The Saga of Runolfr

Zoo Run Run

2012-01-23T15:30:00.002-06:00

On Saturday, I completed a 5K run around the Nashville Zoo in a little under 38 minutes. My goal was 36, so I'm a little disappointed.

Also, running in 37-degree weather SUCKS. Why couldn't it have been up in the 50s, like it was on Friday and Sunday?

More ZombieFit

2012-01-19T08:44:00.000-06:00

We did the ZombieFit workout of the day for 1/16 this morning. Including warm-up, that includes:

Running 1/4 mile
75 push-ups
75 squats
45 crunches
45 burpees (oh, how I loathe the burpees!)
30 jumping jacks
300 meters of sprints (which is guesstimated at three laps around the gym)

And because we're gluttons for punishment, we also did 45 pull-ups and 10-15 meters of "kong walk".

Zoo Run for me on Saturday. Come on out! Share my pain!

Politics: Healthcare

2012-01-16T22:05:00.000-06:00

Given what the Republican candidates have been saying about “Obamacare”, I figure now is as good a time to vent some ideas regarding how Americans, as a society, view health care and how the costs should be paid.

On one hand – we’ll call it the right hand – you have the conservative/libertarian notion that paying for health care is an “individual responsibility”. This is the “private sector” system where people with health issues (be they diseases or injuries) pay the provider (doctor, nurse, hospital, clinic, or whatever) for whatever they need to make them healthy, or at least keep them going.

On the other hand – which we’ll call the left – you have the liberal/socialist notion that health care is a right, and everyone (via taxation) pays into a national system that provides everyone with the health care services that they require.

Those are the extremes, of course. What we have now is somewhere in between, as purchasing insurance is something of a compromise between the right hand and the left hand. We’re not completely averse to a “socialized” medical system. After all, a health insurance company can only charge a “reasonable” premium of there are plenty of healthy people on the rolls paying premiums without getting many medical services. They need to have lots of people who are paying more than they cost in health expenses to cover those who are paying less than they cost, especially if they want to make a profit. That’s why insurance companies lobbied for that clause in “Obamacare” that requires everyone to by some kind of health insurance.

But I want to consider another way of looking at healthcare. Just for a moment, let’s look at health care the way we look at police protection and fire protection.

If you look at them from the “right hand” perspective, then police protection is a service that has a cost, as is fire protection. If you call 911 to get a response to a burglary or a fire, the dispatcher will ask you how you plan to pay for the police car or fire truck that will be sent to your home. In the extreme-right scenario, they won’t come at all unless you assure them that you can and will pay them.

From the “left hand” perspective, the police department and fire department are government services, and the salaries of the officers and the costs of their equipment are paid for by everyone’s taxes. Surprisingly, that sounds an awful lot like what us capitalists already expect.

If you look at health care the same way, then doctors are government employees with salaries (good ones, I should think, given the many years of education they need), and the machines, hospitals, medicines, and so forth are government expenses paid for by taxes. Sounds terrible!

Except for the fact that no one has to pay insurance premiums or copays or doctor bills.

“But health care under a single-payer system will be inferior and rationed!”

I guess that depends on whether we’re all willing to pay enough into the system to still have top-level health care.

I expect to get lots of feedback on why both scenarios suck, but I bet that most of it will be conservative/libertarian “why socialized medicine sucks” posts. It will be interesting to see if they have objections that I haven’t considered.

Two Miles in 22 Minutes

2012-01-15T18:12:00.000-06:00

Surprisingly, the fact that I haven't actually gone on a two mile run in over a month has not drastically reduced my time.

ZombieFit Morning

2012-01-09T08:44:00.000-06:00

Did the ZombieFit Workout of the Day for 1/7/2012 this morning. After the warm-up (which I did slightly wrong, I only ran the 100m sprint once instead of all three times), I did the main workout at the "avancée" level: 100 push-ups, 140 air squats, 180 jumping jacks -- broken out into 20 sets.

Not feeling as worn out as I expected, even throwing in 20 crunches onto the end of each cycle for the last three. Maybe I should have done the "traceur" level routine.

Dollar Coins

2012-01-08T09:07:00.001-06:00

This may be old news, but the issue of the Presidential dollar coins that are piling up in government warehouses just keeps bugging me, so I'm finally going to clear the air on it.

The government keeps trying over and over again to introduce dollar coins into the currency system, the reason being that the useful life of a coin is vastly longer than the useful life of a paper bill, so changing from paper dollars to coins would be a long term savings for the treasury department.

The problem is that coins are different. People don't really like changing the way they do things, so there is inevitable resistance. The Susan B. Anthony dollar didn't see widespread use, nor the Sacajawea dollar, nor the Presidential dollar coins.

And the reason that these coins aren't catching on is simple. The idiots in the government keep printing paper dollar bills. Get a clue, guys! If you want to make a switch from bills to coins, make the switch. Stop printing the bills and start taking them out of circulation. People will adapt, even if they're resistant at first.

Of course, I happen to like the things, so no one will appreciate my opinion.

Weary - In a Good Way

2011-12-18T16:06:00.001-06:00

Nena and I continue to look for ways to keep exercise interesting. We were going to do the ZombieFit Workout of the Day today, but someone at ZombieFit apparently forgot to pay the webhost, so the site was down. Nena found an alternate crossfit exercise for us to do today, though.

So today we did 100 pull-ups (assisted, in sets of 20), 150 kettle-bell swings (in 5 sets), and 200 rope skips (without an actual jump rope, in 5 sets, of course).

And then, because I felt like I needed it, I suggested we do some crunches, as well. Three sets of 30, and I put extra weights on the crunch tables at the gym for the second and third set.

I'm betting I feel that tomorrow.

Mango Chicken Curry with Rice and Lentils

2011-12-13T15:41:00.001-06:00

I’m way overdue for a blog update, so I’ll ease myself back into writing with a simple recipe. This one came about when I discovered canned mango slices at a closeout store.

1 can of mango slices
½ cup brown basmati rice
½ cup red lentils
3-4 chicken tenderloins
Curry spice (2 tbsp cumin, ½ tsp turmeric, ½ tsp cardamom, 2 tsp chili powder)
Cayenne pepper (optional)
Rum (optional)
Water
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Drain the juice from the canned mango slices into a measuring cup. Add water and (if desired) rum to make 2-½ cups of liquid. Add the rice, lentils, and half the curry spice and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes.

While the rice and lentils cook, add a little olive oil to a frying pan and cook the chicken over medium heat. When the chicken is done, roughly dice the mangos and add them to the pan with the remaining curry spice.

When the rice and lentils are done, add them to the frying pan with the chicken and mangos. Stir together on low heat for a few minutes.

Wanna See Something Really Scary?

2011-10-31T00:01:00.001-05:00

Wait for it...

And, of course, Halloween itself gets an extra video...

Not So Fair

2011-10-30T00:01:00.003-05:00

This seems a bit contradictory.

Seriously? You're overwhelmingly concerned about your appearance, so you cast a spell to make yourself ugly? Did you even check to make sure it wasn't permanent?

Crowded Sky

2011-10-29T00:01:00.002-05:00

Don't let them take you alive.

Magneto Plays Rough

2011-10-28T00:01:00.001-05:00

He can do so much damage with so few resources.

The Crate

2011-10-27T00:01:00.003-05:00

Scenes from the original Creepshow, which is a magnificent horror comedy.

Down to Business

2011-10-26T00:01:00.001-05:00

Time for a little X-Men action.

Maleficent

2011-10-25T00:01:00.001-05:00

You have to wonder if all the trouble could have been avoided just by sending the invitation. She might have refused to attend out of contrariness.

Vampire's Kiss

2011-10-24T00:01:00.000-05:00

Very hot, but maybe a little too kinky for me.

Angel of Death

2011-10-23T00:01:00.001-05:00

Gabriel has the annoying habit of keeping people alive when he needs them.Mostly because he doesn't understand modern technology.

No Capes!

2011-10-22T00:01:00.001-05:00

Quite possibly the best sequence in the movie. But the movie is so full of WIN! that it's hard to be sure.

The Changeling (1980)

2011-10-21T00:01:00.001-05:00

Showing this at an all-nighter when I was a teenager earned me some fingernails in my shoulder. Totally worth it!

Darth Maul

2011-10-20T00:01:00.002-05:00

He's one scary, badass Sith lord.

Voyager Nightmares

2011-10-19T00:01:00.002-05:00

Poor, Harry... most embarrassing nightmare scenario EVER.

I can't really even call this scary. Voyager just fails at that.

Found a bonus for today.

Super Battle

2011-10-18T00:01:00.000-05:00

I'm not generally a DC comics guy, but this music video using the DC Online trailer is pretty cool.Seems like the villains always win in trailers.

Stalker

2011-10-17T00:01:00.000-05:00

A pretty good short film.Be sure to go to youtube and compliment the filmakers.

Saturn 3

2011-10-16T00:01:00.001-05:00

I barely remember how this movie went, but the "monster" is creepy enough.

Dragonslayer

2011-10-15T00:01:00.000-05:00

A pretty good monster movie for its time.

Maximillian

2011-10-14T00:01:00.000-05:00

When I was a kid, Maximillian creeped me out.

Captain America (sort of)

2011-10-13T00:01:00.001-05:00

This one talks to me a bit.Because, yeah... it's not at all clear why he had to go down with that plane.

Bonus for today!

Oh, Cyrano!

2011-10-12T00:01:00.000-05:00

Yeah, this is silly. But there are some costumes involved. It was time for something lighter.

Shatwow!

2011-10-11T00:01:00.000-05:00

Yes, it really is Garrett Wang.That's Harry Kim from Star Trek: Voyager, if you're geek-fu is weak.

Dinoshark!

2011-10-10T00:01:00.001-05:00

Some Roger Corman movie badness.

Kirk Fu

2011-10-09T00:01:00.001-05:00

Not that the Kirk Fu is helping much in this situation...

A Message from the Prince of Darkness

2011-10-08T00:01:00.001-05:00

Back in the day, this movie creeped me out.

There's a Vampire Out Here!

2011-10-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

Classic Fright Night.

Akira: Evolution

2011-10-06T00:01:00.000-05:00

Scenes from Akira (in no particular order) made into a music video.

The Thing

2011-10-05T00:01:00.000-05:00

There's nothing it won't do to escape.Why not a double dose?

On the Subject of Daleks

2011-10-04T00:01:00.000-05:00

Good advice!

It also says "Panic!"

No Escape

2011-10-03T00:01:00.000-05:00

Arguably old news, but exquisitely done...

Alien

2011-10-02T00:01:00.002-05:00

One of the classic gruesome moments of horror cinema.

Vincent

2011-10-01T00:01:00.002-05:00

Let the Halloween video extravaganza begin, starting with a recitation by the master...

October Approaches

2011-09-29T12:30:00.001-05:00

Two more days until the third annual Halloween video marathon begins here at the Saga.

Dara O'Briain

2011-09-18T13:56:00.001-05:00

This guy is always hilarious.

Fundamentalist Hurricane Exploitation

2011-09-10T11:28:00.000-05:00

On September 7, Jim Ellif published an article in the Worldview Times titled “Do Hurricanes Just Happen?” I’ve seen a few links to this little jewel of fundamentalist ghoulishness lately. Yes, it’s time for a fundamentalist to exploit natural disasters.

God is at work doing His perfect will, even during hurricane season. These spinning engines of destruction originate from Him as Ruler (first cause), through nature (second cause), all for His purposes. Though God owes us no explanation, one or all of the following possible objectives may help us understand "why" God decrees such fear-producing events:

The beauty of these “explanations”, of course, is that they provide an excuse for any horror visited upon anyone, meaning that they really explain nothing.

1. God is recognized as powerful and not to be trifled with. God often asserted that cataclysmic events were done to display His power to men. (Exodus 9:14-16; 14:31)

I’d like to see ministers try to use this explanation with a grieving family. “You shouldn’t feel bad about your family member’s death. They died so God could show off.”

2. Society is warned of the greatest calamity, eternal judgment. A physical disaster is nothing compared with eternal damnation. A hurricane is an announcement: "If you don't repent, worse than this is coming." (Luke 13:1-5)

Jim believes God uses hurricanes in much the same way that mundane tyrants use guns and artillery.

3. Some people are deservedly punished for their rebellion. The Bible states that "the wrath of God is revealed [lit. is being revealed] from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men . . ." (Romans 1:18). That means now. Hurricanes are just one of the ways that might happen. (Psalm 7:11-13)

When God smites a massive geographical area, there may be someone in there who actually deserves it. Maybe.

4. Some true believers are tested or disciplined and made stronger in their faith. The same storm that judges a non-believing man may be the crucible of testing and/or chastisement for a true Christian, and will toughen and purify him for the future. (James 1:2-3; Hebrews 12:5-11)

If God’s holy engine of destruction smashes through the homes of devout believers and crushes churches, it’s just a test of their faith.

5. Believers may be taken to heaven; and some enemies of God may be removed from the earth. This is a reality that is hard to accept, but nonetheless true. The Bible says that our days are ordained by God even before one of them is lived (Psalm 139:16). He also promises that many rebellious people will face a calamitous end. (Psalm 73:18-19)

It really doesn’t matter who God kills with his storms, anyway. He brought you into this world; he can take you out at his whim.

6. The godly are given an opportunity to love sacrificially. Because of the nature of the true believer, you will always find Christians among those on the scene helping to relieve the distress. (1 John 3:17; Galatians 6:10) Their love may point many to Christ.

And disasters always provide Christians an opportunity to look good. Pay no attention to those heathens and non-believers who are also doing their best to help out.

So I bet you’ve gathered by now that this attitude toward natural disasters aggravates me. I think the following quote from the Babylon 5 episode “A Late Delivery from Avalon” sums up my attitude toward natural disasters.

I used to think it was awful that life was so unfair. Then I thought, 'wouldn't it be much worse if life were fair, and all the terrible things that happen to us come because we actually deserve them?' So now I take great comfort in the general hostility and unfairness of the universe.

Livin' It Up at Dragon*Con

2011-09-03T17:06:00.001-05:00

Thought I'd put in a quick post about how things are going at Dragon*Con. I'm having a lot of fun with the Skeptic Track during the day and dance parties by night (although the Zombie Prom turned out to be really lame, especially for the wait time).

Binary Fundamentalism

2011-08-20T12:12:00.007-05:00

This clip from one of Ken Ham's talks really says everything that needs to be said about Young Earth Creationism.

Ken is trapped in an all-or-nothing mentality. If the Bible's claims about biological origins are false, then it's claims about souls and the afterlife must also be false. In order for him to believe that he will go to Heaven when he dies, he must also believe that the Earth is just several thousand years old and biological evolution is impossible. Ken wants to believe he's going to Heaven, so decades of study by hundreds or thousands of scientists with mountains of evidence must all be dismissed with a wave of his hand.

For him, there is no compromise, no middle ground, no other resolution. His mind is made up; don't waste his time with the evidence.

Politics: Deficit Reduction

2011-08-02T19:36:00.008-05:00

Well, the stooges in Washington are patting themselves on the back for averting the crisis that never should have been a threat if they'd been doing their jobs, so maybe they can get around to some real work, now.

I can sympathize with the deficit hawks, since I too think that Congress (which really controls the purse strings) has been living like a kid with daddy's credit card for far too long, and a string of Presidents have been letting them get away with it. Adding services and lowering taxes look good for you at election time, but it racks up debt like crazy, and before someone accuses me of being a wacky conservative tea-bagger, I blame Ronald Reagan for this mess. He was the one who made it okay to raise the budget while lowering taxes and keep it up year after year. He thought he'd be able to cut back the entitlement programs like the modern tea partiers, but he was never able to pull it off. Good luck, ya mooks.

Anyway, I see a series of things that need to happen now.

Set a binding rule (with like a 2/3rds majority needed to break it or something else atrocious) that there can be no new spending programs and no expansion of existing programs as long as we're carrying a debt. That means that existing programs can't offer new services or reduce the qualifications to be enrolled.
Go through the various Federal programs, especially the big entitlement programs, and decide how much needs to be spent on them. Cut if you think the country will tolerate it, make each one as efficient as possible, vote, and move to the next one.
Determine how much all of that is going to cost.
Revise and simplify the tax system, creating a revenue stream sufficient to pay for everything, plus enough extra to actually start paying down the debt.
When the economy recovers, keep the tax rates the same. Don't squander good times by cutting back the revenue stream; work on the debt hardest when you're in the best position to do so!

Yeah, it may result in some higher tax rates, but it's got to be done. I'm willing to take that hit myself to see it happen. I don't have kids of my own, but I've got nieces and friends with kids, and I don't want those kids to have to deal with our crap.

Basically, if you don't have the guts to cut the budget (and I really don't think they do), at least have the guts to raise enough money to cover it.

It's the Evidence, Stupid!

2011-07-28T21:19:00.002-05:00

Since I'm obviously slacking on providing my own content, I'll promote someone else's.

Have At You, You Pansies!

2011-07-14T11:54:00.004-05:00

We managed to get in another D&D session last night, and a new player finally managed to attend (he’s been trying for weeks). Introducing new characters to a campaign in progress is always a challenge, but the circumstances affect just how much of a challenge. Earlier in the campaign, for instance, while the party was still in a major city, I could have introduced the new character, Bowman, quite easily. Alas, the party has now journeyed far from civilization, eliminating the option of having Bowman forced onto the party by an intimidating crime boss.

When we left off, the party had split, with Nerogon, Sylvia, and Lucretia going back to camp to get the wagon (and Machaon and Reya) while Lainis stayed in the kobold keep to watch over the loot. This seemed as good a time as any to throw Bowman into the mix. A few hours had passed, and Bowman came by the keep, noticing that the door (which had always been closed on prior sightings) was standing open. Taking the hint, he went in to investigate.

Naturally, this began a series of sneak checks and listen checks as Bowman carefully prowled through the keep and Lainis tried to figure out who was sneaking around in there (aided by her faithful wolf companion, Cazhmere). It is inevitable in such situations that the players will turn the paranoia of their characters up to eleven, pushing the encounter to the brink of open combat. I’m surprised that Darths & Droids hasn’t dedicated a strip to such situations yet.

I arranged for the rest of the party to conveniently return to the castle at that point, and after a bit more suspicious bickering (and a few hints of “find a way to get along so the adventure can proceed”), they agreed to work together and continue the quest. It’s convenient that Brother Machaon, in his perpetually inebriated state, has no qualms about telling anyone and everyone they meet about the quest. Machaon even showed Bowman his map and asked for directions.

Bowman didn’t provide any directions, but Lainis was able to find the path with her kick-ass Survival skill, which led the party toward the old shrine of Dionysus where the Goblet was last reported to be. Getting close to the place marked on the map, they heard sounds of clacking wood from ahead.

Nerogon volunteered to go ahead and try talking to whatever was making the sound. Lainis and Bowman sneaked up behind him to provide cover if he got into trouble. Lucy and Sylvia were only a little farther back.

I suppose I might mention at this point that Reya’s player was not able to attend. In such situations, the character of the non-present player tends to find something to do that keeps them out of the combat area, like staying with the wagon while the rest of the group goes ahead to see what danger lurks. This is a convenient solution for the DM, especially when there isn’t a copy of the missing player’s character sheet handy.

Back on topic, Nerogon walked ahead and came within sight of the shrine, which was pretty obviously abandoned and overgrown with vines. The field before it was somewhat trampled down, however, and there was a wooden post standing in the field. The clacking had stopped as Nerogon approached, and now there was a small, green-skinned person watching Nerogon approach and leaning on a wooden sword that was covered in wicked-looking thorns (this little critter is a Thorn from the Monster Manual III, if you’re interested).

Some verbal sparring ensued. The Thorn asked Nerogon’s business; Nerogon explained a need to get into the shrine; the Thorn said “no way”; Nerogon said it was the object of his quest; the Thorn said “too bad”. Basically “none shall pass”. Lucy and Sylvia approached during the conversation, and Lucy finally interrupted by saying they should just kill him. Cue the fight scene.

A Thorn may not look like much, but they actually have 6 hit dice, a high attack bonus, and an impressive armor class of 19. Coupled with his tendency to say “the green knights always triumph” and “only a flesh wound” on the rare occasions that he was hit, he was pretty darned annoying. Despite his bravado, however, he was not invulnerable, and he was soon surrounded by Nerogon, Lucy, Lainis, and Cazhmere in a configuration that allowed all of them to get a flanking bonus. With the additional bonus from Sylvia’s bard song, the Thorn’s supply of 31 hit points dwindled with surprising speed. When he finally succumbed to the persistent pummeling, Lucy finished him off with extreme prejudice.

With the guardian dispatched, the looting could commence. The Thorn himself only had his armor and weapons, so the group started searching the shrine. The main room had an algae-fied pool and a statue of Dionysus himself. A room off to the left proved to be a library, but they found nothing left of value. A room on the other side, however, turned out to be a winery that had been well maintained and was obviously in use, as there were two large tubs of fermenting berries. A knowledge check from Sylvia determined that the berries came from an assassin vine, indicating that the wine being made would be wildly expensive. A glance through an outside door of this room revealed a trellised assassin vine growing next to the shrine, and the group decided that messing with it would probably be unwise. A trapdoor in the room lead down to a wine cellar, where Lucy found a couple of interesting trinkets.

Behind the statue in the main room of the shrine were doors leading to bed chambers. All of the furniture was in poor condition, and most of it ended up in fragments as the party broke things up looking for hidden treasure. Nerogon found a scroll hidden in a bed post that provided a clue to where the Goblet had been sent from the shrine.

Take That Frenchy!

2011-07-01T11:48:00.002-05:00

Time for an overdue post about last week’s D&D game.

In the aftermath of the kobold raid, Sylvia, Lainis, Lucy, and Nerogon decided to return to the keep where they had originally been taunted to confront the kobolds there, figuring it was the source of the attack. Reya stayed behind to guard the group's wagon and pack animals and to guard Machaon, who had used up his spell casting with an extra round of healings to get the others into fighting shape.

Seeing no signs of kobold activity from a distance, the group moved up the keep gate, which was still barred from the inside. After some difficulty getting started, Lucy climbed the wall, where she came under fire from kobolds inside the keep’s tower. Lucy quickly tied a rope to the battlements for the rest of the party then ran along the battlements to the tower, where she was too close for the kobolds inside to shoot at her through the arrow slits. Nerogon climbed the rope to the battlements and started getting shot at as well. He jumped down to the courtyard and unbarred the gate for Lainis and Cazhmere. Sylvia began a bard song from safely outside the keep’s walls

Lainis went to the courtyard door of the tower, which she found also to be barred from the inside. Nerogon got back up on the battlements, while Lucy started taking fire from a kobold on top of the tower. She put an arrow through his head when he leaned over to shoot at her again. Nerogon sprinted to her side, and the two found a door into the tower that was merely locked, not barred. Lucy made short work of that, and they were soon in combat with two kobolds, who didn’t stand up to them for very long.

Lucy started down the stairs to open the door to the courtyard and tripped over a chain that had been rigged there. Lying on the landing, she was attacked by a dire weasel. Nerogon grabbed it and she wriggled free, heading down to let Lainis into the tower. Lainis, Cazhmere, and Lucy managed to kill it before it mauled Nerogon too badly.

A rock tossed down the remaining stairs to down from the tower floor revealed that there was still a kobold down there when it fired a crossbow bolt at the noise. Cazhmere charged down the stairs to deal with the kobold, triggering a nasty swinging blade. Fortunately, the kobolds had set it to swing a bit higher than a kobold’s head, so it missed Cazhmere completely. The wolf caught a crossbow bolt on the way in, but he made short work of the kobold. The party set about looting the stash of ill-gotten booty that the kobolds kept in the cellar.

For good measure, the Lainis decided to check the stable in the courtyard to see if it had any threats lurking within. Opening the door and walking inside, she kicked a tripwire that dropped a swinging block of stone into her. Fortunately there were no other threats to take advantage of her.

Lainis and Cazhmere stayed in the keep to guard the loot until Lucy, Sylvia, and Nerogon could return with the wagon to collect it.

Marriage Making News Again

2011-06-23T13:55:00.000-05:00

This time, the state of New York is trying to pass a bill to legalize same-sex marriages.

I may have mentioned this before, but I think they’re approaching this issue in the wrong way.

For starters, the definition of marriage isn’t as universal as social conservatives would like you to think, which raises problems beyond just same-sex marriage. For instance, if we make the one-man/one-woman marriage the legal standard, what happens to immigrants from countries where plural marriage is legal? A man with two wives and six children (all done very legally in his country of origin) immigrates to the United States (also legally): is he still married to both of his wives? There are even religious sub-cultures in the US that aren’t opposed to plural marriage: at least in private; they may publicly disavow it because of the majority opinion.

There are also issues of free speech and freedom of religion to consider. If a same-sex couple goes to a church, synagogue, temple, or other religious institution and takes the appropriate vows, there’s nothing that the government can do to stop them from calling their relationship a “marriage,” no matter how many common legal privileges it chooses to deny them. The Constitution won’t allow the government to keep the church from performing the ceremony, and it also protects their right to describe the relationship as they choose.

So I think the government should get out of the “marriage” business entirely: they really have no interest in anything but “civil unions,” and I think there are valid reasons to limit those to simple contracts between just two people: the tax code, for instance, would get even messier if a union could consist of any number of husbands and wives.

So the solution is simple. The government should stop trying to define “marriage” and just define what rights and responsibilities are attached to a “civil union” contract, without restricting who can enter such a contract beyond “two consenting adults.”

Another D&D Session: Night Raid

2011-06-10T09:28:00.006-05:00

This session marks the introduction of new party member Reya (sp?), a rather wild huntress who spotted the party making camp and decided that approaching them and seeking to join them might be safer than sleeping alone in a kobold-infested part of the forest. Although she hoped to approach the camp quietly and get a sense of the sort of people there before introducing herself, she prematurely announced her presence by stepping on a dry branch, creating a loud snap that no one missed. However, as she presented no threat and the party druid’s animal companion, Cazhmere, liked her, she was accepted with little difficulty.

Her concerns about kobolds were soon proven valid when a band of kobolds attacked the camp in the middle of the night. The attack came during Lainis the druid’s watch. She heard the initial rustling and woke Cazhmere, sending the wolf to see what was out there. This resulted in a loud yelp from Cazhmere as the approaching kobolds started shooting crossbow bolts into the camp.

The twanging and yelping woke Lucy, Nerogon, and Machaon. Lainis sent Cazhmere to attack one of the kobolds, but a giant weasel accompanying them intercepted the wolf, bit, and refused to let go. Nerogon cast light on a tree near the attackers, illuminating them. Lucy rushed forward to attack the weasel, but missed it. Lainis whacked it with her staff, and Cazhmere bit back in retaliation. Machaon woke Sylvia. One of the kobolds cast a spell (which Nerogon recognized as shield), and the others continued to shower the party with crossbow bolts, injuring Lainis and Lucy.

Sylvia started an inspirational song, while Machaon woke Reya. Nerogon healed some of the wounds Cazhmere had sustained. Lainis whacked the weasel again, while Lucy inflicted grievous harm on a kobold, and Reya rushed to join in the fighting. Sylvia’s song was interrupted by a magic missile from the kobold sorcerer. Cazhmere’s life or death struggle with the weasel continued. The rain of crossbow bolts slowed as more kobolds became involved in close combats.

Cazhmere took ability damage from blood loss as the weasel maintained its death grip, but the wolf finally ended the struggle by ripping out the weasel's throat. Lainis cast shillelagh on her staff to improve its smiting mojo. Nerogon, Lucy, and Reya engaged kobolds with varying degrees of success. Lainis was jabbed by a kobold as she rushed to engage the sorcerer, and Machaon healed Sylvia’s wounds.

The tide of battle had clearly shifted, and kobolds began to fall beneath the blows of the party. Lucy flanked a kobold and impaled it, Cazhmere tore up another, Nerogon smashed one down, and Lainis broke through the sorcerer’s shield spell to crack his skull. A moment later, it was all over but the looting.

I expect this to mark something of a turning point for the campaign, as Reya’s player brings a great deal of gaming experience to the group.

Creationist Absurdity

2011-06-08T09:41:00.004-05:00

I can't decide if this is serious or a joke.

Surely even creationists notice that they have to pee a few times a day.

X-Men: First Class

2011-06-05T21:15:00.009-05:00

I'm not going to try to spoil this for anyone, but I'm not going to make much effort to avoid spoilers, either, so read at your own risk.

Overall Impression: Worth seeing. It definitely beats X-Men III: The Last Stand, but I don't think it beats X-Men or X2: X-Men United.

It's hard to have an opinion on how this ended, but to go into that now would be jumping the gun a bit. For starters, let me say that this is another origin story. It goes back as far as the 1940's, where we see some formative events in the lives of Professor X, Mystique, and Magneto. The scenes around Magneto mirror and then expand upon what we learned about him in the first X-Men movie.

Let me take a moment here to note that whoever wrote the screenplay for X-Men: First Class has a serious crush on Magneto.

I'm a little disappointed with the character choices for the villains in this movie. The Hellfire Club is a pretty well established villain group in X-Men comics (from my 80's and 90's based recollections), and I don't think that this movie has done it justice. Yes, Shaw is a decent Big Bad, but I don't think he resembles his comics incarnation very much in either powers or motivation. Emma Frost is practically a Big Bad in her own right, so she shouldn't be playing second fiddle so much, and what's with the "turning to diamond" thing? (Update: Apparently that's an additional power she picked up in the comics sometime after I stopped reading regularly.) The henchmen seem to be clones of Nightcrawler and Storm, and I have no idea where the idea for the dragonfly lady originated.

Unsurprisingly, the "first class" X-Men line-up doesn't much resemble the original Marvel comics line-up. They seem to be trying to have a movie continuity that's separate from comics continuity, so the absence of Ice Man is understandable, but about the only X-Man recognizable from early comics is Banshee, and I'm not sure how they plan to resolve the little issue of Havoc and Cyclops being twin brothers (in the comics) when they've apparently made Havoc a generation older in the movies (Correction: They're apparently not twins; Cyclops is older.).

So, not much attempt at direct continuity with the comics. Fair enough.

Was it necessary to make Professor X a naive ignoramous? To the point of being an arrogant ass? By the end, it's kind of hard to sympathize with him or his ideology. He wants mutants to be able to integrate peacefully with the rest of humanity, but his own research (for his PhD dissertation) claims that such a peace is impossible. And the human governments of the movie bear out his research by being paranoid ass-hats who try to kill the people who just saved their butts.

So we're left pretty completely sympathizing with Magneto's position: kill the humans before they kill the mutants. Would it have been that hard to have at least a few human voices on the mutant side at the end?

Kind of a broken message, if you ask me.

Mermaid Hoax

2011-06-02T22:50:00.005-05:00

This video seems to be going a little bit viral on YouTube.

The narrator says he doesn't care whether you believe his claim that it's a mermaid or not. Good, because I don't. I think it's a hoax.

I'm convinced it's not a mermaid, because a mermaid is not something that fits into the evolutionary tree anywhere. Branches of that tree don't merge back together with branches from another limb, so a species that's half fish (or even half porpoise) and half primate just doesn't happen. My guess is that we've got footage of someone swimming in a costume tail composited with generic underwater footage, but I'll leave the details of how it was done to people with more expertise in video effects.

I invite all the creationists out there to go to the Great Barrier Reef to try to collect more evidence, though, as the discovery of a mermaid would be a big win for them, since evolution couldn't explain it.

Update: Does anything from the following movie clip look familiar?

The Concept of Managed Care

2011-05-31T23:33:00.012-05:00

I was listening to talk radio on my way home this evening, as I occasionally do to keep awake, and I heard Phil Valentine discussing the ever-present issue of healthcare. He was dissing the very concept of managed care.

The gist of his argument went something like this: "Joe Blow needs procedure X. Either Joe or the insurance company he pays (or the government entity that subsidizes his health care, although that's un-American) needs to pay for procedure X that Joe needs. The Guvmint shouldn't give Joe's healthcare providers a fixed amount of money to cover his healthcare needs and certainly shouldn't have the ability to say, 'Joe, the cost of your procedure exceeds the limit the Guvmint set, so we're cutting you off.'" All this was in response to a statement from some Democrat who thought it a reasonable idea that the "Guvmint" should offer a provider a fixed amount to cover a patient's health expenses for a period of time (like a year).

Phil apparently isn't even trying to understand the concept of managed care. I happen to work (indirectly) for a "Payer" that makes contracts with managed care organizations (MCOs), so I have an idea what he's missing.

The principle of managed care is to keep the "enrollees" or "patients" of the managed care system healthy. The MCO enters into a binding contract to pay for a patient's medical needs for the duration of the contract. That's an important point: the MCO must pay for all medical procedures that the patient needs.

The Payer in this system gives the MCO a certain amount of money for the patient for a specific period of time, usually a year. The amount can vary, depending on the patient's age and any pre-existing conditions of the patient (such as diabetes or just age), but the MCO gets this amount regardless of the actual cost of procedures that the patient needs during that period of time. Note that, due to the contract, the MCO must pay for the patient's medical needs, even if the cost exceeds the amount paid by the Payer.

Obviously the MCO will lose money if the cost of a given patient's care exceeds the amount it receives from the Payer. This means that the MCO has an economic incentive to keep the patient healthy. This is how a managed care system uses the free-market forces that Phil adores so much to control costs. The MCO wants to enter the contract to get that "money per patient payout" from the Payer (the "Guvmint" in this case), but the MCO doesn't want to pay for expensive medical procedures for a patient, like a hospitalization. If the MCO can keep the cost of a given patient's care below the annual payment from the Payer, it makes a profit. If it can keep the overall cost of patient medical expenses below the overall payment for all patients, it makes an overall profit on its contracts.

Consequently, it's in the financial interest of the MCO to monitor patients and address any potential health problems as early as possible, before they develop into serious problems that require an expensive hospital stay. That is how managed care systems that provide fixed amounts of money for patients save money for the Payer.

Compare this to a Fee For Service (FFS) system, such as Phil proposes, in which the Payer picks up the bill for every procedure a patient needs. In an FFS system, the incentive for the provider is to maximize the number of billable services for the patient. If the patient has a developing condition that could be treated cheaply if treated early, the provider actually has a financial incentive to wait until the condition becomes more serious, so they can charge the Payer for more procedures and more expensive procedures to treat it.

I hope it’s clear now why an MCO system is at least potentially more economical for the Payer than an FFS system. Certainly there are potential abuse issues in an MCO system (such as disputes over whether a particular procedure is “needed” for a particular patient and arguments over what the annual payment for a given patient should be), but the underlying principle of an MCO system is to encourage providers to keep patients as healthy as possible, so they don’t need expensive procedures. Whatever it is, it ain't "evil socialism."

D&D Resumes

2011-05-25T10:46:00.004-05:00

Long time, no post. I've been sadly inactive in SCA things, but at least I have a new D&D game going to provide some blog fodder.

I’ve had six sessions with my new D&D group, now. They’re on a quest inspired by Monty Python and the Holy Grail to recover a goblet sacred to Dionysus. So far, they’ve dealt with snarky guards, a body collector, and taunting kobolds.

My players are not an extremely experienced group, as shown by little things they don’t do. For instance, they defeated an evil priest and his undead minions (a big fight that earned them a lot of experience points) and looted the bodies, but they didn’t look around for where the priest was sleeping. Note to players: your adversaries don’t necessarily carry all of their valuables on them at all times. Too late to go back for them now, though; that’s another important lesson. If you don’t find the loot, someone else soon will.

They also don’t map. I’m surprised that it hasn’t occurred to at least one member of the group (the one who has the most gaming experience) that they really ought to keep some kind of map of where they’ve been. So far, they’ve relied on the druid’s animal companion to lead them out of mazes by following their scent trail.

But I’m sure at least one member of the group will read this and consider it.

Remember: Being genre savvy typically works in your favor in my campaign.

Medieval Weapons Technique

2011-03-29T19:59:00.007-05:00

This is just cool stuff. Around 1:19, you see why the period masters considered quarterstaff technique to be the core of all polearm technique.

The Resistance

2011-03-08T09:42:00.001-06:00

Julia's band at the YEAH Rock Block show case in Murfreesboro, TN, on February 27, 2011.

And again on March 4, 2011.

Another “Evolution Requires Faith” Claim

2011-02-28T05:53:00.005-06:00

Observed in a wall post and responses on Facebook. We’ll call the creationist CW.

CW: “I was thinking about DNA and genes and how every feature of every creature has its own genetic code. I wonder what evolutionist would say whether or not there is a DNA code a genetic code for the in between species, such as. the code for a wing and a leg are different: what does the "in-between" leg look like? Is the code muddied? How is THAT a step in the direction of evolving perfection?! Silly evolutionists: your version takes more faith to believe in than MINE does!”

Some friends of mine made an effort to explain, but the author wasn’t really listening. The answer to the question is not so simple, since there are many steps between a leg and a wing. Bird wings developed from the forelimbs of dinosaurs (specifically dromaeosaurs), and there are many known species of dinosaur that were essentially bipedal, leaving their forelimbs free to evolve toward other tasks. The “in-betweens” either look like a leg (or arm) with some wing-like characteristics, or like a wing with some lingering arm-like characteristics.

Berkley has a nice website on the subject, if you care to read it. The short of it, though, is that we don’t need faith to see that bird wings evolved. We don’t know everything about how it occurred, but we do have the intermediate forms (despite the denials of creationists), and we continue to learn more as we discover more fossils.

CW: “Humans are composed of the same material as is found in the soil. Man was made from soil. All creatures were created by the same artist so the same ingredients and style are present in all created things (C, G, T, A) and resemble each other According to non-creationist microbiologists, DNA itself dies not support the theory of evolution because each creature is made if a unique set of DNA. If u change the code, it's a new creature not an altered old one. Still a theory as of yet. There is more faith than evidence present in the belief of evolution. Didn't care fir those authors really. I like da Bible. :0"

Is it really any surprise that life on Earth is composed of elements that are common on the surface of the Earth? From an evolutionary standpoint, it's exactly what you should expect.

I’d love to know where she got this notion that “non-creationist microbiologists” are refuting evolution based on DNA. DNA is one of the great pieces of supporting evidence in favor of evolution, and unique variations in every living being are expected and in fact necessary for evolution to work. Sure it’s a “new creature”, but it’s not so different that it’s no longer the same species. It takes many generations for populations of creatures to diverge that much.

And of course Evolution is a theory. Learn what “theory” means to a scientist! It’s an explanation for a set of observations that is consistent with the evidence. A theory makes predictions that can be tested, and its predictions are consistent with reality.

A creationist friend of CW chimed into the thread to help defend it. We’ll call the friend HP.

HP: “There have never been any transitional fossils discovered. There is also overwhelming proof that an ‘inbetween’ species could not survive as it evolved into another species.”

HP is another creationist who apparently only reads creationist publications for information about biology. There are plenty of transitional fossils, showing that “in-between” species survive just fine. There are millions of “in-between” species alive right now; thousands of years in the future, their descendants will be different species.

HP: “Charles Darwin was just a man with a theory. He was not all knowing and was like Job in the Bible and spoke of things that he knew not of. And God would ask these men the same things he asked Job..."where were you when I put the stars in the sky? Where were you when I..." (Paraphrase:)”

Charles Darwin never claimed to know everything, and he was far from alone in his observations about life on Earth. His distinction was being the first to publish his findings.

CW: “That is my FAVORITE PASSAGE OF SCRIPTURE!!! "Brace yourself boy ... who do you think you ARE?" My paraphrase of course; God is much more kind than I am there. :) An in-between feather or eye or flipper just wouldn't be practical ... there isn't any way a half formed hand/wing would be superior to what was already there. And, again, it would become a new creature due to that whole pairing thing going on with the GCTA pairs ..."

If only CW and HP could see the irony of their comments. They’re the ones making claims about subjects they don’t understand, because it’s clear that they don’t understand the theory they’re attacking.

Of course, if they actually learned the Theory of Evolution instead of listening to creationist sound-bites, they might realize that it’s accurate, and they wouldn’t want that! I expect that's why creationists routinely ignore attempts to actually teach them something about evolutionary biology.

"Intelligent" Design

2011-02-10T22:31:00.002-06:00

Apparently it requires making a nerve ten feet longer than it needs to be.

Richard Dawkins Demonstrates Laryngeal Nerve of the Giraffe
Uploaded by blindwatcher. - Discover more science and tech videos.

Simple Caribbean Chicken Curry

2011-02-09T10:37:00.006-06:00

I made a batch of this over the weekend, and I got a request to post the recipe, so here we go.

Open a can of pineapple chunks and drain the juice into a measuring cup.
Combine the juice with water to make two cups and put it in a small pot.
Add curry spice (adjust as you see fit).

1/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp cardamom
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp chili powder

Add a cup of brown rice, bring to a boil, turn heat to low, cover, and leave to simmer 20 minutes.
Put one or two chicken breasts in a 375-degree oven for the same time.
Take the chicken from the oven and cut it into bite-sized pieces, add it to the rice pot.
Add about a cup of black beans (roughly half a can) to the pot.
Stir, cover, and let simmer another 10-15 minutes.

Like most things, it goes great in a tortilla.

Bill O' Reilly Reasoning

2011-02-05T19:26:00.002-06:00

This was just too good to pass up.

Besides being just plain silly, O'Reilly's argument is also a classic example of "moving the goalposts".

Gabby's Burgers and Fries

2011-02-04T19:32:00.014-06:00

I actually had my lunch with me yesterday when I went to work, but my colleague Andrea was in a special mood. She was craving Gabby's Burgers and Fries, and she asked if I wanted to join the group. I am so glad I did.

Gabby's is a little hole-in-the-wall burger joint on a corner across the street from the Nashville Sounds baseball field.

The absolute worst thing I can say about them is that they're a little free with the salt on the fries. The grass-fed beef they use, however, more than makes up for such a minor excess. Those are the most awesome burgers ever.

Black Bean Minestrone

2011-01-27T12:53:00.002-06:00

From the “easy to throw it together” series...

In a medium pot, combine…

One can of diced tomatoes
One can of beef broth
A cup or so of black beans
A diced onion (sauteed)
About a cup of whole wheat pasta (shells)
Dried oregano (however much suits you)
Dried basil (the same)
About a tablespoon of prepared garlic (maybe less if it’s fresh-minced)
Black pepper
A splash of fish sauce
A splash of balsamic vinegar

Stir, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and allow to simmer for twenty minutes.

A New Firefly Criticism

2010-12-22T22:08:00.013-06:00

Back-to-back posts! I'm on a roll!

In an article I recently found on the internet, the author complains that in the cult TV series Firefly, the relationship between Captain Malcolm Reynolds and his second-in-command, Zoe Washburn, is “yucky” because of an unfortunate connotation of some of the show's Civil War references.

The problem with using the Civil War as a subtext is that Joss Whedon’s ancestors weren’t slaves. So he seriously thinks that in Zoe, Mal’s second-in-command and only surviving member of his unit, he’s done a subversive little trick. She’s black! She’s a she! She can fight so good! She’s a soldier just like Mal, etc, etc.

Mr. Whedon must have fallen asleep during the part in class where they discussed how some slaves stayed with their masters even after emancipation.

The problem with this whole line of reasoning is that it assumes that the Independent faction in Firefly’s civil war corresponds to the Confederacy in the American Civil War, while the Firefly Alliance corresponds to the Union.

At a glance, that’s not much of a stretch. Both the Union and the Alliance consist of older “states” with greater wealth and more firmly established industrial bases, while both the Confederacy and the Independents are relatively new “states” with more agricultural economies. Furthermore, the Independents' primary complaint seems to be onerous control by a central authority, which was at least the public reason for the defection of the Confederate states.

The author uses this reasoning to conclude that Zoe is a former slave of Mal’s, now free, but still following him out of some sense of misguided loyalty.

The problem with this reasoning is what we know about the actual institution of slavery in Firefly, which is still legal and practiced on the core worlds of the Alliance, but not so much on the marginally pacified border worlds that used to be Independents. In Firefly, the victorious “Union” is the defender of slavery, not the defeated “Confederacy”.

It’s impossible to cast Zoe in the role of freed slave still following “massa” (as the author puts it) when there’s really no indication that Zoe was ever anyone’s slave. It’s not even clear that there’s racial selection involved in the Alliance’s designation of slaves: we hear slaves discussed a few times, but we never actually saw any to see if they have any physical characteristics in common.

Update: In "Jaynestown", we see a colony where a population of "mudders" are described as indentured servants (a tiny step above outright slavery) working for the Alliance governor, and they were mostly (if not entirely, I wasn't paying that much attention) white.

This doesn’t mean race and racism aren’t factors in Firefly. Most of the wealthy aristocrats we see on the core worlds of the Alliance are lily white, with the major exceptions being government agents hired to do the Alliance’s dirty work. The lower class “Independents”, on the other hand, have more of a racial mix. A major flaw in the show, as I’ve noted before, is the conspicuous shortage of characters of Asian descent, particularly in a setting where Chinese phrases are frequently bandied about.

So, once again, we have a social criticism of Firefly that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.

Platinum Fuel Saver and its Spokesperson

2010-12-22T21:15:00.002-06:00

Real content for a change... imagine that.

As I may have mentioned before, I spend some time listening to talk radio. In particular, I listen to the Michael Savage show when driving home in the evening because it’s more effective at keeping me alert than classical music, and I don’t particularly like the other music stations around here.

If you’re not familiar with Michael Savage, he’s a conservative shock-jock who broadcasts from San Francisco, CA. I like to think I can judge the integrity of a talk show host by the kind of products he advertises, particularly if he’s the spokesperson in the ads.

Michael has been advertising something called a Platinum Fuel Saver recently. The makers claim that a car with this device installed will use 22% less fuel. According to them, it increases the amount of fuel actually burned in the engine from 68% to 90%. Michael basically repeats these claims in the ads that he has recorded for them.

Alas, Consumer Reports tested this device, and they found that it has no effect at all on a car’s fuel efficiency: you basically spend $250 for nothing (more if you do some of the unscheduled maintenance on your car that the device maker recommends).

If a host repeats claims about a product on his show that don’t stand up to independent testing, should we trust him on any other claims that he makes?

March of Cambreadth (Babylon 5)

2010-12-13T18:16:00.002-06:00

It's been way too long since I posted anything, but another gratuitous video can help fill the void.

What is the NCSE?

2010-11-12T14:52:00.001-06:00

Fechtunek

2010-11-05T07:14:00.001-05:00

Gratuitous German longsword video.

Mystique

2010-10-31T00:01:00.001-05:00

Ultimate Halloween costume.

And because Halloween itself should have more than one video...

Geek Girls

2010-10-30T00:01:00.000-05:00

A curious mix of awesome and fail.

Geek and Gamer Girls Song - Watch more Funny Videos

Haunted Nashville

2010-10-29T08:43:00.003-05:00

I went on a date to Haunted Nashville last night. There are some spoilers in here as you move along, so if you don’t want to know anything more than “it’s a fun house that won’t do anything really annoying”, you can stop reading now.

Nena was actually kind of worried that some of the activities would trigger her phobias, but at no point in Haunted Nashville does anyone deliberately touch, grab, or chase you. In fact, many of the monsters are quite polite, as they indicate which direction you should go when you’re having trouble finding the next doorway in the dark.

Turbidite Manor was probably the most fun of the three tours. It has the best special effects, including both animatronics and holograms. They also put characters in this one with real lines. Nena had her finest moment here, as one of the “apparitions” follows you out of one of the scenes, saying spooky things. Unfortunately for her, she moved a little too soon, and she didn’t realize that Nena and I were behind her as she followed the rest of the group down the hall. As a result, when she broke character and turned to go back to her hideout, Nena was able to startle her.

Epidemic is less interesting, in that it doesn’t really have any impressive special effects. The theme here is people jumping out of dark corners and making loud noises right next to you. The character who introduced us at the entrance to this one played his part marvelously, though.

House of Distortion is somewhere between. There are a lot of long, dark hallways where people jump out at you, but there are also some pretty impressive animatronics, and the “electrified windows” are a pretty neat effect, too.

I don’t think I’ll want to do this every year, as I suspect it will tend to be repetitive, but I’ll probably look for some other “haunted” attractions around Nashville for the future.

Trial by Stone

2010-10-29T00:01:00.000-05:00

Evil muppets.

The Cave

2010-10-28T00:01:00.001-05:00

Also in the "you might want to rent it for Halloween" series...

The Mask

2010-10-27T00:01:00.001-05:00

The best Jim Carrey movie ever.

Might be the only one really worth seeing, actually.

Manliest Movie Ever

2010-10-26T00:01:00.000-05:00

Or so someone thinks of Fist of the North Star (the original anime version).

Lots of gratuitous bleeding.

Rhinehart's Oyster Bar

2010-10-25T21:00:00.012-05:00

Visiting someone in the hospital isn't the best reason to go on a trip, but Nena and I did get to try a new restaurant in Augusta, GA while visiting Decca. Rhinehart's came up on Urban Spoon, and it's completely awesome.

It has a gravel parking lot, and there's graffiti all over the walls inside. It reminds me of the Crazy Cajun in Gray, TN (which, as far as I know, hasn't re-opened since the kitchen fire). The oysters and jambalaya are excellent (although the jambalaya will light you up a bit), and the Hurricanes are killer. Important safety tip: stop at one Hurricane! I had a second and, enjoyable though it was, I was feeling it the next day.

None Shall Pass!

2010-10-25T00:01:00.000-05:00

Nope... not Lord of the Rings.

There's Nothing Out There

2010-10-24T00:01:00.002-05:00

Sometimes, in a horror movie, there's one guy who knows what to do.

Darkseid

2010-10-23T00:01:00.001-05:00

Superman gets into a toussle with Darkseid in one of the animated movies. Villains don't come much more badass.

Scream of Ktchooloo

2010-10-22T00:01:00.004-05:00

If you're unfamiliar with Call of Cthulu (the game, the story, and the horror fiction genre), you won't fully grok this video, but I think it's still funny enough.

Killer Willy

2010-10-21T00:01:00.001-05:00

Have to have some spoof trailers...

Evil Explains

2010-10-20T00:01:00.001-05:00

Evil monologuing in Time Bandits.

Eclipse Trailer

2010-10-19T00:01:00.001-05:00

It deserves no better.

Come to think of it, it deserves worse.

Vampires do not sparkle.

Science in the Media: Ridiculous Hype

2010-10-18T13:59:00.007-05:00

Physorg.com is reporting the discovery of "transparent aluminum". Here's the tag line from the article:

"Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. 'Transparent aluminium' previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion."

Of course, if you read the article, you'll quickly realize that this opening statement is composed primarily of cattle droppings. Let's look at the details:

Changing the state of the aluminum requires bombarding it with an x-ray laser that draws enough electricity to power a city.
It isn't really transparent. Only extreme ultra-violet light gets through, not visible light.
The aluminum only remains in the altered state for about 40 femtoseconds (a femtosecond is one millionth of one billionth of a second, if you're not a technogeek). To paraphrase Doctor Manhattan, it's an event that occurs so quickly that it can barely be said to have occurred at all.

The experiment is interesting because it allows scientists to see how matter behaves in extremely high energy states, such as might be found inside a star. This experiment has no relevance for construction materials, yet the reporter is acting as if it does.

X-Men

2010-10-18T00:01:00.001-05:00

Cause how much more Halloweenie can you get?

Fun with the Microwave

2010-10-17T00:01:00.001-05:00

Do not try this at home.

The Thing from Another World

2010-10-16T00:01:00.001-05:00

Another science fiction classic.

Retro Avengers!

2010-10-15T00:01:00.001-05:00

In other news, some of my friends won Best in Show at the Dragon*Con masquerade for their "Steampunk X-Men".

A Trip to the Cemetery

2010-10-14T00:01:00.002-05:00

I'm not sure whether the silly label applies to this or not.

Geeky, obviously, but silly?

Stormtroopers Gone Wild!

2010-10-13T00:01:00.001-05:00

Some of them have to be silly.

Cybermen vs Daleks

2010-10-12T00:01:00.001-05:00

Daleks kick Cyberman ass.

Of course, the Doctor scares all of them.

Tasty, Tasty Brains!

2010-10-11T00:01:00.001-05:00

I think sequels seldom live up to the original, but this particular scene is pretty darn creepy. Not for the faint of heart.

Bedfellows

2010-10-10T00:01:00.003-05:00

Something Patricia Tallman shared with her FaceBook fans back in July.

The Cask of Amontillado

2010-10-09T00:01:00.001-05:00

As told by the master...

Fright Night

2010-10-08T00:01:00.001-05:00

An oldie, but a goodie.

Predator Fridge Logic

2010-10-07T00:01:00.001-05:00

I wonder what it would be like if horror movie characters thought of these things.

"Dexter" Fridge Logic

2010-10-06T22:09:00.006-05:00

So I've been roped into watching Dexter recently (not that I'm suffering or anything), and I noticed something that triggered my geek reflex. This kind of thing might involve spoilers, so anyone who hasn't watched Dexter yet and wants to might do well to skip this post and watch some more Halloween videos.

I'm still on season one (yeah, yeah... lots of catching up to do), and I think it was episode 8 that I was watching (maybe 9) tonight, when we had one of the flashbacks.

As a child, Dexter was injured while playing. He needed a blood transfusion, but he has the rarest of blood types: AB-. The hospital was stymied by the lack of a suitable donor, and only Dexter's foster father was able to identify a blood relative who would have the right blood type.

Two problems:

It's not that hard to find a donor for a recipient with type AB-. Any Rh-negative donor will do, because AB types can also receive A, B, or O types without any problems.
The episode implies that the donor is Dexter's biological father, but if Dexter is type AB-, then his father must be either A- or B-, not AB-, so even if Dexter needs an exact match for some reason, his biological father couldn't be an exact match.

Whew! I've got that bit of geekery off my chest. Back to Halloween videos.

Edit: I suppose Dexter's biological father could be AB-, since he could donate either the A or the B if his wife donated the other one. My bad. Point #1 still stands.

Further Edit: A little research indicates that less than 10% of the population of Florida has Rh-negative blood, so finding a relative might still be fairly important.

Narwhals

2010-10-06T00:01:00.001-05:00

This is its own special kind of scary.

Muah ha ha hah! Now it's running through your head, too!

Top Ten Twilight Zone Episodes

2010-10-05T00:01:00.001-05:00

Classics...

Mr. Staypuffed

2010-10-04T00:01:00.001-05:00

What did you do, Ray?