I solved the Rubik’s Cube I got for Christmas yesterday (cool gift, thanks baby!). I never had the patience for it in my youth, and that always bugged me. This time, I just used some formulas and it’s a piece of cake. My pal Larry got a 4×4 Rubik’s Revenge (he’s the pro) and I played with that a little bit… now THAT is going to take some work…
Category: All My Rowdy Friends
Eurotrip
meloncully writes “YO unc, here are my euro trip pictures for andrea
and whoever else would like to see em. only about 30 of them , i didnt have enough space to put up all 100.
so here ya go
Two Camps
Got an email from a friend today about Greenpeace dumping some “bycatch” on the doorsteps of some politicians…
“Environmentalists, protesting over fishing, catch 11,000 fish, pile them near a major tourist attraction and put up signs saying, ‘Don’t waste
life’… Brilliant!”
In my experience there are two “camps” of environmentalist/eco-freak/animal-rights-activist/whatever. The first camp is the ducks unlimited hunter / catch-and-release fisherman / eco steward that likes to think they “keep it real”, usually by combining conservation with some form of consumption. They think they see the big picture and that’s what counts. A lot of park rangers, environmental agency officials, many biologists, etc. in that camp, perhaps even the more open-minded land developers or foresters. The second camp is Peta / lab-rescue commandos / vegans who see all sentient beings as individually having “rights” that no one else has the right to trample on. Members of the first camp would usually rather be damned to hell before being associated with the second camp. I’m a card-carrying member of the second :P but I’ve also been a member of the first, doing environmental surveys to set aside 20% of a gopher tortoise population’s land so the developer can bulldoze over the other 80%. Not by choice, but better than nothing. Working with governmental agencies and developers to find “common ground” and compromises.
Seems like Greenpeace is trying to firmly throw their hat in the ring of the first camp… distance themselves from animal-rights activists, to whom Peta has really given a bad name with all their sensationalism. An example… isn’t it cute to bite the head off a fish…
But it does sound like they’re opening themselves up to criticism, at least the way the yahoo story was spun… here’s more details, which clear it up a little bit anyway… sounds like they just took what the fishers had already pulled out of the water…
Still, to a vegan, all the answers are easy. :) All this compromise stuff is nonsense. It’s just not that hard to “have it all”, eating low on the food chain, thereby helping the individual beings AND the big environmental picture, every day. Simple and pure.
Oh brother Dan, where art thou?
Had a great time last weekend with my brother – my brother, my suffering brother, come out to the Volga! We got in our road trip, jam session, all-night-gaming, high-stakes-casino-play, lan party, studio recording time, night out on the town (fort lauderdale in this instance) non-stop party all in a measly sixty or so hours. What a ride.
The Millers are planning on a trip up here around Thanksgiving, can’t wait, see ya soon! :P
Beach day!
Yesterday we went with the Gillespe’s to Wrightsville Beach on the coast of NC. It’s about 2 hours from our door. It was fantastic! The waves took me back to the Jersey shore of my youth. Both the girls body-surfed with us! They did great – Wrenny jumped right in, jumping waves with me and surfing all over on her boogie board. And once Reiley donned her goggles there was no stopping her – she was jumping over 6-foot waves. By the end of the day, we were all baked. Whoop! The only sad part was… it was the first time I had ever been to the NC beach!
9.5 Heroes Incorporated
Wow! We had 5 hours of fun on Father’s Day with my gift of Heroes Incorporated! The game is fantastic – it’s got a solid foundation – chase down crime in city streets and roll the dice to beat it – bent by lots of juicy exceptions. There are superhero special powers, various gadgets, and “bonus cards” that you’re not always sure are worth using. Should you go all out crime fighting or try to stop the competition by throwing a super villian in their path? Everything you do has a cost, and it’s not often an easy choice – the sign of a great game. And while that’s all going on, you get to watch your superhero achieve greatness, gaining fighting power and gathering powerful gadgets. Fun cubed!
Friends Making Games!
Sam Clifford’s got his Heroes Incorporated boardgame onto store shelves! You can order a copy online from GameFest – if you look quickly you can see it still on the top of the newly released games list!
And in similar but unrelated news, for Reiley’s eighth (!) birthday, the day before yesterday, my folks sent her the boardgame version of Boxum!, the game for which John Carpenter made the PC version! It’s so great to hear that Boxum! is going strong, too – I don’t think my parents had any idea it was the game John did! I hope you’re getting something out of it, John. :P
Reiley also picked up Bohnanza, a really nice looking Rio Grande game with a decent amount of complexity. Andrea and I can’t wait to steal it and play!
Board gaming is everywhere! Whooo!
Are you guys still out there?
Ken Etterman writes “What’s up in the B-M home. How are you guys doing. I can’t believe its already April – we need to get together again before were 60. Glad you and Andrea are laughing together at old movies. We miss you guys…Ken”
You said it. It sure is nice weather, maybe time for a road trip? :P
Helpless in Asheville
Ken posted to my site! Ken, that means you can do no wrong! Get posting to your OWN site, you madman!!! :> Gimme a buzz if you need help…
Ken Etterman writes “Mike, nice job keeping up you blog, I notice you’ve been very regular (with the blog I mean). I would like to jump start mine again, you as always motivate me in that direction. Hope you guys are well – lets get connected soon.”
Beer Brewing Abounds
All the Johns I know are brewing beer! Well, except John Bruno, but he makes up for that by drinking a lot of it while playing pool… John Carpenter has become quite good at it – I can personally vouch for that. And John Franklin’s leaving town to head to D.C., and on the way out had a home brew bottling party. Things I learned from the “Joys of Homebrewing” manual I found there:
- Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew!
- Even though it’s legal to homebrew in every state in the U.S., it’s illegal to sell it, bummer!
- There are lots of steps to making beer, the most challenging part from what I read seems to be keeping your stuff from getting contaminated – bleach is a common disinfectant, but some people use ammonia, iodine, or all sorts of weird stuff…
- Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew!
- You have to wait for weeks before you can drink your homebrew after you bottle it – again, bummer! :P
- One type of beer is left exposed to the air to “capture” its yeast – the specific yeast you end up with varies by region.
- Relax, don’t worry, have a homebrew!
Here’s a pic of Keith, John and Mike from Keith’s recent visit –
they came by to say hi while I sat there gaping back at them with the flu bug…