December 2011
2 posts
Idias →
Yeah, I know, I dropped the ball on this whole “blogging” thing. Good thing I don’t claim to be a professional. I have still been running the Dark Sun mini-campagin, but haven’t kept you all…
My #Plus5CHA Journey... Thus Far... →
My entire adult life I have been in the overweight—or worse—category. I distinctly remember my weight in senior high being in the mid-190’s, and it only went up from there. Slowly, so as not to alert me that things were getting bad. The reason is fairly simple: I enjoyed eating, I didn’t enjoy exercising. In fact, I didn’t (and still don’t) enjoy many physically...
July 2011
5 posts
A Little Knowledge →
Continuing the adventures of my Dark Sun campaign, our group has successfully concluded what I refer to as “Chapter One”, a conversion of the original flipbook adventure “A Little Knowledge”. As an…
Reading the Tea Leaves: iPad Fall 2011 Edition →
In my circle of friends and family, I am known as having, shall we say: “an above average” level of knowledge when it comes to all things Apple. So it came as little surprise to me when a very good…
Defiling vs. Preserving in Dark Sun 4E →
Perhaps the single most defining aspect of the Dark Sun campaign setting is defiling magic. It is the reason the world is a desolate waste-land. So I think any game set on Athas needs to have a…
Let the Game Begin →
It’s been awhile since we last spoke, but not a lot has happened, so I guess that’s okay. I’ve managed to read through a bulk of the old Dark Sun novels (though not all of them), as well as many of…
Alternate Reality: I Decide Apple’s iPhone Line-up →
(A quick content note: There will never be a part two to my previous post. Sorry.)
For years now Apple related press has been inundated with rumors about The Next iPhone. Due to the overall…
May 2011
3 posts
“Do not pretend that conclusions are certain which are not demonstrated or...”
– T. H. Huxley
“Since death alone is certain and time of death uncertain, what should I do?”
– Stephen Batchlor
“Do not be satisfied with hearsay or with tradition or with legendary lore or...”
– The Buddha
April 2011
3 posts
“Never memorize something that you can look up”
– Albert Einstein
“Follow your reason as far as it will take you”
– T. H. Huxley
“Suppose, Malunkyaputta, a man were wounded by an arrow thickly smeared with...”
– The Buddha
March 2011
4 posts
Where to find my photos...
I’ve given up on the Flickr -> Tumblr -> Facebook/Twitter flow, as it doesn’t seem to be working for me in a manner I would call “reliable.” I’ve set Flickr to post directly to Facebook/Twitter, we’ll see if that works. Following me on one of those will also gain you my Instagram pics, as well as any other service I try out. Eventually I may figure this...
January 2011
1 post
Marco.org: There really isn't much of a "tablet"... →
marco:
There’s an iPad market, and the iPad could be classified as a tablet, from a hardware-centric viewpoint. But the market for non-iPad tablets is about as big today as it was before the iPad, which isn’t nothing, but it’s close enough to nothing that Apple doesn’t need to worry about it.
How many…
December 2010
1 post
September 2010
1 post
The Road to Athas: A New GM's Journey →
I have long been a fan of the Dark Sun campaign setting. From the first mention of it in Dragon Magazine way back in 1991 I was hooked. The desolate landscape, the harsh environments, the brutal…
July 2010
2 posts
Coyote Tracks: The Emperor's New Antenna →
marco:
Every recent consumer electronics product from Apple—definitely the iPad, but all iterations of the iPhone including the initial one—has been greeted with rounds of articles crowing about what an arrogant, foolhardy mistake it is and how this will finally, finally, be the moment the emperor is revealed to have no clothes. And ultimately this is what’s so infuriating about Apple: that’s...
Marco.org: Great since day one →
The original iPhone was great on day one. It couldn’t do as much as today’s iPhone, but it performed its feature-set extremely well. There were almost no rough edges or unpolished areas in its hardware or software, and nearly everything seemed justifiable, well conceived, and well executed.
Apple…
Well said! Could not have said it better myself, thus I shall reblog it as a fairly good...
April 2010
5 posts
Marco.org: Flash →
Adobe should refocus their iPhone-deployment goal on the future of Flash:
Establish Flash (the tool) as the premier tool for creating rich HTML5 content, the same way Photoshop is the premier tool for image manipulation and Illustrator is the premier tool for vector drawing. Adobe is in the tools…
This would be the best way to approach it for all parties, and for the end-users.
“The telephone was an aberration in human development. It was a 70 year or so...”
– Rick Webb about this (via toldorknown) (via marco)
iPhone OS 4: A sneak Peek Into What I Think About... →
As anyone who has stumbled onto my humble little blog surly knows, Apple has announced several of the big features in the upcoming iPhone OS 4. This has, of course, generated a lot of buzz good and…
Apple's Cloudy Cloud →
Tim O’Reilly on the iPad and the End of the PC Era: “Media and application syncing across iPhone and iPad is poorly thought out. MobileMe, which should be Apple’s gateway drug for lock-in to Apple services, is instead sold as an add-on to a small fraction of Apple’s customer base. If Apple wants to win, they need to understand the power of network effects in Internet services. They...
March 2010
2 posts
Review: The Order 66 Podcast →
This is the first, and as far as I know currently the only, podcast for the Wizards of the Coast Star Wars Saga Edition Roleplaying Game. (There was a short lived official podcast, but that is…
Review: The Tome Show Podcast →
Jeff Greiner’s The Tome Show podcast has been a staple on my iPod since I discovered it in early 2007. Since its inception the show has focused on the Dungeons & Dragons product line from…
February 2010
10 posts
Vivaki of Shoubor →
This weekend I start playing 4E D&D game with a new group of players, run by the host of The Tome Show, Jeff Greiner. In preparation I have created my character, an 11th-level Goliath Great Weapon…
“When folks need an elevator, we should give them an elevator, not an airplane....”
– Ed Finkler (via John Gruber)
(This is why devices like the iPad are such genius devices, and will likely be successes, if not huge successes.)
stevenf:
Microsoft has done at least two things right with Windows Mobile 7.
First: Recognized that they needed to start over.
Second: Not ripping off Apple’s UI style as every other vendor has been content to do.
Whether the new UI holds up in real world usage remains to be seen. As does whether Microsoft’s traditionally change-resistant customer culture will embrace it.
But if nothing...
Humanoid Robots & Glass Covered Portals →
I’ve made it fairly clear that I intend to start out developing for Apple’s iDevices, as well as OS X on the desktop. But that doesn’t mean I’ve got my head stuck in the sand. In fact, if my plans…
Once & Future GM: Star Wars Saga Edition →
Recently I’ve found a new group to game with, one which is playing Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition — a game I am excited to start as a player. So far I’ve only played in two short-lived D & D 4th…
CNN names Instapaper Pro "Most useful" →
instapaper:
Since CNN republished the Best App Ever Awards from earlier today, I can now say that CNN named Instapaper one of its “Best iPhone apps”. (Yeah, I know it’s double-dipping.)
If you have an iPhone, or *especially* if you have an iPod touch, AND you like to read on-line articles but don’t have the time, then you *NEED* this!
When RPGs Meet SMGs, Part Two →
I’ve been thinking a bit about The Core Mechanic’s ruminations on the topic of how, and what, Role-Playing Games can borrow from Social Media Games to endear themselves to future generations. The…
Apple’s New iThing, Because the Fiddly Bits are... →
Anyone who has stumbled onto this blog most certainly has already heard all about Apple’s latest creation, announced last Wednesday, January 27th. Let’s just get this out of the way now. Yes,…
January 2010
19 posts
When RPGs Meet SMGs, Part One →
The other day I got into a Twitter discussion with the cool Jonathan Jacobs of The Core Mechanic (a discussion which includes the also cool MadBrew of Mad Brew Labs). He invited me to take a…
What the iPad means for the AppleTV →
There’s been a lot of hype, and a lot of talk (both positive and negative) about Apple’s newly announced iPad. I’m working on my a post outlining my own views of the new device, but I just wanted…
Playing the Tablet predictions game!
cocoageek:
Once again, I’d like to play the predictions game regarding the impending Apple’s tablet to be announced tomorrow. The following are based on what I have heard and see on the Internet over the past few weeks, so don’t expect anything too edgy, it’s just re-heated silly ideas!
I think it’s going to be either iPad or iBook. Personally I think that iBook makes a lot of sense considering...
MacTabletNetbookThingy →
Apple has been working on a tablet form-factored device for a very long time now (at least a decade). Every few years rumors start to boil up that the device will be released “real soon now.”…
Violent 'Mech on 'Mech Action... →
Last weekend I got together with the old gaming group for a game of BattleTech. This was, I believe, the third time I’ve done that recently, though the group has had many other sessions. Before…
Big city left with no bookstore
Big city left with no bookstore
It’s all well and good that there are places like Amazon where one can buy books at great discounts. But nothing online can really replace the experience of visiting an actual bookstore. This is a very disturbing trend. I hope that it is just the fact that the national chains are too poorly structured to be profitable, and that a smaller regional chain...
Gamers Help Haiti →
The Core Mechanic: Gamers Help Haiti - Donate Today & Get Over $1300 Worth of Gaming Loot Too!
(Via The Mynock’s Cave.)
Yet another way to help out the people of Haiti and get some stuff. In…
Indie+Relief →
maniacalrage:
All proceeds made on January 20, 2010 will be donated to Haiti. You get great software, Haiti gets financial help in its time of crisis.
Buy any of the software listed tomorrow (Wednesday) and developers will donate the proceeds to charities for Haiti relief.
I’ve been working on this site all weekend—it’s amazing how difficult it was to design a clean layout for that many...
Why is the news media comfortable with lying about... →
“News” organizations reporting blatant mis-information, especially knowingly, will speed the downfall of our civilization. Add to that the kind of reporting which requires two (and only two) equally viable sides to every story (which has given voice to such nonsense as the creationist movement), and we are quickly eroding the meaning of the word “news.” The world is fast...
Ambrosia →
In the classic, “Food of the Gods” sense…