of Builder Artifacts.) Also shorter.

From the "Baseball" article:
>T'Khut Diamondbacks

Ah. So you're using Diane Duane's(?) _Spock's World_ names? IIRC, T'Khazi is Vulcan-proper and T'Khut is the "Vulcan has no moon" that fills half the sky in ST:TMP?

>Beta Colony Gypsies

ISTR there was more than one "Beta Colony" in B5: Beta 5, Beta 7, etc. I think there was even a joke in one ep to that effect.

>Landing (Manticore) Treecats

Ah. So certain elements of David Weber's _Honor Harrington_ series have been... assimilated? Aside from the fact that his ship combat techbase totally lacks fighters? (In the first two novels, anyway; as far as I've gotten.)

>*Jyurai, Kingdom of Jyurai (Ohmu)

So not only Washu, self-proclaimed Greatest Scientist in the Universe, has been assimilated from "Tenchi"? But apparently not "the Jyurai Power, the ultimate power that allows Jyurai to dominate the universe". And the universe would probably blow a fuse if Tsunami, Tokimi and the other gods (there's a new "Tenchi" TV series in the works that follows that thread) ran into Odin's brood.

And given the size of the trees on planet Jyurai, Ohmu-bugs (from Miyazaki's film "Nausicaa: Valley of the Wind") could certainly be accomodated.

From "CFA-919 New Orleans":
>What's really impressive is that those numbers do not include the
>unofficial population, those who squirrel around the 40% of the
>ship which is very, very slowly being claimed by the ongoing refit.
>[...] It's bloody dangerous in the uninhabitable zones.

A better justification for Downbelow and Lurkers than JMS ever advanced in B5, IMHO.