The Velvet Edge

This blog has moved

2010-04-29T15:23:00.001-04:00

This blog is now located at http://velvet-edge.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://velvet-edge.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

The Monkey Has Moved

2010-02-08T14:10:00.000-05:00

Due to the imminent demise of FTP publishing on Blogger, the Risus Monkey has moved to a new address. The new URL is http://www.risusmonkey.com. Please update your bookmarks and links accordingly.

The Velvet Edge is going to have to migrate soon as well. This be just the excuse I need to resume general (non-Risus) blogging again.

The Return of the Risus Monkey

2009-12-02T10:37:00.002-05:00

I am fairly certain that nobody checks this blog anymore. It's been dormant for years. On the off chance that anybody is still reading, I would like to direct your attention to the Risus Monkey site, where I hope to resume Risus-related blogging. If it goes well, I may even return to the Velvet Edge for non-Risus stuff.

Dungeons & Dragons 4e Review

2008-03-04T21:32:00.000-05:00

This past weekend I participated at the public launch of Dungeons

Dragon 4e at the D&D Experience here in Virginia.

I'm a bit disappointed to report that it was a bit of a
mixed bag. I had been looking forward to 4e since it's
announcement. Most of the Design & Development articles
really resonated with my own (current) philosophies
towards the game. There were a few causes for alarm
(specifically, some racial powers and premature death of
the magic-item christmas tree). But all in all, I have
been thrilled. I even really liked the two preview books
(especially Worlds & Monsters, which will remain useful
even once the rulebooks come out).

But my first 4e game was kind of lame.

Let me state up front that I think it was mostly poor
GMing and the nature of the demo scenario. The GM ran the
encounters and disjointed miniatures fights and had
substandard table-management skills. He failed to really
make use of the cool new kobold tactics and made no effort
to inspire roleplaying.

But, seeing through the poor presentation (and after
talking to other folks with better experiences), I did
come away from the event with my high hopes for 4e
*largely* intact. I do still have some concerns. I'm
worried that the new save mechanic will be cumbersome for
area-of-effect attacks. And I'm not sure how I liked the
defender's "sticky" maneuvers (though, in fairness, these
have been supposedly fixed). It was stated up front that
minions weren't completely worked out yet (a worry, since
the game is so close to shipping). And while I'm ok with
the healing surges, I don't like that *everything* is
healed/reset after 6 hours of camping. I may need to house
rule that.

Let me just say that I *loved* playing the first level
wizard. I used magic in almost every round. Granted, most
of my spells were blast effects (aside from a few spells I
didn't use). I really hope that more utility spells are
available during character generation. And I can't wait to
see the rules for rituals. That could make our break my
enthusiasm for the game.

The others classes seemed cool (other than the now-fixed
fighter/paladins). I like the new trtun undead mechanic.
The Eladrin Ranger really pulled some cool Legolas stunts.

As first level characters, we seemed as tough (if not
tougher than) 3rd level characters. Monsters were equally
tough and I worry that combats will take about the same
time. True, more cool stuff seemed to be happening, so
that is ok.

Wild Wild Western Halloween

2007-11-06T20:58:00.001-05:00

Just a quick note regarding Halloween. Ever since Santa retreated into the realm of myth, Halloween has been my favorite holiday. I have this pre-Halloween ritual where I pick a Halloween-appropriate movie (typically The Nightmare Before Christmas or more recently Sleepy Hollow) and carve one or more pumpkins. Maybe it's my lingering gothic sensibility, but I can't enough of the Halloween mood. I wear more black than usual, I listen to gothic music that I haven't touch for months, I tramp through fallen leaves, and I read spooky stories.

This year I was able to really introduce my oldest son to the pleasures of Halloween. He was here for the last two, but was far too young to really appreciate them (even though last year's costume - a little devil - embodied the holiday in a way that seemed more appropriate). In addition to an amazing trip to the pumpkin patch at Cox Farms, we allowed Finley to pick out his own costume. Of course, being absolutely bat-shit horse crazy (thanks to pony rides at the Maryland Renaissance Festival) he picked a horse costume where he is both horse and rider. Cool costume, though way to cumbersome for my tastes. Still it was a big hit and he had a ball trick-or-treating. His brother, appropriately enough, was a cow. Here are some pictures:

Catching Up

2007-10-18T22:04:00.001-04:00

And here I thought that having a new computer in a clean office (my "cave") would give me more time to blog. Alas, my iTunes rating didn't transfer (funny -- comments and other info did) and I've been waaay too distracted rearranging my image library for iPhoto's Event-based system. In addition to regular photos, I have literally thousands of gaming-related images that I have scanned or ripped off the Internet in recent year. To all copyright police -- I use them inspiration for my games and for the occasional player handout (and maybe an image or two for my neglected websites).

Where was I?

I yes, it's been a while since I blogged. In my last post, I mentioned that we had another double gaming session coming up. Well, we had it and it was fabulous. My Dragonspire game was good, but Greg's season finale of Slaying Solomon was amazing. I simply can't recall ever having such a powerful gaming experience as a player. Emotions we running high in Nazi world. I was starting to tear up when I mentioned that Erik would be showing up at Juanita's door with flowers at the end of the episode. Slaying Solomon is one of those special games where the characters take on a life of their own. They go waaaay beyond the combat stats you see in most games. The characters are defined by their quirks and relationships. Powers and abilities are definitely secondary. I can't wait for the upcoming 5th season. Greg's running the main arc, but I will definitely be directing several episodes.

On My Own

2007-09-25T19:18:00.001-04:00

The wife and kids are in Michigan for another week or so and I've been scrambling to complete a long list of "honey do's". These are mostly husbandly tasks that have slipped for a variety reasons (such as completing the second nursery) due to the numerous distractions of family obligations. While my wife is mostly happy to be spending time with relatives in Michigan, I know she's going to expect that I get some work done as payment for my having three weeks without having to help with the kids.

That being said, I'm also taking the opportunity to catch up on some personal stuff. Last Saturday, we had a double gaming session with Dragonspire in the afternoon and Slaying Solomon in the evening. We'll repeat this extraordinarily rare full day of gaming next Saturday as well. It's good to be gaming again, though I do wish I had yet more time to devote to it. I had high hopes for lots of down-time to plan future adventures and campaigns. Alas, with all my other activities, that ain't gonna happen.

One of those other activities is assembling my new basement office and adjusting to a new computer. Yes, I just ordered a new iMac today. Hopefully, it will arrive in time for me to play around with it before the family gets home. It sure is a beautiful machine. And with Boot Camp, I should have no loss of PC functionality. I'm hoping to high heaven that I can get the sucker online with minimal fuss, as I still need to spend time on getting our web photo gallery working as well. Sigh... I'm not looking forward to that mess.

Finally, I had hoped to get a lot of gym time in. Alas, Finley gifted me with yet another nasty cold just as I returned to Virginia. Now that I seem to be on the mend, I'll try to resume my workouts tomorrow.

So Much for Vacation

2007-09-02T21:56:00.001-04:00

Ok, that big trip to Hilton head that I was so excited about turned out to be real disappointment. It is hard to do long car trips with young children, but we knew this going in. What we didn't expect is that we wouldn't have any time to ourselves down there to swim in the ocean, sip foofy drinks by the pool, or take long walks on the beach. Uh uh. No way. Our kids weren't going to allow it and out relatives had too much on their plates to give us a break. As it turned out, we spent most of the trip cooped up inside watching the toddler watch TV. We did make to the pool a few times, but our one attempt to hang out at the beach was an absolute disaster. I was totally afraid that someone would call child services due to one of the most inconvenient toddler tantrums that we have yet experienced.

Fortunately, we managed to spend some quality time with Professor Pope and his family on the way back. Unfortunately, my wife, oldest son, and myself all came down with seriously nasty colds on the final leg of the drive. We're still recovering right now. Thank goodness that the infant was spared.

So here I am trying to adjust to going back to work after not really having much of a vacation. And instead of focusing on work, I'm thinking about what computer to buy after events have forced me into purchasing a new one about 3 months earlier than I anticipated. I had previously stated that I had had it with Dells. My current Inspiron laptop has been nothing but problems. But the more I price out options, the more I am leaning towards a new Inspiron model. They are highly rated, they are the right price, and they have all the specs that I need. I had considered switching teams to buy a Mac, but I'm having a hard time convincing myself that the added expense and hassle of installing Boot Camp will be worth it. I haven't ruled it out yet, but it's looking less and less likely.

Update: friends have been giving me more reasons to select a Mac (the fact that I already own a license of Windows XP is one). We'll see...

I know it's probably stupid, but the proposed D&D 4e Game Table is kind of driving my decision. The few games that I want to play are generally available on the Mac. I wouldn't have to retain my ties to the PC world if it weren't for the fact that I think that Game Table has the potential to be a sweet tool. Of course, it could easily blow chunks and leave me afflicted with bad case of buyers remorse (the most likely scenario).

Water Bottles

2007-09-01T14:52:00.001-04:00

Ok, I've totally been on an anti-bottled water kick lately. I must have reach some kind of tipping point because I'm now kind of sickened by the wastefulness of buying something that is essentially free in a package that seriously harms the environment. My wife and I have certainly been guilty of the wastefulness (especially on car trips and such). Part of simply came down to the convenience of having an container available to drink the stuff. Sure, I have a Nalgene bottle for hiking in my basement somewhere. But I don't like drinking out of it, mostly because the opening is too big and I imagine the water tasting differently when it has been sitting in plastic for a while.

So I was very pleased to discover these totally awesome reusable aluminum water bottles. I'm hoping that having a practical and stylish water bottle will help me kick the plastic bottle habit AND drink more water (something I desperately need to do anyway).

Missing GenCon

2007-08-17T23:13:00.001-04:00

GenCon Indy is this weekend and I'm a little bummed, especially since I'm missing my long lost (due to baby) EN World friends and all the D&D 4e madness. Instead I'll be spending the week with the family in Hilton Head. Since I'll be visiting my good friend Professor Pope on the way back, I'll get my D&D fix talking with him. And D&D 4e won't be released until next year anyway.

Actually, I'm not entirely sure how I feel about the new edition. I wasn't much of a D&D fan until Third Edition came along. But I've got over my anti-D&D bias and have learned welcome our Munchkin overlords. Fourth Edition may improve the game. It may even introduce some really kick-ass tools to facilitate player over the Internet. The economics of it bother me a bit, and I'm a bit annoyed at the prospect of shelling out for yet another set of rulebooks.

Anyway, I suspect I'll be blogging more on 4e in the future.

Second Child = Big crunch

2007-08-02T20:48:00.001-04:00

Just as I was starting to get the hang of balancing the rearing of one child with my own health, personal interests, and professional development, along comes a second child to make everything that much harder. I used to complain about the difficulty finding time to blog, role play, program, and play computer games. Now, I look back and wish I had it that easy. At least until little Liam gets a little older, I simply cannot imagine that I'll have any significant personal time in coming months.

My weekday schedule is such that I wake up (bleary eyed), throw on workout clothes, get Finn dressed and washed, and pop him in the car. After dropping him off at day care, I head to the gym for a brief workout and then get home with barely enough time to catch a shower before work. Breakfast is luxury and I've been forced to rely on energy bars to get me through the morning. After work, I need to pick up Finn from daycare and fight the parkway traffic to get us home for dinner by 6:30ish. By the time we eat and get the kids ready for bed, it is now 9:00 and I'm too exhausted to even turn on my computer. Mostly I just settle down and read a few chapters in a book before I conk out. Not much luck on weekends either, mostly because the kids still demands too much attention.

My weekend schedule is little better, though for different reasons. I suppose I could steal away for a few hours here and there for small projects. The problem is that weekends are prime time for spending time with my boys (which I'm not about to give up). I suppose I could steal an hour or two here or there, but lately it has been impossible due to a backlog of house projects. I still need to paint Liam's room, for example...

Anyway, I hate to complain too much. I'm starting to settle in to the new lifestyle. I'm too happy being a father of two awesome boys to be bitter about my missing personal time. Instead of complaining, I'm going to try to work within the confines of my tight schedule to work on things that really matter. Whereas I'd usually start a new project on a whim, I now find myself critically examining potential endeavors for how much joy they can bring me. And fortunately, it does look like I'll be resuming gaming in a few weeks. I'm going let other direct episodes of Slaying Solomon until I feel that I can find enough time to write new episodes and I do hope to restart Dragonspire in September.

Where does that leave the blog? Well, my hope is that I can find time to blog more often (and about topics other than my tight schedule). I'm crossing my fingers. At the top of my priority list, however, is getting my photo album running again. I'm experiencing some technical difficulties which would normally take several hours to resolve (if I had several hours to dedicate to the problem). Once that is accomplished, I have a mess of new photos of the kids to post.

On the Subject of Retrotech...

2007-07-03T21:57:00.001-04:00

The Golden Compass comes out in December and I cannot wait. Hands down, Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials series has been my favorite read in the last several years. It's not everyone's thing, but his world just really, really resonated with me. It's not quite steampunk, but it does have wonderfully evocative retrotech, alternate earth feel. More importantly, I was really taken by the story and the individualistic (anti-authoritarian/religious) themes. Most importantly... armored polar bears!

The latest trailer really fills me with hope that this will be the next Lord of the Rings.

Retrotech Jackpot

2007-06-19T22:26:00.001-04:00

I humbly beseech you to navigate your cyberspacial conveyance to this article over at Wired. The images of such exquisitely crafted anachronisms moved me to break by blogging fast. Oh, if I only had the time to create such Wellsian wonders myself. In my own "Steam-Driven Dreams", I imagine a wood-paneled study in my home outfitted with The Steampunk Monitor and Keyboard as well as other wonders (perhaps the hand-crafted Rayguns produced by Weta). I may have to add Brass Goggles and Steampunk Magazine to my daily perusal of electornically distributed periodicals.

Welcome Liam Andrew

2007-06-15T14:45:00.001-04:00

I'd like to announce the birth of our second child, Liam Andrew. This cell-phone photo (alas, covering up his red hair) will have to do until the photo album is fixed and we can upload our real digital camera pictures.

Christy's water broke at around 4:00 last Friday morning. Bleary eyed, I wondered why she was making so much noise. She casually explained that she was getting her stuff together to go to the hospital. Whoa! Of course, I hadn't packed my pack yet and I started to panic. We also had our first-born to deal with. Thankfully, Christy's mother is in town and we were able to have her watch the boy most of the day.

We arrived at the hospital just after 7:00 and were expecting to have an easy delivery like last time. We ordered up the epidural and things were progressing just fine. Then, after the epidural and after a high dose of Patosin... things really kicked up. Bad news: Christy's meds didn't work at all and she was in enormous pain. Good news: it was all over by 10:33.

Stats: 7 lbs 11 oz, 20.5 inches long, red hair, blue eyes, and a perfect 10 on his APGAR. Mommy and baby are doing fine. Baby's big brother is a little confused but not nearly so confused as he's going to be in the coming weeks. Daddy's still trying to kick a cold that he's had for two weeks (the lack of sleep won't be helping).

Photos Down

2007-05-18T21:45:00.001-04:00

The Photo Album is down until I complete the upgrade to Gallery 2. Hopefully, it will be back in a few days.

Netflix: A Parent's Best Friend

2007-05-18T21:18:00.001-04:00

The baby has prevented us from going to movies as much as we used to. Fortunately, there is always Netflix. Our recent viewing: Borat (wickedly funny), Casino Royale (best Bond is a *long* time), and Children of Men. Children of Men may be my favorite movie of 2006 and I wish I actually saw it at the theaters. It was brilliant. The movie was technically amazing (long-take chase scenes!) and emotionally riveting. As new and expecting parents, we were on the edge of our seats for the entire second half of the movie. If you've seen the film then you know why.

Passion For Music

2007-05-18T21:15:00.001-04:00

Last week my wife and I were able to attend our first concert since the fall. This time, it was Lisa Gerard at the Birchmere. My wife had never seen her perform, whereas I has seen her once on her own (at a fantastically atmospheric show in an ancient Georgetown lecture hall) and once with Dead Can Dance. We missed the chance to catch the Dead Can Dance reunion tour in 2005, due to the birth of our first child. But both of us are big fans of their music (though, perhaps I am a bigger fan). Lisa Gerard and Dead Can Dance have been off my radar for a while, mostly because of a lack of new material. But perhaps it is also because I just haven't had as much time of late to really sit down and listen to their music like I used to. In the 90's, I fondly recall how often I'd turn down the lights and let the music of Dead Can Dance (and similar artists) transport me to other worlds. It's sad that I don't do that as much these days. I blame time pressures and sharing a house with others.

The concert was fantastic, though I have mixed feeling about the Birchmere as a venue for this particular show. On the plus side: my pregnant wife could keep off her feet during the show, the view was great, and there was no smoking. On the minus side: the road-house atmosphere detracted (slightly) from Lisa's otherworldly appeal. As as for Lisa herself... wow, fantastic as always. Though I must say I was surprised how meek her speaking voice is (especially when compared to the power of her singing voice).

Keeping Up With Technology

2007-04-27T21:38:00.001-04:00

While waiting in the doctor's office this morning, I flipped through a somewhat recent edition of PC Gamer. It made me almost heartsick to think that I haven't had the opportunity to play computer games recently. In fact, I think it has been about three years since I've played anything. I'm totally out of the loop on the latest in games and game technology and, oddly, I believe my career suffers as a result. You see, computer games are one of the primary drivers for my enthusiasm for technology. When I geek out on computer games, I feel motivated to learn new technology and feel inspired to become a better software engineer. But I haven't pursued one single personal technology project in years. This worries me greatly. I'd hate to see my skills degrade or become obsolete.

Unfortunately, I don't know how to remedy the situation. Family life and family budgets both conspire to keep me from purchasing a new computer or gaming console. While I could probably squeeze it into the budget, other priorities would suffer. And even if I did buy a new gaming platform, when would I use it? The reality is simply that all my free time is spoken for. My only hope is that I'll be playing a lot more games when my boys are old enough to play them with me.

In other news, I've noticed some particularly interesting news from the world of science and technology...

Practical Holographic Video: By the time I start playing computer games again, this technology may be a reality. Not every game would benefit from such a display, but the idea of playing something like R2, 3PO, and Chewbacca played in the original Star Wars seem too cool for words.

Earthlike Planet Found: Space.com has an article about a possible habitable exoplanet found orbiting Gliese 581 C. It's only 4 times as large as Earth and seems to be in the narrow zone where liquid water is possible. The fact that is orbits a red dwarf is especially exciting because there are so many more red giants than yellow suns like our own. It dramatically opens up the possibility of aliens life existing somewhere out there.

Thank You Boston

2007-04-18T21:01:00.001-04:00

I have returned from a long and very hard trip to Boston. Yes, I completed my first (and probably only) Boston Marathon. Before I get into the gory details, I'd like to give my most heartfelt thanks to the people of Boston. The Richmond Marathon bills itself as "America's Friendliest Marathon". After this weekend, I'd have to say that the Boston Marathon gives them a run for their money. Despite some seriously adverse conditions, the people of Boston never wavered in their hospitality and the race went off without a hitch. Every effort was made to make runners comfortable in the nasty weather and after the race, I was congratulated by countless random citizens on the street. Thank you Boston, you made a tough race a wonderful experience.

As for the race itself... well, it was humbling. The night before, with every sign that we'd be blasted by severe rains, biting cold, and impossible headwinds, I resolved to just enjoy myself and treat it as a race against mother nature. This continued to be my attitude throughout the long and uncomfortable pre-race period. But when it came time for the race, conditions improved enough to fool me into thinking that I could approach it with my seemingly realistic training goal of coming close to a 3 hour marathon.

Boy, was I in for a world of hurt.

My difficulties started with an extremely restless night of "sleep". I'm not sure why I was so nervous when I had resolved to take it easy, but I guess that I was just apprehensive about how painful the experience of running in these conditions could be. All night long, I heard the driving wind and pounding rain against the window. In the morning, I awoke to cold and damp. The bus ride out was comfortable and I was lucky enough to get a spot inside the high-school gym to keep dry. But their was limited space inside the gym and I didn't venture out to eat a proper pre-race meal. I'm certain that contributed to my difficulties.

There was also the issue of deciding on what to wear. Still feeling the morning's chill, I opted for tights and several layers of wicking long-sleeve shirts. I suspect that I was over-dressed, though it was probably the least of my problems. And after I stumbled across the finish line, I wished I had access to even warmed clothes right away.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the course, the race is a point-to-point race, starting in the western town of Hopkinton and descending for a good part of the race until a series of nasty hills starting around mile 16. This also proved to be my undoing. Running downhill fills one with a tremendous sense of overconfidence. Yes, I had heard all the pre-race advice to take it easy in the first half. But as the race started and I felt comfortable with an aggressive pace, I failed to consider how badly my leg muscles would be taking the strain of down-hill running. By the time time the uphill section it, my legs were already locking up.

So how did I do? I finished 5,776th among some 20,000 or so competitors. My time was 3:31:00, just over 16 minutes slower than my Richmond time. After the race, I felt bad about this. But then I saw that even the winner -- Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya was about 7 minutes off his winning time from last year. Lots of people were seriously impacted by the conditions and I am belatedly proud to note that I beat my expected finish (as indicated by my bib number) by 785. So, I'll take it. I finished in grueling conditions. And I am glad that I can move on to other challenges.

(what those challenges are remain undefined... I need to get through the birth of our second child before setting any more aggressive goals)

Post-Lent Update

2007-04-10T21:17:00.000-04:00

Ok, Lent is done. That means I (sort of) have access to the Internet at work again. While I do do some occasional surfing now, I still feel funny about personal email and blogging from work, especially since my overlords purport to spy on my Internet usage. Not that I'm going to bad-mouth the overlords, but you never know what they'll find objectionable.

Speaking of Lent... it is kind of weird that I keep the tradition. The wife and I were raised Catholic, but neither of us attend Catholic mass unless we are home for the holidays with the extended family (and for me, I only do it because of social pressure). My wife has moved firmly into the liberal Episcopal camp. And while I like the liberal Episcopal politics, I'm still too agnostic to completely swallow the cool-aid. We'll be raising our sons in the Episcopal Church, but only by default. If I were religious, I think I'd prefer something with better rituals and traditions. The Catholic Church was great for that. As is Wicca, but I think that train has long since left on its last run to Hogwarts.

Since it's bee a while, I suppose an update is order.

On Monday, I am scheduled to run the Boston Marathon. I'm both excited and nervous. This is my third (and likely last) marathon training cycle. The first ended in injury before I could run. The second ended in bronchitis, but I still managed a good race anyway. This time, I've had no such ill-luck (knock on wood). I feel like I'm in great shape and I can't imagine being more prepared. Of course, anything could happen. I'm a little nervous since my little boy is going through his second bout of strep in three weeks. But I haven't got it yet, so perhaps I'll luck out and miss it.

Work is crazy. But I'm actually getting paid for the extra hours I work, so I can't complain too much. And I like the occasional crunch time. It makes me work more efficiently. I just wish that this crunch time was not at the same time as my race, my wife's travel season, and my little boy's illness.

Haven't done much gaming lately. We had a Dragonspire game... geez, over a month ago. I'm ready for the next one but finding time in the schedule's the hard part. Slaying Solomon is still going and I'm happy that other folks have taken over the director's chair while my schedule is so crazy. I wish I could be doing more gaming, but life is getting in the way. I can't wait until my boys are old enough for it, because I can use family time as an excuse for gaming (assuming the are interested). On that note, I can't wait until they start playing video games for much the same reason. I can't remember the last time I played a video game. Sigh.

COOLEST LIGHTSABER FIGHT... EVAR

2007-03-14T07:07:00.000-04:00

I've been in blog hibernation for a while. Work is totally crazy and since I gave up personal use of the Internet at work for Lent... well, it doesn't leave a lot of time for blogging. Today, though, I'm going to make an exception. A friend sent me link to best lightsaber fight EVER. These guys come very close to beating Lucas at his own game. I especially love how their lightsabers interact with their environment.

Check it out here: http://www.themovieblog.com/archives/2007/03/best_lightsaber_fight_ever.html

In other news, we saw 300 this weekend. Good movie. If I could sum it up in one word, that would be... "Nipples". The director obviously had nipples on the mind.

Internet Outage

2007-02-19T16:07:00.000-05:00

This blog's been quiet for a while. The reason (besides my slacker ways and nasty schedules) is that my toddler's been messing with my DSL cables, causing a DSL modem failure and forcing me to talk to tech support in Indiana to get the whole thing back up and running again. At first, I thought it was the fact that my computer blue-screened for the upteenth million time, wiping out my network software. Looks like I was wrong on that count. But I'm still fed up with my computer (Dell Inspiron 9100). It's been nothing but trouble, even after wiping the hard drive and reinstalling Windows. I'm seriously considering getting a Mac (and soon).

Not much else going on. The weather's been hell on my marathon training, but it does look were heading for a melt soon.

Dragonspire Continues

2007-02-02T22:40:00.000-05:00

I haven't posted a Dragonspire update in a while, but the campaign is still going strong. After a short hiatus for the holidays, we are back and approaching the climax of the first story arc. I'm hoping to complete the second story arc before the arrival of my next baby. I'm guessing that session logs will be few and far between, given my crazy schedule. But I have posted updated characters for the players to verify their stats. Note the addition of a new gnome artificer to the party.

In other news, I've been going through old gaming books and I discovered some amazing tools in Grim Tales . I'm convinced that this book is the best set of D20 rules in existence. I'm looking forward to testing out vehicular combat in the next story arc and hope to include the excellent mass combat system from Slavelords of Cydonia at some point down the line.

Halloween Photos Up (Better Late Than Never)

2007-01-24T21:56:00.000-05:00

We've been remiss in updating our photo album. Here are some shots from the Halloween season. I especially like this shot of our little devil.

Song of Fire and Ice

2007-01-17T21:34:00.000-05:00

I believe that I recently mentioned my interest in George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones. Well, given that reading is one of the few recreational activities that I can consistently find time for, I've finally made it to his most recent A Feast of Crows. The Last book, A Storm of Swords, took a long time to read. But the last half of the 1000+ page epic seemed to whip right by. Alas, I'm currently crawling through the new book, mostly because I haven't developed a stake in the new characters that he's introduced.

In related news, check out this item over at the Sci Fi Wire. Looks like HBO may make A Song Of Ice And Fire the next Deadwood. They are also making a series out of Vertigo's Preacher. Yippee. I can't wait to see how they turn out. Right now, my wife an I use most of our Netflix rentals on HBO series (and Battlestar Galactica). The quality is consistently better than most movies and we don't have to find more than 45 minutes of our busy schedule to watch an episode.

And They Say Sleep Deprivation Isn't Torture?

2007-01-12T21:33:00.000-05:00

I beg to differ. The last two weeks have been hellish. Our toddler was sleeping just fine before the Christmas holidays. But after two weeks of irregular schedules and over excitement, he refused to sleep in his crib after we returned home. My wife and decided to buck up and fight him on it. The result is that (as of last night) he is now sleeping through the night again. Unfortunately, I've had almost two weeks with a serious lack of sleep. This has been doubly hard because I'm training for the Boston Marathon. My training has really suffered for it. Hopefully, I'll get back to that happy place in a week or so.

Happy 2007

2007-01-02T14:16:00.000-05:00

We're back from "vacation". I hesitate to say "vacation", because it really is too much work. With all the driving and the visiting and driving and visiting. Not nearly enough time to chill out on personal stuff.

But it was fantastic to see friends and family again. Our son spent the first half of the trip in Faerie with a screaming Changeling in his place. But once he returned, he had a fine time with his cousins. He also got on well with the children of my high school friends. I can't wait for the inevitable (hopefully) father and child outings in the future.

Now, with the New Year here, I can start focusing on my resolutions. Besides training for the 2007 Boston Marathon (my last marathon, I swear), I hope to get on top of my schedule in preparation for th arrival of our second child. Learning to get by on less sleep with help. Also I'm trying to figure out how I can get more time for gaming. That's face-to-face gaming ( Slaying Solomon and Dragonspire for a start), as well as computer gaming (haven't bought a computer game in ages).

Also high on the list: staying in touch with distant friends, eating better, and getting emergency preparation kits assembled for the house and car.

Oh yeah, I'd also like to return to my Chinese lessons and start a martial arts class. Something different from the whole focus on running.

News of the Weird

2006-12-21T20:22:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-20T22:35:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-08T21:51:00.000-05:00

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

2006-12-08T21:49:00.000-05:00

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...

2006-12-05T13:23:00.000-05:00

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.

Single Parent Blues

2006-11-26T22:24:00.000-05:00

My wife is in Europe for the week and it's time for me to experience life as a single parent. My wife's been traveling a lot throughout the fall, but this is the longest trip by far. More importantly, it's the first time she's been gone for two consecutive weekends. Weekends are doubly difficult because without extended family to help out, I basically don't have any time for myself (except for a short time after the little boy goes to sleep).

That being said, this weekend was an excellent time to bond with my son. With excellent weather, we made two trips into the District. The boy's too young to really appreciate museums just yet, but I was able to meet up with out-of-town friends who also have children. And having just started walking within the last few weeks, my son was having a ball wandering around the American Indian Museum. Today, we had even more fun at the zoo. Since I didn't have to worry about anybody else keeping up, I was able to quickly motor his stroller to all the big animals that I know he'd appreciate (and little animals too... he loved the small mammal house).

Alas, there is a still a part of me that is struggling with the demands of parenthood. Even with my wife home, I've lost most of the time I used to use for creativity. I find that I'm having a really hard time finding the time/energy to prepare for games, do personal technical projects, blog, and even continue studying my Chinese (which, I'm sorry to say, I haven't touched in months).

Will It Blend?

2006-11-17T21:34:00.000-05:00

Just because I haven't posted something goofy in a while... check out the extreme blending at Blendtec.

File It Under Adventure

2006-11-17T21:31:00.000-05:00

Ok, it's taken me almost a week but I think I've finally recovered from last Saturday's Richmond Marathon. As I had previously mentioned, I had been quite sick over the preceding two weeks. But the race seemed to start well anyway. At the half-way mark, I was flying along ahead of my goal pace. The weather was cool and the course was beautiful. But then the sun came out and my respiratory infection started to catch up on me. At the 20 mile mark, I was about 3 minutes off my best 20 mile training run. The remainder of the race was pure, utter hell. But I finished and I finished well, all things considered. My total place was 90th of 2918 (I had previously thought it was 89th but someone chipped in ahead of me, even though I finished first). I finished 80th among men and 18th in the 35-39 age group. Best of all, I qualified for the Boston Marathon. Now, I just need to decide if I'm going to run it in 2007.

Living On Borrowed Time

2006-11-10T13:39:00.000-05:00

I am supposed to be running the Richmond Marathon tomorrow. I was going to run it last year, but I sustained a leg injury several weeks before the race and was unable to run. This year, my training has been going extraordinarily well. Just three weeks ago, I ran my last 20 mile training run at nearly race pace (too fast, according to Hal Higdon's program, but I felt really good). Then, as if the Fates couldn't possibly let things get too easy, my entire family came down with a really, really nasty cold (possible RSV). I've been feeling marginally better in the last few days. I ran 6 fast miles two days ago and spent about 10 minutes coughing afterwards. But i finally feel like I just might be able to run after all. This morning's easy two-miler felt comfortable...
...at least until I was hit by a car!

Yes, I was hit by a car this morning. I was running across an intersection about two blocks from my house and thought this guy saw me. Obviously, he didn't. As he blew through the stop sign, I had to vault the hood of his car. It happened almost in slow motion. The whole time I wasn't thinking about serious injury. I was just thinking, "Crap! I have my race tomorrow!"
Well, it looks like I'm ok. I wound up on the curb with my heart racing a hundred miles an hour. But I don't feel any i pain. The guy was obviously very freaked out and he gave me all his contact information. But I really think we both escaped a potentially bad situation - serious injury for me and a whole host legal troubles for him.

So I will be running tomorrow. Hopefully, I'm done with my pre-race scares.

Mice and the Fountain of Pinot Noir

2006-11-02T20:55:00.000-05:00

As a follow up to this post on caloric restriction in monkeys, there has been a swirl of media coverage on the recent study of the effects of resveratrol (found in red wine) on mice with "McDonalds diets". Apparently, it seems to mimic the effects of caloric restriction in mammals. Studies on humans can't be too far off. More details can be found in this CNN article.

Dresden Dolls

2006-11-01T08:45:00.000-05:00

Other than a nasty cold that seems to be holding the entire family hostage, things have been good around here. Good, but very busy. Blogging has fallen down on my list of priorities. But I did want to mention that this past weekend, Christy and I celebrated our fourth anniversary by going to see the Dresden Dolls in Philly. I have only recently discovered the band, though they've been on my radar for a while. Essentially, they can be described as Cabaret-Punk. They consist of a woman who sings and plays piano and a man who plays drums and sometimes guitar. The music is great, but their live performances are really what makes them special. There are true performers who try to make shows special with dancer, costumes, and audience participation. They don't just get on stage and play music. And they have this amazing sex appeal that is kind of hard to describe. Anyway, if you get the chance, I do recommend that you check them out.

Immortal Monkeys

2006-11-01T08:16:00.000-05:00

Here is a great article from the New York Times about slowing the effects of aging through caloric restriction. Because actual caloric restriction might be too difficult for most people, scientists are now working on drugs that mimic the effects. One researcher in the article estimated that with the help of such drugs, humans could have 112 healthy years and some might even reach 140.

BtvS:RPG R.I.P.

2006-10-26T22:13:00.000-04:00

News item from the RPG Blog...

Looks like the folks at Eden Studios have not been able to secure a renewal of their Buffy/Angel license with Fox. That sucks. The Buffy RPG was a very well done product and it is a shame that this is effectively the end of the line. Of course, it won't really effect our long-running BtVSRPG series, Slaying Solomon . I haven't bought a new Eden release since the excellent Magic Box. There just hasn't been a need. Since we are not constrained by licensing agreements, Slaying Solomon still has plenty of life left in it (at least a season or so more).

Get Out Your Tinfoil Hats

2006-10-26T22:02:00.000-04:00

Ok, I have a confession to make. I haven't been all that worried about electronic voting so far. But my office-mate is convinced that the door has been left wide open for election fraud on a major scale. This article over at Ars Technica (found via Slashdot) has pretty much convinced me that he is right. My only hope is that we'll be safe this election because it is too soon for hackers to exploit the numerous security holes. But something will have to be done soon. Will it take the discovery of fraud to fix the system?

Coolest... Whiteboard...Evar

2006-10-11T22:27:00.000-04:00

Check out this MIT whiteboard demo over at Digital Journal. Seriously, I said whiteboard demo. It's so cool that it caused me to return from my blogging absence (forced by some major computer recovery and a nasty schedule) to tell you about it.

A Spaceship For The Rest Of us

2006-10-04T20:36:00.000-04:00

There's a preview of Virgin Galactic's new commercial space program over at CNN.com. Besides showing off the cool aesthetic, the article reveals some really interesting tidbits:

Test flights should begin late next year.
Spaceship 2's passenger seats will rotate to provide the best angle for absorbing the high-G ride.
The White Knight 2 mothership will have an identical cabin and will be used for passenger training flights (by that, I assume the mean "vomit comet" rides).
Flights will feature 5 minutes of weightlessness.
Virgin plans to offer lotteries and a reality TV show to provide access for those of us who can't afford the $200,000 price tag. (Woot!)
Virgin eventually hopes to develop the technology for orbital flight and 1-hour London-Sydney flights.

And on the subject of X-Prize technology (Spaceship 1 won the X-Prize for commercial spaceflight last year), there's a new X-Prize for genetic research. The Archon X-Prize will pay out $10,000,000 to the team that is the first to decode 100 human genomes in 10 days. Furthermore, the X-Prize foundation plans to announce two new prizes per year starting in 2007.

I'm Still Here (Mostly)

2006-10-03T21:49:00.000-04:00

I've been super busy as of late. My wife has been out of town most every day in the last few weeks, so I'm starting to feel like a single parent. As a result, I'm accumulating a back-log of things that I want to blog about. Of course, I don't even have time for a detailed post right now. Juggling getting Finley to daycare, marathon training, and getting to work on time in the morning has been difficult at best. To manage, I have to get to sleep by 9:45 or so.

Briefly, I did want to mention that I had an amazing weekend of gaming... not this past weekend but the weekend before that. Wow, I really am overdue for a post. Anyway... on Thursday the 21st, we finished our Risus Dragonspire game. It took three hours, but we did it. Boy, did it go out with a bang! Now if only I could find time to post the final update...

On Saturday the 23rd, we had one of our best Slaying Solomon episodes in a long time. Fortunately, I'm not on the hook for the writeup. But A Woman Scorned went so well that I definitely want to let everyone know when Jodi posts the episode summary.

Finally, we had a very good D20 Dragonspire game on Sunday the 24th. We were missing two of our players, which sucked, but we did manage to finish the first story arc. I always feel a sense of accomplishment when I reach story breaks in my games. Again, I hope to post updates before our next session (Oct 22?).

In other news, Christy and I finally saw Massive Attack! I've been waiting years to see them and the September 29th show at the 930 Club was fabulous. It's so rare that the two of us can get out now, especially with the cost of babysitters. I was almost starting to forget what it was like. To bad the smoking ban hasn't kicked in yet... maybe I'm getting old, but the fog of cigarette smoke was the only thing that made the night less-than-perfect.

Silly, But I'd Still Love to Live There

2006-09-18T19:11:00.000-04:00

A friend of mine tipped me off to this little development in Oregon: The Shire. Ok, so maybe living there would feel a bit like becoming a permanent resident of Disneyland. But hey, it still resonates strongly with my inner nerd. Thank goodness I don't live in Oregon (otherwise I'd be seriously tempted).

The sit has other uses. I love to gather floor plans for gaming purposes, and this site has a bunch of cool pseudo-medieval houses and town homes that might be appropriate for some cinematic fantasy games that aren't so firmly grounded in historical accuracy (like Dragonspire, for example).

Microsoft Office

2006-09-18T13:02:00.000-04:00

No, not the business software. It's David Brent from the BBC's Office giving tips to Microsoft UK. Get it on Google video while you still can.

Time For A Photo Update

2006-09-15T21:58:00.000-04:00

More pictures from Finn's first birthday start here.

Aside: Somebody needs to invent a way to squeeze four more hours of work into a day. I have a bazillion things that I'd like to post and no time to do it.

His Majesty's Dragon

2006-09-12T08:44:00.000-04:00

I just completed the third book of Naomi Novik's new Temeraire series. For those of you who are unfamiliar, they tell the story of an alternate Napoleonic war... but with dragons! Think Master and Commander meets Dragonriders of Pern. The amazing Ken Hite sums up my thoughts on the books: "I hope the books sell in their millions; Novik has truly hit the sweet spot between lame and recondite where All Is Forgiven."

And good news for Temeraire fans. Peter Jackson of LOTR fame has just secured the rights to the books. He describes his interest in the book in this interview over at AICN .

GM Concept Car (Hydrogen Powered)

2006-09-08T13:09:00.000-04:00

From my friend Steve...

Check out this video of a GM concept car that is
hydrogen powered.

http://www.youtube.com/v/ry6w3mRm-FM

Pity that we will have to wait 10-20 years to see
something like this go into production.

Wow, finally something interesting coming out of Detroit.

More Medical Hype

2006-09-07T13:25:00.000-04:00

This article in The Independent makes a convincing case that a new technique called RNA interference is about to revolutionize medicine. Of course, there is always some major breakthrough knocking on the door. Something as revolutionary as antibiotics is hard to imagine... but not impossible. We seem to be about due for such an advance. Stem cells and gene therapy all hold similar promise, but this new technique may beat them to the punch.

Out of Town

2006-09-03T21:40:00.000-04:00

Just a quick update from Michigan...

We're here visiting friends and family and tomorrow we will be celebrating Finn's first birthday (about a week early). The little boy is having a great time exploring his grandparents' houses but he could probably do without all the car-seat time. Mommy and daddy are having fun as well (and yippee, they were able to go to a Michigan football game for the first time in ages).
We'll be back in VA soon. Look for more updates then.

More Photos

2006-08-28T13:15:00.000-04:00

Our boy has only been crawling for about three weeks now, but wow... he sure seems to be growing up fast. We have new photos posted here (the first since the beginning of summer). Not to be missed: "When Frogs Attack (And Little Boys Fght Back)". I'm also very fond of the shot of me and Finley at the zoo.

Long Overdo Dragonspire Update

2006-08-25T22:58:00.000-04:00

We're having our fourth session of Dragonspire (Dungeons & Dragons version) on Sunday. It's been a while since I last updated the site and it's been weighing on me. So I finally bit the bullet and posted up-to-date session logs and character sheets. It might seem like I'm excessively anal, but I like having up-to-date character information for the players in case anybody leaves their sheet at home. The session summaries help me (and the players) keep the continuity straight.

We had another Risus Dragonspire session last night. That game is going well, but it is so painfully slow to play online. I'll post updates over at the Risus Monkey sometime before the next session.

Nerd Post Backlog

2006-08-21T13:01:00.000-04:00

Since I've been too busy for daily posting, I've been accumulating a bunch of cool science/geek-related tidbits that I had been meaning to share. Quickly (because I'm at lunch and need to get back to work), here is what I found:

Physicists in Japan Plan to Create a New Universe in the Lab. I'm still a little sketchy on how they can prove that they actually did it, but the experiment sounds cool anyway. Also sounds like great gaming fodder.
Science Reveals Secrets of Invisibility. Now this is wild. But wasn't this what the Philadelphia Experiment was all about?
Remote-Controlled Humans. I've been aware of this technology for some time. Back when I worked in the gaming industry, I had hoped to get my hands on a prototype so that we could support it in our flight sim. But this is the first time that I had heard of people using it to control other people by stimulating their sense of direction.
Powering Up, One Step at a Time. File this under "why didn't I think of that"? Imagine the energy potential of all those walking commuters!
Researchers Using Waves to Write on Water. Now that's just plain nifty.
Private Spaceport Plan up for Air. More news on the coming space-flight revolution.
Battery-Fueled Car Will Smoke You. If only had $80K to spare... I would so love to have a Tesla Roadster. And brilliant choice for a name. Hopefully, they aren't using those same batteries that Dell is having so many problems with.

GenCon Update

2006-08-17T21:49:00.000-04:00

Well, I'm back. GenCon 2006 compared very favorably to GenCon 2005. It did seem to have a different vibe, though. Perhaps it was because I knew so many ENWorlders going in this time? Perhaps it was because I just knew what to expect? I dunno, but it did seem more relaxed (odd, since I hardly slept).

Unlike last year, I stuck with ENWorld pickup games and only paid for one event: True Dungeon (fun, as always). This years crop of games are described on this thread over at ENWorld. On Thursday morning, I played an antisocial government agent in Buttercup's Damnation Decade. The game was fun, but it did result in a Total Party Kill (TPK). Thursday night was time for Rel's brilliant Sky Galleons of Mars. I played Tex as a hyperactive hick last year, but I believe that I had more fun playing the imperturbable Captain Umbridge this time around. Friday morning's game was Old One's outstanding Blood Alter of Wodan (Grim Tales). As Leudonus, I finally got to play the brick and had a blast wading through Saxon mooks. Saturday's Risus game was cancelled (on account of a very late night TBR excursion), but I was very honored to be a part of PirateCat's all-star game of Mutants & Masterminds: Antiheroes. As "Killswitch", I was supposed to be the smartest man in the world. I fear I didn't do him justice, but I was just happy to bask in the "perfectness" of all the other player characters. I was especially fond of Kisnit's Migraine and the amazing exchange between PirateCat and KidCthulhu as Knockout's clueless parents. Finally, there was Alenda's Halfling Musketeers game. Of all the games, I may have had the most pure fun in this one. As the party swashbuckler in a swashbuckling game, I was able to pull of some really sweet moves. And playing alongside PirateCat really made my con.

Beyond the gaming, I will say that once again, I was inspired by the people I met and saw. On the one hand, I observed every negative stereotype one would associate with gamers. The people made me thankful that I am fit, healthy, successful, and have an exciting life outside gaming. On the other hand, most of the people I interacted with were fantastically cool people who inspired me in so many ways to be a better person.

In the dealer hall, I was happy to come away with only a few purchases (I spent way too much in the previous years). This year's purchase was limited to a onesie for my son, some new dice, and Qin: The Warring States. The later is a fantastic wuxia game set in late Iron Age China, just as it was being unified for the first time. I don't know if I'll ever use the rules (which do look very playable), but I certainly hope to use the setting at some point, even if it is just for one-shots or dimension-hopping games. The book is absolutely loaded with excellent historical information about ancient China (which dovetails nicely with my studies of Chinese). It also doesn't hurt that the book is really, really handsome.

Lastly, I will also say that were were blessed with fantastic weather, which made my two marathon training runs very enjoyable. For some reason, I find Indianapolis to be a really cool city. I've known about the canal walk since my first year, but this year I discovered the trails along the river (one of which skirts the edge of the zoo).

GenCon

2006-08-09T19:18:00.000-04:00

I'm heading off to GenCon. I'll post an update shortly after I get back.

Vat Brains

2006-08-05T12:25:00.000-04:00

Another genre convention is the idea of a brain in a jar. A related item is the vat brain computer, a computer composed of biological material rather than conventional silicon. This article in Wired described how scientists are actually playing around with primitive versions of these "animats". What is especially cool about this research is that they will help us understand the underlying cortical algorithms, which will be useful in treating brain disorders and building thinking machines.

More Sci-Fi Tech First Seen In Games

2006-08-01T21:31:00.000-04:00

Anybody remember GDW's 2300 AD? I had both versions, as well as the space combat board game. While I loved the setting I never actually got to play it. I've never been able to get a science-fiction game off the ground (not counting cyberpunk), probably because I was intimidated by the scale (and too fond of swashbuckling melee combat). But I did love the hard science-fiction setting. Aside from the obligatory faster-than-light breakthrough (which was handled particularly well), most of the tech was based on conservative extrapolations of existing technology. If anything, these extrapolations were too conservative, but that just made the setting feel that much cooler. It was possibly the only RPG setting that came close to capturing that Aliens feel.

Why bring up 2300 AD? Well, I remember that they had this soft body armor that would harden upon impact by kinetic energy weapons. This article in Business Week talks about how it may soon become reality.

Dragonlance Movie?

2006-07-31T21:21:00.000-04:00

Here's an odd bit of geek news, courtesy of RPG Blog. Apparantly, there is going to be an animated Dragonlance movie. I'm skeptical, especially considering some of the names in the cast (Keifer Sutherland as Raistlin?), but they do have an official site that looks rather official. We'll see...

But it would be pretty darn cool, if it were done right. And the fact that it is animated means that the curse of the previous Dungeons & Dragons movies can hopefully be averted. I have fond memories of the initial trilogy and I owned most of the original modules. I loved the feel of world and the characters seemed to resonate with me some how. and my current Dragonspire campaign is inspired, in part, by the original trilogy. Alas, I never read the subsequent Raistlin and Caramon series (mostly because they were my two least favorite characters). But perhaps I'll catch up before the movie comes out?

Quantum Leap

2006-07-28T08:44:00.000-04:00

Today's tech news brings us a fascinating (and very optimistic) article about the future of computing in Fortune magazine. I can't get enough of this stuff, even though most of the predictions are nothing new. A companion article on Googling the Brain is also at Fortune.

Geek Humor

2006-07-23T15:56:00.000-04:00

Inspirational Posters for the Geeks: http://www.cruisegazing.com/RPG_Motivational/.

To quote Homer Simpson: "It's funny because it's true."

The Amazing Screw-On Head

2006-07-20T08:22:00.000-04:00

Based on a comic by Mike Mignola, the Amazing Screw-On Head will be appearing soon on the Sci Fi Channel. The pilot will run on July 27th and, theoretically, the show will get picked up if it fares well. You can also watch this "hilarious send-up of Lovecraftian horror and steampunk adventure" at their webite, which I highly recommend. Of course, I'm a sucker for anything that is "hilarious", "Lovecraftian", and "steampunk". It also has Mike Mignola's wonderful aesthetic and some wickedly cool lines (like "he was abducted by two horrible old women and a monkey").

ENNie Award Nominations

2006-07-18T19:01:00.000-04:00

As a nominee for last year's ENNie Awards for Slaying Solomon, I feel it is my duty to help spread the word about this year's ballot. The nominees can be reviewed here and you don't need to register to vote here. If you are like me, you may not be terribly familiar with many of this year's nominees. Fortunately, many samples have been provided. Hmm, I think I need to free up some funds for a few of these excellent products.

Dragonspire Update

2006-07-15T22:26:00.000-04:00

We had a great session of D20 Dragonspire last Sunday. I've been meaning to write about it, but I had been hoping to update the site content first. I haven't posted a session summary yet, but I have started work on the character pages. More characters will follow as the players give me their updated sheets.

I am quite pleased with how my first Dungeons & Dragons campaign has started. The action has been fast and furious, thanks in large part to my use of character cards for organizing combat stats and initiative order. I've also set in motion (what I hope to be) an epic plot based on the five chromatic dragon types (if you don't know what I'm talking about, then you are not a D&D geek...move along). Originally, my intent was to run this epic plot with the online Risus Dragonspire group, but it is flat-out impossible to cover enough ground in online play (even using Risus). My revised goal is to have the face-to-face group cover the main plot, with the online group creating some important background events.

I'm also having a good time with adventure design. D&D provides a lot of built-in-structure, which is kind of liberating for someone who is used to much more open-ended systems. It's ridiculously easy to scale encounters and balance the awards given to each player character (though the baby dragon that the party has found has complicated that... more on that in future updates).

One final note: I can't recommend Tact-Tiles highly enough. A good grid system seems to be a requirement for D&D. Tact-Tiles are much easier to manage than a conventional Battlemat.

Inflatable Space Hotels?

2006-07-12T20:43:00.000-04:00

Hotel mogul Robert Bigelow is looking for ways to expand his business... into space! Check out this article about the launch of a prototype of his inflatable orbital hotel module. His goal is to have a space hotel by 2015. That would make me 45 and not even old enough to claim a seniors discount. How cool is that?

Baby Robots

2006-07-11T18:57:00.000-04:00

Today's tech-related item comes from MIT. Specifically, it's a followup to this post about Professor Deb Roy's experiments on raising children. According this article and this NPR story, MIT has a baby robot named Ripley. This robot is learning about it's (limited) world in (apparently) the same manner has a human child would. Listen to the NPR story, it's fascinating. It makes me wonder what kind of AI architecture they are using and if Jeff Hawkins' theories could be put to this kind of test.

D20 Dragonspire

2006-07-08T09:58:00.000-04:00

I'm in the process of creating a D20 Dragonspire site to support our new Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The site has actually been up for a while, but I'll (hopefully) be adding last session's summary and character info before tomorrow's session. The online Risus Dragonspire campaign is still chugging along nicely, though we did miss last Thursday's game.

Ooo, More Maps!

2006-07-06T21:06:00.000-04:00

A friend pointed me towards another great RPG map resource. Lythia.com contains many top-quality maps for the HârnWorld setting and they could easily be adapted to other fantasy worlds.

Ooo, Maps!

2006-07-04T13:59:00.000-04:00

The coolest thing about the Wizards of the Coast D&D site is that they make their art and maps available for download. Thanks to them, I have a whole database of maps that I can use for my games. Check out this example gallery from their Mysteries of Moonsea supplement.

D20 GM Cards

2006-07-04T13:52:00.000-04:00

Getting ready for my second session of D20 Dragonspire (site pending the completion of all PCs), I have started making use of a wonderful resource from The Other Game Company . They have kindly made their Blank D20 Cards able to be edited and saved with the free Acrobat reader. This is going to save me a huge amount of time. D&D/D20 really benefits from index cards for player characters and NPCs (for initiative and general reference). I was going to do it all by hand, but TOGC have saved me the trouble. Their well-formatted and printer-friendly SRD handouts are really handy as well.

Cyberwear Breakthrough

2006-07-03T12:07:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted cool tech items for a while, mostly due to my reduced Internet access. But this item on BBC news is cool enough to break my silence. Researchers have found a way to attach bionic limbs directly to bone. This will (someday) allow the cyberwear to be controlled directly by the nervous system,

Behold The Shatner!

2006-07-02T22:20:00.000-04:00

Check out this clip of Shatner performing at the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award ceremony for George Lucas in 2005. Youtube is a beautiful thing.

(Thanks to Chris Roosenraad for the tip)

Photos as Promised

2006-06-28T21:37:00.000-04:00

Here are the photos from our recent trip to Maine. Please ignore the boy's pasty white father. And I especially like this shot of our little adventurer.

Back From Maine

2006-06-26T21:52:00.000-04:00

The family and I returned from our week-long vacation to Maine yesterday. Pictures will be posted shortly, but I will spare a few moments for a brief summary of our trip. Finn had the poor timing to decide to come down with a nasty daycare disease just before we departed. Running a severe fever, I was uncertain if we would even be able to go. But the fever broke and his first airplane ride passed without incident. We arrived in Ogunquit on Saturday night and enjoyed several days of spectacular weather and quality time with Finn's grandparents, aunt, and cousins. The daycare disease left him with a highly visible rash ("Mommy, that boy has spots!"), but the boy was in high spirits as he enjoyed daily swims in the pool and his first tastes of Cheerios, string cheese, and even lobster. The second half of the week saw us traveling north to Bar Harbor. The weather took a turn for the worse, but we still managed to squeeze in a seal-watching cruise, a kayak trip around the bay, and a foggy hike in the Acadia forest.

Now that we are back, I'm going to try to get back into my routine. Alas, my Internet access has been severely curtailed. My corporate overlords have instituted a draconian electronic surveillance policy, so I can no longer make blog posts or even check my personal email from my work computer. All my personal use of the Internet will be confined to the time between Finn's and my own bed time (as well as weekends). I'm hoping I can at least manage semi-regular posts. I have a lot to talk about. I'm starting a new game ( D20 Dragonspire), I'm reading a fantastic new book (A Game of Thrones, by George R.R . Martin), and I'm considering another attempt at marathon training. And in August, I'm off to GenCon again.

Blogger On the Mend?

2006-06-15T07:00:00.000-04:00

Looks like Blogger may be back to normal. Some of my old posts have finally been posted and the link to Circvs Maximvs is now visible in the list of links. Whew! I was worried that I was going to have to move to other blogging software. Until these recent problems, I have had nothing but good opinions of Blogger.

Alas, my posting for the next week or so is still going to be sparse due to a family vacation. But I hope to pick up where I left off when I return.

Blogger Problems

2006-06-09T08:07:00.000-04:00

Blogger has been acting wonky all week. That is why I have (until now) been unable to post anything. It is doubly frustrating given that I suffered an unrelated web-server crash last week.

Circus Maximus

2006-06-07T08:35:00.000-04:00

My Charlottesville gaming friends first clued me into ENWorld, the RPG site that is the place go if you are at all into D&D or D20 games. Alas, even though I've met some amazing ENWorlders at GenCon and Game Days, I've never been one to hang out on the boards much. I simply don't play D&D/D20 enough and I really don't have time to troll the message boards when I should be a) working, b) preparing for actual games, and c) having a life with my family.

Interestingly enough, I'm starting to get sucked into Circvs Maximvs. CM is an uncensored ENWorld spin-off that seems to have a slightly tighter community. Rather, I should say that it is a community that seems to include most of the ENWorlders that I actually know from previous interactions. They are good people and the CM message boards are lively and interesting. Because they allow discussions of politics and religion, I find myself wanting to jump into discussions about things that really seem important. I mean I like talking about gaming and all, but most threads in gaming boards have absolutely no relevance to my games. Controversial topics, on the other hand, really get me riled up. And for some reason I can't stop playing the song game.

I Am Not Worthy

2006-06-05T07:52:00.000-04:00

Ok, I thought I was hot stuff when I duplicated the diet coke and mentos experiment for my nieces and nephews. Looks like I'm only a hopeless science geek poseur. Check out what these guys have done with 200 liters of diet coke and 500 mentos.

Important Science Update

2006-06-02T11:38:00.000-04:00

In this post, I mentioned that a fun little experiment involving mentos and diet coke. Well, here's a photo of the resulting carnage:

Technical Difficulties

2006-06-01T17:02:00.000-04:00

I haven't posted in a while due to a server meltdown. It's back up, but I've lost some data (including a bunch of new pictures from memorial day). Everything should be repaired this evening.

Hitting the Beach

2006-05-31T09:50:00.000-04:00

I haven't been around to update the website because the family and I have been in New Jersey for Memorial Day weekend. Not much to report, other than the boy really enjoyed hanging with his cousins, swimming in their pool, and playing at the beach. His parents finally got out to see another movie ( Mission Impossible III, which was very fun). His daddy also found the time to complete Christopher Priest's The Prestige (soon to be a major motion picture), as well as get well into Tim Powers' On Stranger Tides. Both books are loaded with cool ideas that I hope take advantage of in future games that I run (especially the Powers book... I really need to run a pirates game at some point).

For friends and family, we have more pictures of the boy posted here.

A Singular Challenge

2006-05-26T09:56:00.000-04:00

CNN has an article about Ray Kurzweil and the Singularity Summit that was held a few weeks ago. For those familiar with Kurzweil and the idea of the Singularity, it's pretty standard stuff. However, it did mention that the DARPA Challenge was a particularly good illustration of how quickly technological change is accelerating. In 2004, the competition was kind of a joke. None of the robot vehicles could even complete the course. Last year, twice as many cars entered and four cars finished in good time. The most amazing thing is the the 2007 challenge will be held on city streets, where the vehicles will need to obey all traffic laws and avoid collisions. Now THAT is a pretty cool challenge.

One More Step Towards a Neural Interface

2006-05-25T16:18:00.000-04:00

This is what I want for my next video game controller. Actually, that's not strictly true. I'd be perfectly happy with an interface that is slaved to my actual body movements through motion sensors. Obviously, I'd need a special place to use it (it's hard to jump kick or swing a pretend sword at your desk). But it would be super if I could get a workout while playing video games. I hate the claustrophobic nature of most console controllers. I prefer mice and keyboard over the thumb-rending XBox/PS2 controllers.

Holy Power Quads!

2006-05-24T12:08:00.000-04:00

Did you know that Christianist nutter Pat Robertson can leg press 2000 lbs? Well, it says so on his website that promotes his holy fitness shake. Where's the video of him leaping tall buildings in a single bound?

Treasure Tables

2006-05-23T11:02:00.000-04:00

Ok, a new RPG resource just opened up. It's called Treasure Tables, and it has a wiki that looks very promising. The site as the potential to be a great place for one-stop "shopping" for free RPG resources. I hope they keep up the good work.

10 Things I Hate About Commandments

2006-05-22T21:08:00.000-04:00

Gratuitous remixed movie-trailer here. Gotta love the Internet. :)

Unintentional Parody

2006-05-22T11:10:00.000-04:00

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has made a couple of television commercials that seek to counter calls for regulation in the effort to halt global warming. The first, called "Energy", is like one of those fake ads they run on Saturday Night Live. If you wanted to do a parody of lame anti-regulatory public-relations campaigns, you couldn't really do worse than this add.

"CO2: They Call it Pollution, We Call It Life."

The best bit is how they try to scare people into thinking that if we regulate C02 emissions, it will somehow harm the environment. Video available at their site.

Lab Rats

2006-05-20T14:34:00.000-04:00

Thanks to our awesome Slaying Solomon web content crew, updates from the last session have been posted here . Wow, I'm doubly pleased with how the session went. Like I said before, I was feeling a little rusty. It had been a while since I had been in the Buffy GM mindset. But despite not getting an extra three hours of prep time that I wanted, the session really did play well. I was thinking that somebody had to do an episode about a psche experiment gone wrong, and the plot where a supernatural character wakes up in a mundane universe is a classic sci-fi cliche (done at least in the real Buffy and Deep Space Nine).

Learning from Children Learning Language

2006-05-19T09:31:00.000-04:00

Something very interesting is going at MIT's Media Lab. Associate Professor Deb Roy, head the Media Lab's Cognitive Machines group, has decked out his house to monitor his own child's acquisition of language. The surveillance equipment will watch for every stimulus that the child receives and try to piece together how people move from simple utterances (like my own boy's "ba-ba" and "ah-duh") to more complex grammatical constructions. I'm very curious as to what they will learn from this experiment. Since my own child is approaching 9 months, I'll be conducting a smaller-scale version of this experiment of my own... albeit without the expensive video equipment and computer processing. Here's hoping that this research is a step towards computers that actually understand language.

Move Along

2006-05-18T17:29:00.000-04:00

Nothing to see.
Actually, I mean it. I've been focusing on life stuff and getting more Risus Monkey updates. Speaking of which, I am now honored to be hosting Dan Suptic's second work: Arcadomai. Best... Risus... fantasy... supplement...evar.

SNL Visits Alternate Universe

2006-05-15T14:06:00.000-04:00

I missed it on Saturday night, but SNL offered a glimpse at that parallel universe that was created in the wake of 2000 election debacle. Check it out here (courtesy of Crooks and Liars), it's a hoot.

(Be patient with the link, it's getting a lot of traffic)

Singularity Summit

2006-05-15T12:07:00.000-04:00

Responsible Nanotechnology is one of many sites that have posted on this weekend's Singularity Summit . I sure wish that I could have gone. To some, the idea of the Singularity seems like crazy science-fiction, a "Rapture for nerds" if you will. But it is undeniable that the rate of technological advancement is accelerating. Simply extrapolating on these trends, as Kurzweil does, leads you to some pretty wild predictions. While I don't think a Singularity event is inevitable, I do buy into many of these predictions. As an AI developer, I am the most skeptical about our ability to produce sentient AI any time soon. This is not because we won't have the computing power (we certainly will), rather I think this is a software problem that will require some sort of breakthrough. Super-fast computers or networks aren't just going to "awaken". Somebody's going to have to design intelligence. Of course, Jeff Hawkin's On Intelligence may be planting the seeds of this breakthrough.

Now That's a Cool Science Project

2006-05-12T09:55:00.000-04:00

According to Wired News:

A 16-year-old high school student has invented a new way of producing electricity by harnessing the brawny power of bacteria.

How cool is that? As the article says, "inventing a new clean and green source of electricity sure tops the old papier-mâché volcano".

Mutant Polar Bears

2006-05-11T09:31:00.000-04:00

This is kind of interesting. I wonder if climate change is forcing polar bears into grizzly bear areas, thus increasing the chances of such hybrids.

Net Neutrality

2006-05-10T12:50:00.000-04:00

I've following the latest developments in the "discussion" of Network Neutrality with a sense of dread. The idea that the telecoms and cable companies might successfully push for a tiered-internet that favors commercial interests over public interests seems implausible, but just plausible enough to give me the willies. It's not that I'm not sympathetic to the idea that they should be able to use "their pipes" in the manner of their choosing. But they can't ignore that the there is a huge public interest in keeping the Internet equally open to all users. And there is just not enough competition in the broadband market to give consumers a choice of selecting a more neutral provider. Wikipedia has a good primer on the history of Network Neutrality and the terms of the current debate.

Super Mice May Cure Cancer

2006-05-10T09:29:00.000-04:00

Science Daily reports that a cancer-resistant strain of mice has been developed. Better yet, white blood cells from these mice have been used to treat cancer in ordinary mice. Money quote:

"The transplanted white blood cells not only killed existing cancers, but also protected normal mice from what should have been lethal doses of highly aggressive new cancers."

Weekend Update

2006-05-08T14:37:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, my wife and I took the boy hiking for the second time. This weekend's excursion was to Harper's Ferry. It was wonderful to get outside with the family, and I am very encouraged that the boy seemed to get such a kick out of it. Of course, he did have the luxury of riding up the mountain on his daddy's back, but I'm not complaining. I love the steepness of the Maryland Heights trail (and we used it extensively for our Kilimanjaro training).

Saturday night was the grand finale of the D&D game that I occasionally play in. Kudos to Hans the DM... that Red Dragon masquerading as a Black Dragon was a really cool trick. Of course, we still made short work of the beastie. Word to other D&D players... 11th level monks really kick ass.

On Sunday, I ran my first episode of Slaying Solomon of the season. It's been a while, and I feel like I was a little rusty and under-prepared. But the session was still a heck of a lot of fun. Updates from the previous session are available here.

Word of the Day: "Weenus"

2006-05-05T17:42:00.000-04:00

This post on the Panda's Thumb really made me chuckle. After a particularly crazy week, it was particularly nice to learn a new euphemism for my naughty bits. Having fun at the expense of those wacky creationists was just icing on the cake.

More Star Trek Tech

2006-05-04T13:56:00.000-04:00

This article in the Guardian tells of how scientists have developed a plausible "cloaking device". Sweet. Granted, it doesn't sound quite as useful as one would hope (alas, no Harry Potter-esque sneaking around places you shouldn't be), but it does have some potentially interesting real-world applications. Of course, the military is interested.

The Da Oreo Code

2006-05-03T14:26:00.000-04:00

Professor Pope has a great take on the whole Da Vinci Code phenomena. He likens the book to a certain mass-produced cookie of dubious nutritional value. For the record, I agree completely. I was sucked into reading both the Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. I knew that I was reading crap. My wife can verify that I would curse the books at loud as I read them. But I also tore through the books at a blistering pace, which means that I must have been enjoying them on some level.