Tuesday, November 29, 2005

The secret weight watchers points formula exposed...: "One point = (calories/50) (fat grams/12) - (min{r, 4}/5)"
Weight Watchers Points Calculator
Manufacturing or Marketing your own game: "The best way to sell your game to a game manufacturer is to take it to a big game convention or toy show. These are all over the country at various times of the year, I leave it to you to do the web search; Origins and Gencon are the two biggest in the USA, and Essen, Germany has Der Spiel, the world's largest (140,000) show at the Messe convention center in October. Anyway, once you get to a show carrying a NICE looking prototype (don't walk in there with hand-written cards), go up to a manufacturer/dealer that looks like they'd make the thing that you designed. Target your market! Then, ask to talk to whoever looks at new designs. Usually, someone will be there. Arrange a 10 minute appointment sometime during the day or evening to show them your game. You should be ready to give them a 1 minute 'concept' pitch right on the spot to spark their interest a little bit when you meet them. So you're standing at their dealer's table (pick a slow time, not when they're busy!) and their main playtester comes over to talk to you; you say, 'Do you folks take game submissions outside your company?' They will either brush you off immediately or set up an appointment, or ask to 'have a seat' and look it over on the spot. Then, they might take it from you right then if they like it, or ask you to formally submit it to them. If you've gotten that far, then there's a good chance it will see print. You might want to have an NDA handy when you sit down with them. Don't worry about this; they're used to signing them all the time."

Sunday, November 27, 2005

Majikthise : What is the "Foundation for a Better Life"?: "The problem is that this organization isn't truly nonpartisan. Although it refuses to explicity get involved in politics, it's a bit disingenous. Those of us who are used to parsing political rhetoric know what's going on when we see something that suggests societal problems are the result of a lack of personal accountability and responsibility, rather than the result of poverty, consumerism, corporate welfare, and neglect of basic working class needs such as living wage and health care. I don't have any argument with the values themselves, obviously; but this is just another attempt to blace the blame for American societal ills, and responsibility for changing them, on the victims of a system designed to encourage the further enrichment of the rich and shrink the social safety net. The very people who have the least to work with."

Saturday, November 26, 2005

Ogre Miniatures Without Ogre Miniatures: "Thinking about the miniatures crisis which seems to have afflicted many Ogrephiles out there has prompted me to compile this list of sci-fi figure manufacturers. All of the companies below produce 1/285th - 1/300th scale figures suitable for Ogre. Quality is measured by the number of asterisks next to the company's name (on a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the best). Some of the stuff listed here is nicer looking than the rest, but any quality judgements made are my own subjective opinions. Your tastes are probably way different, so don't sweat it if I pan your pet manufacturer, O.K.?"
reading pages per minute - Google Search
Brushthralls.com Painting Warmachine minis.

Friday, November 25, 2005

View Collections: "This is the best game ever. And I really don't care if I'm the only person on Earth who thinks so. It goes without saying that if you didn't like the first 2 editions you won't like this one. Me? I loved 2nd edition, and love this one even more. If it were a woman I'd make sweet sweet love to it down by the fire. "
The spoils (kottke.org): "On our first night in Saigon, we ran across a little shop that offered for sale, among other things, lots of 60s/70s-era Zippo lighters.

Me: How do you suppose they came to have those?
Meg: I don't want to know."

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

1/144th scale aircraft kits
The Red Fighter Pilot: "My Englishmen was a good sportsman, but by and by the thing became a little too hot for him. He had to decide whether he would land on German ground or whether he would fly back to the English lines. Of course he tried the latter, after having endeavored in vain to escape me by loopings and such like tricks. At that time his first bullets were flying around me, for hitherto neither of us had been able to do any shooting.

When he had come down to about three hundred feet he tried to escape by flying in a zig-zag course during which, as is well known, it is difficult for an observer to shoot. That was my most favorable moment. I followed him at an altitude of from two hundred and fifty feet to one hundred and fifty feet, firing all the time. The Englishman could not help falling. But the jamming of my gun nearly robbed me of my success.

My opponent fell, shot through the head, one hundred and fifty feet behind our line. His machine gun was dug out of the ground and it ornaments the entrance of my dwelling."
The Red Fighter Pilot: "The Englishman landed close to the flying; ground of one of our squadrons. I was so excited that I landed also and my eagerness was so great that I nearly smashed up my machine. The English flying machine and my own stood close together. I rushed to the English machine and saw that a lot of soldiers were running towards my enemy. When I arrived I discovered that my assumption had been correct. I had shot the engine to pieces and both the pilot and observer were severely wounded. The observer died at once and the pilot while being transported to the nearest dressing station. I honored the fallen enemy by placing a stone on his beautiful grave."
Quick and Dirty Aerial Combat
Airdrome Aeroplanes ~ Holden, MO ~ Airdrome Homepage

Biplane kits!

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Thoughts of the left-handed mastermind %uFFFD Apache 2 64K bug on Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger fixed: "For client version of Mac OS X Tiger (and for those who would like to compile Apache themselves on OS X Server as well) there's Apache version 2.0.55, which apparently includes a patch which fixes 64K bug as well. I've compiled and installed Apache 2.0.55 successfully on OS X Server 10.4.3 and 64K bug seems to be fixed."
Workbench: My Due Diligence on the Liberal Ad Network: "Moulitsas can afford to say crazy shit like that, because Democratic politicians view Daily Kos as an ATM machine and assembly line for grass-roots liberal activists. He charges $1,400 a week for ads and regularly sells 6-8 of them."