blackjohn

[parenthetical moderator mode on] (the pub has taken a real turn for the strange these last couple days... fascinating...) [parenthetical moderator mode off]

Talk about your snazzy racing boats... whoa. http://www.earthrace.net/

I think this is supposed to be the final season. So... not that I really advocate the watching of tv... but... if you find yourself sitting in front of one wanting to watch some scifi other than Firefly...

I really like GIMP. Free and easy! Who could ask for more?

Oh man, you have missed some of the BEST scifi tv to ever air. There's this one whole part that just... is pretty darned spectacular. I mean, like... you can't even begin to imagine... how could he do that... I mean... c'mon... that's crazy... Agreed. Completely. That's why I play catch-up tv. I just don't like watching tv the old-fashioned way. One week at a time... how 20thC. Agreed, again. The story is compelling, and it continues to go in interesting directions.

I can remember once upon a time when the standard was what, four lines of text? Not so these days...

And he was in Restoration, a period piece... so we know he has range... (like, we didn't know that to begin with)...

Finest... hmmm... rum's good enough.

Moody? I dunno... compared to BSG it's a tiptoe through the tulips. I was just watching BSG:Razor the other day (trying to catch up before the new stuff begins airing), and I had forgotten how intense that show is.

Megan Fox... yum! http://www.metacafe.com/watch/655384/megan...nsformers_clip/

At this point, I'm thinking my kids will never see snow. The last bunch of systems that have moved through have either given us rain, or freezing rain, which is much worse than snow if I have to go out in it, but will admit that it looks beautiful on trees. Until it knocks said trees down, and takes out the power... so... yeah, I'm still crossing my fingers for at least one snowstorm this winter.

I have no firsthand knowledge, only what I've read. It's a virtual world. People make stuff. Sell and buy stuff. And do all the other things that people in a virtual world do. If you haven't read this, it might help: http://secondlife.com/whatis/

Neither am I... but looking at the publisher's site... those are the guys who did Delta Green! Probably one of the most brilliant Cthulhu knock-offs to ever see print! Think Cthulhu meets X-files, and then make it better. That's all I'll say, because I wouldn't want to leak any spoilers. EDIT: It looks like they just did the d20 version of Delta Green. However, I stand by my original assertion that Delta Green is probably one of the most fascinating derivations of the Cthulhu mythos to ever see print.

This is the last fiction story that I've read. It's really good, and short too! http://gaslight.mtroyal.ca/devilsea.htm

I like reading Parnell and Niven, but I just couldn't get into that one..... maybe I should give it another try...... Give it another try. It takes some time to build up, but I think it's worth it. There are some very vivid scenes in the last half of that book. In later years I discovered the ship was based on one of my favorite models... the Leif Ericson, aka the UFO Mystery Ship! http://frank.bol.ucla.edu/le.html ps - Pournelle

Is that the one written by Mel Brooks' son?

I'm in reading limbo, and have been for awhile. I just can't seem to finish any fiction that I pick up these days. The only things I've been able to read are moderate amounts of history, and philosophy. Maybe I need to re-read something? I should give The Mote in God's Eye a shot at re-read.

Was this recently? Or in the past? Rogue Mermaid really like the 3.5 edition. I, on the other hand, didn't really like 3.5, but I do like 4. However, 4 does diverge quite a bit from previous editions. But whatever... the bottom line for me is the sitting around a table with friends shakin' dice and having fun. The system doesn't matter. The genre doesn't matter. The getting together with friends is the part that matters. True, more or less. Though I suspect something would have filled the gap if D&D hadn't come along. Afterall, D&D is just an offshoot of miniatures wargaming. Dave Arneson had been running some sort of version of Blackmoor prior to D&D. And M.A.R. Barker had been fooling around with some sort of Tekumel thing early on too. Yada yada yada... actually, there's a pretty good history of rpging on wiki... and it includes a Harpo Marx reference! Can't beat that. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_role-playing_games

Also, you have to wonder what hit the cutting room floor. The guys who made this had control over editing, and creative editing can really change the tone of a conversation. The guy I worried about was the one who referenced Columbine. There was one guy who I thought had a good grip. They only talked to him twice, I think. His last bit of dialogue was along the lines of, "I don't care about the politics of all these bigwigs, I just want to have fun." Sure. I seem to recall seeing them with facial hair in Q1: Queen of the Demonweb Pits. Yeah, The Armory sold tons of cool stuff. I had a ton of Armory paints. I think a few of them are still usable too. They had a really good "chainmail" color. It was a kind of dark metallic silver. Which has me thinking... I'm making a New Years Resolution to paint more minis in '09. Which means, if I paint (to completion) one single mini I will have followed through on my resolution.

yeah, I've seen 'em... I probably even have some pics somewhere... and I wrote this, but I don't really remember what I said, or if I said anything about pistols... http://www.piratebrethren.com/articles/wea...aponrigs01.html

Finally got around to watching this over the weekend. Whoa. I don't know what to think. On one hand, it was interesting... but on the other hand, I wanted to grab most of these people by the collar and yell at them... "get a life!" I suspect some of them do have lives, but... others... I dunno. The dark-haired guy, Skip, who was sort of the protagonist of the film, was someone who I talked to on a regular basis "back-in-the-day." As he points out in the film, his family business was The Armory (once upon a time a huge distributor of games and books and stuff). They had every Osprey book in print in the warehouse, so in the good old days I'd go over there (sometimes as much as once a week), and I'd usually talk to Skip for a couple minutes before browsing. He was a good guy. So naturally I was routing for his side to win. The Dark Elves had some really good makeup. I wonder how many violations of state codes went into the construction of the fortress... and how many federal clean air codes were violated when they burned it? All in all... I recommend it... if for no other reason than it's a good reality check movie.

Nothing piratical. Yet. Refinancing, so I spent a couple days cleaning. Decided I didn't need... MERP Mirkwood... Middle Earth Roleplaying Game, 2nd edition, Mirkwood supplement. If you are a Tolkien fan, books like these are worth the price just for the maps! And... British WWII Sergeant chevrons... I seriously doubt I'll be doing WWII Brit again. I have a full kit. I figured I start ditching it piecemeal.

I've thanked my secret santa, but I shall thank him again! Wonderful leather costrel there, Mr Santa sir! Thanks!

That is a great pic! And I was thinking the same thing too, though even with the obvious 18thC paraphernalia I was thinking it looked like a still from some classic Western movie. But hey, whatever, that is a great pic!

Fwiw, there still is, to this day, French America. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Pierre_and_Miquelon And now, I must away... troubleshooting my PS3... *sigh*