60th birthday – the invitation

I invite my friends (new and old, near and far) to my 60th birthday party. Date: Saturday, December 7, 2019 Time: 6PM - 11PM Location: This is a public blog post, so I'll send the address separately. It's the same place as my 40th and 50th birthday parties, and a few Yule celebrations. The event: A professionally-published…

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Contrast Paints and a Metal Dwarf

When I switched Wordpress providers, many of the pictures did not import properly. You may want to view the old site's post instead. As I promised in an earlier post, here's a set of photos of my test work on painting Dwarf Brewers. I ordered about twenty of these miniatures via Amazon, and I believe those orders…

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Geela

I first met Geela Naiman in the early 1980s. There was an SF fan gathering at my house. Sherry Nehmer, an editor at Analog, was the featured speaker. Near the end of Nehmer's talk, a friend of hers arrived to drive her home. That friend was Geela, though I didn't hear her name at the time. After…

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Vindication of the Dragon at the Edge of Darkness

When I switched Wordpress providers, many of the pictures did not import properly. You may want to view the old site's post instead. With a title like that, you may think this post will be fanfic. Sorry to disappoint you, but it's another one of my miniature-figure painting posts. It's long, as usual, but this time its…

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11th edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica

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…

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Sky: Children of the Light

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…

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Sundrop, tan zenithal, and contrast paints

When I switched Wordpress providers, many of the pictures did not import properly. You may want to view the old site's post instead. The new incentive This post continues a saga I began in an earlier post on the hobby of painting miniature figures. In that post, I described how I managed to paint the minis in…

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References

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…

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The Four Doctors

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…

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