News of the Weird

Check out this story of a Japanese man who survived 24 days in cold weather without food or water. Apparently, he went into hibernation. Besides being amazing in its own right, the story seems to imply that suspended animation in humans is quite possible. Cold passage for long voyages through space? Maybe.

Elsewhere on the BBC: a woman with two wombs gives births to triplets (here) and a lizard experiences a virgin birth (here).

Holiday Update

I'm very excited that the holidays are almost here. There is something special about experiencing Christmas with a young child. Last week when we were decorating our Christmas tree, our son finally overcame his fear of the large green monster that we had just brought in from the "outside world" and started to grasp the concept of placing ornaments on the tree. Of course, for him ornament and toy were pretty much the same thing. But it was all very cute. And though he's still too young to grok Santa Claus and the whole spectacle of Christmas commercialism, it will be nice to be there when he's forming his earliest Christmas memories. Giving him the chance to see the extended family will be especially nice.

These past few week have been crazy -- gee, what else is new? Mommy and child have been sick. Since daddy has escaped this round, I'm wondering if it was what I had before and after the marathon. Having to stay home to take care of the little boy has been hard, though it has provided a few more days that I could use for Christmas shopping. Alas, those extra days haven't helped all that much. I still feel like a shopping incompetent. After four years, I still don't think I've mastered the art of buying gifts for my wife. Toy shopping for the boy is easy. Attempting to buy smelly soaps, clothing, or jewelry for the wife is another matter entirely.

In other news, we completed our most recent Slaying Solomon episode. The previous time we attempted Dungeon Crawl, yours truly came down with an asthma attack and we had to break for a trip to the emergency room. Wow, that was embarrassing. I haven't had an attack like that since I was about 10. Weird how I can run a marathon suffering from a respiratory infection and I can't be in the same room as a couple cats for more than a few hours.

Anyway, I hope we can wrap the fourth season by summer... when baby #2 is due to arrive! Yep, my wife is expecting. I'm more than a little apprehensive about having another child. Having one is hard enough! But we really wanted two children, so I'm sure we'll find a way to adapt. It will be hard at first, but it should get easier as the children grow older.

TiddlyWiki

In an effort to squeeze more productivity out of my limited personal time, I have been looking for software that could organize my creative process. I experimented with mind maps like The Brain and eventually settled on KeyNote, which I have been using successfully for over two years. But what I have really been looking for is what I just found over at Lifehacker. TiddlyWiki (and it's GTD TiddlyWiki variant) promises to be just what the doctor ordered. I'm hoping to use to organize all my RPG development and it looks especially promising for keeping track of convulted continuities. My only concern is that my file will collapse under the weight of everything that I hope to put into it.

The 'Verse in the Multiverse

Rumor (wired, slashdot, scifi wire) has it that the beloved TV show Firefly is about to reborn as a Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game. Shiny! Of course, I'm a bit wary. Most games based on licensed properties invariably suck (like Matrix Online). But there is a sliver of hope. Maybe I'll actually have time to play this one when it comes out. Then again, probably not.

And You Thought Tear Gas Was Bad...

Wired has just posted an article about a new *non-lethal* weapon that is about to go into service in Iraq. Eeek. I'd hate to be caught in the path of one these suckers. of course, it beats getting your head shot off. More details of the testing on US civilians here.