a cesspool of interwebness

Icehouse (and other) Games

Posted by Unknown On 2006-08-24 5 comments

The Diakuw game crew arrived at 8pm last night and we dove straight in and played some really cool stuff last night. Most notable was the colorful and somewhat abstract Icehouse pyramid style games. These games were mentally provacative, though I'm not sure I could regularly play loosely structures games such as these. Morgan was big on them though, so I will likely order a set or two. The 'speed play' (or RTS for you hardcore video gamers) mode was particularly unusual.

We followed this up with some Ricochet Robots. This game is fairly one (well, okay technically two) dimensional. There is one kind of thing to do (solve puzzles) but that one thing can be simple or complex and filled with little neat tricks to get the job done. In a last minute coup, Rainswept was able to steal my triumphant thunder and rob me of the win.



After that I dragged us into some Condottiere - a game that I have sorta fallen for, but I can't tell you why. Maybe it is like a summer love of youth or something analogous. In any event, I was once again totally unable to capture a victory in this game, so I will probably continue to ask people to play it with me until I either win once or burn it in my firepit in the backyard.

I also got all my Jovian Chronicles RPG stuff sorted out last night. It is heavy cool. I'm going to run a JC game for Vin and any others who think they might dig. Morgan has said she is interested but I would still gladly take one or two more players.

Behold Lord Megatron!

Posted by Unknown On 6 comments


I was never a huge Transformers fan, but seeing these I'm really looking forward to the movie next summer!

Damn he looks EVIL!

My Face Is Killing Me

Posted by Unknown On 2006-08-21 4 comments

Wilkanomics and I hit the Canada Remembers Airshow on Sunday. It was a nice sunny (and windy) day - so nice in fact that I was smart enough to leave my sunblock at home. Today I'm sporting a very severe sunburn on my arms and face that is driving me nuts. While I can respect the awesome power of the CF-18 and F-15 fighter jets, I think Iraq has proven how useless Air Superiority is. The Snowbirds were charming and impressive to watch as were the smaller more aerobatic demonstrations. On a scale of 1 to 10, the Airshow was pretty nifty - but I don't think I would ever go again. It was certainly louder than on TV, but it was essentially the same experience as watching a TLC special about modern aviation.

On totally unrelated notes:
The myth of 2-part chemical bombs (thanks Screwloose)
The myth of a dominant console (how can a piece of not-in-production-ware possibly be poised to take the lead in the industry still? can we say PS3 fanboy pundits? I knew you could)

D&D Fan Film Contest

Posted by Unknown On 2006-08-17 0 comments


Amateur film-makers and professional geeks; now is your chance to show your D&D love and maybe win some cool gear at the same time.

Wizards of the Coast are co-sponsoring this contest looking for 5 minute fan films. Have fun, and good luck!

I have died and gone to DJ heaven...

Posted by Unknown On 4 comments

This is the most amazing thing I have ever seen! It has a vinyl platter on top (for real records) plus, the platter is connected to the internal CD drive which can play redbook CD audio or MP3s.

The versatility here is mind boggling. I'll be installing a pair of these babies at the nearest possible opportunity.

Take two of these and call me in the morning!
Schwinnngg!!!!!!

Stupid People Make Me Laugh

Posted by CPM On 2006-08-14 3 comments

So Kyro took me hot tubbing the other night, but it sure didn't look like this!

You gotta wonder what led up to this one, eh?

Zany Zidane Strikes Again!

Posted by CPM On 1 comments

I knew there was more to it!

Iranian President Launches Blog

Posted by Unknown On 2 comments


Get out your Arabic translators.

Iranian President Mahmhoud Ahmadinejad launched his very own weblog this week with an autobiography, and a fun poll asking users if they think Israel and the The U.S. are trying to start World War III.

Personally I'm not a very political guy, but I found this too ironic and humorous not to post. After all, the media in Iran is very tightly controlled and one of their biggest causes of concern are internet users saying nasty things about the government. Can you say propaganda?

Enjoy!

News Flash! - Russians search for Conan!

Posted by Unknown On 3 comments

Those crazy Russians. Pravda is always good for a laugh. They are also flogging the 'end of the world' angle (again).

Only 10 days left! Oh my!

The Moral High Ground

Posted by Unknown On 2006-08-10 3 comments

[SNIP]

KURTZ: And joining us now here Washington Anne Compton who covers the White House for ABC News, and Thomas Ricks, Pentagon reporter for "The Washington Post" and author of the new book "Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq."

Tom Ricks, you've covered a number of military conflicts, including Iraq, as I just mentioned. Is civilian casualties increasingly going to be a major media issue? In conflicts where you don't have two standing armies shooting at each other?

THOMAS RICKS, REPORTER, "THE WASHINGTON POST": I think it will be. But I think civilian casualties are also part of the battlefield play for both sides here. One of the things that is going on, according to some U.S. military analysts, is that Israel purposely has left pockets of Hezbollah rockets in Lebanon, because as long as they're being rocketed, they can continue to have a sort of moral equivalency in their operations in Lebanon.

KURTZ: Hold on, you're suggesting that Israel has deliberately allowed Hezbollah to retain some of it's fire power, essentially for PR purposes, because having Israeli civilians killed helps them in the public relations war here?

RICKS: Yes, that's what military analysts have told me.

KURTZ: That's an extraordinary testament to the notion that having people on your own side killed actually works to your benefit in that nobody wants to see your own citizens killed but it works to your benefit in terms of the battle of perceptions here.

RICKS: Exactly. It helps you with the moral high ground problem, because you know your operations in Lebanon are going to be killing civilians as well.

[/SNIP]

Google Video

Posted by Unknown On 2006-08-09 4 comments

Well, Google is now offering a "Video" search service similar to their "Images" searching ability. If you don't type a search in and go to the tab, it brings back the most frequently linked (popular) video links. The title link is the first thing that came back when I clicked on the Video tab to see what it was... I think we are in for some serious trouble.

P.S. WhereTF is everybody? I know it's summer, but c'mon! Anybody gone on any trips or vacations with stuff to share?