Star Trek Image

Feral cities - The New Strategic Environment

Imagine a great metropolis covering hundreds of square miles. Once a vital component in a national economy, this sprawling urban environment is now a vast collection of blighted buildings, an immense petri dish of both ancient and new diseases, a territory where the rule of law has long been replaced by near anarchy in which the only security available is that which is attained through brute power. Such cities have been routinely imagined in apocalyptic movies and in certain science-fiction genres, where they are often portrayed as gigantic versions of T. S. Eliot's Rat's Alley. Yet this city would still be globally connected. It would possess at least a modicum of commercial linkages, and some of its inhabitants would have access to the world's most modern communication and computing technologies. It would, in effect, be a feral city.

Geoffrey McKinney's CARCOSA

This is an original "old school" supplement that is being independently produced and published. I'm supposed to be receiving a PDF of the supplement so that I can review it. I'm really looking forward to it.

Supplement V: CARCOSA contains little that you haven't seen elsewhere. Cthulhu Mythos, Space Aliens, Lake Monsters, sorcery, ray guns, human sacrifice, etc. None of this is unique to Carcosa. I do trust, however, that the particular mixture thereof is unique and intriguing.

Phil RetroSpector - Back To Virginity

Phil RetroSpector - Back to Virginity from Phil RetroSpector on Vimeo.

Swords and Wizardry

So, the other day I found a "new to me" retro clone of OD&D called Swords and Wizardry. This game is brought to us by one of the people responsible for OSRIC, another retro clone built under the OGL that emulates the AD&D experience instead.

Not a big game by any stretch of the imagination, which is a plus to me, Swords and Wizardry does a good job of emulating that old school fun that was OD&D. I miss my little booklets, stolen by some visitor to my apartment god only knows when. But I got hours and hours of enjoyment out of that game, which lead into almost 30 years of gaming now.

Frankly, I haven't had the chance to read the rules that thoroughly yet. But, what I have seen I do like. I am probably going to get around to ordering an actual print copy so I can really give the game a reading. What I have seen so far makes me want to read more and (more importantly as a litmus test for an RPG) it makes me want to game. So, for now I wanted to share the existence of this with everybody and I will post more when I have a chance to digest the game more thoroughly.

Interview with Jason Fried of 37signals

It's A Remote World We Live In

I want to talk about interconnectivity and the internet, and for a change I want this to be an interactive topic. Talk to me here, through Twitter or through Facebook...but talk.

Here's the question: With the level of interconnectivity available there days: internet, cell (and smart) phones, and all of the other little things.... Is face to face still the best method for collaboration?

I do expect some skewing of results since the people who will bother to respond are going to be online people but I would still like to hear what you have to say.

If you see this post as it cascades through my various online faces, I would like to hear from you. I want to know your thoughts. I know that this is unusual for this blog, as I don't usually look for interactivity though this place. Most of these things are "fire and forget" types of posts that I think someone might be interested in as I meander through the internet and the world.

Right now, though, I'm looking for discourse. I'd like to hear what you have to say, even if you don't know me or we've never spoken before.

Buzz Rickson's Black N-1 Deck Jacket

Early in 2003, best-selling novelist William Gibson released a groundbreaking new book, PATTERN RECOGNITION. This absorbing and masterfully crafted novel is set in the period immediately following “9-11”, featuring a high-tech., super-hip, cyber-chic, anti-fashion sophisticate, Cayce Pollard, as the heroine. Brilliantly woven within the many pages of cutting-edge prose Mr. Gibson has crafted is the one object more valued by Cayce Pollard than any other she owns – the Black Buzz Rickson’s MA-1 Flying Jacket.

Judge sentences rap music fan to Bach, Beethoven

A defendant had a hard time facing the music. Andrew Vactor was facing a $150 fine for playing rap music too loudly on his car stereo in July. But a judge offered to reduce that to $35 if Vactor spent 20 hours listening to classical music by the likes of Bach, Beethoven and Chopin.

Vactor, 24, lasted only about 15 minutes, a probation officer said.

It wasn't the music, Vactor said, he just needed to be at practice with the rest of the Urbana University basketball team.

'I didn't have the time to deal with that,' he said. 'I just decided to pay the fine.'

[via Audio Porn Central]

On Parched Farms, Using Intuition to Find Water

Phil Stine is not crazy, or possessed, or even that special, he says. He has no idea how he does what he does. From most accounts, he does it very well.
Skip to next paragraph

'Phil finds the water,' said Frank Assali, an almond farmer and convert. 'No doubt about it.'

Mr. Stine, you see, is a 'water witch,' one of a small band of believers for whom the ancient art of dowsing is alive and well.

How Do YOU Run Delta Green?

From the blog of Delta Green co-creator Dennis Detwiller...

For thirteen years, tens of thousands of intrepid Agents have ventured into the unknown world of Delta Green. We’ve watched with paternal enjoyment from the sidelines, eager to see what groups around the world with different play styles made of our creation. Our responses have run the gamut of human emotion. We’ve been pleased, frightened, stunned and just plain confused and what we’ve seen come back.

Before we get into the meat and bones, let me say upfront, the following is not a judgment on your play style, only an attempt to set straight some rather strange misconceptions which have arisen around the game over time. It comes from the question all of the creators have been asked many, many times: how do YOU run Delta Green?

Eden Tampa goes clothing-optional as residents wait for condo management to tell the naked truth

File this under interesting living conditions.

First off, Jon Rosenstadt and Sam Christian want you to know they aren't prudes. The tattooed and pierced Hillsborough Community College students get naked just like the rest of us -- showers, sex, what have you. Hell, the 20-somethings have even skinny-dipped once or twice in their lives.

And another thing: They like their apartment complex, and they like their neighbors.

They just don't want to see them naked.

That seems to be the prevailing opinion of the young apartment dwellers I talked to while visiting Eden, the newly renamed and much-buzzed-about condominium complex near Westchase. Formerly the Arbors at Branch Creek, the complex is morphing from family-oriented apartment units into a 'South Beach-style' condominium with a nude pool. The current residents are sure of that much, but the rest of their questions -- Will we have to move? When will the pool open? Can we break our lease? -- remain unanswered.

RPG Review

An interesting new online RPG zine.

RPGReview is a resource for role playing and simulation gamers, covering table-top, live-action and computer moderated games.

We offer a free journal every quarter, a club listing, mailing lists. We also have a number of second-hand RPGs available for sale.

Priest stabber inspired by Da Vinci Code

A 25-year-old man who tried to kill a priest by stabbing him in a Rome church has told police that he did so after the watching the film 'The Da Vinci Code' and believing himself to be the anti-Christ.

A Dark Secret Revealed in Astonishing X-Men

Daredevil: Enter Lady Bullseye

While Matt Murdock has spent much of his career as Daredevil being something of a romantic ladykiller, this month he's going to meet one lady who's actually out to kill him.

On September 24, DAREDEVIL #111 introduces Lady Bullseye into the Man Without Fear's rogues gallery, but while the assassin may share a name with DD's most infamous foe, her origins stretch beyond simple villain worship to the sai-slinging psycho.

Saving money on coffee just like Grandpa: Folgers targets broke coffee drinkers - WalletPop Blog

If anything is the fuel that runs the dorky machine it woulc be caffeine. And for many, that caffeine comes as coffee. So, what's a coffee drinker on a budget (or one who doesn't like Starbucks over-roasted beans) to do? Simple, Folgers wants you to drink the coffee that your grandfather drank. Theirs obviously.

The best part of waking up hasn't been Folgers for a decade or more. With Starbucks making gourmet coffee ubiquitous and boutique coffee roasters brewing ever-more-delightful java, Folgers is stuck in grandpa's mug. My brother-in-law and I give each other grimaces behind my dad's back when we drink the home brew at his house, and I've been known to bring my own beans when I'm visiting.

But grandpa is getting on now, and consumers looking for ways to save cash turn to their daily coffee beverage so often that saving $4 a day has a name: The Starbucks Factor, or the Latte Factor, depending on your brand loyalty (or lack thereof). But Folgers, Maxwell House and the even lesser-known competitors make their coffee from the ultra-cheap and inferior 'Robusta' beans, in contrast to the 'Arabica' beans used by upscale coffees. Robusta beans thrive at lower altitudes and produce far more beans per plant, and have twice the caffeine of Arabica beans; but their flavor, according to coffee connoisseurs, is extremely inadequate. How could a discriminating coffee drinker be persuaded to switch to Folgers, without creating a price disadvantage?

Dan Le Sac VS Scroobius Pip - Though Shalt Always Kill (Raiders Of The Lost Ark Remix)

I love this song. Here's a nice free (and legal) download of a remix of it. Enjoy.

Dorkland...Now WIth More Teabagging

GameStop Guitar Hero Contest Seeks Hot Moms

Nope, nothing creepy to be found here (particularly in the bolded part)

In celebration of the impending release of Guitar Hero World Tour, GameStop wants you to send them hot pictures of your mother. Dress her up in some fishnets, tease up her hair, and for god sakes show a little cleavage, and she could be well on her way to winning a $1,000 gift card for Elizabeth Arden Red Door Spas and a copy of the game in their Ultimate Guitar Hero contest. There are also prizes up from grabs for Families Who Rock! (Six Flags tickets, a $500 gas card and the game) and Guitar Gods and Goddesses (guitar lessons, $800 Guitar Centerjavascript:void(0)
Publish Post gift card and the game), and several smaller prizes, but it's all a front. They want to see your mom dressed up like Lita Ford.

[via HipsterPlease]

And We're Back

The move has occurred and things are relatively stable. With any luck posting will recommence soonest.

CIA, FBI push 'Facebook for spies'

When you see people at the office using such Internet sites as Facebook and MySpace, you might suspect those workers are slacking off.

But that's not the case at the CIA, the FBI and the National Security Agency, where bosses are encouraging their staff members to use a new social-networking site designed for the super-secret world of spying.

'It's every bit Facebook and YouTube for spies, but it's much, much more,' said Michael Wertheimer, assistant deputy director of national intelligence for analysis

Your Miles May Vary: Nerd Girls

What is the allure of the nerd girl?

Purely for scientific reasons, because I think that the readers of this blog would be interested in knowing the answer. I know that I agree with some (just some) of the answers...

Lykke Li - Breaking It Up

Nagraj Vs. Shakoora The Magician

Because you know that you have to see it now...