I Fought the Lawn Part II

And this time I won!

OK, it took me two and a half months, but I have finally gotten the last bit of overly tall grass cut down to size.

Yesterday I also ran into a friend at lunch, bought plants called kinnikinnicks (no, I'm not kidding), and tried not taking my sleeping medication with indeterminate results.

Happy Labor Day, all!

Blog Feature

Yesterday I added a widget that shows the NASA image of the day to this blog - take a look to the right!

Ice Cream Making

I wasn't aware that each Tully's store made its ice cream on site. Now I wonder how many other places do. Does Coldstone? Baskin Robbins?

Do you know of places that make their own ice cream on site?

Something doesn't add up

Apparently some democrats are saying that McCain's choice of Palin as his veep means that he's putting someone without any foreign policy experience "a heartbeat away from being chief executive." I find this rather odd since the democrats seem to want to make someone without any foreign policy experience the chief executive.

I find it interesting that whichever party wins, assume the tickets remain as they are, the white male monopoly on the elected officials of the executive branch will be broken. While I think it is high time that monopoly be broken, I can't help but worry that both sides are rushing people into ticket spots to make a better election poster, not because they're the best for the job.

The Gamers: Dorkness Rising

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0447166/

The original "The Gamers" was a hilarious romp through the world of fantasy gaming, with humor both clever in concept and brilliant in execution. If you've ever gamed in your life or seen it done, and you haven't seen it yet, SEE IT. ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0369445/ )

So when I found out there was going to be a sequel, I ordered it.

While Dorkness Rising is a good movie, it doesn't quite make it to the level of the original. The movie tries to introduce character development and depth; something the first movie lacked, but in my opinion didn't need. Is there excellent humor that makes my laugh three times that same night thinking about it? Yes, but it is more spread out than the original.

There are some great little touches as well - look for Mountain Doom, and a newbie player who finds a little bit of gaming bleeding into their real life.

I'm glad I've got the DVD, but I won't be dragging people in to see it as I sometimes do with The Gamers.

Another one bites the dust

Last night Caltrax, the familiar of the party wizard, died a rather messy death. There is strong evidence that our party now has a kamikaze wizard as a result.

That makes one PC and one party NPC that have died in this dungeon, two PC's and one party NPC that have been separated from the party with poor odds of getting them back alive (though we lucked out on all three), plus several close calls. We still haven't hit the dragon that is flying around out there somewhere, and it might not be the "big bad" of this dungeon. I'm starting to wonder if we're going to make it out of here alive...

Questions

What drives us to ask questions when we know we won't like the answer? Is it masochism? Foolish optimism? Is it the same impulse that drives us a prod a sore tooth to see if it still hurts or pick at scabs?

Do we take pleasure in predicting the end of the world because it absolves us from responsibility?

I'm reminded of the movie "Captain Horatio Hornblower" where two Royal Navy officers are discussing an upcoming fight with a more powerful Spanish ship. One says "I'll wager five guineas we're all dead by morning." The other replies "Done. Where should I send the money if you win?" So what drives someone to make the bet? Either they loose the bet and have to give the other guy money, or they die. How can they come out ahead in this?

And why do I sometimes feel the same way?

Sushi for breakfast

Today I had sushi for breakfast. I brought a pre-made California roll in from Trader Joe's. I'm not sure if that means anything, but I thought it worthy of note.

Drinking Age

Apparently several university officials have signed a petition to lower the drinking age.

I'm of the opinion that it should be 18. At 18 you have to register for the draft (if male), you can get a drivers license in any state, and for most legal purposes you're considered an adult. For most of the population it closely coincides with graduating from high school, also a rite of passage. When I was in college, I noted little difference in the total amount that people over and under 21 drank; just a difference in where they did it.

Of course, I also favor legalizing marijuana, so it probably won't surprise people that I favor a lower drinking age.

On the flip side, I think penalties for drunk driving should be much higher, and while I wouldn't actively support a ban on tobacco products, I wouldn't oppose one either.

Who's Next?

Georgia's been rocked back and its still unclear whether Russia really intends to hold their current ground or keep advancing, and already the next target may be in Russia's sights.

"As the West pressed for peace, Russian Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn was quoted by Interfax News Agency on Friday as saying that by accepting a U.S. missile defense battery Poland "is exposing itself to a strike."
He pointed out that Russian military doctrine permits the use of nuclear weapons "against the allies of countries having nuclear weapons if they in some way help them," Interfax reported."

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,404194,00.html

So having taken out a prospective NATO member, now they're eying a recent one (Poland joined in 1999). Hopefully they won't choose to bait that tiger yet; I'm not sure NATO is anything but a paper tiger at this point.

Another victory for France

France succeeded in brokering a cease-fire between Georgia and Russia.

Pity no one seems to have told the Russians, who continue to advance.

Road Maintenance

In Massachusetts it was the pothole gnomes, who came out at night to dig potholes in the streets. There was a bridge near my house that was used for their PhD program.

In Pennsylvania I concluded that the department that paved the intersections was different from the one that paved the streets. There were persistant rumors that the mafia controlled the road crews; I don't believe it myself, the mafia are more reliable.

Here in Washington I think it should be called the Department of Random Grooved Pavement. I've seen more grooved pavement in three years here than in my entire life before then. Individual lanes are grooved, random 100 yard sections are grooved, and sometimes entire miles are grooved and STAY that way for weeks... or in one case months.

Sleepiness and Dreams

My dreams are more vivid and unusual, my sleep isn't as restful. Are the two connected?

I dream of going to college, sexual episodes, gaming, even going to work. In the mornings it is an increasing struggle to drag myself out of bed, and I've used the snooze button more this past week than I usually do in a month.

It is Tuesday, right?

Or maybe more like the Sudetenland

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,401243,00.html

Russia now seems to have launched a general offensive against Georgia (again, that's the country folks). Aside from the US airlifting Georgia's Iraq contingent back to their own country, international response seems to be something along the lines of "Bad, bad Russia!" I can't help thinking that the Georgians are probably feeling like the Czechs did in 1938.

The article notes some 20,000 Russian troops and 500 tanks committed. If they're still using Soviet-era TO&E's, that's about five tank regiments, which would normally make me think a corp with two motorized and one tank division, but the troop count seems low for that. If "tanks" mean "tanks and IFV's" as it so often does in the news, that's about five mechanized regiments; one heavy division or two understrength ones (much more in line with the stated troop strength). In any case, this is a serious committment of forces. If NATO wanted to help Georgia, we'd probably need to put a heavy brigade combat team on the ground to stop them.

Georgia, per wikipedia, has about 20,000 men in their ground forces, with a single armored battalion. Most of their gear is 2nd line soviet issue, putting them about two generations behind the current Russian troops. Wikipedia claims some 360 tanks (actual tanks). My last reliable information on Russia gave them about 14,000 although only 4,000 of those were 1st line equipment. As of 2002 the quality of the Russian ground forces was one step above abysmal, but they've come a long ways in the last half-decade.

What do you mean, "Do they have souls"?

Last night we had another gaming session. The main encounter was with roper. That's a creature about four times as powerful as our entire party combined. It captured and was prepared to eat two of our party, but Thistle convinced it to trade them for meat we'd bring it (horses, mules, and orcs). While the four of us were out looking for meat, the captives persuaded this powerful evil creature to reform, and from now on eat only non-sentient creatures (or things that attacked it, in classic Malcolm Reynolds morality). All unknowing, the rest of us returned with some deer, horses, and orcs, hoping that would be enough. Gridley had gone so far as to pray that if the creature would not negotiate, that Pelor would grant him the strength to vanquish it and save his companions even if it cost his own life. The roper demanded to know if the deer had souls.

Setmose deserves all the kudos I can give for convincing the roper to tread the path of good.

We also now know that dwarves taste better than humans. Who knew?

The Winter War returns?

In what strikes me as a disturbing historical parallel with the pre-WWII invasion of Finland, Russia looks like it is in a de facto state of war with Georgia (the country, not the US state).

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,399962,00.html

Things look to be getting out of control there, with a cycle of attack, counter attack, counter-counter attack... we hit a plane, they hit an airbase...

Fill 'er up... with air

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/08/08/air.car/index.html

A development group is proposing a hybrid car that runs on compressed air and gasoline.

I found it interesting that someone was concerned by the proposed 4,800 psi pressure; medical oxygen tanks generally run at 2,000 psi, and SCUBA tanks routinely run over 3,000 psi. It will hardly take a technological breakthrough to make 4,800 psi air tanks, though I admit that off-the-shelf might not be possible.

The technical details weren't clear to me from the article, but it almost sounded like the car would function as a jet at high speeds; sucking in air and heating it with a bit of fuel to create power. The idea has a certain appeal to me as someone who works in the aviation industry. :-)

Dream

Something tragic had happened in my life, and I needed to go back to college (undergrad) so I could get a good GPA and be eligible for a master's degree.

So its freshman orientation, and I'm in a college in central Michigan, which is located about where Utah really is, and no one believes I'm a freshman (because I'm about 30 and I look it). But I've got a room in a dorm which is right next to the student union-ish building, which is good because its the only place you can get food within a hundred miles. So I'm unpacking and meeting my roommates, and one of them already has a girlfriend, and I decide to get some food.

Suddenly I'm looking for my dorm room, and I can't remember which one it is. So I wander the halls looking at the names on the doors, hoping to see mine. But about half of the names aren't up yet, and I know becuase I'm not a normal freshman that I'll be one of them.

There was a lot more, but I don't remember it now.

No More "N"

Employees at Boeing who have worked there less than three years (consecutively leading up to the present day) have an "N" on their badge to mark them as new people who probably shouldn't be trusted (or something).

Yesterday I got a badge without an "N". I am no longer new. :-)