 |
"Science is a search for basic truths about
the Universe, a search which develops statements that appear
to describe how the Universe works, but which are subject to
correction, revision, adjustment, or even outright rejection,
upon the presentation of better or conflicting evidence. Science
is a discipline that yields frequently while attempting to closely
approach that elusive goal called 'truth,' but knowing that any
conclusion it can arrive at is merely the best one of the moment."
-- James Randi's
definition of science |
 |
Dang! I just missed it! Someday I'm hoping to
find a copy of a little booklet distributed by Betty Crocker
in 1963, called Baking's Believing: Authentic Magic Recipes.
("Perform feats of oven wizardry! Table Sorcery! Eating
Enchantment! ") Well, a copy of this was apparently included
in a collection of dozens of vintage cooking pamphlets &
cookbooks from the 40s, 50s, and 60s, which were sold last week
eBay. The 40-piece collection
only got one bid and sold for just $6.99! I wish I'd noticed
it before December 11th! |
 |
A year ago, I started taking Texas Hold
'em seriously, and I've been playing once or twice a week,
keeping careful track of my overall winnings and losses. I've
played 71 games this year (all in person; the only games I play
online are Homeworlds
and Martian
Chess) and I've lost a grand total of $75.29. (I usually
play either $1 or $5 games.) I'm gradually improving... my all-time
low was back in September, when I was down $110.68. And the more
I learn about Hold'em, the more I realize how much more there
is for me to learn about playing Hold'em... |
 |
The Japanese
version of Fluxx has been nominated for Best
Japanese Game of 2005! |
|
"The texture was both waxy and filling-looseningly
chewy. This this? ... was the sweetmeat that led Edmund to betray
his siblings and doomed Aslan to death on a stone slab? Watching
the movie last week, I cringed watching Edmund push piece after
squidgy red piece into his drooling mouth, shuddering to think
that children in theaters everywhere were bound to start yammering
for the candy and that on Christmas morning or Hanukkah nights,
their faces would crumple with disappointment as their teeth
sank into the vile jelly they had thought they wanted." -- Liesl Schillinger, "The
Lion, the Witch, and the Really Foul Candy: In pursuit of
Turkish Delight" [I too was terribly disappointed by Turkish
Delight after a decades-long wait to sample it, when I bought
some in England in 1993.] |
|
|
I was pleased to see the American Pavilion from
Expo '67 featured this week on the Amazing Race. I've long been
wondering what remained of the structure, after hearing it had
been damaged by a fire; apparently the skin burned off, but the
skeleton of the Biosphere is still standing, and it looked wonderful.
I'm really looking forward to visiting Montreal
someday... |
|
|
I believe someday, future politicians will praise
the leaders of the anti-prohibition movement, using words very
much like those President Bush used to describe the legacy of
Rosa Parks on December 1st. The War on Drugs is yet another institutionalized
evil, and more and more of us are seeking to hold the cruelty
and humiliation of the drug war up to the light. But sadly, like
so many other Americans, the President continues to support this
particular institutionalized evil. So who will be the Rosa Parks
of the legalization movement, and what will be the public act
of defiance that eventually leads to reform? |
|
"Five Mickey Mouses, three Tom and Jerries,
six geese a-laying, ten fat old women, one Brazilian conjurer,
four fugle horns, one Union Jack, seven little men in bowler
hats, one Florence Nightingale, some admirals (a rear admiral,
a front admiral, a red admiral and a vice admiral), two framed
masterpieces painted by Van Dyke's mother-in-law, four elephants,
two Chinese policemen, one photograph of Battersea Power Station,
three typical British housewives, a rugby team (complete with
umpire), the Norfolk Broads, three Widow Twankies, the Empire
State Building, eleven performing seals, an abyssinian fire-eater,
a chocolate wristwatch, a first aid kit (complete with fretso)
and a jar of stick-anything adhesive glue."
-- Contents of the Do-It-Yourself Cartoon Kit (which I remember
very fondly but haven't seen in 30 years) as quoted in an online
description
of the film |
|
"By refusing to give in, Rosa Parks showed
that one candle can light the darkness. Like so many institutionalized
evils, segregation ultimately depended on public accommodation.
Like so many institutionalized evils, once the ugliness of these
laws was held up to the light, they could not stand. Like so
many institutionalized evils, these laws proved no match for
the power of an awakened conscience -- and as a result, the cruelty
and humiliation of the Jim Crow laws are now a thing of the past." -- President George W. Bush, Comment
on the Signing of H.R. 4145, to Place Statue of Rosa Parks
in U.S. Capitol |
|
|
It's that time of year again, when people ask
me what I want for Christmas, but since I'm actively packing
towards moving right now, I'm less inclined to receive more stuff
than I usually am. So here's an alternative gift suggestion I'd
always be happy to receive: a donation in my name to any of the
organizations listed on the Stoner
Fluxx Foundation Donation webpage. (If you're paranoid about
sending a check to a group with the word marijuana in their name,
how about Law Enforcement Against
Prohibition?) |
|
"When the logic is in conflict with the
law, we change the law. We don't chuck our compassion. We don't
throw away our pragmatism. In this country, what we usually do
is we recognize this doesn't make sense any more and we make
the change. Eighty years ago the edifice of law said a female,
as compared to a male, didn't have enough intelligence to vote.
Was the law correct? Of course not! Just in the same way you'd
have a hard time looking into the eyes of an eighth-grade girl
today and explaining why women couldn't do all the things that
they readily do today, people in the future will look back and
say, 'These people were putting away people who were sick and
dying for using medicine that is effective, using upon their
doctor's recommendation?' " -- Allen St.
Pierre, executive director of the NORML,
seen quoted in an article called "Drug
War Victory" |
|
|
Lessons we've learned from 3 movies we saw last
week: 1.) Wal*Mart is destroying America, 2.) Not even magical
powers can ease the angst of finding a partner for the junior
prom, 3.) It's a bad idea to use brain-washing to change one's
opinion of vegetables and 4.) Cheese can save your life! |
|
"Today is a time of celebrating for
you -- a time of looking back to the first days of white people
in America. But it is not a time of celebrating for me. It is
with a heavy heart that I look back upon what happened to my
People. When the Pilgrims arrived, we, the Wampanoags, welcomed
them with open arms, little knowing that it was the beginning
of the end. That before 50 years were to pass, the Wampanoag
would no longer be a tribe. That we and other Indians living
near the settlers would be killed by their guns or dead from
diseases that we caught from them. Let us always remember, the
Indian is and was just as human as the white people. Although
our way of life is almost gone, we, the Wampanoags, still walk
the lands of Massachusetts. What has happened cannot be changed.
But today we work toward a better America, a more Indian America
where people and nature once again are important." -- Wampanoag
speaker at a 1970 ceremony marking the 350th anniversary
of the Pilgrim's arrival in Massachusetts |
|
|
I love my hair. How
many other bald men do you know who can honestly say that? But
it's true. Bald as I am on top, I've grown a handsome ponytail
which I am proud to sport. I started growing it long in the back
almost 15 years ago, when the drought up on top was first becoming
obvious. My hair hangs down now as far as my watch! |
|
|
I love my watch. (I was reminded of this by
seeing it in the close up photo
of our snake included in the new Gazette
article about us.) It's a Timex digital watch from the mid-eighties
and true to the old slogan, it has taken quite a lickin' and
yet kept right on tickin' (if, that is, a digital watch can truly
be said to tick). I've been wearing this
watch on a chain around my neck for 20 years, and it's been
bumped and bashed thousands of times in as many different ways
during that time. And although it's a bit worn and does have
some minor cracks in the glass, it's still doing great and serving
me well. Someday I suppose it will suffer some sort of catastrophic
failure... hopefully before then I'll have lined up an identical
replacement via eBay. |
|
"President George W. Bush has suddenly
shifted rhetoric on the war in Iraq. Until recently, the administration's
line was basically, 'Everything we are saying and doing is right.'
It was a line that held him in good stead, especially with his
base, which admired his constancy above all else. Now, though,
as his policies are failing and even his base has begun to abandon
him, a new line is being trotted out: 'Yes, we were wrong about
some things, but everybody else was wrong, too, so get over it.'" -- Fred Kaplan, "I
Was Wrong, but So Were You" |
| |
"As elected and consecrated bishops of the
church, we repent of our complicity in what we believe to be
the unjust and immoral invasion and occupation of Iraq. In the
face of the United States Administration's rush toward military
action based on misleading information, too many of us were silent.
We confess our preoccupation with institutional enhancement and
limited agendas while American men and women are sent to Iraq
to kill and be killed, while thousands of Iraqi people needlessly
suffer and die, while poverty increases and preventable diseases
go untreated. Although we value the sacrifices of the men and
women who serve in the military, we confess our betrayal of the
scriptural and prophetic authority to warn the nations that true
security lies not in weapons of war, but in enabling the poor,
the vulnerable, the marginalized to flourish as beloved daughters
and sons of God. We confess our failure..." --
A
Call to Repentance and Peace with Justice, signed by a majority
of the bishops of the United Methodist Church (GW Bush's own
denomination) |
|
"Men from all sides, whom mere minutes ago
had been trying to kill each other, now rose from the trenches,
cut down the wires that separated them, and hugged each other,
shook each others hands, shared food, drink, alcohol, cameradery.
Three languages flowed from their tongues, and whether or not
a man understood German or English or French didn't matter. The
message was clear. The war is over. We are alive. Let us celebrate
together and fight no more. 87 years have passed, and that message
is nearly lost. In the US, where I am, we celebrate today as
'Veteran's Day', celebrating those that served in the military.
The 'old name', of Armistice Day all but forgotten." -- Buddha Buck, "The
War is Over, We Live, Let Us Celebrate and Fight No More", 10 November 2005, 11:20pm EST |
|
|
"Anyone can do any amount of work, provided
it isn't the work he's supposed to be doing at that moment." -- Robert Benchley, quoted in the Montreal Gazette,
re-quoted in The Week, 10/7/5 |
|
"Censorship is telling a man he can't have
a steak just because a baby can't chew it."
-- Mark Twain, quoted in the Marshall, Mo., Democrat-News, re-quoted
in The Week, 10/14/5 |
|
|
"I've often thought that the chromosomal
creators in this world are a little narrow-minded. Much of our
society seems to be bent on literal children as a path to immortality,
while practically ignoring creations in general. But why limit
yourself to physical reality when the creation goal itself (becoming
a god, gaining immortality, or leaving some of yourself behind)
is really metaphysical? In my view, ideas and art and inventions
go just as far as the physical graffiti of biological procreation
-- sometimes even farther. Who knows whether or how much of Shakespeare's
dregs of DNA are still around? Yet his poems and plays live on,
and have had many child-poems through the inspiration of other
creators." -- John Cooper, from an
email conversation about game
design between us and some guy named Kory,
back in 1999, recently rediscovered in my logbook |
|
"Colorado authorities promptly announced
their intention to ignore the collective will of the state's
largest city. Because the ballot question creates only
a city ordinance, Attorney General John Suthers said Denver police
would still go after pot smokers by bringing charges under state
law. Mr. Suthers labeled the vote 'unconstructive'
and was backed up by Denver's mayor and city attorney. When did
majority votes that limit the power of the government cease to
count in this country?" -- Las
Vegas Review-Journal editorial, on the occasion of Denver's
vote in favor of marijuana legalization |
 |
Perhaps you've heard that the Rockettes (of
Radio City Music Hall) have gone on strike, just as their huge
Christmas Spectacular was ready to begin. Our friend Dawn
designed a bunch of the sets for the production, so we're really
hoping they can work things out so that the show can go on. But
if they don't, Kristin & Alison & Petra will have the
dubious distinction of being among the few who actually got to
see the show this year, since they took a quick day trip to NYC
on Tuesday to see a dress rehearsal performance (for which Dawn
had comp tickets). They say it was an awesome show... let's hope
everyone else who wants to see it will get the chance! |
|
"Yoder admitted on January 18 [1968] that
he had made the whole thing up because of his 'concern over illegal
LSD use by children.' The 'distraught and upset' Commissioner
Yoder was immediately suspended from his post as he checked himself
into the Philadelphia Psychiatric Center, where he spent four
weeks before being permanently removed from his position with
the Welfare Department. (Although Dr. Norman Yoder is the name
now mentioned whenever this story is discussed, the creation
of this legend should be credited to the anonymous hoaxster[s]
who had planted the 'blinded students' articles in California
newspapers eight months earlier.) As usual, the unraveling of
the legend received far less attention from the press than its
sensational outbreak had produced, and it remained a widely believed
drug horror story throughout the next decade."
-- Snopes, "Blinded
by the Light" |
|
|
"Does it LOOK like I want
a dollar?" -- an Old Man on the subway, reacting
to the Dollar
Dudes' offer of a free dollar |
|
"I do think sooner or later marijuana prohibition
will collapse under the weight of its own stupidity. It
doesn't work, just like it didn't work for alcohol." -- Bruce
Mirken, of the Marijuana Policy Project |
|
|
I believe the outcome of the 2004 election was
altered by voting machine fraud. Some of the articles
I've read make the case quite strongly and suggest that the evidence
is out there to prove it. So why isn't anyone bringing this matter
before the courts? Couldn't the results be overturned, and the
rightful winner installed (even halfway through the term), if
indeed voting
machine fraud can be proven? At the very least, shouldn't
the Democrats be doing something to prevent the Republican-built
voting machines from stealing elections for many years to come? |
|
"I once joked that if President Bush said
that the Earth was flat, the headlines of news articles would
read, 'Opinions Differ on Shape of the Earth.' The headlines
on many articles about the intelligent design controversy come
pretty close." -- Paul Krugman, "Design
for Confusion" |
|
|
"The invasion of Iraq, I
believe, will turn out to be the greatest strategic disaster
in U.S. history." -- Retired Lt. General William
Odom, former head of the National Security Agency (seen
quoted in Al Gore's speech, "The
Threat to American Democracy") |
|
I really like the new 2005 nickel, with the dramatic
new portrait of Jefferson and the lovely coastal view on the
back, commemorating the end of the Lewis & Clark Expedition
in 1805. Those six words do a great job of evoking the mood that
group must have felt: "Ocean in view! O! The Joy!" |
|
|
"I'm not really clear how much a billion
dollars is but the United States -- our United States -- is spending
$5.6 billion a month fighting this war in Iraq that we never
should have gotten into. We still have 139,000 soldiers in Iraq
today. Almost 2,000 Americans have died there. For what?" -- Andy Rooney, CBS's
"60 Minutes" |
|
"From the darkness nearby comes the sound
of shuffling feet. As you turn towards the sound, a nine-foot
cyclops ambles into the light of your lamp. The cyclops is dressed
in a three-piece suit of worsted wool, and is wearing a black
silk top-hat and cowboy boots and is carrying an ebony walking-stick.
It catches sight of you and stops, seeming frozen in its tracks,
with its bloodshot eye bulging in amazement and its fang-filled
jaw drooping with shock. After staring at you in incredulous
disbelief for a few moments, it reaches into the pocket of its
vest and pulls out a small plastic bag filled with a leafy green
substance, and examines it carefully. 'It must be worth eighty
pazools an ounce after all' mumbles the cyclops, who casts one
final look at you, shudders, and staggers away out of sight." -- a random event that occurred very rarely in David
Platt's 550-point expanded version of the original Colossal Cave
text adventure game (seen quoted on wikipedia) |
|
|
The Dutch are leading the way again! The Netherlands
has effectively legalized group marriage by granting a civil
union to a man and two women. Victor de Bruijn insists there's
no jealousy between the three partners because Mirjam and Bianca
are bisexual. "I think that with two heterosexual women
it would be more difficult," he
said, noting he is "100 percent heterosexual." |
|
|
I think loyalty is over-rated. Leaders value
loyalty in those under them, because it demands instant forgiveness
of mistakes and flaws. But loyalty has too often let bad rulers
stay in power, and has allowed unjust policies go unchallenged
for too long. At some point, loyalty becomes a burden and must
be discarded. How long does the colonist stay loyal to the King?
At what point does the ancient Roman turn his back on Zeus to
begin following Jesus? How far into the graveyard does the loyal
German follow Hitler? And how many more people must die in Iraq
before loyal Republicans turn against Bush? |
|
I value bravery much more than loyalty. It takes
bravery to challenge authority and to speak up with unwelcome
opinions, all the more so when surrounded by staunch loyalty.
Bravery is what it takes to speak out against those in power,
even when they are wrong. Loyalty is what keeps the powerful
in power, even when they are wrong. |
|
|
"In everyday life many human problems stem
from people's preoccupation with the past and the future, rather
than the present. Disasters provide a temporary liberation from
the worries, inhibitions, and anxieties associated with the past
and the future because they force people to concentrate their
full attention on immediate moment-to-moment, day-to-day needs.
[This shift in awareness] speeds the process of decision-making
[and] facilitates the acceptance of change."
-- Charles Fritz, from his 1961 study, "Disasters and Mental
Health: Therapeutic Principles Drawn from Disaster Studies,"
seen quoted in "Notes on bad weather and good government"
by Rebecca Solnit, at Harpers.org |
|
One way to sum up the differences between Canada
and "Red" America: the 3 Ps vs. the 3 Gs. The 3 Gs
are God, Guns, and [oppression of] Gays, while the 3 Ps are Peace,
Pot, and [gay] Pride. I've long been hearing about the 3 Gs that
motivate conservatives down here, but the 3 Ps have only just
now stuck in my mind, thanks to a
review I just read of this movie we're supposedly in (which
finally debuted last week at a film festival in Montreal), called
Escape To Canada. I can't wait to see it! |
|
|
Ever since I was a kid, I've been particularly
fascinated by disasters. (For details, see my entry on the
Titanic in Mysteries of the Timeline.) I believe strongly
in taking precautions and trying to be prepared for emergencies.
I think that's why I'm so shocked and angered -- still -- by
the way the government botched the handling of Katrina. As a
disaster-watcher, I've long known that a major hurricane strike
would be particularly devastating for below-sea-level New Orleans.
It was as inevitable as the next major quake in California. As
I watched the news on the eve of the storm, I listened to an
expert predict exactly what we all then saw happen over the next
few days, and I knew he was completely correct. So it seems to
me they had plenty of warning, plenty of time to prepare. Why
then were they caught with their pants totally down? And what
will happen when the next disaster isn't so easily predicted? |
|
"I thought that I could try to find a way,
even as your guest, with respect, to speak about my deep feeling
that we should not have invaded Iraq, and to declare my belief
that the wish to invade another culture and another country--with
the resultant loss of life and limb for our brave soldiers, and
for the noncombatants in their home terrain--did not come out
of our democracy but was instead a decision made 'at the top'
and forced on the people by distorted language, and by untruths.
I hoped to express the fear that we have begun to live in the
shadows of tyranny and religious chauvinism--the opposites of
the liberty, tolerance and diversity our nation aspires to. I
tried to see my way clear to attend the festival in order to
bear witness--as an American who loves her country and its principles
and its writing--against this undeclared and devastating war.
But I could not face the idea of breaking bread with you." -- Sharon Olds, in her open letter to Laura Bush,
"No
Place for a Poet at a Banquet of Shame" |
|
|
"New Orleans had long known it was highly
vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In
fact, the federal government has been working with state and
local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane
and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm
in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast
Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA. Over the next
10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out
SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping
stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million
in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the
Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding
New Orleans continued to subside. Yet after 2003, the flow of
federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never
tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war
in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time
as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least
nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically
cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane-
and flood-control dollars." -- Will Bunch,
"Did
New Orleans Catastrophe Have to Happen?" |
|
"They didn't listen to the Army Corps of
Engineers when they insisted the levees be reinforced. They didn't
listen to the countless experts who warned this exact disaster
scenario would happen. They didn't listen to years of urgent
pleading by Louisianans about the consequences of wetlands erosion
in the region, which exposed New Orleans and surrounding parishes
to ever-greater wind damage and flooding in a hurricane. They
didn't listen when a disaster simulation just last year showed
that hundreds of thousands of people would be trapped and have
no way to evacuate New Orleans. They didn't listen to those of
us who have long argued that our insane dependence on oil as
our principle energy source, and our refusal to invest in more
efficient engines, left us one big supply disruption away from
skyrocketing gas prices that would ravage family pocketbooks,
stall our economy, bankrupt airlines, and leave us even more
dependent on foreign countries with deep pockets of petroleum.
They didn't listen when Katrina approached the Gulf and every
newspaper in America warned this could be 'The Big One' that
Louisianans had long dreaded. They didn't even abandon their
vacations." -- Senator John
Kerry, speaking at Brown University, September 19, 2005 |
|
|
When I was a kid, and you missed (or couldn't
see) a movie new in the theater, you had to wait "until
they show it on TV." That was the worst, since of course
that might never happen. Then came the video era, when we were
waiting only "until I can rent the video." Now I realize
I'm doing the same thing with premium-cable shows. For example,
I'm really interested in this new series "Weeds" but
I don't get Showtime, so I'm waiting until next year, when the
whole first season will undoubtedly be available on DVD. |
|
Here's a phrase I wish people would use more
often: "I was wrong." For me, one of the most annoying
things about President Bush, and many people like him, is his
pointed unwillingness ever to admit a mistake. (His doing so
last week regarding Katrina was a first!) Yet mistakes are one
of the most important things in life: often, the only time we
actually learn something is by making a mistake. So there should
be no shame in saying, "Oops, I made a mistake before, but
I've learned from it." And yet, ego or pride or sheer stupid
stubbornness often keep people -- men usually -- from being willing
to say those 3 simple words, the hearing of which makes all the
difference to those who knew the truth all along. The only thing
worse than being unwilling to admit a mistake is being unwilling
to even imagine that what you earnestly believe is true might
actually be completely false. (This mentality is summed up for
me by the expression, "I may not be right, but I'm sure.")
As a scientist,
nothing is more frustrating to me than stubborn unwillingness
to change one's mind about something, be it important or minor,
even in the face of obvious proof to the contrary. I really can't
deal with people like that. |
|
|
"In the last ten years he [Marc
Emery] has paid over $600,000 in taxes to the provincial and
federal governments declaring on his income tax form "marijuana
seed vendor". Health Canada has even sent him customers
to buy seeds to grow medication and does not get bothered by
the police. The community accepts him and he has the backing
of NDP leader Jack Layton as well as many other politicians.
Marc has made millions of dollars and yet he only owns the shirt
on his back. The $3 million a year he is reported to make goes
right back into his belief in freedom for the people. So why
would our Canadian government consider extraditing a Canadian
citizen that is not considered a criminal to a country where
he could face a life prison or even the death sentence? Let's
make our politicians and law enforcement understand we the people
will not tolerate it. We want to be free and we don't want more
prisons. The US drug war has proven itself to be a horrendous
failure, as the budget increases each year so does the drug problem.
The US has more prisoners per capita than any other country in
the world, seven times more per capita than Canada. This is in
large part due to the drug war, a staggering number of the prisoners
are there for marijuana offences. Prohibition has created a huge
high priced black market for a weed that could otherwise be grown
anywhere by anyone for free. Ever since that ill-fated day in
1971, when Richard Nixon declared a war on drugs, the US has
built and filled jails at a criminally insane pace. Most marijuana
smokers are law-abiding family orientated people and putting
them in jail for smoking a harmless herb is wrong. " -- Paul Greer, "Freedom
Fries, Drug Czar Lies" |
|
|
"When President Bush stays on vacation
and attends social functions for two days in the face of disaster
before finally understanding that people are starving, crying
out and dying, it is time for him to go. When FEMA officials
cannot figure out that there are thousands stranded at the New
Orleans convention center - where people died and were starving
- and fussed ineffectively about the same problems in the Superdome,
they should be fired, not praised, as the president praised FEMA
Director Michael Brown in New Orleans last week. When Mr. Bush
states publicly that 'nobody could anticipate a breach of the
levee' while New Orleans journalists, Scientific American, National
Geographic, academic researchers and Louisiana politicians had
been doing precisely that for decades, right up through last
year and even as Hurricane Katrina passed over, he should be
laughed out of town as an impostor." --
Gordon Adams, "After
Katrina Fiasco, Time For Bush To Go" |
|
"According to Drudge, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice has recently enjoyed a little Broadway entertainment.
And Page Six reports that she's also working on her backhand
with Monica Seles. So the Gulf Coast has gone all Mad Max, women
are being raped in the Superdome, and Rice is enjoying a brief
vacation in New York. We wish we were surprised. What does surprise
us: Just moments ago at the Ferragamo on 5th Avenue, Condoleeza
Rice was seen spending several thousands of dollars on some nice,
new shoes (we've confirmed this, so her new heels will surely
get coverage from the WaPo's Robin Givhan). A fellow shopper,
unable to fathom the absurdity of Rice's timing, went up to the
Secretary and reportedly shouted, 'How dare you shop for shoes
while thousands are dying and homeless!' Never one to have her
fashion choices questioned, Rice had security PHYSICALLY REMOVE
the woman. Angry Lady, whoever you are, we love you. You are
a true American, and we'll go shoe shopping with you anytime." -- Gawker.com, "Condi
Rice Spends Salary on Shoes" |
|
|
"Thousands drowned in the murky brew that
was soon contaminated by sewage and industrial waste. Thousands
more who survived the flood later perished from dehydration and
disease as they waited to be rescued. It took two months to pump
the city dry, and by then the Big Easy was buried under a blanket
of putrid sediment, a million people were homeless, and 50,000
were dead. It was the worst natural disaster in the history of
the United States. When did this calamity happen? It hasn't-yet.
But the doomsday scenario is not far-fetched. The Federal Emergency
Management Agency lists a hurricane strike on New Orleans as
one of the most dire threats to the nation, up there with a large
earthquake in California or a terrorist attack on New York City." -- Joel K. Bourne, Jr. "Louisiana's
Wetlands," National Geographic magazine, October 2004 |
|
"There's nothing wrong with mountain biking,
but when you are president of the United States and you are engaged
in a war where people are dying every day because of your decisions,
mountain biking is not where your energies should go. Now is
simply not a good time for the commander-in-chief to take a month-long
vacation, bouncing from his bucolic Texas ranch to the forest
trails of Idaho. The president is evidently more concerned
with recreation than reconciliation for the costly blunders of
his administration. Bush seems to be heavily narcotized given
his lackadaisical role in this volatile, often tragic, world.
His recent speech about the devastation of Katrina was almost
glib, and there's got to be a chemical rationale for the 'What,
me worry?' Alfred E. Newman caricature presiding in the
Oval Office." -- Paul Andersen, "Time
For Your Pee Test, George" |
|
|
"The foundation of the manfood pyramid
is, needless to say, meat. A typical manfood meal has a meat
course followed by another meat course. The 'mixed grill' is
a shining example of manfood... and 'yes' is the invariant answer
to the question of whether you want cheese on that. (Nachos drenched
in cheese is a kind of transitional layer between the chip and
cheese layers of the manfood pyramid -- or is that getting too
technical?)" -- Joel Achenbach, "Kale?
Not for This Male," The Washington Post Magazine, August
28, 2005, page 11 |
|
"My eating habits are terrible. I don't
like fruits and vegetables. I kind of like meat. I like doughy
things, fried things, and sugar things. That's what I like. And
dips. I like things with dipping sauces. And glazed. Things that
are glazed. Or have frosting, in some way, or are some sort of
a layered, something layered with other things inside that are
sugary. Also, I like butter. I like things that rise. Cakey,
cupcakey, doughnutty... I like breaded stuff is good. I like
breaded bread." -- Kathy Griffin, "My
Life on the D-List" |
|
|
"With American sons in the fields far away,
with America's future under challenge right here at home, with
our hopes and the world's hopes for peace in the balance every
day, I do not believe that I should devote an hour or a day of
my time to any personal partisan causes or to any duties other
than the awesome duties of this office -- the Presidency of your
country. Accordingly, I shall not seek, and I will not accept,
the nomination of my party for another term as your President." -- LBJ's "Renunciation
Speech," delivered on March 31, 1968 |
|
Start with Kathy Griffin's eating habits, replace
the part about "kind of" liking meat with Joel Achenbach's
theory of Manfood (minus the beans and beer), pour on some chocolate sauce, and you've
got the perfect recipe for what Andy Looney
likes to eat. |
|
|
"I think it's also important for me to
go on with my life, to keep a balanced life. So I'm mindful of
what goes on around me. On the other hand, I'm also mindful that
I've got a life to live and will do so." --
George W. Bush, on his refusal to take time out from a 5-week
vacation to see the grieving mother of a dead soldier camped
out on the edge of his ranch (seen quoted
in "Biking
Toward Nowhere" by Maureen Dowd) |
|
"I too suffer from migraines and daily
chronic headaches and through this past year, and many many MANY
different types of costly prescription medications, herbs, accupressure,
acupuncture, chiropractor, massages, you name it I'm sure I tried
it, weed still seems to be the only thing that instantly relieves
most of my pain. I can't say enough how much I appreciate your
devotion to this cause as there will be millions who will benefit
from this." -- email from a reader named
Elisa |
|
|
"Every spare unit of emptiness is occupied
by an artifact, a gimcrack, a gewgaw, a collage, a montage, a
set of game pieces, a conversation starter. Hundreds of board
games overflow the shelves in the game room. A model train makes
a loop along a track mounted around the perimeter of the kitchen
ceiling. A green parrot squawks out a greeting. But the stereotypical
pack rat is a hoarder; the Looneys are collectors and arrangers.
The place isn't untidy. It's small, it's crammed to the rafters
with stuff, but every object appears to have its place and was
obviously deposited in its place by design."
-- Susan West, "The
Looney Labs Experiment," Games Magazine October 2005,
page 6 |
|
"Brother Frank has once more gone to Iraq.
Bleh. This war is really depressing. For lots of people I'm sure
it's just a minor annoyance, perhaps for some people it's a rush,
but for some of us who opposed this war at the start--and some
of us with friends and family over there right now--it's a huge,
dark, open chasm. My brother Frank is wonderful, and I love him
dearly. He chose his job and he is very good at it, and I wished
him well when I hugged him goodbye. Now he's at the chasm's edge
again. Bleh. I used to climb cliffs and ride motorcycles a lot.
Hell, I even smoked cigarettes. I chose to do those activities
and I understood the risks; life is like that, you choose your
potions. The Iraq war is different potion: Concocted by a very
small group of hack chefs out of the leftovers from an oily family
feud gone awry, and force-fed to millions. Now they've spilled
it all over the place and we're depending on nice people like
my brother to clean it up." -- John Cooper,
GinohnNews,
August 17, 2005 |
|
|
"Future archaeologists trying
to understand what the Shuttle was for are going to have a mess
on their hands. Why was such a powerful rocket used only to reach
very low orbits, where air resistance and debris would limit
the useful lifetime of a satellite to a few years? Why was there
both a big cargo bay and a big crew compartment? What kind of
missions would require people to assist in deploying a large
payload? Why was the Shuttle intentionally crippled so that it
could not land on autopilot? Why go through all the trouble to
give the Shuttle large wings if it has no jet engines and the
glide characteristics of a brick? Why build such complex, adjustable
main engines and then rely on the equivalent of two giant firecrackers
to provide most of the takeoff thrust? Why use a glass thermal
protection system, rather than a low-tech ablative shield? And
having chosen such a fragile method of heat protection, why on
earth mount the orbiter on the side of the rocket, where things
will fall on it during launch? Taken on its own merits, the Shuttle
gives the impression of a vehicle designed to be launched repeatedly
to near-Earth orbit, tended by five to seven passengers with
little concern for their personal safety, and requiring extravagant
care and preparation before each flight, with an almost fetishistic
emphasis on reuse. Clearly this primitive space plane must have
been a sacred artifact, used in religious rituals to deliver
sacrifice to a sky god." -- Maciej Ceglowski,
"A
Rocket To Nowhere" |
|
|
"The majority of journalists in 1974 had
a good excuse for producing hysterical and hackneyed crap: Drugs
were a thousand leagues outside their comfort zone. Your average
pressman had never met a heroin user, had never smoked marijuana,
and mistakenly believed that some college kids on LSD had gone
blind from looking at the sun. But today's top editors are all
young enough -- or old enough, depending on how you look at it
-- to have observed illicit drug use firsthand, and I'd wager
that most have partaken of recreational drugs at some point in
their lives. They know that police officers exaggerate drug menaces,
that not every drug user turns into Charles Manson, and that
not all drug use constitutes drug abuse. Such personal familiarity
with drug lore and legend should have better prepared them to
cover the subject. What's their excuse?" --
Jack Shafer, "Why
Does Drug Reporting Suck? -- Still." |
|
I'm glad the shuttle mission was a success, but I totally
agree with those who say it is time to retire the fleet. Upgrades
and overhauls not withstanding, our current spaceships are obsolete.
They were designed a really long time ago, and according to some
critics, it's always been a flawed system. The new
designs I'm seeing make a lot more sense: put the cargo on
a big dumb booster and send astronauts up in a craft designed
to do only that. |
|
"One day, a bad bad day, when many soldiers lost lives
in that distant senseless war, my middle son stood with barefeet
on the cold tile floor of the kitchen, listening to NPR, and
clenched his fists in frustration. 'Why don't they stop fighting?
We're never going to join a Federation of Planets if this continues.
Don't they know that? Why don't they want to help end starvation
instead? I wish we lived in the future.'"
-- Birdie Jaworski, "A
Love Letter to Star Trek" |
|
"Medical marijuana has nothing to do with 'potheads'
wanting a good time. It has to do with people in pain who
need relief. Someone very close to me decided to stop smoking
marijuana, not for medical reasons, but for himself. After
about three weeks, he started to lose vision in his left eye.
The doctor told him it was glaucoma and prescribed marijuana
in pill form, but his condition only got worse. He eventually
started smoking again, and he now has 20/20 vision. So, Stuart
Caesar, you mean to tell me that he just should have gone blind
and moved on with his life? I don't think so. If smoking
marijuana is preventing someone's pain, then more power to them.
The pill form obviously is not strong enough. I feel only
pity for someone who has such a strong opinion on something they
obviously know nothing about." -- Kimberly
Montanya, "On
Marijuana, This Caesar Has No Clothes" |
|
Remember that radio personality, Paul Harvey? The line
I always quote from him is "...and that's the rest of the
story." He recently spewed out a pretty amazing rant,
endorsing racism, genocide, and wartime aggression, all wrapped
up in references to an interesting quote from Winston Churchill
(which was in regard to the strength of the American people in
the aftermath of Pearl Harbor): "We didn't come this far
because we are made of sugar candy." Anyway, I just learned the
rest of Paul Harvey's story: in 1944 he stole an airplane and
was discharged from the Army Air Corps on Section 8 charges! (You know, the crazy way out Klinger was always trying
to get on M*A*S*H!) |
| |
"Marijuana smoking -'even heavy longterm
use'- does not cause cancer of the lung, upper airwaves, or esophagus,
Donald Tashkin reported at this year's meeting of the International
Cannabinoid Research Society. Coming from Tashkin, this
conclusion had extra significance for the assembled drug-company
and university-based scientists ( most of whom get funding from
the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse )... It is Tashkin's
research that the Drug Czar's office cites in ads linking marijuana
to lung cancer. Tashkin himself has long believed in a
causal relationship, despite a study in which Stephen Sidney
examined the files of 64,000 Kaiser patients and found that marijuana
users didn't develop lung cancer at a higher rate or die earlier
than non-users. Of five smaller studies on the question,
only two -involving a total of about 300 patients- concluded
that marijuana smoking causes lung cancer. Tashkin decided
to settle the question by conducting a large, prospectively designed,
population-based, case-controlled study. 'Our major hypothesis,'
he told the ICRS, 'was that heavy, longterm use of marijuana
will increase the risk of lung and upper-airwaves cancers.'" -- Fred Gardner, "Study:
Smoking Marijuana Does NOT Cause Lung Cancer" |
|
"In June, researchers at the Virginia Tech Transportation
Institute released the results of a yearlong study showing that
driver distractions -- including such low-tech basics as eating,
chatting with passengers, and fiddling with the radio -- account
for nearly 80% of crashes." -- Michelle
Cottle, "My Roving Barcalounger," an essay with the
sub-heading "Our New Minivan Has So Many Extra Gizmos You
Might Forget You're Driving," Time
Magazine, August 1, 2005, page 72 |
|
|
"The Jedi order [are] the geekiest people in the universe:
they have beards and ponytails, they dress in army blankets,
they are expert fighter pilots, they build their own laser swords
from scratch. And (as is made clear in the "Clone Wars"
novels) the masses and the elites both claim to admire them,
but actually fear and loathe them because they hate being dependent
upon their powers.... I lap this stuff up along with millions,
maybe billions, of others. Why? Because every single one of us
is as dependent on science and technology - and, by extension,
on the geeks who make it work - as a patient in intensive care.
Yet we much prefer to think otherwise. Scientists and technologists
have the same uneasy status in our society as the Jedi in the
Galactic Republic." -- Neal Stephenson,
"Turn
On, Tune In, Veg Out" |
|
|
"This game is the reason I had to buy a second 3DO.
My mom got so hooked on this that when I moved out of their house
after college, she made me leave my 3DO and Icebreaker! She still
plays it to this day. I never got into it as much as she did,
but it is a great game. I'd dare say in the same class as Return
Fire as far as fun!" -- comments appended
to the DigitalPress "Sleeper of the Week" review
of Icebreaker |
|
"Despite a congressional finding to
the contrary, marijuana does have valid therapeutic purposes."--
The Supreme Court's medical marijuana ruling of June
6, 2005 |
|
|
"Since my name is Molly Ivins and I speak
for myself, I'll tell you exactly why I opposed invading Iraq:
because I thought it would be bad for this country, our country,
my country. I opposed the invasion out of patriotism, and that
is the reason I continue to oppose it today -- I think it is
bad for us. I think it has done nothing but harm to the United
States of America. I think we have created more terrorists than
we faced to start with and that our good name has been sullied
all over the world. I think we have alienated our allies and
have killed more Iraqis than Saddam Hussein ever did." -- Molly Ivins, "Batten
Down the Hatches" |
|
Rest in Peace, Scotty! You were always my favorite
character on the original series (fond though I may be of Mr.
Spock). I'll never forget sitting right up front when you were
the guest speaker at an Engineering Colloquim at Goddard, when
Kristin and I were working there together in the early 90s. Perfect
timing, too, leaving the Earth on Moon Day. You may be dead,
Jim Doohan, but you'll live forever in our hearts. |
|
|
"There's no difference between killing
and making decisions by which you send others to kill. It's exactly
the same thing. And maybe it's worse." -- Golda
Meir, in a 1972 interview with Oriana Fallaci |
|
I've grown to hate email, which is sad, because I used to
love it. Back in the late 80s, it was the Best Thing Ever! But
now, the spammers have ruined it for everyone. I feel like my
favorite secret spot, that swimming hole in the valley, once
the scene of many happy afternoons, has now become polluted,
over-run by rude tourists, and plastered over with signs, billboards,
and advertisements. Yuck. |
| |
"Travel with several Three Musketeers bars and a few
bags of honey-roasted cashews. If your hotel has shut down its
room service for the night, or if room service is as bad as it
often is, you will want those snacks. I might add that it's a
rare hotel that has room service that tastes as good as a Three
Musketeers bar. (When I was a child they were a nickel - sniff,
sniff.) And if the airline food is disappointing - isn't it funny
that I say 'if'? - you will be happy that you have that reliable
Three Musketeers chocolaty goodness in your pocket. (No, I am
not a spokesman for Three Musketeers. I just love them.) Sometimes
a rush of chocolate can cover even the worst sins of an airplane." Ben Stein, "In
Seat 12C, Speak Kindly and Carry a Big Candy Bar" |
|
"My life climaxes twice every year. Being professional
game-manufacturers, Christmas is always very big for us. Games
make great gifts, plus we create something cool each year to
give away to our friends (that's how we got our business started).
Six months later comes Origins, a huge gaming convention, where
we hold a gathering called the Big Experiment. For 4 days we
run official tournaments for all our games, awarding Olympic-style
medallions to the winners. These 4 days are my favorites of the
whole year. But now, Origins is over, and the next 6 month cycle
is beginning." -- a "Life is Short"
autobiography which I just sent to the Washington Post |
 |
In the distant future, say 20 years from now, the Looney
Labs World Headquarters will be housed in a cluster of buildings
shaped like giant Icehouse pieces. The compound of 4 or 5 house-sized
pyramids with glass walls will be perched somewhere along the
edge of the cliff that runs through the center of Hamilton, known
as the Niagara Escarpment. The pyramids will have inner and outer
chambers; the inner areas will be the office and living spaces
for our business and our co-housing community. The outer rooms
will serve as greenhouses for whatever Alison wants to grow,
including the marijuana we hope to legally begin farming someday.
At night, we'll be able to turn on colorful lamps that will make
each pyramid glow with a different hue, making them beautifully
visible from far away, and the view from the top room in the
tallest of the pyramids will be truly spectacular. This is where
I hope to be, when I'm 64. (I wonder how many Fluxx decks we'll
have to sell to make that happen...) |
|
"I was, in a word, unprepared for
my exposure to the game as it's really played, by those
who have been playing it a long time. (And those who designed
it in the first place, who were among the tournament players.)
I had thought the game was just a contest of tactical piece-placement
with room for diplomacy; that's how I had played it with all
my friends. Oh, no no no. It is actually all about
diplomacy, carried out through piece placement. Every important
move seemed to be a team effort, with opponents forming brief
alliances (very brief, since games have a 10-minute timer)
to disrupt other opponents' defensive formations and swap captured
"prisoner" pieces, shuffling them around the table
to foil attackers in ways that made my head spin. It was an entirely
different game than the Icehouse I knew anything about." -- Jason McIntosh, describing his experiences with
Icehouse at the 13th International Icehouse Tournament, in the
section on Icehouse in his page about his
favorite board and card games |
|
|
"A White House whistle-blower has released documents
showing that an administration official, Philip Cooney, has been
doctoring U.S. government reports to weaken the evidence for
global warming. [...examples...] Cooney isn't even a scientist.
Before Bush hired him as his chief of environmental policy, Cooney
led the American Petroleum Institute's campaign to cast doubt
on global warming." -- The Week,
June 24, 2005, page 17 |
|
"I cannot understand why it is so critically
important to prevent sick Americans who receive relief from smoking
marijuana from having this form of treatment, yet it's OK to
sell a known carcinogen to smokers. The most recent news in 'Marlboro
Country' is that the huge settlements levied against the tobacco
companies have been reduced. Drastically reduced.
First the government wanted to reduce the $280 billion in fines
down to $130 billion. But last week on The News Hour, Matthew
Myers of the Foundation for Tobacco Free Kids, told the story
of an appalling lapse of ethical integrity during the latest
tobacco trial, which has been going on for the past eight months.
After hundreds of days of evidence presented by the government
proving continued rule breaking by the tobacco companies, The
Department of Justice ( which had stood firmly behind the expert
testimony of its foremost advisor in this case, Dr. Fiore
) did an abrupt about face at the 11th hour and reduced the suggested
$130 billion fine to a mere $10 billion." --
Susan Hanley Lane, "Will
The Real 'war On Drugs' Please Stand Up?" |
|
|
"If Congress can regulate this under the Commerce Clause,
then it can regulate virtually anything, and the Federal Government
is no longer one of limited and enumerated powers... In
the early days of the republic it would have been unthinkable
that Congress could prohibit the local cultivation, possession,
and consumption of marijuana." -- Supreme
Court Justice Clarence Thomas, in the dissenting view of their
June
6th medical marijuana ruling |
|
|
"The report estimates that legalizing marijuana would
save $7.7 billion per year in government expenditure on enforcement
of prohibition. $5.3 billion of this savings would accrue to
state and local governments, while $2.4 billion would accrue
to the federal government. The report also estimates that marijuana
legalization would yield tax revenue of $2.4 billion annually
if marijuana were taxed like all other goods and $6.2 billion
annually if marijuana were taxed at rates comparable to those
on alcohol and tobacco." -- Executive
Summary of "Budgetary Implications of Marijuana Prohibition
in the United States,"
a report signed by over 500
noted economists, including Milton Friedman |
|
"Military action was now seen as inevitable.
Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified
by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence
and facts were being fixed around the policy. ... It seemed clear
that Bush had made up his mind to take military action, even
if the timing was not yet decided. But the case was thin. Saddam
was not threatening his neighbours, and his WMD capability was
less than that of Libya, North Korea or Iran. We should work
up a plan for an ultimatum to Saddam to allow back in the UN
weapons inspectors. This would also help with the legal justification
for the use of force." -- Minutes of the
Prime Minister's Meeting on Iraq, 23 July 2002 (aka the so-called
"Downing
Street Memo") as originally reported in the Times of
London, May 1, 2005 |
|
|
"If you don't come in on Saturday, don't
bother coming in on Sunday." -- Jeffrey
Katzenberg, seen quoted in "The Dream Works Machine,"
Wired Magazine, June 2005 |
|
Last week's Fluxx
2.1 deck sold on eBay for a record $32.99! (Luckily,
that wasn't my last one...) |
|
|
"We know we're moving. We need space. We
crave change. We seek adventures. But where shall we go? We can
run our internet-based company from anywhere, making the possibilities
endless. So people wonder why we're considering Canada. 'Protesting
Bush?' they assume. 'Medical marijuana,' we reply. It provides
unparalleled relief for my wife in her battle with severe migraine
headaches... when we can get it for her, which we don't have
the freedom to do here in the States. So, as we await the Supreme
Court's ruling on Raich v. Ashcroft, I'm packing boxes, wondering
where we will go..." -- Now-obsolete 100
word autobiography I submitted to the Washington Post's "Life
is Short" feature |
|
Viewed now as a whole, the 6-part Star Wars
saga becomes the biography of one man, beginning as it does when
that man was a boy and following his life story through until
his death. Thus, he who was once merely the villain of the piece
has now become its hero, the main character. (George currently
dismisses all talk of ever making Episodes 7-9, but I think that's
just to get people off his back for awhile... I expect in 10
or 20 years we'll finally see that final trilogy, which will
again change the focus, making C-3PO the ultimate main character
of the epic.) |
|
|
"For more than four years -- steadily, seriously, and
with the unsentimental rigor for which we love them -- civil
engineers have been studying the destruction of the World Trade
Center towers, sifting the tragedy for its lessons. And it turns
out that one of the lessons is: Disobey authority. In a connected
world, ordinary people often have better access to better information
than officials do... After both buildings were burning, many
calls to 911 resulted in advice to stay put and wait for rescue...
Fortunately, this advice was mostly ignored."
-- Gary Wolf, "Question Authorities: Why It's Smart to Disobey
Officials in Emergencies," Wired Magazine, June 2005 |
|
To me, the most shocking thing about the story of Schapelle
Corby (an Austrailian woman convicted this week of smuggling
marijuana into Bali, Indonesia) isn't the fact that she was sentenced
to 20 years in jail. What really amazes me is that the prosecutors
are planning to appeal the case, saying that 20 years isn't long
enough, and that a life sentence would have been the "fair"
punishment. (Meanwhile, Abu Bakar Bashir, the terrorist who masterminded
the October 12, 2002 bombing in Bali, which killed 200 and injured
200 more, got only 2 years in jail.) |
|
|
"18. A person who is nice to you, but rude to the waiter,
is not a nice person." -- Dave Barry's list
of 19
Things It Took Him 50 Years To Learn |
|
"The circle is remarkable for what
it doesn't contain: signs or signals telling drivers how fast
to go, who has the right-of-way, or how to behave. There are
no lane markers or curbs separating street and sidewalk, so it's
unclear exactly where the car zone ends and the pedestrian zone
begins. To an approaching driver, the intersection is utterly
ambiguous - and that's the point. Monderman and I stand in silence
by the side of the road a few minutes, watching the stream of
motorists, cyclists, and pedestrians make their way through the
circle, a giant concrete mixing bowl of transport. Somehow it
all works. The drivers slow to gauge the intentions of crossing
bicyclists and walkers. Negotiations over right-of-way are made
through fleeting eye contact. Remarkably, traffic moves smoothly
around the circle with hardly a brake screeching, horn honking,
or obscene gesture. 'I love it!' Monderman says at last. 'Pedestrians
and cyclists used to avoid this place, but now, as you see, the
cars look out for the cyclists, the cyclists look out for the
pedestrians, and everyone looks out for each other. You can't
expect traffic signs and street markings to encourage that sort
of behavior. You have to build it into the design of the road.'
It's no surprise that the Dutch, a people renowned for social
experimentation in practically every facet of life, have embraced
new ideas in traffic management." -- Tom
McNichol, Roads
Gone Wild |
 |
Monorails are really cool, and they're a whole lot cheaper
to build than subway tunnels. Once they were seen as the transportation
of the Future; a monorail was featured at every World's
Fair of the 1960s. So why haven't they caught on as a general
tool of mass transit? A lot of the visionary ideas for the future
that we dreamed of as kids have come true, but where are the
monorails, beside at Vegas and Disneyworld? Unlike jet-packs
and flying cars, monorails seem both cool and practical. Why
aren't there more monorails? |
|
|
"How could a board game that advocates
sensibility before crime be more harmful than the thousands of
video games, toy guns, and warfare games that have killing and
war as their main theme?" -- Ivan Solomon,
commenting on the decision to ban the
Grow Op board game from Toy Fair 2005 |
|
|
"Washington's 'war on drugs' in Colombia
is collapsing in chaos and corruption, and the drug producers
are winning. The so-called Plan Colombia, which has cost
the US more than $3bn (UKP 1.6bn) in the past five years, is
being abandoned, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has announced.
Last year, the hugely expensive effort to poison coca bushes
-- whose leaves are the source of cocaine -- by aerial spraying
ended in failure. More bushes were flourishing in January
this year than in January 2004. Meanwhile, complaints have multiplied
about the damage done by the chemical poisons to the health of
humans, especially children, as well as to livestock, fish and
the environment. Plan Colombia was designed to eradicate narcotics,
control powerful left-wing guerrillas and strengthen the position
of the US military in South America. The scheme was eventually
expected to cost $7.5bn." -- Hugh O'Shaughnessy,
"America's
Drug Plan Collapses In Chaos" |
|
"Did you know that there now exists in
the public domain a 'smoking gun' memo, which proves that everything
the Bush administration said about the Iraq invasion was a lie?
If you live in Britain you probably do, but if you live in the
United States, chances are minuscule that you would be aware
of this. Think about that for a second. Apart from 9/11, has
there been a more important story in the last decade than that
the president lied to the American people about the reasons for
invading Iraq, and then proceeded to plunge the country into
an illegal war which has alienated the rest of the world, lit
a fire under the war's victims and the Islamic world generally,
turning them into enemy combatants, locked up virtually all American
land forces in a war without end in sight, cost $300 billion
and counting, taken over 1600 American lives on top of more than
15,000 gravely wounded, and killed perhaps 100,000 Iraqis?" -- David Michael Green, "Stop
the Crime of the Century" |
|
|
Last
fall, I said I was feeling like a senior in college again.
Now that it's spring, I'm feeling like a senior who's realizing
he's going to need to stay on an extra year in order to graduate.
(Which is exactly what I did, as it turns out... I was on the
5 year plan.) People keep asking us if we've moved yet, or how
soon we will, but we're still many months away from being ready
to actually sell the house and leave town. But we are working
on it... |
|
"A 250,000-square-foot supercenter with
a 16-acre parking lot will produce 413,000 gallons of storm runoff
for every inch of rain. Each year, such a lot would dump 240
pounds of nitrogen, 32 pounds of phosphorus, and 5 pounds of
zinc into local watersheds while creating heat islands. Once
Wal-Mart stifles its competition in a region, it consolidates
its holdings by vacating many of its stores. To limit competitors
in the future, the leases of these dark Wal-Marts prevent them
from being used for retail. Other uses for these massive, windowless
structures are limited. As of February 2004, Wal-Mart possesses
371 dead stores. Half of these buildings have been vacant for
at least two years, and 21 percent have been vacant for more
than 5 years. Over that time, the number of dead Wal-Marts has
risen 38 percent. Meanwhile, Wal-Mart opens a new store every
48 hours." -- Stephanie Pool, "Wal-Mart:
What A Bargain" |
|
|
I have decided that breakfast is my favorite
meal of the day. Why? Because that's the time when I'm least
likely to encounter foods I dislike, such as vegetables. Traditional
breakfast foods are almost never green. |
|
"I don't think that scientists are prejudiced
to begin with. Prejudice means pre-judging. They're post-judice.
After examining the evidence they decide there's nothing to it.
There's a big difference between prejudice and post-judice."
-- Carl
Sagan, in an
interview on Nova |
|
|
"In a Mirror, Darkly"
might have been the best episode of any Star Trek series ever.
I think the only one that could beat it was the DS-9 episode
where they went back in time to "The Trouble with Tribbles,"
which reminds me once again that what I (and what I think legions
of other Star Trek fans) really want is another series set in
the same time period as the original one, with the classic look
and feel of the original show's technology. Perhaps with "Enterprise"
being canceled and the franchise looking for the next think to
do, the Star Trek people will realize this as well. (I'm hoping
they already have, and that they preserved, with this in mind,
the beautiful recreations of the original sets which they built
for IAMD.) My idea for such a series is to focus on another ship
in Star Fleet, with a captain who is one of Kirk's rivals. I'd
pick the USS Constitution. (The original Enterprise was described
as a "Constitution-class starship" but we've never
seen the NCC-1700 nor any of its crew.) They'd have their own
adventures, but sometimes they'd go to the same places Kirk had
recently visited, arriving perhaps just a few weeks later, and
following up on some of those storylines. I'd also do it as a
half-hour situation comedy. Now that would bring in new viewers,
don't you think? And if UPN wouldn't pay for it, I'll bet the
Sci-Fi channel or Comedy Central would (I wish I had the ear
of "the right people"...). |
|
|
I love using under-utilized currency, like the
$2 bill, the Golden Dollar, and the 50 cent piece. They are always
fun to spend. I love them all, but I think I like the JFK half
dollar the most. When it comes to flipping a coin, no currently
circulating US coin is better than JFK, and I like having at
least one in my pocket at all times, just in case I'm ever accidentally
shifted into an alternate universe where JFK wasn't assassinated.
Think of what a neat artifact that coin would suddenly become!
Of course, in such a universe, everyone would just assume it
was a fake, like those dollar bills with Clinton or Bush's face
you can get at novelty shops now, and anyway, I don't really
believe time travel is possible. But hey, if you're playing Chrononauts and someone
reverses the
1963 Linchpin, you can get that coin out and impress the
other players with it! In fact, it might be a neat House Rule
to say that if you have a JFK coin in your possession, you get
to draw an extra card anytime his assassination is prevented. |
|
"Think back to the 1950s, when courts and
Northern legislators began to recognize the rights of black people,
triggering angry and often violent reactions in the South. At
the time, white Baptist preachers insisted that integration was
sinful and cited biblical passages to back up their bigotry.
Now we hear the same, Scripture-based attacks on gay marriage.
But after they cite "traditional religious values,"
the forces of reaction can offer no rational reason for denying
a whole group of Americans the right to wed the person they love.
It may take years or even decades, but other states will eventually
follow Connecticut in legalizing civil unions, and finally, gay
marriage. The train of equal rights has left the station and
isn't going to stop halfway." -- Robert
Scheer, of The Nation, as quoted in The Week, May
6th, 2005 |
|
|
"Suburbia will come to be regarded as the
greatest misallocation of resources in the history of the world.
It has a tragic destiny. The psychology of previous investment
suggests that we will defend our drive-in utopia long after it
has become a terrible liability. Before long, the suburbs will
fail us in practical terms. We made the ongoing development of
housing subdivisions, highway strips, fried-food shacks and shopping
malls the basis of our economy, and when we have to stop making
more of those things, the bottom will fall out. The circumstances
of the Long Emergency will require us to downscale and re-scale
virtually everything we do and how we do it, from the kind of
communities we physically inhabit to the way we grow our food
to the way we work and trade the products of our work. Our lives
will become profoundly and intensely local. Daily life will be
far less about mobility and much more about staying where you
are." -- James Howard Kunstler, "The
Long Emergency" |
|
"My problem is this - although I love *being*
out, I hate *going* out. Being at home means pajamas and no shoes
and doing exactly what I want when I want and not having to consider
the group dynamic. It means a chance to curl up on the sofa and
read, or taking a two-hour bubble bath or playing video games
until my eyes are so blurred I can't make out simple shapes or
colors any longer. It is my world retreat, my comfort zone. I
happily make plans to go out - but when the time comes to actually
*keep* them, I become terribly cranky. I find excuses to delay
getting dressed ("Can't get out of pajamas yet; I haven't
had coffee." "It's impossible for me to shower until
I've checked and answered all my email.") and then, as the
time to leave the cocoon encroaches ever nearer, I get childishly
grumpy about it. "Why did I agree to go to this thing?...grumble
mumble...should stop talking to other humans...always wanting
to *do* stuff...why do I like having friends, again?"...etc.
And mind you this is before something I'm looking *forward* to
doing, something I know I will *enjoy* once I get there. If you
want to see some Grade A dillydallying, catch me getting ready
to go somewhere I absolutely don't want to be."
-- Sarcasmo's Corner, "In
or Out?" |
|
|
"Another dragon enthusiast shows up with
a burnt finger and attributes it to a rare physical manifestation
of the dragon's fiery breath. But again, other possibilities
exist. We understand that there are other ways to burn fingers
besides the breath of invisible dragons. Such 'evidence' -- no
matter how important the dragon advocates consider it -- is far
from compelling. Once again, the only sensible approach is tentatively
to reject the dragon hypothesis, to be open to future physical
data, and to wonder what the cause might be that so many apparently
sane and sober people share the same strange delusion."
-- Carl
Sagan, "The
Dragon In My Garage" |
|
 For
years I've been making chocolate
angel food cakes, but this week I tried something new, and
they turned out great: chocolate angel food CUPcakes! (OK, it
might seem obvious to you, but I've never tried it...) You need
to use extra large foil baking cups, and filling 'em is a bit
tricky, but instead of one big cake that doesn't slice up very
nicely, I got 20 lovely little cakes that are perfect to put
on a tray and pass around at a party! |
|
|
The Canadian government has approved
the prescription sale of a natural marijuana extract called Sativex, produced
by GW Pharmaceuticals in Britain. Sativex is basically liquid
marijuana, being derived from whole plant extracts instead of
being merely a synthetic version of one of marijuana's most active
chemicals, like Marinol. Rob Kampia, Executive Director of the
Marijuana
Policy Project, says "Sativex is to marijuana as a cup
of coffee is to coffee beans," and notes that while this
is obviously a big victory, "we could end up with a policy
every bit as silly as telling coffee drinkers that they can buy
a cappuccino, but they'll be arrested on sight if caught in possession
of coffee beans." It sounds like Sativex might be perfect
for treating Kristin's
migraines... so must we really move
to Canada in order to get a prescription for it? How much
longer will our government insist cannabis has no medical value?
What is the
Supreme Court going to say? |
|
It's kind of a shame that "Star
Trek: Enterprise" is on the brink of cancellation... it
was finally getting good. In this, the 4th season, they've stopped
inventing new aliens we've never heard of but should have (like
the stupid Xindi), and are instead finally fulfilling the promise
that first excited long-time fans like me, namely exploring more
deeply the mythos of the original concepts. In this year's episodes
we've seen interesting new details of Vulcan history, Andorian
culture, the Eugenics Wars, those green-skinned Orion slave girls,
and more. We've seen the beginnings of the founding of the Federation,
we've gotten an explanation for why the Klingons of Kirk's era
lack "cranial ridges," and perhaps most exciting of
all, this week's episode promises to be a Mirror, Mirror prequel!
It's too bad they weren't this good until the 4th year... in
contrast, the first season of the Sci-Fi channel's new version
of Battlestar Galactica was outstanding! |
|
|
According to a report on MS-NBC, a slightly used
Prius can currently be sold for $1-3K more than the sticker price
of a new one! This is because there's so much demand for the
cool new hybrid-electric car that impatient buyers are willing
to pay extra rather than wait for 6 months. (We find this particularly
funny since Alison
drove hers right off the lot after walking into a dealership
on a Saturday night expecting just to put her name on a waiting
list.) |
|
I finally saw Oceans
12, and I have to say I was pretty disappointed by it. It's
true that a short scene takes place in one of my favorite Amsterdam
coffeeshops, De Dampkring... but the fact that the characters
are legally smoking marijuana there isn't acknowledged at all.
What was the point of depicting it if not to bring some attention
to the Dutch coffeeshop scene? Pulp Fiction had more to say about
the drug laws in Amsterdam than did this movie. I'm reminded
of an Amsterdam travel guide Russell
gave me which was completely sanitized of references to the coffeeshops.
But like its predecessor, Oceans 12 did have great music. |
|
|
I love rock formations. Last weekend we went
for a hike on the Billy Goat Trail (part of the
C&O canal parklands) and the huge outcroppings of rock
along the way reminded me of ancient ruins. I think I dig rocks
because I love ruins. Rocks formations are nature's ruins. |
|
|
I love Celebrity Poker Showdown, in which various
minor celebs play Texas Hold 'em poker, with their winnings going
to charity. I like it better than the World Series of Poker,
in which the world's best professional poker players battle it
out for big money. But what I'd really like to see is something
I call Nobody Poker Showdown, which would be a lot more like
a regular game show than the existing spectator poker programs.
In Nobody Poker Showdown, ordinary folks would play poker, tournament
style, for a prize pool of just $1000 or so, plus some prizes
from the sponsors. The action would be edited down to half an
hour of the most interesting hands, and whoever wins would be
the returning champ in the next day's show. |
|
"Dear President Bush: It's time to be honest
about the failure of the War on Drugs. Please seize this opportunity
to speak truthfully about your own personal experience, and to
call for an open, honest re-evaluation of our nation's punitive
drug policies. End the double standard that forgives some people
their youthful indiscretions while others are locked up and tarred
for life. Stop the Justice Department from imprisoning nonviolent
drug law offenders and especially the terminally ill who use
marijuana for medical reasons. It is time to stop the hypocrisy
and replace punitive drug laws with policies based on reason,
compassion, and justice. Respectfully, < your name here >." -- text on a postcard the Drug
Policy Alliance sent out to its members, for them to sign
and mail to the White House [Please help
us end the drug war! Put this text into your own letter and send
it to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave 20500] |
|
|
My dear mom has been in the hospital all this
week. She's fighting a sodium deficiency, which has left her
confused and disoriented and not at all herself (apparently,
your brain shuts down when your sodium level gets too low). Needless
to say, we've all been worrying about her quite a bit, particularly
since the doctors aren't succeeding in raising her sodium levels
and can't explain why not. Please send your prayers and positive
vibes her way! |
|
"Sure--I worry about dying alone (or Keith
dying alone). The thing is, it really seems like a rotten
and selfish thing to have kids just so they can take care of
you when you are old. And anyway, there's no guarantee that
the kids would be willing (or able) to do this. People don't
always do what you expect them to do. And life doesn't always
work out the way you think it will--so maybe our deaths will
be different than I fear." -- Ellen Baker,
in The Honeycakes Diaries entry for April 3, 2005, entitled "Why
Keith and I Don't Have Children" |
|
|
We've changed our minds yet again about the colors
to include in the Volcano
boxed set. Much as we've tried to get behind various wacky
color combos, we can't shake the feeling that the standard RGBY
set, plus orange pieces, is really the best looking and most
desirable color scheme. But we're still figuring on making white
the color of the caps... |
|
According to Fortune magazine, approximately
one third of the 1.2 billion (!) marshmallow "Peeps"
sold each year are bought, not for eating, but for use in science
experiments or arts & crafts projects. |
|
|
As we tell people our plans for moving
to Canada, we keep hearing about how much we would like Montreal.
We haven't been there yet (except when I was a kid) but we're
gonna check it out on our next trip up there. We've been more
interested in the southernmost Canadian cities, thinking the
others would be colder and farther away, but as Alvaro's sister
pointed out to us, Montreal and Hamilton
are basically the same distance from DC (Hamilton is more farther
south but also farther west) and once it's cold and dark, who
cares if it's a little bit more cold and dark? Plus, Montreal
has a subway, which I think is way-cool, and there are World's
Fair relics to explore! So nothing's really decided yet except
that we're moving somewhere... |
|
"America is built on people leaving places.
We're a country of people who've left. Constitutionally, the
pursuit of happiness is something we not only honor, but something
we legally protect. This ain't Russia. I don't have to stay.
This ain't Cuba. I can leave. In fact, find me one American who
would make me stay and fight. They'd say no, go, do what's right
for you. I found happiness here. I'll be in BC the rest of my
life. I pray to God that I don't die somewhere else, that I'm
not vacationing somewhere when I die, because that would bum
me out. . . . Pursue your happiness. We were the first country
to do it. And we live for that, the fact that people have personal
rights. Go where you want. Do what you want. The fact that I
chose Canada is almost a bigger embodiment of the American dream.
. . . I still love America." -- American
expat Lorraine, seen quoted in Matt Labash's article, "Welcome
to Canada" |
|
|
Clark
Rodeffer (world's #1's Proton
fan) sent us something really cool this week: a Protonic Rubik's
Cube! That's right, it's a Rubik's Cube covered with Proton panels,
thus turning the Cube into a 2-person game! Wow, way cool! I
can't wait to try it! |
|
I hereby declare, for all the world to know,
that if I, Andrew James Looney, ever
become severely brain damaged (i.e. if I'm ever in "a persistent
vegetative state with no hope of recovery"), then I do not
wish to be kept alive by artificial means. In other words, if
ever I become injured like Terry Schiavo, then yes, please, remove
my feeding tube. |
|
|
Wow, my game StarRunners
came in dead last in the 3rd
Ice Games Design Contest! Well! Gee, I didn't think it was
that bad... it just goes to show you how good the other ten games
were! And I'm not sad... how could I feel anything but excitement
at all the great new games being invented for my pyramids? Anyway,
congrats to David J. Bush for Hextris! |
|
"How about a refreshing change of pace?
Come to the Quiet Party. No loud music, no yelling, no
cell phones and one designated area where there is no talking
AT ALL!! Maybe you'll even find love through silent dating! The
Quiet Party is a totally unique experience. Inside the
silent room we provide paper & pencils. Pass notes
around - be mischievous, have a little fun, meet some new people!
see ya there....shshshshshsh!!!!" -- The Quiet Party homepage |
|
|
Many Americans are upset about Canada's decision
not to participate in our construction of an Anti-Ballistic Missile
system, but to this peace-lovin' hippie, it's just one more reason
to like the idea of moving to Canada. |
|
"Every conspiracy theory results in a confusing
fight between the people making the accusations and the people
insisting that they are innocent. I think another reason people
avoid conspiracy theories is because when they convince themselves
that there is no such thing as conspiracies, they don't have
to worry about them. When a person refuses to believe in conspiracies,
he can ignore the evidence on the grounds that it is paranoid
nonsense. He doesn't have to bother reading books or watching
videos, nor does he have to think about or discuss how to make
a better nation. Refusing to consider conspiracies is taking
the easy and irresponsible path in life."
-- Eric Hufschmid, "Do
You Believe in Conspiracies?" |
|
|
Oops! I've been misusing the phrase "begs
the question" for years! Oh well. |
|
|
Wow, the trailer for the new Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy movie looks really quite awesome! I've
been a fan since hearing the original BBC radio series on NPR
when I was in high school, and this movie has been in production
for so many years that it's hard to believe it will really be
coming out in a couple of months. And while I've read that the
storyline will be rather different from that of the original
radio shows, I'm OK with that, because the new material was created
by author Douglas Adams, who finished the final script not long
before his death. (It's just a crying shame he won't get to see
the finished product himself...) |
|
"Only ruthless goal-setters
survive." -- comment about what it really takes to
be a successful entreprenuer, in a little article in this week's
The Week |
|
|
It's taken us a little over 3 years, but we've
sold a million dollars worth of games! And we now have over 1000
registered rabbits! |
|
|
"Dave's dad is one of the best kind of people,
the kind who will lead many people to strange new worlds long
after he's left this one. Thanks for your stories, Mr. Chalker." -- John
Cooper, on the sad occasion of the passing of Jack L Chalker,
father of our friend Dave
[We extend our deepest condolences to the whole Chalker family...] |
|
"In fact, what the medical community actually
says is precisely the opposite of what [former deputy "drug
czar" Andrea] Barthwell claims. In its official policy
statement on medical marijuana, the American Public Health Association
stated, 'Marijuana has an extremely wide acute margin of safety
for use under medical supervision . . . greater
harm is caused by the legal consequences of its prohibition than
possible risks of medicinal use.' In a 1997 editorial, the New
England Journal of Medicine -- widely regarded as the most prestigious
medical journal in the world -- called the ban on medical use
of marijuana 'misguided, heavy-handed and inhumane.' In a November
2003 letter to New York legislators, the American Academy of
HIV Medicine put it this way: 'When appropriately prescribed
and monitored, marijuana/cannabis can provide immeasurable benefits
for the health and well-being of our patients.' And the Illinois
Nurses Association, in a position paper issued last December,
said, 'Cannabis [marijuana] is considered by the scientists directly
involved with cannabinoid research to be one of the least toxic
substances known that delivers a therapeutic response.
. . . There is almost a half-century of research
that supports the safety and efficacy of cannabis for conditions
such as reducing nausea and vomiting, stimulating appetite, controlling
spasticity, decreasing the suffering from the experience of chronic
pain, and controlling seizures.'" -- Illinois
State Representative Larry McKeon, "Lies
Cloud Medical Marijuana Debate" |
|
|
"I love the United States. I fought for
it in Vietnam. It's a wrenching decision to think about leaving.
But America is turning into a country very different from the
one I grew up believing in." -- Christopher
Key, quoted in an article called "Some
Bush Foes Vote Yet Again, With Their Feet: Canada or Bust" |
|
|
"Conceding that it's possible to jack up
rationalizations and interpretations that spin these last obvious
lies into inadvertent misstatements or something a little less
criminal, go back to the top and look again at the inarguable
distortion of the basic math of Social Security, which ain't
much more complex than grade-school arithmetic. Bush absolutely,
positively lied. Repeatedly. Lying to Congress is an impeachable
offense. It is also, very sadly, now a standard part of how this
country is run." -- Bob Harris, "Bush
Lies To Congress, 2005: A Sample of Obvious Lies" |
|
|
"There is not one bit of justice, logic,
scientific fact or moral clarity involved in the mechanism of
the drug war. To destroy the drug war monster, requires nothing
more than the truth and the courage to speak."
-- Dean Becker, "Crackajuana
Kills!" |
|
"It has ever been my experience that folks
who have no vices have very few virtues."
-- Abraham Lincoln, who was probably gay, according to researcher
C.A. Tripp, who makes the case in a new book called The Intimate
World of Abraham Lincoln |
|
|
If you think I'm
being paranoid, worrying about things like global warming
and bankrupted airlines, then I'd direct you to articles I read
in the most recent issues of my newest favorite magazine, The
Week, which piled up in the mail during our travels. One
article described a "Dire Warning" issued by an international
task force in Greenland, who are predicting that "the world
will heat up to an irreversible tipping point in less that 10
years" unless greenhouse gas levels are somehow reduced.
The other was a grim profile of the ailing airline industry,
which answered the question "Do the old airlines have a
future?" with "It'll be a struggle." |
|
Having successfully converted from sugary soda
to diet (I'm totally used to the funny taste now) I have begun
refining my preferences. I'm developing a fondness for Diet Coke
with Lime, since it's kind of like drinking a Sprite at the same
time as a Coke. |
|
|
While I opposed the war in Iraq, I will readily admit that
this week's free elections there were a wonderful thing. In fact,
I find myself feeling envious about the manner in which they
cast their historic votes. I think our country should adopt the
"permanent ink on the fingertip you vote with" method
they used, which I see as having several advantages over our
country's easily corruptible technological systems:
- No way for a hacker to change the votes with a computer
- No "hanging chads" in the event of a recount
- Easier to prevent multiple visits to the voting booth
- You have this lovely purple reminder of being part of a democracy
on your hand for the next few days
- You can see who the non-voting slackers in the community
are, and chide them for not voting.
|
|
"Twenty-one months into this war, the world's
most powerful military is stymied, unable to halt the expanding
Iraqis insurgency and the rising number of American dead. Those
who planned this war knew as much about Iraq as those who planned
the Vietnam War knew about Vietnam, which is why Iraq will end
as Vietnam ended. In America's defeat. For those of us who fought
in Vietnam and reflected on that disastrous war, we knew America
could not win in Iraq. Many Americans came to that conclusion
without having served in Vietnam. But not the Bush Administration
and the Neocons, and not most Americans, who went along with
the invasion and occupation of Iraq. For these Americans, the
Vietnam War never happened and Iraq would be 'fast and easy.'" -- Stewart Nusbaumer, "The
Jungle in the Desert: We Never Learned Why We Lost the Vietnam
War, and Now We're Losing Another Asian War" |
|
|
A band named themselves after their favorite
Fluxx card: Final Card Random! Unfortunately for them, I decided
it worked better making the first card random, and in Version
3.0 we changed it to First Play Random. Sorry guys! |
|
"It is time to bring the exhaustive debate
down to a simple language that even a child could understand.
Hopefully, this book will foster the type of debate that is necessary
to make change and end a ruthless and senseless war that has
harmed our nation." -- from the FAQ page
about a new children's book called It's
Just a Plant, in response to the question, "Will
this book help legalize marijuana?" |
|
|
"Game system design is a kind of meta-game
design. A game system designer designs the structure within which
other game designers will create games. The 'rules' of the system
are the physical qualities of the game system components; the
'play' that takes place is game design itself, resulting in sets
of rules that make use of the game system. This kind of process
requires that the game system designer give up a significant
degree of control, as other player-designers decide how the game
system will be used in actual games. But this loss of control
is ultimately what is so satisfying about designing game systems:
as a platform for player-driven creativity, a game system is
a catalyst for truly transformative and emergent play." -- Salen and Zimmerman, Rules
of Play, page 547 |
|
I am amazed to find myself listed in the index
of a
textbook published by MIT about Game Design. I am amazed
that a textbook about Game Design even exists. Back when I actually
used textbooks, the idea of Game Design, as a field of serious
study or career planning, was quite unheard of. I myself stumbled
into becoming a game designer, having planned instead on become
a writer. Now I find myself being held up for example in a textbook
as a success in a field even more obscure and unimaginable than
I had previously figured myself out to be: I'm not just a Game
Designer, I'm a Game System Designer! I didn't know I could say
that about myself until I read about my own works in a textbook
which created a separate category for Icehouse games in its definition
of types of games. I find all these things truly amazing. |
|
|
"I beseech you all to think
about these women -- to encourage the American people to ask
for reforms, both in sentencing guidelines, in length of incarceration
for nonviolent first-time offenders, and for those involved in
drug-taking. They would be much better served in a true rehabilitation
center than in prison where there is no real help, no real programs
to rehabilitate, no programs to educate, no way to be prepared
for life 'out there' where each person will ultimately find herself,
many with no skills and no preparation for living." -- Martha Stewart,
in an open letter she wrote from prison during Christmas 2004 |
|
I have long been a believer in the
future reality of marijuana legalization, but always it has been
a theoretical someday sort of belief. I have also long been saying
that the best chance for rapid change is in a Roe v. Wade-style
landmark ruling by the Supreme Court, but even so, it's still
always been a vague future hope. Usually they refuse to take
cases that would force them to consider the issue. So now, as we
wait for the ruling on the Raich v. Ashcroft case, it becomes
possible to imagine that The Day When Everything Changes is actually
drawing near, that it literally could happen any day now. Each
day I wake up wondering, 'Will it happen today? Is this The Day?'
For pot-smokers everywhere, it's like waiting for Christmas.
Of course, what's different is we don't know exactly when it
will happen, and what's worse, we're all worried that Santa Claus
will have nothing for us but yet another lump of coal. But imagine
the joy that will be felt by stoners everywhere if S.C. gives
us all the gift of Freedom. |
|
|
"#18. All -- not some
-- but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in
Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates." -- "20
Amazing Facts About Voting in the USA" |
|
"Life should not be a journey
to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive
and well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, chocolate
in one hand, martini in the other, body thoroughly used up, totally
worn out and screaming 'WOO HOO what a ride!'"
-- original author unknown; seen as a .sig by Rash |
