Gary Gygax, RIP

Gary Gygax, who along with Dave Arneson, created Dungeons and Dragons, died this morning at the age of 69 at his home in Lake Geneva, WI.

I am very saddened to hear of his passing. I cannot put into words how influential Mr. Gygax was in my life. He not only taught me to use my imagination, he taught me how to apply it within a system of rules and boundaries. That experience, more than any other, I believe is responsible for whatever moderate amount of success I have achieved as an adult.

Thanks for everything Mr. Gygax. I hope you find the lands of your dreams in the afterlife.

Like Hope, But Different

Yes We Can

I’m caucusing for Barack Obama on Tuesday. I’m going to allow myself to hope that this man can bring the change this country so desperately needs. I’m doing this for my kids’ future.

My mind is made up. Watch this video, and you might make your mind up, too. I feel cheesy for even writing this, but man - this video struck a chord.

Proposed Republican Party bumper sticker for 2008

“Vote Republican. You can wreck a country in 8 years, but it takes 12 years to kill it”

(Hat tip to Sadly, No!)

Cheeseburger In A Can

Not kidding:

Cheeseburger in der Dose

I dunno how I feel about eating a canned cheeseburger on my next backpacking trip, but I’ll bet that when you pull it out, it looks nothing like the example cheeseburger on the product page.

Only 3.95 euros, if you’re interested.

Link via Gizmodo, via William Gibson’s blog, who says, “GOT YOUR FUTURE RIGHT HERE”.

Bassline House

So, lately I’ve been listening to a lot of speed garage. Around the time most of this stuff was coming out I was so deep into other musics that I heard speed garage a couple times, decided it was too “hand-baggy” for my tastes and never really listened to it again. Of course, speed garage would go on to mutate into 2-step garage, introducing breaks into the mix, 2-step would turn into grime as the MCs became more prevalent and the music started to shed the house elements, and finally, evolve into the conventions of what we now call “dubstep”.

The Story Of Stuff

The Story Of Stuff

Nothing really ground-breaking here if you’ve been following this sort of thing for a while, but the presentation packs a punch in it’s succinctness. As with any distillations, some things are kinda brushed over, for instance, the part about the computer’s motherboard only needing to have it’s chip replaced when the rest of it is just fine is a gross oversimplification. It ignores all the supporting technologies needed to realize the speed gains of that newer chip. Also, she might like that she’s still using that ole cathode-ray tube monitor but the fact is, LCDs consume way less power and are healthier for one to use than the old CRTs. Those things aside, she makes a good point. We have a linear production-to-consumption process on a planet with finite resources and an ever-increasing demand for consumer goods. It’s not sustainable.

Personally, rather than throw out those old shoes, broken lamps, broken monitors, old computers and crap into a landfill, I’ve been taking them to CHARM, and while it’s not exactly cheap, it’s way of voluntarily reclaiming the externalization of the price of those things.

Also, when I was growing up I learned to never take anything for granted, and never throw out something useful. I’ve still got an 9-year-old Dell XPS T600+ workstation, running Ubuntu Linux. Despite the fact that it tends to hang when the room temperature gets too high, or when it’s asked to perform a particularly CPU-heavy compile, it still gets the job done. I am a huge advocate of squeezing every last bit of life out of a computer as possible. Before we got the T600+ in 01 (it was originally my work computer when I worked at Active.com, purchased in 99), we were using Missy’s old computer, which she got from her dad, and he had purchased it in 1993, I believe. I had replaced the motherboard and put in an AMD K6+ of course, but the PSU, case, etc. were still all the same.

How Bush Intends To Keep Us In Iraq After He's Gone

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/25/bushplanforiraqwouldbea_first/

“President Bush’s plan to forge a long-term agreement with the Iraqi government that could commit the US military to defending Iraq’s security would be the first time such a sweeping mutual defense compact has been enacted without congressional approval, according to legal specialists.

…

At a House hearing on the pact on Wednesday, Representative Dana Rohrabacher, Republican of California and a former Reagan administration official, accused the Bush administration of “arrogance” for not consulting with Congress about the pact. If it includes any guarantees to Iraq, he said, Congress must sign off.

“We are here to fulfill the constitutional role established by the founding fathers,” Rohrabacher said, adding, “It is not all in the hands of the president and his appointees. We play a major role.”

…

“A commitment that the United States will act to assist Iraq, potentially through the use of our armed forces in the event of an attack on Iraq, could effectively commit the nation to engage in hostilities,” Biden wrote. “Such a commitment cannot be made by the executive branch alone under our Constitution.”“

It’s just one thing after another with these guys. It’s not enough to do all the damage they can in the 8 years they hold office. They’re gonna try to force their insane policies on the next (likely Democratic) administration as well.

Ultimately it will go to the courts, and how it ultimately winds up will depend on whether Justice Kennedy sides with the Roberts/Alito/Scalia/Thomas unitary executive theorists or with the Souter/Ginsburg/Stevens/Breyer separation of powers adherents.

Hopefully by the time that the Supreme Court hears this case, Clinton or Obama will be in office and the current unitary executive proponents will be having second thoughts about advancing that power to a Democratic administration.

Missing White House emails

There’s this article in Time Magazine entitled “Where Are The White House Emails?”

The answer is pretty obvious. They were intentionally destroyed. They were destroyed because they contained information that’s either damaging or embarrassing to the White House. This should be plainly obvious to everyone. For all that talk back in the 90s from the Republicans about the “missing Rose Law Firm billing records”, their silence on this issue is deafening.

I am so sick of being outraged by this administration. It’s just one thing after another. “Ignore it” some might say. If my children’s future wasn’t being so damaged by the decisions that are being made there, maybe I could - but all I see is the most evil, corrupt and incompetent administration in American history. It’s difficult for me to see how people can still justify their votes for Bush.

Star Wars Toys That Didn't Make It

Hehe:

http://www.mcmorran.org/pages.php?page_id=15