Numidian Cavalry: Before and After

As I've mentioned, I'm working on a 1/72 scale Roman Legion for miniature gaming. As the auxiliary cavalry, I've chosen to use Numidian mercenaries. The Numidians were elite light horsemen (who rode bareback, according to accounts), and fought for and against Rome, for and against Carthage, and at Zama fought on both sides in the same battle.

The cavalry will be represented by figures from HaT and Zvezda. Here you can see the HaT unpainted figures still on sprues, and the painted and assembled figures in the background (one box of 12 figures each). Eventually I plan to have 154 Numidians in the legion (144 troopers, 8 junior officers, 2 senior officers, and 2 standard bearer/musicians). Zvezda's set includes the officers and musician, while both will supply troopers. This will represent the two cavalry Ala attached to the legion (real strength ~960 troops).

Plastic Soldier review links:
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.asp?manu=HAT&code=8024
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.asp?manu=ZVE&code=8031

Its a bird! Its a plane! Its yummy!

Yes, that's a chocolate 747, a product of the Rose Hill Chocolate Company here in Everett. It comes in milk or dark chocolate, but does not comply to CFR part 25. :-)

On the plus side, they are rather cheaper than the aluminum kind of 747.

House Status

A little out of date, but the house is definately coming along.

Planeshift?

OK, did the world suddenly move to a plane of chaos or something? I'm used to getting things in waves at work, but this morning has been utterly insane! I've gotten more phone calls in the last four hours than I usually get in a week, more RFIs than I would expect in a MONTH, and random meetings happening on top of it all.

From the Almost-Frontlines: Kingdom Bardic

This weekend was yet another SCA event (and another is coming this weekend, what can I say, it is campaign season).

Kingdom bardic is a competition to determine the Kingdom's Bard Champion. While this person ranks equally with the heavy fighting champion, rapier champion, archery champion, etc., there were only two entrants this year (for comparison, I was told there were over 100 fighters up for the Crown tournament, drawing from the same area). A third candidate had to drop out at the last minute due to family issues. Despite my limited knowledge of SCA people, I knew and was known to all the entrants, certainly a first for me.

Each entrant had to prepare four pieces, either period or in period style, and was called on to do improv work at the event feast (which, sadly, I missed). I sat in on a period English song about a male prostitute offering himself for 'rent', a Norse tale created by the bard, a Morrocan dance, and the introduction, in Latin, to a lecture on mathematics. The latter two were one-off entries by people who were not competing for the champion's slot. After each the judges discussed the piece with the performer, asking about documentation, performance style questions, etc.

I found this event quite interesting, as the portions I witnessed are about as completely different from, say, the Shittimwoode bardic championship as it is possible to be. Prepared pieces for judges vs. winging it for an audience, period-restricted vs. free choice, solo objective judging vs. head-to-head doulbe elimination, scholarly vs. crowd-pleasing, scheduled simultaneous vs. sequential.

Sadly due to latent exhaustion I didn't make it back Sunday for the final round and announcement of the victor.

Eyesight

Some of you may know that while I was growing up I wanted to be a navy officer. My eyesight has always been poor, however (I had eye surgery while still an infant, but I still have a weak eye and generally poor distance vision and depth perception, though oddly my low-light vision is above average). I abandoned those plans after talking with my opthamologist, who assured me there was no way into the navy's combat branches with my eyes, even with additional surgery. I moved on, but I never quite reconciled myself to the illogic of insisting on near-perfect vision and denying laser surgery in this day and age.

I was thus rather floored by irony today - NASA has relaxed its vision standards, among a quiet but broad relaxation of the military's standards in several catagories. The Wall Street Journal reports that two surgeries have been added to the acceptable list (the first two, AFAIK), and standards lowered slightly across the board for astronaut candidates.

It is, of course, far too little too late for me. My sight continues to slowly deteriorate, and I'd have to make a serious effort even to get back into the shape I was in high school (in appropriate gear, I could run 8 miles in an hour over broken terrain). While I am in the aerospace industry, I rather doubt that experiance in designing aircraft interiors will stand out in a NASA application.

Still, it does cause a bit of excitement. I still have the goal of seeing Earthrise before I die, and for once the trend is working in my favor.

Apple unveils new product

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/apple_unveils_new_product

Well, it was inevitable...

Guiding eager young minds...

...down the path of DOOM!

Carnegie Mellon (my alma mater for those who didn't know) has invited me to become a member of the Carnegie Mellon Admissions Council, basically a bunch of alums who interview potential students and answer questions about what C-M is like. I've filled out my application, but I have very little idea of what to expect.

I'm also curious if this is something they ask everyone about (perhaps a year or two after graduation), or if there is some flag I tripped or profile I met. I can't imagine what the latter might be, however. Anyone else gotten this invite? Anyone else applied?

100 Posts!

I suppose I should do something special for my 100th post, but I really can't work up the emotional reserve for something upbeat right now.

Saturday was OK; went to work for a while, rested, bought a 1/72 galley kit and did some assembly work. Sunday was good - a lot more modeling and a leisurely dinner out.

But this morning at work hit me in the face with a shovel. I won't comment on the most likely previous use of the shovel.

I think the thing that is the root of my frustration is that I'm getting paid less than a guy in my group who does no work whatsoever. It takes me longer to explain something to him than it does to do it myself, and it isn't even the case that he can then do that task in the future - if it needs to be done again, someone has to help him again. He can't answer even simple questions from our manager about what he's supposed to be working on. But he still gets paid. He still gets overtime.

It makes it really hard to do my own job.

Link Highlight: Plastic Soldier Review

My link highlight for today is a brand-new one: http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Index.htm

This is a web site that reviews the quality and historical accuracy of 1/72 scale plastic figures.

The site is interesting because, unusually for the web IME, it covers its subject quite broadly and deeply, with no errors I have been able to find. Actually, that may make it unique.

Of course, it is a niche site, but for me a useful one.

Back in the fall of 1997 I decided to build a diorama for Latin class showing the battle formation of a roman legion. To this end I bought a set of 1/72 Roman Legionaires from Esci http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.asp?manu=ESC&code=224 at a local hobby store and painted them.

This led to me digging out an old Atlantic set of Egyptians I'd gotten years before as opponents. That led to needing more Romans to fight them. That led to needing some additional barbarians for the other side (Esci). That led to needing cavalry for the Romans, as I did more research into the topic. By the time the first wave of interest faded several years later I had over 500 figures including two elephants and a 1/120 war galley, about a quarter of them painted.

College rather interrupted this military build up.

A month ago, I visited a new hobby store that had recently opened within easy walking distance of my apartment. There I found a reasonable selection of ancient-era figures, including some I'd been keeping an eye out for to rounding out the legion.

Addiction is a downward spiral. I've now visited another area hobby shop, buying figures at both, as well as investing in paint, and a new Osprey book on the tactics of the Roman legions. I've developed a TO&E for a model legion that will have 848 figures, including 745 men, 97 horses, and 6 ballista, and ordered or purchased almost all the sets needed to complete it. I've also aquired additional troops for the opposing forces, and investigated a new line of 1/72 galleys by Zvezda.

When I've got more complete units together, I'll post pictures.

Conspiracy Theories

"If there is no evidence, it means the conspiracy is working."

In general, I don't believe conspiracy theories. Usually this is becuase they seem to me far less likely than the official explanation.

"Stupidity is much more common than evil."

I'm also amazed at the ability of many of the theories to cherry-pick one thing and claim that it "proves" there was a conspiracy, without being able to offer a coherent explanation of that thing themselves.

I think the thing that is most commonly forgotten by the conspiracy theorists is that people are lousy observers, closely followed by the inevitable variability of life. Almost no-one has a watch that is actually within a minute of the time set by the naval observatory. Almost no complex assembly is built precisely to spec and with all its parts.

"And in this exclusive footage you can clearly see the driver turn around and shoot Kennedy."

I'm also frequently puzzled about the motivation for most of the conspiracy theories out there. Why did all these people go to so much trouble to create a cover up? Sure, you can fake almost anything if you try hard enough and have enough resources. But what's in it for you? Yes, people often do things for no apparent rational reason, but conspiracies by definition require the cooperation of many people, and not usually from the chaotic sections of society.

"We can't even cover up the fact that the president got a blow job in the oval office, and someone thinks we can cover up alien autopsies?"

This is not to say that I don't believe that there have been conspiracies, in fact there are some I do believe. But don't waste your time trying to convince me NASA faked the Apollo moon landings,

Domestic Disturbance

The AP is reporting that the Russians have developed the "dad of all bombs" which they claim is equivalent to 44 tons of TNT, four times more powerful than the US "mother of all bombs."

Because what the world really needs now is another pure-offensive weapons arms race.

Maybe with any luck it'll kick off a new space race too...

The Strangest Idea Ever

Major Appliance Wars:

Pit your air conditioning against your furnace to see who will rule the apartment.

Really, I have no idea where that came from.

Link Highlight: User Friendly

User friendly is a webcomic about a bunch of guys (and one or two gals) who work at a tech company.



The cast also includes "dust puppy"; a creature with legs and a fuzzy head but no other body parts, and an intelligent computer.



Most of the jokes are geek-related, and although a group of strips may be tied together, there is no real overarching plot of any kind.



I'm not sure when I discovered this comic; I suspect it was sometime in 2002/2003, but I can't even narrow it down to a particular year.

What is "real" food?

What is real food?

Beef jerky isn't generally considered real food, steak usually is. Why?

Potato chips are not real food, but mashed potatoes are. Why?

Is it just a "hot/cold" thing? But then ramen is real food. Or is that OK? And an apple isn't real food.

Is it a measure of nutritive value? But then power bars should probably be real food, right? And a lot of 'real' foods are very fatty.

Is an MRE (Meals Ready to Eat officially, Meals Rejected by the Enemy unofficially, a.k.a. three lies for the price of one...) real food? Is it real food only if you cook the thing?

Is it the setting? Is anything eaten in a restaurant real food, and something you eat in the car with one hand while you watch the road not?

Is it the intent? Real food is for enjoyment, non-real food is just for calories? But then, most people eat junk food for enjoyment.

Is it the prep time, the effort involved? But does that rule out food that comes from the microwave, which these days can be both healthy and tasty?

Is it the amount of food? A snack is not real, a meal is real? Does that mean one bite of steak is not real food, or an entire bag of chips in one sitting is?

People say "I can't define it but I know it when I see it." Well, I don't know it when I see it. Can you help me define it at least?

Healthy but Scary

I did a wellness screening today, and added a third person to the list of health professionals I've freaked out with a low medical stat (cholesterol of 110 in this case).

I'm apparently healthy.

The nurses had a machine I hadn't seen before - a portable blood analysis machine about the size of a toaster. It computed my cholesterol and blood glucose levels in about five minutes from just a few drops of blood. I asked the tech who was supporting the machines about it, and apparently they can't do anything like white count or electrolytes yet, but they can do a 3-month glucose level from a single sample. (!)

I also used another new machine that computed my body fat and BMI just by holding it in my hands, arms extended. Apparently that one works by conduction analysis or some such.

The wonders of modern medicine...

From the Frontlines: September Crown

As the worthy king and fair queen of An Tir prepare to step down, the people of An Tir came together at tourney to witness the bravest and strongest in the land battle for the title of crown prince. Over a hundred champions met to fight for the honor and glory of their inspirations. Under the blazing sun they met and, after five hours, by the slimest of margins, the winner was chosen. (Really the slimest of margins - best of three in the final, each won one bout, then both of them lost their legs in the third bout.)

I did my fighting on the rapier erics. I fought in a hold-the-field tourney, a Sable Rose tourney, and passed on the golden ribbon after an hour and ten minutes of almost continuous combat to Maria Theresa, who was very psyched to receive it. I now bear a blue and black celtic knotwork ribbon on the hilt of my sword as a former bearer of the golden ribbon. Doing over an hour of fighting in the sun was an amazing rush for me, though at the end of it I could barely lift my sword. I drank about two-thirds of a gallon of water in a three-hour window centered on the fight. There were about eight people rotating to fight me, and even some of them were visibly weakening towards the end.

The site was only so-so, but being quite far away from any major light polution the night sky was incredible - stars shining out brilliantly all over the place.

I had one really good "SCA moment" - I was walking back to site from the parking lot (I ran out of water and needed to get more off site), and a guy I don't know pulls up in his pickup and offers me a lift into camp. Only in the SCA would I accept a ride from a stranger. :-)