Rogue Thinker

Cyberpunk Pistol Post Mortem

2011-09-13T19:23:00.002-04:00

Well, the cyberpunk pistol did not survive Dragon*Con. I had two basic flaws in the construction. The first is that the superglue I used wasn't strong enough. Bumping through all the crowds, a couple of bits and panels were pulled off. Also, the magnets I used to clip the gun to my hip were considerably stronger than the glue, so part of the gun stayed magnetized to me when I pulled it off. Oops. I think a two-part epoxy would have held together much better.

The second problem was paint chipping. Again, the seething mass of humanity that makes up Dragon*Con was quite rough on the props, and a fair bit of paint around the edges was rubbed or chipped off. The gun largely being silver underneath, the effect looked like chipped paint, rather than something like weathered steel. I'll need to look into matte lacquers or something to protect props in the future.

While I liked the look of the gun, the packed crowds at conventions means the props and accessories need to be quite durable, much more so than a stage prop. My cyberpunk pistol didn't survive the test. I am unsure at this point if it would be easier to pull the gun apart and re-glue it with epoxy, or to simply make a new one.

Oh well. Important things to learn for next year.

Putting it All Together

2011-08-19T11:50:00.003-04:00

I have finally finished putting together my cyberpunk costume for Dragon*Con. Here is the finished result.

As I am not making any particular character from a movie or anime, I had a lot of leeway in what the costume looked like. As such, most of it is bought from various internet stores, rather than being self-made. The t-shirt and blue glowy thing are from Think Geek. The pants are from BDU.COM. The mask, belt, and shoes are from Cryoflesh. The goggles are from Jaded Minx. And of course the gun I made myself.

Now, while the costume is finally convention ready, there are still several things I want to do to it. I want to make some accessories for the pistol to hang under the barrel. I also want to make some accessories for the goggles, make them look more like a sensor suite. Complete with LEDs, which will require I teach myself basic circuitry and soldering. And I want to make some cyber-tools to hang off my belt. These will all have to wait for next year's conventions, but it's something creative to work on.

But the big thing that would be really cool to add to the costume is some cybernetic prosthetics. A cyborg arm would be awesome. I have no idea how I would go about making one, but I think that should be my goal for next year.

Making a Cyberpunk Pistol: Part 4

2011-08-07T18:09:00.009-04:00

It is finally time to paint my cyberpunk pistol. I started by spray painting the whole thing black. I am using a matte black primer, but any sort of direct-to-metal paint will work. A couple thin coats, making sure to fill in all the nooks and crannies, and this is the result:

That's... actually pretty good. To be honest, up until now, I wasn't sure if this thing would turn out alright. Between the only half thought out plan, the complete inexperience on my part, and the shoddy craftsmanship, I was worried that I would have to scrap this project and find some other way to make a costume gun. But now that it's painted the right color, I'm really liking the results.

The next step is to weather the gun. I do this by layering a very light dry brushing of gun-metal gray paint over the whole gun. I keep the streaks running lengthwise down the gun, and add a little bit of emphasis to the edges of the various parts on the pistol's surface. The idea is to make the gun look worn from years of use and abuse. I tried the make the effect just noticeable. I'm not sure it will even show up in the convention photos, but even just a little bit of aging makes the gun more believable. I did paint the barrel, ejection port, and trigger gun-metal gray. It's a very heavy dry brushing. I thought the two-tone look would be more visually appealing than all black.

Next I painted some detailing onto the gun. First, some light gray dots on the sights to make 3-dot sights. Then some dots for the fire mode selector: a gray dot for safe, a red dot for semi-automatic, and three red dots for three round burst. Because I believe in excessive firepower. And lastly, I painted a logo onto the slide. I chose Ares, one of the megacorporations from the Shadowrun universe, because in-game, they are known for weapons manufacturing. The logo is copied from the Shadowrun source book. I finished by coating the whole thing in a matte varnish, to keep the paint from rubbing off or smearing from handling the gun.

The last thing I did to the gun was to wrap the grip. I had originally intended to wrap it in black electrical tape, but I couldn't find any that was thick enough to give a textured grip. So I used some suede leather cord instead. I think I like this better than the black tape. The slight contrast the dark brown gives is more interesting that black on black, and the way the cord looks gives the pistol an aftermarket, custom look that makes sense for a cyberpunk weapon.

There are two things left to do before the cyberpunk pistol is completely finished. First, I need a way to carry it around the convention all day without tying my hands up. I'm thinking either some magnets so I can just clip it straight to my hip, or some kind of lanyard, shoulder rig type thing. That will be the last thing I do before Dragon*Con. The other thing I want to do is make some accessories I can attach to the front of the gun. Lasers, scanners, things with lights, that sort of thing, but I'm short on time at this point, so that will have to wait for other conventions. But at this point, it's convention worthy.

Updated: A quick note on paints. I am using Citadel Paints from Games Workshop. I paint Warhammer miniatures, so I had the paints on hand. I've liked them and they haven't given me any trouble, but any modeling paints would work for this kind of project.

Making a Cyberpunk Pistol: Part 3

2011-07-27T18:49:00.006-04:00

I did not particularly care for the tin-foil look of the gun. Even painted, the foil tape would be too crinkly to look realistic. So I bought some thin copper sheeting and plated the gun with that. I think this looks a lot better than the foil. The surface is smooth, but the edges are still rough. It gives it a kind of industrial look that is suitable for cyberpunk. The copper also works for steampunk, but I'll be painting that later.

I've also added a trigger to the gun. It's made from a picture hanger, dremeled down to the right size.

The next thing I did was make a hand guard. I figured this would be easier than making a trigger guard. The pieces came from a toy ninja set, that I then cut down and super-glued to the gun. That gave the pistol a very different look. I like the unique profile it has from real pistols. It gives it a more futuristic feel. The construction is a little sloppy, so I may exaggerate that to make the gun look like it's been repaired a few times.

It's still a very plain looking gun, so I went to Skycraft and bought some random bits of hardware and began gluing them to the gun. I was mostly just going for texture, something to break up the large flat surfaces that make up most of the pistol. This is also where I added things like sights and safeties. This pretty much concludes the construction portion of my cyberpunk pistol. What remains is to paint the gun, including weathering and distressing, and wrapping the grip. That will be covered in Part 4.

Making a Cyberpunk Pistol: Part 2

2011-05-17T18:30:00.007-04:00

I have not forgotten the project. I knew when I started this I would only be working on it a bit at at time. I filled in the corrugated part of the cardboard with PVA glue. This has helped reinforce the edges, and will help prevent them from collapsing from being handled.

The next step was to install the barrel. I'm using a half inch PVC pipe to make the barrel. This makes it a .50 caliber handgun, just the thing for dealing with those pesky cyborgs. I drilled a hole in the front of the gun large enough for the pipe, then glued a short section of pipe down inside. You want the pipe deep enough for the insides to disappear in darkness. The barrel sticks out a bit more than on real pistols, but that's OK.

After that, sanded off the corners of the grip. Not a lot, just enough to make the edges feel round when I hold it. A Dremel tool makes this go real quick.

The last thing I've done is cover the entire thing in foil tape. This will give the gun the right texture. I was careful on the large sections to use single pieces, without lots of overlapping and criss-crossing, because those lines will show up once it's all done. I left a seam between the slide and the frame, like on real semi-auto pistols. I'm not overly concerned with the mess I made on the grip, as I will eventually be wrapping that.

The next step will be to add the trigger and bits of detailing, like sights, a fire mode selector, and random bits of texture so the gun doesn't appear so plain. I am considering creating a hand guard instead of a trigger guard. I think that will give the gun a unique profile. After that, it's time to paint and weather the gun. Accessories can be made after the pistol is finished and glued on later. Part 3 will be up once I have enough done to make a decent post.

Adventure Begins Here

2011-05-13T15:51:00.013-04:00

I have been decorating my home off and on, as time and money permits, since I moved in three years ago. But I began thinking about how I wanted to decorate when I moved back to Orlando after college. I never intended to do much with my apartment, but I didn't want to live in a college bachelor's pad forever, so I started thinking about what I did want for the time when I had my own home.

I have always wanted something fantastic; something beyond the ordinary world. I remember one of my first thoughts being of some of the decor in Disney Quest. There were dark blue carpets with arcane mathematical symbols drawn out in gold. The decorations were made of bronze and had a retro space look (think of the way the 60's thought the future would look). The ceiling was dark and had fiber optic lights embedded in it so it looked like a star field. It was a whole other world.

Another major influence was the Lord of the Rings movies. I love the look of Bag End and Rivendell. That realistic fantasy look Peter Jackson got in the Lord of the Rings movies summed up how I wanted my house to look.

Later, I thought of Islands of Adventure. Specifically of the Lost Continent and Port of Entry portions. The Port of Entry had the feel of an Arabian bazaar, the kind of place Sinbad or Aladdin would be found. The Lost Continent was a mix of mythical Greece and Arthurian legend.

The last bit of inspiration for decorating came from the video game Morrowind. The architecture was fantasy without being the standard medieval fantasy style, something I appreciated in the game.

Now, my house doesn't look like any of these. It would be quite difficult to weave all these disparate styles into one cohesive whole that looked good without being over the top or garish. I don't think I have the artistic vision to manage such a thing, much less the skill to implement it. But despite the different looks of these games and movies and theme parks, there was a common thread: they were all representations of far off, exotic, fantastic lands. These are the places where the stories happen. These are the locales through which heroes and villains move. These are where adventure takes place.

My home has more Asian influence, from my own real life adventures in the far off land of Thailand, and not near as much of the fantastic element as is found in my sources of inspiration. Still, I am pleased with the direction my home is going. My goal has always been to create a home that feels like it is from the stories. The kind of home where it wouldn't look out of place for a knight to hang up his sword, or an archaeologist his whip, or for a party of dwarves to stop by on their quest for long forgotten gold. The kind of home where you start your adventures, and keep the relics and treasures you acquired on your past ones.

I have always had trouble articulating my vision. Part of that was simply that early on, I only had a vague notion of what I wanted. I saw many things and thought, "that looks neat, I want my home to look like that." But with such a mish mash of styles that didn't give anything coherent to work with. And as my ideas solidified, I realized that I wanted something a little stranger than merely adding accents from a far off culture or ancient civilization. Decorating in a Mediterranean or Oriental style, or with faux relics of ancient Egypt, is not that unusual. Indeed, this is largely the approach I have taken. But I have always wanted something beyond this world; something beyond the edge of reality and into fantasy. That's just too weird for most people. I am a geek, and am familiar with people's reactions and rejections when you show interest or excitement in something that's not normal. So I tend to keep my mouth shut about my hobbies and ideas. This has made describing what I'm trying to do difficult. It has also made implementing my idea problematic, since what I want doesn't actually exist in the real world.

Still, I like how it's turning out. The base furniture and architecture isn't fantastic, and at the moment, I am adding pictures and souvenirs from my travels. I like the exotic, traveled look it gives. But I still need to find more stuff that has that fantastic element to it. Many of the items I've decorated with can be found if you travel the world (or order off the internet), but I want a few things from places you can only travel to in your imagination.

Update on the Home Front

2011-04-20T18:49:00.007-04:00

Let's leave cyberpunk behind for a moment, and go back to home decorating. When I started the blog back up, I had said that I had done a few things to the house during my silence. One of the things I had done, last September, was add a Chinese dragon to the foyer. I found it at a flea market in Panama City Beach during a family reunion.

This gets me closer to finishing the foyer. I need a shoe rack or bench to go along the dividing wall, and I want to replace the light with something less 'middle America suburbia' and more 'far-off, exotic lands.' That will pretty much complete my foyer.

I've also replaced my dining room set with a set my dad gave me when he replaced his dining room. The table fits perfectly with the old world occident-meets-orient look I'm going for. The chairs are definitely a more retro-modern style, but the with the color and pattern, actually seem to fit in well. It doesn't quite match my living room chair, but it doesn't really clash either.

The last thing I got for my living room is an Italian Map Globe bar. It was a Christmas gift from my parents. It looks good there next to the armor. I ought to hang the sword on the wall, but propped in the corner like that, gives it more of a used look instead of display, like I just got back from adventuring and haven't put my gear away. Which is more or less how it got there, after a Renaissance faire.

The globe opens up. The crystal was another Christmas present, this time from grandma. There are wine glasses, highball, and double old fashioned glasses in there.

Those are the big changes in the last year or so. I've printed out photos from some of my trips to hang on the wall, along with some souvenirs, but I haven't gotten around to hanging them yet. Or even finding suitable picture frames. That will probably be the next thing I do, but I will have to make sure it's in keeping with the old world style.

Pizza in 30 Minutes or Less, Guaranteed

2011-04-19T20:08:00.004-04:00

I was perusing ThinkGeek today trying to find a suitable T-shirt for my cyberpunk costume. I want something similar to what Jayne wore on Firefly. ThinkGeek has some of Jayne's shirts, but I'm making a cyberpunk character, not a Firefly character.

But I want something in that style; a logo or brand from a fake universe. I found some good ones, but for the most part, the brand is from some recognizable property in geek culture. This Hyrule shirt is a great example of the style I want, but with a recognizably non-cyberpunk logo. So unless I want to be a gamer cosplaying as a cyberpunk criminal, Zelda fanboy, it's just not gonna work. And if I'm going to be that silly, I should just make a steampunk Link...

Wait, that sounds awesome. If I don't get to it this year, that will definitely be next year's costume.

At any rate, I eventually found this: a Cosa Nostra deliverator shirt. If that means something to you, then you know why this is the perfect shirt for a cyberpunk outfit. Everybody else, Cosa Nostra is a pizza delivery chain run by the mafia in Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk novel, Snow Crash. I hadn't intended my cyberpunk character to be from any particular universe. In fact, I was generally thinking Shadowrun most of the time. But an actual cyberpunk T-shirt for my cyberpunk costume? Perfect. Combined with some urban camo pants, and I think the costume is shaping up nicely.

Also, if you are a science fiction fan, I enjoyed Snow Crass and recommend you go read it.

As for the gun, I'm reinforcing the cardboard with extra glue so it doesn't peel. It's a slow process, waiting for the glue to dry, so I don't have enough done to do a whole post on it yet.

Making a Cyberpunk Pistol: Part 1

2011-04-18T21:06:00.007-04:00

While my enthusiasm for the project is still high, I've started making a cyberpunk gun. I've decided to make a semi-automatic pistol. Cyberpunk is generally not so far into the future that everybody has lasers and other exotic weaponry, so a pistol feels about right.

A little digging around the interwebs and I found a couple articles at Instructables, one for a cyberpunk shotgun and another for a steampunk rifle, both by the same guy. They are both good references and will be influencing my construction.

The first step is to design the basic gun. I want an over sized and blocky gun, that would fit in a high-tech but dystopian future.

This is my basic layout. A pretty straightforward, pistol shape. The block under the barrel is for mounting sensors, stabilizers, or anything else I think of before I get around to making them. I've not yet designed anything, but I'm envisioning several tubular items down there.

I cut it out of corrugated cardboard. Then I used that piece to trace out three more pieces.

Then I glued the four pieces together using PVA glue. It's taped together right now until the glue dries. I also changed the shape of the outer pieces a little. I did that to break up the shape and give the gun some overall texture. Otherwise it would be too blocky.

The next step will be to fill in cardboard with glue to help really hold it all together. I'll also need to trim and smooth the edges, and cover everything with a thin card stock or metal tape (an idea used in the shotgun above).

I also need to add a trigger and trigger guard, stiffen the beaver tail, and round out the grip some. I will eventually wrap the grip in leather or electrical tape. I'll need to make the under barrel attachments, and add various odds and ends to the gun to give it some texture, so that it's not just flat. And then paint it all.

I will not be able to work on the gun everyday, and some days will be spent scrounging for parts for the next step. Stay tuned for Part 2.

Cyberpunk Gear

2011-04-17T14:27:00.003-04:00

Now I need to think about what gear my character would carry around with him. This is where the Shadowrun rule books would come in handy, because they have tables and tables of weapons, equipment, cybernetics, and the like that I can look through for ideas on what to make for the costume.

Since I'm making a shooter, one these items needs to be a gun. A handgun in a holster would be the easiest thing to carry around, but a carbine or an assault rifle would also be suitable for a cyberpunk gun bunny. I think I will make the handgun first, and if time permits, or maybe for next year's Dragon*Con, make a big gun.

I think headset or goggles with some sort of targeting array would also go well with the fire support character. In fact, I could turn it into a fancy sensor suite with radar, sonar, lasers, and cameras in it.

For the infiltrator side of things, a utility belt full of goodies sounds about right. Some of those electronic key cards, and a device suitable for picking electronic locks would make for a good start. Other interesting devices that would be worth making would be a grappling hook gun, a sensor jammer, additional sensors that don't fit on the headset, a roll-up computer screen, and even simple things like a flashlight, respirator, and tools. I could probably just take a bunch of the tools I'm going to have to buy to make all this and hang them on a belt.

I actually have no idea yet how I'm going to make all this. I would like everything to look well used, distressed, or heavily repaired or modified, to keep with the punk aspect of the genre. Some Google searches on making props or cyberpunk accessories ought to get me started.

As I actually make this stuff, I'll be adding all the how-to and what-I-did, including pictures, to the blog.

Cyberpunk Cosplay

2011-04-15T15:53:00.005-04:00

I want to think some more about the cyberpunk costume. One of the things that was said at a steampunk costuming panel at Dragon*Con last year was that when making a costume, you should design your character first. An airship mechanic suggests different ideas and accessories than a gentleman adventurer. This strikes me as good advice. Since I am designing my costume from scratch instead of cosplaying as an existing character, coming up with a character concept gives me a framework to build on. It will allow me to decide what kind of clothes the character would wear, what gear and accessories he would carry with him.

So the first thing I need to do is come up with a character. There are several archetypes in cyberpunk. The ones I am interested in are the street samurai, fire support, infiltrator, and the street mage (Shadowrun adds magic to the cyberpunk genre). Hacker is another major archetype in cyberpunk, but that’s too close to my normal life to be interesting to me. Actually, I think I will go ahead and drop the street mage too. Magic is an unusual addition to cyberpunk, and I think without a whole runner team going with me, people might not recognize a street mage for what he is.

That leaves me with two combat based archetypes, and a sneaky bastard. I do so love playing sneaky bastards in paper and pencil RPGs. You can get into (and sometimes out of) so much more interesting trouble than the beat sticks, and I love surviving by skill and wit rather than brawn. The combat archetypes would be more recognizable at a convention, though. But I ought to be able to combine multiple archetypes. The standard bad ass hero has a whole host of skills and abilities, so an infiltrator/fire support character would fit in just fine. And now I’ve talked myself into making the same character I’m playing in Shadowrun right now.

So the concept now is a character who shoots stuff and has a bag of tricks for getting into and out of trouble. That is much more concrete than a generic cyberpunk costume.

Now that I have a concept to work with, it’s time to start thinking about what it will look like. There are a few things to keep in mind when designing any kind of costume for a convention. First, you are going to be wearing it all day. So make sure it’s comfortable to wear and walk around in, without heavy pieces you’re going to have to lug around all day. Second, cons are crowded. Moving through a crowd with large, delicate wings or a giant Sephiroth sword is difficult. Plan accordingly. Thirdly, include pockets, pouches, or some other method of carrying around your assorted keys, wallets, and other goodies you acquire when wandering around the con.

With that in mind, I want to think about the base costume for a bit. By that I mean the general outfit, as separate from the accessories, such as guns and headsets. I don’t want to look like a soldier, so lots of body armor and full BDUs are out. And while I’ve been calling the archetype ‘infiltrator,’ I am envisioning more of a likeable scoundrel with a bunch of tricks up his cybernetic sleeves rather than a stealthy, covert-ops type character. So the outfit doesn’t need to be subtle or commando-ish. One of the ideas that I had when I first thought of the doing a cyberpunk costume was to have a sleeveless long coat. Dusters and trench coats have been a hallmark of the adventurous since the Hollywood western, and the Matrix used them to good effect. And sleeveless because it’s punk. I think this will have a very good chance of being in the final costume.

The question is what to wear underneath it. My first idea was to wear a jumpsuit under the coat. The plain utility of a jumpsuit seems suited to a cyberpunk outfit. Another idea is to wear BDU pants with a T-shirt with a cyberpunk type logo on it, like the Laughing Man icon or a Shadowrun corporate logo. I think either will work. If I can find urban camo pants or a good digital camo I will choose the BDUs over the jumpsuit. I'll need to look around and see what I can find.

Footwear will be the standard heavy black boots.

That will make up the core of my costume. The next step is to think about what gear and accessories I want for the costume. I'll tackle that in a later post.

Of Costumes and Cons

2011-04-14T17:20:00.003-04:00

Well, it’s less than five months until Dragon*Con and past time for me to be thinking about what costume I want to make for this year. I have made a Final Fantasy XI black mage costume in the past, and have used my medieval warrior costume I built for the Renaissance Fairs, but I think it’s time for a new costume.

I’ve a few ideas bouncing around in my head right now. The first is to make a steampunk costume. I’ve been intrigued by steampunk since I saw the costumes at Dragon*Con a couple years ago. I like the Victorian style dress, particularly the rougher, adventurous style of the old American West. I also like the virtues and ideals of the period. The Art of Manliness goes into both aspects in some detail. But we’re talking steampunk, not straight Victorian fashion and behavior. Steampunk has always put me in mind of the 19^th century’s vision of the future, along the lines of Jules Verne and HG Wells. The anachronistic imagining of 20^th century inventions using 19^th century technology has wonderful visual appeal. I could have a lot of fun making a swashbuckling adventurer.

But I have two problems with steampunk. The first is that I actually know very little about the genre. The only steampunk work I am familiar with is Girl Genius, which is pretty light on the punk aspect. Almost all of my visual references would be costumes from Dragon*Con. Still, imagining a steampunk version of something is pretty easy, even if building it is not. The second problem is that steampunk is very popular at Dragon*Con right now, so my costume wouldn’t stand out. I would have to come up with a unique and detailed implementation to distinguish myself from the crowds. Still, I’m a fan and would enjoy a steampunk costume.

Option two is to make a cyberpunk costume. Steampunk’s futuristic cousin, I love the cyberpunk genre. I am currently playing Shadowrun, and Ghost in the Shell is one of my favorite anime series. I have a lot more to draw on than I do with steampunk. It’s also not near as popular at Dragon*Con, so a good cyberpunk costume would really stand out. The problem will be with making a good cyberpunk costume. Cyberpunk tends to be much heavier on the punk aspect of the genre than steampunk is. In making a generic cyberpunk costume, as opposed to cosplaying an actual, recognizable character, I’d have to be careful to not look like a normal goth or punk. Those are quite common at Dragon*Con, so an all black punk outfit with a gun is almost indistinguishable from a plain punk and not recognizable as cyberpunk. I’ve also seen people who look like random paramilitary dudes, something that is likewise not recognizable as cyberpunk, even if it was a copy of the outfits from Ghost in the Shell. I’d love to make a cyberpunk costume, but I’m just not sure how to approach it so that the cyber part of it stands out.

The third idea is to make a Link costume, from Legend of Zelda. Ocarina of Time was one of my favorite N64 games, and Link is an iconic character. As straight cosplay, it would be easier to make a Link costume than inventing my own steampunk or cyberpunk outfit. And while there are always a few Link’s running around Dragon*Con, he is not so common that I would blend in. Plus it would be fun to make some of Link’s equipment. Unfortunately, I have not played a Zelda game since the N64, so I would have to go buy a Wii and every Zelda game out there and play through them.

What? It’s important to do your research.

The final option I am considering is making a Jedi costume. I’ve been a Star Wars fan since I was old enough to watch movies, and I’ve always wanted to be a space wizard samurai. I would definitely want to build it to the level of quality seen in the Rebel Legion, so I would look into joining their community for costuming help. It wouldn’t be a bad place to start, since they are a costuming group and could give me help and advice.

Those are the ideas I'm considering right now. Since it takes a while to design and make these costumes to an acceptable level of quality, I need to decide soon which one I'm going to make. I'll post further updates as I work things out.

More Home Improvement

2011-04-10T19:09:00.008-04:00

It's been a long while since I've bothered with the blog. Since it's spring, we'll start off with some garden updates. All the plants I put on the patio last spring are still growing. Most of the ones on the front walk died.

I added a new plant stand to the patio today. I got it at the Winter Garden plant festival, from a place called Nature on the Rocks. Today I planted some azaleas, snapdragons, and some tropical plant whose name I've already forgotten. There is still a lot of room on the stand, but I don't think I'll manage to fill it this year. I want to see what the azaleas do, since they can get quite large.

Last summer, I added a couple of wind chimes to the patio. One is bamboo, from Black Market Mineral, and the other is stained glass, that I got from the Tampa Renaissance Festival. Unfortunately, there is very little breeze down here, so most of the time they hang silent.

I also replaced the plants on the front walk. Most had died when I forgot to get someone to water them while I was out of town. Weeds had since started growing in some of the pots. We'll see how well these do.

There's a few other things I've done to the downstairs, so hopefully I'll remember to update the blog a little more frequently than every nine months.

The Statist Game

2010-07-28T19:21:00.002-04:00

I found an interesting article over on the Anchoress' blog. It's a piece from 1941 about the character of different types of Americans and whether or not they'd join the Nazis. It's definitely worth the read. But you can apply the same principle today. But instead of asking whether a person is a Nazi, ask whether a person is a statist. Play a game the next time you're in a group and see if you can determine who believes the State should tell them what to do, who would join the State just because it's the most powerful, who would oppose the State; ask how people would react to the State controlling everything. And more importantly, ask why. What is it about the person, his character, that would make him act the way he does?

Marines Make the Best Therapists

2010-07-07T18:04:00.001-04:00

Found this at the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler.

God bless Marines.

July 4th Shenanigans

2010-07-05T09:37:00.006-04:00

This is why we won the Revolutionary War. Shenanigans like this. This time we had 1440 plus a couple handfuls of bottle rockets. Then we placed 600 Saturn Missile Batteries next to it, and attached 5 mortars.

We, uhh, ran out of bottle rockets. Next year, we need 12 gross.

And of course, the after effects.

This is another place I'm not allowed to come back to.

This is Brilliant

2010-05-07T20:28:00.004-04:00

From Morgan over at House of Eratosthenes. I'm going to steal the whole thing, because I agree with every word of it. But do go over and read his blog.

I’m polite, pleasant and belligerent. Anti-Marijuana, pro-states’-rights, anti-abortion-for-profit, pro-child-discipline, anti-tofu, pro-meat, mostly-anti-tattoo, pro-nice-lookin’-lady-in-skimpy-clothes, anti-little-kids’-shopping-cart, pro-clean-new-socks, anti-women-with-short-hair, pro-beer, anti-Hillary, pro-dry-wine, anti-anti-war, pro-soldier, anti-made-up-learning-disability, pro-charcoal-barbeque, anti-communist, pro-Hooters’-waitress, anti-hippy, pro-nuclear-arsenal, anti-carbon-cap-n-trade, pro-family, anti-feminist, pro-Boy-Scouts, anti-needle-exchange-program, pro-Palin, anti-judicial-activisim, pro-Mike-Rowe-Dirty-Jobs, anti-George-Soros, pro-capitalism, anti-woman-politician-in-pant-suits, pro-nice-lookin’-ladies-in-short-skirts, anti-convertible-with-top-down-going-boom-chicka-boom, pro-cute-woman-giving-me-a-cold-beer, anti-Michael-Moore, pro-profit, anti-ObamaCare, pro-free-market, anti-tribal-living, pro-individualist, anti-dickhead, pro-entrepreneur, anti-douchebag, pro-nice-person, anti-sleezebag, pro-law-abiding-citizen, anti-pervert, pro-capital-punishment, anti-murderer, pro-vigilante, anti-rapist, pro-vigilante, anti-kidnapper, pro-vigilante, anti-creep, anti-weirdo, anti-whacko, pro-vigilante…

I like the smell of gunpowder. I like it when the caliber begins with the number 3. I like it even better when the number begins with a 4.

I like pretty ladies much better than ugly ladies, and I like fit ladies much better than tubs-o’-lard — BUT!! — if you’re a female, if your hips are 46″ wide, but you love humans and you love strength and ability, you and I will enjoy a bond those skinny man-bashing bitches will never ever know. If you’re pretty, I’ll like you even better when you bring me a cold beer. I like the pretty gals even better when they bring me a hot plate of appetizers with the beer…especially when it’s basted with something slightly tangy. And when they wear something short that shows lots of leg, I like that even better. Cold beer, hot wings, nice-lookin’ bare female leg…and gunpowder. And when I earn money beyond the sensibilities of magnitude of whoever might be paying attention…I get to keep it all…I’m like a puppy when you rub its belly. I’ll follow ya anywhere.

But don’t literally rub my belly, unless you’re my girlfriend.

When I see little kids figure out how to do something they didn’t know how to do five minutes ago, it absolutely makes my day. I don’t care if it’s my kid or someone else’s — well, I do, but the situation holds irregardless. When I see a crooked psychiatrist invent a new three-letter-acronym so a new weakness can be enabled across the decades, I get sick to my stomach and wanna kill somebody.

I think Indiana Jones, as unrealistic as he is, is a role model. Because he’s all about L-I-C-O-R-I-C-E: Leadership, Initiative, Creativity, Ownership of problems, Resourcefulness, Ingenuity, Courage & conviction and Energy. (Those Skywalker boys, as my son and I have noticed, are a little bit light on the O and the C.) T.I., as gritty and realistic as he may be, is not a role model because he’s a thug. He’s missing his licorice.

In short — I’m pro-freedom. Pro-ability. Anti-co-dependence. Pro-strength. Anti-drug-dealing-scumbag-fuckwad.

It really can’t get any simpler than that. Any questions?

This needs no embellishment.

Best Quote XXVI

2010-05-07T17:45:00.004-04:00

The road to freedom and the restoration of the republic has more to do with the Founders' "Public Virtue" than almost anything else. Time will prove me right, but the longer you let this go, the more painful The Reckoning.
Irish Cicero

Now With Green Growing Things

2010-04-23T18:30:00.004-04:00

I've finally added some plants to my back patio. Only a few so far. The first set consists of a small rose bush, salvia, and lily of the Nile, in your basic terracotta pots. The little table there came with the chairs, and makes a good plant stand.

In the other corner I've placed a Confederate Jasmine. It's definitely one of my favorite plants, and looks and smells amazing when it blooms. To keep with the Mediterranean feel, I got the big terracotta pot there with the neat looking vine creeping around the whole thing.

The nursery I got them from, Blodgett Gardens, also had a really cool armillary, that I want the jasmine to grow on. A bit of Roman statuary and I'll be all set.

This is still just a start, though I might not do a whole lot more this season. Ultimately I want there to be green and flowers everywhere. I better see how well I do taking care of these before I spend hundreds of dollars on more plants. It'll also give me a chance to see what I can find at the medieval fairs next winter. I really like their copper fountains.

Still Needs a Few Plants

2010-04-05T20:05:00.003-04:00

A couple of weeks ago, I found some patio furniture for my house. I had been wandering around the garden sections at Walmart, Lowe's, and Home Depot, when I found this table at the Home Depot.

I love the tile. I didn't have anything in particular in mind when I was looking, but when I saw the table, I knew that's what I wanted. Puts me in mind of the Mediterranean.

My next goal is to deck it out with plants and flowers. It'll be a jungle by the time I'm done with it. Though that might take some time, given that I'll have to get pots and planters and everything else. Oh well. Gives me time to plan. I think I ought to stick with the Mediterranean theme.

Doomsayer Time

2010-03-22T16:49:00.006-04:00

Now that the House has passed the health care bill, though it still needs Obama's signature to become law, it seems like the time to review what to do about it. We are fairly far down the road to serfdom, one we have been walking for over a century. It's not like state control of our lives is a new thing. People are not going to suddenly get better because the government runs everything (as opposed to just regulating it...), nor are they going to magically get sick and die. For most of us, the changes will come slowly and without notice. So option number one is:

Do Nothing
Bureaucracy being as ineffective as it is, it will take time to implement any of the legislation, accompanying regulations, agencies, and enforcement. It might be years before everyone finally figures out what it all means and how to comply with it, and it will happen slowly, giving people time to adjust. That's not intentional, but bureaucracy retards progress, and people are used to bureaucracies doing stupid things anyways, so a new set of random regulations and procedures aren't going to phase anybody.

Most of us will simply accept things as they are, and keep our heads down, hoping that we never become the target of the government's ire. It's a very practical mentality. The government is extremely powerful and not required to play by its own rules. Challenging it on your own is a loosing strategy. Most people will assume it's not that bad, and hope and wait for sanity and common sense to return to D.C.

Only we've been slowly shedding our freedoms for several generations now. Something most people haven't really noticed because we've been gaining material wealth much faster. But we've reached the point where our material wealth is going to stop growing and start shrinking. And then we'll realize we have neither the freedom nor the power to go create all that wealth. All the while some faceless government bureaucracy adds more and more regulations and laws on how we work, and play, and build, and consume. So we could always:

Switch Sides
The best place to be in a statist regime is high up in the government apparatus. The laws don't apply, you get more of the wealth, such people will generally see no change at all in their lives due to the all consuming power of the state. The point of taking over everything is reap the benefits of controlling everything.

In America at least, media elites also fall in this category, being more an informal branch of government than an independent organization (the Department of Propaganda, to be specific).

Of course, for us on the right, we wouldn't be able to maintain our principles. Or reason. Or common sense. So if we don't want to sell our souls, we could:

Fight
Open rebellion is an option. One that our founding fathers ultimately picked against British (and for much less cause). I've not heard anybody seriously advocate revolt, but at this point, I think an armed revolt that completely replaces our current government is the only way to regain our liberties. I wonder how much trouble I'll get in for saying that?

The problem with this approach is that if you loose, you die. And you cause all kinds of hell for everybody else on your way out. And give the government a solid excuse for taking away more of our freedoms.

A little insurrection looses. To beat something as powerful as the US government, you'd need a sizable portion of the population willing to fight and die for their freedom. More and better people than those willing to fight and kill to maintain the current regime. Nothing I've heard from the Tea Parties or the right wing blogosphere indicates that people are willing to fight and die for their beliefs. They're still trying to work within the system, all nice and legal. I've not even heard any serious calls for civil disobedience.

So if fighting is not an option, that leaves:

Flight
Our last option is simply to run away. Leave America and it's state run nightmare and go...somewhere. The list of places better than America is really short. I haven't put any entries on the list yet.

America's influence spreads across the world, but that influence is weakening, and it will get weaker, as socialism slowly eats up all our resources. So there should be places out there that don't have to follow America's lead.

Ideally, such a place would be strong and growing in Christianity. Christian morals and values are the foundation of liberty. From Christianity we get such ideals as hard work, taking responsibility for yourself, honesty, generosity.

Such a country should have the resources and industry to provide for it's people, to be self sufficient in the event of a global economic collapse. Basically have everything going for it that America had going for it for most of its history. Such a country may exist, but I don't know where it is, which makes it difficult to run away to it.

None of these options are very good. Perhaps instead of asking 'what should I do,' I should be asking a different question:

Why
Why do I need freedom? Not in the abstract sense, not in the 'what's best for society' sense. In the very personal sense, why do I need freedom? And I realize that I need freedom so I can choose to follow God. Or not. Everything hinges on that choice. I choose to follow God, and His son, Jesus. That is not a choice anybody can make for me, and it is not a choice anybody can prevent me from making. At best, they can hide that the choice needs to be made.

But having already made my decision, having already declared my faith in the LORD, what can any power on earth do? Persecute me? Imprison me? Kill me? Such things are hard to stand, but they are nothing compared to eternal life with the Father.

But now I am truly free. It does not matter if our government takes over every aspect of our lives. It does not matter if I am a citizen or a serf. I have the freedom to follow God, to try and live a righteous life. I can be honest, though it cost me. I can be generous, though I have nothing. I can love, though I am hated for it. What freedom I need no force can take away. The real question is will I exercise that freedom, even unto death, or will I cower and submit, and take the easy way out?

I do not need to flee what my country is becoming. I do not need to rebel against the government. I do not need to give in to progressivism. I need to be the best man I can be. That is an option that is infinitely more difficult than any of the others. But if I can do that, then I have done all I can to fight for freedom.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T18:40:00.002-04:00

And Now the Evening News

2010-02-27T13:06:00.002-05:00

Courtesy of House of Eratosthenes. Please note that some language may not be appropriate for small children or Baptists.

On the whole, I think this was more informative than the alphabet soup news.

Morning Excercises

2010-02-23T17:27:00.006-05:00

I had been trying to come up with an exercise routine when I came across a couple of articles on a new website I had found, The Art of Manliness. So based on the fact that I have no exercise equipment of any sort, I pulled from the two articles and created my own routine, which for the past few days I've been running through every morning before jumping in the shower.

Here is the routine (the articles explain each exercise):

Glute Bridges - 3 sets of 15
Tin Men - 30 each leg (alternating)
Piriformis Stretch - 2 sets of 5 (each leg)
Spine Stretch - 12 reps
Deep Knee Bends - 3 sets of 10
Calf Raises - 4 sets of 10
Leg Raises - 4 sets of 5
Push-Ups - 3 sets of 10
Bicycle Crunches - 3 sets of 20

The whole thing takes me about 15 minutes. I only started the routine a few days ago, so I've not noticed any great change yet.

I do want to note three deficiencies in my new routine. First, it's very light on arm and upper body exercises. I don't have a pull-up bar or weights, so I'm not sure yet what I can do to work out the upper half of my body more.

The second problem is that this is not going to increase my flexibility much, especially in my legs. For most people, that would probably be fine, but I also do karate, so I need greater flexibility in my hips in order to do proper kicks. I have recently pulled my hamstring trying to do proper kicks anyways, so I know that my current flexibility is not sufficient to do good kicks. The best stretches I know of for this are partnered wall stretches. You brace yourself against the wall and your partner raises your leg out in the different kicking positions. This allows you to stretch beyond your natural limits while maintaining a proper kicking stance. You can also have your partner compress the leg into the kicking chamber. I just need to find a partner.

The third short coming is that these short exercises are not going to build a lot of endurance. They're not really designed to, but it needs to be said so I know to find something else to do to build aerobic endurance. Like a 2 hour karate class where you don't stop moving. I've been jogging for a while now, and after a few karate classes, I went from huffing and puffing after two miles to just starting to breath hard. It's amazing how much more you can do when somebody else is pushing you.

Now I just need to keep at it every morning and not slack off.

Fun With Economics

2010-01-27T16:44:00.001-05:00

A quick primer on modern economics:

Hat Tip: The Anchoress

It's Almost Like It's A Home

2010-01-16T17:59:00.007-05:00

I made some major additions to the living room today. I have replaced the sofas, got a new lamp, and some really neat candles. The sofas are from American Signature.

They're pretty neutral as far as the fantastic style I'm going for. If anything, they are more contemporary in style than I was really looking for, but I didn't particularly like the old fashioned styled sofas. However, with the right accents, I can still achieve a sense of the exotic and fantastic. Other parts of the living room are already heading in that direction. Here's the new spot for my trunk.

The lamp there is from World Market, and matches the lamp that hangs over the couches.

The final addition to the house today is a collection of orange and blue (Go Gators!) candles, also from World Market. They're very Moroccan in style. They fit with the whole far off lands idea, almost Arabian Nights.

That actually gets me most of the furniture in the living room. The only furniture I have left is to replace the coffee table and end tables. Everything else will be decorations. I have lots of wall space left for paintings, swords, and what not. I also want to get some throw pillows and curtains. This is where the more fantastic elements will really come out.

A Long Time Ago on a Computer Far, Far Away

2010-01-14T19:55:00.005-05:00

I was wandering around the Escapist today when I came across some links to a Star Wars: The Old Republic walkthrough over on IGN. I was immediately hooked. I was looking forward to Final Fantasy XIV, since I loved FFXI so much, but I think Star Wars definitely wins.

Final Fantasy still has an attraction for me. It was the first MMO I played, and is still the gold standard for a medieval fantasy world. I'd like to see how Square Enix upgrades that.

But. Star Wars. It's Star Wars. I'm so excited I can't get out a coherent thought. The fan reflex kicked in hard. Star Wars!

Fwp-shhhhsssss... wronnnn, worrrarrang. Wrorr-K-SHH! K-SHHkrilkrklkkrlk, wrooonn, wroaonng.

Boot to the Head

2010-01-12T18:12:00.004-05:00

Last night marked my first time back at karate since college. Once again I am studying Butokukan and Aikido. After one class, three things are readily apparent:

I am really, really out of shape. I mean really out of shape. After only an hour of floor exercises, my vision was darkening around the edges, I could see stars, my legs were shaking, and I couldn't hold my hands steady. And afterwards, I was unable to do all 20 two-count push ups, nor all 10 full-body crunches. And that's for what sensei called a light class.

I actually remembered all the techniques. Not any of the Korean for them(back at UF, we only used Korean for the first year, then switched to Japanese. Not that I remember the Japanese). But I did know the techniques. I even remembered the bit of Aikido we did at the end.

I am really bad at them. OK, so while I remembered the basic movements, chambers, and footwork, the execution was just all around sloppy. None of movements were clean and crisp. My body was very disconnected; feet, hips, and hands all moved independent of each other. Nor was I getting full chambers most of the time.

The final assessment is that I have a long way to go. I would not be surprised if it takes the whole semester to get back to where I was before I dropped out four years ago. Still, it is something I want to do, in part to get in better shape (it's much easier with someone pushing me for a whole class), and partly so I have the ability to defend myself even when unarmed.

And if you're interested in the title of the post, go listen to this.

Hats

2010-01-05T17:39:00.004-05:00

I found an interesting article on hats over at Big Hollywood today. It caught my attention since I do wear a hat, a battered old fedora I've had for many years. I wear it almost everywhere, and it has long since become my trademark. It imparts a sense of style and adventure that is otherwise missing from men's fashion.

I'm somewhat haphazard on the hat etiquette, hats having gone out of style long before I was born. Seems pretty straight forward, and since no one else knows it, it'll be hard for anyone to say I'm wrong.

This hat has reached the point in its life where it only works with casual clothes. It's too weather beaten for anything really formal.

Because No Home is Complete Without Treasure Chests

2010-01-04T20:50:00.004-05:00

One of my Christmas gifts this year was my very own treasure chest. It fits perfectly with the old world style I am going for in the living room. With the tiger painting, I was worried that the downstairs would become too oriental for my liking. I want something a little more fantasy for the living room. This is definitely it.

Of course, I'll have to trap it, like a proper rogue.

I still need to get the main furniture for the living room, mostly so I'll have an idea of what colors I can work with in all the other accessories. I'll have the library paid off in another couple of months, then I can start looking for sofas and chairs and tables. Slowly but surely I'll create my adventuring abode.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T14:12:00.006-05:00

Last night marked my Third Annual New Year's Eve Rocket Battery. In order to top last year's array, I got my self a bigger camp grill. I started off by lacing safety fuse across the top of the grill. There is over 65 feet of fusing on that thing. Then we began sticking bottle rockets on the launch platform.

Here is the finished array. Not as many add ons as last year, but more bottle rockets, some 1300.

But of course, what you want to see is the launch. So here it is:

The laser comes courtesy of some friends up on the building next door. I was hit with a few bottle rockets, some of which decided to explode when they hit me. Still have all my fingers. Here is the after math.

Since we've upgraded from cardboard, there were no fires to put out this year. I guess if we want to go bigger, I'll have to get another grill.

Merry Christmas

2009-12-24T21:40:00.002-05:00

It's been a year and a couple days and 100 posts since I started this blog. It's kind of odd, falling right on Christmas Eve. I went to the church's candle light service tonight. I hope everyone remembers what all the pageantry and candle lighting is all about.

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.
Luke 2:11 (NIV)

Merry Christmas everybody.

Christmas Shenanigans

2009-12-24T21:37:00.001-05:00

Best Quote XXV

2009-12-14T22:18:00.002-05:00

Now the trouble about trying to make yourself stupider than you really are is that you very often succeed.
From the Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis

The Gospel

2009-12-13T18:14:00.003-05:00

There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. And the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, is is the gift of God - not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Romans 3:10-11, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Ephesians 2:8-10

The Definitive Version

2009-12-01T17:48:00.001-05:00

Hat tip to Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler

Best Quote XXIV

2009-11-30T19:55:00.003-05:00

This comes from Claire Berlinski at the City Journal, on the government takeover of the auto industry.

The only truly relevant measure of productivity is consumer choice: if people don't want to buy a company's products at the company's price, it may have been busy, but it has not been productive. This point escaped all concerned.

She is talking about the heavy government subsidies and planning of British Leyland, that started in the 1970's. The best bureaucrats the British government had to offer failed to run the auto industry with anything approaching success. Since Americans are better than the British, expect the American government's takeover of the auto industry to be an even more spectacular failure.

Hat tip to Instapundit.

Kari Jobe Pillowcase

2009-11-30T17:45:00.006-05:00

Kari Jobe, who is apparently a famous and talented singer, was at our church this weekend. And the whole time, I couldn't help thinking, "Why is Kari Jobe wearing a lumpy gray pillowcase?"

I occasionally see cute or pretty or otherwise attractive women wearing these things. But it seems tailor made to be ugly. It is a shapeless bag of cloth that completely obscures a woman's figure. You can't tell if she is fat, skinny, or beautifully curved. Though you almost never see it on fat women.

What's the message here? That you're so hot you can dress ugly? Except that it looks like some expensive designer job. A designer potato sack is still a potato sack, though you could get more use out of an actual potato sack. Why this faux ugly is fashionable is beyond me. Maybe in all the vitriol this post will cause someone will let slip an actual answer.

Global Warming Fail

2009-11-24T21:01:00.002-05:00

As more news leaks out about the latest ~~global warming~~ climate change scandal, I wanted to post my own random ideas about it.

It will play out like most scandals that hit the left. It will be ignored until the media and politicians are forced to acknowledge it. Then the actual scientists who perpetrated the fraud will be sacrificed to appease the masses. This will satisfy most and allow the politicians who enabled politicized science in the first place to get off scott free.

Once public attention moves on, government efforts to 'fix' global warming will pick back up. When conservatives point out that liberals are trying solve a problem that was proved to be a conspiracy, two memes will be started by the left. The first will be that the bad behavior of some scientists doesn't mean that the science itself is bad. The second will be that the authorities have already taken care of the trouble makers and bad data, so your argument is moot.

In the mean time, temperatures will keep falling, and eventually someone will state that whatever cockamamie climate bill President Obama got passed is the cause.

Amongst normal people however, this will be the general reaction.

Well Duh

2009-11-10T21:04:00.000-05:00

Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are terrorists.

God in 60 Days

2009-11-10T18:06:00.001-05:00

If Conservatives Made Horror Movies

2009-11-09T20:47:00.001-05:00

Gross Military Stupidity

2009-11-09T18:27:00.002-05:00

Much has been said about the Fort Hood massacre last week. And I have just one question: why did no one in the army return fire? It’s a fucking Army base! Am I really supposed to believe that the only armed personnel on the whole base were Maj. Hasan and police Sgt. Munley? Do they not issue real guns to the guards? Did they even have guards? Or is there some bizarre standing order to not respond to armed assaults on US soil? The Army ought to be ashamed of itself for promoting a known terrorist sympathizer to major, and then letting a civilian police officer deal with the problem when he turned traitor.

After somewhat more sober reflection, it occurs to me that the last time I got this riled up over gross military stupidity was when the Navy was in a standoff against four pirates in a life boat. That situation was caused when President Obama modified the rules of engagement to prevent the Navy from engaging the pirates. While Obama didn't order the Army to allow Hasan to go about his business until he ran out of ammo, the same mindset of appeasement and surrender is prevalent in the politically correct bureaucracy that makes up the military, and every other government organization. No one will be able to give a good reason Hasan was still in the Army, but I would like to know the Army's operating procedure for someone shooting up one of their bases.

For now, though, my prayers go out to the dead, wounded, and their families.

Of Grave Importance

2009-11-05T20:58:00.006-05:00

I found a link to a clip on Big Hollywood today (which I can no longer find) that was from ABC's new series V. It was a segment from an interview with one of the aliens that was a heavy handed piece on selling journalistic integrity to gain access. Yeah, that's right, ABC sent a dangerous political message by making Morena Baccarin cut her hair.

One of the tragic features of modern life is the number of women who think it's acceptable to cur their hair short.

Women look better with long hair. This is a basic fact of feminine beauty. Here we get a direct comparison of the same woman with long hair and with short hair. Look at the two pictures. Baccarin can make short hair work, but she is far prettier with longer hair.

And here the difference is striking enough that I think I can see what is going on. She simply looks more boyish with short hair. Her femininity is diminished by her hair style. We men are attracted to women, not 12 year old boys in drag. Ladies, dressing and styling yourself to hide your womanliness makes you less attractive.

Some of you are pretty enough to get away with it, as is Baccarin, but here we can clearly see that long hair is much better.

House Update

2009-10-21T18:56:00.004-04:00

It's been a while since I wrote anything about the house. I haven't made any big purchases since I got the library. I have gotten some accent pieces. My grandmother sent me a couple of porcelain vases that I've set up on the foyer table. The foyer is done in an oriental style so the vases really match. She also had some vases and plates with American farmland scenery on it; Mom got those.

I've set up some lanterns on the little dividing wall that marks off the kitchen from the foyer. The little copper ones I got at a home decorating store that has since gone out of business. The wood and paper lantern I got while I was in Thailand last summer.

I finally framed my tiger lithograph. This one is hanging in the living room over the sofa. While I'm not doing the living room in an oriental style, I really liked the tiger and thought it would look good in the main room of the house.

The style I am going for in the living room is more of a medieval fantasy feel. Not in the geeky, fantasy art way, but more like Lord of the Rings. It's an old world style, with just enough exotic touches to give a sense of far off and magical lands. This lamp I found at World Market is a perfect example of what I mean.

And the latest addition to my collection is some actual armor. The leather breastplate is from a group called Pyramid Leather, that goes to the Renaissance Festivals. I got this from the fair in Tampa. The chain mail comes from A²Armory.

So it's a bit more direct in the medieval fantasy decor than I was originally going for. If everything is subtle people might miss the effect. And what man wouldn't want some actual steel and leather armor?

Wait A Minute...

2009-10-20T17:10:00.004-04:00

...I think I've actually been linked. Does this mean I'm a real blogger now?

This is the first time I've checked my Site Meter stats since I got linked, so a late thanks, Morgan, for sending a few readers my way.

Best Quote XXIII

2009-10-19T16:52:00.002-04:00

From Kathy Shaidle of Five Feet of Fury (emphasis hers):

We need more people to start speaking out, writing whatever they want, and risk their jobs and "reputations" to do so.

You need to vocally violate all rules and regulations about "political correctness" at every opportunity.

This is part of a response to a petition going around Canada that asks that politicians stop violating free speech in the name of political correctness and other identity/victim politics. The point being that petitions (especially online ones) are a safe and thoroughly ineffectual method of engaging in politics.

Which is a very good point. Petitions don't get a politician to do what you want. Getting a bunch of people to politely ask the State to give them rights that the State itself took away is as naive as believing that if we ask nice Iran will stop build nukes. No, the will of the people only matters because of the threat of the mob.

So long as middle class conservatives allow these indignities and do no more than follow the official democratic process, they will see their rights and liberties disappear. Boycotts and strikes work because they hurt. Liberal protests matter, even with only a dozen (career) protesters, because they carry the threat of violence.

Political correctness will be the rule until conservatives stop appeasing liberals and avoiding trouble and actually risk something.

Painting the Greater Good

2009-10-14T17:49:00.009-04:00

It's time to take a break from politics. So I'm posting a step-by-step tutorial on painting a Tau Fire Warrior in my Ice Planet theme. I prefer to paint the pieces first, then glue them together. This allows me to get into the little nooks and crannies that form when you assemble the Fire Warrior. The only pieces I've glued together are the torso to the legs, since that doesn't cover anything. Here's a Fire Warrior fresh off the sprue.

I start by base coating the model with black primer. I prefer black to white primer, since I layer and dry brush up from a dark base to create the shadows in the model. White works better if you start with a light base and then use inks or washes to create the shadows. Since the jumpsuit of the Fire Warrior is black, I do a light dry brushing of Codex Grey over cloth of the model. It's a very subtle highlighting of the pleats in the clothing. I use Citadel Paints, since that's what was at the store when I bought my models, and I've stuck with them to keep consistent colors.

The next step is to paint the gloves, boots, rifle barrel, grenades, antenna, and Tau symbol Regal Blue. This provides the foundation layer of all the blue in the model. Note that on the gun barrel, I've left the seems black.

Now I do a heavy dry brushing of Ultramarines Blue on the gloves and boots. This gives them a nice, icy blue color while leaving shadows in the recesses. Because the model is so small, it is necessary to paint the shadows into the recesses and folds in order for it to be noticeable when viewing at a distance. I layer the rest of the dark blue with Ultramarines Blue. Since the rest of the blue is over hard plates, I leave a sharp, defining edge, rather than blending into dark.

Now I paint the main armor and backpack Codex Grey. Again, since the armor is a hard material, I leave a sharp edge, rather than shading, which is best used on natural materials, like cloth, flesh, or fur.

Next I do a layer of Skull White over the Codex Grey. This should be a smooth, solid white. I paint it on pretty thick so that none of the grey shows through.

Most of the painting is complete. What's left are the glowy bits. These are done in neon orange, just like the Ice Planet LEGOS. Parts of the antenna, the photon grenades, and the lenses on the rifle and helmet are painted this way. The first part of this is to paint them Scab Red.

Next I layer them with Blazing Orange. The layering here is a bit more exaggerated than in the rest of the model. For the larger glowy surfaces, there should be a bit of Scab Red on the edges.

Add a third layer, this time of Fiery Orange. This should very obviously only cover part of the Blazing Orange. Follow the contour of the surface getting painted, shifted to one side as though light were reflecting off of it.

The last step in painting. On the largest glowy surfaces, the large lens in the helmet and the power globe on the rifle, put a tiny dot of Skull White. This is the specular reflection off the glassy surface, and makes it look brighter and more reflective. This dot should be on the Fiery Orange, off to one side, based on the contours of the surface. Think of how light reflects off a Christmas ornament. This is also the point where I paint the Tau sept markings onto the Fire Warrior. I use Brazen Brass, and put markings on the right side of the helmet and rifle barrel, as well as the bottom of the left shoulder plate. I give all the Fire Warriors in a single squad the same sept markings.

That's it. The model is fully painted. Now, it is time to assemble the Fire Warrior. Glue the body to base (I've prepared a base ahead of time) and glue the antenna to the helmet.

Next glue the backpack to the model. If you are using a standard white glue, you will have to wait for the glue to dry between these steps, to prevent knocking parts off while you try to add new parts.

Glue the arms and rifle to the body.

Lastly, glue the grenade pack and head to the body.

The Fire Warrior is finished, and ready to charge into the fight. For the Greater Good!

A Few Interesting Questions

2009-10-13T16:42:00.003-04:00

Stacy McCain touches upon an idea I had last night but hadn't really developed. He's talking about the Left's promise to fix everything (by placing it under state control):

The answer to this kind of Pixie Dust nonsense is not for Republicans to try to steal the Pixie Dust formula, offering their own magical policy panaceas. Rather, the GOP needs to speak the brutal truth: there are no pixies and no magic.

There are no panaceas. We can neither return to some mythical edenic Golden Age nor are we marching toward some future Utopia of perfection. Decades of trying to vote ourselves into Heaven-on-Earth have created the very problems -- e.g., the actuarial nightmares of Social Security and Medicare -- which today's promise-'em-anything Democrats claim they'll fix.

"Grow Up, America" would be an accurate slogan for what the nation really needs. It wouldn't be a popular message, but it would be a true assessment of what ails us: a childishness, a politics of wishing, of which the naivete of Peggy Jones was but an extreme example.

The problem with most Republicans is that they are trying to offer the same things as the Democrats, only slightly more restricted, responsible, and less overreaching. Republicans tend to run about a generation behind the Democrats on policy. Moldbug points this out nicely:

Consider the difference between the Procedure and the democratic strategy of conservatism. Conservatism seeks to either halt the decay of USG where it is, or return USG to some ideal state of the past - restoring, for instance, the Constitution of 1789. Or at least the Constitution of 1932. Or maybe just the Reagan Administration.
...
Ie: it may be obvious to anyone who takes a clear look at the matter that America was better governed in 1909 than 2009. But this study produces neither any consensus on what year is preferred, for what issue, or how to translate that year's form of government into 2009. There is no little blue manual for going back to governing America like it was really America. This would be your conservative Schelling point, if it existed, which it does not and never will.

The current strategy of 'vote conservatives into Washington' is doomed to failure. Elected and appointed officials make up only a small part of the USG power structure. You'd also have to replace the civil service with conservatives (or more likely throw most of the civil service out and not replace it at all), as well as replacing the academia which teaches people to be liberal.

As McCain says, people need to grow up and stop relying on mommy government to take care of them. Christians should be ideally suited to teaching people to grow up. We have Truth on our side. We know life is not and never will be fair. We know some people are evil and some people are good. The goal should not be to take back government, but to teach people Truth.

Several interesting questions come out of this. How do we teach people truth, especially given the opposition of our current education system? What would happen if Christians withdrew from politics, the let the liberals run the state unfettered? Would even be allowed to teach at that point? What would happen to people's faith in the state if liberals ran everything? What would it take, and how long would it take, for enough people to realize the true effects of liberalism?

I think these are important questions that need answers. America has been shifting leftward for generations. It is a decline that will eventually lead to collapse, and our current strategy is not working. It has only slowed it, not reversed, or even stopped it. But to find a solution, I'm going to have to go beyond sounding off in the empty little bubble that is my blog. I need some help.

What's A Christian To Do?

2009-10-12T20:22:00.003-04:00

Moldbug continues his long running, oft interrupted series on the actual power structure of the United States, and what might be done about. Or at least what might be a better alternative.

For those who do not want to read the whole thing, allow me to give a brief summary. Power in the US is wielded by a distributed, undirected movement (the Left) whose goal is to have as much power as possible, for as many people as possible. A bureaucracy is well suited for this, since it means more people are involved in any given task, and thus, more people wielding power. Actual productivity is not important, only how many decisions you can affect.

At the top of this mess is academia, who, under the cover of Science, develop public policy. And since it's from Science and not men, these professors are not responsible if things go awry. This public policy is then sold to the masses by the media. Public opinion has now been formed. Which is what various politicians and Supreme Court justices look to in making their decisions. Said decisions actually being implemented by the largest and most byzantine civil service every created by man. Populated to the man (and woman, they're all PC) by people who have been raised to believe that science and democratic consensus are the only ways to make a decision. Physics created the atom bomb, therefore Women's Studies can't be wrong.

OK, so that's a brief and incomplete description of the problem. But recently, Moldbug began looking at what to do about it. Some weeks ago he posted his first step in replacing the US government, where he includes anyone who tries to influence policy as a part of the government (such as Universities). Simply put, don't resist the government. Accept that the Left controls everything. They have all the power.

This is very difficult for most people to accept (and by most people I mean something closer to all of them). Moldbug's reasoning is that without an opposition, the movement will simply weaken, lose energy, grow apathetic. I see two basic problems with this. It doesn't strike me as too hard to simply create an opposition 1984 style. The Left does this some already, demonizing people (remember, there are 5 A's in raaaaacist) with little regard to actual truth. It's not much of a step to continue using the caricature without finding an actual person.

The second problem is with human nature. There will always be someone that will not submit, and that is enough to fuel the Left.

But there is a side to this that Moldbug has not considered. God has commanded us to submit to authority. In 1 Peter 2:13-15:

Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among me: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, or to the governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men.

We are, by God's own command, to submit to earthly authorities, even ones that are unjust or cruel. Christ Himself submitted to Roman and Jewish authorities, even though that got Him executed on trumped up charges. But there are none who can claim that Christ didn't cause a ruckus in the establishment. There is quite a difference between submitting to authority, and admitting that the authority is correct.

As Christians, we should obey our leaders in Washington and all the laws that they pass. And we should do it cheerfully and courteously, though it erodes our freedom to nothing. There must be a marked and obvious difference between Christians and everybody else. Having a Christ-like attitude combined with a firm refusal to worship the State instead of God should be all the protest we need to make. Remember that the early church did not try to conquer Rome, but rather preached the gospel.

Best Quote XXII

2009-10-12T19:49:00.002-04:00

I have faith and stubbornness. Put them together and you have a dynamic duo. When I come to a brick wall, I can go over it, I can go under it, I can go around it, I can just go through it. I don't know what I'm going to do, but I'm getting to the other side.
David Ring

And David Ring's ultimate challenge to people who think something can't be done: "I have cerebral palsy. What's your problem?"

Best Quote XXI

2009-10-09T16:02:00.003-04:00

Found on Instapundit:

How can Obama win the Nobel Peace Prize on the same day he's becoming the first POTUS to bomb the Moon?
Mataconis

Obviously the Nobel organization believes in peace through superior firepower. After all, they once gave it to a genocidal Palestinian warlord...

Best Quote XX

2009-10-09T15:48:00.004-04:00

Blind choice is not free choice, and too many aspects of State-controlled life are hidden behind a shroud of complexity.

In the path of an aggressive State, there's really no way to remain above politics. Indifference becomes consent.
Dr. Zero

This is quite a scary statement. Even where I to make an informed vote (as opposed to my normal strategy of voting for whoever seems least liberal), with only a 1 in 300 millionth say in the process, the State can even take over my life if I say no. Indifference may amount to consent, but failed opposition gets the same results. Tyranny of the majority indeed.

Hat Tip to Linkiest.

A Brief Commentary on Twilight

2009-10-05T18:21:00.002-04:00

With video! I found this on Viral Footage (hat tip to Linkiest).

Video Games - E3 2009 - Attack of the Show

You know, the view on vampires actually is actually a pretty good indicator of society's health. Stoker portrayed the vampire as a savage beast that had to be destroyed in order to save the innocent, whereas Meyer shows the vampire as a pillar of strength in a dangerous and meaningless world. The question for us is whether we ought to stab the monster so it can't hurt anybody, or cling to the monster and hope it hurts someone else.

"Use protection." Heh

Best Quote XIX

2009-10-03T12:49:00.007-04:00

Some of us are willing to tolerate any sort of personal ridicule in order to avoid supporting the wrong decisions;

The rest of us are willing to support all kinds of wrong decisions, in order to escape any sort of ridicule.
Morgan Freeberg

An insightful comment on the difference between liberals and not-liberals. Freeberg calls it Yin and Yang, where Yin are the people who go out and build things, and Yang are the people who socialize and network.

The Yin theory is actually a very accurate description of my life. I'm a builder by nature; I spent my entire childhood playing with LEGOs or K'Nex. Yes, there was running around outside with the standard compliment of boy's toys (GI Joes, Nerf guns, bat and ball), but I spent an equal amount of time making things. I didn't bother developing social skills until I got to high school, and was well in to college before they were sufficiently advanced that I could deal with people normally.

What is critical to Freeberg's theory is that for a Yin to make something, he has to understand how things actually work. If his knowledge of reality is wrong, what he makes won't work. And he is forced by his experiences to modify his knowledge of reality. See engineers for further details.

The Yang, however, want to show that they have the right social connections. They have to show they are connected to the right people, and distinguish themselves from those who are not. But fashion and popularity aren't really constrained by physics, so they can go in any bizarre direction.

Which brings us back to the quote at the top. Some people want the right answer, and some people want to belong. Very often we have to pick one or the other.

I'd rather be right than popular.

Update: Welcome House of Eratosthenes readers!

Best Quote XVIII

2009-09-24T19:48:00.004-04:00

Posted by Robert Stacy McCain, in response to Da Tech Guy's Statement of Common Principles:

Hmmm. It's all foreign policy. I don't see anything objectionable here, but I've never been much interested in foreign policy, which is an expert's game and I'm not all into that diplomacy stuff.

So far as I'm concerned, the world can be divided into four categories:
U.S.A
Countries that we're at war with
Countries that we're not at war with
Countries that are watching from the sidelines and thinking, "Hmmm. Maybe we should jump in on this war against America."
The objective of policy should be for category 1 to whip the living dogshit out of category 2, and thereby transfer them to category 3, so as to send a message to category 4: "Don't even think about it, assholes."

Peace Through Superior Firepower. Anybody got a better idea?

I think that's a swell idea. Fire for effect.

The Great Debate Redux

2009-09-18T18:23:00.002-04:00

I have returned from the Great Debate and I am rather disappointed in both sides. The first part of the debate mostly consisted of D'Souza and Hitchens making assertions. They rarely addressed anything brought up by their opponent, and provided little, if any, reasoning or evidence for their beliefs. In this regard, I think D'Souza did slightly better than Hitchens, but I could only understand his arguments because I had read his book What's So Great About Christianity. I can only guess at Hitchens line of reason, because it was never stated.

Which puts my predictions for the debate way off. Hitchens made no personal attacks, and only a few sarcastic remarks, some of them directed at the moderator. Hitchens was definitely the more entertaining of the debaters. I do, however, give the money quote of the debate to D'Souza. Towards the end of the debate, each person was allowed to ask their opponent one question. Hitchens asked if D'Souza would rather Hitchens stay an atheist, or convert to some non-Christian religion, like Islam. S'Souza's reply: "It's much safer to debate you as an atheist than a Muslim."

I thought there were a number of fallacies and historical in Hitchens assertions, but D'Souza never dug into them. And D'Souza's arguments were not as strong as they could have been. He could have used some additional evidence and reasoning.

The last part of the debate was a little more lively. The moderator took a few questions from the audience, and Hitchens or D'Souza gave a short answer, and then the other gave a short rebuttal, and they did a bit of back and forth until the moderator cut them off. This is where Hitchens made some of his more egregious claims (the Nazis were a Christian group, the Communist founded a state church based off Eastern Orthodoxy to worship Stalin) that just don't stand up to the historical test. I'm not going to analyze or refute Hitchens' arguments until I've had a chance to read God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, since I really don't know more about Hitchens' position except that he believes every evil in the world is caused by religion and he thinks that religion is immoral because of it. So I want to get his take on that where he has a chance to explain in detail his beliefs.

It was an interesting debate, but I didn't really learn anything from it. I'd heard most of the arguments from both sides before, and without much explanation for their assertions, the ones that were new didn't mean much to me. It was more to see how the two men debated than to really learn anything. It looks like formal debates are terrible forums for either informing or persuading.

The Natives are Getting Restless

2009-09-15T18:02:00.004-04:00

Over at Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler, I find my favorite photo from the Washington, DC Tea Party:

Silly boy, don't you know it's racist to point out that they always call you racist no matter what you do?

Over at the Instapundit, we have a close runner up, with the only good czars in America:

The Great Debate

2009-09-14T19:39:00.003-04:00

This Thursday I am going to the Great Debate between Christopher Hitchens and Dinesh D'Souza. For those who do not know, D'Souza is a Christian apologist and Hitchens is his atheist counter-part. The debate is billed as asking whether religion (read: Christianity) has been good or bad for civilization. It has generated a great deal of interest here in Orlando, with over four thousand people registering to attend, many times more people than the organizers originally expected.

I am most interested in how Christopher Hitchens will present his arguments. I am already quite familiar with the Christian side of this debate, having read D'Souza's book What's So Great About Christianity and then teaching it to a small home group. And in another bible study, we have gone through I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek. And as a part of that study we watched the debate between Chistopher Hitchens and Frank Turek.

So after all that study, I am convinced of both the historical accuracy and truth of the New Testament as well as the social benefits of Christianity on civilization. Hitchens, however, believes that religion in general and Christianity in particular has been a destructive evil and civilization is well to be rid of it. So I am curious to know what evidence Hitchens has and what reasoning he will use to show the evilness of Christianity.

I am afraid he was not terribly convincing in the Turek debate, seeming to rely on general accusations and insults, avoiding or ignoring any issues raised by his opponent, and otherwise not actually answering the question of the debate. I rather expect him to use the same tactic, but it would be nice to see the pattern established. It might be time to obtain a copy of God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything and see if he is any more reasoned when he has time to put his thoughts in order.

Meanwhile, I expect D'Souza to show up with statistics, historically verified facts, and common sense and debate straight from his book, which addresses debate's question directly. I don't expect Hitchens to be impressed with D'Souza's arguments, but I would like to see if he actually refutes them or if he dismisses them with a snide comment and moves on. I also want to see how D'Souza approaches Hitchens. Turek seemed to be somewhat out of sorts trying to debate someone who wasn't actually debating anything and I want to see how D'Souza handles that.

Post debate analysis to follow this weekend.

Best Quote XVII

2009-09-10T17:02:00.004-04:00

[The Department of] State is a corporate culture, a set of employees that gradually turns over (the last corps within USG selected by that true dinosaur of American history - civil-service examinations), and of course a set of power networks that are utterly and completely invisible. There is one thing you can say for scattered-authority systems: they are impossible to decapitate. Critical individuals are not to be found. Thus, these systems (commonly known as "bureaucracies") are not only very ineffective, but also very stable
Mencius Moldbug

But lets not forget my favorite bureaucratic quote:

The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the expanding needs of the bureaucracy.

Best Quote XVI

2009-09-08T12:42:00.002-04:00

Thus, the same amendment protecting speech also separates church and state. Where the country has gone off the rails is allowing Critical Theory to drive towards a separation of church and culture. Into this breech steps an ideologically driven president.
Smitty

Best Quote XV

2009-09-03T17:15:00.003-04:00

Perhaps the dirtiest secret of decolonization is that bureaucracies prefer the postcolonial model to the colonial model, "advice" and "aid" to actual rule, because the postcolonial model generates more jobs. Vastly more Westerners are involved in failing to run the Third World, than ran these same countries successfully when they were colonies.
Mencius Moldbug

Is it Just Me?

2009-09-01T22:05:00.003-04:00

...or is this what everyone else's life is like?

Cracked, by way of Linkiest

Of MMOs Loved and Lost

2009-08-08T10:56:00.005-04:00

It has been over three years since I cancelled my World of Warcraft subsrciption and ended my time in MMORPGs. My first foray into massively multiplayer online role playing games was Final Fantasy XI. I picked it up a couple months after it came out, when Christmas break started in 2003. I played excessively until the summer of 2004, when my summer job ate into all my free time. I wasn't able to get back into FFXI when school started up again, so I decided to try something new. There was an open beta for Saga of Ryzom, so I joined for a few weeks, but ultimately felt that it suffered from the same problem of FFXI, namely, requiring a huge time commitment in order to accomplish anything. Later that year (nearly on my birthday), World of Warcraft came out, so I picked that up day one and played it through the summer of 2006, when lack of time due to a real job and generally feeling depleted on WoW led me to cancel my subscription. I also played Guild Wars briefly starting Christmas 2004, but the game wasn't interesting enough to pull me away from WoW.

I say all this because at E3 this year, Square Enix announced that they were releasing Final Fantasy XIV. My gamer's interest piqued, I decided to go through my thoughts and feelings on MMOs; what I liked about them, what I didn't like, why I stopped playing, and why FFXIV might draw me back.

I'll start generally with what I liked about MMORPGs. Part of it is what draws me to RPGs in general, whether computer or paper and pencil. And that is having fantastic new worlds to explore and discover. I am an explorer at heart, and RPGs provide the best opportunity to see new places and learn new things about them without actually getting on a plane and going somewhere. But then RPGs combine their vast worlds with rich and involved stories and now you can actually influence the world in which you travel, whether as hero or villian. I consider interesting worlds with interesting stories to be the minimum requirements of a good RPG.

FFXI, WoW, and SoR all excelled in the area of expansive worlds that were fun and interesting to explore. Guild Wars fell flat in this regard, having very linear zones that mostly existed as monster filled gauntlets where you just ran through to get the end. With each zone being a separate and distinct path that was largely unrelated to the next twisty trail you would follow.

Final Fantasy also had separate zones (a limitation imposed by the PS2), but is was hardly a railroad. The outside zones were big and expansive and the caves and dungeons were large enough to get lost in. World of Warcraft had zones, but they blended into eachother, with boundaries where the theme of the zone changed, but not having load screens between one and the other. You could run across the whole continent without ever encountering a loading screen. I did not play Ryzom enough to cross the world, but I did range pretty far from the starting city without running across a loading screen, or even a different environment (over two hours on foot without leaving the desert, before I got eaten by a giant monster).

I much prefer the open worlds to having distinct zones that you must load each time you run through a door or change areas. I hope (and expect, really) that Final Fantasy XIV will take that route, as it should not be limited by memory or processing power as FFXI was. As far as exploring goes, I hope that you can jump off edges or cliffs, or even jump at all, swim, and otherwise travel through or over things other than flat ground. Both WoW and Ryzom allowd this, but FFXI did not (could not is probably more acurate, given the PS2's power). It's ridiculous in this day and age that you can't have your character jump off a two foot ledge or climb over a fence. If I want my character to climb a tree and watch the birds, or drop fireballs on unsuspecting adventurers, I should be able to. At one point in WoW, I decided to swim up the coast of one of the continents. I discovered ship wrecks and fishing shacks that were simply not accessible on foot. Points to Blizzard for actually putting stuff out in the middle of nowhere that takes an hour long swim to get to.

Speaking of limitations, I need to give props to Ryzom, which had an incredible draw distance in their world. The city I started in was on the rim of a great canyon, and you could see to the other side of it. Not in detail of course, but I was impressed that you could still see the lay of the land rather than having it fade out into an opaque haze as it does in every other game. In fact, my two hour trek was inspired by my seeing an interesting formation way out that I wanted to go see up close. It was a plateau that jutted out into the canyon that looked like it wasn't attached to the rim wall. I wanted to see if you could get onto the plateau. Yes, it was so far away it took me two hours to run to it, though admittedly I was dodging monsters way above my level to get there. And I could get out on it. When I got close, I saw that there was one of those wood and rope bridges going across to the plateau. Which is where I died to something big and scary.

So that's exploration. Now let's talk about stories. Stories, histories, backgrounds, this is the other half of what makes exploration fun. Part of it is discovering lost civilizations, ancient wars, or forgotten religions. It helps make the world believable, lived in, a part of some great tapestry. The other part is current events; conflict, politics, trade and commerce. These are the things that give a world a dynamism, a sense of activity and action, and, this is critical for an RPG, your ability to influence what is going on.

WoW, of course, excelled at this. Taking place in an already existing universe, WoW alread had an enormous back story and history to draw on, and everything you did in the ame was based on a quest. And each quest had a story with it, whether it was a simple excuse to go kill monsters, or a drawn out storyline that took many quests to resolve, you had a reason for what you did beyond simply leveling your character. This more than anything disguised the grind, the endless killing of monsters in order to level.

Final Fantasy also had quests, though they were in addition to leveling, rather than the cause of it. The normal quests were generally as interesting as the one shot quests in WoW, though much harder just by the nature of the game (more on that later). Much more satisfying were the story quests, each nation having its own story line. The story quests were classic Final Fantasy, following political intrigue and ancient mysteries. I thought it was much better that the story quests in WoW, even though I never finished the story line.

But there is a problem with story driven quests in MMOs. You solve the problem, save the day, and nothing changes, because the next set of adventurers need to do the quest too. More a problem with WoW that FFXI, simply by having more story based quests, you begin to wonder how many times you can rid the world of bandits, pirates, orcs, or paladins before you wonder just what it is all that heroing is accomplishing. You can complete all the story lines you want, but the world itself never changes. Not a problem with the mundane 'fetch me a whatever' type quests, if you save the world from the same all consuming evil every Monday and Thursday night, the story and associated heroism looses much of its luster. Wondering what the point of it all was was one of the reasons I quite WoW.

I mentioned earlier that playing Final Fantasy XI was hard. The big glaring flaw of FFXI was that it required you to play in a group. In order to level, you needed a full and balanced group in order to kill mobs that actually gave experience. Try to solo something that gave experience and you would die. Playing in a group is fine. It is one of the joys of the MMO. But finding a complete group was always an ordeal. By the time I reached the mid levels, finding a viable group would regularly take over an hour. And if you wanted to quest instead of level, you still needed a group of some kind in order to fight your way through whatever mobs were between you and your objective. And quests groups were rare to non-existent unless you had friends.

Whereas WoW was solo friendly. You could do most things on your own. For some of the harder quests, and kind of ad hoc group would do. You only needed a full and balanceed group on the harder instance dungeons and raid dungeons. I could generally complete two or three quests in WoW, or often a whole dungeon, in less time than it took me to get a group in FFX. This and this alone is the reason I quit Final Fantasy. In WoW, you can have fun if you only have an hour a night a couple nights a week. But in Final Fantasy, you need a four to six hour block to do anything, and you will still spend most of that time doing nothing except finding a group.

Square Enix, having learned from WoW, has stated that FFXIV will be solo friendly and casual gamer friendly. In college, playing games for six hours straight was doable, and quite common for me in both WoW and FFXI. But now that I'm out in the real world, I only have a few hours each evening to split between my hobbies and activities. Not a few hours for each hobby. So if I pick up an MMO again, it has to be one that I can play for a couple hours only a couple nights a week. Because I have to fit that in around church, Warhammer (the table top game, not the MMO), paper and pencil RPGs, seeing friends in real life, and chores. The days of me playing video games for most of the day are long gone. So if Square Enix delivers on FFXIV being casual and solo friendly, and I see no reason why they can't, I will probably be picking up the game when it comes out.

There is a reason why I am more attracted to Final Fantasy than to World of Warcraft. WoW is a fun game and there have been several expansions since I quit, but despite its flaws, I still have fond memories of FFXI. There were just parts of it liked so much more than I did WoW. The first thing has to do with the artistic styles of the two games. WoW has a cartoony, exaggerated style that is bright and colorful. Final Fantasy had a realistic style, with more muted colors that resembled the real world, though thankfully not the brown and gray 'realistic' common to first person shooters (I blame Saving Private Ryan and the 487 World War II shooters that it spawned for that). The landscapes of the different zones, and the architecture of the cities, were evocative of places you could find here on earth, with just enough fantasy elements to let you know that you are indeed in a world of magic.

Nothing in WoW suggested that it was going to take itself seriously. It looked more like Saturday morning cartoons than, say, Lord of the Rings. Many quests were tongue in cheek, the zones were overused fantasy cliches, and WoW hit that magic spot where that just made it good fun, rather being absurd. Final Fantasy, being realistic in style, gave a much better sense of adventure and danger than WoW ever did. There was an atmosphere to FFXI that pervaded everything in the world.

Now there is one interesting thing on style that I want to bring up from Ryzom. In Ryzom, there were herds of beasties roaming around, like an alien version of the African savannah. There were groups of herbivores numbering in dozens wandering around, and small packs of predators that would hunt them down (or you, if you weren't careful). Building something that resembled an actual ecosystem isn't something I've ever seen done in any other video game. I don't really expect it in FFXIV, but it is one of the coolest things I've ever seen in an MMO. They even had little baby animals. And the herds would scatter if you came running in hacking with a sword. Ryzom probably had the most interesting world of any of the MMOs I played, but it lacked greatly in stories and quests, and like FFXI, it required groups and time commitment in order to level. I think Ryzom intended to have largely player driven stories. I don't know how well that turned out, but I came back to it about a year after it released, just to see if it had gone anywhere, and one of the players threw a big gala ball in one of the cities palaces that I got invited to. There was an actual in game invitation too, as in it showed up in my player journal, not just someone texting me about it.

Another thing I liked about FFXI and SoR was that each player got little apartment you could decorate and store stuff in. The in game effects are minimal (WoW had a bank for storing extra stuff), but just having your own place in the game was kind of neat. Ryzom would actually let you get halls for guilds and such, but I never got far enough in the game to join a guild. It's a little thing, but I hope it's something that FFXIV keeps around.

I also liked the FFXI job system better than the classes from WoW. Now WoW certainly had more abilities for each class, but FFXI had more jobs in general, and I liked having the ability to change jobs. In WoW, if you wanted to play a different class, you made a different character. In FFXI, you just changed jobs, and your level, hit points, and the like would adjust to your job. You could also combine jobs. I don't think this worked out quite as well in practice as Square Enix would have hoped, with only a few combinations actually being useful, but with a more casual focus you should be able to get away with more interesting combinations and I hope something similar makes an appearance in Final Fantasy XIV.

Sadly there is little information out there on FFXIV right now, though Square Enix has said that it will be similar enough to FFXI that you can make a character very similar to the one you had in FFXI. Which means I will definately be rolling a mithra black mage again. Magical firepower for the win. It's still a while before it comes out, so for now I'll just have to wait and see which way the game develops.

Economics 101

2009-08-06T21:33:00.000-04:00

Courtesy of Unqualified Reservations. Go read it.

Liberals in Control

2009-08-04T17:17:00.005-04:00

America is on the wrong track because, over the past 50 years, no matter who was in the White House, the Leftists have held the reigns in the culture-creating industries of education, news and entertainment and they have used their powers not to advance truth, beauty, justice, morality, decency, or anything else that is good.
Even Sayet, over on Big Hollywood

This from the man who some time ago claimed that liberals are evil. Actually all people are evil, but there is something to Sayet's claim about the Liberal takeover of education and media. That something being that as the custodians and teachers of knowledge and culture, those in the education system, who generate the ideas and policies, and those in media who spread the ideas, have enormous power in America.

The problem is that they do not teach truth, but falsehoods. Falsehoods that keep them in their behind-the-scenes power. Moldbug over at Unqualified Reservations has a very long open letter to progressives in which he explains how that works (it has about a dozen parts, each many pages long).

It explains why a Republican congress, with a Republican president, with parity on the Supreme Court, still went left for 8 years. It's why the Reagan revolution didn't last, and why, in the future, when the Republicans sweep back into power, we'll continue our progressive journey. They are all progressives to one degree or another, having been taught by extreme progressives in their political science and fill-in-the-blank studies classes.

Meanwhile, in the real world, we are left to suffer with the consequences of whatever policy gets enacted. Suffering professors and politicians alike are allowed to skip over.

Best Quote XIV

2009-07-22T21:35:00.004-04:00

For every class of decision a modern government makes, from diplomacy to economics to issuing fishing licenses, there exists a caste of scholars in the social sciences, carefully selected for their race, gender, intelligence and/or political reliability, who use the methods of science - which, as you know, split the atom and put a man on the moon, and is absolutely infallible - to divine the correct public policy. None of these professors is in any way, shape or form responsible for the success or failure of these policies - generally the later. I swear I am not making this up.
Mencius Moldbug

This is a very succinct explanation of where ideas in politics are derived. The elites come up with an idea, based, of course, on Science! And then we go through an elaborate process by which we pretend to choose the people who will make decisions for us on these policies. Because We the People are merely given the options from which to choose. Both for representatives and for policy. And we are told which we should choose. This predictably leads to tragedy.

Which brings us to another excerpt from Moldbug's essay:

Here are some random facts about the present California which, I feel, are violations of order. The major cities are full of racist paramilitary gangs. Large sections of them are unsafe at night. Other sections are unsafe by day. Millions of people are in California illegally. California has no secure list of people who are authorized to reside there, nor does it know the addresses and occupations of its residents, nor does it have their biometric identities. If an unlocked bicycle is left on the street, it will be stolen. Many Californians are idle and not independently wealthy. Many schools approach the zoological. Graffiti is everywhere, as is garbage. Etc, etc. (You'll note that by the global standards of 2009, California is actually quite orderly).

To the residents of the New California, after a few years of Dictatorship, any of these phenomena would be as shocking as the sight of a live rhinoceros walking down the street. More to the point, they would be about as shocking as the exact same phenomena would be to the residents of California in 1909.

I'm sure the word 'dictatorship' set off alarm bells in everyone's head. Why is that? Most people are aware of the failings and excesses of dictators. Nevermind that most of the 20th century examples were popularly elected and required popular approval to maintain power. Yet the failings of democracy are largely overlooked. Go read Moldbug's essay to hear some of those failings.

Playing the Race Card

2009-07-15T20:59:00.002-04:00

I found this on Right Wing Video, courtesy of Conservative Grapevine.

Best Quote XIII

2009-06-27T17:46:00.002-04:00

Let me give you an alternative view: if a man walks up to another man and calls him a f*ggot or a n*gger of a motherf*cker, etc., etc., to his face, there is nothing whatsoever morally wrong with punching him in the mouth as a response. In other words, "Did he deserve a beating? Yes, he did." There are people who deserve beating. Fighting isn't always wrong. Violence actually solves a lot of things.
John Hawkins

From something about one celebrity hitting another celebrity.

I don't much care about celebrities, but I agree that some people just need a good beating. Turn 'em polite right quick, I think.

The Rogue Library

2009-06-27T15:11:00.004-04:00

Well, rather than getting couches for my living room, I got a desk and book shelves for my library upstairs. All pretty cherry wood with carved detailing. Right now I'm going for that Victorian England library. The kind that would belong to some explorer that's filled with random souvenirs from his travels (souvenirs yet to come). Here is the start of it.

I still need to add some pictures and paintings on the walls, and add the various accent pieces to it. I've got some old maps from fantasy video games. I want to frame those and put them up, since they have that old world feel to them.

I also want a bunch of steampunk accent pieces. I'm trying to walk a pretty fine line between traditional and fantasy.

The only other major thing I want to do up here is add a comfy chair and a little table so I can actually read in my library.

Oh, and redo the lights. My list of things I want to do to my house seems to only get longer as I actually get things done.

Best Quote XII

2009-06-04T21:54:00.003-04:00

I found this at the Other McCain today. It comes originally from Shannon at Chicago Boyz.

The left doesn't actually have a developed system of thought regarding the economy. They can't actually explain why the real world political process will systematically make better decisions than the free-market. Instead, they simply point to any reversals in the real economy, regardless of cause, and then assert that in their imaginations, leftist politicians could have done better.

It's hard to argue against people's imaginations. You end up with a discussion much like two D&D geeks arguing over whether a dwarf with a +10 axe could take an elf with a vorpal sword.

I agree with McCain and Shannon. The dwarf wins.

For the Greater Good!

2009-05-24T18:52:00.004-04:00

Plodding right along on my Tau force, I have completed my first stealthsuit. This is an older XV15 model that Games Workshop has discontinued. I got it from my friend's brother-in-law, along with a bunch of other Tau models. This particular model is a Shas'vre, equipped with a bonding knife and markerlight.

Stealthsuits are equipped with stealth field generators that distort their image and make them more difficult to see (and thus shoot at). I wanted some way to mark that the models are cloaked, rather than just painting them like the rest of my infantry. One way that I had seen was to dry brush the model the same way you dry brush the base, so that it blends in with the terrain that your army is mounted on. Some of the better ones had the stealthsuits phasing in and out, with half the model painted normally, and the other half cloaked.

However, I wasn't really sold on the idea, and I didn't want something that was only half stealthed. So I decided to give my stealth units a camouflage scheme. I painted the model the army's blue, rather than the standard white of my infantry, then painted a mottled pattern over top. It came out a lot better than I thought it would.

Further Adventures in Decorating

2009-05-19T16:44:00.004-04:00

This past weekend I found a mirror for my foyer. It's an interesting looking piece. Still going with the oriental flavor, this actually reminds me of some of the decoration I saw when I was in Thailand. Particularly the gold leaves on the red background.

And now that I have the mirror up, I can hang up one of the pictures I got at the art show. I needed the table and mirror as a reference to see where the painting should go.

I have three things left to do to my foyer. I need something to go on the table. I'm thinking either a Thai dragon or a Chinese lion. I also need a shoe rack to go along that low wall you can see in the bottom of the picture. I have a bunch of shoes lining the base of the wall, but I'd like an actual place to put them. I haven't really been looking yet, but the only ones I've seen so far are those metal or plastic wire frames. Suitable for the closet, but not for the front entrance. The last thing I want to do is replace the light with something more oriental looking. The shoe rack should be the only thing that poses any difficulty.

Working on the Front Walk

2009-05-17T14:51:00.008-04:00

The other week I decided to liven up my front walk a bit by adding some flowers. It was pretty bare before, especially the strip of mulch between the garage and the sidewalk. So I went to Lowe's and picked out some flowers at random. Just whatever looked pretty. I got a couple long windowsill pots to put them in. I potted them instead of planting them since I wasn't sure what the home owner's association would say about it. So far, nothing.

This is the front walk with the new flowers. The poinsettia there by the door was a gift from the neighbors this Christmas. And the little American flag is from the Tea Party.

The first set of flowers. Three of them are the same kind, just different colors. The bright red ones there on the center right have since stopped blooming. The others look like they'll keep going for a while.

All but the red ones here have stopped blooming. The plants are still green, but no more flowers. The tags on the flowers for these first two pots say they need a lot of sun, and here between the buildings they probably only get 3 hours of sunlight a day. We'll see if the start blooming again once the dead buds fall off.

This last pot has flowers that like the shade. The two in the middle need a lot of water. They start wilting if I don't water them for a couple days. The pink one has stopped blooming, but the plant is still a bright green.

And no, I don't know what any of these flowers are. I didn't save the tags, and I forgot to look. Also, my neighbors decided to copy me after I put my flowers out. But she outdid me, putting more pots out and taller flowers. If any of mine die, I'll have to get something bigger to match.

Best Quote XI

2009-04-15T17:35:00.002-04:00

...Consider the possibility that man is to God as a dog is to a man, and a dog is to man as a flea is to a dog; i.e., the man, the dog, and the flea, who are merely tagging along for the ride, have neither the faintest idea as to why their masters do what they do nor the means to ever understand why.

The question then becomes: Is God indifferent to us, as the dog is to the flea, or does he allow us to suffer for reasons we do not understand? When someone takes his dog to the veterinarian, the dog has no idea why his master allows pain to be inflicted on him. In the same way, perhaps, God doesn't always give us what we want, but he knows what we need.
Robert Ringer

Hat Tip: Right Wing News via Conservative Grapevine

I Want a Letter of Marque

2009-04-13T19:42:00.004-04:00

Civilization is not an evolution of mankind but the imposition of human good on human evil. It is not a historical inevitability. It is a battle that has to be fought every day, because evil doesn't recede willingly before the wheels of progress.
Andrew McCarthy

There's been much talk recently about the Somali pirates. It is heartening to hear that the pirates got what they deserved. But I am completely baffled that a handful of pirates in a lifeboat with one hostage managed to hold off three American warships for four days.

And not only that, but the hostage actually escaped, giving the Navy a window of opportunity to sink their little dinghy. Do destroyers not have cannons these days?!

What is it that has paralyzed our society in the face of danger? It's not just pirates off the coast of Africa. It's gangs in the inner city and drug lords in Mexico. Why do we tolerate crime and destruction and anarchy?

There are sections of the city not two miles from my house I would not venture through except in a group, and wouldn't enter at night even with an armed party. Is this normal?

Civilization is the restriction of human behavior. When we remove those restrictions, when we no longer restrain ourselves, no longer enforce restrictions on those who will not restrain themselves, civilization falls. A society that tolerates murder, ignores theft, and encourages sloth cannot be called civilized. Such brings decay. An inner city ghetto in America is better off, I think, than Somalia, but the lawlessness is the same. I wouldn't go into either.

We've let men like this take over whole neighborhoods. When really they ought to stuck on a pike in the village square. (Pirates should be hung from the yardarm. There are traditions for these things, after all.)

Hat Tip: Mark Steyn, via Conservative Grapevine

Calvinball and Theology

2009-04-10T17:57:00.003-04:00

The topic we were discussing in men's Bible study the other day was moral law. One of the sticking points was whether moral law comes from an outside source, or whether it is made up by society. Obviously, Christians believe that moral law comes from an outside source; God. Whereas evolutionists and many other scholars believe that moral law is made up by society.

Where Calvinball comes in is with an analogy that was used to describe moral law. In almost all games, the rules are made up by an outside source. The players don't make up the rules as they go. Nor do they even agree on the rules before the game starts. The rules exist from beforehand, whether in basketball or Monopoly, and the players are expected to follow them. This is our outside source. The rules of play are created by some external entity and anyone who wants to play the game follows those rules.

In Calvinball, however, the players make up rules as they go. Rules are invented and disbanded at whim. This is the evolutionary theory, where people make up rules to progress themselves, and eventually eliminate them when they are no longer useful.

Both approaches to games are possible. You and your buddies can make up your own rules and have a great time. Or you can play an existing game and have a great time. But in real life, the question is whether moral law is absolute or relative. For it to be absolute, it must come from an outside source. And by outside, I mean outside of humanity. Any objective standard is external to the thing being measured.

With relative moral law, we can invent and modify right and wrong however it suits us. But in a dispute, whose right and wrong do we use? Whoever has the bigger stick. If right and wrong are social constructs, then whoever has the power to enforce the standard gets to set the standard. But if the standard changes, it's not really standard.

Which is shiny and all, but it doesn't really tell us which of these theories is correct. Either we're all playing basketball, even if we don't know the rules and are inclined to cheat, or we are playing Calvinball, and only use rules we like.

Maybe I should go read some more Calvin & Hobbes and see what other theology I can discover.

I Need to Find this Bar

2009-04-08T19:00:00.002-04:00

Hot chicks. With lightsabers. Need I say more?

Hat Tip: House of Eratosthenes

Best Quote X

2009-04-02T17:43:00.002-04:00

We traded beauty for ugliness, truth for lies, liberty for comfort, love for indifference, responsibility for frivolity, duty for entertainment, history for sound bites, and children for pleasure. We had gold, but we tossed it aside and replaced it with cleverly designed dross. We turned men into women and women into men and marveled at our new creative power. We stopped looking up to Heaven and began to keep our gaze firmly fixed on the ground. We abandoned the old God for a host of hip, cool and slick new ones.
The Return of Scipio

Everything that is wrong with society.

Hat Tip: House of Eratosthenes

Best Quote IX

2009-03-31T17:32:00.003-04:00

I'm tired of being told how bad America is by left-wing millionaires like Michael Moore, George Soros, and Hollywood entertainers who live in luxury because of the opportunities America offers. In thirty years, if they got their way, the United States will have the religious freedom and women's rights of Saudi Arabia, the economy of Zimbabwe, the freedom of the press of China, the crime and violence of Mexico, the tolerance for gay people of Iran, and the freedom of speech of Venezuela. Won't multiculturalism be beautiful?
Robert A. Hall

Dead on. The flip side to that view is that in much less than thirty years, there will be a backlash against this kind of liberal idiocy, and the country will move back to the right. This kind of cycle has been going on for a while now; since the Renaissance for our own culture. But what I can't help but notice is that the cycle itself moves ever more leftward. So I don't expect the coming conservative swing to take as far to the right as Reagan, and the next swing left will take us past the Obama administration. My question is: when do we stop cycling far enough back to the right to be unable to fix things?

Hat Tip: Conservative Grapevine

Daniel Hannan

2009-03-31T17:28:00.001-04:00

Heh: "pathologically incapable of accepting responsibility"

Hat Tip: Cassy Fiano

Capitalist Smackdown

2009-03-30T19:25:00.003-04:00

One of the statist fallacies is that there exists people who are more intelligent and virtuous than everyone else; nobles who need to tell the uneducated masses what to do. The problem is that no such man has ever existed that is able to resist the temptation to abuse his powers. (Except for that one guy 2000 years ago.) So statism fails to help the people, as the leaders help themselves instead. Capitalism at least tries to work around this lack of virtue, as Friedman puts it.

Hat Tip: Big Hollywood

Best Quote VIII

2009-03-30T19:09:00.002-04:00

History repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce.
Karl Marx

Though I doubt he was talking about socialism or statism when he said it, it certainly applies to our continued attempts to try his ideas, despite the warnings that Nazism and Communism provide for us.

Hat Tip: Right Wing News

Liberals are Evil

2009-03-25T16:49:00.003-04:00

But I'm not the only one saying it.

This speech was given by Evan Sayet to the Heritage Foundation two years ago. He gave a followup speech this week.

My favorite line was this one:

Stupidity is a luxury and you will find time and time and time again that those who are overwhelmingly on the left are those who can afford to be. Those who do not suffer the consequences of their stupidity...

Hat Tip: Big Hollywood and Right Wing News

The Orlando Tea Party

2009-03-22T21:20:00.003-04:00

I went to the Orlando Tea Party yesterday. Some five to six thousand people showed up for the event. We got there around noon, and by then the amphitheater was full, so we got seats outside the bowl. We couldn't really hear the speakers, so I don't know the specific message at this rally, but I've been following the events on Instapundit and other blogs, so I don't think they said anything with which I disagree.

One of my friends made t-shirts for the event. (I left my camera at home, so I'll have to post some pictures later). He brought a bunch extra and sold all of them within an hour.

Most people at the tea party seemed to be in good spirits. Everyone was smiling and talking to each other. It really felt more like a day at the park than a political protest. Signs and t-shirts not withstanding. Nobody was ugly or calling for a revolt. And that makes me wonder whether or not these tea parties are having any affect. The government does not listen to conservatives. Liberalism is the sanctioned view from the universities and other experts. Congress could probably ignore us without suffering much. Though I rather expect them to give us minor sops to appease us while furthering the socialization of America.

On the other hand, many thousands of people have turned out for these tea parties across the country. How far can we be pushed, I wonder? Nobody likes what the federal government is doing, but few people seem outright angry about it. Most people seem to hope that we can vote out the liberals in the next election and vote in some actual conservatives who will follow the Constitution. And as long as people believe that, no revolution will happen. But I expect that a bunch of Republicans will be voted in the next election, and they will socialize America slower. But I don't think they will reverse what we are going through now.

Which would put the current government in a precarious situation. What happens when other people recognize this? What happens if people realize that the game is rigged so that the liberals always win? That liberal policy always harms civilization and increases chaos? I don't even want to think about what would happen if conservatives realized that their government was their active enemy. But liberalism/progressivism leads to a collapsed third world country.

And so liberals hope conservatives don't know how high the stakes are. And conservatives hope that liberals will change their policy, but if they don't, we can vote them out. And unless there is a flash point, there things will stay.

For the Greater Good!

2009-03-20T21:26:00.006-04:00

I have finished my first XV8 Crisis Battlesuit. As the battlesuits are infantry, I have painted them much like my Fire Warriors. This particular suit is in a Fireknife configuration, equipped with a plasma rifle, missile pod, and multi-tracker.

I have modelled this one in flight, cruising in to the fire zone. This represents the Tau's jump-shoot-jump tactic, and makes for a more interesting model.

For comparison, I have placed a Fire Warrior next to the Crisis suit. The Crisis suit is quite a bit bigger than a Tau, though this one looks even larger since it is hovering off the ground. I'm really liking the way this army is turning out.

New Artwork

2009-03-20T13:00:00.006-04:00

I went to the Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival this morning. It wasn't quite as big as the Mt Dora Arts Festival, but they still had some neat things. What I got this time was a print of a photograph by John & Debora Scanlon.

Obviously this doesn't match my Chinese paintings I got last month, but I think it is a very beautiful piece, and it does go with the old world, somewhat exotic theme I am going for in my home. Plus I have a lot of wall downstairs, so I don't have to hang it near the Chinese stuff.

And now that I am starting to decorate, I dug this painting out of the closet. I got it in Jamaica while on a cruise about this time last year.

I'm not sure where I'll put this one. Perhaps I'll hang it in the downstairs bathroom. I could make it a Caribbean theme. I do like the ocean and the tropics, but I don't want to mix a bunch of disparate styles in one room. And it's a small painting, so I think the bathroom idea will work.

A Modern Day Tea Party

2009-03-19T22:51:00.004-04:00

So Gtmunch just sent me a link about an Orlando Tea Party this weekend. I think it will be an interesting adventure. This will be my first foray into political activism. I wanted to write down a few thoughts before casting my lot.

Of great concern to me is the vast difference between my view of the world, and that of the liberals. It is only in the last two years that I have begun to discover the various, fundamental beliefs that make up a person's philosophy on life, the universe, and everything. I started this blog in part to write down what my beliefs are, how they compare to other philosophies, and how they all play out in the world.

And what I have found in my learning is that these different worldviews are not compatible. They contradict. Which means at least one of them has to be wrong. It's simple logic; the law of non-contradiction.

But it is more than just right and wrong. For I do not believe that liberal philosophy merely wrong, I believe that liberal philosophy is the most destructive force in society today. It's not something over which I can compromise. But this puts me in a very awkward position. My beliefs place me in direct opposition to my government. I consider what the Democrats are doing in Washington to be evil. They are systematically destroying American civilization.

That's one hell of a statement. But I can't come to any other conclusion. I believe that the best society is that which is built upon Biblical teachings. The humanist and naturalist philosophies that underpin liberalism are in direct opposition to Christianity. And they know it. That is why Christianity has been ever more marginalized for the last century by progressive policy makers.

The government wishes to mandate how we should live our lives; tell us what proper behavior is, and beliefs are taboo. Which is also what Christianity does (and Islam, and Judaism, and Buddhism, and so on).

So I think the best I can do is live my life according to the teachings of Christ to the best of my ability.

Which brings us back to the Tea Party protests. I really can't tell how much affect they are having. I don't think the powers that be in Washington care at all. So as far as policy goes, I think it's a complete wash. However, it does let people know that they are not alone in disagreeing with their government. But I really don't expect it to go as far as the original Boston Tea Party. Even though we are far more aggrieved than the Colonists. Nobody really wants an armed insurrection against the most powerful nation in the world. It might have worked 233 years ago, but the deck is considerably more stacked in government's favor today, and few people are willing to give up their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor, since life is still pretty damned good for most of us.

Best Quote VII

2009-03-19T17:36:00.003-04:00

Christianity has not been tried and found false - it's been tried and found too difficult.
C. S. Lewis

Hat Tip: Michael McGruther at Big Hollywood

Best Quote VI

2009-03-18T19:05:00.003-04:00

It's a Recession when your neighbor loses his job. It's a Depression when you lose your job. It's a Recovery when Obama loses his job.

Hat Tip: Burt Prelutsky at Big Hollywood

Pr0n's Law

2009-03-16T20:48:00.003-04:00

The cumulative number of women who have posed topless on the internet doubles every eighteen months.
Unknown

I was doing chores this evening, and my mind started having strange philosophical discussions with itself. I mean, what else is it supposed to do while I vacuum and mop? At any rate, I got onto the topic of pornography. It is a continual problem for every man, and definitely one I struggle with (on the occasion that I actually struggle, instead of giving right it).

But what caught my mind's eye was the conventional Christian wisdom on pornography. Namely, that it desensitizes men to sex and sexual acts, causes men to disrespect women , and treat them as nothing more than sex objects.

The problem is that that narrative doesn't really match up with my experiences. I do not feel that I treat women with disrespect, or only think about having sex. Nor do I feel more inclined to behave that way after viewing porn. And of the men I know who have viewed porn (or still do), all of them are well behaved towards women. So either I've only met the outliers, or the conventional wisdom is lacking.

It seems to me that pornography is more of a symptom of society's problems with the relationship between men and women, rather than a cause. That disrespect and sexual objectification are more prevalent is obvious (hello rap culture), but I think that has more to do with America's growing self-centeredness. The it's-all-about-me-I-don't-care-about-anyone-else attitude and the loosening and often outright abandonment of moral restrictions leads to disrespectful, degrading behavior, since one is concerned with one's own pleasures, and not whether that hurts someone else.

And that seems to me where porn lies. It is selfish. It is sexual gratification without the hassle of getting a woman's permission first. Actually, right there I can see how pornography can contribute to this problem. Like any other form of selfishness, when you become used to indulging in your pleasures at your whim, suddenly finding yourself restricted in a similar area (say your girlfriend isn't in the mood) will make you resentful.

But this does put the root cause on our own selfishness, and our growing inability to deal with it when we don't get what we want when we want it. So it looks like the Church does have a point and pornography does feed the problem. But what the Church misses (or I have missed) is that the problem is the continual selfish indulgence in every sin to the point we get angry when we can't indulge for some reason. Pornography and sexual degradation are the problems associated with lust. I bet it would be easy to find obvious examples of the other deadly sins.

And this also explains why my own experiences did not match the conventional wisdom. We (my Christian friends and I) understand and accept that we can't always get our way, and that selfishness is wrong, so we don't flip out when the universe doesn't cater to our whims. So while we unfortunately still indulge in our own favorite sins, the Holy Spirit keeps it from dominating our lives.

Best Quote V

2009-03-16T18:13:00.002-04:00

This stuff starts on the playground, really. Who among us hasn't been hauled to the principal's office after hitting back at the school bully - and then told, gosh darn it, he's here all the time but you're supposed to be better! It's the tactic of the thoroughly cowardly bureaucrat.

Some of us want punishment for whoever started the fight; some of us want punishment for whoever finished it.

This is why so many wars have been started under democrat Presidents. It's also why, the wars our country fought that finished with a lasting, enduring, durable peace, were fought before we had the United Nations. Since then, every wildfire around the globe, rather than being altogether extinguished, just subsides into a smoldering slow burn ready to erupt into an inferno at any time.
House of Eratosthenes

This reminds me of a story one the people I met in college told me. She said she was in Model UN, and one time they were running a scenario where they were representatives of NATO countries at a time when terrorists had taken control of a NATO building in Brussels. They were tasked with resolving the situation. After many hours of debate, they released a statement saying that an attack against one was an attack against all. So the terrorists blew up the building, killing thousands, including themselves.

She told the story as a funny anecdote of how a group of people (a committee, really) are unable to come to any kind of decision, even in a crisis. In retrospect, however, I think they modeled the UN very accurately.

As a counter point, I offer this story from one of my high school friend's time in JROTC. He was invited to the Pentagon to do some war games. Their scenario was the acquisition of nuclear weapons by North Korea. North Korea was preparing to invade South Korea, and they were supposed to stop them.

Their solution was to launch a series of cruise missile strikes at North Korea's anti-air defenses (said defenses provided by the Chinese), and then bomb the ICBM launch complex as well as North Korea's military staging areas. This caused the Chinese to 'aid' North Korea by invading South Korea. And to stop that monstrosity, they nuked one Chinese ballistic missile sub base and a staging area where China had massed close to one million troops, thus negating China's military might.

The coordinator ruled that China dropped out and America won the war.

Foyer Furniture

2009-03-14T13:50:00.005-04:00

I found a neat table for my foyer. I was at Ashley Furniture looking at sofas when I saw this. They were getting rid of them to make room for a new model, so I got one of the floor pieces on sale.

This kind of bound chest look is not at all what I was originally looking for. I was thinking of making the foyer have an oriental look. However it looked interesting, it was the right color wood, and I think with the right accents, it will still look good in an oriental style.

I've had trouble finding a foyer table. My foyer is rather small (it is a town home, after all), and the stairs start right in the foyer, so I had to find something small enough to not block the stairs.

There a still a few things I have to do in the foyer before it's done. The most important right now is to get a door stop, so the door doesn't swing into my new table and beat it up. A trip to Lowe's and half hour's work should take care of that. After that, I want to hang up a mirror over the table, put in a shoe rack by the hat stand, hang up that picture of bamboo I got at the festival, replace the light fixture with something oriental or Himalayan looking, and get a Chinese or Thai dragon to go on the table. Which is more plan than I have for the rest of the house.

For the Greater Good!

2009-03-13T16:44:00.005-04:00

After many months, I have finally finished my Devilfish Troop Carrier. I painted the ship blue with lots of white trim and panels, in keeping with my Ice Planet theme. Whereas my infantry have white armor over black jumpsuits, I wanted the vehicles to be a little different, so they would stand out better.

A rear view.

And a profile shot.

I'm going to go back to working on infantry for a while now. Even in batches, they are quicker to build than vehicles. This puts my total army at 1 Devilfish, 8 Fire Warriors, and 2 Gun Drones (not counting the ones on the Devilfish). I have a long way to go.

The Prisoner's Dilemma and Society

2009-03-11T18:22:00.007-04:00

I found this article while wandering around the Anchoress' website today. It's on the prisoner's dilemma. The prisoner's dilemma is as follows:

Two suspects, A and B, are arrested by the police. The police have insufficient evidence for a conviction, and, having separated both prisoners, visit each of them to offer the same deal: if one testifies for the prosecution against the other and the other remains silent, the betrayer goes free and the silent accomplice receives the full 10-year sentence. If both stay silent, both prisoners are sentenced to only six months in jail for a minor charge. If each betrays the other, each receives a two-year sentence. Each prisoner must make the choice of whether to betray the other or to remain silent. However, neither prisoner knows for sure what choice the other prisoner will make. So this dilemma poses the question: How should the prisoners act?
Wikipedia

I've seen this before in video games where my character is prisoner A and one of my companions is prisoner B. The question is always phrased as a moral choice, do I screw my friend over, or do I stay loyal to my friend and risk losing? I always choose based on whether I'm playing a good guy or a villain.

But Bill Whittle points out something I hadn't considered before. If the other prisoner chooses to screw me over, then it is best for me to do the same. And if the other prisoner chooses to cooperate, then it is best for me to betray him. It is always in my best interest to betray my opponent. And if the other prisoner is rational, he'll choose the same and we both server two years.

This is pretty straight forward, and I might have gotten their had I considered it an economic question rather than a moral question. But what really interested me is what happens when you play the game over and over again, with the same two prisoners. Computer simulations show that choosing what the other prisoner chose last turn (tit-for-tat) gives the least time in jail for the prisoner.

Most Americans know that it is cooperation that generates the most wealth. I make my stuff, you make your stuff, and we and everybody else trade it all around until we have the stuff we want. Every economic system, from capitalism to socialism, is based off this idea that each person makes/does something useful and gets useful things in return.

Where things get interesting is in how each system deals with cheaters. If cheaters are punished, then cheating will be rare and cooperation will prevail. That is, if the imposed costs of cheating, fraud, stealing, going back on your word, and whatnot are greater than what you gain from cheating, you will play by the rules, even though cooperation has its own costs.

This is the tit-for-tat. Cooperation, specialization, is required to create the type of wealth seen in the United States. In order to write good software, I have to focus most of my time and energy on it. Which means to get food, I have to buy it, which requires that I trust that the company will pay me for what I write, and that the grocery store will accept that money in exchange for food and not give me a box of shredded paper instead. But this only happens if cheaters are removed from the game.

This is one of the rules of capitalism. The actors in the market are generally honest, and the dishonest ones are punished, so that self-interest leads to cooperation.

Communism, on the other hand, simply assumes that cheaters will disappear.

If cheaters are allowed to play, then society quickly devolves into a free-for-all. If some people take without giving back, then everyone else has to work harder to make up the difference. But as more people realize it is better for them personally to cheat rather than cooperate, then there will be more cheaters and the good people will have to suffer the additional costs of providing for them.

A concrete example: I want electricity for my house. I can either buy it from the electric company, or I can hook my house to my neighbor's house, who is paying the electric company. If there is no punishment for not paying, then of course letting my neighbor pay for both of us is my cheapest option. But if cheating is acceptable, then everyone will cheat. And if nobody pays for electricity, then the electric company stops providing it.

For most of history, and even much of the world today, people have been stuck in this state of not trusting. It is a point of equilibrium. I take advantage of others where I can because if I don't I will be taken advantage of.

This is why family is such an important part of most cultures. You can trust family, in a way you can't trust the random strangers you might meet doing business. So the clan or tribe becomes a group of people you can cooperate with, because you know they won't take advantage of you.

I think this will be a very useful lens through which to examine America's current economic crisis, and the societal break down that has preceded it.

Voluntary Segregation

2009-02-27T19:00:00.003-05:00

Other people are noticing this, so I guess I'm not crazy.

Well, alright, maybe crazy, but not insane.

Is Failure the Goal?

2009-02-24T16:22:00.003-05:00

Yesterday's post was deliberately inflammatory. It was designed to infuriate and offend the politically correct while still being honest. But I want to revisit a certain point. When I say 'white' and 'black,' I am not referring to the color of a group's skin, but rather the culture of that group. Specifically, I am referring to Christian culture and ghetto culture (for lack of a better term). These cultures are dominated by whites and blacks respectively, but there are plenty of good, Christian black people, and plenty of ghetto white boys I'd rather avoid.

Let's define our terms here. By 'Christian culture,' I mean that culture that adheres to biblical principle, as personified by my Lord Jesus Christ, and taught by his apostles and the prophets that preceded him. It is personal responsibility, kindness, hard work, generosity, serving others, bettering yourself. And by 'ghetto culture,' I mean that culture best exemplified by rappers that glories in violence, drugs, sex, crime, single motherhood, gangs, broken families, disrespect.

It should be obvious why the Christian consistently outperforms the gangbanger. Here is the difference between blacks and whites. It's not the color of their skin, it's not the continent from which their ancestors came, it is the culture in which they live.

We have now answered the question of why people end up being segregated by 'race' every time we measure how well Americans are doing at life. The next question is why does such a self-destructive culture persist? And why are many on the Christian side of the equation abandoning it for the selfish debauchery that so marks barbarianism?

The answer, in part (or maybe in whole), is liberal policy. If you recall the quote that started this rant, academics think it is illegal for one group to outperform another group, and that the better group should be held down to the lowest common denominator. Policies that encourage bad behavior and discourage good behavior have become the norm. The effect has been to create a lower, usually criminal class, and indeed to encourage the middle class to join them. To go into why the leaders of our country do this would be a very long post. Mencius Moldbug takes a pretty good stab at it (a six part series, at the time of this writing).

But the evidence is that our government and academic institutions are actively destroying society and civilization. I have not yet found a way around this conclusion. And it frightens me.

Designed for Failure

2009-02-23T21:28:00.003-05:00

But the nation's foremost scholars in middle-school education are worried the fast-growing trend is leaving minority children behind. They also question whether the practice is legal because, nationwide, it has tended to result in students being segregated by race.

The quote in question is on the practice of middle school students taking high school classes.

I'm going to go ahead and say it: if two distinct groups of people habitually perform differently at some measured aptitude, then perhaps they really are different. To put it more bluntly, if you are a minority (I'm sure they mean black and Hispanic) then you are less able to succeed in life than a white person.

Now if you've simmered down some from that racist statement, I'll explain what I mean by that. I really don't think genetics is the determining factor here. It appears to me that the culture associated with race has far more bearing on this difference in ability than your ancestry.

I know that there are very intelligent, driven black people out there, and also very dumb white people. I've met some of them, spent some time with them. And yet, the data show that on average, white people commit fewer crimes, less violent crimes, do better in school, do better on the job, make more money, have more stable families, and just generally do better at life. Now as is normal with any bell curve distribution, some white people will be worse than most blacks, and some blacks will be better than most whites. But there is a definite distinction between the center masses of these two curves.

The scholars of the quote at the top acknowledge this fact. But their solution is to prevent whites from succeeding, so that they are on par with their less capable counterparts. They have looked at the data and said only white people are getting ahead, there must be something wrong with white people.

To say that there is something wrong with black people is blasphemy of an unrivaled scale. (Don't get me started on the hypocrisy between these two positions.) Because to say that is to say that black people need to change their culture so that it stops handicapping them. But that is the obvious conclusion the data present. Black people do not succeed because they live in a culture that prevents success.

In fact, I've heard my successful black friends be called 'whitey' by their ghetto brothers. Like the ability to work hard and provide for a family is a white trait. Actually, there is some truth to that. White people (well, alright, Christians) believe that hard work and responsibility are the keys to success. And look, they are ahead of everyone else. So you know what, if white culture breeds success and black culture does not, then blacks could use a good white washing.

Whites are not immune to this either. Many people could use a good dose of old fashioned Christian values. That is where the real difference lies. The productive, stable, successful cultures adhere to biblical, Christian principles. The rest live in an impoverished world of violence and distrust. Unfortunately, our leaders are asking everyone to emulate the failures.

Random prediction: if Christianity is outlawed society will collapse to little better than subsistence living, much like the middle ages (and much like third world countries today).

Hat Tip: Conservative Grapevine

Chicago Tea Party

2009-02-23T17:28:00.004-05:00

Hat Tip: House of Eratosthenes

Art for the Home

2009-02-18T18:11:00.005-05:00

The other weekend was the Mt Dora Arts Festival. I went looking for something with which to decorate my townhouse. I am trying to avoid cheap decorations. I have several posters in plastic frames I could hang, but I want my home to be a home, not a college bachelor pad.

At any rate, I found some paintings I liked. They are Chinese in style, done by a man named Godwin Kou. Actually they are prints of paintings, but whichever.

I plan on hanging this one in my foyer. I'm currently trying to find a little table with a drawer that I can put in there. I want to hang a mirror over that, and put this painting up next to that, at the base of the stairs. I'd like to find the table and mirror first, so I know where to hang this painting.

I want to hang these two in my living room. I have a large amount of wall that needs something on it. These paintings are a good size, but I still have some room for other stuff. The Chinese on the tiger painting says 'when the tiger roars, you can feel the wind.' The painting below is the Chinese word for meditation. I still need to frame the tiger one before I hang it.

I was trying to make the foyer in a somewhat Oriental style. I have a wooden wall carving of a dragon I got while I was in Thailand on one wall now. But the living room is supposed to be an old world European feel. I think I can still use these last two in there. I really want something that is slightly exotic and fantastic, without being over the top or outrageous. With the right furniture and accent pieces, I can do it. And there is still plenty of wall space to cover.