Tag Archives: games

6792 – Offer not good after curfew in sectors R or Q.

Snickers with almonds is very tasty when frozen, but I preferred the chilled tangerine I also had for breakfast. Tasty morsels. I don’t use the word morsel often enough. Or Scrumdiddlyumptious. Ok, ok…I lied, dear journal…. I say scrumdiddlyumptious at least once or twice a month. Though, to make up for the “morsel” imbalance, I also hardly ever say “Oh, snap”.


The soft, spicy odor of incense, wafting in from the corridor between my bedroom and bath brings me calm on hectic days. It’s getting easier for me to realize when I’m tense lately, and once I know that I’m stressed, I can channel that attitude out to make way for more productive behavior.

When I decide to veg out…I usually sit Indian-style or other comfortable position, usually with Newt nearby. I let all the random jetsam spinning around in my mind slowly settle onto the floor of my mind for proper storage or disposal. Sometimes whole books hit the ground when the mental wind slows down, but usually it’s closer to fortune-cookie slips of paper and multi-colored index cards with quickly scrawled information on it, including “continued on card number XXX” written on the bottom. Sometimes the connected card is nearby or someplace that I can retrieve it quickly, other times, it’s probably in one of the piles off in one of the corners.

I picture my mental room as octagonal-shaped, having hardwood floors and highlights, a network of bookshelf-columns radiating out from the center, and glass walls leading up to a covered dome with a skylight on top. Secret Memories of an ancestor that was into trepanation? I don’t see any self-surgery in my future. The amount of light inside reflects my mindset, with thick drapes that could blot out an atomic blast when darkness is absolutely needed.

There are monkeys, too. Or Ghosts. Maybe Monkey Ghosts. That’s it. Probably genetically enhanced… or with some sort of mystic talisman thingie.


Storywise, sometimes I don’t see myself as a main character. It’s easy to fall in the role of support, or walk-on… no limelight, but more like Wilson on Home Improvement, though, if I was to stretch the example, I suppose that I could grab the Al role here and there. I try to be helpful and am mostly soft spoken, a little too off the beaten path to be a primary focus. I suspect that’d change if I was under the same roof with my sweetheart, rather than having us end up being the wacky neighbors.

Then again, there was the Grizzly Adams TV show. Random trivia… Ben the bear was named for Ben Franklin.


Whims got me itchin’ for doughnuts…she makes hers with prepackaged dough… I didn’t have any, but I found this little recipe.. and the bread maker!

Bread Machine Doughnuts

6772 – Nuts and doodles.

Doodled on the way home yesterday.


Recent comments (returns last 10 if your a freebie, last 50 if you’re a paid user ,both posted by you, and entered into your journal. – must be logged in, of course.) If you own any communities, that works, too, via a drop down. Makes it easy for me to monitor the hut without having to flip through all the entries.

nifty! (via flying_blind, by way of waning_estrogen.)


In HoL, I’m now a level 3 Frog Director. The spooky forest is nifty.

6770

You can get a skewed perspective on human behavior working at the gig that I do. A sampling of policemen (both good and bad), a few menopausal co-workers, folks with dementia, sexual predators, troubled kids, messed up families and the like could make a lot of people jump to the assumption that everyone on the planet is somehow off-balance, and not only by a little bit.

My mindset is to look at it like I’m a fireman… sure, I see a lot of houses on fire, but people don’t call when there *isn’t* a fire…. it’d be a fool who thinks all buildings are burning, everywhere.

I’m glad that there are co-workers and cops that are solid and on top of their game to reinforce this belief. (Not to mention swell folks outside the industry.)

I still would gladly see proved child molesters tossed onto a penal work-island for life. There’s no reprogramming them without falling into the “cruel and unusual” category of brainwashing/torture that I know of, so the next best thing is to isolate them, until a cure is found… in my opinion. I don’t think that a well-run penal colony is cruel or unusual for “unreformable” criminals. Make whatever counseling is deemed appropriate available, but also make them work for their keep.


Infectious Disease trading cards, from the CDC. collect ’em all! Who needs baseball players when you can play flip or put Ecoli or rabies in your bicycle spokes?

thanks for the link, gael!


My Current HoL stats

6768 etc

The Kingdom of Loathing – pretty nifty online rpg. About. I’m a Level 2 turtle trainer.


Hooray for Bollywood Torrents! Hum Tum is pretty nifty, for a he-said / she-said sort of movie.

Word of warning… surfing for a website for the above movie gave my mozilla a case of vbs.redlof.a. My Systems combo of Norton Antivirus and MSIE seemingly has immunity, due to caching differences.


According to Wired,

322 municipalities and four states — Alaska, Hawaii, Maine and Vermont — have Patriot Act resolutions… calling on Congress to repeal or change parts of the USA Patriot Act that, activists say, violate constitutional rights such as free speech and freedom from unreasonable search and seizure.

Check to see if your region is one of the 322.

Broward County, Florida info

6742 The mysterious green flash – I’ve seen it.

For more than a century, sky observers have argued about the cause of a brilliant green flash of light that sometimes occurs for a fraction of a second just before the sun rises, or just after it sets. The flash appears only rarely, usually when the atmosphere is very clear, and only when the sun is outlined against a distant horizon, such as a mountain ridge or ocean. Jules Verne described the phenomenon in fiction, mentioning the ancient Scottish legend that attributed supernatural powers to the flash: “At its appearance all deceit and falsehood are done away, and he who has been fortunate enough to behold it is enabled to see closely into his heart and to read the thoughts of others.”

The is still some debate over the cause of the green flash, but it is almost certainly a type of refraction phenomenon. In their book, Sunsets, Twilights, and Evening Skies, Aden and Majorie Meinel of the optical Sciences Center of the University of Arizona argue convincingly that atmospheric refraction causes the image of the sun to be separated into a ring of colors, with green located slightly above the predominant red image. For a second or less, when the sun is just below the horizon, a sliver of the green band is refracted above the horizon and becomes the last bit of visible light, erupting in a silent, instantaneous flash of emerald. The flash is just as likely to occur at sunrise as sunset, although it is more difficult then to be watching the precise spot where the sun will appear.

A gallery of green flash examplesThis is closest to the one I saw.

From Jules Verne’s Le Rayon Vert (The Green Ray) :

“a green which no artist could ever obtain on his palette, a green of which neither the varied tints of vegetation nor the shades of the most limpid sea could ever produce the like! If there is a green in Paradise, it cannot be but of this shade, which most surely is the true green of Hope”

Well, I know my heart, but my mind-reading powers are limited.


Had Fun in CoH with Whims and Sam yesterday… a nice break after a lousy morning at work. They did some phone work and killed the internet connection until about 11am…they finally confessed to it being an offsite problem, after I reset the router and network. Bleah. Also as a result, our line 4 was confused with another office’s in Boca… it was the main line for them, so they were none too happy… we just put it on hold after the first 12 calls came in… they got fixed by 1:30dish.

Had a nice lunch of veggie rolls at the local sushi place… VS and I got to vent a little bit over assorted work-politics that’re going on. Nothing major, just the usual gripes.


45% of documented serial killers are lefties.


Art-Instruction Books of Andrew Loomis

Your one stop source for human anatomy references for 3D and traditional artists. If you desire to learn human anatomy be sure to check “Drawing Figure for All It’s worth” By great anatomy and drawing teacher Andrew Loomis.Site Meter

6742 The mysterious green flash – I've seen it.

For more than a century, sky observers have argued about the cause of a brilliant green flash of light that sometimes occurs for a fraction of a second just before the sun rises, or just after it sets. The flash appears only rarely, usually when the atmosphere is very clear, and only when the sun is outlined against a distant horizon, such as a mountain ridge or ocean. Jules Verne described the phenomenon in fiction, mentioning the ancient Scottish legend that attributed supernatural powers to the flash: “At its appearance all deceit and falsehood are done away, and he who has been fortunate enough to behold it is enabled to see closely into his heart and to read the thoughts of others.”

The is still some debate over the cause of the green flash, but it is almost certainly a type of refraction phenomenon. In their book, Sunsets, Twilights, and Evening Skies, Aden and Majorie Meinel of the optical Sciences Center of the University of Arizona argue convincingly that atmospheric refraction causes the image of the sun to be separated into a ring of colors, with green located slightly above the predominant red image. For a second or less, when the sun is just below the horizon, a sliver of the green band is refracted above the horizon and becomes the last bit of visible light, erupting in a silent, instantaneous flash of emerald. The flash is just as likely to occur at sunrise as sunset, although it is more difficult then to be watching the precise spot where the sun will appear.

A gallery of green flash examplesThis is closest to the one I saw.

From Jules Verne’s Le Rayon Vert (The Green Ray) :

“a green which no artist could ever obtain on his palette, a green of which neither the varied tints of vegetation nor the shades of the most limpid sea could ever produce the like! If there is a green in Paradise, it cannot be but of this shade, which most surely is the true green of Hope”

Well, I know my heart, but my mind-reading powers are limited.


Had Fun in CoH with Whims and Sam yesterday… a nice break after a lousy morning at work. They did some phone work and killed the internet connection until about 11am…they finally confessed to it being an offsite problem, after I reset the router and network. Bleah. Also as a result, our line 4 was confused with another office’s in Boca… it was the main line for them, so they were none too happy… we just put it on hold after the first 12 calls came in… they got fixed by 1:30dish.

Had a nice lunch of veggie rolls at the local sushi place… VS and I got to vent a little bit over assorted work-politics that’re going on. Nothing major, just the usual gripes.


45% of documented serial killers are lefties.


Art-Instruction Books of Andrew Loomis

Your one stop source for human anatomy references for 3D and traditional artists. If you desire to learn human anatomy be sure to check “Drawing Figure for All It’s worth” By great anatomy and drawing teacher Andrew Loomis.Site Meter

6741 – Melange.

Pick up the phone. dialing takes you to different places.


Implosion world – Watch buildings get demolished.


Virtual Frog dissection.


A Reminder from dictionary.com

Q. What is the plural of virus?

A. Viruses.

It is not viri, or (worse) virii. True, the word comes directly from Latin, but not all Latin words ending in -us have -i as their plural. Besides, viri is the Latin word for ‘men’ (plural of vir, “man,” the root of English virile). There is in fact no written attestation of a Latin plural of virus.

If you have some knowledge of linguistics and Latin, you might be interested in the morphological analysis of the word from the Perseus Project.

When you have more than one bus, it’s not a fleet of bi. Buses.


I *really* like my new clothes. Losing weight is a good thing… I figured it out – Garganticus and Foomy got shorts from George Foreman’s collection at the “Big and Tall” (or Looming and Vast, depending on how far you go… You could put a sharp dress suit on the Hulk right off the rack.)… my new pants and shorts are comfy, and I’m not “lost” in them anymore. It’s nice to have some shorts that fit properly. I picked up a nice linen tunic-looking jersey, too. (For days that I’d like to dress like Barney Rubble) I held back on the Hawaiian shirts…a bit expensive, and wasn’t what I was really there for. Maybe next time. It seems sort of feminine or at least “metrosexual” to be this happy about new clothes, but that’s what’s up. Small pleasures. Man, the prices online are horrid… either that or I stumbled into a lot of good sales.


Bro came by and borrowed a few DVDs. I hope I see them again. Five Deadly Venoms, Tank Girl, Titan AE, MechaGodzilla, and a few others. The only ones I’ll really miss are the badly dubbed kung fu and giant rubber monster movies. Upside, he was clean and pressed… either looking for work, or doing something where he’d have to look non-scrubby, anyhow. I’m happy to see him looking sharp and attentive to detail.


I would really like a multiplayer computer version of Car Wars online, akin to City of Heroes. It’d look a bit like CoH’s Boomtown, I think.


roadsign meme

6732 – And you, poor creatures… who conjured you out of the clay?

Thanks, leftyrok for introducing me to Elin! Very Spiffy music.


Wachovia Tower Webcam… about time there was a solid, pannable, zoomable, Miami-cam from that height. 🙂 I’m looking forward to the Four Seasons Cam, too.


The Dead Case – flash game

As a ghost you must uncover the secrets of your past.
Scare children in order to gain power and find a way to escape your purgatory town.

The FAQ provides a walkthrough of sorts, with hints to get you through the game, if needed.


The BBC is broadcasting an adaptation of Terry Pratchett’s Mort. Pretty good interpretation, so far.


Be warned, lest you end as I, dear journal.Site Meter


1 year ago – GP writes me after however many years, reader influx, bro behaving, insensitive online transgender Columbina gets snotty with D, lovey-newt.

2 years ago – a very well thought-out email about getting a journal code for japaneseblossom, 100 questions, Newt-acrobatics, beanbag sofas, rate kittens.

3 years ago -mephitic, sweetie-yodeling, quiet mood, sponge bob, bad science, sexy factoids

4 years ago – Nothing.. not updating regularly yet.

6391 Gaming memory tangents

My answer to this gaming question: What do you think is the best cast size for the games you’ve played? What are the factors that go into your answer: genre, play group, gaming system, etc.?

The short answer is 4.

The long answer is that I really think it’s up to each gaming group, but I prefer smaller crew sizes for most games. More than six players with one GM was a bit much for me. I think three-four is good for most groups, and I had a lot of fun doing the “Brave & the Bold” Greenpeace (Hippie Green Lantern in the ’60s, protoge of Alan Scott on DC “Earth 2.1”) & Doc Mid-nite (Daughter of The Original) team ups with Katt and GrayPumpkin. (GP ran, K & I were sort of the “buddy Picture” team… there was really solid dynamic there.) It was actually a spin-off of a larger scale silver age JSA, the Next generation campaign…. funny how JSA got popular again in the comics about 3 years after that game came to a close. Supers Games seem to bog down too much after 4 players… but that might just be because we were playing champions. It’s a good game, but combat can take a looooong time.

I’ll add another qualifier to my preference, I prefer a fairly gender-balanced crew… an all-boys squad tends to be more accepting of inappropriate behavior.. I think it’s good to have a balanced crew to keep the less mature a little more on the ball.

So, short story made long, 4 is as large as I really like, though I’ve been in 7-person groups before, usually the 7th person peters it out, at least in my memory. Now, if some of those players are non-entities, it doesn’t count as much… Ramble

factoids / semagic jumps to 1.3.6.0U (after I just got 1.3.3.2 last night) / doing the wash

A new world record has been set by Jim Hager, 47, of Oakland, California. Jim ate 115 M & M Candies, using chopsticks, in 3 minutes. (that’s pretty impressive.. but still seems beatable. I wonder how far the bowl has to be from your mouth?)


Marcelo Torres, 22, was riding the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad when the roller coaster derailed inside a tunnel as it was climbing a steep grade. An “unknown, blunt object” caused “blunt force trauma” to his chest and fractured his ribs, leading to laceration of his lungs. Marcelo bled to death before help could arrive. Ten other passengers were injured.


The animal most often hallucinated by someone experiencing drug withdrawal (including alcohol) is a black or gray dog.


Dendrophilia is sex with trees.


Bees are more likely to sting on windy days.


The newest semagic client allows you to download your journal to disk and search it, comfortably. I just finished dumping all 6100+ entries and (comment grabs are currently disabled) to my hard drive. That’ll teach me to download the prior update the night before. They’re going to use a built-in spell checker rather than word’s soon, too.


Displacer beast! Blackie, plus Newt, plus a squid?)D&D monster of the moment… in perhaps more in honor of Blackie than of Newt’s Birthday, a Displacer beast. Newt’s more of an anti-displacer beast, considering that he’s generally when I look for him, and easily petted. He does attack well with his teeth and front strikers, though for no appreciable damage.

The displacer beast is a savage and stealthy carnivore that resembles a puma with six legs, glowing green eyes, and two muscular tentacles growing from its shoulders.

A displacer beast has luxurious, blue-black fur and a long, feline body and head. It is the size of a Bengal tiger, about 10 feet long and weighing about 500 pounds. The tentacles end in pads equipped with horny ridges.

Displacer beasts favor small game but will eat anything they can catch. They regard all other creatures as prey and tend to attack anything they meet. They have a deep-seated hatred for blink dogs, and the two attack each other ruthlessly when their paths cross.

Displacer beasts rake opponents with their tentacles and bite foes that get close.

Displacement (Su): A light-bending glamour continually surrounds a displacer beast, making it difficult to surmise the creature’s true location. Any melee or ranged attack directed at it has a 50% miss chance unless the attacker can locate the beast by some means other than site. A true seeing affect allows the user to see the beast’s position, but see invisibility has no effect.


Ok. Off to do my laundry. Until later, dear journal.

Ok, revised launch times again. Gives me ten more minutes of rest.

Blogshares Total Portfolio: $961,917.95. Folder: 15 blogs.

Bad Toon Rising is a collection of drawings of well-known cartoon characters produced by amateur artists entirely from memory and without any reference materials whatsoever. (via boing boing)

An International Catalogue of Superheroes: The purpose of this site is to build up a database of information about various superhero characters from around the world. For decades American comics, and especially those from two prolific publishing houses, have dominated if not the market, then certainly the public’s perception of it. There are few people in the world that would not recognize Superman, Batman, Spider-Man or the X-Men, and there are hundreds of websites devoted to those characters. That is not the focus of this site.

Woo! From the Vampire game “You are sire to 16 other vampires, including: LdySaphyre (6072 pints), Liliana (2285 pints), MissV (1794 pints), mixedresults (1246 pints), gilbella (1043 pints), Sierina (180 pints), Soul Harvester (25 pints), Morgoth (18 pints), bloodytears666 (17 pints), renwick (6 pints)” I wish it gave me an option to view full lineage.

Sjohn’s Font of the month – Invader Candy

Today was supposed to be a day of rest and comfort. From 3PM on, that simply wasn’t the case. Tomorrow will be a better day… I’ll be able to focus on other issues. There were a few positives about the day… Fortunately, I have some good anchors to keep me grounded. Added bonus, short week ahead.

I get to be a piglet for dessert snack tonight, because I need to catch up on my points, and I’m not in the mood for orange juice.

Esteem meme