• On Life and Love

    Ghost Characters Sheets: Simple JavaScript is Magick

    I’ve written before about writing a character sheet manager for Geist characters, but there have been some upheavals within the Camarilla (now the Midnight Dance, a non-profit separate from White Wolf) that have the project on hold. For one, their developers may be doing it themselves, and they’re competent. For another, even if they don’t, they may be exposing a handy API that I can tie into. Lastly, I’m busy finishing a novel at the moment. That said, Greg offers Midnight Dance/Camarilla prestige (like, um, club brownie points; with enough of them, you can get more XP for your characters) if we submit ghost non-player characters to him. It’s not…

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    Phenom II X4 945 and Lian Li PC-A05NB Cooling Problems

    So back when I got my new computer recently, I picked up a Phenom II X4 945 chip (quad core, hence the “X4”) and a Lian Li PC-A05NB case. The case is a mini-tower that can fit ATX or microATX (my board is a micro). I’ve left in the stock fans and heatsink. The case is weird, because the air flow is the opposite of most conventional cases (back to front): (Image from Lian Li.) The stock fans don’t move much air, and when you toss in power cables and a power supply, it’s (apparently) time for trouble. My idle temperatures are around 44 C, and 50-60% load (running Minecraft…

  • On Life and Love

    Weekly linkage

    This week’s internet cruising: Ottawa school board to ask students if they are gay – The Globe and Mail – This is a little weird. Ottawa is going to ask parents of elementary students and middle/high school students themselves about their sexual orientation. Toronto evidently did this already, and "students weren't bothered by it". How to Protest the TSA and Ruin Thanksgiving in One Easy Step — The Good Men Project Magazine – "Oh, and November 24 is the day before Thanksgiving—one of the busiest travel days of the year. That means anyone who chooses to dodge those full-body radiation sarcophagi of X-rated mayhem will gum up the security line…

  • On Life and Love

    One Song, One Move

    One of the things I love about belly dance is how easy it is to practice. It’s chock-full of named moves that I can drill over and over again until I get ’em right. Because I have a deep love of listening to music on repeat, I’ve got a certain way I like to practice: one song, one move. This would probably drive some people nuts. I warm up doing a variety of moves for one or two run-throughs of a song, just doing a few repetitions of every move I know. …This might be where I sneak in some of the combo ideas I come up with on my…

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    D & D: Well, That Was a Slaughter

    The level 1 to 30 D & D 4e campaign Greg and I started last week has proved… difficult. Our intrepid adventurers handily took on the set of Fell Taints (tee hee) they first set out for, despite the whirlwinds and strangely difficult terrain in the big room. On the second excursion, though, the four grumpy adventurers found themselves up against their most difficult encounter: a young black dragon. …In a small room. …With a pit in the middle. Major advantage to the dragon’s breath and fear weapons. They fought valiantly, but ended up as tasty dragon snacks. Turns out they were mere appetizers for the main course. The dragon…