This is a very interesting article on why per-word rates are so low for writers for tabletop RPGS.
Pie for everyone, just sliced very thinly: The economics of RPG book production http://t.co/c3FZAhIrdV by @simonjrogers
— Pelgrane Press Ltd (@PelgranePress) February 13, 2015
Continue reading Link: Simon Rogers’ ‘The Economics of RPG Book Production’
On the one hand: she’s probably lying.
Justice Ginsburg: I didn't pass out at the SOTU speech because I'm old, I was just drunk http://t.co/eFSZUHts8y
— David Burge (@iowahawkblog) February 13, 2015
On the other hand, it’s kind of a badass lie. And on the gripping hand, I wouldn’t go to an Obama SotU sober, either. I had to watch most of the last SotU sober (wife got delayed getting home), and it was remarkably unpleasant. I don’t know how people who don’t drink during these things can stand it.
Moe Lane
PS: There seems to be a general consensus on Twitter that “using alcohol to get through the SotU” is a viable life hack.
…but after looking at it a little, I have instead decided on the alternate tactic of ‘backing away slowly.’ My kids don’t play this game, they’re not likely to any time soon, and clearly This Way Lies Madness. I’ll just assume that Tycho… no! Bad Moe! BAD! No biscuit!
I repeat: BACKING AWAY SLOWLY.
Southern Cross, Crosby Stills & Nash
Weirdest thing: the DJ this morning said that “Sweet Home Alabama” was written in response to this song. That’s … not right, surely?
Because, yeah, it would have been depressingly useful, back in the day.
I bet your public transit system doesn’t need a website like this: http://t.co/nCben2qbPX #fb
— Chris Younce (@younce) February 13, 2015
…What? No, this isn’t about the ‘butt buddy’ thing. I actually understood from the beginning what Vice President Joe Biden was trying to say there: he was trying to use a bowderlized version of ‘[***]hole buddy,’ which was originally a common enough (and not actually sexual) slang term during my father’s and Joe Biden’s respective generations. I mean, sure: only Joe Biden could manage to allege a homosexual relationship between himself and a member of the audience while trying to not raise any eyebrows with his phraseology. But that is, as they say, how the Joe Biden do.
No, the stupid thing Joe Biden said today was his blithe decision to inextricably link the eventual Democratic candidate to President Barack Obama. Continue reading Joe Biden said something incredibly stupid in Iowa today.
The local vaccination rate there is horrible.
A WIRED investigation shows that some children attending day care facilities affiliated with prominent Silicon Valley companies have not been completely vaccinated against preventable infectious diseases. At least, that’s according to a giant database from the California Department of Public Health, which tracks the vaccination rates at day care facilities and preschools in the state. We selected more than 20 large technology and health companies in the Bay Area and researched their day care offerings. Of 12 day care facilities affiliated with tech companies, six—that’s half—have below-average vaccination rates, according to the state’s data.
And by below-average WIRED means ‘critically unsafe,’ here. It’s the herd immunity problem: essentially, anti-vaccination advocates pretty much bank on the fact that since everybody else vaccinates their kids, then unvaccinated kids are safe from outbreaks, because an outbreak is unlikely to spread. The critical percentage is, according to WIRED, about 92% (which is probably just taking an average of the 90% to 95% that seems to be the general rule of thumb): less than that, and a measles outbreak is possible. Those day care facilities mentioned above are all showing vaccination rates below 90%*. The companies involved are, of course, contesting the findings, blaming poor and incomplete record keeping for their low scores. Continue reading Vaccination Watch: DO NOT WORK IN SILICON VALLEY IF YOU HAVE KIDS.
Oregon is having a moment, isn’t it?
BREAKING Capitol source tells me @GovKitz Chief of Staff and his legislative liaison resigned today.
— Anna Canzano (@AnnaCanzanoKATU) February 12, 2015
I know, I know: Kitzhaber’s replacement will be worse. But on the other hand, Oregon’s been managing to avoid having open progressives – open the way that Kate Brown is open about it – formally run its state government for quite a while now. Looks like they’re gonna get three years of precisely that…
…at processing my computer order. Turns out that ‘five to seven business days’ to process a construction order pretty much means ‘a week, if you’re lucky.’ I’m not mad, per se, but if I had known to expect the far end of the curve I might have picked a different vendor to begin with, or even bought off-the-shelf. The length of time to put the computer together was what was holding me up with going with Newegg in the first place, but I told myself after the fact that they probably padded the estimate. Ach, well.
On the bright side: if my current computer was still broken I’d be fuming right now.
Turns out that they’re having it in Philly after all. Personally, I would have picked somewhere that wasn’t a day trip from NYC, but they didn’t ask me, either? …Seriously, though: security is going to be a really big issue for both conventions this cycle. The Republican party is going to have to worry about crazy blackshirt progressive lunatics who want to disrupt the proceedings, and the Democratic party is going to have to worry about… crazy blackshirt progressive lunatics who want to disrupt the proceedings. The really major difference is that the Democrats probably have to worry a little bit less about the aforementioned crazy blackshirt progressive lunatics trying to kill them some delegates*.
Hey, maybe that’s why they picked Philly: the cops there have a certain reputation…
Moe Lane