nocarename

I've been watching Rio -Rainbow Gate!- on Crunchyroll. It's not what I'd call riveting, but there looks like there might be a plot hiding somewhere behind all the fan service. A small one anyway. Also, credit where it's due, the fact that the whole thing is set at a casino does a lot to handwave the outfits that show up.

Moving on, I think that most of the people who watch anime are, by now, familiar with the battle aura you get around the tough fighters and it's ilk. This show marks what I for me is the first time I've seen a luck aura, but the main character is a dealer, so sure.

And since there are limits to how tensely you can animate a game of cards we'll have that represented by a different game that involves skimpy outfits - like beach volleyball. Fine. I'm all right with that too.

But what I'd like to hear is if anyone can explain why the main character has an aura full of plants. Seriously, she turns the juice up and the next thing you know the screen is full of vines and leaves. Anyone?

I do better in a routine. I like a little structure, most people do I think. You get up, get clean, get dressed, eat and do something that makes the universe better.

Sort some files. Build a box. Throw out a pile of junk that was clogging your life.

Some days I will settle for reading an idea that’s new to me if nobody else.

Most days actually.

I need a new routine. One with more accomplishments in it.

And money. Because there’s no way I’m going to save enough to retire on if I don’t have a job.

Friendslist,

There is a small article that is, to all appearances, the corner stone of a field of study that one of the NocaSises is involved in.

It is: Richard Toop, 'Four Facets of "The New Complexity" ', Contact, no. 32. (Spring 1988), pp.4-50.

It's not available to anyone. Google doesn't have it scanned. Searches just aren't working. Send help.

Please.

Who wants to put something in orbit?

8,000USD for a pound and a half in orbit for a couple of months.

Plus, naval defense lasers.

The pieces for that fully armed and operational battlestation are really coming together.

I'm in roughly three D&D games right now. Running one and playing in two. These are Ravenloft, Eberron Noir and Demon House.

Now, we have trouble staying in genre as players. So, um, things aren't always what they say on the tin. So I'm making an effort to correct some view that might be wrong on these that could have cropped up.

Ebberron Noir is supposed to be black, bleak and corrupt. Instead we break into places by using the fact that one of the players in a licensed sewer inspector with forged PI papers. As such it's less Chandler and a more Buffy. Possibly some Adam West Batman in there, but that's mostly because I renamed our police contact to Commissioner Gordon.

Similarly, the magical frat house is neither Buffy, nor Harry Potter, but more like Animal House. I, um, may have been declared to have been involved in an incident where we took apart the Dean's horse and reassembled it on the roof of his house. A tragic act of type casting that results from playing a necromancer. Yes.

Ravenloft, instead of gothic horror is turning out much more like the Venture Borthers. Which is what helps make the writeup funny yes, but still.

Hope this clarifies things,
Noca

'Cause we sure ain't fast enough for a run here.

Except those flying snow weasels. Shoot but those things boogie.

High Points

• They defeated the zombie attack in the town square. Easily.
  
• Then they replaced the barricades of debris with a couple castings of Wall of Stone. (He'll run out of spell castings. Eventually. Friggin' Bowie...)
  
• Talks came next with the local Paladin figure and the local knighthood of Totally Not Evil^TM. I'm expecting the call for substitution levels to come soon.
  
• Next on the agenda, after another pair of snow weasels, was a trip to Madam Eva the head of the Gypsies Vistanis.
  

Memorable Quotes

• "What happens in Bavoria, stays in Bavoria." "Except mummy rot. That's forever." "I told you to stop licking the undead!"
  
• "It starts like a Christmas special and ends like a German safety video."
  
• "What was the name again Madam..." "Dame Edna!"
  
• "If you slap a solipist, it's not your fault!"

Dear Weather,
I know that it can be hard to remember the correct date at the start of a new month. I also know that this month starts with the letters 'M' and 'A'.

However.

This is the month of May not the the month of March.

Please, please go back to rain. That doesn't need to be shoveled.

Feet wet from the slush,
Noca

Once upon a time* I said I'd have photos. I've taken a few since then. so, um, photo dump under the cuts? Click the thumbnails for the full sizes, you know the drill.

( Animethon '09 )
( Pure Spec '09 )
( What happened to the house near to a friend's place or Why you keep the heat on around here. )
The LARP is going well, I think. We may be running towards gonzo-ism, but it'll be a fun fall. Now it's to be early to bed so I can do the usual early Monday meeting.



* August of 2009. Oops?

I demand a recount.

Yesterday the international airport outside of town said we hit -46 C, making us the second coldest place on the planet that had people to notice.

Normally I like winter (though fall is better). Plenty of layers, a good furnace and pots of tea cover a wide range of temperatures. This is nuts. My nose hurt on the way to the train this morning from the cold because with the gap between the eye pieces there was nothing covering that part of my body.

Cold is all well and good, but if I'm not spending the day under a layer of blankets, there has to be limits.

And then it's supposed to be up around -4C (about 25F) by Friday.

This isn't weather, it's ambushes!

If anyone needs me, I'll be turning the thermostat up again.

I pulled most all of this from the Open Manufacturing list. For people living in small, rectangular spaces.

( Example cases, so I'm not just making things up )
The proposed next step in the OM list was to try and make this usable for the urban nomad. IE wedge yourself in between two sets of adds, bootleg the power you need from the lights and catch your water from rain.

It's a fun design challenge, but I wouldn't want to live there. Not long term.