My father is giving away one of his prize possessions: the 11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica, published in 1911. According to my father, this was known as the "scholars edition" because it was the last edition that could be used as a primary resource. For example, the article on penicillin was written by Alexander Fleming; the…
thatgamecompany is known for making computer games for people who wouldn't otherwise be interested in computer games. Sky: Children of the Light is their attempt at making a MMO (Massive Multiplayer Online) game for people who would otherwise not be interested in MMOs. In my opinion, they did not succeed; if you're not already a gamer with…
Warning: This post contains self-indulgent meanderings on the passage of time. If you young'uns can't handle that, skip this post and get off of my lawn. A few weeks ago I was in the lunch room of Nevis Labs. I was the oldest one there. The rest were summer students about 20 years old. The topic had…
This is a follow-up to my post The Three Doctors. Again, it's not a Doctor Who post. I've got a PhD in particle physics, am a doctor by courtesy with Universal Life Church, and also a doctor by courtesy with the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. Why would I want another? The issue is being able…
A couple of days ago, Christopher Chase sent me some pages from an old issue of The Crone Papers that mentioned Isaac Bonewits. (Christopher, brother to Sabrina Chase of Blue Star, is on the faculty of the Philosophy and Religious Study Department at Iowa State University.) After I downloaded the pages, I went through my usual practice…
Disclaimer: I did not play this game to the end, for reasons discussed below. This review is based on what I experienced until I decided to quit playing it. A few months ago, I posted my review of Final Fantasy XV. I was still looking for something to occupy my time during my convalescence. A friend of…
This was the first year since 1995 that I did not cook the Passover seder. The reason was that I'm still recovering (after four months!) from a medical problem I had just before Christmas 2018. I will get better, hopefully within another month, but I was not in position to do my usual annual shopping and schlepping…
I'm leaving World of Warcraft. I played the game from before the beginning, during its beta test prior to the game's formal release in November 2004. After putting time and energy and money into the game for 15 years, I feel like some nostalgia and introspection; hence this blog post. World of Warcraft (WoW) is part of…
It occurred to me that I've mentioned Horizon: Zero Dawn a couple of times in this blog, but my review of it never appeared here. For the sake of completeness and comparison, here are my reviews of Horizon: Zero Dawn and its expansion, Horizon: The Frozen Wilds. These reviews first appeared in a small members-only World of…
As some of you may know, I'm homebound for a few weeks and was looking for a game to pass the time. I found one: Final Fantasy XV. Before I get to my review, I have to address the elephant in room (though it's more like a T-Rex in a broom closet): The very first female character…