Dang.. so many of the journals I read have had people in a posting frenzy… I may have to trim yet again, and delegate more people to the “check once a week” category.

I’ve been eating a *lot* of spinach lately. I feel that I should be squinting, or have anchor tattoos on my forearms.

I saw this article about probability distributions and task resolution comparisons between d20 and Champs… I include it here only so that Danny can read it.(It’ll bore all but the math/gamer-type). It boils down to the statement of – D20’s skill system is fundamentally open-ended, task-based, and linear. The Champions skill system has a closed range, is success-based, and is normal. The comments have some interesting game-views, too.

Met the new landlord guy, and he seems to be nice enough… hopefully he’ll be more on top of his game than the last one. I’m still looking for a place to own, rather than rent, though. The time’s come to invest a bit. Paying money into my ownership rather than to someone else is overdue.

Roar of the greasepaint, smell of the crowd…

trivia for the day: Autopsy means “see for yourself.”

Japan SAQ (Seldom Asked Questions).
Excerpt:

Q. What is the origin of the Japanese superstition which says that if you cut your nails at night, you will die young?
A. This superstition has two versions. One says that if you cut your nails at night, you will die young (Yoru ni tsume o kiru to hayaji ni suru) and another that you won’t be with your parents when they die (Yoru ni tsume o kiru to oya no shi ni me ni aenai), i.e. you will die before them. There are two reasons for these superstitions. One is that during the Edo period, cutting one’s nails at night was dangerous because of the lack of light. The second reason is that the Japanese word ‘Yotsume’ (cutting your nails at night) sounds like ‘Yo o tsumeru’ which means to cut short a life.

Crochet Dresses for Furbies.

April Winchell has some dandy multimedia, (Search for Seasonal midway down the page)

Extreme weather pictures.

regional dialect meme

Ah, wonderful! That’s what I was looking for! Ancient Egyptians on TLC thanks, egofood!

AIRDATES

The Battle of Megiddo – Sunday, Dec. 7 8 p.m. and midnight ET/PT

Tomb Robbers Sunday, Dec. 7 – 9 p.m. and 1 a.m. ET/PT

The Priests of Amun Monday, Dec. 8 – 8 p.m. and 11 p.m. ET/PT

The Cult of the Apis Bull Monday, Dec. 8 – 9 p.m. and midnight ET/PT

Show Descriptions

Another Crazy-busy day and night… I guess it promotes solid sleep though. I wonder if it will continue to be this busy throughout the winter holidays?

Taking a page from sweetalyssm‘s journal, pet names for the kitty –

• Newton
• Noodle
• Nudist
• Nudie Bar
• Newton J Fuzzbutton
• Newtie-bear
• Orange Boy
• Fuzz-Face
• Stripey Boy
• Son
• Furburger
• Fluffy Monkey
• Turd Fergerson (if he makes a stinky poop)
• Pooper McDumpsalot – see above

Many more.. those are just off the top of my head. He seems to know I’m talking to or about him. 🙂

I’m going to have to get on the stick, and place my Amazon orders soon, if I want them to get to the destinations by Christmas. I’m fortunate that I can get a good amount of my shopping done without leaving the house… a pity that Danny doesn’t have a wish list, but I usually buy him local events rather than ranged gifts.

Gold Rush Games sent me a pre-release version of The Dragon’s Gate: San Angelo’s Chinatown sourcebook, on the condition that I review it (and mention that it is in fact a pre-release version, that I don’t distribute the file anywhere else.. standard legalisms.) More about San Angelo is at sacoh.com. It’s 128 pages, so it’ll take a day to digest, and another two to sniff out the pros and cons, I think.

Speaking of which, I picked up the pdf of Darwin’s World 2.0 for d20, and it looks like a lot of fun. (and it’s far better edited, readable and generally of use than the current Gamma World sounds) I wonder what a post-apocalyptic Chinatown would have as a blend of the two? I think the classic mix of Golden age or an old west game would be a lot more suitable.

Wrigley’s “Grapermelon” gum sounds nasty…and 7-11 supposedly has a slurpee of the same flavor. “Limafootstankbeans” seems as palatable.

Hmm… where is that Egyptian Special Dec 7? The closest thing I can find is Nubia: The Forgotten Kingdom (Which looks cool, but is on Wednesday, the 10th.) I imagine I can wait, but don’t want to miss if there’s something else nifty coming up too.

HTML color meme

Zow… it was crazy busy last night, but it still seemed to go by slow. Brother came by, but I didn’t get to really visit with him at all… I was doing phone work the whole time he was over, and it continued well after he left. I want to take some time to gab with him while I can.

Some good news.. Danny’s Wife was on the radio for a 10-minute interview on a Christian radio station.. got a chance to promote her wedding planner service. I hope it takes off and really flies… I’d be happy to see them do well. I hear Danny got to talk to Doug briefly on Sunday… I’m glad that Doug rang him up and they got to gibber, even for just a moment or two.

Blogshares closed…. ah well, I really hadn’t played in a while now.

Speaking of online daily games, the latest vampire game development – You are the vampire scottobear . You have drunk 17007 pints of blood. Your rank is Ruler of the Night – next rank at 25000 pints. You are sire to 173 other vampires, including: LdySaphyre (10278 pints), MissV (4768 pints), Nathanael (2673 pints), aatak (2667 pints), Morgoth (2448 pints), Silenciador (2023 pints), xerxes (1601 pints), night_flyer (1571 pints), gilbella (1555 pints), FreakJonn (1510 pints)

Mr. Picassohead

Dreams involved the scent of a baking pineapple cake (or some other sickly-sweet fragrance) and flight through a very thick cloudbank… I could feel the moisture of the fog on my skin. Lots of sensations, not many events, but pleasant, all the same.

Maps for everyone.
Scotland maps.
Great Britain old maps
Perry-Castañeda Library map collection.
Maps of the Roman Empire.
USA Civil War maps.
Maps of Liberia.

Researchers are trying to teach Segway people movers to move and think for themselves, with a special emphasis on military applications. CTV.ca has the story.

The hippies had another lovely baby girl… Haley Jordan Bohl was born on Saturday Night. Dave’s totally outnumbered by the X-chromosome now.. two daughters and Cathi will be filling the household with estrogenny goodness for the next little while. Mayah was good enough to go to bed and stay asleep while the birthing was taking place, and it seems that everything went off without a hitch. (Haley was born about two weeks early.)

Ah, I see… Neighbor in #2 (Sammy) didn’t move out… supposedly he was taken to jail for multiple instances of driving without a license. That doesn’t explain why his car is parked out here…I thought that they’d tow it, if they caught him on the road. I suspect that the “DWOL” is a fib, but the jailing is legit. It’ll be interesting to see if he’ll be back in 30 days. Oh, and the landlord is just getting around to repairing ex-tenant/leech Frankie’s window from the other night. (The other night being the 16th of November)

Looks like The X-Files wasn’t so far off the mark from reality…

“The Zero Files are documented evidence kept deep in the archives of FBI field offices nationwide that records delusional fantasies, conspiracy theories, paranormal claims and other potential threats to society that were written down and sent to the federal investigative unit.”

“Almost anything can be a Zero File — the phrase simply refers to items received by the FBI that are “non-actionable,” and can include anything from cases handed off to local police to “attaboys” from other agencies.”

A couple of excerpts:

“Recently, before these terrorist acts, I made a usual request that you investigate the Necronomicon. I do not know if you took me seriously, as I realize you are still enslaved by the physical realm and refuse to open your mind to this spiritual war that is clearly discussed in Revelations, but in case you did, I wanted to add a little information.”

“Some files, however, are eerie in their seeming prescience or certainty… the anonymous caller offering impossible theories of a conspiracy involving the CIA who leaves a return phone number that connects to an internal CIA office number.”

The Dead Bug Funeral Kit comes with an Illustrated Buggy Book of Eulogies with Ribbon Bookmark, Casket, Grave Marker, White Clay Flower, Burial Scroll, and Pouch of Grass Seed.

The hippies had another lovely baby girl… Haley Jordan Bohl was born on Saturday Night. Dave’s totally outnumbered by the X-chromosome now.. two daughters and Cathi will be filling the household with estrogenny goodness for the next little while. Mayah was good enough to go to bed and stay asleep while the birthing was taking place, and it seems that everything went off without a hitch. (Haley was born about two weeks early.)

Ah, I see… Neighbor in #2 (Sammy) didn’t move out… supposedly he was taken to jail for multiple instances of driving without a license. That doesn’t explain why his car is parked out here…I thought that they’d tow it, if they caught him on the road. I suspect that the “DWOL” is a fib, but the jailing is legit. It’ll be interesting to see if he’ll be back in 30 days. Oh, and the landlord is just getting around to repairing ex-tenant/leech Frankie’s window from the other night. (The other night being the 16th of November)

Looks like The X-Files wasn’t so far off the mark from reality…

“The Zero Files are documented evidence kept deep in the archives of FBI field offices nationwide that records delusional fantasies, conspiracy theories, paranormal claims and other potential threats to society that were written down and sent to the federal investigative unit.”

“Almost anything can be a Zero File — the phrase simply refers to items received by the FBI that are “non-actionable,” and can include anything from cases handed off to local police to “attaboys” from other agencies.”

A couple of excerpts:

“Recently, before these terrorist acts, I made a usual request that you investigate the Necronomicon. I do not know if you took me seriously, as I realize you are still enslaved by the physical realm and refuse to open your mind to this spiritual war that is clearly discussed in Revelations, but in case you did, I wanted to add a little information.”

“Some files, however, are eerie in their seeming prescience or certainty… the anonymous caller offering impossible theories of a conspiracy involving the CIA who leaves a return phone number that connects to an internal CIA office number.”

The Dead Bug Funeral Kit comes with an Illustrated Buggy Book of Eulogies with Ribbon Bookmark, Casket, Grave Marker, White Clay Flower, Burial Scroll, and Pouch of Grass Seed.

Holy cow.. looking through some old pictures from the end of ’99, top of 2000…. I *have* lost a lot of weight. I think I look better with the goatee rather than the full beard, too. Also found a pile of old sketches, very clearly influenced by Alex Toth. (though of course, his stuff is nostalgic and amazing, and mine is simply nostalgic..)

Also inside were some old palm sketches… Doc Firestone’s Gusano, and a really awful, yet accurate self-portrait. (drawn in early 2000, I think … before I knew I could export in black and white, rather than “pseudo-palm colors.. though maybe later, because I knew that I could go a little taller than the screen resolution on my face. )

Conflict at Walt Disney bursts wide open

Roy Disney resigned as vice-chairman of the Walt Disney entertainment group on Sunday and called for Michael Eisner, chairman and chief executive, to follow suit, bringing to a head a conflict that has been brewing for a decade.

“It is my sincere belief that it is you who should be leaving and not me,” he said in a bitter letter that criticized Mr Eisner’s performance and style on seven counts…

Roy Disney’s Full Resignation Letter to Micheal Eisner – Nicely said!

I added a teeny holly-icon to my blogroll for the moment (until I can work out a better one…maybe a candle, or candy-cane?)

Drag your mouse, make a snowflake.

If you’re on the lookout for wild, wacky Christmas music, head on over to Basic Hip’s Digital Oddio and quick. He’s got the Three Suns’ 1959 album A Ding Dong Dandy Christmas available for download, but only for the next few days. If you must do only one song, check out their weird “White Christmas” or the rockin’ “Russian Sleigh Song”.

1,000 Times Too Many Humans? Continue reading #6306 – Some seasonal goodness, and population issues →

Vivid, but surreal dreams last night. no real rhyme or reason at all.. more like a series of different scenes events than anything else. I remember blocking a punch and the other person’s arm wrapping around mine like a wet towel, grappling me… and another different part where it was raining a sort of light.. you wouldn’t get wet, just a flicker of brightness on your body like being hit with a laser pointer. The ground was brightly lit, and the air was filled with little firefly flashes… folks didn’t seem to notice as I watched them walking, flickers and shards of light flying off of every surface.

Heh… the word “sheeple” for tourists in a group gave me a good giggle, last night.

I hear Island Boy is back to FMM… Nordis laid a bunch of people off. They have some bad practices over there.. hire 11 people, fire 8 within four or five months. not too cool. I’m glad he was able to bounce back to his old gig rather than being unemployed. (Though I think he could probably find a better gig elsewhere, pay-wise, unless they gave him a good raise when he returned.)

Kev had to put Tippy down on Friday… I’m glad he’s got the zoo there to keep his cheer up. So there’s Emma-puppy, who is about 50 lbs now… Felix and Jinx, the kitties, and Dexter who’s a full sized dog, and Ripley who’s a medium pooch, but getting up there in age, too. That’s a lot of love (and a lot of poop in the yard) remaining.

Ancient 20-sided die. (where’s the ancient Roman D&D Monster Manual?)

Continue reading #6304 – Is it December already? Ancient dice, Name Gen, misc →

Turns out the my grandmother on my mother’s side had a heart attack Thanksgiving evening, and possibly a mild stroke. My Uncle, (Her eldest son) is up there now and tending to her. I seems to be fairly serious, but stable now. She’s in good hands… I hope that Ted hangs in there. She’s of hardy stock, but really getting up there in age. Hopefully, she’ll be in good enough health to move back to Florida soon, where things are a little easier on seniors.

Brother came by today and picked up a bunch of his stuff (though not all of it). Maybe the fact that we got into the start of an argument last night got through to him? Hard to say, but he was fairly cowed and quiet… He brought the Mother over with him, to help cart his stuff. He was good enough to call first before coming over and was polite enough about this and that. I worry about his cognitive skills… even though its the first time in an age that he’s shown up at my house without a beer in his hand, or smelling of the stuff, his body language and actual speech patterns were still mildly erratic. I wonder if he’s on something, or if he’s a little damaged from past abuses, or was just nervous about dealing with me? Hard to say, but hopefully it’s repairable, whatever it is. We did talk civilly about him selling his guitar on eBay.. I suggested that he try to sell it locally, first, just to make things go more swiftly, and to spare him the trouble of figuring out how to ship a guitar. If he does decide to go the eBay route, I’ll certainly help him with his wording and posting it under his own account.

As for some good news, I’m down to my last notch on my belt… I’ll have to buy a new one, soon.. probably along with a couple pairs of better-fit pants.

The Disinfopedia – a collaborative project to produce a directory of public relations firms, think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts that work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations, governments and special interests.

Woman trampled and knocked unconscious while shopping for a doorbuster-priced DVD player at Wal-Mart.

The store offered to put the DVD player on lay-away for her.

Stickels with Orange City police said there would not be criminal charges for the trampling. “It gets like that around the holidays,” he said. “People get fierce.”

Ah, the holiday spirit. it misses some folks entirely.

Santa’s helper throttles teen

An outing to a shopping center ended with a shock for 13-year-old Joakim Osland. A fjoesnisse, a kind of elf that traditionally occupies barns and wears a red cap associated with Christmas and Santa Claus, became frighteningly furious when Joakim tried to pet his hen, newspaper Firda reports.

Continue reading #6302 family stuff, holiday news items →

I hate getting my buttons pushed…I guess that goes without saying for anyone. I’m good as long as I realize it’s being done, and I can stay on top of it. It’s difficult, sometimes. Some folks have their head so far up their asses that they can’t see the colon for the polyps. If someone wants to be an idiot, warn ’em kindly, and let them go on being an idiot.

The first half of last night’s JL was weak, but the part two more than made up for it. “I’ve got issues, what with destroying the Earth and all.” Lobo never did anything for me… there was a lot of fighting, but not much plot development in the first part.. just fighting.

Holidays are starting to come, now.. so it’s time to mention Toys for Tots Unwrapped toys for kids that’d otherwise have nothing. It’s a good org, and I have to consider what I want to do this year for them, or a like charity.

I’ve changed my “recently updated” image on the blogroll form turkeys to smurfs … at least until I can figure some other little one to put there. candy canes, perhaps?

Three articles about the same thing – Kitties and Mind-Altering Parasites.

Dangerrrr: cats could alter your personality

Decreased level of psychobiological factor novelty seeking and lower intelligence in men latently infected with the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii Dopamine, a missing link between schizophrenia and toxoplasmosis?

Parasites make scaredy-rats foolhardy

Apparently, the parasites get in and mess with neurotransmitters in ways we don’t quite understand yet — to make their targets *more vulnerable to cats*, with some vaguely disturbing personality changes.

Based on preliminary studies, 30-90% of people (varying from country to country) are infected already.

There’s no known cure. The CDC factsheet