Folks are coming for a ritual this evening. I have to mop the floor. The WetJet isn't working. I can't find my mop. There's nothing else to do but get on my hands and knees, and scrub with water and Pine-Sol. As I'm doing this, I'm humming: Of course, the title of this post has nothing to…
In my previous post, I mentioned that I was working on a talk about the history of Nevis. I presented that talk yesterday. I'd been worried about how the talk would be received. I focused more on the history of the Nevis estate and on the construction of the Nevis synchrocyclotron than the research we've done in…
I recently picked up Playing at the World by Jon Peterson. This book is a history of the game Dungeon & Dragons.
Since many of my readers are Wiccan, I’ll use an analogy that will make sense to them: Playing at the World does for D&D what Ronald Hutton’s Triumph of the Moon did for Wicca. It explores the different elements and influences that resulted in D&D, and follows the chain of influence forward as D&D affected the world around it. [1] [2]
In part 1 of this Argothald story, I talked about the game’s first players. In this part, I want to delve into how I designed part of the fictional world of Tala, the planet of the Argothald.
I want to tell a story about Argothald. It’s a geek story. It spans 35 years and two worlds, one real and one fictional. There’s no moral, no point, no great insight to be had. It’s merely a story I wish to share.
It’s also long enough that I want to split it into three parts.
I know the holiday of Thanksgiving has its origins in colonial activities with a dubious morality at best. I know it's not a holiday celebrated world-wide, nor is it religious. Be that as it may, it's a holiday that's come to have a meaning that transcends its origins and the demands of a belief system. I had…
I hung with out with one of my Wicca students yesterday. She's incredibly pregnant, due in under a week. She looks just about ready to pop. You can see and feel the baby's feet move as he shifts around in her mother's tummy. It's an amazing experience. Mother and baby are both healthy. The baby may be…