You Can't Take it With You: Epilogue

August 29th, 1918

To Misters Krukov, Shay, et al, c.o. Miskatonic University,

On behalf of Mr. Phillips and Mr. Douglas, allow me to extend thanks to you and your friends for the interest and concern shown towards two poor souls under my care.

Mr. Phillips, you may be pleased to hear, shows remarkable signs of recovery. After consulting with your Dr. Franz Hypner and our on-call staff, we took Mr. Hypner's suggestion and allowed Mr. Phillips to follow the news concerning Miskatonic University's new Baldwin Collection; the results have been astonishing! His nervous condition is remarkably subdued. I believe, in fact, that once his naturally weak constitution recovers from his dependence on alcohol, our new electrosurgical therapies may be able to finally penetrate the last of his hallucinatory false-memories and lead, one day, to his release as a changed man.

The case of Mr. Douglas is, sadly, less hopeful. His advanced age and a family history of senility play against him, and he seems to have regressed to a state of clinical imbecility. We have managed to re-train his gross motor skills, however, and there is a light at the end of the tunnel; given adequate rehabilitation, he may soon be able to feed himself. And a stroke of luck for the gentleman: a liberal organization--Друзья сука, I believe it says on their letterhead--interested in improving the quality of life of our unfortunate patients has contacted me, rather out of the blue, about Mr. Douglas specifically. They believe that, given time, he may be suited for sponsored employment, and are making arrangements to have him transferred to one of their facilities in Canada.

I must admit that overseeing the admittance and care of these two--and the curious effect of the news stories on Mr. Phillips--piqued my own interest, and I have been following the recent news regarding the Baldwin Collection and estate. The University's 'extensive renovation plan' sounds quite remarkable! I can only imagine the considerable honor your group must feel at being nominated the Head Trustees of the Collection, though I think the decision to close the peninsula to visitation until the last of those strange Waheela creatures can be tracked down is a wise one. Congratulations on the discovery of the beast, and on the slaying of the one responsible for so many unfortunate deaths, but I think visitors will feel much more secure once your hired team has declared the area safe. Such brutal maulings! Simply dreadful.

I was a little puzzled, though, at Mr. Phillips' reactions to various of the articles; he seemed much more impressed by the little note that the Baldwin Mausoleum was being personally sealed by Mr. Krukov than by the preceding plans for renovation of the manor house as a museum. His necrophobic tendencies at work, I suppose.

Again, let me thank you all for showing such interest in and concern for your ill fellows. Few of my patients are as lucky as Mr. Phillips and Mr. Douglas, to have such firm friends.

Sincerely,
Dr. Armand Spencer,
Director, Arkham Asylum

Interactive squid!

Now you, too, can have a squid friend! Build a squid, then set it free. You can visit it whenever you like, and play with it, and see what adventures it's been having.

My squid was hanging out with a penguin, and then it was searching for a lost tentacle, and after that it got in a fight with a Japanese whaler...

does this accurately describe your life?

Chart

Urban exploration

While I'm still up for that road trip, there are many local adventures to be had. Check out Infiltration for resources on journeying through forbidden places.

Architecture for armegeddon

Though the doomsday seed bank might be the most famous (and useful example), there are plenty of structures within the United States that are meant to last longer than some catastrophe and sometimes even help out the survivors.

In the spirit of the Fallout campaign, post any such structures that you are aware of. Maybe Nathan will have us stumble upon one.

Or maybe we should visit them as part of a real life campaign-- I mean road trip.

Optimize your memory

This program is called Mnemosyne. It’s basically an automated flashcard program. I find it very useful.

As it turns out, you can more efficiently memorize information if you can control how frequently you are tested on it.

You can download flash cards for certain things (i.e. learning a language), but more imporantly, you can make your own. In studying for my subject test, I just bought a chemistry GRE prep book and used that to make a card database that made it very easy for me to study every day. When you make your own cards, you can implement LaTeX to display equations within the program. In order for this to work, however, your computer needs to be able to read LaTeX formatting... the Mnemosyne website says that you should download MikTeX  if you have Windows or MacTeX  (and possibly dvipng...?) if you have a Mac. In any case, doing a Google search for Mnemosyne and LaTeX should get you the help you need.

Upcoming high school reunion

Question: Are you coming to the reunion in a couple weeks? If so, what days/events are you attending?

You can reply by commenting on this post, or you can email me if you want.

(I'm about to sign up for the reunion.)

Super Slo-mo!

Videos shot at 1000 FPS.

"The most dangerous show on earth!"

The folks at Survival Research Labs create robotic performance art. Their mechanical menagerie includes: the Shockwave Cannon, the Flame Hurricane, the Stu Walker (a 6-legged guinea-pig-powered walker… here’s to you, Megan), the Mumbly Peg Stabber (a robotic arm programmed with “stabbing, thrusting behaviors”), and more.

Legway

The steampunk version of a Segway.

Good news, everybody... they've invented a doom clock

Ever wondered just how much we have left? Hint: it is a finite number.

Horay for zero population growth.

Eww.

I especially like the question mark after "free"

Start your weekend right

Friday Link

Pirates vs...dolphins!

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/15/china-reports-dolphins-foiled-pirate-attack/?hp

Also, I distributed googledocs access to the Fallout Skills list; if anybody can't access it, let me know!

This looks like the best movie of last year, that never got the awards it deserved:
http://www.morrismovie.com/

Watch the trailer. Be joyous. Dance.

PG rated porn

Watch de video

The Yes Men

The Yes Men impersonate corporate criminals: ExxonMobil representatives (to deliver a keynote speech on turning human corpses into oil), the WTO (to convince businesspeople that slavery was good for developing countries), spokespeople from Dow Chemical (to claim they were going to liquidate Union Carbide to pay for cleaning up the Bhopal disaster), and more.

From the maker of American Astronaut

http://www.stingraysam.com/

I'd like my pizza with an extra slice of...ew.

My friend (Amy Wilson in this article) did some online sleuthing. I thought this was really interesting. I did not watch the videos because I didn't think my stomach would want to:


http://consumerist.com/5211428/consumerist-sleuths-track-down-offending-dominos-store#viewcomments

It's really interesting what people can do when they get together virtually. Strangely enough, it can actually be good.

mythbusters + car + rocket sled + wall

http://digg.com/d1oX2S

This is pretty awesome, though I fail to see how it might not be awesome given the above recipe.

Safety first

This advice may save your life one day.

The best part is that I can't tell wheter certain parts have a basis in physics or are complete nonsense.

On a lighter note

Seriously Amazon?

I thought you were cool.

Okay, here is a CNet story on what is going on.

If you search twitter for hashtag #amazonfail, it is pretty amazing to see all the tweets flying around (about 30-50 per second)

He can outrun you

If not now, then probably in a few years

Online encyclopedias

You might've heard of Everything2. In case you haven't... it's like Wikipedia on LSD.

Uncyclopedia, on the other hand, is Wikipedia on meth.

Don't shit your pants!

The game!

Can you get all the achievements?

Exonerated

DNA Evidence Frees Black Man Convicted Of Bear Attack

Hot New Video Game Consists Solely Of Shooting People Point-Blank In The Face

Hey Nick

We saw that movie with your friend in it. It is a New Zealand Napolean Dynamite. Your friend plays the role of Uncle Rico. Jermaine is a jerk.

Help a robot, receive bacon

POBOTbI POBOTbI robots robots people want to be friends with robots.

From the article "Know your chances" in Scientific American:

"Consider a woman who has just received a positive result from a mammogram and asks her doctor: Do I have breast cancer for sure, or what are the chances that I have the disease?

• The probability that a woman has breast cancer (prevalence) is 1 percent.
• If a woman has breast cancer, the probability that she tests positive (sensitivity) is 90 percent.
• If a woman does not have breast cancer, the probability that she nonetheless tests positive (false-positive rate) is 9 percent.

What is the best answer to the patient’s query?

1. The probability that she has breast cancer is about 81 percent.
2. Out of 10 women with a positive mammogram, about nine have breast cancer.
3. Out of 10 women with a positive mammogram, about one has breast cancer.
4. The probability that she has breast cancer is about 1 percent."

If your answer was not number 3, then read this article. Seriously, I mean it.

большие пальцы цепной пилы

Fallout Game Basics

Right! We've finished up "You Can't Take it With You" and are moving on to Fallout. I still have an epilogue to write, but while I'm working on that, you guys can begin thinking about characters.

In the Cortex system, Assets and Complications cover personal advantages and disadvantages, but can also be used to construct character races, special abilities/superpowers, etc. Groups of Traits that are all meant to represent the same thing (like the combined benefits and drawbacks of being a Super Mutant or Ghoul) get lumped together and called 'Bundles.' There is no actual cost-break for using a Bundle, but it looks neater on your character sheet (rather than recording 20 different Traits), and it does have one mechanical advantage. Normally, characters can only gain 30 Trait Points by taking Complications. However, for these purposes, you DO NOT count the Complications in Bundles separately, only the overall total cost of the Bundle. Read the Traits Chapter for more details, but basically, I didn't like how GURPS worked, where if you wanted to be an elf or a dwarf or whatever you used up all your allowed points on the racial package, and then never got to personalize your character. So in Cortex you can.

I'm comfortable running the rules of the game, but I'd prefer if everybody learned enough to make their own character, for the most part; since we've played Serenity before, you probably have a fairly good idea of the basics.

Here are the rules/requirements:
1. Characters start at Recruit Level. I'm going to be messing with Advancement a bit by allowing Fallout-esque items that permanently raise abilities, skills, etc during play; there WILL be experience-based advancement, too, however.
2. We will be using a game-world-specific Skills list. Do not build your character using the default skill list from the Cortex book; I'll post the modified list here soon.
3. Characters can be bizarre, but ya'll have to work together. I'm going to let you be largely responsible for deciding, pre-game, why you are working together/how you met/etc. You may want to chat about characters while or before building yours, too. Some intra-party conflict is fine, but I'd prefer it if it didn't derail the game.
So while coming up with your charater's schtick, please keep in mind whether or not it's going to make it difficult to work with others, make it hard to roleplay, or get you killed by Brahmin-from-the-Sky.
4. There will be a 'Main Quest Line' style plot. I'll post soon what the game's startup is about, and you can keep that in mind when making characters.

And a question...what/where shall we host this game? We'll be trying to mix Skype and posting, but I think the sense was to use something other than PbPHouse because of their server problems. So; a Google website or Group? Another Blog devoted to the game? Bueller? Bueller?

No, Olive Oyl, don't do it!

You have too much to live for!

I hate people

And this is why.

A.I. + Games = EVOLVE

Two AI related game links;

First is Akinator, a version of the 20-Questions AI specifically meant for guessing the names of characters or real people you are thinking of. Plus, it learns; if it guesses wrong, it asks you to enter the name of your character, and then compares that name to a list of similar names to see if it is already in the database, etc, etc. Very cool, but slightly buggy. Can guess Minsc, Jaheira, or most other NPCs from BGII, got Garrett, Viktoria, and The Trickster from Thief, can differentiate between Star Trek captains, and a bunch of others.

The second is a site called GWAP, or Games With a Purpose; each time you play one of their games, you're educating an AI. Games include verbal associations, describing tunes, selecting 'important' things from pictures, etc. Very interesting stuff, and potentially leads to Amazon.com gift certificates.

Googling my Life Away

Question: Does Google make us smarter? Or does it make us dumber? 

You, the people, decide.

(Another related question: Facebook--yea or nay?)

Where all the children are... what?

The Onion delivers again.

Robot ant can do pelvic thrusts

You heard it here first.

This video means job security for me.

There will always be a market for people who can... you know... talk and stuff.

A Video

"It looks different on you computer monitor than on a "Tee Vee" monitor. Television."

evidence that Craig has entered the dating scene

http://www.fmylife.com/love/836792

Cthulhu

So what's been up the last couple of weeks in the Cthulhu campaign?

Last I heard Patrick almost got Chauncey killed.

Also, something about clowns?

Comment on this post if you have something to add.

We're watching a good movie right now

We just don't know it.

A tutorial in passive aggression

I received the following email from my boss this morning (names have been changed):

Hi all:

I was very excited to see that there was a plate of chicken dinner on my desk when I came in this morning.  =-O   Too bad I was in the mood for breakfast and too bad it was only remnants.  :-(

I am sure there is a story behind this and I would love to hear it! 

Joy

AI 20Q

Playing artificial intelligence 20 questions is a nifty way to kill time.

The AI's guessing capabilities can be downright uncanny. I've only tried the classic version, but the game has other flavors, too: music, movies, Star Trek, and the Simpsons, to name a few.

Tesla's Tunes

So, apparently Tesla Coils can be used to make music, including the Doctor Who theme track.

Teachers: Well-Trained?

Though the teacher training program I'm a part of is undoubtedly excellent, sometimes I wonder if it is missing something.

The Secret

Some people don't know this, but all Craigs have another, smaller Craig inside their mouths at all times.

Virus-built battery

Thought this article was kind of interesting. Evidently MIT researchers have managed to use viruses to build both the anode and now cathode of a battery.
Also since the previous post on the Robotic lab tech/researcher led to a registration site rather than a full article, here are two alternatives.

Holygodtheyareinvading!

Run for your lives, people!

ted talks.

I suspect all or you have long since discovered "www.ted.com" In case you haven't you really should check it out. They have videos of talks given by high profile people for free in many different subjects. Ted stands for technology, entertainment, design. I've seen some on economics, physics, biology, computers, humor, politics, poverty, etc. It's really neat, and free.

Why biologists are better than chemists

Because Babyfingers is just a worthless chemist, he doesn’t know about the fascinating things biologists are up to these days. What do chemists know, anyway? They’re just ruining the world, one nanotube at a time.

Biologists have discovered bacteria that use arsenic in photosynthesis. We’ve also found that those tricksy prions might actually be useful, after all.

We’re even contributing to the humanities: harnessing microorganisms to clean and preserve artwork. (Chemists, being philistines, would never do such a thing.)

And, of course, who are the people curing all your diseases? Biologists, of course. Researchers are engineering plants to produce anti-HIV protein.

Beat that, robots.

And by "robots" I mean "chemists".

Could a robot replace you?

Maybe if you're a good-for-nothing biologist.

I'd be more impressed if they got the robot to write a grant proposal.

Coming soon!

Craig is Jim Bhond in "Croctopussy," coming to theatres this summer.

"This here web log will be excellent, I reckon."

AI in Python

This looks neat.

http://us.pycon.org/2009/conference/schedule/event/71/

I think mostly everybody likes AI and Python.

In the beginning

There was nothing. Then

"Patrick: I think we should try to do some sort of link exchange thing"

and there was a web log.

And it was good.