Shadowrun Genesis save format notes (2012/12/19)
Because it’s an awesome game, that’s why.
[read more...]A few notes on how to run a forum or similar community (2012/12/13)
For some reason, people who run forums keep inventing the same ideas, and they keep being really bad ideas.
[read more...]Instant Review: Laser Pegs (2012/12/03)
Laser Pegs are a toy consisting of clear plastic blocks containing LEDs and wiring, with the convenient trait that the blocks happen to be roughly physically compatible with Lego parts. They don’t exactly say “Lego”, but they indicate compatibility with “other construction kits”. They mean Legos.
[read more...]Personal opinion: Python's "usability" and "readability" are marketing hype (2012/12/02)
People love to pitch Python as a language to learn in. I am pretty sure this is because everything you hear about Python is about how easy and intuitive it is, and how people love to pitch it as a good choice for learning.
[read more...]Media bias, media coverage, and voting discrepancies... (2012/11/25)
Glenn Reynolds points out some interesting discrepancies in state and federal divisions between Republican and Democrat, which John Hinderaker says is probably not because of the national media bias, but because of differences in how people view governance.
[read more...]I love the idea of having a working memory, anyway (2012/11/25)
So, my memory is better sometimes, not quite as good other times.
[read more...]David Frum says true things. Pundits bash him. (2012/11/09)
It says something when David Frum is described as not really a conservative, or as someone unimportant and uninformed. The man has credentials. I don’t like everything he says or does, but I have read his writing and found it persuasive more than once. Not always, but more than once. And a speechwriter for George (H. W.) Bush is almost certainly not reasonably considered some kind of leftist.
[read more...]Minnesotans for Marriage: Thank you. (2012/11/07)
Thank you. I think it would have been entirely possible for the recent attempt at an anti-gay constitutional amendment to succeed. Minnesotans are, by and large, a little inclined to tradition, to a sort of comfortably midwestern view of family, to be cautious about change.
[read more...]Not a real fan of the options this year, but... (2012/11/05)
Okay, here’s the thing. In general, my intuition is that Republican candidates tend to advocate economic policies which are more likely to work decently than Democractic candidates. And for a long time, that was enough for me to vote for them even when I had to hold my nose on social issues.
[read more...]Autistics Speaking Day: Predictably relatively quiet (2012/11/01)
So, there was some idea floating around that people ought to pick a day and not talk in honor of the communications difficulties faced by “people with autism”. Which, of course, helps cement the stereotype that we generally can’t communicate, and supports the idea that other people ought to speak for us. Which, it turns out, isn’t super popular with a lot of autistics, so some clever folks came up with the idea of Autistics Speaking Day. Of course. A lot of autistic people don’t particularly enjoy talking to strangers, or talking about themselves. Or are a little shy.
[read more...]