Having seen several folks I respect voicing concerns about MeWe, hate speech, and hate groups, and after watching the relevant section of the YouTube interview where they addressed that topic, I found the official line pretty unconvincing. So I emailed MeWe a question about their policy on hate speech and hate groups: “Howdy! I’m a […]
Google+ diaspora: MeWe isn’t for me Read More »
The number of possible permutations for card order in a standard deck of playing cards, 52! (52 factorial, or 52x51x50x49 . . . all the way down to x1), is staggeringly large. How large? Yannay Khaikin, who created this lovely video explaining the concept, says it’s this large: Any time you pick up a well
Every well-shuffled deck of cards is in a unique order Read More »
I quit WoW in 2011, but watching Sword Art Online (an anime series about players trapped inside a VR MMO) made me nostalgic for it. One of many things I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed about WoW was how pretty it can be; this screenshot is from Winterspring, one of my favorite zones in terms
Returning to WoW after five years away Read More »
After making a string of phone calls where I needed to spell things for the person on the other end of the line, I decided it was finally time to learn the NATO phonetic alphabet so I could stop doing this: Okay, it’s five, P as in pork chop [shit, now I’m hungry], six, three,
The D&D phonetic alphabet Read More »
I have a container fetish. Not a problem, mind you,[1] a fetish. Browsing in office supply stores is dangerous for me. When we moved to Seattle, and everything I owned became, at some point, another fucking thing to haul across the country, I threw out a box full of smaller boxes.[2] I own more dice
I’m often full of restless energy, and I like to fiddle with things while I think. A year or so ago I finally figured out that, hey, maybe it’d be useful to keep some dedicated “fidget toys” handy to keep my hands busy, rather than just using whatever’s nearby. I’ve tried and set aside a
A high-tech worry stone Read More »
I’ve had a chance to use my new Tom Bihn Pilot as a gaming bag twice now, and I’ve made a couple additions. I can also confirm that everything I loved about the bag when it first arrived still holds true: This is a great bag! Carrying it around has made me noticed something else
Gaming bag additions and second impressions Read More »
Over the years, I’ve used and experimented with a ton of different notebooks, pencils, pens, and erasers for gaming. I’m almost as much of a notebook and writing implement geek as I am a bag geek, and I enjoy the hunt for the perfect thing as much as I enjoy the satisfaction of finding something
My gaming notebook, pencil, and eraser Read More »
This past Sunday, I went skydiving for the first time. It was a tandem jump at Skydive Snohomish, and my instructor Mike (who rocked!) and I jumped out of an airplane at 13,500 feet (2.5 miles). We reached our terminal velocity, 180 mph, in a few seconds, and spent about a minute in freefall. It
Part of me is still skydiving Read More »
Back in 2013, I went looking for an old English coin in the basement, which I couldn’t find, and found this 1,700-year old Roman coin instead. It took me an hour to go from knowing precisely dick about Roman coinage to being 99% certain about what this one is, when it was minted, etc. I
A 1,700 year-old Roman Antoninianus Read More »
