Okay, I'll be honest. I'm super excited that a site like Clockwork Couture even exists, but really - is there actually demand for this kind of stuff? I mean, there can't possibly be Victorian Steam War reenactment guilds, can there?
(Note to universe: if not, hurry up and make it so.)
When did Steampunk go from being, essentially, a nerd joke to a full fledged subculture?
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
A nice writeup of the latest EVE Online shenanigans
EVE Online (wiki link) is a game that manages to utterly fascinate me, despite my having no desire to play it whatsoever.
The short version, for those who don't know: it's a space opera massively multiplayer game. It's like Everquest or World of Warcraft, but if everyone was Han Solo (or Mal Reynolds, if you prefer), all with a thick layer of cyberpunk sauce.
(Side note: "Cyberpunk Sauce" would be an excellent band name.)
The thing I find so fascinating is the amount of insane social stuff that happens around the game. The game assumes - or at least *allows* - for the players to play criminals, and as a result, the sort of behavior that would get you kicked out of any other MMO gets you more or less a high-five in EVE.
For example, one of the major game-play components is that players can start and run corporations. Like banks.
So, Ponzi Schemes are all over the place. Also, banks that turn out to be Ponzi schemes, whereupon the investors find this out, form a space-posse, and murder the heads of the organizations and steal all their stuff, also commonplace. Meanwhile, the game developers are all grins, because that's the game they wanted to run.
(There's a story from a few years back, which I assume is true, where one of the larger banks in the game, with jillions of player's in game money in it, was revealed to be a Ponzi scheme. But, the story goes that this was revealed by the guy who was running the con, who proceeded to fold the operation, take all the money he's acquired, buy the best ship in the game, and then take out a huge bounty on himself. I mean, that's awesome.)
Anyway, some crazy stuff happened last week - crazy even by EVE standards. I'm not going to try to recap, but this Ragdoll Metaphyics column over on Offworld does a great job summing it up.
The short version, for those who don't know: it's a space opera massively multiplayer game. It's like Everquest or World of Warcraft, but if everyone was Han Solo (or Mal Reynolds, if you prefer), all with a thick layer of cyberpunk sauce.
(Side note: "Cyberpunk Sauce" would be an excellent band name.)
The thing I find so fascinating is the amount of insane social stuff that happens around the game. The game assumes - or at least *allows* - for the players to play criminals, and as a result, the sort of behavior that would get you kicked out of any other MMO gets you more or less a high-five in EVE.
For example, one of the major game-play components is that players can start and run corporations. Like banks.
So, Ponzi Schemes are all over the place. Also, banks that turn out to be Ponzi schemes, whereupon the investors find this out, form a space-posse, and murder the heads of the organizations and steal all their stuff, also commonplace. Meanwhile, the game developers are all grins, because that's the game they wanted to run.
(There's a story from a few years back, which I assume is true, where one of the larger banks in the game, with jillions of player's in game money in it, was revealed to be a Ponzi scheme. But, the story goes that this was revealed by the guy who was running the con, who proceeded to fold the operation, take all the money he's acquired, buy the best ship in the game, and then take out a huge bounty on himself. I mean, that's awesome.)
Anyway, some crazy stuff happened last week - crazy even by EVE standards. I'm not going to try to recap, but this Ragdoll Metaphyics column over on Offworld does a great job summing it up.
Also:
GTA IV, in the style of a ZX Spectrum game.
(Which, for those of us from the colonies, means in the style of a Commodore 64 game.)
(Which, for those of us from the colonies, means in the style of a Commodore 64 game.)
Thursday, February 12, 2009
BEST SPILL EVER!
So all of us who know and love Gabriel Helman knows that he has a problem with spilling stuff on his shirt, pants, etc.
Well, last night he topped even himself and dumped an entire burrito platter in his lap, hitting his shoes, rug, coffee table and a bit of the couch. WOW! It was so impressive that I am sad that I was too shocked to grab a camera to photograph the accomplishment. Who knew sour cream made such good boot polish?!
I think he met his 2009 quota :)
Well, last night he topped even himself and dumped an entire burrito platter in his lap, hitting his shoes, rug, coffee table and a bit of the couch. WOW! It was so impressive that I am sad that I was too shocked to grab a camera to photograph the accomplishment. Who knew sour cream made such good boot polish?!
I think he met his 2009 quota :)
Monday, February 2, 2009
New Year Links cleanout
Ten Things that Started on Usenet.
Dig on this Photoshop filter.
LaTeX cheat sheet! Also, LaTex: Look Here First.
Was it a good day?
Kittens + Roomba = This video
I haven't played it, but this game looks awesome?
DUSTBOT! Yes! I totally had this guy!
Dig on this Photoshop filter.
LaTeX cheat sheet! Also, LaTex: Look Here First.
Was it a good day?
Kittens + Roomba = This video
I haven't played it, but this game looks awesome?
DUSTBOT! Yes! I totally had this guy!
Thursday, January 8, 2009
Navy creates force devoted to fighting piracy
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/01/08/piracy.task.force/index.html?eref=rss_topstories
Imagine this. You're a Naval Captain, which means you been in the Navy for most of your adult life - probably going on 20+ years at this point. You don't get to be a Naval Captain unless you're pretty dedicated to the navy's world view, so the almost total lack of action doesn't bother you. Still - you must, deep down, wish just once you got to go blow something out of the water that can shoot back.
Then, your Admiral calls you into his office.
"Captain, we're forming a new Task Force, and your boat is in it. You mission is to hunt down and destroy... pirates."
How hard must you want to High-Five your XO at that point?
Monday, January 5, 2009
An another thing...
For the first time, the actor playing Doctor Who is younger than I am. This was sure to happen someday, but I am only thirty. I figured I had a few more to go....
Sunday, January 4, 2009
And the New Doctor Who is...
... a British character actor no one has ever heard of. All is right in the world.
Also, happy new year.
Also, happy new year.
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