| A View on the Science Education/Atheism Divide |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|01:03 pm] |
Via PZ, a summary of the two positions.
It is one-sided in its framing*, but not inaccurately so. Also it is implicitly mean to people of faith, even the nice liberal ones who don't think stupid shit about evolution**.
*This is an inside joke of sorts.
**I know many nice sincere people of faith, and I apologize for all the times that I have and will offend you, such as by linking approvingly to a post that calls you names. |
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| We still have our vocal and technical training wheels on. |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|01:52 pm] |
So, yeah, about a week ago I mentioned that ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) kinra and I had gotten together to work on a Sekrit Projekt.
That project was the first edition of our podcast, Squideye and The Bitter Guy.
So, yah, if you've ever wanted to hear us regale you in bite sized easy to control chunks about a variety of geek related stuff, this is your change. We pledge to keep it brief and fun and to try to keep it from going too long.
I'm gonna eschew flooding you with excuses. If we keep doing it, it'll get better. If you listen to it, I'm sure you will enjoy it. |
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| Writer's Block: Lights Out |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|12:17 pm] |
August 2003, the lights went out all around the Great Lakes region. Ohio in the west, out to the coast, and just up to short of Napanee, where the folks were.
In fact, I blogged about it. |
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| Two Dungeonaday.com Announcements |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|10:28 am] |
Two Dungeonaday.com Announcements
Two cool things! One update!
1. We have a new sponsor at Dungeonaday.com. Miniatures Building Authority creates amazing (AMAZING!) buildings for miniatures. I used to use this stuff extensively in my Ptolus campaign and everyone marveled over them. Now I'll be building Brindenford using these cool buildings, and maybe finding creative and surprising ways to use some it elsewhere in Dragon's Delve! (Let me also just put in that the guys at MBA are really nice fellows and I'm happy to be working alongside them in a small way.)
2. We got nominated for an ENnie! That's a great honor. Woot!
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|03:20 pm] |
So, once again, the Beeb are adapting the Just William books into a TV series. Like they did in '94, when it sank without trace. The last one to go more than one season had Dennis Waterman as William, then they replaced him at the end of season one, and it tanked. That was in the sixties.
In the seventies they tried again. While putting Bonnie Langford in as Violet Elizabeth guaranteed it would deserve to tank, they struck back by making her mother Diana Dors, thus giving a generation hope. It did, however, tank.
And this one will, too.
Why?
Because even the book publishers realised something these guys haven't. Take a look...
William, at centre, is still wearing his ramshackle adaptation of a British 1930s schoolboy outfit. The rest of 'em? Modern kids clothes - well, not any more, but modern for a couple decades' past. (Today, I imagine, an update would involve focus groups arguing about which teams Douglas and Henry support so they can wear the authentic kit.
(Violet Elizabeth Bott totally shops at Claire's Accessories and wishes it was Hot Topic. She makes a statement.)
Now it's not that I don't have a lot of appreciation, as someone who had about 30 of the 38 books, for the interior illustrations by Thomas Henry, which remain faithful to the period the books are set in - but when even the book publishers, who are hoping to shift far fewer units and for whom each unit carries 8-11 stories with which to grab the new reader, realise they need to do something to help today's kids identify with the rabble-rousing window smasher, novelist, cook, and on one confusing occasion, actually successful crimefighter then a TV show probably actually wants to do something to link the guy into the modern day.
(For those of you who've never read them: You know Good Omens? Adam Young = William Brown. Ginger Florridew = Pepper, becoming more interesting in the process. Wensleydale = Douglas. Brian = Henry. (I just know I've got those last two mixed up.) Dog = Jumble. Greasy Johnson and the Johnsonites = Hubert Lane and his band of idiots. So that's one way to modernise 'em, I guess...) |
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| Need more time! |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|07:19 am] |
Went to a wedding this weekend; was stood up for the Dragonflight monthly meeting (grrrr!); had my new computer checked at the store (it needs to go back to the manufacturer); participated in the Emerald City Gamefest monthly meeting, then posted the meeting notes; took a mental and physical break by going to the Arcata marsh for a walk and to a couple of bookstores with em_gumby; recorded the next episode of the Gaming Sisterhood podcast with sirriamnis; and did the entire layout for the Dragonflight pre-convention program (PDF, 8 MB).
I did not get around to compiling the links for the podcast, drawing new art for this year's theme for Emerald City Gamefest, or working on my weekly and monthly assignments for the Art Club. Sigh. |
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| Pep 27: "I'm punching through, Brooke!" |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|06:56 am] |
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http://absorbascon.blogspot.com/2009/07/pep-27-im-punching-through-brooke.html 
BORING!
Or, sure, you've got the usual "Shield Rushes in From Stage Right" pose, the "Dusty Falls From Nowhere" thing, and the "Why is the Hangman Always in the Way" scene. But really, a giant fist of metaphorical tyranny, after they already fought the giant foot of metaphorical tyranny on the cover of Pep 22? What's the Shield's fascination with giant body parts all about, huh?
Punching through the Bill of Rights? Is this a Pep Cover or a pamphlet from the Cato Institute? Or, given the Shield's level of kink, from the FFA?
I do, however, like the idea that world-threatening political movements that destroy civilizations and slaughter and torture millions have little logo rings, and logo stamps to put on the bottom of your world-stomping jackboots, and probably other little trinkets, like keychains, and bracelets that say, "What Would Adolf Do?" Now we know where Archie got all his ideas for the Archie Club.
If only the Shield & Co. had recognized the threat of Archie and neutralized it before so many generations of young minds were destroyed. I blame Neville Chamberlain and John Goldwater.
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|12:35 pm] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Westwind - Against A Modern World | ] |
Bah, I'm sick. I have the flu I think. Feel free to pity me. |
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| Nice |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|01:12 am] |
| [ | Tags | | | geek | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Fountains of Wayne: Traffic and Weather | ] |
Nice
It's nice to encounter smart people who assume you are also smart. At the Fountains of Wayne concert on Saturday night, one band member referred to creating a rebus without directly explaining what that means.
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| Oh, yeah. |
[Jul. 12th, 2009|11:51 pm] |
Fuck it. I reupped. When I realized that I couldn't upload photos, I felt as helpless and afraid as a little puppy.
So maybe you'll get Shaft vs James Bond after all. Happy? |
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| (no subject) |
[Jul. 12th, 2009|11:47 pm] |
So good weekend at TT/Polaris. I'll fill you all in tomorrow.
But I just saw another Evony ad, and Hay-Zeus, I think they're even worse than before.
Okay, they're gettin' titillation in my electronic gaming. |
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| Freaking massive textbooks. |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|01:22 pm] |
The user manual for half the trimester, for one paper, is several hundred pages on its own. Eek
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calm
geeky
nostalgic
exhausted
tired
gettin too old for this shit.
nervous