dwinn

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February
January 2003
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November
October
September
August
July
June
May
April
March
Archives

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Environment
  • Sight: The Pillars of Creation
  • Sound: Better than Ezra
  • Touch: Gran Turismo 3
  • Taste: orange
  • Smell: orange
  • Virtual: Fark, TMOL

    Other Projects
  • Token Pursuits: updated 2-26

    Book List 2003
  • Blue Light, Walter Mosley
  • Batman: Dark Victory, Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale
  • The Action Hero's Handbook, David and Joe Borgenicht
  • Batman Unmasked: Analyzing a Cultural Icon, Will Brooker
  • JLA: New World Order, Grant Morrison, et al
  • JLA: Divided We Fall, Mark Waid, et al
  • Batman: The Killing Joke, Alan Moore, Brian Bolland, Dennis O'Neil
  • American Ground, William Langewiesche
  • I'm Back for More Cash, Tony Kornheiser
  • Guards! Guards!, Terry Pratchett
  • Megatokyo Chapter Zero, Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston
  • The Punch, John Feinstein

    Book List 2002 Book List 2001

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  • Tuesday, February 25, 2003
    Yet another update to Token Pursuits is available.


    Monday, February 24, 2003
    After that glimpse o' spring last week, the weather turned again and dumped about 5 inches of snow on us. Then yesterday was full of sun again, and now it's snowing again. Ah, the coming of March.

    I used to think that the Eye of Argon was the worst book ever published, but as it turns out it was never really published, there needs to be another candidate. I liked this interview from the Washington Post where the columnists obtains permission from an author to name his book as "The Worst Book Ever." Should give all of you struggling writers hope.


    Friday, February 21, 2003
    Beyond the Wildest Dreams of Avarice

    I've been feeling very greedy lately. There's a bunch of stuff I'd like to have immediately -- a new TV (since our controller is just about dead), one of those new fancy Gameboys (March 23...), a Gamecube, a bunch of games (PC, PS2, GBA, GBC, GCN and any other acronym you can throw in there), buncha books, some anime, comics, conventional games...

    I can buy some of it, but not all. We'll see how my endurance holds out when payday comes next week.


    Thursday, February 20, 2003
    We're getting our first teasing glimpse of spring here today. Snow is melting away as sunshine pounds down from above. Gloves are pocketed and jackets are undone as people come out from winter hiding. I lingered outside as long as I could before starting a daylight-draining afternoon shift...


    Tuesday, February 18, 2003
    How to Survive in Any RPG


    Friday, February 14, 2003
    winningham: This is scary: I actually played some Buffy the Vampire Slayer RPG last night.
    zachery_sharpe: I've played Buffy the Vampire Slayer computer pinball. Is that close enough?
    winningham: Hmm. Hard to say.
    zachery_sharpe: 1st level character in Buffy = highschool kid with crossbow who's a friend of a slayer
    zachery_sharpe: 2nd level = wiccan
    zachery_sharpe: 3rd level = slayer in training
    zachery_sharpe: 4th = Slayer with grudge against buffy
    zachery_sharpe: 5th = slayer in love with a demon/vampire
    zachery_sharpe: 6th = Buffy
    winningham: *laugh*
    zachery_sharpe: Is that sort of how it works?
    winningham: Somewhat. There's actually kind of "classes" of beings. So if you're a "white hat" you're just an ordinary person who hangs with the slayer.
    winningham: Then there's "heroes" which include the Slayer(s) and Watchers.
    winningham: It's pretty strange..
    winningham: It uses the Unisystem.
    zachery_sharpe: Can you get like 2 of your really hot sisters together (who also happen to be witches) and go out to fight the forces of the underworld (not the comicbook shop)?
    winningham: *laugh*
    winningham: I can tell you that I am an RA at East Quad and there's three hot chicks in a triple across the hall.
    zachery_sharpe: Then forget all that fighting vampires stuff an go get busy!
    winningham: I was never an RA, but I think that was like discouraged and stuff.
    zachery_sharpe: Personally if I was an RA I'd go hit on the curly haired girl who lives on the hall with the pink ranger.
    winningham: LOL
    zachery_sharpe: With all the vampires and zombies running around the U has bigger things to worry about than busting RAs for flirting.


    Wednesday, February 12, 2003
    Just in Time for Valentine's Day

    You Will Know Love



    Tuesday, February 11, 2003
    The Whistles Go: Whoo

    The Internet creates our gods; it also destroys them. A few weeks ago the local news at a San Francisco television station ran a story about "Whistle Tips", which are these annoying devices welded onto tailpipes that cause them to emit a horrible screech. In the process a new internet icon was born:

    http://www.midwest-raves.com/mixes/bubb_rubb_newsclip.wmv


    Thursday, February 06, 2003
    I have updated the Token Pursuits page with exploits from earlier in the week.


    Wednesday, February 05, 2003
    Fox News: Fair and Balanced


    Monday, February 03, 2003
    Obligatory Columbia Post: I Suggest Unpopular Positions

    Obviously it's a very emotional subject, but in trying to look at it dispassionately, I've found logic in a couple of arguments:

  • Gregg Easterbrook's piece in Time Magazine gives a compelling argument for putting an end to the current shuttle program: the shuttles are old, costly and unsafe. Yet when given any number of opportunity to do anything about it, big gummint and the aerospace corps have kept the status quo. Why? Bling, of course.

  • Gary Westfahl's article about what motivates our desires for space exploration puts words to things I couldn't fully express. Just be careful about the "silly things" comment at the end or Julie will hit you!

  • In terms of manned v unmanned missions, I've felt for a while (even before this tragedy) that since data and experiments can be gotten by robots and such, missions that would go beyond orbiting the earth (ie Mars) should be unmanned until such a time that the finances and the focus of NASA were as dedicated now as when we made our initial push to put a man on the moon. Will that ever happen again? Likely no.
    I am *not* arguing that man's destiny does not involve the manned exploration of space beyond the moon -- I'm just pretty damn sure that we're not ready to push the envelope that hard. And when I say "not ready", I do not mean in terms of drive or desire, but in focus and equipment. This is gonna cost money, folks. It's easy to answer a poll and say "Oh yeah, we need to get a shipful of people to mars by 20X6" -- it's another thing for the president to address the nation and say "Alright, you want the mission to happen? I'm raising taxes."

  • I was going to start about the Space Station and what a boondoggle it is, but I think I'll let that go for now. It certainly makes for a neat IMAX movie. In practical terms, it's an 100 billion dollar "research facility" that according to Bob Park of the American Physical Soceity finds 1) The ISS is not shaping up to be a world-class research facility, 2) the scientific community has shown little interest in using the space station to conduct research, and 3) NASA's primary goal for the use of the Space Station has never been made clear. But enough for now.