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Crusader Kings II - The Norse pt.1
I'm going to talk a bit about the gaming project that I have been spending waaaaayyyyy too much time on recently. I can't promise it will be interesting, but I can promise that a lot of what Im going to be talking about it is speculation based on ideas the game has raised, rather than dry mechanics or play details. You'll also note that this is ( Read more... ) -
e-sports
So, I watch a lot of "e-sports" now. Specifically I watch League of Legends (which I also play), but also Starcraft II, and sometimes whatever else happens to be on the major channels. I did do it a bit last year, but I really started doing it during the LoL LCS during the spring and summer of this year ( Read more... ) -
Notes on a tiny dragon
So, right now I am getting to play one of my favorite characters ever in a Pathfinder game. For whatever reason, Nicolai allowed me to play a wyrmling (ie newly hatched) Black Dragon once the party reached an appropriate level, and he has been adventuring with the group ever since. The dragon has named himself Brine ( Read more... ) -
Empire of the Summer Moon
This is a tough one. The author is writing non-fiction, to be sure, but his purpose is to tell a story. That frequently means emphasis on salient personalities, and the constant refrain of describing the dry landscape of the southern great plains. I can certainly say that I learned a lot, as I was mostly ignorant of the details of settlement in ( Read more... ) -
Dr. Tatiana's Sex Advice for All Creation
I got this book because the author had had a column on evolution and biology in the New York Times for several years, which I greatly enjoyed. I didn't expect to much from this, besides lots of information that I could turn into awkward social anecdotes (penis jousting, for example). And that's what I got. There's a lot of material, lots of ( Read more... ) -
Bioshock Infinite
I'm writing this is the immediate aftermath of finishing the game. A lot of the emotions I had at the end, mostly anger, are going to dominate the tone of this review. I shouldn't be doing this, as I have work to do, but I know that this is going to distract me until I finish. So here it is.
( Spoilers, and lots of them. ) -
Benedict's announcement
The big news today, as everybody know by now, is that Pope Benedict XVI has decided to step down from his office, as he no longer believes that he is capable of fulfilling the functions of the office. I think it's a good call on his part...and has some interesting implications ( Read more... ) -
Weighing in on the NFL controversy
Well, last night it finally happened, after several near misses: a bad call by the replacement officials changed the outcome of a game. The result is that no one is happy, everyone is upset, and the league is now under increasing pressure to reinstate the union officials as quickly as they possibly can. I can't say that I have anything really ( Read more... ) -
The RNC, so far
I have to admit, during the last week I was gleefully enjoying the possibility that the Republican convention would be disrupted by Hurricane Isaac. Today, I think there are a fair few Republican delegates that might agree with me. What I'm talking about is the changes to the rules that were pushed through by the convention leadership. Details and ( Read more... ) -
Term's end
Got my final grades for the term. They were pretty good. Its still weird being at a school that doesn't have as stringent grading as Beloit. Here I am certainly a much more harsh critic of myself than my professors were, and there were plenty of cases where I could see ways to make the classes much less forgiving. But...for what it's worth, I am ( Read more... )