Ye Olde Staging Point

Talked to Michele on the phone this morning--everything went OK with her flight and she's on site at Ashkelon now. Sounds like excavation work starts up tomorrow. She said the flight wasn't too bad, as far as international flights go--no crying babies in the seat right behind her, that sort of thing.

If you've ever been overseas for any amount of time, you know how great it can be to get letters and email from home. If you'd like to drop her a note (via email or snail mail), I know she would really appreciate it. If you'd like her contact information, just drop me a line and I'll happily get it to you.

Posted by Andy at 10:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Michele is off to Israel--she's on the plane as we speak (a few hours out of Tel Aviv by now, if her flight kept on schedule). While the part of Israel in which she'll be spending most of her time is relatively safe, your prayers for her safety are much appreciated. I'll post periodic updates from her as I receive them.

Posted by Andy at 10:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Tonight was Michele's first shot at gamemastering an RPG. For several weeks, she has been hard at work researching and assembling an adventure for the Call of Cthulhu roleplaying game.

I am of course quite biased, but it was brilliant. She incorporated a slew of Egyptian mythology, mingling it with the Cthulhu setting and sending our characters through the mythical Egyptian underworld. This underworld, however, was malfunctioning badly due to the ravages of Cthulhian entities. We had to find a way to escape the underworld by traveling through its guarded gates and facing the great serpent Apophis. I've never played a CoC game (or any game, for that matter) even remotely like it--Egyptian mythology, despite its popular appeal, is a surprisingly uncommon theme in RPGs--but by Hathor, it worked. After the adventure, we (the players) were just stunned, and immediately began grilling Michele about all the interesting Egyptian-mythology aspects of the adventure. It was also spooky as heck--travelling through the lightless underworld will do that for you--and our characters had their usual fun losing Sanity points left and right.

I'll try to convince her to post some of her notes, or maybe a basic summary, over at her blog. I hope Michele enjoyed GMing, because as soon as she gets back from Israel, she's going to be roped into running a sequel adventure for us.

Posted by Andy at 11:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I can't even begin to imagine the negative cosmic karma posting this is going to rack up for me...

...but I made it all the way through this last winter without taking the Fall.

I figure there's no snow or ice around anymore, so it's safe to mock Fate now.

Looks like I outwitted Old Man Winter this time around. You hear me, Michigan Winter? I'm down here laughing at you! You managed to kill just about everyone else, but... you keep missing the target!*

* bonus points for identifying that movie quote. If you know my movie-quoting habits, there's really only about three movies to choose from.

Posted by Andy at 10:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

I am most pleased to see that a new version of Red Orchestra is out. Red Orchestra is a fan-mode mod for Unreal Tournament 2004 set on the Russian front of World War 2. Among its features are a high level of realism and massive battlefields. I played an earlier version some months ago and greatly enjoyed it (although it was still pretty glitchy at that point). I have fond memories of multiplayer battles in a huge Stalingrad map. Can't wait to check out this new version.

Another game that I'm really looking forward to is The Political Machine, a presidential election sim. It involves creating a candidate and then managing the different aspects of the election campaign. Looks to be pretty fun. Hopefully it will be out soon, so I can glean some enjoyment from it before endless election-year news coverage and third-grade-name-calling candidate back-and-forths cause my brain to shut down all sensory input in a desperate act of self-defense.

What was I talking about? Oh yeah--games. You should check 'em out.

Posted by Andy at 6:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

More discussion on that Fedora dual-boot problem. Sounds like it's not limited to FC2, but crops up in other recent Linux distributions, too. Ah well--given the general pluckiness of the open source world, with any luck there'll be fixes or workarounds available shortly.

I hope that when the problem is addressed, the Fedora Core people release an updated version of FC2 (as opposed to just a downloadable patch or something).

I did successfully upgrade my work laptop (dual-boot Win2k and FC) to FC2 on Friday without any subsequent dual-booting problems (although it did warn me during the install process about possible boot/partition problems). So far, I like what I've seen of FC2, but I haven't yet spent enough time with it to come to any grand conclusions.

Posted by Andy at 2:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

I have always wondered why, in a world of ridiculously fast and powerful computers, laptop batteries still don't last much longer than they did five years ago. This article has the answer. (Link spotted at the estimable Volokh Conspiracy).

Posted by Andy at 1:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Do you have a particular song that strikes you as so so perfect, so sublime that just hearing it makes you choke up and weep that this broken world is unworthy of its beauty? I bet you do. For you, it might be Pachelbel's Canon; for others, perhaps Nick Cave's "Red Right Hand" or Wagner's "Ice Ice Baby." For me, it's Johnny Cash singing "The Wanderer" with U2:

I went out walking through streets paved with gold Lifted some stones, saw the skin and bones of a city without a soul.

I went out walking under an atomic sky
Where the ground won't turn and the rain it burns
Like the tears when I said goodbye.

Yeah, I went with nothing
Nothing but the thought of you.
I went wandering.

I went drifting through the capitals of tin
Where men can't walk or freely talk
And sons turn their fathers in.

I stopped outside a churchhouse where the citizens like to sit
They say they want the Kingdom,
But they don't want God in it.

I went out riding down that old eight lane
I passed by a thousand signs
Looking for my own name.

I went with nothing
But the thought you'd be there too.
Looking for you.

I went out there
In search of experience.
To taste and to touch
And to feel as much
As a man can before he repents.

I went out searching, looking for one good man
A spirit who would not bend or break,
Who would sit at his Father's right hand.

I went out walking with a Bible and a gun.
The Word of God lay heavy on my heart
I was sure I was the one.

Now Jesus, don't you wait up
Jesus, I'll be home soon
Yeah, I went out for the papers
Told her I'd be back by noon.

Yeah, I left with nothing
But the thought you'd be there too.
Looking for you.

Yeah, I left with nothing
Nothing but the thought of you.
I went wandering.

I usually make it all the way to the last verse--where he goes out looking for one good man--before being overwhelmed by sorrow at the sad state of this world. By the time we learn that he told her he'd be back by noon, I'm usually a weepy emotional wreck. Johnny Cash, we're not worthy.

How about you?

Posted by Andy at 2:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

I thought this was a thought-provoking essay on the general topic of our biases and how we should go about choosing them. Lots of interesting ideas in there, but what particularly struck me was the idea that since we all apply biases to our understanding and relaying of information, we ought to be able to clearly identify the ultimate goal towards which that bias is working.

The essay does talk about Abu Ghraib and related issues, though, so if (like me) you suspect your head might explode if you read one more take on that, approach with caution.

Posted by Andy at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In case you were wondering what actual archaeologists think of the movie Troy, here's your answer. Expressing indignant shock and horror at Hollywood butcheries of literary classics and historical accuracy feels somewhat passé these days, but it's still good fun to read this sort of critique.

What actually caught my attention in the article the most is this statement, made in reference not to the movie Troy but to a History Channel documentary on the subject:

Less satisfactory is the hamfisted and oversimplified comparison of the Trojan War with Iraq.

And here I was getting sick of people comparing Iraq to Vietnam. Now they're comparing it to the Trojan War? I am amused.

Posted by Andy at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Beautiful rainy spring morning today--I'm working at home today, and I much enjoyed tapping away this morning at the computer to the pleasant background noise of a nice rain. We bumped into many patches of rain on our cross-country trip last week--just enough rain to really bring out the bright greens and that unique rainy-spring smell, but never so much that it interfered with our plans. In other words, just about perfect.

I don't have any epic essays written today. Instead, we have a random assortment of interesting (to me, at least) links and other miscellanea for you to peruse.

Random thing #1. I was excited to see the release of Fedora Core 2, the latest iteration of my Linux distribution of choice. Unfortunately, I may sit this one out and wait for Fedora Core 3, unless they can do something about the "minor" glitch that prevents you from booting into Windows XP on a dual-boot machine. That would be a pretty major problem for some of us. Hmmmm.

#2. Taking long road trips, especially road trips that involve going near Chicago (travel tip: if your road trip will take you within two states of Chicago, add about 10 hours of traffic to your estimated travel time), has cemented in my mind the idea that most people with drivers licenses are horrible people who shouldn't be allowed near a bicycle, let alone behind the wheel of a 1+ ton block of metal traveling at 80 mph. So after several days' worth of driving uber-cautiously and ranting about the horrible driving habits of other people, what's the first thing I do upon my return to Grand Rapids? I swerve into another lane without looking first and force another car to brake madly to avoid hitting me. I guess I'm just another one of those terrible people you always hear about.

#3. Joel passed me this link to an interesting series of essays discussing the basic concepts behind the Japanese language. Very fun read.

#4. I've really been enjoying GetReligion.org, a blog on the topic of religion and the media. Pretty sharp commentary, and politic-y without being too pundit-y. If you know what I mean.

#5. It turns out my wife has pretty good taste in music. Ever since she introduced me to Tom Waits, I've been listening to him whenever I get the chance. How can you not like a musician who writes lyrics like these? Unfortunately, Michele's taste isn't perfect--she has not yet acknowledged that Extreme's III Sides to Every Story is the album than which none greater can be conceived. Ah well, she'll figure it out eventually.

I think I'll stop with five random observations for now. Wouldn't want to go overboard.

Posted by Andy at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

We just got back from a brief vacation into the wilds of the Midwest. Much fun was had all around. Most importantly, Michele has already written up a good vacation summary, so I don't have to. I will definitely be posting a bit about some of the observations I had in the course of our grand road trip, though, so you have that to look forward to.

It's great to be back in Michigan, which now that I think of it is sort of like Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana, except that it has more trees.

Posted by Andy at 1:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I recently sat down to read the graphic novel/manga Ghost in the Shell. I'd seen (and enjoyed) the movie version some time ago and was looking forward both to revisiting the interesting setting and learning a bit more about the story and characters.

I was not disappointed; the graphic novel--actually a compilation of several sequential manga "episodes"--is an excellent read. It's basically the story of a super-high-tech "black ops" team in a cyberpunk, Blade Runner-esque urban dystopia. It's largely action-oriented--lots of gun battles and explosions--and features a number of interesting and distinctive sci-fi elements. Among these are the protagonists' spider-like mechs, the inventive use of invisibility/cloaking suits, and oh-so-lovingly-detailed weapons and vehicles. And of course, plenty of computer hacking, killer intruder-detection programs, rogue AIs, and other assorted virtual mayhem. (And being a manga, it's got excessive nudity and graphic violence, both of which come with the territory.)

So it was an entertaining read--a modern classic of the genre, even. But it did make me wonder if the cyberpunk genre is really a viable sci-fi setting anymore. Ghost, written a decade or two ago, must've cropped up during the peak of popular interest in the cyberpunk genre, with its focus on virtual realities, cyber-warfare, and "hard" sci-fi arms and vehicles.

Some sort of virtual "Net" (or at the very least, the ubiquity of computers and the ease with which information could be acquired with them) is a staple of the genre, it seems to me. Now that the Internet and the Web (dystopian as they are) have superseded that early vision of an "online universe," can we really go back and suspend our disbelief enough to enjoy a story that revolves around hackers, duels between virtual avatars, and deadly security programs?

I don't know. It's unquestionably a fun genre, as stories like Ghost demonstrate. But now that my home PC is smaller and more impressive than the "hacker decks" or "rigs" depicted in most cyberpunk novels and movies, reading cyberpunk stories has a sort of Jules Verne, "isn't that quaint" feel to it.

What do you think? Is cyberpunk a genre that has lived past its prime, and no longer has much to say to us? Have any new styles or genres taken its place in our Internet-everywhere era?

Posted by Andy at 6:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

My third RPG editing project is out and for sale. It's a very large adventure called New World Order. The book I worked on before this one is Terrors of the Lost Paradise, a "monster manual" for the Lost Paradise region of the Darwin's World post-apocalyptic game setting. It's a lot of fun getting to edit such creative material!

Posted by Andy at 6:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I participated in this conversation recently:

The Scene: the computer room. Andy is seated at the computer wearing headphones. Michele enters unnoticed.
Michele (barely audible over headphone music) Hey, what are you listening to?
Andy (realizing after several seconds that Michele is in the room, turns down music volume and removes one of the headphone ears): What?
Michele: What are you listening to?
Andy: Uh... video game music remixes...
Michele: Ah. Would those be the same game music remixes you were listening to a few months ago?
Andy: Yeah...
Michele (with sarcastic smirk): They must be pretty good game music remixes.
Andy: Uh, they are..

I would've tried to deny it--perhaps claim to be listening to something more cultured and refined, like my Tesla Greatest Hits CD--but my Winamp playlist window was in plain sight:

I can't help it--I really love this stuff. Most of it is simple, repetitive, and unbelievably nostalgic--now that I think about it, it was pretty much the soundtrack of my nerdy junior-high-and-thereabouts life. The only problem: an awful lot of video game tunes are catchy in the worst possible way. I challenge anyone to pay attention to the sermon in church on Sunday morning with this song running endlessly through their head.

Posted by Andy at 7:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Long time, no post, as they say. It's been a moderately eventful month for us. The biggest piece of news to emerge over the last few weeks is that Michele is heading over to Israel for seven weeks this summer to do archaeology work at the Ashkelon site. This news is one of those difficult things that I know inside is a wonderful opportunity for her, but which I'm nevertheless having a hard time getting excited about--seven weeks will be a long time! Assuming that Michele has Internet access there, I hope you'll all join me in emailing and otherwise writing to her during her stay. And while I distinctly remember rolling my eyes in exasperation at parental safety/terrorist/bombing concerns over my own trips to Jordan several years ago, suddenly those concerns seem a lot more serious now that it's my wife who's heading over there.

Still, her departure is a full month away at the moment, which means we've got plenty of time to enjoy this beautiful springtime before she leaves. In a few weeks, we're even taking a one-year-anniversary vacation, spending a few days in a cabin at the park where we got married. Isn't that romantic?

And aren't you glad you waited almost an entire month for a new post from me, and were rewarded for your patience with three paragraphs of lovesick whining?

Posted by Andy at 6:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)