RPG Geeks Unite  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in

I have been listening to the Wizards of the Coast Podcasts featuring the Penny Arcade PVP series lately. I would like to thank Wil Wheaton for talking about this podcast on his blog. Basically, it is a bunch of geeks hovering around a table playing DND while having fun and making fun of each other. Just listening to the podcast reminds me of my time around the table trying to outfox the dungeon master at the same time trying to keep my arse out of trouble. It also reminded me that the rules of the game have changed big time over the past twenty years and I am so out of date to the point that if I even tried to play now, all of my past experiences will do me no good. (Except the one that reminds me to NEVER cast a firebolt spell within an ice cavern).


While I am itching to once again write a entry level encounter, I also realize that all of my gaming buddies are no longer just down the block. Sure, I have time now in my life to take a few hours a week to play, but with severed contacts this might be a toughie. With chatting available along with VOIP capabilities, I am sure that now I don't need to be in the same room as my associates. Then there are the really cool applications that will help me create the creatures of any realm such as PCGen that are offered for free.

Who knows, maybe I will pick up the new books, grab some graph paper and dust off my dice.
If nothing else, maybe I can get it out of my system just writing in that genre once gain.

-WTS

1 comments »

Exit the Old Enter the New (Sorta)  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in

Well, it has been a few since the Battlestar Galactica series came to an end, but then again it has taken a few for me to finish watching the episodes that I have missed. Before moving on to the topic of the finale, just a heads up that NBC is going to sell of many of the props from the series and you can find the catalog here. At the midpoint of the series, I was a bit miffed that Earth had been found only to have it a desolate wasteland. I had no idea how in the hell the series was going to end, but I had a feeling in the pit of my inner being that I might now enjoy the ride to the last episode.


Needless to say, we sat through a mutiny, the final Cylon model being revealed, a bit of sexual tension, angles appearing here and there, another ginormous battle and the final episode finally arrived. They landed, they spread out, called their new home Earth, and now we know that our heritage lies within human and Cylon DNA. I stared at the screen for a bit as the credits rolled and wondered whether or not I was totally satisfied with the ending. While this ending was much more satisfactory than the original series was, I was somehow, well empty...

Now that we have all the questions have been answered and the loose ends tied up, I was a bit put out that things ended without much fanfare. This feeling lasted for a bit until I saw the ending of Life on Mars and realized that if ABC ran Battlestar then the series would have had a much more lamer ending and I began to cheer up a bit. Imagine the Original Starbuck waking up, feeling his chest and his manhood then breathing a sigh of relief as an ending and you will feel better too...

Now Caprica has begun, but I have yet to download and watch... Maybe after I finish catching up on The Tudors, but then again I know how that story ends as well...

-WTS

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Thanks BA  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in

There are times when I need to remind myself not to post anything at 6 in the morning. Thanks BA for pointing out my goofs and the corrections have been made.


-WTS

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Texas Our Texas  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in

The Articles of Confederation
The Nullification Crisis 1832
Causes of the Civil War
HCR (50)
Governor Rick Perry

What do all of these things have in common?


-WTS

1 comments »

Tea Party  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in ,

All around our nation, people gathered together today to protest the income tax and how the government spends money. Oddly enough it was called the "Tea Party" in hopes of trying to connect our history with what is going on in modern times. While the gesture in itself was a good one with good intentions to demonstrate the first amendment, it was a poor attempt in trying to teach history.


The Boston Tea Party of 1773 was centered around the controversy that began when Parliament had passed legislation to give a monopoly of tea sales to one company. The passage of the Tea Act made tea cheaper to the colonists which should have made the colonists happier with their national government. However, the colonists had several dosages of taxation without representation and it didn't take much for them to get riled up with being forced to do anything. Merchants who had benefitted from black market trade during previous taxings were concerned that the Tea Act might cut into their profits and several of them, John Hancock included, began to make a racket.

Protests in New York, Philadelphia and Charleston were successful in turning the tea back to Britain. However, it was in Boston that the Sons of Liberty were able to board three cargo ships and destroy tons of a product that did not even belong to the government but to a private company.

The short of this discussion is this, what is the connection? I don't see what one has to do with the other seeing how everyone that protested today is represented in Congress. I am not denying that the government has made foolish decisions with the money that I have provided them over the year and I also agree that serious change needs to happen. However, coming to a peaceful assembly with tea bags in hand just makes me shake my head and cry internally...

-WTS

1 comments »

Exotic  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in , ,

What exactly does it mean to look exotic?


It came up in a conversation the other day when I was told that this person had a certain type and that was the "exotic" look. That set me to thinking that I had no real clue on what "exotic" is. In my limited lexicon that deals with fashion and people in general I had no real genre to classify things as being exotic. Sure, I can look at things such as fish and have something to classify. As far as people are concerned, not so much.

This wasn't the first time that the thought had occurred to me for I have hear of exotic places to visit and I can only assume that everyone who lives there can be classified as the same. However, when I look at the pictures of people who live in these locations, they look like, well like people. They did not have a certain plumage or even outlandish colorings that would set them apart from others. Yet, I am told they fit the description of being exotic.

I can only assume that they must have something that on the surface it is not apparent such as a tongue that can catch insects in the blink of an eye. While that is a conversation piece, I have a feeling that such an ability would be a distraction while walking together in the woods or something like that. Maybe they have the ability to pounce from a tree to catch a mate. However, I can not see how that in itself could be attractive to the opposite sex being set upon to walk under trees whenever the mood hits. That also makes me wonder if both members of a couple are considered exotic, does that in itself null and void their standing with general society since to each other they seem normal?

Maybe I am too simple to fully grasp the concept that someone has a certain look that gives them the ability to be classified as being this or that.

Maybe I need to quit blogging at this time of the morning before I had my coffee...

-WTS

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601  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in

I just noticed that the last posting, I had hit 600 postings. It's amazing sometimes when I think that I had that much to say or in some cases, not that much to say.


-WTS

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Newspapers and Such  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in ,

This morning, I did something I have not done in quite some time, I went down to the local gas-n-go and picked up a newspaper. At first, I thought I had grabbed Saturday's by mistake for the paper looked small and emaciated. After all, Sunday papers, especially on Easter, should be robust and full of colorful ads. So, I checked the date on the top and sure enough it was dated correctly.


Figuring that someone else had nabbed the ads and the Star magazine inside of the paper, I put it down and grabbed on from the middle of the stack. Trouble is, the next paper that I had grabbed was just as sad as the first one. It was then that I noticed that the perimeter of the paper has been reduced by at least one inch on every side. What kind of blasphemy is this? For crying out loud, the Sunday newspaper should be large enough to challenge a St. Benard's mouth! This poor excuse for what used to be a family gathering every Sunday made me worry about tomorrow. After all, many metropolitan areas have been losing their papers left and right. Some no longer even have a daily publication. I suppose you can blame the demise of the printed word on the geeks like myself who use RSS feeds and their iPhone readers to get the latest. I will take my responsibility fully since I have not even held a newspaper for quite some time.

The question becomes, are we as a society better off without the long established medium? After all, it was the newspapers during colonial times that inspired many to take up arms against the mother country. The freedom of the press is written in the Constitution at the time when the newspaper was the only form of transmitting the news to the public. William Randolph Hearst's role in the Spanish-American War is a fantastic example of how powerful the printed word can be. (The linked website glosses over the fact that his newspapers ran fake stories that wound up America into a frothing frenzy against Spain in 1898) Are we as a society ready to drop the newspaper and depend on the latest gizmo to give us our news? Maybe so, I know that the trees would appreciate the break from being turned into something that less people are actually going to use.

-WTS

1 comments »

Something To Contemplate  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in

Take a look at this article I came across and contemplate...



-WTS

1 comments »

Literacy in Schools  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in , ,

During the last legislative session, Texas passed an educational law that allowed districts to create and conduct a course dealing with Bible Literacy. Due to the fact that this is Texas, the course outlines were vague at best and are left to a wide assortment of interpretations. The problem with this is the word "interpretation". While I will agree that the Old Testament is a good resource if you want to study political science and even foundations of three major religions, there are some who will hold it up and tell you that this is how things happened for real.


It is the group that is responsible for creating the courses for our students that worry me the most. It is bad enough to look at the past record of the Texas State Board of Education and realize that they are more concerned with themselves than with our future. It is even worse that now, without specific guidelines, local districts can create whatever they want to and not really worry about the consequences of giving biased and even false information to our kids. We witnessed the carnival that surrounded the adoption of the science state standards, I can only imagine what the meddling in verbiage will lead to in courses such as this.

What I mean by this is that because of the general attitude and misunderstandings of scientific theories, many are hesitant to even try to explain the mechanics and inner working of topics such as the big bang and evolution. Thanks to the SBOE, we are now on the intellectual level of Kansas and I am not sure that is a good thing. Not that I have anything against Kansas, but take a good luck at what some of their educational laws have done to the business sector there. (Yes, there is a connection between national/international investments and state educational laws) There are courses being developed right now that have kids read from the Christian point of view only without any real depth on the influences that the Bible has had on other cultures. The course is supposed to use a primary source to show political, social and economic foundations and cultural diffusion over time, not to become a five-day extension of Sunday School.

We are living in an era where stereotypes are in the process of being ridiculed and hopefully also beginning to disappear. However, if we are not careful, we are going to reinforce the hatred and fear we have for other religious cultures if we still continue to see things from one point of view. We also run another risk of placing scientific advancement further behind because our society has run amuck with horse blinders on.

-WTS

2 comments »

Man...  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in

There are times when you sit alone, with your own thoughts and realize that time has slipped by and there are still things in life that you want to do and see. Well, I did that this morning when for the first time in quite a long time, I realized that the blog and my thoughts have been put on hold.


When you are going through some tight times, it seems that nothing it that important but getting through the next day. When things are going well, you are afraid of disrupting the flow for it might come to an abrupt end and the sleeper will awaken.

When you experience both at the same time, it is sometimes tough to decide what to enjoy and when to breathe.

-WTS

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Animal Pick Up Lines  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in

While watching the beasts on this earth, do you ever wonder if they have their favorite pick up lines like humans do? I know that they have mating rituals and such, but during the ritual itself, does one sex say something outlandish to possible land a mate?


Warthog: You could shatter a mirror my dear.
Giraffe: Wanna neck?
Shark: Let me nibble just a little.
Dog: I'll let you sniff mine if I can sniff yours.
Leopard: Trust me, I'm not a cheetah.
Mantis: Let's have sex before dinner.
Cockroach: My love for you will withstand a nuclear explosion.

Yes I know, those are really lame, but so are some of the lines that I have heard at the local watering hole...

-WTS

1 comments »

Track Race  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in ,

In the state of Texas, the exams for 10th and 11th grade have been moved from the Friday of testing week to the Monday of that week. The reason given, a UIL track meet. I really want to say more, but I will let that statement speak for itself...


-WTS

1 comments »

Have You?  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in ,

Have you ever?


Seen a swimming pool actually do a backstroke?
Seen a house fly from one foundation to the next?
Seen a ceiling actually fan itself?
Looked under a microscope to see the cells of a phone?
Taken a cat nap and then lick yourself clean?
Actually see time fly without it involving the alarm clock you threw across the room?
Try to keep abreast of something without getting a dirty look or even worse?
Witnessed a nail polish the floor?

I was just wondering while I was watching the paint actually dry...

1 comments »

April Hath Arrived  

Posted by Wonko D. Sane in

The month of madness hath begun, so let the foolishness and panic begin...


To all teachers, I wish you the best and you have my love and admiration for staying where you are and putting up with what you do. Of course, I am talking about the upcoming TAKS test and dealing with other adults...

When May 2nd hits, we can all breathe a sigh of relief and share a beer...

-WTS

1 comments »
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