CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-23 15:22:36 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

#HealthInsurance   #Diabetes   #IHateInsurance  
Yesterday, I tried to order supplies for my insulin pump. These are required to use a pump, and require a prescription. Anthem BC/BS processes the orders like a doctor visit rather than a prescription, though. No clue why. 

Anyway, I called my typical supplier, Fifty50. I love this company because 50% of profits goes into diabetes research. That's a win in my book, so they get money.

(I say "my," because insurance negotiates a discount but pays not one damn red penny towards the bill. Because reasons, I guess. Health insurance should pay for required medical services, IMHO, but they don't agree. Go figure.)

But Fifty50 tells me that BC/BS has dropped them as an approved vendor. Only 3 states now get shipments from them. WTF?

Anyway, I called Medtronic, the people who makemy ... more »

2013-05-23 14:09:39 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

That moment when you go to post a five-paragraph comment on  a topic, only to find that G+ logged you out without warning.

FUCK I hate how G+ does that shit. I get if you haven't been active for a long time, or haven't logged in on that machine/browser in a few days... but I was active moments earlier you bastard!

GAAAAAAA!!!!

2013-05-22 18:15:01 (21 comments, 2 reshares, 4 +1s)

SciFi question of the day
You have been granted access to the latest in time-travel technologies, Citizen.

You, as the winner of the national lottery pull, will have the rights to travel back in time to view any single day in the history of this planet.

The technology, as you know, is quite limited:
 - 24 hours is all you get.
 - The event must be specific, known time, date, and place within the past, and within the world's period of existence.
- You can travel the world on that date and view as many or as few places as you like, but only for 24 contiguous hours.
 - You cannot feel, taste, smell, hear, or in any way interact with the time you choose. This is strictly a viewing window, much like 1-way glass or a TV with the sound muted.

When shall we take you, Citizen?

2013-05-18 22:24:26 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

I felt like I was in a SyFy movie special, titled Mosquitoclypse.
Mowing the yard today. Each pass, I'd have to stop and swat mosquitoes, killing 4 and 5 at a slap. I must have killed 200 or more today.

I've never been inundated like that before. CRAZY.

2013-05-18 16:18:45 (13 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Gamer question of the day:

Dungeons, dragons, ninjas, pirates, or dinosaurs.
Pick ONE and explain our answer.

2013-05-18 01:05:38 (15 comments, 1 reshares, 69 +1s)

Today, I took my son on his first ever RPG adventure. He recently told me his new hobby is drawing comic strips. So....

I drug out my FASERIP-style TSR Marvel Super Heroes boxes, handed him Iron Man, and proceeded to let him try to stop a crime.

He didn't catch Electro, but did prevent his attempt to kidnap someone.

Not too shabby for a ten-year-old on his first RPG romp.

2013-05-16 19:36:42 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 13 +1s)

OMG this. SO MUCH THIS.

Creeps. Being creepy. Then having their words superimposed over their pics. 

I love that they did this.

I hate that they needed to. And that FB was okay with the original content, but not with this photo-mashup remix.



http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/05/16/creeps-get-what-they-deserve/

2013-05-16 19:23:09 (5 comments, 1 reshares, 15 +1s)

As for the New Look, all I can say is, "We're the product, not the customer." 

No one asks the cows if they like how the meat packing plant is arranged.

Moooooo

2013-05-16 17:52:09 (18 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

If FaceBook started charging for political posts and comments, would it collapse under the weight of the cash, or collapse under the lack of posts?

Same experiment, different variable: charging for factually wrong posts / comments?

2013-05-16 17:41:39 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 8 +1s)

+Angel Wedge Will these do for your coffee  / doughnut shop?

2013-05-16 13:26:59 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

Governments need to stop treating citizens like toddlers. We don't need time outs. We don't need diaper changes (most of us anyway).

And we don't need draconian IP laws.

2013-05-13 17:22:47 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

I'm seeing lots of negativity towards Google's new algorithm.

I'm glad that I didn't write it. And that I'm not the guy who has to go through all the Feedback notices.

But I'd do it. You know, if Google hired me.

2013-05-13 16:44:32 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

When discussing G+ new algorythm for figuring out what I want to see +Charles Moore  said this. 

*They borrowed FB's management style, taken from the mechanics in Cars:

"_No, you don't know what you want. Luigi knows what you want."_*

That about sums it up. 

G+ much like FB is now treating me as if I am not capable of knowing what I do and do not want to see 

2013-05-13 16:43:12 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

THIS!

2013-05-12 12:33:56 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

I believe that if Frito Lay packaged their cheese powder from Cheetos and from Doritos as a sprinkle, these products would make millions.

2013-05-12 12:32:59 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Yesterday, I had some idle time to kill. I also had a dead computer who's hard drive needed to be erased.

Rather than pull the drive and erase it on another computer, I chose a more... direct route. I tore it apart. Here's what the inside of a computer's hard drive looks like.

This one had only a single platter, and only 1 read head, so it only used HALF of that platter. It was a 40gb drive. I kept the magnet and trashed the rest.

2013-05-11 18:04:36 (22 comments, 0 reshares, 7 +1s)

How did the western world standardize on a 7-day week? We have ten fingers, why not a 10-day week?

2013-05-11 15:16:58 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

My morning, in one #FirstWorld  tragic sentence:
ZOMG, we're out of BACON!

time to finish 3rd cup of coffee and mow the yard.

This day is full of win!

2013-05-11 15:08:44 (30 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

2013-05-10 18:07:20 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

In researching old Sci Fi materials for games, which is more important:
1. Stick with the original source, even when modern science has given us things the author never imagned.
OR
2. Keep the feel of the source, but change descriptions to modern standards.

I'm talking about author descriptions of things that have changed so dramatically in the last 50 or so years:
 - Means of communications (cell phones instead of wired phones or radios...)
 - Computers (so many descriptions here don't even consider things like SCREENS or data entry types other than punch cards or tapes!) SPACE SHIPS! With Punch Cards! Weeeee!

2013-05-10 13:10:49 (11 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

So how many people watched the D&D session in Big Bang Theory?

1. Now, how many people were pointing out the lack of accuracy during the game session or otherwise nitpicking their gameplay?

2. How many people have already decided to incorporate actor impersonations in their NPCs (Or were already doing so)?

3. When the scene moved to Sheldon's room, how many of you looked at your significant other and suggested a new kind of game?

2013-05-08 15:53:00 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

Fuel for thought. A friend on Facebook posted this:

Premise for alien invasion story: aliens from a nearby solar system show up on Earth and trash everything, not because they want our water or anything lame like that, but because they're afraid that our uncontrolled transmissions will attract the attention of the Really Big Bad, who will then sterilize the entire galactic neighborhood. Working title: "For Zarquoon's sake, humanity, just shut the fuck up already." -- stolen from i09

2013-05-07 20:31:14 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

I want to see more Parody Shows

Like a TV Ad Parody show, where the entire series is nothing but short films describing how horrific life would be if TV ads were documentaries.

Or a Sit-Com Parody showing how horrific life would be like if your roommates or friends or family actually did act as batshit crazy as most comic-relief characters do in Sit-coms.

I believe these should could be awesome.

2013-05-07 19:52:10 (26 comments, 1 reshares, 12 +1s)

Because plate mail with boobs would be deadly.
Don't do it!

http://www.tor.com/blogs/2013/05/boob-plate-armor-would-kill-you

2013-05-07 17:48:22 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 11 +1s)

Caption this WW2 era photo.

2013-05-08 15:47:58 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Challenge:
Write an RPG based on haiku.

All PC "stats" or characteristics or abilities must be in haiku form.

All NPC abilities? Haiku.

All monster stats/descriptions, etc.? Reduce them to Haiku.

All preconceived adventures? Haiku.

Bonus points if it is actually a playable RPG and not just an RPG parody.

Bonus points as well for using an existing rule-set as your base (FATE for example).

Double bonus points if your base rule set is GURPS, AD&D (1st or 2nd editions), or Hackmaster, yet somehow it still works.

I know I cannot pull it off. Not even gonna try. But there's your challenge for the day.

2013-05-07 14:49:28 (10 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

I would write a haiku
About my dislike of moving websites
But I suck. Like moving websites.

2013-05-02 16:40:15 (6 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Want to buy some comics?
I'm hoping to sell my collection. These are mostly Marvel comics. The majority are from the 1990s.

Most are bagged, though some are 2 comics to a bag.
Many are boarded as well.

Most of them are in Good to Very Good to Near-Mint condition. A few have bent corners on covers. Some of the older ones should have been bagged sooner; the edges of the pages have yellowed a bit. But by and large they've been stored in a wooden trunk for the last 20-ish years.

If you're interested, let me know. I based my pricing off the CompicsPriceGuide . com site, but haven't professionally graded any of them. It appears my single most valuable comic, by their estimates, is worth about $60 or so (Uncanny X-Men, 1st appearance of Gambit).

The inventory is at:
... more »

2013-04-30 13:03:07 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Hey, thanks for the invite!

My RPG design experience has been back-burnered for the most part lately, though I keep wanting to drag out the ideas and start again. The closest I ever got to publication of an RPG was a couple demo / playtest game sessions at DragonCon a few years back. 

I've contributed to / helped design RPGs that used Tarot instead of dice, that used Elder Futhark runes instead of dice, and several fantasy campaigns for D&D and other systems. Sadly, none of them ever made it quite to the publication point.

I've been kicking some ideas in my hind-brain for a Stainless Steel Rat ripoff homage game, possibly using the new Fate Core system. And I've been tinkering heavily in InDesign and Photoshop -- not that I'm anywhere near "pro" quality on either. 

2013-04-23 22:00:20 (18 comments, 3 reshares, 5 +1s)

I'm selling off most of my personal RPG stash. With great sadness, I might add. But... well... I haven't opened most of these books in decades, so it's time to pass them on to someone who can give them a good home. If you're interested, let me know.

I live in the USA. Will ship by whatever method you prefer, but USPS Media Rate is the cheapest. Prices below are negotiable, buy a bunch and I'll talk discounts.


   
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 2nd Edition
 - Arms and Equipment Guide  $15.00 
 - Complete Fighters Handbook  $15.00 
 - Apocalypse Stone module $15.00
 - 1992 AD&D Trading Cards Factory Set  $5.00 

Dungeons and Dragons, 3.0
 - Manual of the Planes   $15
 - Psionics Handbook   $15
 - Oriental Adventures   $15
 - Stronghold Builders Guide   $10 - Defenders of t... more »

2013-04-23 22:00:47 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

I'm selling off most of my personal stash. With great sadness, I might add, but we're going to be moving this summer and... well... I haven't opened most of these books in 2 decades, so it's time to pass them on to someone who can give them a good home. If you're interested, let me know.

I live in the USA. Will ship by whatever method you prefer, but USPS Media Rate is the cheapest. Prices below are negotiable, buy a bunch and I'll talk discounts. (Price + shipping)
   
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 2nd Edition
 - Arms and Equipment Guide  $15.00 
 - Complete Fighters Handbook  $15.00 
 - Apocalypse Stone module $15.00
 - 1992 AD&D Trading Cards Factory Set  $5.00 

Dungeons and Dragons, 3.0
 - Manual of the Planes   $15
 - Psionics Handbook   $15
 - Oriental Adventures   $15 - Stronghold B... more »

2013-04-25 18:25:17 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

I'm selling off most of my personal stash. With great sadness, I might add, but we're going to be moving this summer and... well... I haven't opened most of these books in 2 decades, so it's time to pass them on to someone who can give them a good home. If you're interested, let me know.

I live in the USA. Will ship by whatever method you prefer, but USPS Media Rate is the cheapest. Prices below are negotiable, buy a bunch and I'll talk discounts. (Price + shipping)

   
Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, 2nd Edition
 - Arms and Equipment Guide  $15.00 
 - Complete Fighters Handbook  $15.00 
 - Apocalypse Stone module $15.00
 - 1992 AD&D Trading Cards Factory Set  $5.00 

Dungeons and Dragons, 3.0
 - Manual of the Planes   $15
 - Psionics Handbook   $15
 - Oriental Adventures  $15
 - Stron... more »

2013-04-19 19:02:19 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 22 +1s)

Stolen from FB.

2013-04-19 18:44:31 (13 comments, 3 reshares, 26 +1s)

This is my 2 yr old son Indy.
He had a little tumble and was clearly uncomfortable around his chest/collarbone area.
I know some of my stateside friends don't fully understand the benefits of a national health service like that here in the UK and numerous others around the world.
This is not to be a political post, but I wanted to share the experience we had.
Wait to be seen without appointment - 10 minutes.
Assessment with Triage nurse - 10 minutes.
Wait in special child's waiting area - 5 minutes.
X rays x2 done.
Wait for Xray outcome - 10 minutes.
Diagnosis delivered, sling fitted, follow up appointment booked for next week done.
All out and in within an hour.
No charge for anything.
AND that little teddy was given to him on arrival as is standard procedure for the childs bravery.
I will gladly continue to pay my taxes if it... more »

2013-04-18 19:25:49 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

2013-04-18 00:50:38 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

A friend sent me this link.

An interesting concept: An RPG computer game contained entirely in Excel spreadsheet.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/04/how-an-accountant-created-an-entire-rpg-inside-an-excel-spreadsheet/

2013-04-17 15:47:25 (67 comments, 2 reshares, 14 +1s)

Marriage Rights

This is going to get long. So bear with me if you have the time… (2600+ words, so Govern yourself accordingly. TL;DR: If you don’t like gay marriage, then don’t have one. But stop trying to abuse those who do want one. In many online social media postings, people have argued their side in the debate on whether homosexuals should be allowed to marry. I’ve made many comments and several posts of my own. This is an attempt to consolidate my views into a single post, so that any future desire to comment can just be a “see this link here,” rather than a repeat of old arguments all over again.

Most arguments against gay marriage begin with religion as their basis. Therefore, any argument against that stance must argue against those religious beliefs...

First, Jesus never mentions homosexuality at all. It was common in Greek culture. It wasknown to Ro... more »

2013-04-17 12:35:05 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 13 +1s)

Tonight's dinner?
- steak, marinaded for 3 hours in Allegro brand awesome-sauce. (Seriously. Find this stuff. Buy it. Consume it in mass quantities.)
- diced tomatoes, green peppers, onion, and mushrooms. Also marinated for about 3 hours in Allegro.
 - Grill the above in a basket. Like kibobs, but without the sticks.
 - Diced potatoes, sauted in butter, olive oil, a dash of Allegro, and soy sauce. Golden brown and delicious.

NomNomNom.

2013-04-16 18:27:20 (51 comments, 1 reshares, 26 +1s)

Yesterday's news coverage struck me.
But my emotions didn't swell because of the pain and suffering.
No, what tugged at my heart strings were:

 - Seeing, even before the news coverage, shares of the Google people-finder page.
 - Seeing and hearing about offers of places to stay for complete strangers and the amazing efforts to make room for the non-injured.
 - Hearing, within hours, that red cross actually had enough blood. Because  runners donated.

Fuck yeah!
Suck on that shit, murderer. Sure. this shit sucked. It's bad. It's evil. I truly wish it had not happened.

But it warms my heart so fucking much to know that even as shit was going down, people were drawn together. We didn't cower. We didn't go batshit crazy. We hunched our shoulders, picked up the burden, and we marched on.

Becausetha... more »

2013-04-16 15:53:33 (14 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

SciFi question of the day...
Humans are, by and large, terribly phobic of "the other," for just about every definition of "other" you can supply, other tribes, other colors, other places, other religions and so forth.

If a peaceful alien species arrived amidst fanfare and faster-than-light spaceships, how would humanity react?

2013-04-16 14:54:00 (22 comments, 5 reshares, 37 +1s)

My own addition to the "How to piss off fandom" meme:

Beam me up, Jar Jar. There's no intelligent life here in Mordor.

2013-04-15 23:39:43 (28 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

wasps. I have them. Lots of them. Every spring they swarm this area. I've killed 3 in the house already this evening.

Sigh. I hate wasps. I have no idea where they are coming in.

2013-04-15 23:38:36 (9 comments, 2 reshares, 12 +1s)

After today's events in Boston, it is clear that all of my problems don't really add up to problems at all.

2013-04-15 16:47:55 (81 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

Strangest or hardest question you ever got asked during a job interview?

2013-04-13 20:07:11 (18 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

I was commenting in another post about some of the bad tropes / cliches of science fiction space ships and it got me wondering...

Do sci fi / fantasy fans pay more attention to tropes than other genre fans? Do we trash-talk movies that (over-) use common tropes more than fans of other genres? Are we hyper-aware of when an author uses tropes in non-creative ways and/or when they subvert tropes in ways that surprise us? And if so, is this common in, say, period piece fans, murder mystery fans, romance fans, etc. etc. etc. too? 

2013-04-13 16:04:42 (6 comments, 4 reshares, 37 +1s)

Deck of Many Things
Ah, crap


(taken from facebook)

2013-04-13 01:11:52 (7 comments, 0 reshares, 9 +1s)

Fb just "suggested" a story I should like. It was an Italian link. Have I mentioned I know only 2 languages, English and snark?

Wtf Facebook?

#FacebookFatigue

2013-04-12 15:20:12 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 11 +1s)

IF there is an afterlife, and if those in that afterlife can see what happens down here on earth (and if they care), do you think knights of old, who earned their "Sir" titles look down on modern-day knights with disdain? I slew five hundred to get my knighthood! What'd that wanker do? "Act? Playing make believe is what makes you a royal defender of the realm now?"

2013-04-12 15:09:08 (39 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

SciFi Question of the Day
Amateur scientists discover a new dwarf planet as it passes the orbit of Neptune. As it continues inward, the tug from the sun accelerates it. As it passes the asteroid belt, NASA and others finally narrow it's path to... a collision with Venus. It'll miss Mars and Earth, but will either strike a glancing blow off Venus or hit dead-on. Either way, scientists begin plans to observe one of the most spectacular planetary events in recorded history.

What about us? Will the impact hurt us here? Will we get debris fallout? A new asteroid belt with chaotic orbiting bodies that sometimes come at us? Or will there be no noticeable change here?

2013-04-12 12:14:36 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Dr. Appointment this morning. Regular checkup time. My stomach is not happy at my need to forgo breakfast in favor of a cholesterol test.

Also, today is the 23rd anniversary of my first insulin shot. I was given a shot and told to pack a bag and go straight to Nashville, where we checked into the hospital through the ER. My first full day knowing I'm diabetic was Friday, April 13, 1990, at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. I was a Freshman in high school.

That weekend was some serious shit. Learning how to live was a challenge. Eating hospital food was too!

In the 4-6 weeks leading up to this day, I lost something like 20-30 lbs (I was a scrawny beanpole even without that loss). My parents feared I was dying from cancer.

It's also my brother's birthday. We'd planned to meet him for dinner. He was in college; 21st birthday. This was before cell... more »