| I am Legend |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|08:55 pm] |
A so a week with a quiet start has a very busy end.
As well as the normal weekly activities I gave two new training courses this week- Intermediate Python, and iMovie 08. These were on the Thursday and Friday respectively, but because of various crises that needed sorting I didn't really get the chance to write Thursday's course until Wednesday, and thence Friday's course until Thursday evening. Wednesday evening was particular hairy, when late night checking of the machines found enough problems that I had to make a rapid change of plans about how I was teaching the course the next morning. I cut through the problems, and both courses were very well received. Brief comments:
Intermediate Python- this is such a clean, elegant language. It is so straightforward to teach (compared to the intermediate php course I'll need to write at the end of the month).
iMovie 08. While it is a bit of a shock to start working with (think encountering office 07 when you are used to office 03), to teach it I had to come to grips with the 'why' of the program (I like to understand the why so I can explain what and why it does what it does, rather than just teaching people how to carry out some steps). Having mastered that, I actually really like it now. Admittedly I have the technical knowledge to address deficits in the program compared to the previous version (there was a major change of 'why' between versions which left some holes in expected functionality).
I am expecting a fairly quiet weekend, though there is a slight possibility of winter weather excitement. The last few weekends have been low key, but very nice, and I expect this one to be too. |
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| Hot War: This is it |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|09:30 am] |
NAME OF GAME:
Hot War
AUTHOR:
Malcolm Craig
PUBLISHER:
Contested Ground Studios
ILLUSTRATORS:
Paul Bourne
PRICE:
$28/£15
PAGES:
204
SIZE:
Digest
DUE FOR RELEASE:
Pre-order from Indie Press Revolutionduring July 2008 (order the hardcopy and get the PDF free, pre-order period begins duringt he week of 7th July), see it at GenCon US (14-17 August 2008) on the Play Collective booth
DESCRIPTION:
A game of friends, enemies, secrets and consequences in the aftermath of a horrifying war.
Features stunning and terrifying artwork by Paul Bourne. Many elements of information in the game are shown through propaganda posters, protest sheets, memos, diaries and documents, giving a real feel for the world.
This alternative history/horror game for three or more participants has players dealing with life a year after the apocalypse. You'll confront hidden agendas, sinister factional machinations and see the changes in relations with friends and enemies.
Hot War allows both short term and campaign play, with a system that allows the group to work out exactly the kind of game they want to play amongst the wreckage of 1960s London. |
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| Delicious LiveJournal Links for 7-4-2008 |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|09:32 am] |
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[Jul. 4th, 2008|08:19 pm] |
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| Note to self |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|05:43 pm] |
Dear Miche,
Bending your sore thumb to see whether it's still sore isn't actually helping.
Yrs etc,
Me |
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[Jul. 4th, 2008|02:31 pm] |
For anyone who's not aware, there are severe weather warnings for
Christchurch over the weekend. Heavy snow (possibly down to sea level)
and I-don't-think-we're-in-Kansas-anymore-Toto winds.
It may therefore be advisable to wear your biggest, ugliest coat, and
your heaviest, stompiest booties to the 48. |
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[Jul. 4th, 2008|12:49 am] |
Argh! I have no idea what to wear for Podge and Síle's wedding! (which reminds me, must RSVP)
I don't want (can't afford) to buy an entirely new outfit, so I'm looking at what I've got and trying to buy something to go with something I already own and it's proving pretty disastrous.
Having been mistaken for a lesbian at Eamon and Lizzy's wedding I'm reluctant to wear trousers (not that I'd wear the same outfit again, fabulous though it is, as there's just too much cross-over between the two weddings, but I have other trousers that I'd originally bought for P&S's, having seen a lovely top in Kookai that has since vanished). I do have one fancy enough dress, but it's a bit wintry for mid-July, being chocolate brown, and I've put on a bit too much weight for it to look it's best. I also have a pair of fantastic yellow shoes, but nothing that goes with them.
I do have a €75 gift card for Arnotts that expires on the 27th though - maybe that'll help.
I've been pretty poor at updating this thing lately, haven't I? No talk of LT events, no talk of Eamon and Lizzy's wedding - what a rubbish performance! (my updating, not the wedding! That was the polar opposite of rubbish)
Ah well, it's too late and I'm too tired to go updating now :) |
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| late night motorcycling |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|12:43 am] |
Okay, that was good fun, little dark but fun :) |
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| Quote much? |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|11:57 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  tired | ] |
"We've done the impossible, and that makes us mighty."
"They don't advertise for killers in the newspaper. That was my profession. Ex-cop. Ex-blade runner. Ex-killer." |
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| halp |
[Jul. 4th, 2008|09:49 am] |
| [ | music |
| | Carmen - Paula Cole | ] |
Is anyone attending the 48 able to bring along some sort of double-sided tape for clothing?
As I pack, it occurs to me that access to something like that would make things a bit more secure for me, on at least one of the nights. :D |
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| Open letter to Scottish hotels that do catering for events |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|09:35 pm] |
1. Having even ONE vegetarian item going round on little trays would be AWFULLY swell. And having a few corn fritters set aside WITHOUT the crab topping would have been really great - if you don't believe me, ask the rabbi I was talking with.
2. Please train your staff that the correct answer to 'are any of the appetizers vegetarian?' is NOT
a) there will be sweets later
or
b) yes, we have salmon!
No love,
hungry Pisica who scarfed way too many pretzels
P.S. having the world's yummiest pumpkin pie in bite-sized pieces does not get you off the hook, but was appreciated. |
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| Desperate Much? |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|09:03 pm] |
| [ | mood |
| |  amused | ] |
Sony Just sent me an Email. Begging me to come back to Starwars Galaxies as they put it "in honour of our five year anniversary"
a month and a half free game time (which seems to be extended to my old Everquest 2 account) all of which would be okay if I hadn't logged back in about 3 months ago to realise it was even worse now than when PXT (our old SW Galaxies guild) abandoned the game and closed down some years ago.
I'm almost intrigued as to how bad it is now. Almost. |
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| fandom does stuff that is cool. |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|02:26 pm] |
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) livelongnmarry is a fannish fundraiser project to benefit marriage equality. It's basically a charity auction, where folks are offering goods and services to the LJ community at large. Folks bid on the items. The winning bidder makes a direct donation to any number of charities fighting for marriage equality, and the person offering the item/service then provides. It is on the honor system, which worries me a tad, as I'm sure there will be some Sketchy McSketch folks who lie about donating, but I've got to think that most people aren't assholes!
(Still, I sort-of wish that they asked people to take a screenshot of the online donation, and blur out anything that might reveal Real Identities. That's not hard. But then, I am such a suspicious person. *le sigh*)
I offered my ability to knit a Tam of Rassilon and the bidding is up to $50! Everyone wants the badass Doctor Who hat, but currently ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) butterbuns wants it the most. :D
Considering the time and materials, though, it's not a bad bargain, heh. You're getting off cheap! *snicker* ;) |
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| Somewhere that was leading |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|06:40 pm] |
There was much amusement this morning when I checked my email and discovered that some people thought that I was trying to do some kind of scientific research via an LJ poll, or thought that I was trying to make a point about how many people had been raped (which was clearly not data you could extract from the question I asked).
Um.
No.
This was all kicked off by the discussion a few days back about the feminism backlash - and specifically by the discussion of how it must be ok to just _say_ things to women - after all, it's just speech, how could it be dangerous?
To which my response was:
You wouldn't make the kind of statement in a rape survivor's group, after all. But the stats seem to show that if you're around more than 4 women then you _are_ in the middle of a rape survivor's group...
("The Stats" and much more can be found here on liberal conspiracy - a site I very much recommend. I don't intend to discuss them further, you can do your own damn reading.)
But anyway - the point is that pretty much everyone knows someone who was raped. Of the nine people currently asserting otherwise on the poll I personally know that three of them are wrong. Someone else commented saying that at least one other one was wrong. I'd like to think that there was at least one person on my friends list who didn't know any sexual assault victims, but I wouldn't care to place money on it. And this raises fear levels - because it makes it much more real than if you didn't know people who are involved. I don't know anyone who's been stabbed (at least I don't think I do), so the stuff in the papers about knife crime kinda bounces off, but sexual assault is much more personal, because it's happened to people I care about deeply.
And it's a crime more likely to be committed by a person you know. With all of the people I know, for instance, about it was friends, or friends of friends. Which leads to mistrust of _all men_. You can't tell from a distance, and so you lost trust that you can open up to anyone.
I was once hanging out with a woman at a convention - we'd met a few times before and got on well, friended each other, exchanged the odd email, etc. And this time, we arrived at the hotel with bags of chips in our hands and needed somewhere to eat them where the staff wouldn't get upset. So I suggested my room. And she gave me an odd look - and it took me a moment to realise that that look was suspicion of my motives. So I reassured her, and we got the lift up. And when we got out she thanked me for not trying to kiss her. Because a _lot_ of men she'd shared lifts with under similar circumstances with had tried something like that. She's in a relationship. She's never shown any interest in me.
And she thanked me. For not trying to kiss her. And I've never been so astounded in my life.
It's insane. It makes me weep for what many women have to go through every sodding day.
I work very hard to make sure people I know feel comfortable around me. I'm naturally huggy and touchy-feely, and it took me a long time to realise that it made some people feel uncomfortable, because I came from a background that _was_ very safe. But eventually I realised that I had to back off. So you won't see me making the first move when it comes to hugging most people, because I do _not_ want to fall into the category of "sleazy man who hugs people to get close to them." And I only have to worry about that because of complete dick's who do that.
There are, if you're lucky, two categories of men in women's head - ones that are safe to be around, and ones that aren't. And you can, if you like, be blunt about sex, and not worry about people's previous experiences, and whether they jump slightly whenever people make any connection between them and sex, and whether they know you well enough to open up to you at all. But you're very likely to be places into category B.
And no, I'm not telling you what to do, or how to speak. Just saying that the world is _not_ a Safe Space, and that we all need to be aware of the consequences of what we say and how we act around people. |
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[Jul. 3rd, 2008|06:15 pm] |
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I'm ill *falls over* |
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| Now you've gotta come |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|09:07 am] |
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When I mentioned to my mom that I would be seeing some of my Edinburgh gaming friends this summer, she looked so excited, because she thought I meant they were coming here. I had to let her down & say that no, I'm going to GenCon & will see them there. But that means that Edinburghers will have to come to the wedding, or you will disappoint my mom. Well, and me, but if that was enough you wouldn't need a guilt trip. |
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| Summer In Dublin |
[Jul. 3rd, 2008|05:00 pm] |
I remember it, etc.
What amuses me right now is the large amount of rain we're having, combined with the Urban Beach that'll be near my office for the next two weeks. |
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silly
sleepy
happy
optimistic