Monica

ralphmelton

lorimelton

Lori suggested that this ritual meal needs a haggadah. I'll bet we can do something with that! This is the chocolate of affliction (leftovers at half price!); let all who are up to date on dental insurance come and eat. Ma nishtana: on most days we dip at most once but on this day we dip dozens of times; and on most days we eat our fruits plain but on this day we eat them with sugary goo. Four cups of tea is easy. I need to come up with something for the magid (the telling of the story). Err, that would require a story. :-)

In the evening some of us played a game that was new to me, Rum and Pirates. Each player (the game supports five) has a supply of pirates, which can be placed on the board to direct the active piece toward various special spaces. These spaces might provide victory points (or chances at same), or they might provide tools (such as money and free re-rolls of the die). The game is fun and not too complicated. According to the box it plays in 60-75 minutes; we took 90 but three of us had never played before. The game has a lot of parts (mostly chits), but -- unusual for such games these days -- it actually comes with a suitable plastic holder with the correct number of subdivisions. Most games give you a random assortment of compartments (or none at all) and you end up using zipper bags, which is a hassle if you have a lot of different types of pieces. Anyway, fun game; I'd definitely play again.

xiphias

I'm cooking an SCA feast for Purim. I have recently learned that I can get goat, and I have this lovely-sounding recipe for a goat stew. Must investigate. (I have a draft menu that is now awaiting comment from some of my partners in food perpetration.) I'm looking forward to the event, especially the treatment of the book of Esther by I Genesii, the local commedia del'arte troupe.

For gamers and foodies, from ohiblather comes this link to cupcakes of Catan.

Someone published a parody of Second Life, called Get A First Life. The makers of Second Life, rather than sending a "cease and desist" letter, sent a proceed and persevere letter. Good for them!

Forwarded by osewalrus, Nigerian kitten spam.

For a mere $26/pound, you can get custom M&Ms printed with your messages. I don't know whether to be amused or disturbed. :-)

This is a great litttle hack. Don't worry if you can't read the text (I can't either); the pictures are the important part.

merle_ reports a distubing level of waste in disposing of counterfeit products and proposes a sensible solution.

I received email from someone at my synagogue today saying "thanks for serving on the nominating committee (for the board); our first meeting will be...". I'm on the nominating committee? Ok -- happy to do it, but I think someone forgot to make a phone call. :-) (I've been on the nominating committee twice before, so I know how it's worked in the past. I actually consider this to be a pretty important position, because the congregation just votes in the nominees unless something goes Really Wrong, which I haven't seen.)

This map provides a pretty nifty visualization of 5000 years' worth of conquest of the middle east. (Link from goldsquare.)

On lighter notes...

I was delighted today to learn about TweakUI from a coworker. (Google for it with your version of Windows to get to the right page.) This tool supports a bunch of UI modifications that I haven't explored yet; the one that got me to download and install it is "focus follows mouse", which users of X-Windows may remember. Sometimes there's not enough screen real-estate and I just want to type a command into that mostly-buried shell; why should I have to bring it to the top first? The surprising thing is that this was published by Microsoft (though they say very clearly that it is not supported). I guess there are developers at Microsoft who don't agree with the standard-issue UI. :-)

Some things are Deeply Wrong. As evidence, I offer the can of cat food labelled thus: "white meat chicken Florentine in a delicate sauce with garden veggies". I don't know what's more disturbing: that someone brought that to market, or that Erik loved it. (No, I didn't buy this; it was a free sample.)

( silliness ahead )

[1]

A "scientist" claims that if enough people on earth jump at precisely the same time, we can kick the planet into a better orbit (courtesy of a coworker). Excerpt: Niesward claims that on this day "Earth occupies one of the most fragile positions in its orbits for the last 100 years." According to the site [http://WorldJumpDay.org], the shift in orbit will "stop global warming, extend daytime hours and create a more homogeneous climate." It is, of course, a prank, but it sounds like it was well-done. It's also generated some counter-prank in the form of an anti-jump movement:

Members of the online environmental site treehugger.com have been debating not only the physical possibility of the jump's promise but the morality of its outcome. Some believe it's risky to alter Earth's orbit, while others fear the jump will make the Gregorian calendar obsolete because of the length of Earth's new orbit. Others doubt the ability of the world's population to synchronize an event like this.

(Well, I hope that anti-jumpers are doing this tongue in cheek; I'll admit I didn't follow it up. :-) )

2. As you get to know people, what do you feel surprises them the most about you? ( Read more... )

3. When you RPG, do you prefer a character mostly like yourself or mostly unlike yourself? Are there any recurring traits in characters you've enjoyed, or ways they seem to converge on something? ( Read more... )

4. What skill do you wish you'd studied in childhood so that you could just do it now? ( Read more... )

5. You can set up exactly one teleport ring, from your home to another place. It can only be used by you, and you can only move yourself and a small bit of luggage or family pet through it. Where is the other side? Why? How often will you use it? ( Read more... )

You know the drill: if you want a set of questions, ask. You'll update your journal, including the offer to propegate.