CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2011-09-22 08:33:55 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Oh, facebook is slightly different. (Gets on with life)

2011-09-21 08:41:46 (8 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Working on a proposal for an "Introduction to Modern Board Games" course, anyone want a look at the mind-map of the syllabus and critique?

2011-09-20 11:55:04 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

With respect to mansplaining, techsplaining, and general failure to shut up and listen, I yield the floor to some dead white guy, Benjamin Franklin:

_"I made it a rule to forbear all direct contradiction to the sentiments of others, and all positive assertion of my own. I even forbid myself, agreeably to the old laws of our Junto, the use of every word or expression in the language that imported a fix'd opinion, such as certainly, undoubtedly, etc., and I adopted, instead of them, I conceive, I apprehend, or I imagine a thing to be so or so; or it so appears to me at present. When another asserted something that I thought an error, I deny'd myself the pleasure of contradicting him abruptly, and of showing immediately some absurdity in his proposition; and in answering I began by observing that in certain cases or circumstances his opinion would be right, but in the present case there... more »

2011-09-15 12:36:19 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Of course you are, my dear, of course you are.

2011-09-15 09:04:08 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Thinking about llibrivoxing a bit more, looking for suggestions from folks as to what to do, maybe take on a full solo project this time.

So, any requests? Linking to my LV readers page to get people an idea of what I sound like...

2011-09-12 13:31:05 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Not finished catching up with latest Torchwood series, but happy to see that they maintain their record of being as blundering and unaware as the typical RPG PC group....

2011-09-12 10:26:37 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Good starting point for "why smart people should give a damn about modern board games", starring +Scott Nicholson

http://cms.mit.edu/news/2011/09/podcast_scott_nicholson_from_s.php

2011-09-08 14:00:28 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Cattle-raiding settlers migrate to a new suite of devices as King of Dragon Pass debuts on iOS.

2011-09-08 08:59:41 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Elaborate play that requires a lot of steps like... modern board games? RPG's?

2011-09-07 14:45:33 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

I still do!! :P

2011-08-31 12:56:47 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

My iPhone game, King of Dragon Pass, is now waiting for review in the App Store! http://kingofdragonpass.blogspot.com/2011/08/king-of-dragon-pass-is-in-review.html

2011-08-23 06:54:19 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

introduction

To those who don't know me...

I am 40. From Essex, via Kent, Merseyside and now mid-Wales. All in the UK, for our international listeners.

I have children.

My children do not go to school.

I play games. Mostly board and card, a little bit of RPG, a smidgen of PC, and no console games to speak of.

I describe myself as a reform humanist druid, which may not be a joke.

I work in IT support.

In my time I have been an actor and male model.

I wrote a terrible novel, which is available on Lulu.

I've recorded a couple of snippets on Librivox, and a couple of roles in Buffy Between the Lines.

Questions?

2011-08-22 08:45:07 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

2011-08-18 13:37:14 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

This article summarizes 400 years of people screaming about the end the country (England in this case) brought about by the degraded morals of the young people.

Here's my favorite quote: "Our streets are actually not as safe as they were in the days of our grandfathers. We have slipped back to a state of affairs that would be intolerable even in Naples."

http://www.economist.com/blogs/bagehot/2011/08/civil-disorder-and-looting-hits-britain-0

2011-08-09 11:24:21 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Also this:
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/camila-batmanghelidjh-caring-costs-ndash-but-so-do-riots-2333991.html

2011-08-09 10:26:44 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I knew The Big Society reminded me of something, but I've only just realised what...

2011-08-08 10:21:02 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Discussing con air in the car on Sunday, in particular how Nicolas Cage gets shot in the arm and just carries on walking towards bad guy #1. Milo (aged 8) comes up with how he does it ....

"He has a tiny but powerful magician inside him"

Can't really beat that.

2011-08-05 09:44:06 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Just invented a new video game with my son: Assasin's Crude.

You play a trained killer who sneaks up behind people and whispers "Boobies, willies, fanny".

2011-08-02 15:17:47 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

The best argument for paying for e-books, or at the very least sourcing free e-books from actual, honest to goodness publishers, is the shocking quality of pirate e-books.

I mean, I intellectually know that the very bare minimum basics of editing consist of catching typos, not simply in terms of mis-spellings, but homophones, ambiguities of meaning, etc.

But already, just over one week in and with a friend passing on a portion of his e-book collection, I'm brought up against, for example, one parti-cular work which has obvi-ously been scanned in and sub-jected to a text recog-nition package to render it into text, but the no-one has seen fit to check the text to re-move the hyphens for line breaks which no long-er occur at the end of the line, ren-dering it into the text equi-valent of a buff-ering vid-eo.

But hey, Mr Freeloader, that books available for a reasonable... more »

2011-08-02 13:55:28 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

To say "No" when you can't is honorable. People will understand and appreciate you more if you are open and honest with them. Stay on the plus side. :)

2011-08-01 13:58:55 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

In The Game called Real Life, we can use spells on ourselves to succeed and finish our quests. Here's the first of a series of single-word cantrips. Use it to start your day right. :)

2011-08-01 10:59:11 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

The bulwer-lytton romance winner really got me:

Winner: Romance

"As the dark and mysterious stranger approached, Angela bit her lip anxiously, hoping with every nerve, cell, and fiber of her being that this would be the one man who would understand—who would take her away from all this—and who would not just squeeze her boob and make a loud honking noise, as all the others had."

Ali Kawashima
Greensboro, NC

2011-08-01 10:34:49 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Let's announce here too: thanks to +Tim Darby , I am now officially Lord Peter Darby. Oh Yes.

2011-07-29 08:33:13 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Found this on my voicemail...

2011-07-28 13:30:17 (4 comments, 3 reshares, 2 +1s)

Why do some people habitually cheat at boardgames?

A couple of folks I know, who know that boardgames are my hobby, have said that they "always cheat" at boardgames because they "can't take it seriously": also, I've played party games at get togethers where some people colluded and cheated for the win... at a party game. With small children involved.

I thought for a long time that these people were doing anything "for the win", but these aren't hyper competitive people. In fact, the hyper competitive types I know habitually learn, stick to and exploit the rules to an obsessional level.

Then, while playing a mass market game the other day, it struck me:

This game is so dull, subverting it is the only way to have fun.

Now, my instinct is to parody the game while playing it, or to talk up meta-commentary... but... more »

2011-07-14 13:31:45 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

"+Scott Nicholson is hanging out?" I blame the kilt.

2011-07-13 09:36:40 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Organising g+ circles in much in the same way Father Ted wrote his Golden Cleric acceptance speech

2011-07-12 20:57:26 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

B3ta. News. CSI MiCrappy (as I so wittily name it, honestly, it's like living with Oscar fecking Wilde round here). Adds up to awesome.

2011-07-12 07:59:12 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

People on facebook complaining that google+ isn't for them because it "populates circles from mail" and "I want to keep my mail and social networks separate" and "it would mean I spam all my mail contacts"

I'd explain on facebook how mistaken they are, but it's a royal pain in the arse to update less than everybody with a facebook update...

#ChokingOnIrony

2011-07-09 09:27:53 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

I thought 'That's unusual... for a Wednesday'

2011-07-08 15:41:50 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

An invite to start to hangout with a live webcam is just the sort of thing that landed Leslie Grantham in trouble.