Epiphany 2
I spent about an hour last night writing a long blog post about research techniques. Why did I bother?
At the time, I thought it was because I’m still processing all I learned, and it would help to set it down. Late last night, I realized that there was another reason:
Isaac would have loved this.
Networking
The gift of the magi (or something)
A friend of mine calls me today. They ask, “Have you read any Jules Vernes?”
It’s not a question I get asked every day. I pause a moment then answer, “I’ve read his most popular works: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mysterious Island, From the Earth to the Moon, Journey to the Center of the Earth. Why?”
They respond, “How about the Morte d’Arthur? There’s a new English translation.”
Calendar scanning
I've completed scanning Isaac Bonewits' calendars. I thought the process would take longer, but I followed the advice of : Put on some music on full blast when no one else is around, and the task will pass quickly. I should have known. This does not remove the need for calendar parties. It means that they can…
Two steps forward…
...and one step back. Isaac Bonewits' big wall calendars take twice as long to scan as I thought they did. I thought an entire page could be scanned by my big scanner at once, but the images are chopped off at the top or bottom. I'll have to rescan those calendar pages in the flipped orientation so…
I wish I had a choice
I have to vote for Barack Obama in 2012. The Republican slate consists of people with such an anti-intellectual stance that I cannot vote for them. But with the President's decision not to veto the NDAA, I dearly wish there was a Democratic contender running to oppose him.
Finally, physics
My subtitle for this blog is “Musings of a physicist, a witch, and a gamer.” I’ve posted on wicca and gaming, but I’ve never said much about physics until now.
I have been reticent to talk about physics because what I physically do is sit in front of a computer terminal and type (and occasionally think) all day. But evidently someone thinks that the work I do is interesting:
Why I game
This. It's why I've been post those game reviews, and why I struggle to schedule Argothald every month, and why I played World of Warcraft, and why I played in two LARPs for 14 years.
The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen
It has come to our attention that the community of barbers and purveyors of leeches have grasped upon the noble name of Karl Friedrich Hieronymus, Freiherr von Münchhausen to describe a mental condition. Such actions merely reveal their own ignorance, not only of medicine, but of the behavior of gentlemen such as the good Baron. Therefore, if any member of the lower classes, those infused with a ill-conceived notion of their cleverness, or a Norwegian is heard to mutter the despicable phrase “Munchausen by proxy,” he shall be visited by Baron Münchhausen himself. That worthy shan’t bother with the formality of a duel, since clearly no challenge is needed when insulted in such a dastardly manner. Rather he shall use his remarkable display of swordsmanship (as complimented by none other than Empress Catherine the Great, whose offer of marriage the Baron once had the honor of declining) to enact such a skillful display of vengeance that the justly-chastised victim will be forced to spend two weeks looking for his trouser buttons.
Where was I? Oh yes. I am reviewing a game: The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen, “A Game of Wagers, Wine, and Competitive Lying.”